From Skid Row to Superstardom: An Idol System Novel-Chapter 324: Producer (3)

PD Emily had an incredulous expression on her face as she glanced from Ari’s expectant face to the ridiculous list written in neat handwriting that he had submitted for his team’s performance.

Thing we need (Part 1/10)

1: Helicopter to drop teammates onto the stage, depending on the venue.

1-a: If the helicopter is not possible, then a crane.

1-b: If the crane is not possible, then wires to fly around the stage.

2: A stage lift that rises and rotates into the air.

3: 2 motorcycles with flaming helmets.

4: Trap door on stage.

5: Smoke bombs on stage.

6: Fake fire robes that burn away.

7: A full-sized functioning organ and an instructor to teach Ariel how to play it within 2 weeks.

8: 5 full-sized Chinese drums.

9: Body doubles that match each team member’s build.

...

The list went on and on, each request more ridiculous than the last, and by the serious expression on his face, he clearly expected all of this to be granted.

"Absolutely not."

"Why not? You said there was no budget and that we should do everything possible to let our dream and vision come to life. This is my team’s dream and vision!"

"That doesn’t mean we have to spend it all on your performance! I can see you just want to waste money. Go back and trim this down."

"By how much exactly?" Ari asked with a mischievous smile.

"Use your judgment and be reasonable. You’ve led other performances, so keep it around that level. Stop wasting my time on nonsense, Ariel, I’m busy." PD Emily tried to wave him away, but Ari just settled into the chair and made himself even more comfortable.

"I think I’m being quite reasonable right now."

As PD Emily stared at him incredulously, he began tapping his fingers on her desk.

"I don’t like when things are vague, and since the budget is apparently not a blank check, what’s the exact budget that we are allotted for this performance? If you give me a number, I will look up prices and get what I want to fit in there without bothering you needlessly. Otherwise, I will do this back and forth with you every hour on the hour of every day, and I guarantee you’re the one who will get frustrated because I can be very annoying."

"Are you threatening me?"

Emily Raleigh couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

What kind of bold nonsense was this?

"Of course not!" Ari blinked innocently, "I’m informing you that I will be knocking on your door constantly, which is a waste of both of our time. You said we got donations. The budget is increased. It’s not your money, so I don’t understand why you’re being protective of it. Unless you’re embezzling it on the side? If so, please let me embezzle some for my team’s performance, and I promise I won’t say a word. Your secret is safe with me." Ari mimed zipping his mouth and tossing the key to the side.

PD Emily cleaned her ears and looked around in shock.

She felt as if she were on some prank show because what the heck was happening here?

Where was this audacity coming from?

Maybe because she hadn’t seen him in a while, but she felt that Ari was acting crazier than usual.

"...you’re insane."

"That’s harsh. I prefer the term thinking out of the box and acting on my whims that might not make sense to others."

Is that not the definition of insanity?

As sea green eyes curved happily, PD Emily felt her head start to hurt.

She was under a lot of stress right now and was being squeezed thoroughly.

On one hand, they were in the midst of rebranding and trying to sway public opinion by portraying PD Ji-ho’s actions as an isolated incident against Ari, and doing their best to cover their tracks by highlighting his accomplishments and promoting his good side with clips such as the previous dance challenges he had done with BTZ’s Shin Ji-yong.

On the other hand, Bing Yongsun and Wilfred Forbes were fighting each other, and she was unfortunately stuck in the middle trying to balance their demands.

And without a single care in the world, here came the number one troublemaker himself, demanding that they spend the money that Wilfred Forbes had unwillingly donated, with a stern warning that, regardless of the promises, the production team should save as much money as possible.

"PD Emily? Are you okay? Talk to me."

At the softly accented voice gently calling her name, PD Emily rubbed her eyes before sighing.

"Ariel. You know this list is ridiculous, right? To be honest, I don’t understand why you need all these things. You’ve previously put on amazing performances with fewer expenses, so why are you going overboard this time?"

"Because I plan on making this the best performance in the history of the show, and more importantly, now that I’m here, I want to remain in the number one position."

"So?"

Seeing that PD Emily didn’t understand, Ari settled in to explain.

"Things might be unified now with the public on my side because the production team and PD Ji-ho are the common enemy, but once the ranking episode is released, I know it’s going to be a war zone again with me becoming public enemy number 1. Your editing aside, the fan bases will split again, and people are going to start nitpicking and saying that I only got first place because people felt bad for me, that I don’t deserve it, that Chloé bought me votes, that some other contestant deserves to be first, et cetera, et cetera. Some contestants are whispering it now, not to my face obviously, so I can only imagine what the public will say." Ari answered with a sharp smile.

He wasn’t particularly bothered by people’s whispers, especially if you didn’t dare to say it to his face; after all, he himself didn’t expect to get the most votes in the history of the show or to be currently in first place.

But now that he was here, like Benjamin said, he didn’t want to let it go.

He wanted to remain first and wanted this performance to come first, not only because of the mission or the 200k prize, but because he had really suffered and worked hard this whole time.

Being on this show had been really hard, especially as he had to climb up from the bottom to where he was now.

The end finally felt within reach, and with the possibility of being first, he wanted to do his best to see if he could achieve it.

Staring at PD Emily, who looked like she didn’t care or understand, Ari tried to convey his thoughts.

"This performance is my proving ground, especially because there are no constraints. It’s not a cover, it’s a creation from the bottom up. You said if we dream it, it can happen, and I dream big. No offense to the other teams, they’re very talented, but I plan to blow everyone out of the water and show them it’s not a mistake, it wasn’t bought, that I’m skilled and work hard, and if I happen to come first again, it’s very deserved. This performance needs to be so indisputably good that even if you’re a hater, even if you don’t like me or my team members, you have no choice but to rank it in first place because it’s just that good. And I plan on grinding myself and everyone around me to make that happen. And as you know, money is the source of all problems and the solution to many of them, so...please tell me what the budget is? If you can’t give me a number, give me a range so we can spare each other a lot of back and forth over the next two weeks."

PD Emily stared at his face for a moment before bursting out laughing.

Ari: ಠ_ಠ

What’s funny?

I’m being so serious right now.

Money is not a joke!

"PD Emily?"

"Ahahahaha!"

PD Emily just continued laughing.

She laughed for almost a minute straight, causing Ari to think the stress had finally gotten to her and she had gone crazy.

"You are really audacious, but you know what, sure, what the hell. Why not? It’s not my money anyway, and I’m tired of being squeezed. If anyone is to spend it, it might as well be you so that geezer can go mad. Here’s the total performance budget. Don’t tell anyone else. And while I have you, come do an interview and tell me all about this supposedly amazing performance of yours. And I mean it, Ariel, don’t tell anyone else."

*******

"So here’s the amount that the PD said is in the performance budget. Make sure to squeeze the production team so you can get everything you want."

"Good looks, mate. I asked one of the staff, and they said they’ll search hard for the props and instruments you asked for. I’ll also have Jamie done by 10 so the two of you can go off on your secret little outing."

"Thanks."

Slap!

After he and Benjamin shook hands, Ari went back to his own team’s practice room, where his teammates turned to look at him expectantly.

"The helicopter was shot down, and no motorcycle."

"Tsk."

"Awwww."

Daniel looked devastated while Suzuki Rei clicked his teeth.

"But, let’s try to squeeze everything else in once the song is done. How’s storyboarding and lyric writing?"

Ari turned to look at Levi and Carlos, who were supposed to be working together.

Levi gave him a dirty look before grumbling.

"It’s going. I can’t believe you’re making me storyboard."

"Think of it as putting that film degree to good use."

"I’ve only done one semester?"

"And that’s one semester of film school more than anyone else. I believe in you. Try to make it look like a music video and write details for the stage and camera crew so we can practice at the midterm evaluation." Giving Levi a thumbs up, Ari turned back to Suzuki Rei and Daniel.

"And choreography?"

"We’re working on several move sequences using the bpm range you spoke about, but the quicker we have an instrumental, the better it is."

"C’est bon. Make sure you record everything so we can watch it later. For now, I gotta go."

It was time to try producing a song by himself.

Well, not completely by himself.

Gesturing to Carlos, who was sitting beside Levi while writing in a notebook, Ari called him by the nicknames his siblings used.

"Carlito, you’re with me. Let’s go see Jelissa."