From Skid Row to Superstardom: An Idol System Novel-Chapter 349: Vacation (11)

The first-place prize...

Ari fell to his knees in despair as PD Emily cheerfully announced the reward to each member of Benjamin’s team.

First place was...a thousand-dollar gift card for each team member. Handed over immediately.

And Ari had just missed out on it because he was messing around with Jamie right at the finish line.

With tears in his eyes, Ari watched as Jamie finally received the money the production team had promised them.

I’m happy it happened to you, but it should have happened to me, too.

[Are you crying?]

[Seriously?]

[Is that a tear coming out of your eye?]

[Are you sure you don’t want to trade your voice in for some money?]

You just leave me alone!

Can’t you see that I’m in mourning!

[It’s not just you that’s in mourning.]

[I’m mourning the fact that you still haven’t finished the Mission Board yet.]

Ari: ಠ_ಠ

...are you sure you can’t read my mind?

Before he could get caught up in another argument with NOVA, Ari quickly smacked the blue screen away from his vision.

"Contestant Ariel. Has your soul finally reentered your body, or should we give you a moment to grieve the win that slipped right through your fingers?" PD Emily laughed as she watched Ari’s expression go from sadness and despair to anger, back to sadness, while he pounded his fists on the floor.

She gestured to the cameraman to get a close-up of Ari as he shot her a dirty look before getting off the ground and dusting himself off.

"Yes, Mr. Matisse. Did you have something to say to me?"

"....no."

"Very good. And there’s no need to be sad. Your team was the only one that filled out your bingo card thoroughly, so you each won a prize, too. And the prize is....drumroll please."

Badadadadadadada.

As the contestants drummed on their laps

"Your prize is.....The cameras and accessories that you used on the scavenger hunt were generously provided by our sponsor, GeoProfessional! Yay!!!"

"...."

Ari accepted the secondary prize of camera equipment and a hand cam from the laughing PD, even though he didn’t even want it.

While nice, he wasn’t particularly into taking pictures and videos of himself.

And even if he wanted to sell it and get some money back, everything was covered in Pop Star Academy branding stickers, making the sale effectively useless.

He would have rather gotten a meal ticket. At least that would be more useful.

Once they were done with the mini awards, PD Emily packed up the cameras, and they were free to do as they pleased for the next 3 days before they had to fly back to Los Angeles.

Rather than dispersing, most contestants just stood around chatting with each other.

As he listened to Jamie and Benjamin explain where and why they had gotten animal costumes and plan where they would watch the next episode when they got back to America, while a couple of other boys chimed in, someone walked over and stood there awkwardly.

Ari turned to look at Levi, who had washed out the colored paint from his hair and was back to his regular blonde buzz cut.

Combined with his sharp expression, all-black clothing, and silver jewelry, he looked extremely imposing today.

Not that Ari cared one way or another.

He just greeted Levi the way he usually did.

"What?"

"Ahem," Levi said and then just stood there like a statue. His eyes kept flickering from Ari’s face to below, but he didn’t say anything.

Ari: ಠ_ಠ

"Seriously, what?"

Are you trying to pick a fight with me after all this time?

Is it because I made you talk on stage last time?

Forgive and forget!

Unlike what Ari was thinking, Levi said four, never said before.

"...you look...lovely today."

"Huh?"

"What?"

"Pfttt!"

[Is he drunk?]

As the awkward compliment came out of Levi’s mouth, and everyone turned to stare at him in shock, Ari immediately took several steps back with a disgusted expression.

"Are you sick? Are you dying? Is this some type of prank? Did the PD put you up to this? Where are the cameras?"

"No." Seeing everyone’s reaction, Levi began sulking, silently staring at Ari as if it was his fault.

What?

What did I do?

Why are you just looking at me after blindsiding me with those crazy words?!

Watching Levi’s eyes flicker downward once more, Ari realized what he wanted.

"What, you want it? The camera stuff?" Ari shook the basket with the camera equipment at Levi, whose eyes never left it.

"...can you lend it to me sometime. Please." Levi said in a rush before looking away.

That was the longest sentence he had spoken in a while, but he had no choice.

Yesterday, with his team, Levi got to try the camera before realizing it was a new model that hadn’t been released yet.

He was really impressed with the specs and stability when recording and wanted to use it for some of his side projects in the future, so he tried his best in the scavenger hunt.

Unfortunately, his team didn’t win, but since he and Ari had gotten close, this wasn’t overstepping, right?

They were friends?

Or maybe he needed to offer money, too?

After all, he had eaten a lot of Ari’s snacks with no remorse.

And often ate his dinner with no remorse.

Let him always pay for the karaoke place...

And ordered a lot of snacks there too, so much so that they started calling them French Vanilla.

.....

Was he just mooching off Ari in the friendship??

Sweat began to appear on Levi’s face as he began overthinking, but to outsiders, it just looked like he was getting angry and glaring at Ari.

Heads whipped from side to side as they tried to figure out if an explosive argument was going to happen.

Just as Levi was about to open his mouth to increase the bribe, Ari spoke first.

"When’s your birthday?"

"...October."

"Happy early birthday. I hope you enjoy it and use it well." Ari cleanly handed the basket full of things over.

If he couldn’t even sell it, then he might as well give it to somebody who would appreciate the gift.

Besides, Levi had sacrificed hours of sleep to help him make the song, so it was the least he could do.

But each time he glanced over at the shining gift card that was carelessly placed in Jamie’s pocket, his heart hurt just a little bit more.

"...Thank you."

"You’re welcome. Wait! Are your ears red!"

"...No."

"Oh, look, now that you’re back to being blonde, we can see your scalp turning red too. Are you embarrassed?" Ari shamelessly teased.

Levi: ಠ_ಠ

"No. Shut up."

"Sure, sure. I’ll let it go just this once. Anyway, Jamie, I’m not coming over to your house to watch it. I told you, your dad doesn’t like me."

"Mmmmm, but I want us all to watch it together, and if you can’t come, there’s no point having it at my house, so let’s just cancel it," Jamie complained as he began drooping like a wilted flower.

"Bruv, what are the rest of us to you? Chopped liver?"

"Yes."

"Wowwww. The favoritism between the two of you is a bit much, innit?" Benjamin pretended to be hurt, then laughed.

"Can’t we go to the restaurant and watch it there?"

"To eat, sure. But to spend over two hours being noisy and taking up tables that go to other places is a no-go. Grace says they’ve been really busy these days, and I feel bad for not being around to help, so no." Ari quickly shook his head.

"Hmmmm, we can’t go to Carlos yard. The family member whose house I’m staying at is very strict, so no guests. Vishal said no, and no one else can do it either. Most of us can’t even enter a pub or bar to watch it. Bloody hell. I really wanted to watch some episodes together before everything ends." Benjamin sighed while thinking.

He really just wanted to get the people he got along with together to chat and hang out.

After all, 7 out of 20 of them would be in a group for the foreseeable future, so it would be good to build bonds now since so many of them were loners.

And even if they didn’t all end up in the group, in the entertainment industry, connections are everything, so it was always good to maintain good relationships with people.

It was silent for a moment before an unexpected person broke the silence.

"Do...you want to come watch the episode at my house?" Levi interrupted quietly.

As they stared at him, Levi actually deigned to explain himself.

"I have a theater room that will fit a lot of people, my parents are divorced, and my dad’s never home, so that’s not a problem, and we can just order food for delivery. If you want, you can come."

Everyone just stared at him with their mouths open.

Not only was he talking a lot, but he was also offering his own home.

"You’re offering for us to come to your yard?"

"Yes. Not the yard, but the house." Levi clarified before staring silently at Ari.

He was trying to do him a favor since he was secretly a good person.

He really needed to make it up to him for not only eating his snacks, but also gifting him the entire expensive camera set with no regrets.

Only a kind person would do such a thing.

[Why is he glaring at you again?]

[What did you do to him this time?]

Nothing!

Smacking away the window that contained NOVA, Ari clapped his hands.

"Then it’s settled. Thank you to Levi for the generous offer. I accept. Let’s watch the episode at Levi’s place, and we’ll have Benjamin, the king of social butterflies himself, coordinate."

"Aye aye, captain."

Benjamin gave Ari a mock salute before laughing.

"Now shall we disperse. I’m sure everyone has plans for exploration before we have to get on the plane. Good luck to you all, and let’s try to catch a meal one of these days."

"Kay." 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

"Got it."

"Bye!"

As they all split up, Jamie and Ari exchanged glances before heading to their rooms to change.

The two of them had already booked everything and had a jam-packed schedule with no breaks.

While they were changing and getting ready, Levi entered their shared bedroom.

Seeing that they were scrambling around, he froze before asking.

"...karaoke?"

"No. We’re doing all our scheduled tour activities. You want to come? You have to book things last-minute, though, and it might be expensive." Ari offered absentmindedly, not thinking that Levi would actually say yes.

But surprisingly-

"Okay. I can record it too."

Levi agreed.

"Okay. Then let’s go." Ari continued getting ready, not seeing the dirty look Jamie shot Levi or the slightly smug smile Levi shot back.

***********

And with the energy that could only be found in those under 25, the three of them ran around Korea until they were absolutely ragged.

By the time they got to the airport, all 3 of them were several shades darker and full of complaints.

Ari was complaining that he was actually tired, Jamie was complaining that his legs hurt, and Levi was regretting ever joining the two of them when he could have just been sleeping.

And it seemed the rest of the contestants were the same.

Everyone shuffled to the airport like zombies, and once they got on the plane, all 20 boys passed out for the entire 12-hour plane ride.

And the moment they landed, they picked up their luggage and walked through the arrival doors, Jamie yelled obnoxiously.

"Welcome to America! We’re back, baby!"