From Skid Row to Superstardom: An Idol System Novel-Chapter 350: Temple Run (1)

"Thanks for the ride. See you later." Ari quickly thanked Jamie before hopping out of his truck and grabbing the two suitcases from the back.

He was standing in front of Grace’s family restaurant and, for a second, felt pretty awkward.

After all, he was supposed to be helping part-time and cleaning the church daily in exchange for room and board, but not only had he not been helping out, he had been out of the country for weeks.

Honestly, he wouldn’t be surprised if they kicked him out.

Should he just go to a hotel first, come back tomorrow with the presents/bribes, and then ease his way into their good graces?

Or should he actively start finding a new place to live?

As Ari was standing there contemplating his life, somebody marched out of the glass door, and a familiar object flew at his head.

Instinctively ducking, Ari realized that it was Granny Choi and her almighty wooden spoon and yellow apron, glaring at him with her hands on her hips.

Then a deluge of nagging came rushing out of her mouth.

"You. What are you standing there for? Are you coming in or not? Why do you look so thin? How do you travel to Korea without gaining any weight? Are they starving you on that show? Who do I need to hit? And look at your skin. So burnt! Do you not have sunscreen? Tsk tsk."

"Uhhhhm."

Where should he start answering?

Before he could say anything, Granny Choi continued yelling.

"Inside. Now. Come and eat." She pointed her wooden spoon at the door, and Ari meekly dragged his two suitcases inside.

When he went through the door to the restaurant side, Granny Choi dragged him to the table in the corner, where he settled in.

Several minutes later, Grace, who was previously waiting on other tables, slammed a bowl of food unceremoniously on the table.

"You got a tan!" Grace commented as she looked over Ari before sitting down.

"Yeah, I’ve been outside a lot the past couple of days. Good to see you too." Ari replied lightly before digging in.

As he ate, Grace observed him from head to toe.

He was covered up as usual, his lean figure in his favourite slim-fit brown tracksuit with the animal hoodie.

A matching brown headband held the much longer curls back from his face as he glanced down at the bowl piled high with rice, meat, and vegetables; those unreal, thick, extra-long lashes shielded the sea green eyes and cast a shadow on his smooth cheeks before slender fingers expertly twirled the chopsticks and used them to pick up a sizeable amount of food and stuff them into his mouth.

As Ari ate while people at other tables stared at him before being chastised by her grandma, Grace once again reaffirmed that life wasn’t fair, the universe had favorites, and genetics was a scam.

She went out in the sun, and the sun microwaved her, turning her skin half lobster-red and half caramel-brown.

Ari went out in the sun, got gently kissed by it, and got more handsome.

Usually, Ari’s skin was quite pale, and with his dark hair and brows, light eyes, and red lips, that high-contrast, snow-white type of appearance was something his fans loved.

Especially the Korean ones.

But now, his usual pale skin was a light golden colour, and the red in his hair was brighter and more fiery with copper highlights, making him look very sun-kissed and changing his cool colour palette into something warmer.

In fact, he really looked like the son of a wealthy European family who had just come back from holiday in the south of France or Italy, and once again, Grace remembered that Ari was originally from that area.

While she thought it looked really good on him and his western fans would love it...

"Your Korean fans are not going to like that," Grace commented lightly.

His stock on the Korean side would definitely go down, and his handsomeness might not be enough to save it.

"Why?"

Staring at Ari’s confused green eyes, Grace began wondering how to explain Korean beauty standards to someone who only had to do the bare minimum to be prettier than most people and couldn’t even be bothered to compare himself to others.

"Let’s just say they don’t like seeing you darker."

"Why? It’s not like I went to a tanning salon. It’s summer, and if I’m in the sun a lot, I’m going to get a bit tan even when I use sunscreen. Am I not allowed to get tan anymore?" Ari asked incredulously.

"Well...."

As an idol?

Probably not.

You built an image being pale, so fans expect that, but I’ll let your management handle that!

Besides, since you’re still handsome, I’m sure they’ll just edit your skin to be brighter than mine, so it will work out one way or another.

For now, let’s change the subject.

"Forget I said anything. Did you meet my cousin? Give her the goods?"

"Esther? Yeah, she was...interesting. But I gave her the suitcase." Ari briefly recalled the young Korean lady who blushed when she saw him, but had immediately started sobbing upon making eye contact with Daniel as he went to drop off the goods Grace had asked him to give her.

While the two of them were trying to figure out how to stop her tears, she tearfully forced Daniel to pose as she took hundreds of photos of him with so many cameras that Ari believed she was secretly a paparazzi.

"And I brought all the stuff you wanted. That one is for you." Ari pointed to the purple suitcase filled with snacks, skincare products, and the things Esther had delivered to him.

"Thank you, thank you. Let’s move on. How was Korea?" Grace asked as she smoothly began changing the subject to what she really wanted to talk about.

"It was fine. Glad I’m done with that. You look suspicious, so ask what you really want to ask." Ari said, pointing his chopsticks at her.

"I don’t want to ask anything." Grace immediately denied it, and Ari shrugged.

"Excellent. Let’s move on. How’s school? Have any finals this year?"

How’s school?

How’s school?

Why the heck would I care about school when I have a much more important thing to investigate?

"Just kidding. I did have something else to ask you."

"Go ahead."

"So....you know Chloé Laurent. Since childhood?"

"Yep."

"And you didn’t tell me?"

"What’s there to tell?"

"She’s a famous person? Amazing talented? One of the most important people in fashion! She has lived a life and had a career that many people would sacrifice their firstborn child for!"

"So?" Ari asked calmly.

Even if people said all that about Chloé, his impression of her was a photographer old lady who always fought with her mom, forced her way into their house, ate Ari’s snacks, fought with Ari’s cat, ate his dad’s food, stole their wine, and went home drunk.

On a daily basis.

Being amazing in fashion, famous, or whatever had nothing to do with him or with why he knew her, so he would never even think to bring her up.

Especially since he hadn’t spoken to her since his parents’ death.

All these thoughts passed through Ari’s head as he continued eating, but apparently, that was the negative reaction for Grace, who slammed her hands on the table.

"Soooo? What do you mean by so??? Who the hell are your parents, Ariel? Were they famous? What are their names? You grew up rich? Why can’t I find anything about them?"

"Grace Choi! Language!"

"Sorry."

After apologizing, Grace stared at Ari expectantly.

"Secret. Secret. Secret. I wouldn’t say rich per se, but well off. And secret."

As her eyebrows furrowed angrily, Ari burst out laughing before teasing her, "What? The great reporter, PR firm, and businesswoman Grace Choi can’t figure out who the parents of little old me are. Tsk tsk. I’m disappointed in you. I thought you were better than that."

Although her pride was wounded, Grace felt like she had to explain.

"Ari, you don’t understand. I have scoured many Wikipedia pages and articles using your information to find them. I’ve searched the entire web. I have sent so many emails. I have made phone calls. What kind of NDA’s did your parents make people sign that everyone is so tight-lipped? I’m this close to giving up."

"France has one of the best privacy laws in the world, especially for children, and my parents were very proactive about keeping me out of the limelight until I was old enough to decide for myself. You absolutely would never find anything about me online apart from the recent things, and if you’re trying to find out who my parents are through me, it won’t work." Ari told her honestly.

"Please. Give me a hint!"

"You no longer want to know? I can tell you if you promise not to spread it."

"No! Because you’ve been challenged by pride! All I need is a hint, and I’ll find out."

"A hint? Well, my mom used to be a model when she was younger, and my father was a chef. Used to have a restaurant too."

"What kind of cliché hint is that, Ari? It doesn’t narrow it down at all! That describes about half the French population." Grace raged angrily.

She actually wanted to flip the table over the uselessness Ari just told her about.

"Haha, does it? Well, that’s the hint. Good luck. Oh, and also, keep an eye on your email, okay."

"Why?"

"Secret. Anyway. Hows life?" Ari changed the subject while thinking he needed to urge Chloé to hurry up and try to get Grace an internship.

"It’s fine. Why am I checking my email?"

"Because it’s a good habit to build. How’s school?"

"It’s fine. Grades are good, so I get to skip finals and the last couple of weeks of school. Why am I checking my email again?"

"Nice. Apparently, there’s a zero inbox method. You should join it."

Grace: ಠ_ಠ

"So you’re not going to tell me why I should check my email?"

"Nope. Just check it daily."

"Fine! Anyway, want to tell you who won the last round. I have a clue, but I want to know for sure so I can prep my articles. You know I won’t tell anyone."

"Nope." Ari cleanly rejected her. Who knew if PD Emily had secretly stuck a listening device on him without his consent?

He had no intention of getting eliminated so close to the end because of a silly mistake.

"Boooo."

"Booo me all you want. Anyway, anything I need to look out for online? I plan to actually do some monitoring during my break this time."

"Really? That’s surprising. What brought that on?"

"Just curious. I figured I should take a look after all this time and build the habit of checking regularly."

"For your mental health, I recommend avoiding it," Grace told him honestly.

"Why?"

"...your fans are crazy. Literally crazy. And besides, they’re planning something special for your graduation. So don’t spoil it for yourself."

"Really? You know...I still think it’s weird that lots of people want to show up at the boring graduation of somebody they don’t know, but I guess some people are just that nice and want to show their support for me outside of the show."

Grace gave Ari a look of pity since he didn’t know the half of it.

Nice?

More like obsessed and looking for bragging rights.

Having an idol pick as the valedictorian was now a badge of pride and a moment everyone wanted to claim.

Not only were people showing up, but they’re also even willing to pay for it, and people are at war right now.

Literal war.

Thankfully, she had gotten family and friend tickets from Ari, but the community was currently a bloodbath, with ticket scalpers thriving and people begging, threatening, and crying as they tried to get tickets to the graduation.

Other fans were organizing what they would do and what they would wear at the graduation, and for a brief second, Grace wondered if things had gone too far.

Although he was trying to be an idol, Ari was still a regular person, a high schooler who had recently turned 18.

And his graduation wasn’t some concert or fan showcase; it was a previously private event meant to be between the graduate and their friends and family.

But now it had been turned into a spectacle that would be shared with the world and used by his own fans to look down on and ridicule other contestants and idols for not achieving the same thing, which would only breed hate and more fights.

And while it wouldn’t be Ari’s fault, due to his fans’ actions, he would be the one getting flak for it.

But that was idol culture, and for a second, Grace wished that Ari wasn’t pursuing this path so he wouldn’t have to see those things.

You’re smart, so go into business or something private.

Although it’s a crime against humanity to hide that face, for your health, it’s better to avoid entertainment. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

Unfortunately, it was too late.

But since he wanted to and she supported him, she could only do her part to curb the toxic fan activity in the community and hope that Ari maintained his stance of checking the web minimally.

For his own sanity.

"Are you okay? Something on my face?" Ari asked as Grace suddenly fell quiet, staring at him intently.

"Nothing."

"Okay."

The two of them chatted lightly while Ari finished eating.

Then he took his things back to the church, performed the cleaning he hadn’t been able to do in a while, and went to help out at the restaurant before completing his daily tasks.

By the time he wanted to sleep, it was already past midnight, and with a happy sigh, he collapsed into the bed.

While he could sleep anywhere, it was a bit tiring constantly sharing a room and bathroom with other boys.

Hopefully... if he made it into the group... he would get his own room and not have to share.

With that thought, Ari went to sleep.

******

His next day passed quickly as he visited grandma Kim and grandma Lisa with gifts he got from Korea, visited his school to pick up his graduation things and practice, then went to Jamie’s studio to professionally record the final version of their song, fill out the paperwork, and send it out.

After ending the day at the restaurant once more and sleeping in, it was the day to visit Levi’s house for the first time to watch the episode together.

As Jamie followed the GPS directions, his truck, which contained Ari, Benjamin, and Carlos, rolled to a stop in front of an ornate, humongous gate, attached to a tall brick fence that stretched as far as the eye could see.

Perched on both sides of the gate at the top of the wall were two giant, stone dragons with outstretched wings, sharp claws, and menacing stares.

Rather than an entry gate to a home in a wealthy neighborhood, it looked like it belonged in a castle in a fantasy movie, and Ari couldn’t help but blink as he craned his head out of the window.

"....is this the right place?"