From Skid Row to Superstardom: An Idol System Novel-Chapter 351: Temple Run (2)

"....Are we in the right place?"

"It’s the address he sent. Let me ring him."

Benjamin quickly dialed him up, putting it on speaker.

"Yeah?" Levi’s voice came out after several seconds

"Big man, the lads and I are at your gate. The one with the dragon on it, innit?"

"...yeah. I’ll open the gate, so come in, drive straight. And...Whatever you see, just keep driving and stay in the car. I need to figure out how to disable the new traps that damn old man added."

Click.

As the phone went off, the four of them exchanged glances.

Traps?

What kind of ominous warning was that?

"Trap? Did he say trap?" Jamie gulped as he gripped the steering wheel tightly.

"He’s probably just joking, right? Ari?"

Has Levi ever told a joke?

"Right?"

Nobody answered him.

They just watched as the dragon on the wall spat out a jet of flames before the gate began rising into the air.

When it was all the way up, rather than seeing a road, all they could see was darkness, like a tunnel.

After turning on his high beams, Jamie began driving forward slowly.

As they moved forward, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

Just a regular, normal, tunnel that just so happened to lead into somebody’s house. appeared after the dragon on a gate spat fire to open a gate.

Totally, and completely normal.

Their journey in the tunnel continued as Jamie turned on the windshield wipers because the windows had started fogging up.

"A bit hot innit?"

"I’ll turn on the AC."

Just as they were worrying how long the tunnel journey was going to be...

BANG!!!!

Something slammed down on the ground so hard that Jamie’s truck shook, and when Ari glanced behind them, he suddenly made eye contact with what looked like a monstrous black and white gorilla monster with red eyes.

ROARRRRRRR!!!!!!

The thing began beating its chest and, to Ari’s surprise, began chasing after the car.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!"

Jamie took one look at the rear view mirror, screamed, and stepped on the gas.

Vrrrrrrrrrmmmmmmmmmm!!!!

As the car accelerated, they quickly burst out of the dark tunnel, but instead of being back in broad daylight, they found themselves in.....

A tropical jungle?

Lush, colorful jungle plants formed a small forest on both sides of a dirt road, and tall statues, interspersed at irregular intervals, looked like they were from the Pacific Islands.

Even through the closed windows, Ari could hear birds tweeting, monkeys howling, and of course...the roar of the thing chasing them.

"Go away! Go away! Go away! Why is it following us?!"

"Straight mate! Drive straight!"

As Jamie zoomed down the road, still screaming, it seemed like the black and white gorilla monster had some friends, as it was joined by an orangutan-looking thing...and a giant lizard.

All three monsters kept pace with the fast-moving truck, sometimes even speeding up and brushing against the windows.

At times, water balloons would be launched at the vehicle, birds would fly in front of it, and tiny, colorful snakes would be dropped onto the windshield before quickly being wiped away.

As one of the monsters got close again, Ari took a closer look at it since there was absolutely no way that such a thing could naturally exist in a suburb of Los Angeles. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

As Ari squinted, he saw a metallic hinge in the monster’s mouth.

These....weren’t these just giant realistic animatronics?

Levi. What kind of house did you grow up in that this is how you welcome guests?

Still, it’s good to know that it’s fake.

"Jamie, it’s fake."

"Ahhhhhhhh!!!"

"I said it’s fake."

Seeing that Jamie was still completely out of his mind from fear, Ari decided to pretend not to know anything.

As long as they didn’t crash, it was fine with him, and he might as well record this and save it for later use.

By the time they escaped the jungle, crossed a wooden bridge, and finally reached a simple iron gate, the monsters had stopped following them, and they had arrived at a house that looked as if a European castle had been teleported directly to the top of the hill and slightly modified.

It had green ivy climbing the stone grey walls; there was legitimately a tower visible from the front, stone balconies, and the front door was a large wooden monstrosity that looked like it was built for a giant, not humans.

Sitting on the front steps in front of the giant door, dressed in an all-black hoodie and sweatpants, was Levi, who was talking on the phone.

Spotting them, he pointed for them to park to the side, before hanging up and walking over.

"You made it."

"Wh-what the heck was that??!" Jamie gasped, grasped Levi’s shoulders, and began shaking him.

"What?"

"Why were we getting chased by monsters?!? Didn’t you invite us to your house? Why do you live in a haunted house? What’s wrong with you?"

Levi blinked slowly, his gaze sweeping over them.

The rest looked a bit shocked, but looked fine, while Jamie was sweating with a pale face.

It seemed that he was really scared.

Since it was technically his fault, Levi apologized and gave a proper explanation.

"Oh. Sorry. I thought I had deactivated everything, but apparently, my dad thought it would be funny to reactivate it since I was having people over. And then he refused to answer his phone."

"Your dad?"

"Yeah. You know my dad acts in a lot of action movies. Whenever he’s done filming, he takes things from the set and sets traps around the estate to keep his skills from getting rusty. It’s annoying, but at least he set up the non-lethal version today. Sorry again."

Hearing the explanation, everyone had one thought.

Non-lethal version?

What kind of father do you have???

And why are you so calm about it?

After receiving a double apology, Jamie let him go.

"Sorry for grabbing your shirt."

"It’s fine. Let’s go inside. You’re the first ones here.

Straightening his clothes, Levi easily pushed open the large wooden door.

And as they walked in, while he was expecting the dark, dungeon-like castle interior, Ari was pleasantly surprised that the inside was the complete opposite of what he was expecting.

The walls were mostly white, with lots of nude wooden furniture, green plants, and numerous sculptures, paintings, and unique art pieces throughout.

With natural light coming in and a fresh scent filling the air, Ari had to admit that despite the exterior decorations, Levi’s dad really knew how to decorate the interior.

It was a really pretty house.

As Levi led them through the common areas of the house, pointing out the bathroom, the kitchen, and the theater room, everyone gave compliments appropriately, while Ari secretly clapped for the fact that Levi used full sentences instead of one-word answers.

As they congregated in one of the kitchens to look through menus and decide what to order, Ari tried to pull out a bar chair and froze.

This....

Why was it so heavy?

[Have you really become a weakling?]

[I told you that you should go to the gym!]

Absolutely not. That dark part of my life is over!

If you ever see me willingly working out, just know I’ve been possessed.

Thinking that maybe he just had a bad grip, Ari wiped his hands on his pants and tried pulling the chair out once more, but it didn’t move, and he actually almost fell over.

Thinking that he had actually gotten unbearably weak, Ari glanced over and saw that both Benjamin and Jamie, the two gym-obsessed freaks, were actually having a hard time as well.

Jamie was actively pulling the chair with all his weight while Benjamin tried to push it across the ground.

The only person who had even managed to move his chair was Carlos, who had squatted and lifted it into the air before dropping it with a resounding thud.

"What kind of crazy material is this thing made of?" Ari muttered as he rapped the chair.

It felt like regular metal...and concrete?

Was this another crazy thing set up by Levi’s dad?

Wanting to go ask Levi, who had gone to another room to find more menus, what was going on, Ari went to push open the kitchen door.

It was stuck.

No matter how much he shoved and pushed against the door, using his arms, legs, and his entire body weight, it didn’t budge even the slightest bit.

"Guys? I think we’re trapped. The door won’t open."

"Really?" Benjamin walked over, and the two of them began trying to push the door open.

It moved, just a centimeter, before slamming shut again.

"Jamie, Carlos. Come help." Benjamin groaned as he put all the power in his legs into it.

With the addition of the two other people, they finally managed to open the door a couple of inches, but there was absolutely no way anyone could fit through the gap.

As all four of them collapsed panting on the floor, the door finally opened, and Levi stood there with a tall stack of food menus in his hand.

"What are you doing?" Levi asked with a slightly confused expression.

Why were they all on the floor instead of sitting on chairs?

And why were they panting? Had they fought?

"Why...huff huff...is everything...huff huff...heavy?" Ari asked while panting.

His arms and legs were literally shaking.

"Oh. I forgot that my dad made everything in the house weighted and super-heavy. If you need to go somewhere, just let me know, and I’ll open the door or get it for you. Otherwise, you might hurt yourself if you’re too weak."

Weighted?

Ari looked at Levi as if he were crazy.

Is this why you’re so strong?

Or why you almost killed me when we were supposed to cook together?

You’re just constantly training your body and get surprised when things are light because everything in your house is so freaking heavy?

What kind of father do you have???

With a slightly sharp smile directed at the other blonde in the room, Levi held the door open with one hand.

"Did you need something from out here?"