From Skid Row to Superstardom: An Idol System Novel-Chapter 83: Warrior (3)

"What?"

Ari looked confused as he stared at Daniel Kim, who had appeared out of nowhere.

It seemed that Daniel had finished getting styled because he was dressed in tight leather pants, a black tank top with a long sleeve mesh shirt over it, chunky boots, and a leather choker and necklace with spikes.

Daniel’s face looked slightly paler than usual from makeup, and black eye shadow had been used to make his eyes look deeper and sharper.

A subtle red lip tint had been applied to his lips, making them look slightly bruised, and Daniel’s eyebrows had been filled in to make them darker and more angled.

Honestly, while looking at the entire look, Ari felt he had been used as inspiration for the outfit.

"You, you’re rapping wrong, and if you continue like that, you’ll strain your voice." Daniel Kim repeated his words before squatting several feet away from Ari and staring at him while wiping slightly red eyes.

Not wanting to have to investigate the probable tears, Ari quickly continued the conversation.

"Is that your professional advice?"

"I’m in the A-grade rap class, so I’m pretty good, you know?" Daniel smiled brightly, showing off his dimples before his smile faded slightly.

"I know. You’re also in A-grade dance as well." Ari remembered PD Emily’s words that she thought Daniel’s performance during the second round was almost perfect.

The boy was a dynamic dancer, had a crazy deep voice when he rapped, and also caught the eye with his good looks and bright smile.

He was a true triple threat.

"Let’s say that I’m trying to rap for the first time. What advice would you give me?" Ari asked him since the boy had confidently said that he was rapping wrong.

"First, stop trying to force your voice to go deeper to match the original song. It won’t work, and you’ll mess up your vocal cords. I also recommend starting out with older songs that have slower beats and simple rhymes and cadences instead of the one you’re trying to practice. It might sound less cool and really old-fashioned, but it will help you catch the flow and fill the pocket better."

"Really?" Ari looked at Daniel curiously before asking, "Any song recommendations?"

"Mmm, I don’t have my phone, but off the top of my head, Top Billing. It’s really slow and simple. Check it out later."

"I see. Thank you." Ari replied regretfully, also wishing that he had access to his phone so he could pull up the song and lyrics.

"Should I rap it for you? It was my warmup song for years and you seem pretty determined to rap."

"No, that’s okay, but thank you. I should head out." After nodding at the other boy, Ari stood up to leave.

He had no plans to continue practicing his terrible rapping skills in front of one of the best rappers in the program, and even though Daniel offered to help, he definitely didn’t want to inconvenience him and continue to embarrass himself.

He had at least that much pride.

[After your previous shameless lies, is now really the time for pride?]

[Can you really afford to waste any more time? You’ve failed to rap for an entire week based on your own efforts.]

[You think that you can get within the top 3 with a D+ dance stat?]

At NOVA’s words that hit a little too close to home, Ari sighed before sitting on the ground again.

"Actually...can you help me learn to rap the song? I can pay you back in candy or snacks." Ari offered the most valuable things he owned right now.

Daniel looked at him once more before smiling brightly again.

"Hmmm....if you have any more Korean candy. I’ll gratefully accept it."

"I’ll hand over everything I have when we get back." Ari solemnly swore.

"Yay!" With more energy and excitement than he had shown before, Daniel began coaching Ari line by line, trying to get him to replicate his cadence.

Ari easily memorized the lyrics, but when he tried speaking them and replicating the cadence Daniel taught him, it was like something distorted it, and what he heard in his head was not what his mouth was saying.

He was completely off the simple beat that Daniel made by clapping his hands.

After the 10th time it happened, Daniel stopped and stared at him.

"This is so weird." Daniel muttered in confusion as his happy expression crumpled, "You sing really well, so why is this hard?"

Truthfully, Ari didn’t know either.

"It’s fine. I’ll practice some more later." Ari comforted him before getting up again.

He had been gone long enough, so it would be a good idea to check the filming progress.

"No! I can definitely help you rap!"

"Don’t worry, I’ll still give you your payment because you gave me a good idea of what to practice."

"I won’t accept it until I succeed."

"Hmm, then let me ask you a question. Do you think there’s a secret dance in the warmup that they taught us?"

"A secret dance in the warmup?" Daniel tilted his head sideways, causing one side of his slicked-back orange hair to hang vertically.

"Yeah, they talked about teaching us the basics a lot and taught every dance class the same ultra-specific warmup dance for 10 minutes. I searched the songs, and they all have the same bpm as the Warrior song, so I was wondering if you noticed anything strange about it. It’s fine if you didn’t."

It was just a hunch that Ari had.

"Hmmmm. I don’t usually use that warmup, but let me see." Daniel casually brushed back his orange hair before performing the beginning portion of the warmup.

"If I do this part, it definitely connects with the later part of the warm-up, and this middle part here feeds into the beginning. Hmmm, maybe this part here..." Daniel began mumbling to himself in English before switching to Korean as he tested different parts of the warmups against each other until he found a flow that worked well together.

Ari just watched in complete fascination as Daniel danced like a well-oiled machine.

Each move of his was controlled yet powerful, with points of impact and fluidity as he tried different things out.

The difference between how Daniel performed the choreography and how he did it was like night and day, and he felt a bit jealous at how cool it looked to be able to move like that.

Hopefully, one day, he would be able to do the same.

After about 20 minutes, Daniel seemed to come out of the mini-trance he had been in before turning to look at Ari with sparkling eyes.

"I think you’re right! The moves are all scrambled together in the warm-up, but if you move them around, they transition into a proper dance when mixed with some of the choreography from Warrior. Look!"

Then, while humming one of the songs, Daniel danced the newly improvised choreography for about four minutes before stopping and looking at Ari in surprise.

"It really works. Knowing Kim Young-woo nim’s choreography style, I think it’s something like this, but I’m not sure. How did you even notice that the moves go together?"

Ari hadn’t; the system had given him a hint, and he just passed that hint onto the most qualified person that he knew.

The credit really belonged to Daniel for stitching everything together.

"Are you a dancing genius?" Daniel asked as he danced through the improvised choreography again, making minor adjustments.

"Definitely not. It was just a hunch."

"Really? I’ve been dancing for 15 years, and I didn’t even notice. What gave it away?"

"I’m psychic."

[Liar.]

Ari ignored NOVA.

"Predict my future! Will I debut or win the lottery?"

Ari pretended to touch his head before smiling mischievously.

"In your future...I see you teaching me the dance later tonight for Korean candy?"

"Deal!"

Daniel’s eyes sparkled as he began asking him a barrage of questions as Ari started to walk back to the waiting room.

As Daniel stopped by a fountain to drink water, Ari covered his mouth and whispered to NOVA.

"Is this the dance?"

[Learn it and find out.]

[The countdown for the surprise quest ends at midnight today.]

Mentally noting the words down, Ari went back to the waiting room with Daniel, sitting down close to his team and watching Benjamin’s team arrange themselves on a full stage filled with flashing lights, layered platforms, and fog filling it up.

They were all wearing head microphones, and as the music started up, two flame streams shot up into the air as Benjamin jumped down from the platform that he stood on.

The rest of the team members jumped down one by one, with flames lighting up each time, and then they began.

As Ari watched the crazy performance that looked like a professional concert, he couldn’t help but gulp with a bit of nervousness.

...if every other team were like this, he might actually fail the surprise mission.