Chapter 301: Arrival
Ari glanced between the two idols that he had previously seen at the airport.
The one to the left was JM, the leader and main vocalist of Golden Generation. He was known for his high notes and ear-catching falsetto and was often compared to Shin Ji-yong of BTZ.
With his bleached blonde hair cut into a wolf cut, light makeup that highlighted his soft features, and stylish athletic clothes, he looked pretty good, considering it was 6 in the morning.
And standing beside him to the right was Mingyu, the main dancer of Golden Generation. Like JM, he was dressed in stylish athletic clothing and had light makeup, but his electric blue bowl cut stood out quite strongly, highlighting his very chiseled facial features.
As he waited for them to say something, it seemed that PD Ji-ho was still quite upset with him.
"Contestant Ariel. You heard the announcement and could have shown up on time and listened at the side until you could be caught in filming. Due to their busy schedules, this was the only time the Golden Generation could come. Now you’ve wasted the time of your teammates, Golden Generation, and the production team. You need to apologize."
Ari blinked at the PD before saying words that would make Mathew have a heart attack if he were here.
"Poor planning and scheduling on your part do not constitute an emergency or urgency on my part. Why would you expect me to participate at 4:30 am when the law states that I can’t? Or are you saying that I should break the law to accommodate you?"
"It’s in the spirit of cooperation and making things run smoothly. Especially when everyone else is doing the same."
"My spirit of cooperation and making things run smoothly ended when you edited and published yesterday’s episode despite knowing the truth of the matter. I have no plans to inconvenience myself to make your life easier. If you don’t like it, get rid of me, but I bet you won’t. Can’t get rid of your cash cow scapegoat now, can you? I actually saw that you got the highest amount of viewership in your career yesterday, right? Congrats! Will you be getting a bonus for Chuseok?"
Ari clapped sarcastically, causing the mouths of the two idols to drop open in shock.
Were these how the kids were these days?
They had no respect at all!
Even if the PD had wronged him, wasn’t he afraid of retaliation?
The entertainment industry was small, and everyone knew each other.
His career could be blocked because he offended a PD, especially since he had no connections.
"Contestant Ariel!"
"What? Ahh, before you answer that, give me one second. I’ll be right back."
Ari quickly ran back to his room to grab the canes before coming back to the practice room.
He put the bundle of canes down before leaning dramatically on his own cane like an old man.
It was actually a pretty nice toy, especially when he got to swinging it around.
"I’m back. You were saying?"
"Are you threatening to hit me?" The PD, his teammates, the camera crew, and both idols looked completely shocked at Ari’s reckless behavior.
"Of course not. I’m stretching my back. It hurts from carrying the weight of the show."
"Puahaha." As Jamie burst out laughing and Levi snickered, PD Ji-ho glared at Jamie, causing him to become somber immediately.
"That’s enough! You’re no longer allowed to leave the premises if you can’t show respect."
"I’ve never been grounded before, so this seems a bit fun. Anything else? Wanna handcuff me to my bed at night? Set a bedtime? Seize my phone? I figured you might be like this, so I actually brought it to give you anyway. I don’t want to be suspiciously framed for leaking things. You’re already not afraid to frame me; who knows what you’ll do for the next episode?"
With a peaceful smile, Ari handed his cellphone over to the PD whose face had turned so red his glasses were fogging up from his body heat.
"Contestant Ariel! You-"
PD Ji-ho sputtered for several seconds, not knowing what to say.
Seeing that this conversation was getting derailed, JM decided to take control of the situation before the PD actually exploded and said things he shouldn’t say.
"PD, why don’t we move on. Mingyu and I have a schedule to attend in 30 minutes, so since the team leader is here, it’s better to go over things with everyone."
"Right. I apologize for showing you such a disrespectful scene. Ariel. Apologize."
"No, thank you," Ari replied politely.
He wasn’t sorry.
Not in the slightest.
And there was no point in lying about it for useless brownie points against a trashy PD.
Seeing that Ari truly had no intention of issuing even a single word of apology, PD Ji-ho glared while vowing to edit him even worse on the next episode.
"It’s fine. Since you’re here, can we get the full performance by the team to see what we’re working with? Let’s get a complete rundown from the beginning to the end."
"Sure. Let’s line up. Justin, you’re in the center."
"But-"
"Center."
Without waiting for a response, Ari got up and dragged Justin over to where everyone was sitting despite the disapproving look on JM’s face.
Seeing that he really didn’t have time to warm up his voice, he just grabbed the tablet and began playing the instrumental as he got into his position at the front.
Standing Next To You.
Locking eyes, he and Jamie danced to the intense bass and trumpets while making their way toward the center of the room with a jazzy, skip-like walk, snapping their fingers.
Standing Next To You.
As they neared the center, they spun around before beginning the performance, which started with Ari and then transitioned to Choi Woobin.
Justin’s part rounded out the first verse, and when they got to the first chorus, it seemed like something possessed Jamie as he began belting it out with full strength, his powerful voice filling the practice room and hitting every single note with precision and emotion.
We’ll survive the test of time,
I promise I’ll be right here
Standing next to you
Standing in the fire next to you~
You know it’s deeper than the rain
Deeper than the pain
It’s deep in my DNA
And they’ll never take you away~
Even Ari was a bit surprised as he caught Jamie staring at him with a surprisingly serious expression.
Smiling back reassuringly, Ari and the rest of the team completed the song.
While it wasn’t perfect, and the choreography was definitely a mess, vocally, he thought they did well.
The practice that they had been putting in and whatever vocal coaching they were getting was clearly working since nobody’s voice wavered, cracked, or was off-pitch despite the general high notes.
If he had to grade it: vocally, the performance was a B.
Choreography-wise, it was a D. Minus.
And he could tell based on the expressions of the two Golden Generation members that they weren’t impressed.
JM, the leader, cleared his throat before speaking.
"Vocally, I think it’s fine. You’re clearly on the right track, and I can see that you’ve practiced. I conveyed this earlier as well. Contestant Jamie was it, you did excellently, and I feel like you understood the message we wanted to put in the song."
"Thank you!" Jamie smiled brightly at the compliment.
"Of course. But as a complete performance, it feels like a mess. I distinctly remember telling the production team that I would prefer no modifications to be made to the song. We wanted everything from the choreography and vocals to be performed as is. We’ve touched on the vocals, but why is the choreography structured in this way? To start with, none of you is hitting the moves all the way; it’s lacking the grace, flexibility, and finesse of the choreography given to you. Even if you’ve only practiced for a short while, I expect you all to do better because the trainees at our companies can do this and more with less preparation time."
As they all stared at him silently, JM continued his critique,
"This song means a lot to us, and I can’t understand the decision you’re making by insisting a non-dancing member is taking up the center. Please explain."
As the entire team stared at him, Ari sighed before responding politely.
"I’ll address the center issue since it’s the most important one. We have an injured teammate, so we wanted to make accommodations for him as best as we could. Keeping in mind your request not to make changes, we wanted to wait until we met you to get your advice, and in the meantime, since none of us is an expert choreographer, we kept him seated in the middle and had him complete as much choreography as he could without exacerbating his injury. Now that you’re here, we’re requesting your advice on how best to modify the choreography to accommodate a leg injury."
"I’ll tell you the same thing I told your team earlier: give him a microphone and have him sit them to the side and sing when it’s his turn. Although it’s choreography for six people, since we have no choice, we can easily modify it for 5 people, and it would probably look better since odd-numbered choreography is more visually appealing anyway. It’s a bit unfortunate that he won’t stand out, but he should have taken better care of himself. As an idol, your body is life, and even though you’re currently in a survival show, you should keep that in mind. It’s a lesson we all have to learn in this industry," Mingyu added.
At the slightly cold words, Justin looked down, his fluffy brown hair hiding his face as he stared at the ground.
"It’s a bit unfortunate because we as contestants would have preferred for the production team to choose different games for the field day so our teammate wouldn’t have fractured his leg a couple of days ago, but since that’s what happened, that’s what we’re stuck with. Do you have any other ideas on how to modify the choreography apart from telling him to stand off to the side? As you mentioned, this is a survival show, and he needs to stand out, too. Or is that the common practice in the industry? "
JM glanced at him before letting out a small smile.
"Exactly. People who are injured are told to sit to the side because it’s not fair to force the rest of the team to learn new choreography and new changes to accommodate injuries that will heal sooner rather than later. It’s selfish to force others to accommodate you at the detriment of themselves and doubly so in a survival show where each person needs to look out for themselves and themselves only. Understand?"
"Sure," Ari replied non-commitantly.
"At the end of the day, you asked our opinion and we’ve made our wishes known. If you do choose to change the choreography to accommodate your teammate, do so at your own detriment and know it’s without our blessing, because what we want is a perfect performance. This is the only song and performance that has been able to beat BTZ, and we plan on continuing that streak. Understand?"
JM stared at each of their faces, making sure that everyone nodded before smiling again.
"That’s all the time we had today. The next time we see you will be on performance day, so good luck."
"Thanks."
"Thank you!"
"Thank you for coming!"
As everyone bowed respectfully at the two idols, JM gestured for Ari, who walked over with a curious expression.
"A word of advice to you, since you’re the team leader; your actions are going to affect the ones below heavily, so be cautious and think a little. When you’re having your little rebellion, remember that it’s going to affect the people on your team and the people around you. If you ever make it into the industry, the ripple effects can be even worse. Sometimes it’s better to swallow an injustice for the sake of future profits."
"Thank you, I’ll keep that in mind," Ari replied calmly.
While those words sounded good in theory, he refused to believe them and actually found it quite annoying.
People who were in power always told those under them to swallow injustices, yet never mentioned how long that stance was supposed to be maintained.
For him, it was a foolish stance, and personally, he’d rather speak his mind and deal with the consequences as they came.
As for damage going to others, as the PD had shown, he was the only target, so there wasn’t much worry about that.
As the idols, PD, and camera crew left the room, there was an audible sigh of relief as people sat on the ground.
"Tense?" Ari asked lightly.
"That’s an understatement. When Jamie told us you weren’t coming until 6, I almost had a heart attack. Not to talk of you fighting with the PD." Justin grumbled before sighing sadly, "I guess I’ll just sit in the corner like they said...I don’t want you all to get in trouble, and Golden Generation seems adamant about not changing the choreography. The judges and audience will still vote for me and be understanding, right? Injuries happen."
"Maybe? I mean, do you want to sit off to the side? It would be easier, but we’re a team, so your opinion matters. I already promised I wouldn’t sideline you, and I don’t plan to do so unless you ask me to, of your own free will. Not because you were pressured by some idols," Ari asked as he took a seat with the cane in his lap.
"Do I have a choice? They seem pretty adamant about it. We don’t even have an idea for how to change the choreography." Justin replied bitterly.
"I said it before, they’re outsiders. It’s a team vote, and what they said is just suggestions and wishes. As far as I know, they’re not the only judges, so if they don’t like it and the audience and the other judges do, then it’s okay. We just need to put on a spectacular performance, and if we beat out the teams doing BTZ songs, won’t they be happy? And who said there’s no choreography idea? I have one, I just wanted to see if they had a better one, and they don’t."
5 pairs of eyes all focused on him, Ari smiled mischievously.
"Wanna hear it?"
"Obviously!"
"First, let’s ditch the sparkles and glitter. Screw disco, we’re becoming a mafia. Black suits, sunglasses, flashy jewelry, and we’re showing up like we’re a mob family."
"Huh?"
"What? Why?"
Everyone looked completely confused, but Ari just tapped the cane happily.
"Just listen. And we’ll be using the canes for the choreo. I had a video to show you, but I gave the PD my phone. Regardless, something like this can be done using canes and the mic stand instead. And if we pair up and use spray haircolor..."
Ari detailed his idea while demonstrating the general concept with the cane, watching as Justin’s eyes lit up with excitement.
Alfonso was nodding knowingly, Jamie was smiling brightly as usual, and Levi had a tiny smile.
Even Choi Woobin looked a bit intrigued.
"The vocals will stay the same, some of us will still be performing the original choreography according to skills, and we’ve added a little extra to make Justin not stand out wrongly. What do you think?
"I think your concept fits the song better, but...won’t we get in trouble if we change it so much? They might blame you and with the PD...." Justin trailed off as he replayed the scene he just witnessed in his mind
"It doesn’t matter to me. I’m the leader, and it’s my job to take the heat, win or lose; the blame will fall on me, and as you can see, my reputation is already in the gutter, and I’m already fighting with the PD so who cares. If anything, you all might catch some flak, so decide for yourself. If you want to do it, let’s do it. If you don’t, let’s not. As always, this is a blind vote, so eyes closed, hands up if we’re going through with my new idea or sticking with Golden Generations’ recommendation."
And after the vote-
"It’s unanimous. So let’s start practicing the new routine until you want to die. No complaining."
*****
While the Standing Next To You team was suffering at practice, a storm was in progress at the South Korean International Airport.
A sharply dressed woman with a brown French bob, bright red lipstick, and black sunglasses stepped out into the arrival area of the Korean airport, surrounded by a mass of photographers and people seeking a photo, a statement, or an autograph from this living legend.
For those in the fashion world, the image of the woman in the black and white Breton top, long linen skirt, leather loafers, and chic blazer thrown over the shoulder, along with a well-used Birkin bag, was well-known.
Chloé Laurent.
She had a fantastic resume that many dreamed of in the fashion world.
She briefly modeled in her youth.
Former editor-in-chief of La Mode magazine.
One of the co-chairwomen of the illustrious Met Gala.
One of the advisors on the executive board for Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode, the committee that founded, organized, and ran Paris Fashion Week.
Although she had refused to be in the spotlight, to the extent that many didn’t know she held these positions, she was quite active in the background of things ever since she retired from her public-facing job at La Mode.
And now that she was making unprecedented public moves, such as creating a social media account and arriving in Korea, people wondered what was going on.
"Miss Laurent! Miss Laurent! Could you please tell us what you’re doing in Korea?" a reporter asked in heavily accented English.
"I’m here to see the son of my enemy. I heard that he’s getting bullied by some no-name TV producer and being accused of a myriad of things that I plan on sorting out. By hook or by crook." Chloé replied with a heavy French accent before turning to the side.
"Sabine. Where’s my wine? And a cigarette? I’m too sober for this nonsense. The sight of all these people irritates me."
"I have the wine right here, madame. You can’t smoke until you’re out of the airport." With a resigned sigh at the unreasonable request, Sabine, the personal assistant who had somehow survived for twenty years, whipped out a crystal wineglass already filled with red wine and handed it over.
And to the shock of the reporters and viewers, as she walked through the crowd that was being held at bay by airport staff, Chloé began drinking her wine as she strolled out of the airport.
And the moment she stepped out, she lit up a long cigarette and entered the chauffeured vehicle.