CHAPTER 208: LET’S DO SOME HOMEWORK (4)

"Where have you been?" Ari asked NOVA in a harsh whisper.

[Upgrading myself.]

[And I see that you’ve been causing a mess left, right, and center.]

[Getting arrested.]

[Getting suspended.]

[Wow.]

[I’m surprised you didn’t end up in jail to hit a home run of messing things up completely.]

Well, that almost happened.

He was just lucky.

Not wanting to talk about his past missteps, Ari decided to change the subject smoothly.

"So what did you get from your upgrade? It must be something nice since you were gone for so long. Show me. Tell me."

[Things that will be useful for you.]

[However, at this rate of completing your missions, it might be decades before I can even give them to you as a reward.]

[I can’t believe you’re still on this mission board.]

[Sigh.]

"Hey! While you were taking a long nap in the name of upgrading, I was busy."

[Excuses, Excuses.]

"Pull up the mission board, please."

[Here.]

[Mission Board #5]

1. [I see Korea, I see France, I see you getting more passport stamps (only if you’re not eliminated)! - Get a new Passport (American) - 1 Stat Point]

2. [I’m not the bottom of the barrel, I’m the pick of the litter! - completed]

3. [Knock! Knock! Let’s get you out of the dark ages into the 21st century! - Create a social media account, make your first post, and get at least 1000 likes on the post.]

"Well, the third mission might be completed soon. I posted a picture with my face and the faces of my friends on the show. But the first one...I have to schedule an appointment for that, but I’m not too worried about it. I can have a passport in 72 hours."

[Can you?]

[Are you sure?]

"Yes. I checked the website, and they have appointment slots available for the next 2 months. I’m not stupid, you know."

[Hmmmm. Considering the fact that you tried to do a handstand on an injured hand hours after a medical professional told you not to put weight on it, I won’t comment on that statement.]

[Still. That passport...]

[I recommend that you get it sooner rather than later.]

[But as always, the choice is yours.]

"I’m really not too worried about the passport now that I’m 18. More importantly, what’s the deal with William? Why does his status look like that? How did you hurt my hand? Just what is going on exactly? You literally burnt my hand? What was that about?"

[William? William? William?]

[Oh, the murderous blondie.]

[His status.]

[You must think he has a system, right?]

[Something as amazing, witty, talented, good-looking, and splendorous as me?]

Is that what you think about yourself?

".....sure, let’s go with that. Is it not?"

[Yes and no.]

[What he has is an incomplete [redacted], called [redacted]]

".....?"

Ari simply stared into the air, completely confused.

[Hmmmm.]

[On Earth, I believe there is an animal called a parasite.]

[That is most likely the closest equivalent to what he has.]

[It attaches itself to a host and has to consume the skills and stats of others in hopes of eventually becoming complete.]

[But because it is a stupid, filthy thing, it can’t properly process what it eats.]

[That is why you see that long list of stats that are not cohesive and don’t make sense.]

"So....can it just not do that?"

[No.]

"Why not?"

[Hmmm..let’s see.]

[An example that you can understand.]

[Do you know the filthy, stupid, lazy white and black animal that should have become extinct by now?]

"...a panda?"

[Yes.]

[It eats constantly because what it consumes has little to no nutrients.]

[In this situation, the parasite is the panda and the food is the skills and stats that others have through their hard work or through [redacted.]]

[It has to constantly absorb from others, but it doesn’t get to select what stat or skill is eaten, how long it will last, and it rarely gets to keep them permanently.]

"Can’t William just increase his own stats naturally instead of doing this? Or complete missions like I do?"

[Don’t compare me with that filthy creature.]

[It’s incapable of providing the resources I provide to you.]

[And as for a natural increase?]

[He clearly doesn’t want to.]

[Isn’t he pushing the genius agenda?]

"Well, that’s true."

The way William was edited portrayed him as a perfect princely person who didn’t need to practice and was just good at everything with minimal effort.

A natural-born entertainment genius, if you will.

And as someone who had been with him through vocal classes as well as on the same team, Ari knew that couldn’t be farther from the truth.

[If you notice, he targets a particular type of person.]

[Can you guess what the criteria are?]

Ari thought about the two targets he had noticed William stealing stats from: Judge Larry Jackson and Carlos, who was often considered the best singer based on pure vocal ability.

Although Larry Jackson had his composer stat reduced, his commonality with Carlos would be...

High vocal stats.

"Vocalists?"

[Correct.]

[Although I believe that is the blonde one’s preference, not a necessity.]

"But why can’t he just eat the stats of someone who is somewhere else, instead of harassing the people here?"

[Why would he bother?]

[Rather than risk eating something useless, there’s a higher concentration of the stats he wants here, and you’re all in a stressful situation where no one will bat an eye if you lose your voice or lose your dancing skills.]

[And your trainers have so nicely separated the trash from the talent, so he knows exactly who to target, and it won’t draw any attention if he’s touchy with people.]

[It’s clear he has the people he wants to debut with and the connections to try and make it happen, and he’s doing well so far.]

[His original group of seven has all survived and are being edited well, meaning he has influence in places higher than that assistant PD.]

[As for the rest of you, you’re more than likely fodder.]

[At least that’s my thought.]

[What do you think?]

Ari thought it over for a bit before tabling the thought since he didn’t want to start digging into what William was thinking.

If he did so, he had a feeling he would be there all night.

"Let’s table that for now. How or why did the old man have you? And why did William think he got you when he got rid of him?"

[You don’t have the authority to know that.]

"What’s the old man’s name? I can look things up on my own."

[You don’t have the authority to know that.]

"When will I get that authority?"

[I wonder.]

Ari: ಠ_ಠ

[As you often say- I’m kidding.]

[If you succeed in coming in first place on this show and successfully sign your contract, I will give you an answer to the best of my ability.]

"Why do I have to wait?"

[Because your existence would be upgraded from accidentally being in the wrong place at the wrong time to being in the know.]

[And right now, you’re pretty powerless, and nobody would bat an eye if you died. Just like that old man.]

"...well, that’s a bit harsh."

[The truth usually is.]

"What if I don’t come in first place?"

[Then I won’t tell you.]

A bit frustrated at the roundabout reasoning, Ari sighed before changing the subject.

"Then tell me why he wants you."

[Who wouldn’t want me?]

[I can make you the biggest star in the world and make your dreams come true.]

"So? There are other ways to go about it. Don’t tell me that I’m somehow in a conspiracy with mad scientists and crazy people in the entertainment industry trying to acquire you to become the most talented person ever?]

[Having died already due to a certain blonde person in close proximity to you who has shown no remorse about his actions and has constantly tried to harm you and those around you, why don’t you tell me what you think?]

Ari: ಠ_ಠ

"Well, when you put it that way. It’s quite concerning. Can I just give you to him?"

[So you want to die?]

"No, thank you."

[Then we’re stuck together until you achieve the goal of being a global superstar.]

[Get used to it.]

[And stay away from him.]

[It takes energy to resist that filthy creature, and as much as I occasionally dislike you, I don’t enjoy having to hurt you.]

"Hmmmm. Fine. Then another question. Wha-"

Bang bang bang bang!

An angry voice began yelling as someone banged on the door until it rattled.

"Oi! Stop muttering to yourself and get out of the bathroom, I have to take a dump!!"

"I’m using it!"

"No, you’re not! You’ve been in there muttering to yourself for like 30 minutes. Get out! "

Bang bang bang bang!

Bang bang bang bang!

Bang bang bang bang!

As the person continued banging on the door again, Ari quickly washed his hands and opened it, seeing the face of a person that he had only spoken to once.

"What the heck man? There are other bathrooms."

"Oh, look, if it isn’t Captain Crashout, the PD’s favorite little criminal, who gets to coast along without doing any work because he got a public pity party. Get out of my way."

Jerome Tyler, one of Williams’ friends who had medium-brown skin with star designs shaved along the sides of his low-cut hair, muttered as he shoulder checked Ari before entering the bathroom and slamming the door.

"PD’s favorite? What nonsense is he talking about? They’ve literally given me the worst edits." Ari muttered, about to confront him before letting it go.

After all, he tried not to engage with nonsense or crazy people if he didn’t have to.

Maybe he had been driven crazy because he needed to poop and hung out with William too much.

Shrugging to himself, he ate a light meal and did his repeat missions before peacefully going to bed.

And the next morning, after breakfast-

"Firstly, let’s congratulate the top 6 people from the live stream. Benjamin, Mathew, Daniel, Jamie, Alfonso, Jerome, you’ll get to choose the food tonight. And the person who unequivocally had the most viewers, comments, and donations is contestant Ariel. Please give him a round of applause."

As Ari got a polite round of applause and a few dirty looks, he nodded, taking it all in.

After all, he had been forced to stream for an extra hour due to demand, so if he hadn’t made it into the top seven, he would have been quite shocked.

As for the first-place prize?

He was very uninterested in it.

If they could convert it into money or at least pay him back the prize money that he won, he would be happier.

"We’ll take your food orders for the evening, and contestant Ariel can speak with a staff member to plan your food menu for the next week. If you have a food request, bother him, not the staff." PD Emily recommended.

At her words, the eyes of 49 contestants turned to gaze at him as if they were starving dogs.

Ignoring every single one of them, Ari raised his hand.

"Yes, contestant Ari."

"Can I pass the decision on to other people?"

"Sure. I don’t care. Just make it quick."

As the eyes of the contestants looked even more ravenous, Ari laughed mischievously before listing out the people whom he considered friends.

"I’ll pass the meal decision for 2 days to Jamie, 1 day to Benjamin, 2 days to Carlos, 1 day to Vishal, and 1 day to Mathew. If anyone bothers Carlos about his food choices, I’ll make us eat oatmeal for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the next seven days, so everyone should think carefully."

- tsk.

- favoritism.

- he’s gotten really cocky lately.

"Yes!" Jamie pumped his fist before smacking Ari hard on the back and high-fiving everyone who was called.

"Wait! Why do I only get 1 day?" Benjamin complained, staring from Ari to Jamie with a look of betrayal.

"Because I have no interest in eating beans on toast for breakfast, and I know for a fact that you will feed us beans and toast for breakfast," Ari told him honestly.

Benjamin didn’t even bother to deny it; he just gave Ari a wide smile.

"You don’t know what you’re missing out on. A full English breakfast is a delicacy."

"Yeah, a delicacy from hell," Mathew muttered off to the side, immediately protecting his head from Benjamin’s swing.

"Oi!"

Clap! Clap!

"Quiet down! I have announcements to get through, and you all have stuff to do."

PD Emily’s cold voice broke the silence, and everyone immediately sat up.

"Once again, it’s social media week, where we will be doing things to promote ourselves to the public. Yesterday’s PR live stream was mainly a success. HOWEVER-"

PD Emily paused to glare at specific individuals,

"Some of you need to watch your comments because thanks to a certain somebody whose name I won’t mention, people are filling our inboxes with demands that we should pay you. Hashtag free you from working like a slave because this is the 21st century? I won’t call names, but you know who you are and you better not do it again."

At the PD’s pointed words, Ari just looked into the air and pretended that she didn’t glare at him for several seconds.

"From now on, when we have live streams, we will go over the rules and regulations of what and what not to say. If you have complaints, communicate them to the staff before or after the event. If you are injured, for the love of god, do not do stunts or try to walk or flip on the injured limb. Also, do NOT turn your livestream into a dating advice show or a miniature club while singing inappropriate music or bypass settings with passwords you’re not supposed to have to get people to join your live. Do NOT use the items you’re supposed to be promoting to perform martial arts. And for some of you, from now on, you WILL be accompanied by a writer or another staff member since you cannot be trusted. Am I clear?"

At the oddly specific statements, Ari looked around, trying to identify who did what, before straightening up and looking innocent when the PD glared at him one more time.

"Am I clear?"