CHAPTER 210: THE WORST TEAM EVER (2)

"As was previously mentioned, we’re having a fan showcase where you all will be performing. Before the performances, we’d like to host a small event where contestants can interact with the fans who are coming. Consider hosting a mini-festival booth, where each group can showcase their sincerity to the fans. You can read through the documents the writer left and pick one, or give them the details if you have a different idea. If it’s within our budget and time constraints, we can do it. And as for your performance, the fans decided they wanted your team to do a sexy concept that somehow includes water."

A sexy concept?

And to somehow include water?

What the heck was that supposed to be?

Ari stared at PD Ji-ho in confusion, and it seemed like he wasn’t the only one who was doing so because the PD continued to explain without prompting.

"Yes, that’s right. It was the most popular concept request among fans, and we thought it would be fitting to give it to this team. There were a lot of references to contestant Ariel’s Warrior performance with the water floor, so feel free to keep that in mind when you’re trying to decide the performance concept. Regarding the performance, you’re free to select any song that you want. Each team has a person who can create choreography, but the dance trainers, Selena, Jaywalks, and Kim Young-woo, will be by tomorrow to help if needed. Additionally, if you need help arranging the song, both Jelissa and Larry Jackson will be here after your vocal lessons in the morning. The midway check will be in four days. Any questions?"

Ari immediately raised his hand up.

"Yes, contestant Ariel?"

"How much of the concept is a suggestion? Do we have to do both requested concepts?"

"Yes. It’s not a suggestion at all, so I recommend you follow through and do everything. Any other questions?"

They all silently shook their heads.

"Good. Feel free to look at the envelopes when you have time. I’ll let you guys get to work. Please have the team leader report everything to the appropriate staff members tomorrow. Good luck."

Once the PD left, Ari just sat and stared silently at everyone else.

Usually, he didn’t mind being the first to say something, but between William, who always wanted to be the leader, and Rex, who had always been his team leader, he planned on just watching things play out.

"Let’s start by choosing a leader. I nominate myself since I’ve successfully led a team to victory twice." William said with a challenging expression.

"I also nominate myself as leader. I believe I’ve done a good job leading my past teams, and I think I’ll do a good job here as well. Additionally, I’m confident I’ll be the primary person working on the choreography, so it might streamline things a bit if I’m the leader."

"Doing the choreography and being a leader are two separate things, so don’t conflate them. That’s like saying the person who does the arranging should also be in the running for the leader."

"Yeah I could agree to that," Rex replied with a shrug.

"Well, I don’t."

The two of them stared at each other before Rex smiled politely first.

"Good thing this is a democracy and not a dictatorship. If no one else wants to nominate themselves, shall we vote?"

"...Fine."

"Those who vote for William to be the team leader, please raise your hand."

Only William and Jerome Tyler raised their hand, and realizing this, William glared at Levi, who arched a brow at him as if daring him to say something, and then at Justin, who glanced at Ari for some reason before slowly raising his hand, causing the blonde boy to smirk.

"Three votes for William. Those who vote for me to be the leader, please raise your hand."

Ari, Benjamin, and Rex immediately raised their hands.

"It’s a tie, meaning Levi is the tie breaker. Who do you pick?" Rex asked, curious as to why Levi had abstained from voting for either one of them.

Levi glanced between Rex and William before his sharp blue eyes focused on Ari.

"Him."

"Absolutely not." Ari made an X with his arms, not wanting to even entertain the thought.

"...can I ask why?" Rex asked sullenly.

He was a bit offended that he was being passed over for someone who started off with a gimmick to draw attention, rather than having real skills, and had risen to popularity because of his pretty face, messy life story, and clear favoritism by the PD.

Although he could admit that Ari was the better vocalist, he didn’t think Ari would be a better team leader, or could dance or perform better than he could.

So the fact that Levi, who was a loner and notoriously difficult to work with on a team, wanted someone who wasn’t in his original performance group as the leader was a bit annoying.

Levi scrunched his face up as if the discussion was annoying before replying in his usual sharp tone.

"Like you mentioned earlier, more than likely, he’s going to be the one arranging the music, so he can volunteer for the leadership position. And whole offense to both you and William if you want to take my words that way, but I’d rather the person who the creative director has repeatedly praised for his performance concepts, praised by the Grammy winning vocal coach for his musical arrangements, and had his very first performance be the requested reference for our assigned concept be the team leader. It just seems like the most logical thing to do here."

"If Ari’s in the running for leader, swap my vote over to him. No offense, big man." Benjamin added, giving Rex an apologetic smile.

While he had no issue with Rex as a teammate or a person, he preferred the devil he knew, especially since he was familiar with Ari’s working style and knew he felt the same way about William.

"Then we’re back to a tie? Now between Ari and William?" Rex asked with a sullen expression.

"No, because I’m not in the running for leader." Ari turned to Levi with a blank expression, annoyed that he would even bring him into this.

"I refuse to run, so just vote for Rex."

"I vote for Rex," Levi repeated in a deadpan voice.

"Amazing. The vote is 4 to 3, with Rex coming out on top. Congratulations to our new leader."

Ari began clapping quickly before anything else was said, causing William’s face to redden as he bit his lips while glancing at the camera.

Thankfully, he just bowed his head without saying anything, and Rex stood up.

"Okay. Thanks for making me the leader. I think we can decide our positions and what we’re doing for fans later. I would like to settle on a concept and song today, so that we can submit things like choreography and costumes early, work on the arrangement, and start practicing. What do you all think?"

"Fine by me."

"That works."

Seeing that there was a general consensus, Rex smiled before continuing.

"I think we probably have the easiest concept out of all the teams. They want something sexy, and they want water, and they’ve even given us a reference. Quite simply, we can just copy the first performance Ari did with the water stage and slightly change the styling. Since the beginning of time, all the female fans have loved seeing their idols shirtless and showing off their abs. I think we should just take off our shirts and perform. What do you all think? If we go with this, our work is significantly cut down, and we can just focus on making sure our skills are perfect." Rex asked proudly as he gauged the reaction of everyone.

William was slowly nodding along with Jerome Tyler, pleased with the idea of showing off the body that he worked hard to maintain.

Justin was intrigued, having admired the artistry when he first watched the video, but he also wasn’t entirely sold, preferring more elaborate setups to his performance.

Levi stayed silent, while Benjamin shrugged indifferently.

And Ari.

Ari had a frown on his face.

"Ari? Your thoughts?" Rex asked, hoping that it wasn’t a refusal that he saw.

But unfortunately-

It absolutely was.

"First, I’m not taking my shirt off to perform on stage, and secondly, I don’t think this is a good idea. No offense."

Ari immediately refused even to entertain the thought of stripping on stage.

According to Grace, that was a special move that couldn’t be used too often and had to be saved for the finale if he made it.

"Why? Ashamed of your body?" William commented snidely, and Ari looked at him as if he were crazy.

"Why would I be ashamed? I just think that’s a lazy cop out. No offense once again. Sure, we need to have a sexy concept with water, but our solution is to reuse an old stage instead of thinking of something new? You want to just add water on the floor, take your shirts off, and call it a day? That’s uninspired, it’s lazy, and the judges will absolutely rip us to shreds if we do that. You heard PD Ji-ho, they’re referring to this team as the Avengers. We should think about it a little more."

"Oh? Are you sure you’re not just saying that because you don’t want anyone else using your performance idea? You just want to hog all the credit and compliments from Bing Yongsun, because you don’t want to see someone else execute it better?" William cut in, back to his instigating ways.

"That’s low, man. Even for you." Jerome Tyler added while shaking his head.

Even Justin looked slightly suspicious.

Ari stared at their faces before laughing incredulously and raising both hands up.

"You think that’s what I’m doing? Really? That I care about compliments and credit for a performance idea that I pieced together from ideas I saw online? I just wanted us to do a little more thinking and try to make something cohesive and creative instead of recycling an old idea, but you know what? Go for it. What do I care? Let’s all get scolded together. My only stance is that I’m not taking my shirt off."

"If you feel that strongly about it, then what’s a better performance idea, Mr. Genius performance creator. I’m sure you’ve come up with thousands of ideas now that you’ve graced us with your presence once again. Please enlighten us."

"I don’t know yet. I thought we would brainstorm together as a team." Ari replied as calmly as he could.

He really wasn’t trying to get into it with William on camera.

"Oh, so you don’t even have an idea? Then why are you shooting down our only idea without offering up a solution? That’s not what a good teammate does. No wonder nobody wants to debut with you."

"Oi. Watch your words. And I agree with Ari. I’m not opposed to being shirtless or a water stage, but I think we should think this through a little more and make sure it’s not a direct copy of a previous performance. If you recall, we got dinged for doing that by the judges the last time." Benjamin interrupted, while staring at William with a cold expression.

Due to going along with him last time, he had been dinged by the judges as well as dragged by the public, thinking he was trying too hard to be like BTZ, and having no originality.

But William wasn’t having it.

"This is obviously a different situation. And the creator of the performance that we want to reference is on the team, so why would we get dinged again? I’m sure it will be fine."

"Oi Will-"

"You know what? Let’s leave it alone. I’ve put my opinion out there, and the leader can make a decision on it." Ari interrupted Benjamin before glancing at the camera and giving a forced smile.

He already had a headache.