Chapter 284: Prince Of Tennis (4)
William stared at Ari in furious silence, unwilling to admit that he had lost and naturally reluctant to quit the show according to the bet.
He just glared at the laughing green-eyed boy before him while wishing to strangle him to death.
Then that way, he wouldn’t have to figure out a way to get himself out of this situation.
And as a person who refused to be generous toward somebody he hated, Ari naturally rubbed salt in the wound and continued to kick William while he was down.
Using his tennis racket as a microphone, he began speaking in a sing-song voice.
"Hello? Prince William? Are you ready to quit? PD Ji-ho, he has something very important to say to you-"
"You shut up!"
"Ah? Me? Porquoi? Angry that you lost the bet? I told you that you had the makings of a sore loser, and here you are proving it." Ari openly mocked William with no shame.
He naturally expected somebody to save William, but until then, he would continue to have the blond boy act completely out of character.
He could already see the members of Red Lace looking at William in dislike from his earlier comments, and Ari would naturally pour fuel and fan the flames since William had no self-control.
It wasn’t like the PDs would air footage of William looking bad anyway, so he might as well go crazy in riling him up.
Besides, he just enjoyed being petty.
"You clearly had professional experience playing tennis, so you cheated! You knew you would win!" William yelled, causing Ari to laugh incredulously.
"Of course I did. Es-t’abruti? Who makes a bet they’re not confident in winning? You think Las Vegas casinos make millions of dollars a year because they think they’re going to lose a bet? You think companies host contests because they’re losing money? Be serious. Are you quitting or not?"
"I’m not quitting, no matter what you say!"
"So you’re reneging. Wow. Truly not a man of your word. Is this how the Forbes family raises their kids? To make bets and then renege when they lose? Tsk tsk."
"Keep my family out of your mouth."
"Or what? Is somebody going to theoretically get dirty cops to get rid of me and throw the body in a dumpster?"
William: ಠ_ಠ
Ari: ^_^
"Contestant Ariel, please watch what you say. Why don’t you do a quick interview about your victory while I settle William? We need to get his injury cleaned so it doesn’t scar."
PD Ji-ho interrupted as he looked between William, who looked as if he were seconds from exploding with blood dripping down his cheek, and Ariel, who was poking the hornet’s nest without a care in the world.
"Sure."
As the PD walked over to William, Ari walked over to the waiting camera and staff member who had interviewed him earlier.
"Contestant Ariel, congratulations. How do you feel about winning?"
"I feel great! I can’t wait for contestant William to honor our bet and quit." Ari let out a completely refreshed smile as the expression on the staff member’s face froze.
"Ah, I was wondering about that. Is it safe to say that your relationship with William is bad? After all, you made a bet for him to quit, which is quite unusual to say the least. Tell me the truth, do you hate contestant William?"
Rather than answer the question, Ari gave a polite smile while listing his grievances with William.
"William insisted on shaking my hand after repeated refusals and injured my right hand for weeks, and never apologized. If I weren’t ambidextrous, it would have been very inconvenient for me. While playing against Suzuki Rei, who had less skill than him, he purposefully targeted his body with the ball when he could have won without doing that." Ari paused and pointed to his legs, which were purposefully exposed because he rolled up his pants.
The pale skin was dotted with tennis ball-shaped bruises, turning an ugly purple color, which looked more painful than it felt.
Hearing the staff member wince as they glanced at them, Ari shrugged.
"I purposefully lost 2 games to see if he would do the same thing to me; he did, and now that he lost, he doesn’t plan on honoring the bet he made. Rather than the relationship between us being bad, I think it would be hard for anyone here to be in a team with that kind of person, who is willing to harm others, with whom he might possibly debut with over a simple game. It is clearly a reflection of poor character."
He thought it would be over with that, but the staff member clearly didn’t agree.
"I see that you’re showing the injuries caused by contestant William hitting you with a tennis ball, but didn’t you hit William. In fact, you hit him so hard that he began bleeding. Don’t you think those same words apply to you for inflicting such a gruesome injury on him?"
"Please state the correct facts and don’t lie on my name and actions."
Keeping his polite smile, Ari looked the staff member in the eye until they looked away, "I never once directly hit him with the ball. Not once. Everyone here can vouch for that. There’s plenty of camera footage, so feel free to review everything frame by frame if you’d like. The reason he got injured was that the ball swept by his face, slicing him in passing. It was completely incidental, and the reason it’s bleeding so much is that it’s a head wound. Basic biology tells us that there are numerous blood vessels close to the surface of a person’s face. When injured, it bleeds a lot. When comparing an incidental injury to his face vs the multiple times he shot the ball at the face and legs of two different contestants, so much so that the Idol Areum had to warn him repeatedly, do you think those things are equivalent?"
"Uhhh...no?"
"Exactly. Any other questions for me?"
"...No?"
"Then I look forward to seeing how the production team publishes and twists the incident. Thank you for your hard work."
Giving the staff member a neutral smile, Ari turned to watch PD Ji-ho, who was speaking with William, before gesturing for Ari to approach.
"Contestant Ariel."
"Yes, sir?"
Ari glanced at the two of them, noting the large bandaid on William’s face, before looking at PD Ji-ho.
The PD stared at him with a slightly annoyed expression before clearing his throat and continuing to speak.
"We’re in Korea."
Obviously.
"Bets made with minors are illegal, and the last time I checked, even if you’re legal in America, you’re a minor in Korea. This means that the bet between you and contestant William doesn’t count, and you alone could get in trouble for underage gambling and betting. So we’ll end this here."
"Oh. How convenient for you. Saved by the law. How surprising." Ari just smiled at William before turning back to the PD with a sloppy salute.
"Whatever you say, boss. Since I won the tennis match, what’s my prize?"
"Firstly, would the two of you like to shake hands for the good game that you played. It was quite impressive." Happy to change the subject, PD Ji-ho smiled at the two boys, happy to have captured the tennis match on film.
It could be dramatically edited, and he could already see clips of it being shared now.
At the question, William happily held out his hand, but Ari shook his head and took several steps away, looking afraid.
"No, thank you. I remember what happened to me the last time I shook William’s hand. Ambidextrous or not, I don’t want a sprained and bruised hand for the next 3 weeks."
"If your bones weren’t so weak and you just gave me what I wanted, that wouldn’t have happened," William grumbled under his breath.
Areum and the rest of the Red Lace Members, who were standing close by, stared at William in shock while PD Ji-ho just looked resigned.
"Fine. Miss Areum, please commence with the announcements."
"Sure. Could all the finalists please line up?"
At Areum’s command, the top 3 tennis members stood solemnly before the members of Red Lace, three of whom were holding ribbons in their hands.
With a beautiful smile, Areum began her announcement.
"Coming in third place is Contestant Suzuki Rei. He earns 3 points for the Yellow Team. Congratulations."
When Nari gestured toward him, Rei stepped forward while blushing so hard that his face almost matched the red bits of his hair.
Smiling gently, Nari pinned the white and yellow ribbon before stepping back.
"Coming in second place is Contestant William from the Red Team. He earns 6 points for the Red Team. Congratulations."
As William stepped forward, Sakura, the member with bright pink hair, pinned a red ribbon to his chest.
As she went to retreat, William quickly interrupted her.
"May I have a handshake? You’re my favorite member."
"Ah, sorry."
Bowing her head politely as she glanced between William and Ari, Sakura quickly retreated to hide behind Areum while William’s eyebrow twitched."
"Ah, sorry about Sakura. Our maknae is a bit shy. She means no harm."
Areum briefly apologized before turning to Ari with a bright smile and her hand extended for a handshake.
"The winner of the tennis battle is Contestant Ariel from the Blue Team. He earns 10 points for the Blue Team. Congratulations, that was a great match. You really proved that you’re the prince of tennis. At least here."
"Thank you very much."
Ari gently shook her hand before letting it go, and she pinned the large blue ribbon against his chest.
"You’re quite welcome. Unfortunately, the rest of the teams don’t get any points this time around, but I’m sure you’ll do better in the upcoming events. So please greet your teams and let’s move on to the next event, which is Ssireum."
Once they were released, Ari began heading back to his team, unpining the ribbon from his chest and attaching it to the tennis racket.
"Boys."
Ari held his racket up solemnly and didn’t say anything else.
Reading the mood, they stared at him silently as he marched forward and held his racket high like a baby lion in the sky.
When he stood before them, he cleared his throat before yelling.
"I present to you the first winnings for our journey to unlimited, high-quality beef on the production team’s budget. TO VICTORY! TO ALL YOU CAN EAT BEEF!"
"TO BEEF!"
With a happy cheer, Ari joined the team’s shenanigans before they were stopped and had to walk to the wrestling area.