Chapter 277: Meeting BTZ (5)
"You’re joking."
"I’ve never joked about anything a day in my life." Ari lied with a completely straight face while Mathew just backed away slowly.
Shin Ji-yong glanced down at the song and choreography playing on his phone with an incredulous expression before staring at the young boy, who was smiling angelically at him.
"This is the song you want to do with me?"
"Yes."
"You’re positive? This song? This choreography?"
"Yes."
Shin Ji-yong glanced at it again.
Naturally, he quickly picked up the choreography because it wasn’t hard, but...this?
"...Why?"
What kind of choice was this when there were thousands of cool challenges to choose from, even among the ones he learned today?
He could choose something that would make him look good.
After all, it wasn’t every day that he got this opportunity, so he should be making the most of it.
"Why? I am someone who takes the words people tell me to heart. I thought that since you said you wanted to pluck my eyes out because they reminded you of the sea, I would give you a memory about the sea that would last forever in your heart, mind, and soul. And since you recommended that I should stick to being a visual because I can’t dance, I decided to choose something so easy even a child could do it, so that both of our faces could be the focus." Ari told him with all the sincerity he could muster.
"Ariel, please. Your words!" PD Ji-ho felt sweat dripping down his back at the words that sounded like a threat.
Shin Ji-yong was not the person to antagonize because you were feeling petty!
"What about my words? I’m just repeating what he said to me. Did I say anything wrong?"
YES!!
"...Ariel. Please reconsider the song choice. You could do the signal song or-"
"No, thank you. He made a promise that I could choose any song, which I did. But if he wants to back out and be a chicken, I guess I can allow it."
"You’re calling me a chicken?"
"No. I said if you back out, you’re a chicken. There’s a difference."
Isn’t that the same thing?
PD Ji-ho nervously glanced between the stubborn smile on Ari’s face and the frozen expression on Shin Ji-yong’s.
Was he going to blow up or walk off entirely?
Did he need to apologize and call everything off?
Once again, Shin Ji-yong looked at the phone, which was playing the annoyingly repetitive song, before turning to Ari, who still had a smug smile on his face.
"You think I won’t?"
"I hope you do. I think your fans will enjoy it."
"So you chose it because of my fans? I thought you chose it because of the words I said to you?"
Well, I actually chose it to be petty.
"A wise Frenchman once said that an idol is a reflection of their fans and vice versa. Since it was a song chosen with your advice, I think your fans would enjoy it."
[Did a wise Frenchman really say that?]
I’m wise and I’m French, aren’t I? Close enough. Now get out of my way.
At his cheeky words, Shin Ji-yong snorted and shook his head.
"You sure know how to speak. Good. Let’s do it."
With a cold smile, Shin Ji-yong gestured for the cameraman and PD to start the music and begin recording.
And while the contestants and staff members stared in shock, the annoying melody sang by preschool children everywhere rang out.
Infant shark doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo
Infant shark doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo
Infant Shark
Mother Shark shark shark shark
And with a delighted smile, Ari properly danced alongside the top idol and leader of BTZ to his audition soundtrack, performing the cute dance with no shame.
Pretending to swim like a shark with his hands on his head, using his hands like fins, spinning around on one foot like a top, and hopping in the air like a bunny, he faithfully danced with 100% of all his strength while keeping an eye on the person doing the same thing he was.
Like a true idol, with the same level of energy he had used when his own choreography with Mathew, Shin Ji-yong properly danced to the choreography he had just memorized and even added extra aegyo and cute facial expressions for the camera.
Due to his years of experience in delivering fanservice, any sense of embarrassment no longer existed, and once he was in front of the camera, his duty was to be as entertaining and charming as possible which he would do.
But once the camera turned off, the brightly smiling face became eerily calm as he stared at Ari silently.
But not one to be fazed by others, Ari smiled politely since he had gotten what he wanted.
"Thank you for your hard work. Please post it as soon as possible and don’t renege or accidentally delete it."
Shin Ji-yong stared at him silently for several seconds before reaching out and pinching his cheek with a cold smile.
"You know.... I’m coming to like you more and more, including this prickly temper that likes to hold grudges. Just know, I like to hold grudges too. And I’ll remember this."
Ari: ಠ_ಠ
That’s great, but was it really necessary to pinch my cheeks, you freaking weirdo?
Remember it with your mind, not your hands.
Before Ari could say anything else, Shin Ji-yong released him and turned to
PD Ji-ho.
"PD-ssi, I’ll leave the practice room to you. I have some things to do, so send a message to my manager, and I’ll find some time to record the final challenges with the contestants who won."
"Of course. Thank you once again, Ji-yong nim." PD Ji-ho bowed his head politely at the idol.
"Sure. Kiddies, I’ll be seeing you all very soon in an official capacity, so look forward to it."
Waving at the contestants who still seemed shocked after watching him do the most unlikely dance ever, Shin Ji-yong left.
And as if everyone had been holding their breath, an audible sigh of relief was heard in the room.
"Okay, let’s get this done quickly. Those who signed up for JellyJelly, please come forward to record."
As PD Ji-ho grabbed the attention of those in the practice room, Ari went to sit beside Mathew off to the side.
As Mathew opened his mouth, Ari slid to the floor and interrupted him.
"Yeah, yeah. I know, I know. Blah blah blah is afraid of me. But, think about how boring your life would be if I wasn’t here."
"I can’t believe you made THEE SHIN JI-YONG dance to that!!! What a wasted opportunity to promote yourself and your skills!"
"It wasn’t wasted."
"Huh?"
"It wasn’t wasted," Ari repeated with a yawn.
At Mathews’ disbelieving look, he shrugged, "Trust me, I can assure you that that post will do better than any of the challenge videos."
"Why?"
"Because it’s the kind of thing fans like. It’s a unique taste. I think the term is Gap-moe?"
"Huh? What the heck is that?"
"Supposedly, what people are craving nowadays. Either way, it’s good for him, and it’s good for me. Especially for my fans who have to suffer through shark gate to defend my dancing skills."
"Huh? What the heck is shark gate?"
Rather than explain the multiple hours of fan culture that had been drilled into him (unwillingly) as well as the numerous ways Ari’s incidents had been categorized (also unwillingly) by Grace, Ari just watched as the rest of the contestants finished up their dance challenges.
And surprisingly, once they were done, the PD took them back to their dorm with a warning that tomorrow would start even earlier than today and would be more physically taxing.
Having learned their lessons, nobody went out, and everyone went to bed extremely early.
Which is why, when an alarm suddenly rang out in the middle of the night, all the contestants were sleeping peacefully in bed.
Beep, beep, beep
Beep, beep, beep
Beep, beep, beep
Crash!
A staff member dashed into the room, screaming as the alarm continued ringing, with red lights flashing, making it look like the set of a horror film.
"Guys, the building is on fire! We have to get out now! No time to get your luggage! Move! Move! Move! Let’s go! Let’s go!"
Thud!
"Wha- ohhh my back!"
Somebody fell off the top bunk and screamed, adding to the confusion as the staff member began shaking everyone awake.
As someone who instantly woke up when disturbed and never bothered to unpack his things out of habit, the moment the first beep went off and the staff began yelling, Ari snapped awake, put on his shoes, grabbed Jamie’s guitar, both of their backpacks, and their electronic devices, which were under his bed.
He tried turning on the room light, but seeing as it didn’t work, he used his phone as a flashlight and pointed it at the individuals in the room.
Jamie, who looked surprisingly focused and not scared, was scrambling to put on his sneakers while Levi quietly assembled his belongings into his bookbag, making sure he had his headphones.
Daniel and Suzuki Rei just looked confused and sleepy while Rex, who was clutching his back, grimaced in pain as the flashlight panned over him.
"Stop standing around and get your passport and shoes. There’s a fire."
"Oh! Right!"
"Yeah?"
"What is going on?"
"Fire. So move it. Shoes. Passport. Shoes. Passport! Grab it and let’s go."
As Ari was trying to get them to move quickly, the staff member came back into the room, shouting for them to get out and to leave their luggage.
When his entire room was finally emptied out, Ari moved through the hallway, handing Jamie his things. He saw all the contestants rushing through the hallways and down the stairs in sleepy confusion while the alarm continued to go off and red lights continued to flash.
When they ran out of the building, expecting to see fire trucks, all he saw was a large white bus, which they were quickly ushered into by silent staff members who were unusually calm compared to the previous shouting that was happening inside the building.
Once all the contestants were inside, the door snapped shut, and the bus suddenly began to move, causing the contestants to stagger in confusion as they looked around and noticed that there was a partition between the driver and the rest of the bus.
"What’s this?"
"What’s going on?"
"Oy. Anybody seen the staff members, or is it only the mandem on the bus?"
"Are we getting kidnapped?"
"Was there even a fire?"
"Wait, where are we being taken?"
As the bus started becoming rowdy, with contestants trying to shove past each other get through the partition and even open the windows of the moving bus-
Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
A shrill whistle cut through the noise.
When everyone turned around to see who made such a terrible noise in an enclosed space, Levi’s sharp voice cut through the noise as he pointed toward a barely visible lens with a tiny red light next to it on the ceiling of the partition at the front of the bus.
"Shut up. We’re being recorded."