From Skid Row to Superstardom: An Idol System Novel-Chapter 107: Swan (7)

[Yawn.]

[You called?]

[You haven’t finished your mission for weeks, so I took a nap from boredom.]

Transparent blue screens full of sarcastic text filled Ari’s vision after several seconds, but he just brushed them away in annoyance.

"Stop playing around with me. I just checked Carlos’ stats, and his vocal stat has gone down while Stupid Blondie is singing better than ever. Clearly, he took them just like he did to Larry Jackson, so explain what the deal is. How is he doing it? Does he have a system like you? Is the damage permanent? Tell me everything?" Ari demanded.

[It seems your ears are just decorations?]

[I told you previously, but I’ll repeat it one more time.]

[No matter how much you ask me, I can’t tell you anything until, at minimum, you get a third stat up to A rank.]

[So, rather than yelling at me, complete your missions in a faster manner.]

[It’s better for you in the long run after all.]

Ari: ಠ_ಠ

"I don’t believe you. Explain what’s going on."

[Believe it or not.]

[I don’t care.]

[¯\_(ツ)_/¯]

NOVA flippantly replied, with the shrugging emoji constantly flashing.

Taking a breath to calm himself, Ari decided to change tactics.

"Surely, there’s something you can tell me other than avoid him or finish my missions? An innocent person is getting harmed, and he’s getting away with it."

[Wasn’t Larry Jackson an innocent person?]

[You watched his stats get stolen as well and didn’t worry so much.]

"I don’t care about him," Ari replied honestly.

Although it sounded harsh, if Larry Jackson quit today or lost his voice or got all his stats stolen, apart from a general sense of pity and anger toward William Forbes, Ari really wouldn’t care at all since Larry seemed to like making his life harder than it needed to be.

But Carlos was different.

They had been forming a friendship, and Carlos had even helped him avoid William Forbes one time.

Seeing him harmed without even knowing who or why pissed him him off, especially when William was bragging like it was his own achievement and then interacting with Carlos as if he had done nothing wrong.

Maybe NOVA finally found its heart, as multiple dots filled Ari’s vision as if it were thinking.

[.....]

[Well, at least you’re honest about this even if you lie about everything else.]

[Hmmm....]

[Hmmm....]

[Hmmm....]

[Well...]

[If you ask some questions, I can try to give you some answers.]

Then, NOVA finally caved in.

"Fine. Is there a way to retrieve the stolen stats? Or to stop them from being stolen?"

[Hmmm....]

[Dunno?]

[¯\_(ツ)_/¯]

As Ari’s face twitched from anger at the flippant text, a loading text with three dots appeared on the blue screen, filling his vision once more.

[...]

[Avoiding that person is the best option for now, but if you can’t do that...]

[Hmmm...]

[Based on the gap between the last stat-stealing occurrence and now, there seems to be about a range of 2-4 weeks for it to consume the stolen stats and require more.]

[Since you’re not tracking the stat changes of every single person he interacts with, it’s difficult to gauge it, but for now, you should be safe from getting your stats taken.]

[Maybe.]

"It? Consume stats? Explain what you mean by that. Is it another system like you? What the hell are you really? Explain." Ari latched onto those words and began pushing NOVA to clarify details.

Unfortunately...

[...]

[I will not.]

[Next question.]

He was completely denied.

Frustrated once more, Ari thought about Carlos’ situation and what he could do.

The only thing he could really offer the boy was his own stat points.

"Can I give my stat points to other people?"

It wasn’t like he had any to spare right now, but if he could do so in the future, maybe he could help out.

[Of course.]

As Ari perked up at the positive answer, NOVA immediately cooled his excitement.

[By passing me on to somebody else.][You may or may not survive the process since the two of us have gotten so integrated with each other, but I admire your altruism for a person you don’t quite know.]

[Shall we proceed that way?]

[It would be a fun experiment.]

Ari: ಠ_ಠ

Of course not!!!!

I asked to share my stats, not to visit the underworld one more time.

Stop trying to experiment with me!"So you’re telling me I can’t help Carlos, can’t know more about the situation, maybe I won’t get my stats stolen, and to top it off, I have to watch that bastard not only cheat with outside help, but excel with stolen stats of a friend after killing me?"

[Yes.]

"F*ck. You’ve got to be kidding me."

[Not at all.]

[I don’t understand why you’re concerning yourselves with other people.]

[Just stay away from him and you’ll be fine.]

[Rather than worrying about others, you should be worried about whether you’ll get eliminated after your terrible performance last week.]

[Coughing and sneezing while singing?]

[Disgusting.]

Ari ignored the harsh words and sat on the toilet with his head in his hands.

Although NOVA’s words made sense, he didn’t want to admit it.

Truly, he couldn’t understand why a simple idol show was becoming so complicated when all he wanted to do was sing, dance, earn money, make his debut, and get his revenge against William.

Why did he have to get tangled with a mean system and a crazy person who killed people and stole intangible things for an unknown reason?

It just didn’t make any sense!

"Hey!!! Whoever is in there, stop monologuing, get out! I need to drop a deuce!!!"

Hearing Ian’s annoying voice as the boy pounded on the door, Ari purposely turned the shower on while thinking.

Although NOVA was right that the Carlos situation didn’t directly concern him, Ari couldn’t just sit still and avoid this situation.

Realistically, what was done was done.

He could do nothing for Carlos right now, but if NOVA was to be believed, the stolen stats would come back eventually.

His role now was to keep track not only of Carlos’ stats but also those of everyone else, to monitor if their stats decreased suspiciously and run interference in case he saw William doing anything suspicious.

His secondary goal was to see if he could find solid evidence that William was cheating or doing something sketchy that broke the rules, so he could get kicked off the program and stop harming everyone else.

And unfortunately, the best way to do that was to follow William Forbes around.

Thoroughly disgusted at the thought, Ari just sat there in the bathroom until he was calm again, then went out of the bathroom.

Passing Ian, who was hopping around before rushing into the bathroom after glaring at him, Ari rolled his eyes before finding the practice room with Jamie and a downcast Carlos, quietly joining in the back as they practiced the signal song.

At some point, Suzuki Rei entered the practice room, parking himself right beside Ari.

He gave the Japanese boy a strange look, since the practice room had lots of space, and Rei insisted on getting into his personal space.

Seeing the boy glare at him, Ari just continued practicing the signal song while examining the stats of everyone he saw, noting them down on his post-it notes.

After a bland lunch and a strange interview with the production team, Ari continued his practice with his unwanted tag-along teammates, then went to his assigned dance class with trainer Jaywalk.

Surprisingly, the dance class went well with Jaywalk picking on him less than usual, instead focusing on others as they practiced the signal song.

After the hour-long practice with the trainer, Ari went and found a separate practice room, where he continued practicing the signal song and his group song with his two tag-along teammates, who never said a single word to him.

When he felt he had practiced enough, he escaped to the rooftop to practice rapping quietly for an hour in hopes of finishing the mission.

Unfortunately, it failed epically.

At midnight, he went to bed, pleased that the handle of the room doors still hadn’t been installed, and the next morning, right after breakfast, all 100 boys were packed onto a bus and driven to an unknown location.