CHAPTER 197: EXONERATION (2)

"PD Emily, the board of directors has been calling you all-"

"Ignore it."

"PD Emily, parents of contestants have been calling to ask what-"

"Ignore them too, unless they come in person. Their kids are about to go home."

As PD Emily Raleigh strode through the hallways, numerous production staff members began to swarm her with updates that she had missed from spending her afternoon and evening following the police officers who had taken Ari.

Although she had been making calls throughout her little chase, it was only to put out immediate fires while pushing off the bigger issues that needed an in-person meeting.

"PD Emily, we-"

"Save it. Where’s Ji-ho?"

"He’s in the conference room with the other high-level staff."

"Okay. Gimme."

Emily took the tablet from the panicked assistant writer before stepping into the conference room, where PD Ji-ho, Assistant PD David, Assistant PD Clare, and the main writers of the show were gathered, sipping coffee and looking exhausted.

Seeing Emily come in, there was a collective release of tension, and not one to waste time, PD Emily took the empty seat beside PD Ji-ho and began speaking.

"First, the contestant is safe, his bags are packed, and he’s not on the premises, so legal should be happy."

"Phew."

Everyone let out a sigh, and seeing it, Emily continued.

"Now, to your main concerns, what to do about contestant Ari. I’d like to hear your thoughts on how you think we should handle this situation."

"Eliminate him. He’s a contestant who’s embarrassing the dignity of the show. Getting arrested? Family conflict? Get rid of him immediately!" Assistant PD David immediately spoke out, his voice passionate with a hidden anger.

PD Emily leveled a glance at him that made David flinch before continuing to glance around the room.

"Anyone else? There’s no right or wrong answer, so speak up, I want to hear everyone’s opinion."

"Uh...I agree with David that we should just get rid of him. Plus, the board of directors of the show agrees, right? That he should be eliminated?" Another writer who was close to David spoke up in agreement with him.

"Is that so? Anyone else?" PD Emily commented in a neutral tone, mentally making a note of those mentioning things and people they should not have access to.

Seeing her being so amicable, others began to speak up in agreement with David, resulting in about a quarter of the staff across various roles speaking up for the elimination of Ari.

Their reasons ran from dislike of his rudeness to his rule-breaking to the issue that cropped up today.

"So you all agree that he should be eliminated?" PD Emily asked while looking around the room.

"No way! Are you guys crazy?" Kate, who was one of the writers who had been having a lot of interaction with Ari’s team and had secretly become a fan of him and his small friend group.

Although he was a bit cheeky, it was quite charming, and he was always polite to the staff members and most contestants. Additionally, even if his words could be harsh, he was someone who took care of his teammates around him and was extremely considerate, especially for those who normally didn’t speak up.

He was someone who didn’t act sneaky behind anyone’s back, as his expressions clearly revealed how he felt about others.

That bit of honesty and care was something she really appreciated, as it was so rare in the entertainment industry.

"What do you mean by crazy? If anything, he’s the crazy one! He needs to go!" David shot back.

He had no plans on giving in when the opportunity to get rid of a contestant that was a thorn in his side had finally shown up.

But Kate wasn’t having it.

"Do none of you check any of the data sheets we make and pass out? Statistically, he is one of the most talked about contestants on here. He has literally gone viral from his first performance where a sound snippet of his original song leaked to the most recent performance. Mind you, we all know that his guardian is a little bit crazy and lots of other contestants have crazy parents. I don’t think it’s enough to eliminate him."

"He lied about parental consent!"

"He had a church guardian sign it because according to him, he’s estranged from his foster mother who kicked him out of the house. The word foster should tell you a lot. He’s essential to the show and the arrest was for skipping school! Which one of us hasn’t done that? As soon as his 18th birthday comes, it’s a moot point!"

"Essential? Well then, isn’t that the fault of all of you writers for making it so that the show was dependent on one person? If you had spread the focus out to other contestants and edited them well, then you wouldn’t be so tied to and dependent on only one contestant." David shot back, irritated that someone was fighting so hard to keep Ari.

It wasn’t like it was the end days of the show!

There were 79 other contestants they could focus on!

But Kate wasn’t having it.

"Statistically, Ariel has one of the least amounts of screen time compared to certain contestants. Especially a certain boring blonde that you keep pushing. It’s not his fault that he’s always in the middle of doing something interesting." Kate shot back.

"If you gave him a better storyline-"

"What storyline? That he’s a rude, arrogant brat with a power-"

Clap! Clap!

"Okay, okay. Enough." PD Emilly quickly clapped to stop the two of them before it devolved into a shouting match. "I’ve heard your opinions and have noted them down. At the end of the day, the board will decide so for now, let’s move on. Has the editing proceeded the way I asked?"

"You mean minimizing contestant Ari’s presence in scenes?"

"Yes."

"Yes," Clare pulled up something on her tablet before she continued to speak, "We’ve cut out as much as we could from his team’s selection, even though he was the person who chose his teammates, and moved everything involving his team’s busking to future episodes. But in return, the drama in other teams had to be brought to the forefront to fill in the gap."

"Wait, you cut out the footage of William’s team busking? Why am I only now hearing of this?" David asked incredulously, while his stomach was filled with dread.

"Of course. The DJ for that event was Ari; the highlight was Ari’s interaction with his teammates and the opposing team. William basically did nothing. Since we’re not sure how the directors will vote about Ari’s issue, we’ll table it for now. Additionally, we’re still looking into William’s lip-syncing allegations and who helped him do that. As for you hearing it now, well, now you know." PD Emily said lightly, watching Assistant PD carefully.

Unfortunately, he managed his expression well, so she could only click her tongue and continue talking.

"We can start editing the next episode with Ari as the forefront of the busking and his team’s performance, making that the first thing that people see. Then add in the other teams performance."

"I don’t understand why we have to do that."

"Because he’s popular." PD Park Ji-ho spoke slowly, and seeing that some of the staff members didn’t seem to understand, he exchanged glances with PD Emily and just shook his head pitifully.

It seemed that even those who worked in entertainment didn’t understand the first simple rule.

There was no such thing as bad press in the entertainment industry.

Controversies and scandals occurred on a near-daily basis, and celebrities had to overcome them.

And how they overcame it was one of two ways.

Either they had a strong and loud fanbase that drowned out the noise.

Or another bigger issue took the attention away.

Judging by the trajectory of this contestant, Ariel was slowly building a strong and vocal fan base, similar to contestants like Benjamin, Levi, and Matthew, whose fans were accustomed to defending their contestant aggressively against any issue that arose.

From the beginning, the people who supported such a peculiar character, who appeared at an idol survival show with his entire face covered in weird makeup, were bound to be somewhat unusual.

They might have originally supported him because he acted strangely or he looked different, but seeing the contestant they liked grow in real time and continually show off his talent and stand out in a space that made it easy to blend in with others, would make more hardcore fans, especially for those who could see themselves in his strangeness.

Add in the fact that he was visually attractive, which was one of the most important features needed in the entertainment industry, and those fans would only grow.

Although he was a controversial contestant, his constant controversy kept him in the spotlight, and as a production team, they would be foolish not to capitalize on it.

It was similar to the noise marketing tactic that some companies used to advertise the product they were trying to sell.

However, fortunately or unfortunately, this contestant seemed to be gaining skills at a rapid pace and had a certain something that made people, judges, and even executives like him enough to keep him around.

It was obvious by the way his rank was exponentially rising compared to other contestants who had plateaued or had a steady incline.

And since he was a main pillar of interest, they, as production staff, had to do what was needed to keep him on the show.

Even if it meant editing him out and taking their views for a couple of episodes.

"Edit it the way PD Emily says. We’ll carefully track the metrics of this episode, and she and I will meet with the directors on Monday."

"...understood."

"Good. Get back to work. And Kate? Go get contestant Carrot-Top for me. I have something to ask him."

*******

And it seemed that the PD’s thoughts were true.

Because of the synergy of Ari’s issue cropping up in addition to Benjamin and William being on the same team after their big fight from the last episode, and being baited by a trailer that showed their team, yet not a single scene of any of their team being shown, people were upset and the forum was up in flames.

Episode 4 had the lowest rating and the highest number of complaints, with viewers calling it boring despite its usual editing style.

There were numerous petitions for the production team to issue a statement about Ari’s, which were ignored, and the discussion around Ari grew bigger and bigger.

Meanwhile, internet detectives began their investigations, and Ari’s defenders fought back online.

Benjamin and William’s fandoms continued their cold war, while supporters of contestants who were not close to Ari had a wait-and-see attitude to see how things would pan out.

Ari himself had a peaceful weekend.

He helped at the restaurant, cleaned the church and the bathhouse, performed his repeat missions even though NOVA wasn’t responding to him, recorded a couple of French song covers and posted them on his account, and finally caught up on some long-needed sleep.

As for the strange numbers that repeatedly called and left screaming voicemails on his phone?

The voicemails were saved, and the phone numbers were blocked, while he went about his day peacefully.

And when Monday arrived, he was driven to school by Priest Steven Choi, along with Grace, who had severe shadows and eye bags under her eyes and had not stopped nagging him the entire weekend.

"I mean it, Ari. Straight home after school, with your full official transcript and a yearbook. Additionally, request recommendation letters from all your teachers and contact information for all the students you have tutored. Hand out my business card to them and tell them to reach out to me immediately. And stop touching your hair!" Grace complained as she crossed the aisle to fix Ari’s curls that he kept pushing out of his eyes.

She had forcibly made him change into the Otterly adorable tracksuit he usually wore for practice instead of the regular clothes he planned on wearing to school, and had forcibly frayed his sneakers because he had to push an ’image’.

"Yeah, yeah, I got it. I’ll give it to you when I get back. "

"Listen to me, Ariel! Transcript must be sealed! With an official school seal! Don’t look at it, don’t open it, I don’t even want your fingerprints on it! Got it? And if you come back with even a single business card left, I’ll tell grandpa you’re going on a vegetarian diet so you can’t eat meat for the foreseeable future. And leave the hair alone!"

Hearing his beef supply being threatened, Ari shoved Grace’s face away with two fingers and began squeezing it in irritation until her cheeks puffed up angrily.

"I said I got it, so stop nagging like an old lady."

"Hmph!"

"Hmph yourself."

"Good luck! Remember, act pitiful! And the transcript!!!"

"Yeah, yeah."

With a lazy wave, he got out of the church bus, only to stop as a small camera crew and a woman dressed in a skirt suit, while holding a microphone that said NEWS7. Students who were being dropped off as well stopped and stared curiously before moving out of the way and watching what was happening with their phones.

"Ah, there he is! He’s here!"

"Ariel!"

As somebody screamed and the camera turned to face him, the news reporter had a bright smile on her face as she and the two cameramen with her rushed toward him.

Ari: ಠ_ಠ

What kind of nonsense was this?

"Hello, I’m Lauren, a reporter for KABC-TV local news on channel 7. You’re Ariel Matisse, a contestant on Pop Star Academy, correct? We heard about your detainment right after your performance at the cultural festival and got an anonymous tip about the arrest and booking of your foster mother, Analise Crouch, who was released this morning from the city jail, as well as a subsequent call to CPS reporting her for negligence for her 10 children. We interviewed her upon release, and she said several negative things about your character at the culture festival. Would you like to give a statement on your temporary detainment and release, refute her statements, your experience with the Crouch family, and any updates on what Pop Star Academy plans to do?"

"An anonymous tip?" Ari asked curiously.

"Yes, one of our trusted aspiring local reporters gave us a well-founded tip that we followed up on." The reporter explained gently, thinking that he was a bit confused.

He wasn’t surprised in the least, and Ari suspected that he knew where the anonymous tip had come from.

Ari glanced back to see Grace smirking at him from the church bus window as it drove off.

Her words ’act pitiful’ now made sense.

Turning back to the single camera pointed at him, Ari softened his expression and spoke in a gentle tone, and tried his best to look shy.

"Uhm...I have to get to class on time so I don’t get in trouble again, so I can’t stay long, and there’s a lot I can’t say, especially about the show. Is that okay with you?"

"Of course, sweetheart. And if you’re unable to talk now, we can reschedule for later. And anything you want to share is okay with us."

Hiding the smile in his heart, Ari decided to start off by dropping the biggest bomb.

After all, when it came to a battle of pity, there was no way that woman could top him.

"Oh. Thank you. Then about Analise Crouch...my foster mother...due to her, I was homeless for close to two years, which is why I was really surprised that she had so much to say about me when she hadn’t cared about how I lived."