CHAPTER 318: BOYCOTT POP STAR ACADEMY (4)

PD Emily stared at the handsome young boy in front of her, a mixture of exasperation and gratification on her face.

While she felt gratified that her intuition and assumptions were correct — that he did have someone backing him — the situation that resulted from that verification was far from ideal.

Things were currently a mess.

The entire program was facing backlash from multiple different avenues.

They were being blasted on social media, and everyone from entertainment news programs and regular news programs to content creators and even a few celebrities was speaking out about the videos they couldn’t seem to take down, no matter what.

They needed to whitewash it all, get it back on track, and safely end things without any more scandals, and to do that, they needed this young boy in front of her to cooperate.

PD Emily looked Ari up and down, noting that instead of the brown tracksuit with animal ears that had more or less become his uniform for the past couple of months, he was wearing an all black short set that exposed the healing bruising on his arms and legs.

A trend that had started during Field Day and continued, making it hard for the production team to edit the footage as they wanted due to continuity issues from the visible bruises.

Seeing those sea green eyes stare at her with barely veiled dislike and the stubborn set of his mouth, PD Emily sighed before softening her tone.

"Contestant Ariel."

"Yes."

"Shall we go have a conversation in a private room?"

"Whatever makes you comfortable, PD. I can have the conversation anywhere." Ari replied with a shrug.

"Then come with me."

"Sure."

PD Emily led him to one of the rooms set aside to do interviews.

As Ari took a seat on one of the director’s chairs, PD Emily took a seat on the one opposite him, observing him as he looked around.

"Don’t worry, none of the cameras are on. I just wanted to talk one-on-one."

"If you say so," Ari replied in a tone that made it clear that he didn’t believe a word she was saying.

"First. I wanted to clear things up. I know that the episode released last week was...a bit unpleasant-"

"Is that how you would put it? Unpleasant?" Ari cut in with an incredulous laugh.

Tasting something bitter when you expected it to be sweet was unpleasant.

Finding crumbs in your bed when you expected it to be clean was unpleasant.

That episode was beyond unpleasant, and the fact that she wanted to downplay it was insane.

"Perhaps distasteful is a better word. But I want to make it clear that I had nothing to do with that. PD Ji-ho solely manages the editing and direction of things here in Korea, and I had nothing to do with what was released, so your anger at me is a bit misplaced."

"Oh, I’m sorry. I thought there was only one version of the show called Pop Star Academy, not PD Emily’s Pop Star Academy and PD Ji-ho’s Pop Star Academy. My mistake. Thank you for enlightening me." Ari replied sarcastically.

PD Emily: "....."

Well.

This seemed like it would be a difficult conversation.

Let’s try changing the subject.

"I can see you’re a bit tense. You don’t want to change into something more comfortable, like your practice clothes, since we have to do an official interview later for the show. While you’re changing, I can get you a drink and some snacks? We have...croissants. You’re French. You like those, right? I mean, who doesn’t? It’s buttery bread."

Ari glanced down at his outfit, another shorts set, before giving her a mischievous smile.

"I always wore my brown tracksuit, so it must have been pretty easy to edit me however you wanted, right? Just splice clips together, and nobody could tell the difference if what I said was today or 3 months ago. Even when my hair was dyed, I always wore a hat, so you could do whatever you wanted. Was it fun? Enjoyed yourself?"

"I will admit, it did make life easier when editing and pushing certain...directives," PD Emily replied honestly before giving him a second glance, "I feel like your tongue has gotten sharper? I guess that’s the influence of hanging around that mean old-fashioned lady?"

"Oh, you mean Chloé? Probably. But honestly, I think I’m just tired of you all. You’ve shown me that when I think you can’t go lower, you will, so I don’t really think there’s any point in pretending and being polite anymore. It’s never helped, and rather than wasting time beating around the bush. What do you want?"

Seeing that any attempt to soften Ari up was not going to work, PD Emily decided to get right to the root of the issue.

"Well...the program is in a difficult state right now."

"So?"

"On our side, we’ve put out a statement, gotten rid of the PD responsible, and of course issued a warning to William about his behavior."

"But you won’t kick him out."

"Well..."

Even if PD Emily wanted to kick him out, when Bing Yongsun himself wasn’t able to get rid of him because of his uncle, what was a tiny PD like her supposed to do?

Since she couldn’t exactly expose the inner workings of things, she gave out another excuse.

"William has apologized to the public, his fans, and those he hurt, and vowed to be better in the future. He also wants to apologize to you."

Since things were going as he expected, Ari just laughed.

"Rules for me but not for thee. You guys are a joke, and William can keep the apology. My only wish is for him to stay as far away from me as physically possible."

"Well, as this is a group project, that will be a bit difficult. Unless you’re willing to make that part of your demands for a deal? Let’s talk. What are your demands?"

"PD Emily." Ari called her name seriously, "I don’t think you understand. If you told me right now that the sky is blue and the grass is green, I wouldn’t believe you. Your efforts to smooth things over with the public seem to be on track, so what do you want from me?"

"We’d like you to give a public statement through writing and video that we’ve made amends and will be proceeding forward. Naturally, you can make requests, and we’ll try to fulfill them appropriately."

"No, thank you." Ari immediately rejected her offer.

"Pardon?"

"No, thank you." Ari reiterated.

As the PD continued staring at him, Ari shrugged, "I’ve said it before, I don’t want to make a deal with you because the one thing that I want, you won’t grant, correct?"

"The removal of Mr. Forbes."

"Yes."

"...no, that’s not possible. But there are other things. You’ve complained about us not paying out the prize money, better editing, and advance knowledge of challenges-"

"Money you owe me, you failed to uphold your part when we tried that previously, and I’m not interested in cheating. You’re wasting your time." Ari rebutted her claims while shaking his head.

"Then let’s change topics temporarily. Would it be possible for you to tell Chloé to tell your PR team to stop with the coordinated attacks? They keep on dragging things on, and it’s making it quite difficult."

"What do you mean? You think Chloé has a PR team in charge of my community? Why do you say that?" Ari asked in complete confusion at the nonsense he was hearing.

"Are you really going to deny it? The manager of your biggest community is definitely a PR firm hired by her. Correct?"

"No?"

"You’re really denying it?"

"I am. I barely look myself up online and haven’t had a phone for over a week, so I don’t even know which community you’re talking about. And on which platform?"

"All of them. The same person runs all the big communities on all platforms. You’re telling me it’s not a PR firm running the account?" PD Emily looked as if she didn’t believe him, but Ari really didn’t know.

"Definitely not. But can I see the account you’re talking about?"

As the PD quickly tapped on the tablet and showed an account, when Ari read the username, he burst out laughing.

The username was ChoiFish_C.

Even though he had become acquainted with many people with the last name Choi, he actually knew the person who was running it.

Naturally, the account owner was none other than Miss Grace Choi, who in one of her rants had explained that it was a pun on koi fish under the C, which would secretly support his name without being too obvious.

Grace would be quite pleased to learn that a PD of such a big show thought that she was a PR firm.

"You’re laughing. So you recognize the name." PD Emily glared as Ari continued giggling.

"No, I just thought the name was funny."

"Really?"

"Yeah. It’s a cute name. Choi fish - Koi Fish. My name is fish-related, I guess. Either way, I’m happy to have such a fan, and I can assure you, Chloé isn’t paying for them or a PR firm to support me. She would think it’s a waste of her money and probably slap you for thinking that. Rather than conspiracy theories, you’ll have better luck messaging the account and telling them to stop harassing you."

"I did and got a scathing email in return."

"Haha, really? Good. You deserve it."

PD Emily: ಠ_ಠ

You’re really out of control, huh?

"Fine. Then, can you message them and tell them to calm things down since we’re working toward a resolution? I’ll give you back your phone."

"Keep it. With the production team’s track record, I don’t want you guys accusing me of something I didn’t do and getting me kicked out to cover your buts. And I really don’t plan on cooperating any more than I have to, so stop asking me and take your public lashings."

"You know that if you’re not cooperating, it hurts the other contestants and yourself in the long run?"

"I don’t care," Ari replied honestly.

"You don’t care about the other contestants? Or yourself? Come on, Ariel, you’re smarter than that. Business is business, and personal feelings are something else. People are trying to boycott. This could ruin the brand in the long run. Let’s find some common ground and put this issue behind us amicably. You’re the reason it’s growing bigger and bigger."

"No offense to the other contestants, and pardon my French, but I think I’m already being lenient by not suing this whole establishment to hell and back. And why are you trying to turn this on me when it’s the production team’s and William’s fault? I’m the victim here. I told you what I wanted so we could settle this amicably. You said no. Negotiations broke down. We’re done. That’s business, right?"

"Ariel..."

"Instead of wasting time trying to convince me of something I won’t do, just edit the following episodes fairly without manipulation, drama, or any weird shenanigans like you’re supposed to do. As for public opinion, figure it out for yourself and leave me out of it. Or don’t. You’ve said it before, I make great TV, and clearly, without smearing my name, apparently you can’t make a good episode."

"Is that your final answer?"

"Yes."

As PD Emily blinked at him, Ari just stared at her with a polite smile.

"Can I go now? Anything else you want to speak to me about?"

"....no that’s it."

"Do you want to proceed with the personal interview for the show, or do you need a break to tell the higher-ups that I’m not cooperating?"

"...No, someone will get you later."

"C’est bon. Good talk. I’d rather not do this again if you don’t mind."

Nodding his head at the PD, Ari left the room and went to his assigned room, which was empty.

A bit surprised, he walked to the practice rooms, noticing that they were all empty except for a small one.

Walking in, he saw Benjamin and Vishal stretching while listening to some music.

"Yo."

As his eyes met the British boys’, Benjamin smiled, showing off his dimples while Vishal muttered a greeting, got up, and left.

Ari glanced at him before looking at Benjamin, who was stopping the music.

"Big man, Ari. Wagawan. Looking trim. Finally, matching the outfit to the face, innit? Sit for a chat?"

"Thanks. Where’s everyone else?" Ari replied as he sat down.

"Mandem went to eat beef. Production finally paid up."

"You both didn’t go?"

"Nah. Vishal wanted to do self-practice, and I heard through the vine that you’re coming back today, yeah? Thought I’d stick around to see how you’re feeling, so you’re not by yourself. If anyone asks, though, cough, cough, I’m sick." Benjamin fake-coughed before continuing to stretch, "But how are you feeling?"

"Pretty good. What’s with Vishal? That was weird right?"

"Oh, him? You tell me, mate. Did the two of you have a fight? He’s been ducking you for a while, yeah, and was acting a bit withdrawn on my team. He’s closer to you than me, yet you haven’t been hanging out with him. You and the two blondes are glued at the hip, doing secret activities in the dead of night."

"It’s not a secret. Want to learn how to make a song in French?"

"No, thank you."

"Well, that’s what we’re doing. We didn’t fight, or at least I don’t think we did. We did have a weird conversation, though."

"About?"

Ari thought about Chloé’s words and his conversation with Vishal before relaying it to Benjamin, since it wasn’t particularly a secret.