CHAPTER 319: BOYCOTT POP STAR ACADEMY (5)

"Selfish, huh?" Benjamin tapped his lips as he tried to formulate his thoughts before just shrugging and telling it as it is.

The Ari he knew wasn’t the type to get upset at a bit of rudeness.

"Well, I can see why he would say that, and to a certain extent, he’s not wrong. When you get mad, your filter disappears, and you say whatever you want, damn the consequences. But, and this is my personal opinion, you’re not entirely wrong either. Production has been taking a piss on you, so I think your reaction is justified, and you generally try to take the blame for what you do. I would do the same if I didn’t have a lot more to lose and a lot more experience in shows like this. I think Vishal feels that way, too, that he has a lot to lose, so everything that production does should be tolerated so that the goal can be achieved and the majority is unaffected. But at the end of the day, this is an individual competition until the very end. Only 7 will make it, and there’s no such thing as a participation trophy. You’re allowed to be selfish, actually; you need to be selfish to get this far. I definitely am, you are too, and even smiley Jamie is as well. Everyone here is selfish to some extent, and it’s just a balancing act of how it comes across."

"I don’t think Jamie’s selfish. He just likes music and wants to perform." Ari told him, causing Benjamin to give him an incredulous expression before shaking his head.

"You don’t think Jamie’s selfish because you’ve always been the team leader when you’re on a team with him. Since you always whip people into doing what you want, he doesn’t have to say anything. You don’t know, but whenever Jamie’s the team leader, he ends up becoming super strict and takes parts from people because he refuses to have a bad performance. His stance is that if you can’t sing up to his standard, then don’t do it at all. That’s how he ends up with so many parts a lot of the time. He’s definitely selfish to get his way; he just smiles a lot to soften the mental damage he deals to people when he tells them what and where they’re lacking."

Ari couldn’t believe his ears.

Jamie?

Being selfish?

How?

The same Jamie who would wilt like a flower in the desert sun if you didn’t compliment him?

This Jamie was strict?

And took parts from people?

Was this a joke?

"Jamie?"

"Yes."

"Country boy, cowboy hat, always smiling, I love my guitar, soft spoken, gets depressed occasionally, loves to eat and laugh. That Jamie? Golden retriever Jamie?"

"Yes. That Jamie."

"Strict? Takes parts from people? I don’t believe you."

This couldn’t be the same Jamie who wanted to split things evenly regardless of who did more work.

The same Jamie who would help you no matter what and stay up all night if you asked him?

The same Jamie that would reduce his share to accommodate the group?

Being strict and taking parts from people.

It had to be a lie!

"Denial is a river in Egypt, and even a friendly golden retriever can get strict when it needs to. There’s a reason the two of you get along so well. I truly think you’re similar people in different fonts. Whatever you’ve been teaching him since his first time being a team leader, he’s been using it well to control his teammates."

"I can’t believ-"

Snap, snap!

Benjamin snapped his fingers to interrupt Ari, who looked as if he couldn’t believe his ears, "Your delusions about your best man aside, the point is, everyone is being selfish in some way on the show. It’s not a bad thing, and in the grand scheme of things, it’s not a big issue while we’re on this survival show. You still have to stand out and make yourself likable to the voters while displaying your skills. As for Vishal, I think he’s stressed for multiple reasons."

Benjamin held out his fingers and began counting off, "1st. He’s consistently on the lower end of the rankings, which means he’s always close to elimination. Online comments about him are also pretty brutal, which is bad for mental health in general. The two of you are on opposite spectrums in that regard. He’s a perfectionist who obsessively checks the online opinion at any free moment and reads everything, while you haven’t had your phone in a week and don’t even care.

Apart from that, since you were paired together in D class in the beginning and are one of the few remaining left, he’s often compared to you, and your improvement in every category compared to anyone here is insane. I’m sure it’s irritating to try really hard and not improve as much as he wants to, despite all the hard work he puts in.

Being teamed up with someone like you, who always ends up being the center of attention one way or another, must be annoying to him, especially when things blow up. Production likes to punish you and everyone around you, but you have a hardcore fanbase to support you, so you’re generally fine, but for him, it’s probably scary because there’s no guarantee that he’ll be safe from any fallout that happens when you rightfully crash out.

Add in the current situation, and I’m sure he’s going to be avoiding you for a while. Probably not just him, but the other contestants too. They’re probably a little scared of you right now."

"I haven’t done anything scary yet. Why avoid me?"

Seeing that Ari was genuinely asking, Benjamin laughed before reaching over to mess his hair up.

"Big man. The whole of last week yeah, you’ve been moving mad. Proper mental! Even though you don’t yell and raise your voice, with that cane that you carried everywhere while laughing, the air around you was dark and heavy. You gave off the vibe of a roadman who was one inch from snapping and beating the piss out of anyone who crossed you. He tried not to show it, but the PD Ji-ho was bare scared of you bruv. Anytime he saw you, he’d turn back and try to play it calm or find backup. Of course, those who know you know that you won’t do anything, your eyes just spit venom, but for everyone else, seeing you argue with production like that, even though they understood why you were angry, they all thought you were crazy. Because, in these kinds of situations, nobody behaves like you unless you have a crazy backer. The only person who acts like that is William, and even he didn’t chat his usual rubbish until you were clear of the area."

"I don’t have a backer."

"I know."

Benjamin nodded his head with a small smile before continuing, "But PD Ji-ho’s being fired after some angry French lady came in one day, the leak that happened at the show, and what’s going on online right now is worrisome. You’ve been missing. The staff is scurrying around in meetings all day. We’ve seen Bing Yongsun come in person twice, and both times, he did not look happy. PD Ji-ho looked like a crazy person when he was dragged out. They’re calling for a boycott online. The mandem are a bit worried, yeah? They think their dream might end like this if it continues with this trend, you get me? And it’s all happening because of you, and it kind of depends on how the big bosses handle you and this situation. Right now, you’re a bit of a...risk to others, especially because you’ve now firmly placed yourself at the opposite end of William and the production team to some extent. Who knows what you’ll say? Who knows if you’ll quit and what will happen afterwards? Who knows if you’ll sue and shut it down? It’s up in the air. I wouldn’t take offense to it, but like we just talked about, people are going to be selfish and look out for themselves first. And that might look like Vishal’s behavior."

"So you’re saying people are going to avoid me? Including you?"

Benjamin looked at Ari’s contemplative face and blank green eyes before laughing and slinging his arm over his shoulder.

"Not to be too cocky, mate, but unless the show shuts down, I’m confident that I’ll make it. For me, it’s a matter of worrying if I’m coming in first, second, or third place rather than worrying about if I’ll get eliminated. Which means I have a bit less stress than some of the other boys and can actually think clearly. With the way production has been treating you, you could have quit at any point in time and be perfectly justified. Even when the episode dropped, you could have quit then and there, but you didn’t. You might have been angry-"

"I wasn’t angry."

"Your fists were balled up and supposedly, you went to threaten William right after we let you go."

"That’s fake news. I would never do that." Ari quickly interjected, causing Ben to laugh again.

"Sure. Sure. Anyway, you stuck around, worked hard, and performed the same as always, even though you had every right not to. You’re not online liking weird things, you’re not in chatrooms being odd, you’re not telling every contestant that gets on your bad side that they better listen to you or you’ll tell production to paint them in a horrible manner on the next episode. You’re literally always practicing, studying, making music, or sleeping. We’ve lived together for months at this point, I’ve met people you care about, and I think I know you pretty well. Rather than thinking you’re going to blow this whole thing up, ruin things for everyone, aren’t you the one who wants to stick around and make this work the most? Even if you’re a bit selfish, so what? You’re selfishness is a net positive. Plus, if the production team had left you alone, if William wasn’t here, I don’t think it would have ever gotten to where it is right now. You would do the same thing you always did: practice, study, make music with Jamie, force down some food, and sleep. Right?"

As Ari silently nodded, Ben patted his back.

"The feelings of Vishal and others aside, I hope you stick around because I really, really want to debut with you. You and I are friends, you’re talented, I think you’re funny, and when you’re around, you make it seem possible for people to be themselves, go against the machine, and still come out on top. You don’t have to sacrifice anything."

"I don’t know about all that."

"Why not? I told you, yeah, I’ve been on a couple of talent survival shows. I always ended up eliminated for one reason or another.

In my experience, the PDs are gods who manipulate everything according to their will, and you either fall in line while playing their game or you end up eliminated, even if you’re skilled. I’ve learned that line through experience, and make sure I have good relationships with everyone and listen, even if it gets a bit tiring sometimes.

But you.

Somehow, you’ve slayed one PD, and the second one is trying to negotiate with you because you sent the upper brass into a panic. And even though people want to attribute your confident attitude to that French lady who somehow caused the leaks and brought us to this point, anyone who pays attention to your behavior knows that it’s been consistent even before she showed up.

You’re bold, confident, someone who I’ve seen push for the right thing, the hard thing, despite a lot of opposition, and for me, any team I’m on, I want you on it. I really, really want to debut with you. You’re in my starting lineup squarely at the top spot right next to Jamie. Well, the two of you are a pair, so it’s really a 2-for-1 deal. But I mean it."

Ari thought over Benjamin’s words, and although he was a bit touched internally, enough was enough.

"Gross. Get away from me. You’re sweaty."

He picked off Benjamin’s hand from his shoulder and tossed it to the side, causing the British boy to laugh once more.

"I’ll let you go just this once, Ari. Anyways, this is all a long way of saying don’t worry about Vishal and the others if they avoid you for a bit. Nobody hates you; it’s just a stressful time, and we need to give each other grace. Que sera, sera. Whatever will be will be. Let’s pass through this hurdle, get you to your debut rank, and worry about the rest later. Tomorrow is the ranking ceremony, innit. We’re saying goodbye to 10 people. And hopefully, not the end of the show."

"I don’t want that."

"I know you don’t. Aish, well, I’m off to go shower unless you want to freestyle with me? The boys are going to be gone for a while."

"...sure."

"Sweet." Benjamin grabbed the room tablet before pausing.

"Oh, Ari?"

"Hmm?"

"I meant what I said earlier. It’s not just the clothes; you look much better than last week. I guess calmer? Less stressed? No laser eyes? Either way, I’m glad you took a break, met your family member, and I’m glad you came back here. It was quiet and boring without you, and the two blondes sulked the whole time."

"Did they? Well, I’m back, and I don’t plan on leaving. Thanks for the pep talk, future leader of the debut group." Ari gave Benjamin a mock salute.

"Leader? Hell no. With the way things are being managed now, I can only imagine the hell that we’ll be living through later. I would literally rather die. I’m aiming for the cool, friendly, extremely popular vice president role."

"Well, someone has to do it. If things are in hell, I guess you can give the position to Levi if he makes it."

"Kiwi head? You really want things to blow up, huh? Well, that might be good. If he breaks down the boss’s door, table, and chair, won’t everyone behave? We’ll package him into the car and then throw him like a cannonball at anyone who gets in our way."

Laughing at the mental image, the two of them just relaxed to some music, randomly spitting lines until the other contestants came back.

While the air was filled with a strange tension, Ari continued song creation with Jamie and Levi.

Production never bothered to get him for his interview again, and when Ari woke up the next morning, after breakfast, all 30 of them loaded up on the bus to head to the ranking ceremony location.

And located on one of the top floors of the Soundwave Entertainment building was a fancy office that overlooked Seoul.

Inside, a very important transpacific meeting to decide the direction of Pop Star Academy was taking place.