From Skid Row to Superstardom: An Idol System Novel-Chapter 87: Signal Song (4)

"You doin’ okay?" Jamie asked in a concerned voice as he looked at Ari, who was slumped over in his seat.

"Yeah, I’m fine, cough, cough ahem," Ari replied in a raspy voice before coughing, clearing his throat, and blowing his nose hard on a tissue.

The person sitting next to him stood up and moved to another chair with a disgusted face, while Jamie stared at him.

Jamie: "..."

He wanted to ask if Ari was sure he was okay, but seeing him blow his nose so hard that the thick white face paint came off, exposing the reddened tip, he just changed the subject since it was obvious that the other boy was sick.

"I’m done, so if you tell me where your stuff is, I’ll load it up with my suitcase and guitar so we can leave as soon as you’re through with the judges."

"It’s under the leftmost bed in room F(1), and it’s just my black duffel bag," Ari replied in a raspy voice before blowing his nose again and drinking the cup of hot tea he had on the floor.

"Got it. Good luck." Jamie patted his back as he stood up and walked away, and Ari slumped back down while waiting to be called.

His head felt groggy, his body was feverish and shaking from chills, and his throat was raspy and so sore that even with a soothing cough drop, he winced each time he swallowed the tea.

In the waiting space with dwindling contestants, the sounds of people coughing and sneezing could be heard, as most of Ari’s teammates were sick as well.

It seemed that after the brutal week of no sleep, nonstop practice, being soaked, and then sitting in air conditioning for hours, their bodies had broken down.

All he wanted to do was go home and sleep.

"Ariel Matisse! Please come up!"

As a staff member called his name, Ari staggered to his feet and followed them into a room where five judges were sitting at a table and staring at him.

"Ari...are you okay?" Selena asked while staring at him with wide eyes.

Ari’s clothing was currently inside out.

He had a strange animal headband tied to his head.

The white and black face paint was smeared gray on his face and flaking off in some spots, and his shoes were on the wrong feet.

"....Yes, I’m fine," Ari replied while suppressing a cough that wanted to rip out of his chest.

All the judges stared silently since he didn’t look fine, and Larry Jackson snickered before Jelissa smacked his arm.

"Okay. We’ll make this quick. Then why don’t we start with you dancing the choreography of the signal song, starting from the second verse until the end of the song?" Jaywalk suggested, and he, Selena, and Kim Young-woo stared intently at Ari.

To be honest, Jaywalk had no faith in Ari’s skill.

Although Ari had improved and learned the Warrior choreography, Jaywalk still thought that Ari was always slacking and never putting in as much work as he could, since he never saw him sweating or having a hard time compared to the other contestants.

Plus, he always had weird face paint and a blank expression, and he would immediately drag his teammates out once class was over without bothering to chat with him, their trainer, or ask for advice.

Just like many of the F-grade students he had taught, Jaywalk guessed that Ari would have only memorized the first verse of the song and nothing else.

But surprisingly, once the music sounded out, Ari danced the entire verse and continued without stopping.

Of course, it wasn’t the most spectacular dance that he had seen, and there were times when Ari accidentally performed a choreography sequence from the warm-up that the students had been taught on the first day, but he never stopped moving until the end of the song and got most of the steps right.

For something that had been learned in less than 13 hours, it was impressive for a student with a dance grade of F.

And as Ari stood there, coughing hard while panting and trying to catch his breath, Jaywalk thought that maybe he was being too harsh on him.

As Jaywalk was about to say something-

"Moving on. Let’s get to the signal song. Start singing it from the beginning." Larry Jackson said while impatiently tapping the table.

As the music started once more, Ari began to sing the signal song in a raspy voice that sounded like he had been a chain smoker for decades before his voice cracked on a slightly high note.

Flinching at the unfamiliar, awful sound, Ari froze before continuing to sing the lyrics, trying to take deep breaths and putting power into his voice to try and cover up the mistake.

But as he tried to hit the high note once more, his voice cracked again, and no sound came out, even though he was pushing air out and moving his lips.

Then, he began coughing as he swallowed spit incorrectly and couldn’t catch his breath for several seconds because his nose was blocked.

When he tried singing again, his voice cracked once more, and just as he was about to panic, his eyes met Jelissa’s, and she mimed taking a deep breath before mouthing, ’lower the key’ while moving her hand from top to bottom.

Suddenly remembering the arguments she frequently had with William Forbes in class, Ari took a deep breath to calm himself before lowering his voice and continuing to sing the rest of the song.

While it didn’t sound as good as what he had practiced to his ears, there were no more tonal mistakes, and his voice didn’t break again.

When he was done, the judges simply stared at him before Larry Jackson spoke.

"Okay, thank you. You’re free to go."

"That’s it?" Ari asked in confusion. He expected them to give them their ranks today, but all of the judges nodded.

"That’s it. You can go. We’ll announce your ranks when you come back."

"Yep. Go get some rest and drink lots of tea, Ari. I hope you feel better." Jelissa gave him a concerned smile.

"Okay. Thank you, cough." Ari politely bowed his head in the completely wrong direction before stumbling out of the room.

Since his stuff was already taken by Jamie, he went outside and got into his truck before falling asleep.

After two hours, Jamie dropped him off at the church, where he stumbled inside and fell asleep on the bed.

It had been a really long week, and he was so glad that it was over.