Chapter 273: Meeting BTZ (1)
True to PD Ji-hos’ words, they were all woken up at 5 am to get to the Soundwave building by 7 am, and their only instructions were to make sure they had dance shoes.
Naturally, this caused absolute chaos due to those who went out the night before and came in to sleep early in the morning.
As someone who always showered before going to sleep, once they were woken up, Ari put on his otterly adorable tracksuit, topped it with his fur hat, and went back to sleep after brushing his teeth, leaving the rest of his roommates to decide the shower order.
After a mini fight between Levi, who was furious with Suzuki Rei, who had decided to take a 40-minute shower at the detriment of the rest of the roommates, everyone was more or less ready in time, received their visitor badge from new staff members whom they didn’t recognize, and made it to the shuttle bus waiting for them.
As the bus drove through the city, Ari marveled at how things were often the same, regardless of which side of the ocean you were on.
People were rushing to work, students were rushing to school, and traffic was everlasting.
When the bus parked in front of the building, and at the prompting of staff, they began hopping out one at a time, and the camera crew, lined up at the side, started taking lots of photos, blinding them with the repeated flash from their cameras.
With his hat firmly on his head, when it was his turn, Ari hopped out, bowed his head politely like others were doing, and hustled quickly inside the building after 0.5 seconds of posing for the camera flashes.
If he had known there was going to be a photo shoot, maybe he too would have spent 40 minutes getting ready like Suzuki Rei did instead of sleeping extra, but since he didn’t, it was time to minimize the chances of someone taking a bad photo of him.
Once everyone was inside, with the only cameras being Pop Star Academy’s, PD Ji-ho gathered everyone in a circle and began giving out instructions.
"Alright, contestants, this is the main Soundwave Entertainment building in Korea, where amazing groups like BTZ come to practice, produce music, and do everything else that makes them the amazing artists that they are, as well as the other employees who support them. Someday, some of you may have the opportunity to work out of a similar building in Los Angeles or even right here in Korea. We’re going to get breakfast at the cafe before starting the tour of the building. Please do not wander off, and keep your badge on you at all times. Understand? Absolutely no wandering off. If you need to go somewhere, ask a staff member or me. Understand?" PD Ji-ho calmly spoke to the group while his eyes turned to stare at Ari as if warning him specifically.
- yessssss
"Then let’s go."
As they walked through the lobby, Ari marveled at how nice it was with the marble flooring, the expensive furniture, and a few tastefully arranged glass displays that had some impressive-looking awards and plaques.
Clearly, the company had spent money to make it look quite lovely.
Nodding at the desk employees who were smiling politely as they walked past, Ari looked around while taking everything in.
His general opinion was that...it was different but nice.
According to PD Ji-ho’s instructions, they had to use the steps instead of the elevator, bow to every person they saw, but the office space they passed by seemed nice and well-designed.
When they arrived at the cafe, they quietly joined the line of office workers, grabbed trays, and quickly filled them with a variety of food before sitting down to eat.
The breakfast was actually pretty tasty, and the contestants chattered excitedly while looking around.
Many of them, especially the Korean members, wondered if they would see the artist they looked up to, and kept glancing at the doorway each time someone walked into the cafe.
After forcing himself to eat several plates of food in his renewed effort to add weight, Ari followed along as the tour began.
From office spaces to peeking in studios, from the rooftop garden, and other amenities that they would definitely never use, he oooh-ed and ahhh-ed along with the other contestants until they finally arrived at the floor that the others wanted to see the most.
It was the floor that contained BTZ’s practice rooms, awards room, studio, and lounge area.
The other contestants could barely contain their excitement, especially as they stared at the numerous awards BTZ had won.
From MAMA awards, LuvRadio awards, various Korean chart awards, Music Video awards, and more, Ari felt like he was in a museum, and for a second, he wanted to meet a member of the group, if only to look at their stats and see how impressive they were.
He knew the leader of BTZ was out of Military service and had been doing various schedules, but he highly doubted that they would meet him here.
"You think we can do this well if we make it into the group?" Jamie whispered in his ear as the two of them walked around while cataloging all of the gleaming awards.
At the same time Jamie asked the question, NOVA began nagging him.
[Is this your goal?]
[The limit of your vision?]
[Are you satisfied with just this when your task is to be the greatest global superstar ever?]
Ari silently contemplated both Jamie’s and NOVA’s words before shaking his head.
"I want to do better than this. And yeah, I think we can. If we work hard enough, we’ll get all this, more, and even the big one too." Ari replied, not mentioning the award that Jamie’s family had been chasing for generations and BTZ had been chasing for years.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. We just have to make sure we both make it, and then we can begin grinding until we reach our goal. You’re very talented, and I’m a hard worker who knows how to research."
Or at least I have to make sure I make it, since Jamie was basically a shoo-in.
Once that was set...
Well, as he had said before, he was very confident in achieving anything he put his mind to.
And if NOVA was added in...
[Good.]
[As the person in possession of me, you should strive for greater things than just this.]
[Which you can achieve when you finally finish these missions.]
I’m working on it! Okay?
"Okay! It’s a promise!"
The two of them bumped fists before following the rest of the contestants out of the trophy room, who were excitedly talking about the achievements they wanted in the future.
PD Ji-ho continued walking down the hallway before stopping at a door.
"Our last stop on the tour is to see the BTZ practice room. This is where they began training from their debut to now, and where they will return as seven when all of them are done with military service. Legendary stages were conceptualized in this practice room, and I hope some of the hope, dreams, effort, wishes, and success that have been cultivated in this space rub off on you all."
With a quick knock on the door, the PD quickly opened it, but rather than an empty room, there was somebody practicing in the center of the room to some music, which promptly stopped.
"Ah, Ji-yong nim. So sorry to interrupt your practice time." PD Ji-ho immediately bowed his head as the person turned around.
"Oh, it’s fine, Ji-ho ssi. I was supposed to be done much earlier than this, but was stuck on a move, so I kept rehearsing. Wow, look at the kids. It’s nice to see you all. Come in, come in." An extremely handsome Korean man stopped to look at the contestants filling into the room with a slight smile on his face.
With golden-brown hair in a short cut that was growing out, hazel-colored circle lenses that made his double-eyelid almond-shaped eyes look bigger, a slender nose, and pink lips set in a V-shaped face with a very defined jawline, he was someone who fit both Korean and Western beauty standards very well.
Wearing loose-fitting black clothing that emphasized his broad shoulders and slim waist, and clean white sneakers, the man who had won Korea’s most handsome male idol 3 years in a row, Shin Ji-yong, the leader of BTZ, the most popular K-pop group, stood before them.
As various contestants took him in, they all gasped in surprise at meeting THE top idol before bowing politely.
Bowing slightly as well, so he didn’t stand out, Ari covered his mouth and whispered status.
[Shin Ji-yong]
[Age 28]
[Vocals: S- (S)]
[Dance: S- (S+)]
[Visual: A+ (S-)]
[Rap: A- (A-)]
[Charm: S (S+)]
[Leadership: S- (S)]
[Acting: A (S-)]
[Music Production: B+(A)]
[Skills: Stage Magnetism (A)]
Seeing the stats of the group leader, Ari wanted to whistle.
He had thought that people like Benjamin and Jamie had pretty broken stats, but this...
This was on a completely different level of brokenness.
What planet had this person even come from?
Was this what all the top idols were like?
Shin Ji-yong had 4 current S stats with the potential to gain two more.
He also possessed a skill, something that Ari had never seen in anyone except himself.
He was like a cheat video game character, and Ari had to do a double-take to make sure his eyes weren’t deceiving him.