"Spin here, twist to the right! Left! Right! Left! Hands out! Two three four. Lean two three four. Jump, look back, and freeze!"
Jaywalk was calling out the steps of the warm up songs that he had taught the contestants while observing their movements.
Seeing that they weren't getting the moves, Jaywalk joined in and began performing it as well.
Standing in the very back, Ari clumsily tried to match his moves to Jaywalk, who was executing them flawlessly in the mirror.
But for him, it was a complete failure.
Not only did he keep slipping on the slick wooden floors, but he was unable to keep up with the quick moves that Jaywalk was calling out.
When the music finally stopped, Ari was completely exhausted from moving his entire body so energetically.
Even though he wasn't drenched in sweat like the others in the room, he felt a bit faint from all the rapid movements.
While trying to dance, he kept discovering muscles he had never used before and his whole body was aching.
"Alright. 5-minute break."
When the contestants heard the trainer's words, they all collapsed on the floor from exhaustion.
Some got up to go drink water from the outside water fountain, others just lay on the ground while panting from exhaustion.
Jaywalk turned to look at the room full of contestants with a thoroughly disappointed expression.
More than half of them couldn't follow along with the beat, while the other half just lazily pretended to follow along as if they planned on never dancing the warm-up routine again.
Seeing that they were already exhausted and unmotivated with the warmup, he was not looking forward to having to teach the choreography.
Plus, he had to deal with a strange boy with a painted face who wasn't even trying.
While others were at least putting in enough effort to be covered in sweat and turn their faces red, he looked as cool as a cucumber with his completely uncoordinated movements that were worse than a child's.
Jaywalk really wanted to scold him, but held his tongue just this once. He would see if the boy's behavior improved when he got some proper shoes.
If it didn't, well, he would just get eliminated quicker.
Jaywalk sighed to himself before speaking, "Well, that's the extent of it. As I said earlier, you guys can use these songs and moves as a warm-up since they will properly warm your body and make you go through the basics. But you absolutely don't have to if you have another routine that works better for you. If you need help remembering the moves, each of the practice rooms has SungSam Ultra 10 tablets that have the choreography on them for you to review. Now, let's get started with the first verse of the Warrior choreography."
Jaywalk tapped on the tablet before getting into position.
The intense intro of the song began, and Jaywalk began demonstrating the broad but powerful choreography that was filled with stomps, jumps, kicks, and punches.
As Ari watched it, he thought it looked simple and easy to duplicate, but the intensity of the warm-up alone made him know that he would suffer from trying to learn this choreography.
The need to use up all his stat points on his Dance stat pressed down on him, but he wanted to try to hold out for the whole week and see if it would improve on its own.
Hadn't NOVA mentioned that if he got professional trainers to coach him, the stats could naturally rise?
Well…
It wasn't like he was getting much coaching now.
Ari glanced at the trainer, who was glaring in his direction, before avoiding his eyes and continuing to try his best while his body jerked awkwardly and slipped on the ground.
Two hours of practice passed by slowly until finally, it was Ari's turn to be interviewed by the staff members.
He gratefully stepped out of the room while avoiding Jaywalk's glare and followed the staff member into a private room where PD Emily sat in a chair in front of the camera.
There was an empty chair across from her, and as Ari walked closer, he saw that the camera had a red light flashing, indicating that it was recording.
"Have a seat, contestant Ariel, or do you prefer another name?"
"I go by Ari," Ari replied as he took a seat.
"Okay. Ari, we just pulled you from learning the choreography with Jawywalk. You're at the bottom right? F-grade dance skills. How are you feeling after your first choreography class? "
"It's really difficult," Ari replied honestly.
At the response, PD Emily's ears perked up happily.
"Really, why do you say that?"
"I always believed that what idols do wasn't hard. They just sang on stage and moved around a little while dancing. I felt that running and exercising in my high school gym class was harder, but this was very intense, and I've come to realize that what seems easy on television actually has a lot of hard work behind it. I have a lot of work to do to get better."
"Interesting. Do you think you'll be able to learn and perform the choreography by the end of the week?"
"I plan on trying my hardest to do so."
At the dull response, PD Emily decided to switch tactics.
"Is that so. Ah, I heard that you were one of the people who got their room switched. You went from room A1 with only three people to F1, which has 10. What are your thoughts on the matter? The person who targeted you was Suzuki Rei, and you seemed to have a conflict as well after the second performance. Are the two of you fighting?"
Hearing the pointed question that tried to instigate a fight, Ari did his best to deflect the thorny words.
"I don't think so. Suzuki Rei said that he overheard me telling my roommate at the time that I didn't care where I slept, so he chose me."
"Is that so? I notice you call him by his full name. Are you not friends? Do you not like him?"
"Since PD called him by his full name, I'm just following your lead," Ari replied with a cheeky smile.
"Tsk. Then, are you getting along with your new roommates? I heard there was a conflict with one of your roommates? Could you explain that?"
"I wouldn't say it was a conflict; they tried to prank me since I was the last one to come to the room, but it wasn't very funny, and I called them out on it. We talked it out and we're fine now." Ari replied as neutrally as he could, but PD Emily refused to give up.
"How do you feel about sleeping on the ground? Do you hate it? After all, it was decided before you joined the room. Don't you think it's unfair?"
The person who's unfair is you guys for making this situation!!!
"Not at all. I'm more concerned with sharing the single bathroom with 9 other boys and being on time for lessons and mealtimes." Ari replied with another cheeky grin, clearly calling out the terrible sleeping and bathing conditions.
Since she didn't have an ounce of shame in her body, PD Emily shrugged before smiling again, "Are you concerned because of the time it will take to take off and put on your interesting makeup?"
Since that was actually part of his concern, Ari nodded in agreement.
"Then, on that note, when do you plan on showing your face, contestant Ari? Everyone is quite curious about it? You wore a mask all day today and even had your interesting makeup underneath. When can we show the real Ari's face to the world?"
"Soon. I still want to show my skills off without people judging me by my appearance," Ari replied vaguely.
He really couldn't give a timeline because he didn't know when he would get enough stat points to fix his Visual stat, and he couldn't show this ugly face to the world.
"Oh? Could it be that you're healing from plastic surgery and need to hide your appearance?"
"Plastic surgery? With what money? I'm broke."
At Ari's completely emotionless words, PD Emily burst out laughing before speaking, "Well, we'll see about that. The first episode of the show will be broadcast in two weeks, and voting will begin soon. One way or another, that makeup will come off. Anyways, thanks, contestant Ari. Feel free to head over to the other building to eat. Afterward, if you need to go get your car, just let one of the staff members know."
"Thank you."
Ari bowed his head politely at her before leaving.
As he left, PD Emily scribbled on her tablet while smiling happily.
With this interview, she got some provocative clips from his roommate's struggles, his criticism of the idol profession, and even a conflict with another contestant.
The editing direction of the first episode was forming in her mind, and the image she was going to paint for Ari was almost set.
She just needed to get the opinion of the trainers, and it would be set.
As if hearing her thoughts, one of the trainers walked into the room while speaking in a frustrated tone.
"These F-grade dance kids are the worst!"
As PD Emily glanced up at Jaywalk, who was stalking in angrily, the smile on her face grew bigger.
Found it.