"So I’m sure you know why I called you here today." Assistant PD David Taylor asked in as intimidating a tone as he could manage, but the slender boy in front of him wearing a brown tracksuit and matching brown headband with an animal face on it and a strange green mask simply blinked before sitting down and crossing his legs with a lazy, cat-like grace.
The boy put his hands into his pockets and tilted his head to the side. Then, David heard the slightly accented voice reply to him in an unconcerned tone, which was basically the signature of the boy in front of him.
Regardless of who he was talking to, he didn’t seem to care.
"Not at all. Why did you call here? Are you going to refund for sobody ssing up my things?"
"No."
"Did you discover who ssed up my things?"
"Of course not!"
"Are you going to pay the money that my team earned for winning? I still haven’t received it yet."
"No!"
"Then is it-"
THUD!
"No! It’s none of that!" David slamd his fist on the table to cut Ari off as he felt himself dragged into the pace of this cocky kid.
"Oh? So, what’s the issue? I’m missing lunch, you know? I’m currently in my growth period, so I try not to skip als if I can help it. A certain sobody has been mocking about my height, even though it’s perfectly respectable for my age." Ari asked while wrinkling his nose at the assistant PD.
As always, the faint sll of sour body odor wafted from the man, and his head was gleaming with sweat under the thin blonde combover.
"You don’t know what you did?" David tried for an intimidating tone once more, and it took everything in Ari not to roll his eyes.
Was this supposed to be scary?
The crazy director or even PD Emily was scarier than he was.
Even a random holess person on drugs was scarier than this.
"No."
"Really?"
"I really don’t, but I assu you’ll tell anyway," Ari replied honestly.
They had only been back for a day, and he had only been to his assigned room, the practice room, and the cafeteria.
Even during the previous filming period, Ari’s schedule stayed the sa, with room to sleep and bathe, a cafeteria to eat in, and a practice room.
He rarely deviated from it.
"Hmph! Hpmh! I’ve received complaints about you from other contestants."
"Complaints saying what?"
"That you’re aggressive and a bully."
Hearing the sa lines that Benjamin had told him yesterday, Ari snorted in amusent.
The culprit was clear.
"You think this is funny?"
"Ah, no. Bullying is clearly a serious matter. Who made the claim?"
"That’s confidential."
"Ahhhhh~, I see. And how exactly did I act aggressively or bully sobody? Surely there’s evidence, the production team is recording everything after all."
"You don’t know how?" David glared at him, but Ari shrugged.
As far as he rembered, he hadn’t bullied anybody.
"I don’t actually. Could you give examples of my actions that I did to make the person say that? Or pull up the clip?"
"That’s confidential. However, if you don’t tighten up and fix your behavior, then you’ll get kicked off the show. And you know that if that happens, you’ll be out of the country because you’ll be violating your Visa. You understand what I an?" David sliced his neck aggressively, and Ari just blinked before responding slowly.
"So...I’m an Arican. I’m not on here on a visa."
"What?!" The assistant PD’s eyes looked as if they were about to pop out.
"...I may have a slight accent, but I was born in Arica and have dual citizenship, so unless you want to give a free plane ticket to France and then want to be accused of trafficking a minor, I’m not going anywhere...." Ari trailed off while looking at the assistant PD incredulously.
This would explain why Benjamin didn’t want to argue with William anymore.
What kind of pull did he have that he could get an assistant PD to threaten contestants with their Visa?
"Ahem, ahem, is that so? Well, that doesn’t change my words, tighten up and stop your aggressive actions, or you’ll get kicked off the show." Both David’s face and balding head turned red from embarrassnt, especially seeing the mocking in those green eyes.
Damn!
He should have read the kid’s file carefully instead of listening to that punk’s words.
"So, if I’m understanding you correctly, you won’t tell what I did, who accused , or what behavior to change, just watch myself, or you’ll kick off? Does PD Emily or PD Ji-ho know you’re saying this to contestants? Threatening their visas with vague bullying accusations? Is this an official warning or sothing you’re just doing randomly? Can I get it in writing? And can I also make a complaint? I have several grievances to address, including my ssed-up clothing, being repeatedly locked out of my room, and more. I’m a minor, so I’d have to involve a guardian, and this might be taken to court. I’m a fan of the Arican tradition of suing so..."
Hearing the contestant bring up putting it in writing and contacting the PD, and even worse, suing, David panicked.
"There’s no need to go that far! I’ve given you the warning, so watch your behavior and just get out!"
"Oh. Are you sure? I take these accusations seriously and would like to have them in writing. If possible, I’d also like to schedule a eting with the PDs to discuss them further. I read the rules and thought I was good, but maybe I’m violating sothing, and I would like so clarification from the people in charge."
THUD!
"The PDs don’t have ti for you. Now, if you don’t want a bad edit, get out!"
"Ah, yes, yes, I’ll get going now. Thank you for your ti. And uhm...please try not to call for unnecessary etings like this if they’re not official, as we’re both busy. I’ll see myself out. Take care."
Bowing his head as politely as he could, Ari left the office.
As he stepped out, he caught sight of William standing across the door with a smug smile on his face.
It was clear that he had been waiting.
"Had a good talk? Feel like cooperating now? I’m willing to forgive all the tis you pretended not to understand and even falsely accused of picking my nose. After all, we’re on the sa team, and you’re a good singer, even better than I am right now. I would love to exchange vocal notes and beco a better singer with your help. What do you say? Truce?" William held his hand out for a handshake.
eting Williams’ eyes, Ari flipped his middle finger at him in his mind before spitting out the words he had been holding back.
"You’re a childish, cheating, thief, and a loser to boot. Stop trying to touch or exchange vocal notes. It’s weird, and I’m not interested in learning or exchanging anything with or from you."
As William’s face darkened angrily, Ari just walked the opposite way straight into the bathroom of A room he had finally received.
He then took out the mini recorder from his pocket, playing back the sound on the lowest volu.
Hearing the assistant PD’s perfectly captured voice, Ari saved the file and put the recorder back into his pocket.
Evidence collection part 1 was a success.
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