From Skid Row to Superstardom: An Idol System Novel

"Before I say anything, I would like to hear the board’s thoughts about the situation." Wilfred Forbes confidently spoke as he glanced around the room, making sure to meet the eyes of everyone present.

It was a subtle form of intimidation meant to suppress those who didn’t really have an opinion but simply liked going along with the crowd.

Weeding out the sheep, if you will.

It was silent for several seconds before Arianna, the woman with the red lipstick and sharp bob, spoke up, smirking at Wilfred.

"What? You want to hear our thoughts on what we should do about your nephew, who decided to steal a song from one of the top producers at Pacific Records, pass it off as his own work, and have us suddenly deal with a suddenly expensive lawsuit from that sly fox Martin and his vicious troop of lawyers? Aren’t we gathered to hear what defense you have for him this time?"

Not offended at Arianna’s biting tone, Wilfred gave her a relaxed smile before speaking.

"While you’re not wrong. I’d like to say that I’m not standing here as a person who’s going to defend my nephew. I’m asking as the director who is going to be in charge of this group when everything is said and done." Wilfred clarified, but he was quickly interrupted as Arianna snorted.

"Considering all the concessions you’ve forced us to make toward your NEPHEW when any other contestant would have been eliminated because they were detrimental to the group, both currently and in the future, I don’t really think that you’re in the position to distance yourself from William and claim impartiality this late in the game."

"Touché." Wilfred acknowledged, "So I’m assuming you’re of the mind to get rid of William."

"Naturally. Kick him out of the competition, wrap him up, and ship him over to Pacific Records to deal with the lawsuit. Your family has enough money, so you all handle it as you see fit. Besides, he’s a cancer to the other contestants, and they clearly don’t like him; he’s repeatedly brought the show’s reputation down, and, most importantly, he’s brought a severe set of LAWSUITS to our doors. There’s no need for that kind of contestant, so get rid of him." Arianna insisted.

"And you’re all in agreement with her statement?"

As Wilfred looked around, the execs that were present nodded.

"Well. May I offer an alternate suggestion? Or at least address some of your concerns? I’m sure if you give me some time, I can resolve everything in a way that’s appealing to everyone." Wilfred Forbes confidently said as he took over, sharing his own PowerPoint for the meeting.

"It seems that you plan to do so anyway, so go for it. It’s not like we have a choice."

"Many thanks. Firstly, let’s start with the statement that William is a cancer to the other contestants. Saying that about a child is honestly a bit much. While his personality can be...forceful-"

"A child? He’s almost 20 and is old enough to know better. He assaulted several contestants in what was supposed to be a simple tennis match, tried to break the legs of another contestant during a soccer match, not to mention the other things he’s done behind the scenes that you tried to pass off as boys being boys. He is an all-around bully who thinks he can bribe people to not share his faults. In Korea, once this kind of thing is known, whether they’re a trainee or a member of a debuted team, they’re kicked out before they can tarnish the reputation of the group." Bing Yongsun interjected.

"Thank you, Director Bing. But as you know, this is a global group based in America, and while we take some inspiration from the K-pop methodology, things are a bit different. And while I will admit, William has grown up a bit spoiled by my family and still has lots of growing up to do, I don’t think it’s fair to rule him out so quickly. After all, not too long ago, Contestant Ariel was voted by almost all of the contestants at that time as the person they least wanted to debut with. But look at how he’s turned it around and quickly become one of the favorites of both the fans and other contestants." Wilfred quickly smoothed over the issue before bringing Ariel up.

On the screen, he had handpicked quotes from each contestant about their concerns about working and debuting with Ari, and, as expected, the other executives seemed to be thinking over his words.

"While we’re speaking about contestant Ariel. You’ve also seen that his temper can become volatile when he feels he’s been offended, often going overboard in his retaliation, as when he attacked William during the tennis and soccer matches. We also discount the claim that those leaks were carried out by Contestant Ariel in retaliation for PD Ji-ho’s editing. He is the contestant who is censored the most because, when he’s unhappy with the production team, he goes public, knowing he can weaponize his fan base.

I’m not saying that we’re laying the blame at Ariel’s feet for those incidents; I’m just saying we’ve given him a lot of grace for repeatedly inciting public backlash against the program as a whole, which has helped him rise to where he is today because fans think he’s ’real’ and not ’manufactured’. Yet, William hasn’t been extended the same grace. I mean, who hasn’t lost their temper and done something they regret? That’s youth! I think that if he’s given enough time and nurturing, I’m sure that William can make that same turnaround and become a valuable team player. I truly believe that he’s learned his lesson this time and understands that this is a group project and he needs to get along with the other contestants for the group’s success."

"You know that is true, now that I think about it, I remember us talking about Ariel being a loose cannon that can’t be controlled."

"And a lot of the public backlash we received was because of Ariel."

"Didn’t Chloé Laurent come from France to Korea and threaten to cut off collaborations for a year because of PD Ji-ho?"

"So he’s the one behind the leaks?"

As the executives got derailed and began discussing Ariel’s faults instead of William’s, Wilfred let out a small smile.

"Hey, hey, hey! Don’t change the subject. We’re not discussing contestant Ariel’s behavior at this time; we’re discussing William and the lawsuit he’s brought to our door. Your nephew is a thief." The balding old man complained, bringing the discussion back on track.

"Ah, yes. The lawsuit. There’s no need to worry about that. I had a good talk with Martin over drinks and cigars, and we’ve come to an agreement. It’s handled." Wilfred announced with a smile, completely ignoring the thief comment.

"And what were the details of that agreement? How did you ’handle’ it?" Arianna asked aggressively.

She knew how backroom deals were made and wondered what and who Wilfred had sold out to handle the issue.

"There’s no need for me to share details. Just know that it’s settled between gentlemen: all lawsuits will be withdrawn, neither party will go to court, and things will die down. Unfortunately, that footage can never be used again, but that’s a small price to pay, don’t you agree? After our meeting, you can check with legal and see that I’m right."

"Whether or not legal handles it, your nephew is still a thief. If he’s doing this now while his every move is being broadcast, who knows what he does in private? He’s a stain and has such a bad reputation; he should be kicked out." Arianna interjected again, not willing to let things be swept under the rug.

"I’ve spoken to William, he’s apologized, and said he won’t do it again. The pressing issue is not William’s morals or what he does in his private time; it’s the lawsuit, which will cost us millions, and that’s been handled." Wilfred repeated while keeping his smile neutral.

Seeing Wilfred’s confidence, the executives calmed down a bit.

If things were really handled as Wilfred said they were, then things were good, and they could be more open-minded as they listened to his case.

"So you’ve done all this so that your nephew doesn’t get kicked out. Is it even worth it?" Arianna asked incredulously.

If it were her nephew, she would have booted him out herself instead of wasting so much capital and favors on him, and sent him to military school to get his head on straight instead of covering up his faults.

It seemed that rich families were really a different breed.

"Not at all. I actually agree that William has crossed the line and that kicking him out is most likely the best thing. I actually want to kick him out so that he learns a lesson this time, but unfortunately, I think it’s more valuable to keep him around." Wilfred spoke with a bitter, resigned expression.

"Really?"

"How so?"

"Two words. Noise marketing."

Seeing as nobody said anything, Wilfred clicked to another slide and began his explanation.

"Our director, Bing Yongsun, brought out all these amazing stats praising how viral and popular Ariel is in the public. Please take a look at some similar stats for William.

After the statement about William’s participation was released, although we told fans that votes for William wouldn’t be counted, we never stopped people from voting, and, in fact, William saw a surge in votes during this period.

Of course, while people were talking about the copyright issue, there were numerous requests and an attempt at a boycott for William to come back.

During the surprise showcase, while Ariel was indeed trending alongside his groupmates, William was also trending on several platforms as people wondered where he was and whether he would be coming back.

Additionally, many in the audience voted for him even though he was ineligible. He was able to secure 3% share of votes, which is quite impressive considering he never showed his face."

Wilfred explained, looking around at the faces.

They looked encouraging.

"Now look, I’m not saying that we should push William. I agree, he’s done quite a lot, and brought the image of the show down several times. But you can’t deny that he brings eyes to the show. My proposal is that we should let him participate in the finals, not announce his elimination, and let fans speculate about whether he’s eliminated.

Given how reactive and divided the fans are, they’ll keep the topic alive, and I’m sure many will buy tickets to come and see whether we eliminated him or not. We’ll keep it a secret despite the content being published, and even for family day, which I’ll be hosting, we’ll make sure none of the pictures have him to keep the speculation alive. We can even have the production team film things in such a way that viewers might think they spotted him, but then mistake him for someone else. His hair is currently red, and he’s of similar height to a lot of contestants, so the production team can work some magic.

Ahh, of course, this is contingent on him not being eliminated when votes are counted. If he’s eliminated from the final 14 because his rank is too low, so be it, but if he’s still in the show, use him as engagement bait to get people talking about the finals.

With the way his rank is, I highly doubt that he’ll make the debut team, so we might as well squeeze everything out of him while we can. What do you all think?"

As Wilfred looked around expectantly, he saw that many of the executives were nodding.

"You’re willing to sacrifice your nephew just to bring more attention to the group?"

"Of course. At the end of the day, we’re chasing profits, so personal and familial feelings have to be put aside. I want this group to be the biggest thing ever. Since my nephew can’t utilize the opportunity given to him, it should go to someone else." Wilfred replied coldly.

"How cold of you," Arianna commented.

"That’s business. Well, shall we take a vote? Those in favor of keeping William in the program and not announcing? Or shall we get rid of him prematurely and lose out on possible profits from people still buying votes and buying tickets to possibly see him?"

As Wilfred looked around challengingly, most of the executives’ expressions were amicable to the idea.

Good.

They were a bunch of fools.

If they thought he was willing to sacrifice William after sinking so much into him, they thought wrong.

One way or another, William is getting into that group, and he would suck everything that he could from it, down to the marrow, while making that disrespectful French kid know what real authority was.

Just wait for me.

....

Although he was confident, seeing the executives vote to keep William in the show while hiding his presence, Wilfred Forbes let out a secret sigh of relief.

Now that this part was done, the next part was to micromanage everything and apply pressure until the finals were over.

Nothing could go wrong.

Nothing.