Ari got onto one of the two mega buses that the production crew had provided for them, immediately heading to the back of the bus with Jamie and Carlos.
The bus was completely rowdy as the boys of different ages talked loudly with each other while subtly separating themselves by class.
Carlos, who was in C class, sat next to Seobin, a contestant with blue hair that Ari had met in rehearsals.
The two chatted, but when Seobin met Ari's eyes, he glanced down at the neon yellow shirt that Ari was wearing and smirked subtly since he and the group members he came with were all in B or C class, wearing Red and black shirts, or pink and white shirts.
Rolling his eyes, Ari just stared out the window as the bus driver drove for about 30 minutes.
When it stopped, they were in front of a medium-sized 4-story building, a bit away from the downtown area.
There were walkable stores close by, and the building had a black tunnel connecting it to a large, boxlike, nondescript building that looked like a warehouse.
The camera crew was already out and waiting, with PD Park Ji-ho in the lead, smiling and waving at them.
As they came down from the bus, they were ushered into the building while being filmed.
Instead of the expected lobby, the building opened up to a courtyard with a fire pit, lounge chairs, and benches with umbrellas over them.
Off to the right were the various styles of luggage that the contestants had brought.
After everyone grabbed their luggage, PD Park Ji-ho, in the lead, began a tour of the building.
"This right here is the cafeteria. We provide breakfast, lunch, and dinner from 8 to 9 am, 1 to 2 pm, and 5 to 6 pm. Tea, water, and coffee are always available, and vending machines are available to purchase other drinks and snacks."
"Here are some meeting rooms that we'll use for lessons and interviews.
"A break room for you all to hang out in."
PD Park gestured around before leading them to a small elevator located by some stairs.
"I'll meet you all on the second floor so we can see the F-class and D-class rooms and work our way up."
He then took the elevator with the cameramen, leaving the contestants groaning as they examined their luggage before they got in line to wait for the elevator to come back down.
Since he only had to carry Jamie's guitar since his duffel bags were tied to Jamie's suitcase, Ari quickly took the steps up, and Jamie easily followed while carrying the suitcase with one hand.
As if their actions spurred everyone else, the other boys all rushed up the stairs, panting as they lugged their heavy bags up.
"Nice. You all have some drive in you." PD Park gave them a grin before he walked a couple of steps and opened a door.
"This is room F1 with 10 people. The people assigned to it will all share the one full bathroom inside the room or the hallway bathrooms which anyone can use. Feel free to take a look."
Several boys crammed into a room filled with eight stacked bunk beds and a singular bed in an awkwardly angled corner.
There was a single toilet and bathroom off to the side, and a sink with a large mirror right outside of it.
They looked around and tried to give compliments, but there wasn't much to see or say.
It was a small room that 10 men were supposed to share.
Overall, Ari thought it wasn't bad, having slept in a tent on the ground for almost two years, but from the groans and complaints of other people, it seemed that they hated it.
"PD Park, there are only 9 beds here? Aren't there supposed to be 10 people?" Suzuki Rei asked with a look of despair on his face.
This was the room he was assigned to, and he already hated it with all of his soul.
He had always had his own room, so the concept of sharing with nine other boys or even having to sleep on the floor was traumatizing to him.
"Ah, the 10th person gets a sleeping bag since there was no room for a 10th bunk bed, and we really didn't want to interrupt the room assignment flow. It would be unfair if there were only nine people in one F-room and 10 in the other, right? To make it fair, we made sure we could squeeze the 10th person in Ahahaha."
"Then…will you be assigning who gets the beds?" Suzuki Rei asked with actual tears forming in his eyes.
"Of course not! You're all adults or close to being adults. I'm sure you can decide reasonably." PD Park replied with a sly smile as he gestured for the cameras to focus on Suzuki Rei and the boys who had entered the room.
"Not it!"
"Not it!"
"Definitely not it."
The boys in the room immediately yelled out while touching their noses, with Suzuki Rei being the last to call 'not it'.
He looked completely devastated as he realized that he might have to sleep on the floor.
And of course, NOVA took the opportunity to comment.
[Look at his face.]
[He's completely devastated.]
[Wouldn't it be so funny if you end up in this room?]
[Lol]
Ari: ಠ_ಠ
He didn't really care one way or the other, but why was the production team being cruel.
What was this nonsense about being fair or interrupting the flow?
Just interrupt it!
Why are you making some poor contestant sleep on the floor when there are plenty of rooms?!?!
As a matter of fact, why were they squishing them all together in the first place?
Ari silently judged the whole production team while being doubly glad once again that he had his snail mask on.
He could only imagine what his expression looked like for the camera.
"Those who are assigned to this room, please drop your luggage off and come along. Let's move on."
The group of 100 boys followed PD Park to a room next door that had 10 bunk beds and was almost the same setup as the previous room.
"F-2, 10 people. Those of you who were assigned, please drop off your luggage and come along."
More luggage was dropped off, and they all followed PD Park as he came to a room that was slightly smaller than the previous ones, but with only seven bunk beds, and he began introducing it.
"This is room D-1, and there are 7 of you in here with 1 bathroom. Please drop your luggage after you've looked around and follow me."
After they walked past D-1 through D-5, PD Park made them take the steps again to get on the third floor.
"This is room C-1, it has six people to a room and one bathroom. Pretty nice, right?" PD Park smiled happily as the people who would be using the room, including Daniel Kim, nodded approvingly.
After passing two other C-rooms, they finally arrived at the two B rooms, which had five bunk beds in a larger room and a single bathroom.
Jamie took his things in, carefully putting his guitar and suitcase next to a bed, and walked out with Ari's baggage.
"And this is A1. The creme de la creme. 3 people to a room and your own private bathroom." After another grueling climb up the steps, PD Park presented the room to the 100 boys crowded in the hallway.
Ignoring the envious looks shot his way, Ari entered the A1 room, noticing that tit was the same size as the previous rooms they had seen with one stacked bunk bed pair and a second free one.
He and Carlos dropped their bags by the stacked bunk beds and Ari stared at the door waiting for their third roommate.
Surprisingly, it was Minjun one of the twins Ari had previously met at rehearsals.
After making awkward eye contact with each other, they both followed PD Park to the last A-rank room.
"Now that you've seen all the rooms, feel free to unpack. The camera crew will come around to take statements. For those of you who are in the top 20 and received the benefit, if you would like to switch rooms now that you've seen the composition, come and talk to me. You all have an hour to unpack and change into clothing appropriate for dancing because we'll be heading to the dance studio next door. Someone will come around to collect your devices. Let's disperse."
As the PD released them, Ari headed back to his assigned room with Carlos and Minjun.
As soon as they entered, a rude demand was made.
"I want the single bed."