Aeon Nether & Idol Effigy

Chapter 57- Contestants Dorms

Contrary to what was seen on the screen back home, the official end of the first year at Idol Effigy was quick and simple. Although, that might just be something that only I thought of as being quick and simple. It happens, events that you thought would be great after you watch others enjoy them, but then actually feel disappointed when you participate or bored.

All of it was over after the results of the first year's contestant rankings were revealed. Those in the top five got a chance to stand on the stage for longer, an unspoken reward where they get more time on air, something that will make them more memorable in the eyes of the audience.

After the first place was called out the confetti cannons sounded and everyone was told that they would follow the judges out. The order of the line that followed starting from the contestant in five hundredth place followed by the other rankers in descending order. It didn't take long to follow the instructions.

One by one the cameras would follow us to our accommodations.

The building we were placed in was a ten minute commute to our new university dorm building. Those who came in five hundredth to two hundredth and first place, all entered into a slightly old dorm building that seemed to have been restored a few times. The building wasn't visually pleasing, so much as it carried an old boarding school vibe on the verge of being investigated by the police.

The crumbling concrete of the dilapidated building looked oddly damp, but clean. The contestants who had been placed in this building were moved into the building in groups of six, seven, fours and threes. It was an odd arrangement of numbers where the value never dropped below three. Each room also seemed to have at least four beds, and at least two beds were connected in a slightly unstable bunk bed type of manner. The building had no damp or mould visible, but smelled like some constructor had skimped on the materials or used materials that would have been called out by the governing bodies as harmful.

All in all, their building didn't end up having much in it, but did have a couple of kitchens on the ground floor. One kitchen has kitchen staff in them to cook for the residents.

The tour ended after the last ones found their rooms. After which, the contestants who will now live in the building, were told to walk back to their dorm rooms to rest and take care of some matters before they call us out tomorrow to arrange our timetabled courses.

Two hundredth to a hundredth and fifty first place ended up in a building that could have called itself a relative of the apartment I've lived most of my life in this world in. It was a concrete mass that could be called modern enough, but was more or less similar to the last building we passed through, except that these contestants now had their own rooms.

Another building passed and then another. The buildings and rooms were upgrading slightly in each passing. When the number reached fiftieth place we started getting houses that you'd imagine sororities might have bought. The rooms weren't fully filled again, but each nine participants would get their own room.

When it got to my tenth place and below, all of the last ten contestants received a residency together.

The residency was between what you'd imagine a modern mansion or large villa would look like. It was in an alabaster white shade and framed sheets of glass that could peer within itself.

Each contestant now got their own room that almost reflected a decently sized apartment without a kitchen.

After the first place contestant got a room we didn't have to return to our rooms, but continued following the judges to find that some of them lived in the same house as us.

Out of the corner of my ear I heard a derisive sneer, "Oh joy! The well known and to do judges are now competing with us."

The voice was slightly deep and hoarse belonging to the forty eight year old man who'd ranked one place below me at ninth place. No one said anything about what he said. The man had every right to be derisive. His was nicknamed drag and his on stage name gradually became drag without his consent when he was younger.

Drag was the name people have called him for a long time. It was ironic and as much as I want to say that he owned it, he really didn't.

When he was just fifteen he got traded for another idol between two entertainment companies without a say in it. He should have been happy to end up in a better company, but he wasn't stupid enough to think that he'd lucked out. Afterall, he was more or less traded between these two companies just like that. What's the difference between them? Less than a week later he entered an entertainment show like idol Effigy, but it paid more attention to those who aspire to be idols. So he went on and won. But he was fifteen when he entered the show. So at the age of sixteen he entered the lottery and surprisingly entered a business empire type of show.

His show at fifteen didn't award him anything and made his face into a has been against his wishes, especially when you think about him having to wait four-ish years to come back to the idol industry. He'd won the business empire show and even built a strong small sized company that could last in this world when he was about to turn eighteen. At eighteen he started his dungeon service. Two years passed and he'd come back to the idol company that was supposed to be managing him.

At that point the management didn't seem to be too bright and he ended up suing this company and his last one. That took an additional year to do.

At the age of nineteen he had to face the damage that the companies caused him. He'd become a has-been face that people would relate to failure, because he'd dropped out of the public audience's sight for two years and another two years for those who'd count as being the audience from his idol years.

It wasn't until he was twenty one that he entered another idol show and ended up in a boy group made out of the winners on the show. After that he and the public would come to know that he'd been nicknamed drag by people ever since he started as a trainee when he was thirteen. A nice way for people to call him trash and luggage that the company had to drag into making money. Another three years passed. His idol group was average, but he spent most of his effort dragging the group into an average position. He was twenty four when the other members kept popping up with scandals. At one point those in the group and companies behind them wanted to drag him into the dirty waters to make themselves look better. He ended up being portrayed as a drug addict that was trying to sell drugs to group members and fans alike. The nickname drag became a meme for 'taking a drag' of a joint or drug when he sued them all. He ended up suing them all at the age of thirty and finally cleared his name in the public's eyes at thirty one.

He was pitied, but his attention in the media brought out more people who didn't know his history properly. At the age of thirty one the drag community and allies were calling him out on his unwanted nickname. Even after four years passed he'd get hit with hate for the nickname that was forced upon him. It wasn't until he was thirty seven that he tried his hand at the idol industry again. His company at this age had also become a steady mid-sized one. But he was too old for most people to accept him as an idol. So he worked as a ceo and started acting gigs.

When he turned forty one he was a somewhat well known actor and ceo. At that age he started music again. This time was somewhat successful with his beaten voice that had changed over the years. At the age forty five he realised that it wasn't working and called it a hobby. No one said anything, but the moment he said, "it was just a hobby", many people cried at his false smile. It wasn't a hard lie to see through, but it was a hard lie to see nonetheless.

He became forty seven with his acting blowing up and finally gained attention for his music. It was sad, because at this point his voice was 'messed' up. But he still released an album that did well.

He must be forty eight or forty nine now. He was someone whose presence called for respect, even from me who barely cared to know anything about this world. He was reported on the news at some point and made me curious enough to look him up. He's also been known to be dug up quite a bit given everything that he's been related to.

This must have been frustrating.

He'd finally been able to go on idol Effigy when he turned forty eight or nine, and now he had to compete with popular celebrities.