Debut or Die - Chapter 100

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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A Fatal Illness if I Don’t Debut – Episode 100
I woke up to find my superior had vanished.
‘Was it a dream?’
It wasn’t.
The Director, who had been clashing with fans for the past few days, had simply disappeared.
Of course, he didn’t resign. He just returned to his original department.
Apparently, the Director had been looking for an opportunity to leave with his portfolio in hand anyway.
According to office gossip, he’d originally planned to stay for just one year before moving on.
When the conflict with fans erupted, he used it as an excuse to pitch the idea upstairs and got transferred immediately.
And naturally, the “Testa and Game Company collaboration” that had been included in the Director’s portfolio….
proceeded as planned. The contract had already been signed.
‘Damn it.’
I couldn’t very well whine to the fans who were happy to see the Director go and ask them to do something about this too.
I accepted reality and began preparing to head out.
Today was the Friday when the meeting was scheduled.

* * *
“Hello~ I’m really a fan of yours!”
“Hello!”
“Good day to you!”
The two people I met at the meeting turned out to be surprisingly approachable—a man and a woman.
I felt apologetic for having anticipated they’d look like con artists.
Moreover, they seemed equally caught off guard, as if the collaboration proposal had come suddenly to them as well.
“Well… shall we explain our game first?”
“Yes, yes!”
“I’m listening.”
“Then, let me….”
What followed sounded quite distinctive and entertaining.
That was surprising too.
‘Interesting.’
“…So, the main story of the game follows a protagonist exploring Seoul, which has been destroyed by a mysterious substance from a meteorite. It’s a roguelike adventure where you meet various factions throughout Seoul, and your allies and abilities change based on your choices.”
“That sounds incredibly fun!”
“Ah, thank you!”
Kim Rae-bin was the first to applaud.
This was… a signal that it actually seemed decent.
Could it be that what the Director had thrown our way wasn’t garbage after all, but quality material?
Moreover, these people were quite favorable. And I don’t just mean their words—they had the kind of goodwill that could actually be put to use.
“Actually, since we received this collaboration so suddenly, we didn’t have much time to investigate, but from what we’ve confirmed so far… the ‘Magical Boy’ content you created was truly impressive.”
“Ah, thank you. We’re eager to check out your game too. It really does sound fun.”
“Oh, then… would you like to try playing it for a moment?”
“Pardon?”
“We’re still fixing bugs, but it’s already at a playable level! There shouldn’t be any issues with progression.”
A smartphone emerged from the lap of the person sitting on the left—a rather large Android device.
The person who tapped through to the game’s launch screen handed it to Ryu Chung-woo.
“Ah…”
“Me! Let me do it!”
Ryu Chung-woo, accepting it somewhat awkwardly, found himself at a loss before Cha Yu-jin’s earnest plea.
But thinking it would be better to let someone who was skilled and genuinely excited take the controls, he soon passed the smartphone over with a word of caution.
“Handle it carefully.”
“Yes!!”
Cha Yu-jin eagerly accepted it and launched the game with gleaming eyes. The rest of the members began peering at the screen with curious expressions.
‘…They seem excited over there too.’
Conscious of the two people watching Testa with anticipation and tension in their eyes, I leaned in to examine the screen as well.
The developers had apparently decided that due to the high degree of freedom and mobile platform constraints, implementing everything in meticulous detail would be difficult, so the game progressed through alternating text, graphics, and illustrations.
Yet it was remarkably polished and conceptually sound.
Moreover, it was genuinely engaging. The structure of gathering allies and clearing story chapters was quite well-designed.
‘This could actually work.’
I could see why T1 had acquired it.
‘…But where exactly do they plan to fit idol promotion into this?’
That thought alone left me speechless.
In any case, Cha Yu-jin, who had breezed through Chapter 1 in moments, exclaimed excitedly.
“This is really fun!”
“Ooh~”
“Thank you.”
The two of them reclaimed the smartphone from a reluctant Cha Yu-jin with some effort. Then, with broadly smiling faces, they spoke.
“What did you think? If we were to collaborate, is there anything you’d like to see incorporated?”
“…Hmm.”
“I think we’ll need to consider that going forward.”
“…Yes, as expected. We’ll give it some thought on our end too.”
Since everyone had anticipated this situation, there was no awkward silence.
Still, the fact that the game wasn’t a disaster was itself a significant achievement.
“Thank you~”
“We’ll see you next time.”
The first meeting ended with the vague agreement to “think it over individually.” Yet the atmosphere remained positive, as if the prospects weren’t entirely bleak.
“I was thinking we could arrange the game’s BGM and use it as our title track.”
“…Wouldn’t that be considered advertising, so we couldn’t air it on broadcast music shows?”
“Oh.”
Kim Rae-bin, who had apparently found some inspiration and was sketching ideas, fell into contemplation at Lee Sae-jin’s observation.
And I felt somewhat relieved.
‘At least there won’t be any brand image disaster.’
I’d likely face criticism for being reckless and my ratings might drop, but it didn’t seem like it would become such a laughingstock that it would interfere with the next album release.
‘The real question now is what we’re supposed to collaborate on.’
As soon as we arrived at the Dormitory, a discussion opened up on this very topic.
First, Ryu Chung-woo relayed the proposals he’d heard from the company’s operations team.
“The current consensus is that swapping a B-side track with a game BGM would be the cleanest approach.”
“Well, that’s reasonable.”
Since there was no meddling Director around, it was basically suggesting we do a collaboration in name only and wrap it up conveniently.
‘I can feel the sorrow of a salaryman in that proposal.’
But surprisingly, Big Sae-jin shook his head with a smile.
“Nah~ if we do that, we’re the only ones working, aren’t we?”
“Huh…?”
“Both are music-related! I have a feeling only the AR Team and us will end up suffering… Hmm, I think we should bring something to the table too, you know~”
I see.
‘So we’ve reached the point where we need to gain something, not just avoid losing.’
If we went that route, the workload would only increase while only the game company would benefit.
The game would get promotional value, but since it hasn’t even launched yet, Testa wouldn’t gain any recognition benefits from collaborating with an unreleased game.
‘…It’s rare for gamers to become idol fans just because of a BGM.’
“So what’s your alternative?”
“Let’s think about it from now on~ If we’re going to work anyway, might as well do something that comes with compensation, right? Makes it more rewarding.”
“Hmm.”
And just as everyone was about to sink into contemplation, Lee Sae-jin opened her mouth with a low voice.
“…Just leave it to the company people. We’re already busy preparing the album—isn’t it strange that they’re asking us to decide what to collaborate on in the first place?”
“Hyung, but then the workload…”
“That’s something the AR Team should handle. We just say we’ll do the recording and that’s it.”
Lee Sae-jin cut through decisively.
“In the first place… this whole situation is strange. Why are rookies supposed to create and decide all this? The company isn’t even short on money.”
“….”
It was such a valid point that I just wanted to agree.
Lee Sae-jin, who rarely spoke much, was breathing heavily. She’d probably just poured out everything she’d been thinking about.
And Cha Yu-jin answered cheerfully.
“But I want to do something different! BGM is boring.”
“….”
Lee Sae-jin simply closed her eyes.
‘Geez.’
At least he didn’t run away—he’s improved quite a bit.
“Alright~ then let’s do a majority vote? Those who want to come up with a new collaboration concept, raise your hands!”
Surprisingly, everyone except Lee Sae-jin and me raised their hands.
‘These guys are something else.’
Except for Big Sae-jin, I’m sure the others aren’t motivated by profit—it’s more like ‘wanting to try something new’ or ‘wanting to create something impressive.’
Meanwhile, Big Sae-jin pretended to be startled.
“Seriously, Moon-dae doesn’t want to do it?”
“No, I’m holding off. If a decent idea comes up, we’ll go with that. Otherwise, let’s just make it background music.”
“Alright. Let’s proceed that way for now.”
Ryu Chung-woo steered the conversation back on track.
“So, what advantages can our group gain from collaborating with the game?”
“…Getting to appear in the game?”
“Money? …That ship has sailed. The contract’s already finalized.”
“Yes. Both seem off the table this time. With the launch right around the corner, there’s no way they’d add us in.”
That made sense.
Even if time had been abundant, a game with such a meticulously crafted worldview wouldn’t want to suddenly throw in celebrity-inspired characters right after launch.
‘…Wait.’
…Couldn’t we flip this around?
“What about this?”
“Huh?”
“Instead of asking them to put our characters in, what if we pick characters from the game and use them ourselves?”
“…??”
I pointed at my smartphone with my finger.
“We find the game characters that look most like us and make a sub-track with them.”
“…!”
“Since it’s not a title track, it doesn’t matter if we can’t air on broadcast. With cable and YouTube, the market’s big enough these days.”
In other words, we’d absorb a well-made game IP straight into our own universe.

* * *
“So… you’re asking for a list of companion characters?”
“Yes.”
“Well….”
The Game Company representatives we’d met again looked flustered by the sudden proposal.
They exchanged glances before answering in a somewhat reluctant tone.
“Um… we do have a companion character gacha system for monetization purposes.”
“I see.”
“The thing is, all the elements are completely randomized…?”
“…!!”
They were talking about drawing randomly generated characters.
“But I saw that there were illustrations for them.”
“Those were generated with cartoon rendering… anyway, those are also randomly created, so you can think of it that way!”
“….”
I never expected to hit a wall here.
Then Kim Rae-bin raised his hand.
“…So the companions Cha Yu-jin used aren’t fixed either, and their names change every time?”
“Ah, those characters… well, they all actually die when the next chapter starts.”
“…!!”
“We needed to make the protagonist explore Seoul alone… haha.”
The people sitting across from us laughed, mentioning that these were the only fixed companions.
“I don’t like dying….”
Cha Yu-jin suddenly became depressed. He’d apparently grown attached to them.
And I realized something.
‘…? Then couldn’t we just use them instead?’
When I turned my head, everyone except Cha Yu-jin had the same thought written on their faces.
‘…There were exactly seven of them.’
Since this game’s party composition was four members, we’d locked in exactly eight people for the tutorial including the protagonist.
Ryu Chung-woo spoke carefully.
“…Would it be okay if we used those characters?”
“Huh, yes?”
“Well, what I mean is… our members could each take on one of those character roles, and we’d like to create a song and stage performance around them.”
“….”
‘They might not like it.’
If they’d received the collaboration request hastily on their end too, they might not want to get this entangled.
‘If that’s the case, I should just talk about the BGM….’
“Wow!”
“…?”
“That sounds amazing!”
“…!!”
“If we had the time and budget, we’d absolutely love to take on a project like that!”
Following the excited woman, a man clenched both fists and shouted.
“Our kids appearing in 3D…!”
“….”
I was relieved that our hearts seemed to be in sync.
Surprisingly, the collaboration appeared to be progressing smoothly.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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