Debut or Die - Chapter 114

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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 114
‘Why is there another post about Testa’s rookie award?’
I could roughly guess what the discussion would be about, but I clicked on it anyway.
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[Isn’t Testa’s rookie award a bit off?]
: Shouldn’t we view them as an extension of Ajusa rather than a properly debuted rookie group?
I think we should see it as an entertainment project. Honestly, they’re stealing opportunities from other new groups.
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As expected.
‘I roughly anticipated this reaction.’
Wasn’t this the same criticism I heard when activities overlapped with VTIC? That we were ruining the ecosystem.
Honestly, I understood it.
‘If only Ajusa had done better.’
Since it was a group that debuted with the backing of such a successful audition program, it wasn’t strange to hear accusations of broadcaster or conglomerate abuse of power.
However, the participants suffered terribly while filming that show, and Season 3 was practically abandoned by the higher-ups from the start since they knew it would fail anyway, so it felt somewhat unfair to be unconditionally criticized.
‘It’s not strong enough public opinion to change the tide anyway.’
Looking at the comments, it was already a one-sided atmosphere too embarrassing to even call a debate.
-That show was an idol audition program, what are you talking about;
└Isn’t it even more of a foul because it was an idol audition..?
“What kind of foul play is this? Anyone watching would think idol auditions are illegal lol”
-What, I was writing a long serious response but is this just bait?
-How many idols are from audition programs, so do we have to treat them all as false debuts? LOL Maybe it’s because Azusa did well? There are all these strange claims coming out.
-Oh, you must be a fan of the group that missed the rookie award this year. Fighting!
-I also think the Ajusa program itself was malformed, but that doesn’t mean Testa’s members don’t deserve rookie status.
You went too far lol
The later comments had almost entirely devolved into mockery of the post author.
‘Hmm, I don’t really like this atmosphere either.’
While the post did seem like bait, the problem was that comments occasionally appeared mocking the performance of rookie groups that debuted this year.
They didn’t seem to be Testa fans—just people who found it entertaining to have a situation where they could ridicule someone.
-Well, even the best rookies this year barely sold 80,000… … lol
Lol, it’s so bad that the game doesn’t even work.
└Isn’t it a bit of a waste to feel sorry for the Rookie of the Year award with these grades? Haha, the empathy value is amazing.
‘This kind of thing just creates unnecessary friction with fans of other rookie groups that debuted this year.’
That point bothered me a bit, but it wasn’t a major issue.
It wasn’t a post that received enough attention to become a popular thread, and Testa’s performance was solid enough that they wouldn’t lose the award just because someone resented them.
I shrugged and just moved to another page.
And the following week, even as we were in the thick of year-end practice preparations, I didn’t worry much about the rookie award.

* * *
Moisture clung to the mirrors in the Dance Practice Room.
“Take a break, phew, let’s go again~”
“Huff….”
“I’m… dying.”
When Cha Yu-jin was saying things like that, it told me everything I needed to know about the state the others were in.
‘Cha Yu-jin… he’s probably the most exhausted.’
The song we were practicing had a fairly long section where Cha Yu-jin performed a solo choreography.
With the aerial apparatus work thrown in the middle, the final product would probably look impressive… but the problem was that it was brutally exhausting for the person doing it.
“Want some water?”
“Yeah….”
I tossed one of the water bottles I’d been holding to Cha Yu-jin.
“…me too, please,”
“Please, have mercy on me too.”
I threw water to both Sae-jins in the distance. The practice room fell silent for a moment. Everyone had their mouths glued to their bottles, drinking.
After quite some time had passed, Sun Ah-hyun spoke up hesitantly.
“Still… it’s going to look cool when we perform it.”
“Right.”
“If the camera captures it properly, it should be a spectacular stage.”
At Kim Rae-bin’s words, laughter erupted from various corners. Kim Rae-bin seemed slightly confused about why everyone was laughing.
‘That guy’s funny.’
I let out a hollow laugh and pulled out my smartphone. I was thinking of checking the progress of the rookie award voting during this break.
But the Manager walked into the Dance Practice Room carrying a stack of drinks, and I naturally put my phone down.
“Hyung!”
“Coffee!”
“Thank you so much for getting it iced….”
The Manager handed out the drinks and asked.
“So…. How’s the practice going, guys?”
“Great!”
“If we maintain this practice schedule, I think we’ll be able to pull it off well at the awards ceremony.”
“Good! But guys, sit down for a moment.”
“…?”
Ryu Chung-woo, who had been reporting on our progress, seemed slightly taken aback, but quickly gathered the members calmly.
“Why?”
“…Is there an additional schedule?”
“No, it’s not that. Um….”
The Manager looked troubled. After hesitating a few times, he continued seriously.
“An article is supposed to come out tomorrow. Something related to Ajusa.”
“…!”
“VTIC tried to suppress it as much as possible, but it didn’t work out. We’re preparing a counter-article on our end, so don’t worry too much.”
“…What’s going on?”
“Well, there are rumors circulating about Ryu Chung-woo’s involvement with Ajusa, but we already have all the rebuttal materials ready, so it should be fine. …Especially since they seem to be targeting Ryu Chung-woo specifically, so Ryu Chung-woo, don’t panic.”
I barely suppressed a bitter laugh.
‘Of all times, it had to blow up now.’
This was 100% the relative controversy with the Writer.
‘I thought we’d be safe for at least a year since the Writer kept quiet about it.’
The group was doing so well that plenty of people had started digging into us.
Ryu Chung-woo seemed to have anticipated this, his expression dark but not panicked.
He simply asked carefully.
“…Is there anything else I should explain?”
“I hadn’t heard anything about that… Wait.”
The Manager left the room with a flustered expression to take another call.
The remaining members’ mood naturally deflated. The adrenaline that had been offsetting our practice fatigue had just vanished with that news.
Big Sae-jin asked seriously.
“Hyung, I know you must be tired, but could you give us a brief explanation of what’s happening?”
“…Of course.”
Ryu Chung-woo repeated the same story to the members that he’d told me during that drinking session last time.
In summary, the Writer had contacted him through the Family Clan Association—a distant relative he’d barely ever met—to recruit him.
It seemed like it wouldn’t escalate into a major issue if the explanation went well, so most of them looked relieved.
“Well, so you two aren’t really related then~”
“Right. …I think once the explanation comes out, it won’t blow up too much.”
Ryu Chung-woo still looked bitter.
“I’m sorry for creating unnecessary controversy at such a critical time.”
“No way, it’s fine! Hey, hyung, don’t worry too much….”
“Well, what can we do about something that’s already happened~ Let’s just hope it gets resolved well!”
Bae Sae-jin chimed in quietly.
“…If you say that, Ryu Chung-woo, I should’ve already quit.”
“…!”
This guy was even making self-deprecating jokes now.
And Cha Yu-jin answered cheerfully.
“That’s true!”
“Hey!”
“Haha!”
Bae Sae-jin’s indignation was so funny that the atmosphere lightened a bit.
“Worrying won’t change anything anyway~ Should we just keep practicing?”
“A wise decision.”
The Manager returned after finishing his call and was somewhat taken aback seeing us resume practice, but left reassured.
And the next morning, after I’d just collapsed from exhaustion and slept without a care in the world, articles started pouring in.
[Testa’s Ryu Chung-woo recruited by Ajusa’s Writer through ‘family connection’]
[The uncomfortable truth of audition programs—does Testa also rely on blood ties?]
[Testa debuted under Ajusa. The Writer’s distant relative was former medalist Ryu Chung-woo.]
It was the lineup I’d anticipated.
Within moments, comments flooded the articles that appeared not in entertainment news but in the general news section.
“Don’t read the comments.”
“…Understood.”
Ryu Chung-woo’s expression was clouded with worry.
“…The fans must be struggling.”
“….”
Fortunately, rebuttal articles appeared immediately in succession.
[T1 Stars ‘The Writer is a relative? Ryu Chung-woo had never even met her’]
[Ajusa’s Writer and Ryu Chung-woo are more distant than 15th cousins… they weren’t even relatives.]
Usually in such cases, rebuttal articles failed to gain proper attention.
But because the response came so quickly and Ryu Chung-woo’s existing image was strong, the article could rank high on portal news tabs.
Of course, the fans’ efforts were considerable.
Just trying to contact Ryu Chung-woo any way possible, and it seems like it even went to the Family Clan Association? At that timing, the Writer/Producer hit the jackpot while Ryu Chung-woo got scammed by a con artist lol
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1501)
From the 9th degree of kinship onwards, they’re considered unrelated, but at the 15th degree, they’re practically enemies.
8490
422)
-15th cousins? Honestly that’s just nitpicking. If I were the Writer and had someone from the national team, I’d recruit them too (
6178
759)
Most Testa group fans accepted the explanation, and public opinion quickly began recovering.
The company’s PR team also reached out separately.
“Doesn’t seem like there’ll be a major issue. Still, let’s refrain from SNS for a while, Chung-woo.”
“…Yes. Thank you.”
Ryu Chung-woo seemed relieved, but appeared somewhat troubled that he couldn’t post anything—an apology or thanks—to the fans.
I held back a sigh.
‘…I probably shouldn’t mention this.’
In truth, I’d confirmed that several online communities had failed to achieve complete opinion recovery.
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[Is it just me who finds something off even after seeing Ryu Chung-woo’s clarification article?]
: It’s too simple to just say he’s a distant relative so there’s no blood relation~ when Ryu Chung-woo received such favorable editing at Ajusa.
I think it’s cheating from the start that he was recruited without properly watching the preliminaries. Who knows what kind of deal happened during the recruitment process.
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-Got the full post
-Wait, when Ryu Chung-woo was recruited, wasn’t that when everyone said Ajusa Season 3 would be a complete failure…? Isn’t this going too far?
└Even after Ajusa’s massive success, Ryu Chung-woo’s screen time remained consistently good. Honestly, wasn’t it strange that only Ryu Chung-woo kept getting the tragic figure image?
-I think the suspicion is unavoidable
-Ryu Chung-woo, a national team shield from Ajusa days—finally getting some proper talk about it now
“Casting…lol They probably said they’d send it somehow by the final round. This is so annoying. Some people didn’t even get their proper script pages, but Ryu Chung-woo gets cast?lololol”
The suspicion and criticism toward Ryu Chung-woo intensified, and eventually the arrows turned toward Testa as a whole.
Honestly, I’m scared of the fans, so I can’t say more about the other members either… haha
└LOL I’ll do it! Was it just Ryu Cheong-woo? In fact, the entire debut group benefited from editing~
Haha, that’s so satisfying!
└This is where the fans are about to lose it.
└Prediction: What about so-and-so who got bad editing? They went on stage with barely any screen time?
└Kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk
└Like they fixed all that bad editing later anyway, but they’re pretending not to see it. I really hate those fans and those singers..
Of course, this atmosphere wasn’t normal, so it didn’t last long and gradually subsided.
In the latter half, those exhausted by the situation—arguing it wasn’t serious enough for this level of backlash—took control of the narrative.
The Company seemed to think these online spaces would quickly shift to the next scandal once another issue broke, so they prioritized damage control with mainstream media and deprioritized this.
As a result, the public skepticism about Testa’s legitimacy didn’t disappear immediately and remained as an uncomfortable undercurrent.
And not long after, this discussion started coming up again.
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[About Testa’s Rookie Award]
: The grades are true, so I can’t do anything about the Popularity Award or Main Award… but I want to give it to another group, even if it’s the Rookie Award. I feel so bad for the kids who lost out.
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The difference from last time was that people began actively responding in agreement.

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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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