Debut or Die - Chapter 12

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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 12
“Yaha~ We’re really great together, aren’t we? There are so many talented people, and so many handsome ones too!”
Gold-tier Lee Sae-jin spoke with a beaming smile. Everyone nodded bashfully, yet as if genuinely agreeing.
It was only natural—this was the perfect moment for everyone to appear harmonious, even if forced. At least they all seemed to have some basic sense of the room.
“But, ah, Miss Lee Sae-jin. Since we have the same name… how should we differentiate ourselves?”
“Pardon?”
“Oh, that’s a good idea!”
“Right? Since you’re an actress, how about Actress Sae-jin?”
The first Gold-tier participant to join the group added with a snicker.
“Hey, then since you’re just big, go with Big Sae-jin.”
“Big Sae-jin? Hey, that’s good, I’m in! What do you think, Senior Sae-jin?”
“….”
Child actress Lee Sae-jin bit her lip as if holding something back, then spoke curtly.
“I just like my name as it is.”
“….”
“Ah… I see.”
The atmosphere froze instantly. Gold-tier Lee Sae-jin hastily opened her mouth.
“Oh, that’s fine. Then everyone, please call me Big Sae-jin from now on~”
“Sounds good~”
“That’s a great nickname!”
Clap clap clap—applause rang out and the mood settled. As they began introducing themselves one by one, the MC picked up the microphone again.
“Participants, have you all introduced yourselves to each other?”
“Please, just let us pick our own songs.”
One of the team members muttered desperately. But it was wishful thinking.
“Then now… we’ll begin the song selection draw!”
“Wow….”
“The song selection is random too….”
Everyone muttered with exhausted expressions.
The MC waved his hands playfully and spoke with exaggerated charm.
“Come on, everyone! You’re drawing from the hit songs of the idol groups representing the Entertainment Agencies you chose! Don’t be disappointed!”
Thinking it was worth a try, the atmosphere improved somewhat.
“Now, the representative songs are rotating on the sign in front, and when you want to stop, just press the switch! So, the participant who joined the sign first, please come forward!”
The team members immediately shifted into position.
“Senior, we believe in you!”
“Only a legendary song will save us!”
“Sigh, do I have to show my skills again?”
The first participant strutted forward to the sign amid cheers from the team.
“Alright, get ready… go!”
“Waaah!”
The team member made a strange sound and immediately pressed the switch. Big Sae-jin (I’ll refer to her this way from now on since she brought it on herself) muttered from the side.
“No, look at it first before pressing….”
The sign rotated slowly, thump-thump-thump, revealing several song titles.
[Mountain Lord / VTIC]
[LIFE / VTIC]
[Eternal Song / VTIC]
VTIC. Currently the best-selling male idol group.
“They’re all fine… please.”
I heard Choi Won-gil muttering desperately from the far end. I silently waited for the screen to stop.
The screen slowed to a halt.
[Into a New World / Malang Dalcom]
“…?”
“…??”
“…!?”
A suffocating silence fell over us.
Every team member except me stared at the sign with eyes wide as saucers.
“W-wait, really?”
The team member who touched the sign muttered in a dazed voice. But there was no signal from the production staff.
It was real.
“Female idols are included?”
“There are female idol songs?”
Similar murmurs were erupting from various corners, not just our team.
Of course, the reaction wasn’t as intense as ours.
My teammates mumbled as if they’d lost their minds.
“Uh… so, it was the fairy of flowers?”
“That… uh, debut song, mm.”
And for good reason—”Into a New World” was a pure and ethereal song that embodied the fairy of flowers concept.
Moreover, it was their debut track. A song released before Malang Dalcom established their signature quirky cute concept, one that had never topped the public broadcast charts.
“Ah! Thank you!”
“Amazing!!”
The surroundings erupted in cheers as if they’d drawn a good song. It was only natural, given how many masterpieces were available.
The climax came next.
“Aaahhhhh!!”
“Hyung! Hyung!!”
The team right after ours drew VTIC’s “Mountain Lord.”
For reference, that song was the title track from the album that won the grand prize at the Domestic Largest Music Streaming Site awards two months ago.
You could say it was the hottest song available to pick right now.
Perhaps because of that, everyone was hugging and going wild. As if they’d already won, the atmosphere improved dramatically, even though they’d been suffering from their low team tier just moments before.
“….”
And our side fell into sudden silence. It seemed no one had recovered from the shock.
What about me?
I managed to dodge that bullet.
I was catching my breath. I’d realized I’d carelessly chosen an Entertainment Agency placard.
VTIC’s “San-gun”?
That would’ve been worse than nothing.
I was genuinely relieved to have avoided it.
In that sense, my current matchup luck couldn’t be better.
The others still seemed oblivious to it.
Watching my teammates gather with gloomy expressions, I actually thought it was for the best.
Once they felt the pressure, they’d cooperate more willingly.

* * *
“The key doesn’t match.”
Had I really thought they’d cooperate? I wanted to correct my overly optimistic expectations.
Someone who seemed to have already given up was starting to show it.
“Won-gil, why don’t you try once more….”
“I’ve tried several times already, and it doesn’t seem like it’ll work no matter how many more times I try….”
Choi Won-gil hung his head dejectedly, then spoke quietly.
“It’s, well, originally a female song, so changing it to a male key doesn’t seem to fit well. I think I could handle the higher parts though….”
As he said this, he looked toward me.
He was asking me to give up my part.
I’d already earned the main vocalist badge early on, backed enthusiastically by the three Gold-tier members.
Perhaps because his tier was lower, Choi Won-gil could barely open his mouth—he just watched as I pinned on the badge.
Then he saw an opening and took it.
I laughed softly.
“Should I?”
“…!”
Lee Sae-jin smacked my thigh. This was really….
“Hey, don’t mess with the kid like that. You should help him get through his part! What are you doing?”
She naturally deflected his words as a joke. This wasn’t her first time doing this.
It seemed she wasn’t just someone with a carefree personality.
I hid my suspicions and continued firmly.
“No, seriously, it’s fine to switch. If you’re going to do it, you need to do it before learning the choreography.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
I spoke casually. Choi Won-gil looked very suspicious, but quickly nodded, afraid I might change my mind.
“Um, then I’d like to do the chorus after the first verse….”
“Fine. Then I’ll take the bridge part.”
“What?”
“We’re switching parts. That’s the part you said you couldn’t do.”
Choi Won-gil reluctantly nodded. He seemed reluctant even as he was taking on a part he’d said he couldn’t handle.
She’d made a fuss about wanting the chorus, but deep down, she clearly didn’t want to give up her own part.
She usually wouldn’t have gotten so worked up over something like this, but dropping to Silver must have been the trigger. She’d lost her composure.
Lee Sae-jin looked between me and Choi Won-gil in turn, then let out a sigh so faint it was barely audible.
‘In the arrangement she’s imagined, I must be the one singing the first verse chorus.’
Then she continued speaking with forced brightness, as if nothing were wrong.
“Alright then, let’s keep the parts as they are.”
One main position remained. I could feel the Gold-tier participants tensing, pretending they weren’t.
“So now we just need to decide on the main dancer.”
Before Lee Sae-jin could say more, I raised my hand.
“Actually, I have something to say.”
“Hmm?”
“If everyone’s okay with it, I’d like to decide on the arrangement direction before we pick the main dancer.”
“…What?”
The arrangement.
It was the most crucial topic, yet everyone had unconsciously been avoiding it.
“Into a New World” was a pure, innocent girl group song.
And “pure and innocent” was… an incredibly difficult concept to pull off.
People commonly mistook it as easy if you were just pretty, but that was truly a misconception.
It was a concept that didn’t lend itself to intensity.
To make an impression on the audience with such a song on a survival stage, you’d need either absurdly exceptional skill or extraordinary charisma.
Apparently everyone had thought that far, because the arrangement suggestions started like this.
“What if we changed the lyrics to make it more intense?”
“By adding a stronger beat?”
“Yeah. Like, ‘Into a New World~’ but make it ambitious and punchy! Like that.”
The first Gold-tier participant—calling her that was tedious. I’d just call her Gold 1.
So this opinion came from Gold 1. Any survival contestant with a brain would think of something like this.
Making it intense.
The problem was that making this song feel “ambitious” as she described seemed nearly impossible.
The lyrics to “Into a New World” went like this.
-At some point, I realized
I was wandering through incomplete time
This endless maze of moments
Save me, trapped inside it
Withering away
In this small space within (Little Flower~)
Waiting for the day I bloom again
Come find me, quickly
That was the first verse.
If we wanted to make it ambitious, we’d have to rewrite the lyrics to be more narrator-centric, but then the song’s story would fall apart starting from the pre-chorus.
The chorus was about pleading with someone else to come closer to her.
One step, two steps
The sound of you approaching
Echoes in my ears
Don’t hesitate—reach out your hand to me
Now I’m stepping into a new world~
Come to me
Come to me
Dazzling Paradise by your side
Come to me
Come to me
A melody of love for you (it continues)
“Then should we fix ‘Come to me’ too, the lyric after ‘stepping into a new world’?”
“Uh… if we change it to ‘come to you’….”
Gold 1 trailed off and scratched their head. They’d realized the problem went deeper than just that one line.
“Then wouldn’t we have to fix everything from ‘save me’ onward?”
“Mm.”
Right. The chorus was so focused on the listener’s actions that if I changed it to say I’d approach quickly, the nuance of the next lyric would collapse.
“If we go this route, we’ll have to rewrite the whole thing.”
“Yes, but… if we change too much, it might raise fairness issues.”
There was also the question of whether the other team or the production staff would even accept such extensive revisions.
“….”
As the gravity of the situation began to sink in, the team members fell silent.
Lee Sae-jin quickly jumped in to change the subject.
“How about we talk to the instructors about the arrangement and decide then? I think it’d be better to get the choreography down first so we can get feedback efficiently! Is that okay with you, Moon-dae?”
“Yeah, that works. Let’s do that.”
I agreed without hesitation.
Bringing up the arrangement at this moment was meant to shock them into compliance.
The more desperate the atmosphere, the less pushback I’d face when I eventually offered my arrangement suggestions.
Though honestly, once they saw the choreography video, I suspected they’d understand the situation anyway.
“Okay, let’s check out the choreography!”
Under Lee Sae-jin’s direction, the choreography video began playing, and everyone immediately leaned their heads toward the tablet screen.
Apparently, none of the team members had memorized the chorus choreography in detail, despite having heard it before.
But as expected, less than fifteen seconds into the video, they all let out a low groan.
“Ah….”

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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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