Debut or Die - Chapter 121

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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 121
The long-awaited Testa W Live began with Cha Yu-jin and Big Sae-jin’s eyes gleaming with excitement.
[Is it on?]
[We’re live!]
After confirming that excited viewers had started flooding the comments, the two playfully yanked the camera back.
That’s when their professional attire came into sharp focus.
Professional cooking gear—aprons and latex gloves.
[Hello, reviewers!]
[Greetings!]
The two bowed respectfully and checked the screen. Cha Yu-jin caught sight of a Korean comment and waved.
[I’m happy to see you too!]
[Haha, me too! And the reason we went live today is… to cook these chickens!]
As Big Sae-jin adjusted the camera, two pale raw chickens briefly appeared on screen, filtered through the selfie effect.
[See those chickens? Actually, we ordered them as a birthday gift for Moon-dae!]
Despite the flood of question marks in the comments, Big Sae-jin continued without missing a beat.
[We’re planning to cook them beautifully and give Moon-dae a delicious meal for our year-end party!]
[Chicken soup for the soul! Chicken soup!]
-What is this
-Are they actually going to cook that?
-Can you do it?ㅜㅜ
So Chicken Soup for the Soul wasn’t just hype after all lol
The two laughed heartily at the worried comments.
[If it turns out bad, we’ll eat it and just order something delicious for Moon-dae and the members!]
[But we’ll do great this time!]
Cha Yu-jin’s baseless confidence only made the comments more anxious.
-Call Moon-dae
-I don’t think this is a good idea
-They’re cute but terrifying
The two, who were definitely among the strongest in interpersonal mental fortitude within the team, filtered out all the malicious comments like “boring” and “stop showing off” and selectively absorbed only the fan responses.
[Ah, Moon-dae hyung! The hyungs will be here soon!]
[That’s right~ They’re running a bit late due to scheduling! We’ll prepare the main dish first, and we’re planning to make some simpler things together!]
This was a lie, by the way.
The choreography had been slightly modified, requiring extra practice, which made their departure from the studio a couple of hours late.
However, the two who learned the quickest had asked for understanding, left early, and were able to go live at the planned time.
The rest of the members, meanwhile, had no idea these two were about to do a cooking content stream on W Live….
[Let’s begin!]
[Excellent!]
And their cooking failed spectacularly.
Cha Yu-jin, not forgetting the experience of the burnt ghost soup made with Sun Ah-hyun last time, had actually controlled the heat quite well, but the problem erupted from elsewhere.
[Wow! Next is… cumin!]
[Hmm? Cumin? Unfortunately, we don’t have such exotic spices in our Dormitory. Let’s use red chili powder!]
[Great! Let’s add honey too!]
[Honey is good!]
The two of them threw in bold additional ingredients to a perfectly sound recipe, following pure instinct.
The comments descended into chaos, bewilderment, and laughter all at once.
-No way
-Dump the honey
-Do you have any chicken stock? Guys!!ㅠㅠㅠ
-Yeah, delivery’s gotten pretty good these days
The comments were scrolling so fast I got dizzy lolololol
And just as the fans predicted, the result was chicken broth with a peculiar flavor.
[Oh, it’s done!]
[Alright, let’s taste it….]
[….]
[….]
Both of them, who had eagerly tasted it, wore expressions of complete speechlessness.
The comments filled with people laughing uncontrollably, regardless of who they were.
The two of them smiled with that distinctive face of someone who’d tasted a failed dish, nodding their heads.
And Big Sae-jin cut it off sharply, feigning disappointment before comments about food waste could appear.
[Haha, we’ll eat all of this taste of defeat ourselves, so please don’t worry….]
[It’s fine to eat it.]
After checking the comments telling him to stop or laughing, Big Sae-jin shrugged his shoulders and resumed the broadcast.
[Then first, let’s order some chicken…]
And at that moment, the Entrance door opened and the members returned.
[We’re back!]
[Welcome back!]
The instant Cha Yu-jin bolted out, Big Sae-jin made a gesture of putting his finger to his lips toward the camera.
And he quickly hid the pot, attempting to destroy the evidence.
Of course, it didn’t work.
[What are you doing?]
[Huh? Haha! Surprise~ Park Moon-dae, say hello to the viewers!]
[Ah.]
Park Moon-dae stopped the interrogation for now and bowed his face toward the screen.
[How has everyone been doing?]
Countless greetings scrolled past in the comments in an instant. Park Moon-dae nodded with a faint smile.
[Yes, hello.]
[I’m Moon-dae!]
[….]
It was impeccable timing.
Park Moon-dae watched Big Sae-jin, who had mimicked his SNS speech pattern and burst into laughter, with a cold, tired gaze for a moment.
A few members who had entered the kitchen quickly covered their mouths and lowered their heads, stifling their laughter.
I couldn’t believe these guys.
Contrary to my inner thoughts, the comments were nothing but praise.
Looking at the chat window plastered with ‘kkkkkkkkkkk’ and dog emoticons, Park Moon-dae decided to hold on for once.
At least it was good value for entertainment.
Instead, I decided to properly check what was in the pot.
[Everyone, what were you all doing?]
The comments erupted with atmosphere-matching responses and a few snitches.
-We were just hanging out!
-Chatting~
-We were just talking
-I saw Eugene’s cutenessㅠㅠ Please show some cuteness to Mundae too.
cooking lol
-Big Sae-jin was making sounds
I didn’t do anything lol
Big Sae-jin casually patted my back and adjusted the camera angle.
[Us? We were just having light conversation~ Right, Cha Yu-jin?]
[That’s right!]
Cha Yu-jin added brightly.
[And we were cooking!]
[Ugh.]
Big Sae-jin sank.
And Kim Rae-bin muttered with a blank expression that showed he couldn’t understand the situation at all.
[You’re wearing an apron, yet you expected not to get caught in this situation…?]
The fans burst out laughing.
And I immediately checked the pot that Big Sae-jin had quietly set down.
[…Don’t tell me it’s chicken soup?]
[It is.]
[It’s the end of the year, and I wanted to make chicken to celebrate your birthday too… but I’ll just order fried chicken instead. We’ll eat all of that!]
[We’ll eat it!]
[….]
I made an ambiguous expression, then tasted the contents of the pot.
And I let out a quiet laugh.
[You didn’t follow what Cha Yu-jin’s mother gave you.]
[You exercised some creativity.]
[We added honey.]
[Yeah. Seems like it.]
I clicked my tongue, then ultimately grabbed the pot and placed it back on the counter.
Then I pulled out more ingredients from the refrigerator and started adding them to the pot with quick, practiced movements.
[Oh, Park Moon-dae!]
[Make it delicious!]
Big Sae-jin and Cha Yu-jin quickly assessed the situation and immediately switched into light worship mode.
[I, I’ll help too…!]
[…Yeah? Then taste this for me.]
[U, uh-huh!]
Sun Ah-hyun, missing Park Moon-dae’s subtle refusal, earnestly brought a spoon and tasted the broth.
His expression cycled between question marks and exclamation points.
[D, delicious! B, but… the, the taste….]
[Spicy braised chicken?]
[Y, yes!! That’s it!]
Indeed.
The chicken soup had vanished without a trace—the pot now contained spicy braised chicken…!
The shocking revelation sent the viewers into a frenzy. But the cook remained unfazed.
[Worked out well.]
Park Moon-dae turned toward the smartphone streaming on W Live, then explained with considerable courtesy.
[With honey and red chili powder mixed in… I just added soy sauce and gochujang to give it a Korean touch. The broth reduced quite a bit, so this seems right.]
[Wow, it’s delicious! Everyone, this is seriously tasty. How did you do this? What are you, Park Moon-dae?]
[Wow, cooking success!]
[….]
Park Moon-dae had temporarily earned their absolute trust. Not that he’d asked for it.
Still, one pot wasn’t nearly enough for dinner, so the members naturally brought out a grill and cooked pork belly strips together.
[This one we can really do well!]
[I’m good at grilling meat!]
Surprisingly, Cha Yu-jin and Big Sae-jin had genuine skill with grilling, so they smoothly salvaged the failed cooking attempt.
[…It’s delicious.]
[It really feels like a year-end party, doesn’t it? I like it!]
The two older members who had volunteered to clean the kitchen also praised it.
Yet both felt an odd dissonance throughout the meal, knowing the pot’s dish was supposed to be chicken soup.
The pasta noodles that went in were a bit strange, but once they thought of it as sujebi, it felt acceptable.
[Chicken soup, huh….]
[You made it again.]
At that loaded remark, the comments desperately pleaded for an explanation of what “again” meant.
-There’s definitely a story here
-Explain the chicken soup best friend vibes
-ㅠㅠㅠPlease share
[Oh, of course we should tell you!]
[That’s an incident that happened on Moon-dae hyung’s birthday on the 15th….]
Thanks to that, Testa filtered out what needed filtering and cheerfully recounted Park Moon-dae’s birthday episode.
For Testa, who had weathered many ups and downs, this was a rare moment of genuine real-time interaction. Hearing the rumors, even casual fans logged in, and viewers steadily accumulated.
Then, after more than two and a half hours had passed since the start, the members finally spotted “that question.”
[This question is… oh, this one. ‘Was Sun Ah-hyun’s tumbling on KBC originally choreographed or was it improvisation?’]
In truth, this question had surfaced multiple times since the early stages.
However, Cha Yu-jin had been so intensely focused on cooking that he couldn’t properly read the lengthy Korean comments scrolling by.
And Big Sae-jin had deliberately pretended not to see it.
Answering when everyone was together had more impact, and the screenshots circulated better that way.
Ryu Chung-woo, slightly giddy from the atmosphere, answered with a laugh.
[Ah, it was improvisation! It was really incredible!]
[It was amazing!]
[Ah, the detailed situation? We had a bit of a problem with our in-ear monitors back then….]
Testa explained the circumstances in detail with enthusiasm, while Park Moon-dae and Big Sae-jin strategically drew boundaries in between.
[Those two grabbed Sun Ah-hyun’s back right away! So what happened then, Sun Ah-hyun?]
[Well, I just felt like I could do it somehow… so, I tried jumping once…!]
[It was truly a spectacular sight, but it was absolutely not something we intended, and Sun Ah-hyun has agreed to only attempt such things after safety is secured going forward. Right?]
[Y-yes! B-because the body is important…!]
Testa wrapped up that topic shortly after and chatted about other trivial matters for about another half hour before ending the broadcast, but naturally, the first screenshots to circulate were from this segment.
========================
[Testa’s accident improvisation speculation all confirmed]
: They verified it directly on the broadcast
(Screenshot compilation with subtitles)
========================
-So it was all real
-Did Sun Ah-hyun do some special training or something?
-What about those who mocked fans’ speculation lolol
-Is Sun Ah-hyun a god
-I already thought it was amazing just as an improvisation, but how is this even realistic…
-Wow not even a backup plan just pure spontaneity;
-Could they have lied because it became a hot topic?
└There were several staff members who saw the rehearsal, why would they lie about this
└Does Testa even need to do that lolol
└Leave it alone, people who stan failed groups like ONYX probably don’t know much
People were shocked by the conclusion that had turned out in the most miraculous direction. And this news spread across YouTube and other social media platforms.
[Testa’s accident recovery—the impossible speculation turned out to be true?]
[The power of a surviving idol group’s stock is terrifying]
[Ajusa’s third-place group’s shocking dance skills]
The unfair image and controversies entangled with Testa had already lost momentum. With this new topic, Testa could shake off even those lingering remnants.
Thus, the rookie award controversy completely disappeared into the distant past, too awkward to even bring up again.
-Our kids are geniuses..
-Idols are all about the stage performance, but Testa is so cute too, there’s no helping it, we just have to love them
-I have to paddle when the water comes in. I want to do business with my cuteness.
Testa’s fans, riding high on excitement, attempted to spread and share the wholesome content that had just come out of the W Live broadcast, but it had little effect.
People had already grown accustomed to the sensational topics Testa created….
The fans felt slightly embarrassed and stopped talking about chicken soup.
In any case, winning the Rookie of the Year award at the major award ceremonies in January was practically a foregone conclusion.
Having infused Testa with a completely skilled performer image, we were naturally scheduled to spend the new year at the Broadcasting Station, as befitted a high-performing idol group.
However, I encountered an unexpected and welcome face there.

* * *
December 31st, MBS Broadcasting Station Year-End Music Festival.
“Thank you!”
As soon as I finished the first stage assigned to us, time flew by.
MBS had broadcast live for a full four hours and scattered Testa’s stages across parts one and three.
Of course, that didn’t mean they gave us two of our own songs. The stage I just performed was a cover of a 2000s male idol song, first verse only.
Moreover, the part three stage was so tight—just three minutes—that I had to cut the second verse.
Hmm, considering Testa’s performance this year, it was textbook mistreatment.
‘I wonder if I should call this discrimination based on our background or discrimination from our Agency.’
Probably both, I thought.
“Still, at least we have plenty of time to change outfits, which is nice~”
I nodded.
‘Looking on the bright side, we also dodged the worst-case scenario.’
Imjingak, that is.
“Right. We didn’t have to perform outdoors.”
“…Y-yeah.”
Performing outdoors in winter while wearing summer school uniforms would have been quite the spectacle.
As we chatted like that and crossed the Broadcasting Station corridor, someone suddenly greeted us.
Someone called out to us.
“Wow, it’s Testa! Can you sign something for me?”
It was a familiar voice.
When the members turned to look, their eyes widened in surprise.
“…What?!”
“Hyung!”
The person who’d greeted us was surprisingly… Gold 1, Ha Il-jun.
“Hey, how have you been?”
Gold 1 waved enthusiastically from among a group of people. Several members brightened and approached him.
And I spotted another familiar face next to Gold 1.
“…Oh.”
It was Choi Won-gil.

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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
—————