Debut or Die - Chapter 128

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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 128
“Is everyone ready?”
“Of course we are~”
“Let’s do this!”
Confident responses came back to Ryu Chung-woo’s question.
The PC Bang, rented entirely for this ‘Testa Booking Concert Tickets’ content, contained only us and the staff.
Each of the guys, claiming a computer for themselves, sat there with expressions of pure delight as if they were simply shouting “Our concert’s coming soon!”
“The seats we’re booking today will be sent to reviewers along with autographs through a lottery!”
“We’ll try to grab some good spots!”
There was tension, but no sense of gravity.
‘They’re probably thinking even in the worst case, they’d at least snag a corner seat.’
In fact, their confidence wasn’t entirely unfounded—this concert had a total capacity of 26,000 across two days.
In other words, there were 13,000 bookable seats per concert day.
A strange certainty hung among them: ‘Surely with state-of-the-art computers and proper timing, we can’t fail to grab even one out of 13,000 seats.’
But naturally, I was skeptical.
‘These guys are all going to fail.’
I could tell just from listening to them talk.
“Oh, it opens at 8, so we just need to go in right at 8, right?”
“Yeah, seems like it.”
“I want the first floor!”
“….”
They won’t even see the seating chart before getting stuck on the loading screen at the entrance.
At best, maybe one or two of them would accidentally grab back-row seats.
‘…Looks like I’ll have to do it myself.’
If they all fail, the content will look odd. For variety’s sake, it’d be better if a couple of them succeeded.
But honestly, I’ve almost never been to a concert myself. I’ve only gone a handful of times to do one-on-one gigs and extract data.
However, I’ve attempted proxy ticketing quite a few times.
And my success rate was decent.
‘It was good for getting free meals.’
I stopped doing it seriously because the legal risk was too high. Scalping isn’t even a gray area—it’s just straight-up illegal.
Anyway, I figured I could manage to grab some decent seats this time.
Then Sun Ah-hyun, sitting next to me, quietly started talking. Looking at his screen, he’d only just managed to access the booking site.
“M-Moon-dae. Which section are you going for?”
“Hmm… I was thinking maybe second floor, section 8.”
“S-second floor?”
“Moon-dae, aren’t you being too conservative~?”
“Let’s go for the first floor!”
The guys who overheard the conversation chimed in with bold remarks born of ignorance.
Only Sun Ah-hyun earnestly nodded his head.
“Th-then maybe I should… go for second floor too? H-how do I do it?”
What stood out was his willingness to acknowledge his lack of experience and seek advice.
‘…I’ll share what I know.’
I offered some simple guidance on server time and site settings.
“First, you go to this site and click on the AfterPark address….”
“Oh, Park Moon-dae’s explaining something!”
“I’d like to listen too!”
“Will you teach us?”
“…The ticket reservation site shows the server time, and you just use that as your reference for the booking time.”
There were too many interruptions. I finished my explanation.
“Ah, got it!”
Sun Ah-hyun immediately manipulated his PC, and soon the AfterPark server time appeared alongside the server name.
[Magical Boy Testa’s Magical Seat Selection]
[February 26th 19:47:49]
“Ooh!”
The guys who’d picked it up excitedly copied the site. Then Ryu Chung-woo and Bae Sae-jin started hovering around and learning the method too.
‘Well, it’s better than going in blind.’
Only ten minutes remained until the reservation opened. I quickly shared everything I knew.
“And for the reservation site, open multiple tabs in different web browsers, then starting from 59 seconds before the exact time….”
By the time my condensed explanation finished, the guys had begun to develop a certain solemnity.
“Wow, this requires a lot of preparation….”
“If Park Moon-dae hadn’t researched this, we might have all failed?”
It seemed the tips were more detailed than expected, and the nuance carried a sense of urgency.
And as the announced time drew closer, that atmosphere intensified.
“Three minutes left.”
“Gulp.”
“Let’s definitely grab good seats and send them to the reviewer~”
“I’ll do my best!”
“Fighting, fighting…!”
They seemed to have already forgotten that the seats would go to the reviewer regardless of whether they grabbed them.
Well, if things go wrong, they could end up with scalpers instead… so statistically there’s some possibility of mitigation.
I shrugged and repositioned my mouse.
A staff member gave a countdown signal with hand gestures from outside the camera’s view.
“10! 9! 8! …3! 2! 1!”
Counting along with my voice, I began refreshing the tabs one by one starting just before the exact moment.
“…!”
And… nothing happened.
The screen had frozen.
‘We’re screwed.’
No, really, there’s no other way to explain this.
Endless loading continued on every tab. I watched the situation for about seven minutes, switching between browsers hoping the traffic would ease, but nothing changed.
The surroundings were chaotic too. It seemed like no one had managed to access the page.
‘The server must have crashed.’
I abandoned the PC and opened the mobile app instead.
[41,502 people waiting in queue]
It was a death sentence.
“….”
I’d been restraining myself from using my phone during filming, and checking the app late seemed to be my fatal mistake….
‘…I failed?’
Not someone else—me… I couldn’t even secure a single ticket?
I couldn’t believe it.
‘…I’ve even succeeded with VTIC concerts before.’
Though it was three years ago, those bastards were top-tier back then too…!
The server crashed then as well, but I clearly remembered how I’d switched tabs and squeezed my way in.
So I had no idea why that trick didn’t work this time.
‘…It’s my own concert ticket reservation.’
Honestly, it was a bit embarrassing.
Only after checking the PC and app several more times did I accept reality before the blank screen.
‘There’s nothing I can do about it.’
…It’s a shame I can’t send him a ticket, but that’s how it is.
If even I couldn’t manage it, the chances of anyone else pulling it off were extremely slim….
“Huh, wh-what?”
At that moment, Sun Ah-hyun beside me let out a shout and started moving his mouse frantically.
Glancing over, his screen had already advanced to the payment window.
“…!”
“Whoa, did Ah-hyun do it?”
“How on earth did you get in?!”
“I, I’m not sure either…. I, I just did what Park Moon-dae told me to do…!”
Sun Ah-hyun answered the crowd that had rushed over with a flustered expression, but he diligently followed the steps as instructed.
After entering the pre-copied personal information, he carefully selected bank transfer as the payment method and moved to the next page.
Even the seat location was exactly as planned—center of the second floor.
“Wow, amazing!”
“Ah-hyun pulled it off.”
“…Thank goodness. At least someone did.”
The members patted Sun Ah-hyun on the shoulder and had already shifted into congratulatory mode.
“….”
But I gazed bitterly at Sun Ah-hyun’s screen.
Big Sae-jin suddenly slapped my back.
“Dude Park Moon-dae, you worked so hard preparing, are you disappointed only Ah-hyun succeeded?”
Sun Ah-hyun was startled.
“N-n-no, Park Moon-dae explained it so well…! It’s, it’s basically the same as if Park Moon-dae did it….”
“No, that’s not it….”
Before I could finish explaining, Sun Ah-hyun’s PC screen changed.
There it was—exactly the message I’d anticipated.
[An error has occurred during payment processing.]
“….”
“….”
A deathly silence fell over us. I’d seen this coming.
‘…The loading took way too long.’
Whenever the loading was too short or too long, this was usually what happened.
Sun Ah-hyun sat frozen, unable to process what had happened. The others didn’t seem much better off.
‘…It looks like quite a few tickets got dropped during the payment stage.’
Clinging to a faint hope, I checked the reservation page again across several tabs.
Still nothing but blank screens.
‘Damn it.’
Did anyone actually manage to get through?
The server appeared to have crashed due to the reservation site’s failure to predict traffic volume—which meant everyone might be seeing the same screen right now.
I reasoned through it calmly.
‘There probably aren’t that many people who’ve successfully completed their reservations yet.’
Of course, I was wrong.
Three minutes later, the reservation page finally loaded and proved it.
[0 Seats]
“….”
An astonishing number of people had somehow broken through this garbage server and secured their tickets.
“Seriously?”
“It’s already over…?”
It was over.
And as if on cue, articles about the sold-out concert began flooding in.
[Testa’s First Concert—All Seats Sold Out]
[26,000 Seats Sold Out… Testa’s Concert Caused Server Crashes]
[Testa’s First Concert, Both Days Completely Sold Out in Just 10 Minutes]
That was it.
I had simply… lost to the fans in the ticket battle.
A crushing, complete defeat without even catching a glimpse of a single seat.
“….”
Data Arm’s record: 1 loss… added.

* * *
Testa’s first concert.
The fans were brimming with anticipation and joy, but it wasn’t major news to the general public. Most people simply didn’t think about attending idol concerts.
Moreover, Testa had already announced their comeback date. With attention focused on that news, the concert itself seemed to pass quietly without much fanfare.
…That is, until a video of Testa’s disastrous ticketing attempt surfaced.
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[Idols who got completely wiped out trying to buy tickets to their own concert lol.jpg]
: Even Sun Ah-hyun, who made it to the payment screen, got an error lol
All of Testa became zombies (screenshot)
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-This is hilarious lol
-They’re practically sobbing lol
-It’s even funnier when you watch the video, Testa’s losing it
-The funniest part is at the end when they apologize saying they have no tickets to send, looks like a YouTube apology video thumbnail lol
-The server was at fault.
-Testa’s confident SNS announcement from the day before (screenshot)
└lol
└Reality: everyone got eliminated
-This is so cute and relatable lol
-What your kids went through is exactly like what happened to me! lol But you guys will be at the concert, right? I… don’t have… a ticket…
Ugh… *sobs*
└Hope the cancellation tickets work out…
Testa’s spectacular ticketing failure became a hot topic in a humorous way because it was such a magnificent disaster.
Especially one member who seemed to have prepared so carefully but failed spectacularly drew reactions.
It was Park Moon-dae.
-But Park Moon-dae really did everything he could, I didn’t know he’d use multiple browsers and even open the app lol
└Yeah, it seems like he would’ve gotten it otherwise, just bad luck with the server… but his shocked reaction was cute lol
-Ever since the chicken feet thing, he looks like he does things half-heartedly, so why is he so sincere in every activity lol
When you try to act composed but fail and break down, that’s the most pathetic thing ever.
└Seems intentional
└A handsome main vocalist wouldn’t go that far… you’re sick, dude…
-Park Moon-dae is blameless, the blame lies with AfterPark’s server
-Park Moon-dae’s eyes were sparkling like a puppy when he excitedly shared his research, but when it failed he turned into a Tibetan fox lol
└lol
└The puppy act is just for show, the real him is a Tibetan fox, once that emoticon drops the trend will flip
People mixed with the fans and talked at length about Park Moon-dae and Testa’s cuteness.
The fans enjoyed the rare, warm and adorable promotional content alongside the fans, but simultaneously cried over the terrible ticketing server and the failure.
Then an unexpected effect occurred.
Testa’s concert-related content subtly absorbed some attention as well.
-Oh, are you releasing the unit stage on YouTube too? If it blows up, post it here too, I’m getting nostalgic thinking about Ajusa
-So it’s the first public performance of a new song too. Looks like Testa really prepared a lot for this concert lolol
└Guess that’s why the event failure hit them even harder lolol
└I was going to send tickets but there aren’t any..!
└Lmao this is hilarious. I’m so curious how the concert will turn out lolol
Before that atmosphere could settle, the concert trailer video and unit Stage production reality show flooded YouTube.
Even the VOD service announcement dropped early, smoothly absorbing the overwhelming concert demand.
The atmosphere reached its peak.
-T1 keeps pulling off these moves. What is this even?
-I’m going insane with anticipation for the concert…
-Good job changing the head of the department.
Thanks to all this, the fans arrived at the concert’s first day with hearts ready to burst from anticipation and excitement.

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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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