Debut or Die - Chapter 137

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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 137
VTIC stole our penalty content.
“Alright, you two, please come up on stage!”
“Oh, what a shame!”
“That’s a bit frustrating~”
Instead of eliminating me, one of the VTIC members voluntarily stepped on the line and took the penalty, along with another member, both receiving water balloons with unremarkable reactions.
If they weren’t the guys moving 1.8 million albums on their first week, this forgettable performance would’ve been cut in three seconds—it was clear from Big Sae-jin’s assessment that they lacked enthusiasm for variety shows.
‘…Which means they didn’t intentionally lose just to get content.’
So that satisfied expression from earlier really did come from genuine consideration for a rookie idol?
‘It’d be more convincing if it was actually a mistake and they were just embarrassed about it.’
My eyes met Big Sae-jin’s. He smiled like a picture and subtly pointed at himself with his finger.
I was annoyed, but there was nothing I could do—it seemed like he was saying he’d actively try to take the penalty next time.
“Now this team game is~ finding the sikhye!”
But this bizarre and absurd situation continued into the next team game.
“The team of whoever picks the sikhye without egg yolk first loses~ Come on, pick one while dancing to the music!”
In short, it was a vague ’90s vibe game combining musical chairs with pure luck.
‘This is completely luck-based.’
I decided to skip overthinking it and just picked one without hesitation. If I got caught, it’d be even funnier anyway.
Of course, statistically speaking, the odds that the sikhye I picked would have an egg yolk were much higher.
“Ah, Park Moon-dae~ you pass!”
And that’s exactly what happened. The sikhye I picked had an egg yolk in it.
Then the VTIC guys started clapping and cheering.
“Wow~ impressive!!”
“How did you get that right so quickly?”
“….”
What’s with you guys?
I gave a vague answer and moved on, but it was obvious this wasn’t even funny—just awkward and forced warmth.
Eventually, the MC couldn’t help but point this out to try and make it funny.
“Hey, you two have been giving Park Moon-dae such good reactions since earlier, haven’t you?”
“Oh, you don’t know, hyung~ successful people are close to each other, right~!”
“Is that so~?”
The VTIC guys waved their hands.
“No, no~ I mean, he’s just really talented!”
“It was surprising that he got it right without even thinking.”
Rather than playing it up, they just flatly denied it, and the image came across as awkward again. Those guys really can’t do variety shows.
But why are they trolling me like this?
‘Are they messing with me?’
I checked just in case, but I didn’t sense any provocation.
‘This is driving me crazy.’
And this penalty went to the Malang Dalcom Member.
“Look carefully! …That’s not a raw egg yolk, right? It’s canned yellow peach, isn’t it?!”
“Ahhhhh!!”
The penalty was Gosamdcha. Young-rin, who performed the penalty together as a doppelgänger, didn’t change her expression and downed it in one shot, drawing reactions from the staff.
‘I’m envious.’
I wish I’d at least drunk Gosamdcha and spit it out instead.
At this rate, I’d end up never receiving a penalty and just be a reaction prop with VTIC’s subplot on the side.
‘Maybe I should actually contribute.’
Just as I was contemplating changing my approach, filming came to a brief halt.
“Cut! We’ll polish this and go again~”
“We’ll do a quick mic check.”
“Got it!”
It was a short maintenance and break time.
“I’m heading to the bathroom.”
“Sure.”
Big Sae-jin followed the MC and quietly left, while I deliberately sipped my drink and waited for the right moment.
Then the other side made their move first.
“Hello, junior~”
“We came in such a rush earlier that we didn’t get to greet you properly, did we?”
The VTIC guys approached with bright smiles.
Even though I’d never properly introduced myself to them, I couldn’t afford to be cold—that’s just how social life works.
“…Yes. It’s been a while, seniors.”
“Ah~ ‘Seniors’ sounds so awkward. Just call us hyung, hyung!”
“Right. Don’t make us sound so old.”
Before I could even think about how shameless it was for an 8-year veteran to say that, another feeling struck me.
‘Hm?’
These guys… why do they feel so awkward?
‘It’s like they’re breaking out in cold sweat on their backs.’
They seemed to be trying to approach me in a hearty and affable way, but their limits were showing.
They weren’t like the type who usually did this—guys like Big Sae-jin or Ryu Chung-woo, the kind comfortable with commanding people.
They seemed unfamiliar with playing the role of a sociable senior.
‘What’s going on?’
Let me at least respond properly.
“It’s not about age—you’re my senior, so I can’t just call you casually….”
“What do you mean senior~ Ugh!”
“Just be comfortable with it!”
“….”
Man, these guys are really trying.
It’s even more awkward than when I got robbed of the last penalty earlier.
I was at a loss for words. Then, as if they took that as tacit agreement, the two of them exchanged glances with knowing grins.
Then one of them cleared his throat and opened his mouth.
“Hmm, variety shows are pretty tough, aren’t they?”
“Huh? Y-yes….”
If it weren’t for you two, the difficulty would’ve dropped by at least two levels.
But both of them wore satisfied expressions.
“Oh, don’t push yourself too hard while filming… If it gets tough, send an SOS. I’ll help you out.”
“…??”
“Don’t feel burdened! When you get juniors later, you can do the same for them. Don’t worry about us.”
And these two idiots were exchanging looks like “Oh~ this guy can talk, huh?”
This was infuriating.
“….”
I suppressed my headache and asked directly.
“…So about stepping on that line earlier.”
“Ahahaha! Nah~ was it that obvious?”
“Nope, this junior seems to have good instincts.”
“Right? Anyway, well… don’t worry too much about it. It just kind of happened~”
…Now I understood clearly.
‘These bastards did it with completely good intentions.’
The road to hell is paved with good intentions—this was exactly that.
Moreover, the idea they came up with to help was one-dimensional.
Even accounting for their lack of variety show experience, they didn’t seem like the type who knew how to think things through.
‘I’d bet they’ll get cleaned out by some guarantee scam or business fraud within five years.’
No matter how smoothly VTIC had grown, for guys who’d survived eight years in this hellish K-pop industry, they were remarkably simple-minded.
‘…Could Chung-ryeo have swapped them in?’
If you’re looking for guys who won’t cause trouble, easy-to-handle guys, you could end up with these kinds of people.
Anyway, since they didn’t seem to have any complicated thoughts, I could just filter them out appropriately.
“I really appreciate it. Still, I want to try doing what I can. You don’t need to hold back like you did earlier.”
“Huh?”
The slightly flustered guys pondered for a moment, then opened their mouths again with embarrassed expressions.
“Well, actually, we heard something from Chung-ryeo hyung.”
“…??”
What was this about?
‘He didn’t say anything unnecessary, did he?’
Just as a chill ran down my spine, the guy in front smiled.
“Nah, he just said that Moon-dae really works hard and is a good junior, so treat him well, something like that!”
“…!!”
“Yeah! But that hyung isn’t the type to say things like that usually.”
“Right. He barely has close friends… so it was surprising that he got close with you.”
We’re not close.
“He might seem a bit cold sometimes… but honestly, Chung-ryeo hyung is actually a pretty decent guy.”
“Yeah. Doesn’t he donate half of his settlement money to the Abandoned Dog Center?”
“Whoa, you did half of it?”
“Yeah, I nearly had a heart attack watching that guy use a banking app.”
“He lives like some mountain spirit, but he really does love animals.”
The two of them got caught up in their own conversation, and when they came to their senses, they awkwardly extracted themselves from it.
“Anyway, why did the conversation go this way? Well, it’s fate, so if there’s anything difficult during today’s shoot, just let me know~ you know, stuff like that.”
“Is there anything difficult right now, by any chance?”
“….”
My mind was foggy from suddenly hearing so many absurd things.
I clenched my fists internally.
‘Who cares, damn it. Let me get my head straight.’
Whether Chung-ryeo was some guardian of abandoned dogs or whatever, that was his business to handle.
What mattered was my current goal. The shoot right now.
I carefully chose my words and opened my mouth.
“Actually….”
After explaining the situation I was in, I indirectly let them know that I’d actually been aiming for the penalty, and both of them were taken aback.
“Huh?! That was it??”
“Man, I’m sorry!”
“Should we just rush through all the penalties now?”
“Do it as an all-in penalty?”
“…That’s fine.”
Instead, I made a light request, and the VTIC Members readily agreed.
“Hey Moon-dae~”
Right after that, Big Sae-jin, who had gone to the Bathroom, returned.
“What good story did you guys talk about?”
“Not much. You?”
“Hey, I just went to the Bathroom and came back—what good story could there be~?”
Seeing him grin while answering, it looked like he’d accomplished something, but his mouth was saying something else entirely.
Sure enough, the spoils soon emerged.
“Just… our paths happened to overlap, so I had a chat with MC Choi Ho-soo. We even exchanged numbers.”
As expected.
“Sounds like the conversation was fruitful.”
“Well, we talked about our entertainment direction, you could say?”
Big Sae-jin smirked.
“I told him we’d absolutely never take a penalty.”
“…!”
“So they’ll definitely try to give us penalties to get a reaction.”
Brilliant.

* * *
The second half of filming wrapped up smoothly with the cooperation of several cast members.
‘It turned out better than I’d planned.’
Now it’s just a matter of editing, and honestly, I’m not too worried.
Even if I were a PD, I don’t think I’d cut any of this.
“Thank you for your hard work~”
“You all did great!”
“Ah, today was really excellent!”
In any case, I bowed repeatedly as I had when I arrived, then finally left the Filming Studio.
And inside the car heading to my next schedule.
Just as the filming had wrapped up smoothly and the atmosphere turned quiet and peaceful, an unwelcome message suddenly arrived.
[VTIC Chung-ryeo Senior: I heard you met the guys during today’s shoot.]
[VTIC Chung-ryeo Senior: How was it? I bet they were helpful ^^]
“…Sigh.”
I had a feeling this would happen when I met those VTIC bastards.
Absurd as it was, looking at it this way, the message content itself was reasonably normal.
‘The problem is he’s insane when you meet him in person.’
I rubbed my eyes a few times, then sent a reply.
[Yes. The seniors were very helpful. Thank you.]
And surprisingly, after some time passed, a reply came back.
[VTIC Chung-ryeo Senior: I’m glad it was helpful. Don’t you ever want to try activities again with even better team members?]
‘Damn it.’
Why does he always go straight to “give up and start over”?
The nonsense from those VTIC guys echoed in my mind.
-Jaehyeon, no, Chung-ryeo hyung is actually a pretty decent guy… decent… decent…
How could he be decent?
Decent people don’t spout that kind of frozen-to-death nonsense.
But it didn’t seem like those VTIC bastards were lying. In other words, the examples they gave… seemed true.
‘…Just this once.’
With superhuman patience, I assumed the other person was normal and attempted a reply.
[I don’t want to. And continuously hearing such things is extremely stressful. I’m already at my limit just thinking about the mission.]
[It’s so difficult that I’d appreciate it if you’d stop.]
And for a long time, no reply came.
‘…Did I step on a landmine.’
But even if that bastard was on the verge of being buried alive in some hillside, I absolutely wouldn’t die alone.
‘I need to make this guy socially dead too.’
Leaning against the neck pillow, I began refining a plan I’d thought of before.
It was somewhat like repetitive labor to calm my mind.
“Hmm.”
Then suddenly, another reply came back.
[VTIC Chung-ryeo: Understood.]
“…!”
Several dozen seconds passed.
Only then did the next message arrive.
[VTIC Chung-ryeo: I’m sorry.]
“….”
The messages ended there.
“…sigh.”
I turned off my smartphone and closed my eyes again.
People were truly incomprehensible creatures.

* * *
While Park Moon-dae was lost in thought inside the car, articles were beginning to surface on the Internet.
[Choi Ho-soo’s Saturday Party: An Elite Lineup Arrives… From VTIC to Testa]
[Testa’s Variety Show Appearance? Saturday Party Filming, “Please Look Forward to It!”]
-Wow VTIC Testa
-Thank goodness it’s a variety show appearance this time, not a scandal
Haha, right?
-Chung-ryeo and Park Moon-dae were so funny in that one episode… I want to see them again, I hope they appear
And not long after, it was revealed which member of Testa would be appearing.
-Moon-dae and Big Sae-jin
I can’t translate this accurately as it appears to contain slang, informal speech, and possibly typos or corrupted text that makes it unclear. Could you provide the original text again or clarify the context?
-Saturday Party? Finally the day has come to promote Testa to my mom!!
Congratulations! hahahaha
-Shouldn’t Lee Sae-jin and Cha Yu-jin be the ones appearing?
└Probably because they’re variety show members?
└Don’t say stuff like “variety show members”—they have to earn that themselves. It’s funny that the 6th-ranked member is appearing on variety first. Don’t they know their place? Considering popularity and buzz, shouldn’t the 1st and 2nd-ranked members appear first?
└Acting like their life depends on one variety show
└Anyone watching would think we’re the obsessed ones
Moon Dae, fighting! haha
And after reviewing all these reactions, there was someone who heaved a sigh of relief.
‘There’s barely any hate comments about Moon-dae!’
The graduate student logged out of the page with relief. After being overwhelmed by a wave of English comments on YouTube, she had searched the Internet and found herself to be one of Park Moon-dae’s fans.
The recent positive atmosphere surrounding Moon-dae made her heart flutter with excitement.
Her friend Home Ma seemed anxious about something, but she couldn’t quite understand why.
‘Isn’t it nice that everyone recognizes how kind and cute Moon-dae is?’
Compared to the days when she worried he might see malicious comments, this felt like a blessing from heaven.
‘I’m so excited for the variety show!’
The graduate student laughed and kicked her feet on the bed, unable to contain her rising enthusiasm as she logged into YouTube.
And she clicked on a thumbnail that was still trending in the popular videos ranking.
‘Just one more look before I sleep.’
It was Testa’s new music video.

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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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