Debut or Die - Chapter 143

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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 143
First, I asked a company staff member for some time to discuss things among ourselves.
And we began our discussion.
“What do you all think?”
“I want to go to America!”
“Alright. Yu-jin’s in favor, so let me hear more from you guys.”
“Yeah!”
Just as Cha Yu-jin was about to be excluded from the discussion along with Ryu Chung-woo’s gentle agreement, Big Sae-jin interjected.
“Hold on~ Yu-jin, have you heard of this show?”
“The Nerdy Andy Show? No!”
It was the name of the show we’d received an appearance request for. The Nerdy Andy Show. And Cha Yu-jin clearly had no idea what it was.
“M-maybe it’s recent, so Yu-jin wouldn’t know about it…?”
“Right. They said it’s trending these days, didn’t they?”
The members chattered among themselves. I pulled out my smartphone.
“Moon-dae, search it up for us?”
“Sure.”
“Oh~ check it out.”
Anyone watching would think I never carried a smartphone in my pocket.
Anyway, apparently too lazy to search themselves, the members crowded around my phone screen, peering at it. I proceeded with the search.
After running a quick translation program and searching, the show’s true nature was revealed.
“Ah, the page is loading.”
Naturally, it wasn’t a famous American broadcast network flagship talk show.
But was it a completely obscure small program? That wasn’t it either.
“Oh, that’s interesting.”
“It feels really specialized.”
It was a cheerful broadcast that ran in the format of a parody of famous talk shows.
And the content was… well, subculture.
It seemed to focus mainly on games, comics, and superhero movies, and according to what the company staff said, it had quite a few YouTube views.
“Yu-jin, want to watch this? Is it fun?”
“What is it?”
Cha Yu-jin leaned in toward my smartphone screen where a talk show clip was playing.
After watching the screen for a moment, he let out a small scoff.
“…?”
Did this guy actually spot a problem?
“I-is it not fun…?”
“I don’t know. I don’t watch stuff like this. So nerdy.”
“Wh-what?”
…It just wasn’t his taste. Cha Yu-jin pouted.
Big Sae-jin asked with a mischievous grin.
“But if you want to go to America, you have to appear here~ You need to come out and sing a game song!”
“It’s fine if I appear. I just won’t watch it.”
That was a remarkably professional attitude.
‘The real question is whether I should go through with it.’
Looking at it objectively, the program did have decent buzz and seemed well-produced.
But I wasn’t sure if this should be my first American Stage appearance.
‘I’d rather not get any more entangled with gaming.’
Long-term, the risks were substantial.
Testa was a K-pop group, and we’d be making K-pop albums.
Even if I performed well here, I could end up being branded with nothing but a gaming character avatar image.
Then later, when Testa actually went international with our album, the disconnect from that first impression would be significant.
There was a real chance that would come back as mockery or a sense of betrayal.
‘If we had no serious ambitions for English-speaking markets, it’d be a decent publicity move, but…’
Still, appearing on an American program would be good for press coverage.
‘It’d help strip away the domestic image.’
Basically, laying down smoke to say “we’re crushing it globally too.”
In that case, I didn’t need to worry much about gaming community opinion.
Even if people talked about us exploiting gaming for publicity, it would blow over quickly as long as we didn’t do any new collaborations.
But the members didn’t seem to be thinking about it that way.
They were simply treating it as a career opportunity.
“Should we do it? It’s not every day we get an offer like this.”
“…I don’t mind either way.”
“I think it’s a proposal worth taking on. If we can showcase our music even through a gaming collaboration track, I’d love that.”
That was remarkably forward-thinking and rookie-like in the best way. Hmm.
What surprised me was that Sun Ah-hyun brought up a concern.
“Um, but is it okay? Park Moon-dae said back then… that we shouldn’t do another collaboration… is this one alright…?”
The last part was directed at me as a question.
Big Sae-jin chimed in too. But he was on the pro side as well.
“Come on~ we’re not doing a new collaboration, just one Stage performance. That should be fine, right? We’ll make a great impression~”
This guy definitely knew the importance of first impressions, but his ambitions for American expansion had apparently overridden the risks.
‘So it’s about securing recognition no matter what.’
To make matters worse, Sun Ah-hyun’s eyes lit up as he nodded.
“Um, should we? I’d really like to put on an amazing Stage…!”
He’d wanted to do it deep down.
And the others started agreeing, building up an enthusiastic atmosphere.
…There was no helping it. I ran my hand through my hair.
“…Fine. I’m good with it too.”
“Yes!”
“But I’d like us to focus on showcasing the group.”
“The, the group?”
“Yeah.”
It seemed like a vague statement at first, but everyone understood once I explained.
“Sounds good!”
“Hmm~ I’ll need to prepare well.”
“Fortunately, our recent schedule has opened up.”
The group discussion ended on an excited note.
When I met with the Company staff member again, I presented an opinion similar to what I’d said earlier.
Just a bit more specific this time.
“First of all… I was hoping we could perform one of our own title tracks.”
“Ah~ yes! Of course. We’ll definitely discuss that with you!”
“Thank you. For the Stage, the program will only request the song selection, and we’ll prepare everything else on our end—is that correct?”
“Yes, that’s right. If you have any concept or setup in mind, I’ll do my best to accommodate it within the time constraints!”
“Perfect.”
Time—that would work out nicely. I let out a quiet laugh.
“We’re planning to do a live band performance.”
“Ah! That sounds great.”
“And we won’t need costumes.”
“…? I’m sorry?”
The expression on their face screamed ‘what nonsense is this?’ It seemed like I’d need to explain further from this point on.

* * *
News of Testa’s appearance on the American program made the entertainment news headlines once before fading away.
In case the response after the broadcast turned out poorly, the Agency didn’t want to deal with media complications, so they seized the opportunity the moment the offer came in.
Fans who had been enjoying Testa’s May university festival fan-cams and Sun Ah-hyun’s surprise birthday party video quickly heard the news.
-Whoa, America debut??
-It was about time for overseas talk, but I thought Japan would come first… Testa really does aim for a different scale of audience
-Ah, I can finally see Cha Yu-jin speak English. Callie Boy’s cheerful and sexy accentㅠㅠ
-If I want to watch it live, I’ll have to take a day off, okay then I’m planning to get food poisoning that day
Rather than worrying about neglecting domestic activities due to the overseas tour, the overwhelming sentiment was ‘my talented idol needs to be known worldwide.’
This was because Testa had a much larger fanbase domestically.
However, once the exact program details and recruitment process were revealed, the excitement cooled slightly.
So that’s why you were singing a game collaboration song… that explains why the broadcast had that kind of vibe, haha.
-This is the first time K-pop has appeared on this program, so it’s definitely a meaningful achievement
-Our kids had a lot of input on the game collab idea, so it’s great to see it come to fruition
-That collaboration song might actually do better locally than the title track, and that collab song already charted on Billboard (screenshot)
But if those fucking otaku bastards start throwing a fit over this game, I’m not gonna let it slide. Damn it, our goddess is so talented that she even turned the collab song into a masterpiece, what can you do about that lol
The last comment was written by Kim Rae-bin’s individual fan, who had typed out each word with fury on her private account.
‘Those f*cking bastards really piss me off!!’
She slammed the keyboard down hard.
A memory of getting into a heated argument with a toxic gamer who’d spouted nonsense came flooding back.
‘When they first launched, they were all over Testa, hyping them up like crazy, but now that the game’s successful, they’re trying to distance themselves!’
The fact that the situation had changed and the user base was vastly different from back then held little meaning before Kim Rae-bin’s angry fans.
‘I wish this would just fade away. Ugh!!’
I wanted to completely cut ties with this game!
In truth, the fact that Testa was doing well overseas had little to do with her own gains.
‘If things go well because of this, she’ll be touring around and won’t even appear on music shows, so either way it’s not good for me!’
…Yet here I was, waiting for a live viewing on the day Testa appeared on the Nerdy Andy Show.
I’d even gone so far as to sit in front of my desktop because my smartphone screen was too small and prone to errors.
‘Sigh….’
A light sense of reality crashed down on my shoulders.
I couldn’t help it. Kim Rae-bin and Park Moon-dae were being held hostage on this pathetic program….
“Wow, you’re watching them again?”
“Yeah, get lost.”
“Yeah, you get lost.”
“Call me ‘you’ one more time and I swear I’ll kill you.”
I flipped my younger brother off with my hand and ignored him. But my brother kept pestering me, peering at my computer screen.
“Is this that thing? The one where they sing game songs in America? They come out in cosplay?”
“Hey, get out of here.”
“Brain rot activated~ Ugh! Argh!”
My brother fled back to the sofa only after getting hit repeatedly on the back.
Because 127 Section had done so well, my brother had played that game quite deeply too, so he knew bits and pieces about it.
‘Brain rot already? This is making me even more annoyed.’
Kim Rae-bin’s personal fan gritted her teeth and glared at the computer screen.
Fortunately, the program started not long after.
[Welcome to the Show!]
[This is… nerdy!]
[Oh, I mean, Andy~]
“What is this supposed to be?”
Very American B-grade aesthetic CGI and subtitles flew across the screen.
And then English poured out of the speakers for quite a while. On top of that, there were commercial breaks every few minutes.
In short, it wasn’t entertaining.
The only recognizable things were a few superhero movie characters.
‘What is this nonsense….’
I deeply regretted not finishing my homework first and watching the edited version later, as Kim Rae-bin’s personal fan felt genuine remorse.
Still, since I’d already started, I kept watching, and fortunately a preview of Testa appeared.
More precisely… it was a preview for the 127 Section OST performance.
‘Damn it…!’
Weren’t they just promoting the game endlessly?
Feeling a chill, I kicked my feet. While ignoring my younger brother spouting nonsense about King Kong, the commercial soon ended.
And the stage lit up.
“…!”
Where Testa was supposed to appear, the stage was packed with bands.
‘Looks like they’re doing a band live performance.’
She focused on the screen.
Not long after, Testa took the stage.
But they were… wearing casual clothes.
“Huh?”
Well, it wasn’t just casual—it was neat. But it wasn’t conceptual like their usual idol stage outfits.
“Huh? They didn’t cosplay?”
As her younger brother said, it wasn’t the game character’s costume or hairstyle either.
Testa just looked natural. Like something that would appear in a reality show.
Cha Yu-jin grinned and grabbed the standing microphone.
-What makes people live? …CHOICE!
And with the band’s live performance, the trailer track stage began.
DOOOM DOOOM DOOOM DOOOM ZZZZ-ING!
-I’m gonna survive,
Like you did before
Park Moon-dae entered the high note opening remarkably cleanly.
Testa, each holding their standing microphones, sang while adding ad-libs.
“…!”
It sounded better than the recording.
Her younger brother shrugged his shoulders.
“They can really sing?”
Testa had always been good at live performances.
But this was the first time they’d done a performance with nothing else—just the song itself.
In fact, most of the fans watching this program had secretly assumed Testa would add some kind of direction or choreography to this stage.
But there was none of that.
It was simply a clean, refreshing stage where you could enjoy the song.
Their expressions were well-executed and their gestures weren’t awkward, so that alone carried the entire stage.
-Choose your way
Choose your side
Confidence radiated from them.
-Survive!
Testa presented the game collaboration track brilliantly as a proper singer, not a character performer.
Following the applause and cheers on screen, the siblings opened their mouths.
“Wow….”
“Alright~ I’ll give them that.”
Instead of Kim Rae-bin’s fan responding with ‘Who are you to approve or disapprove?’, she tapped the desk with rising excitement.
‘They really are great on stage!’
There was a clear line drawn.
‘We’re not part of the game—we’re the who created this game’s OST!’
And because my capabilities as a singer were sufficient, the boundary I’d drawn came across naturally and brilliantly.
[Wow~ That’s awesome!]
This dynamic also emerged during the brief talk segment after the first Stage performance.

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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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