Debut or Die - Chapter 144

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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 144
Testa descended from the Stage and settled onto the guest sofa for the talk show.
However, it was Cha Yu-jin who held the microphone.
‘Is that really okay??’
Even knowing that Cha Yu-jin was the most fluent in English among us, I found myself worrying instinctively.
But Cha Yu-jin was skilled.
[Welcome! What’s your first impression of my show?]
[Well, it’s full of color, cheerful, and you have such a great impression~ I love that yellow necktie. That’s the 127 Section mark, right!]
[Oh, thank you! This was the very first official merchandise sold on the 127 Section official website on May 11th. I managed to get it, and I’m wearing it for the first time for this special occasion.]
My younger brother teased me.
“Do you understand?”
As if I could. I was just listening vaguely.
Still, the atmosphere was good.
‘With Cha Yu-jin speaking English, the vibe is completely different.’
It felt far more relaxed and mature.
On screen, the brief small talk was wrapping up.
[That’s right, you really do look like a California person! Now I understand. You must love surfing, right?]
[Ha ha, is there anyone in San Diego who doesn’t?]
[Ah… well then, hmm, maybe you’re not so interested in those things. Yep.]
The host deliberately hunched his shoulders and scanned the surroundings. Laughter erupted from the audience.
[No, no, this is a fresh and fun experience. And 127 Section was a fun game!]
[You’re being generous~ Good. Then shall we talk a bit about your roles within the game?]
At that, Park Moon-dae, sitting beside him, immediately picked up the microphone.
[Actually, we’re singers, and most of us had no acting experience. Though brief, acting as game characters within the music video was fun and refreshing.]
Polished English flowed out smoothly.
“What?”
The College Student—a personal fan of Kim Rae-bin, and now also a fan of Park Moon-dae—nearly shook the monitor.
“Wow, his English is insanely good?”
“Right!!”
Unlike the College Student, who was thrilled by this unexpected English ability, Park Moon-dae on screen continued the conversation calmly.
[Ah, so you didn’t inspire the creation of those colleagues?]
[We were inspired by those characters to create the song. Mainly this one. His name is Kim Rae-bin. You can just call him Rae-bin.]
[Oh~ …Hello, Rae-bin? You really look like you’d be a composer! You have a musician’s eyes!]
[Hello.]
Kim Rae-bin on screen greeted the host awkwardly.
‘He’s looking after Rae-bin first.’
Even without understanding the detailed context, the video and words alone made it clear. The College Student watched the moment with satisfaction.
[What aspect of the characters inspired you? Whoa! No offense, just a good question! Someone tell that person!]
[Oh, that friend has quite an intense impression, right? But if you look closely at the eyes, you can tell they have a very gentle soul!]
[I’m still scared!]
While Cha Yu-jin approached the host who was absorbed in the loser concept and explained away Kim Rae-bin’s expression, Kim Rae-bin’s words came through Sun Ah-hyun’s interpretation.
[He says their narrative had a significant influence on him. …It was tragic, but he tried to preserve the beauty and intensity that comes from the character’s noble intentions.]
A French accent colored his words.
‘Does he sound different when speaking a foreign language too?’
Sun Ah-hyun, much like in recent official appearances, barely stumbled over his words while speaking the foreign language. Even his slight hesitations could be interpreted as mere shyness.
[Exactly! That’s the emotion I felt the whole time after finishing Chapter 1 and rewatching the trailer! Oh, now I can see your soul, Rae-bin!]
[Haha!]
Kim Rae-bin, seemingly not fully understanding the situation, tilted his head with a blank expression.
“Aw, that’s so cute!!”
“You think that’s cute? Looks like he’s about to shake someone down for money.”
“Shut up.”
The College Student ignored her younger brother and focused on the screen.
[So, is there any chance of a new OST for Section 127?]
Originally, this question had been about plans for returning guest characters, but it had been modified based on Testa’s previous answer.
Park Moon-dae answered calmly, delivering his prepared response.
[We really enjoyed working on the first project, but I don’t think our song will be part of any new OST.]
[Why on earth not?!]
Cha Yu-jin cut in smoothly.
[Because we’re curious what kind of OST other artists will compose! You all are too, right?]
At that positive encouragement, the audience reflexively responded in agreement.
[Right, of course. But still, it’s such a shame! ‘Bonus Book’ is really such a great song.]
[Thank you.]
[You know what? You’ve got taste, hyung! Your preferences are excellent!]
[Me? Haha, yes!]
The host laughed at Cha Yu-jin’s compliment, and the game discussion ended there.
Then, after exchanging a few brief introductions and greetings, they moved into the closing segment.
[The stage we saw earlier was really impressive, and I hear you’ve prepared another one?]
[Yes. We thought it would be good to show you the kind of music we usually perform.]
[Wonderful, wonderful! Then please go ahead. Andrew Band~]
As the band played the intro, the Testa members laughed and stood up from the sofa.
And they began removing their shoes.
[Oh~]
“Huh??”
“Hey, didn’t they get shorter?”
The College Student didn’t even have the leisure to hit her younger brother for spouting nonsense.
Meanwhile, on screen, Testa removed the cardigans and jackets they’d been wearing and placed them casually on the sofa. Staff came out and quickly cleared it away.
They were now unified in appearance—barefoot, wearing white short-sleeved shirts and jeans.
Whoosh!
At the unexpected, full-scale preparation, sounds of reaction came from the audience.
Testa kept hold of the microphones they’d been using and quickly moved into formation, aligning their choreography.
The lights went out.
Uuuu- Uu- Uuuu-
Over the crackling band sound, a slow and melancholic piano rose up.
And contemporary dance movements began to unfold.
-Slowly sinking
Time, the night
I don’t want to escape
Simple attire and jazz sounds, foreign language vocals, and contemporary dance choreography unfolding over the live band’s accompaniment.
Everything created synergy, and Testa’s Stage appeared more artistic than conceptual.
Even elements that might feel unfamiliar or provoke resistance were absorbed into the whole and accepted as ‘refined’.
Moreover, the K-pop genre’s strength in perfecting visual and auditory enjoyment was undeniable—especially for a group that could execute it flawlessly.
And Testa was precisely that kind of group.
-The midnight
I met you
And next
So the moment the Stage ended and the lights came up, the audience erupted in applause—the kind that signified genuine appreciation.
The host clapped along as he bounded out.
[Pure artistry! That was ‘Midnight, and next’ from Testa’s album 【Time to go】. Everyone, we’ll see you in the next segment!]
Thus, their appearance that began with Section 127 concluded with Testa.
The broadcast cut to commercials, but the impression from the Stage lingered.
‘They killed it.’
The College Student struck the desk with her left hand, then lifted it.
And this reaction became the prevailing sentiment.

* * *
While I was in America, various schedules came up that could be done here. After wrapping up a few things, the episode of the Nelly & Andy Show that we appeared on had already aired.
I lay in my hotel bed and checked the domestic Korean sentiment first.
There were a few boilerplate articles with headlines like “successful appearance, enthusiastic response,” and hmm….
Testa appeared in a popular YouTube channel video that reviewed international reactions.
[(International Reaction) Testa Showed Western Fans the Taste of K-pop! Reaction Compilation with Korean Subtitles]
‘The reactions didn’t seem bad.’
Seeing so many videos like that popping up everywhere, it looked like we weren’t being mocked outright by the locals.
I found the stage performance video uploaded to the Nelly & Andy Show.
‘The view count is pretty high.’
Even the track that wasn’t the Section 127 OST had similar view counts. I hadn’t even expected that.
Both videos were flooded with English comments, but I could get a general sense of the atmosphere without much difficulty.
That’s because I’d studied English a bit here and there during this promotional period.
‘Since I got this trait, I can’t waste it.’
That’s what I was thinking.
[Trait: Exchange Student (A)]
-I understand perfectly what you mean.
: Foreign Language Acquisition Ability +200%
Since it was a proficiency speed boost, the faster I learned, the easier it would be to swap it out for the next trait when it appeared.
Of course, since time was limited, it wasn’t anything remarkable—I’d only learned enough to make memorized phrases sound natural.
‘Still, it was faster than I imagined.’
If I’d had something like this back when I was still a college student, I would’ve been holed up in the library for half a year.
Anyway, so I skimmed through the comments.
-Their firm musical identity is fascinating
-K-pop? *mind blown*
-These are truly amazing singers, their live performance was impressive!
-I think I’m falling for them, the YouTube algorithm keeps feeding me new videos of theirs
-General consensus: Testa was underrated in the K-pop industry and nobody expected nerds to be the ones to discover them
Apart from comments about Section 127, the overall vibe was roughly like this.
What I hadn’t anticipated, though, was that “Midnight, and After” resonated with this show’s viewers.
‘I thought they’d hate it for being too gay.’
Isn’t that something people often say when watching K-pop in that community? I know it.
But it seems the song’s genre worked in our favor.
There were a lot of programmers among this show’s viewers, and apparently lo-fi jazz was trending in that community.
-Added it to my coding playlist
-They seemed like true musicians! I wish they’d do a Fall In OST too (laughing-crying emoji)
-Such calming music. I should listen to this the next time I code all night and don’t get a single bug (horror emoji)
Anyway, overall… it was a massive success.
Just to be safe, I checked the domestic gaming community too, and the sentiment had completely softened.
In fact, some people even started reminiscing about the game’s early atmosphere.
‘Drawing that line was useful.’
There was no sign of them going crazy over the OST or character-related content, and since the collaboration track performed well live, it seemed they’d regained favor.
Even Testa fans who had been on the verge of sharpening their blades against the Section 127 game community forums had completely calmed down.
“Why are you watching so intently~”
“The Internet.”
“Our Stage?? Nice~”
Big Sae-jin, fresh from the shower, flopped onto the adjacent bed.
He’d been randomly assigned as my hotel roommate for the YouTube upload content.
‘Surprisingly not irritating.’
A bit bothersome and loud, sure, but our daily routines aligned well.
Big Sae-jin asked in his cheerful voice.
“What do you think? Will our next album do even better?”
“Hard to say. We’ll find out when we try.”
“Hey, you’re supposed to say everything will go great at times like this~”
Big Sae-jin laughed freely, then began scrolling through his smartphone.
‘Well, the odds of success are pretty high.’
The Neldy and Andy Show video was receiving considerable praise, and I could clearly see international K-pop fans rapidly taking interest in Testa.
It was probably because we’d gained recognition from a field unfamiliar with K-pop.
‘That’s just how people’s hearts work.’
At this rate, it seemed reasonable to expect solid view counts for the next album’s music video.
I shrugged and spoke to Big Sae-jin.
“I’m going to sleep.”
“Sure, I can turn off the lights~”
I turned off the lights and lay in bed, checking my smartphone again.
Since I’d finished monitoring, I wanted to check how domestic public opinion was trending overall.
And I learned something.
While Testa was beginning to carve into the K-pop overseas market share, a stir was happening domestically as well.
A rookie male idol group’s debut track had become a massive hit on the music charts.
It was Gold 1’s group, which had finally succeeded in debuting.
‘Oh.’
From what I could tell, it wasn’t quite at Testa’s level at debut, but they were performing exceptionally well on the music charts.
The consensus was that the song itself was excellent.
‘If they maintain this momentum, they’ll succeed.’
Gold 1 was a decent guy anyway, so it was good news.
And once I’d thought that far, my mind drifted elsewhere.
My status abnormality.
If Chung-ryeo was right, the fourth status abnormality I’d receive this time was my final mission.
And judging by the pattern so far, it would definitely demand an even higher standard.
‘…So should I accept the status abnormality now?’
Seeing the response coming from overseas and the rising challenger emerging domestically, that thought crossed my mind.
The thought that the next year or so might be my career peak.
Of course, I could continue growing endlessly like VTIC and do even better. But in this uncertain industry environment, I couldn’t be that confident.
Still, it seems almost certain that this year will go well.
‘Hmm.’
For now, I summoned the status window popup.

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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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