Debut or Die - Chapter 153

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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 153
If you had to pick the member of this group least likely to have dating rumors, his search bar autocomplete would suggest “dating” as the top result.
“Take a look.”
Big Sae-jin, now alert, urged me on immediately. I clicked the search term “Sun Ah-hyun dating.”
The first post that appeared was this.
-Sun Ah-hyun stammered and acted useless so we fixed him and now he’s got his eyes on some female idol lol it’s only been a year since his debut and he’s already doing this? impressive get your head straight
It had shares attached—the kind of primitive criticism I’d only seen during the height of the Ajusa controversy or floating around online.
This wasn’t just fans joking around with trending phrases like “Sun Ah-hyun is dating me,” but actual dating rumors surfacing from somewhere.
“Is there any organized post about it?”
“Hold on.”
I immediately accessed the celebrity gossip portal forum.
Sure enough, a familiar name appeared at number two.
[Is Sun Ah-hyun Dating Dami from Twinty?]
“Twinty?”
A famous female idol group whose activities didn’t even overlap with ours had suddenly surfaced.
‘I’ve never even seen them together except at year-end shows and award ceremonies.’
The mere thought of Sun Ah-hyun having the audacity to ask for someone’s number felt awkward.
‘As if he’d ever have that kind of nerve.’
I clicked the title with a sense of unease.
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The photos Sun Ah-hyun posted on Testa’s account match perfectly with the photos Dami posted on her account—same locations?
(comparison image)
Upload dates are similar and the captions are alike too
The sunglasses, bracelets, and watches they’ve both worn recently all match
(comparison image)
In this year’s interview, Sun Ah-hyun suddenly says older women are his ideal type, while Dami says younger men are hers.
And in their recent self-produced content, Sun Ah-hyun holding his phone
(short GIF)
Smiling and giggling the whole time while typing something for ages—isn’t that exactly the kind of thing that screams dating suspicion?
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The post, with its meticulously categorized images and neat arrangement, seemed plausible at first glance, but it obviously had plenty of gaps.
It was all patchwork, after all.
‘The sunglasses and watch are probably all fan gifts.’
Sun Ah-hyun had unboxed them for four hours straight on his birthday night, which had annoyed Bae Sae-jin so much he’d demanded we all get some sleep.
‘And the phone thing—Sun Ah-hyun just holds it for a long time because he sends such lengthy messages.’
The interviews were the same. It was just circumstantial pattern-matching, nothing more.
However… there were a few things about that circumstantial patchwork that felt unsettling, and they came from the comments.
-lol all those landscape photos Sun Ah-hyun posted aren’t even on Testa’s schedule??? why did he go there alone???
-wait Sun Ah-hyun’s solo cosmetics ad company executive is Dami’s uncle… oh that’s sketchy
-idk about the rest but their SNS is literally too transparent about them signaling each other lolol
Whether in comments or posts, the ratio of downvotes to upvotes was roughly half, but the real problem was the sheer volume of upvotes accumulating.
It meant this rumor seemed plausible.
“….”
“….”
Big Sae-jin and I silently scanned through the comments for a moment.
Big Sae-jin spoke first.
“Should we tell him?”
“Not him directly. We should give the Company a heads-up though.”
“Yeah, that makes sense. Let’s not show Ah-hyun.”
No point filling his head with unnecessary worries right before the comeback, and it was better to just probe whether he had any connection with this woman, just in case.
But this unspoken agreement shattered the very next moment.
“What, what…?”
“…!”
I turned around to find Sun Ah-hyun holding a handful of chocolate bars.
I never expected that bastard to be wandering around handing out something again.
“…No,”
“Did, did I do something wrong…?”
“No no~ of course not! We were just messing around~”
“But, um, we’re telling the Company.”
“….”
“….”
In the end, Sun Ah-hyun heard a carefully softened version of the current dating scandal.
“Ah-hyun, are you dating someone?”
“Wh, wh, what?!”
As we were briefing him openly in the Choreography Practice Room, it wasn’t long before the rest of the guys naturally joined the conversation.
“…There really are a lot of people with nothing better to do. Are you really dating?”
Bae Sae-jin asked gruffly. Sun Ah-hyun looked startled.
“N, no…!”
“Then do you know this woman?”
“I, I don’t know…?”
“Then may I ask where all these photos were taken?”
“That….”
Sun Ah-hyun’s face flushed slightly.
“On, on the way to the Counselor’s Office, sometimes when I felt like it… I, I took photos on the street and stuff.”
“Oh… that’s nice.”
“Good job.”
Awkward praise poured out.
Right. Enjoying those spare moments was naturally a good thing, but the problem was that circumstances had spiraled hopelessly out of control.
And I was beginning to see the picture of how this had happened.
‘…So she’s getting counseling at the same place too.’
The female idol who had dating rumors with Sun Ah-hyun was most likely the one receiving counseling there based on the circumstances.
‘She probably went there for counseling or had her photo taken on the way back, so the captions would be similar.’
It was a rather sensitive personal matter, so it wasn’t something to broadcast.
‘And of all things, a solo advertisement got tangled up in this mess.’
In reality, “the advertiser company director’s niece” was a distant connection at best, but when you connected the dots and wrote it all together, it looked plausible—and that was the problem.
Since there were actually quite a few cases where relationships started through such connections, it made the rumor even more convincing.
“Oh no, could this blow up…? S-should I apologize for the misunderstanding…? Maybe an apology statement or a clarification…?”
“It won’t blow up. Don’t post anything.”
“But it’s not even true! Why apologize, Ah-hyun?”
Anyway, dating rumors with only circumstantial evidence and no proof would eventually fade away as people dug through SNS and online communities.
A denial would likely only scratch at a wound that was already healing.
‘Because it would look like I’m bothered by it.’
Besides, if it were ever revealed that I was visiting the same counselor as the rumored dating partner, the controversy would explode far beyond what a denial could contain.
Staying silent was the right answer.
‘The problem is that some people will actually believe it.’
The circumstances were plausible enough that a “Ah-hyun’s probably dating, but let’s let it slide” atmosphere was circulating beneath the surface of the fandom, and I didn’t like that.
Because it would create a sense of entitlement in some people.
‘I’ve overlooked this about you, so why can’t you do this for me?’ That sort of thing.
And Sun Ah-hyun was the type who felt guilty easily and was overly conscious of others’ feelings. If such opinions surfaced, he’d be easy to manipulate.
He was doing exactly that right now.
“S-still… I think there might be people who are worried…”
“Ah-hyun, if you react to rumors like this, people will only worry more.”
“R-really?”
Ryu Chung-woo was right.
It would be best if Sun Ah-hyun didn’t comment separately and just brushed it off with “that was nonsense~” and moved on.
‘…The problem is, the method is unclear.’
If the other members suddenly uploaded photos taken with Sun Ah-hyun at that location, it would be like screaming “I’m aware of the dating rumors.”
There would definitely be people claiming the company made them do it.
‘Maybe I should attack the source instead.’
But no matter how dirty the source is, it doesn’t work well in dating gossip like this. It’s not an ethical issue, after all.
‘Hmm. Maybe the best approach is to take photos now, manipulate the timestamps a bit, then mix them in with other posts.’
Sometimes when casual photos turn out decent, I post them bundled on SNS, and if I mix them in and casually scroll past, there will be people who dig them up.
Of course, whether I can avoid getting caught is the question.
I thought through the method carefully. I wanted to clean this up and make a comeback as smoothly as possible.
“I-I’m sorry. Because of me…”
“Why is this because of you? It’s just a caught incident, so don’t worry about it.”
“Moon-dae’s right, Ah-hyun. Don’t worry too much.”
At Ryu Chung-woo’s words, I shrugged.
“Worst case scenario, we just manipulate the photos.”
“…! T-that’s…”
“Oh~ right. Moon-dae won’t get caught!”
Don’t egg me on. I was just trying to reassure Sun Ah-hyun.
But before any such extreme situation could unfold, help came from an unexpected quarter.
Big Sae-jin, who had been scrolling through his smartphone, suddenly made a fuss.
“Hey, hey, something just popped up in the comments.”
“What is it?”
I checked the latest comment on the phone screen Big Sae-jin held out to me.
Hahaha you idiots, just look at Dami in her heart already. Ugh, you guys are all pretending to be fooled and making a fuss.
(Screenshot)
Dami sexual harassment posts all saved as PDF btw trolls get some financial therapy~
The attached screenshot was a photo of Dami joking around with a man at the location used in the dating rumor photo.
-Family dinner outing☺ my well-behaved younger brother
With a caption like that.
‘We got a clean win.’
It was essentially over.
Even if people claimed she was conscious of the dating rumors, it didn’t matter. It would be hard to argue about company response when it involved family privacy.
Moreover, checking the original… the metadata dates matched too.
I nodded.
“It’ll die down quickly.”
At that, the tension drained from the members’ faces.
“Phew, we’re good.”
“Thank you so much, Senior Dami.”
“Th-thank you…!”
Sun Ah-hyun, don’t even think about delivering that gratitude in person.
“Thank you. Th-thank you for worrying with us…”
“Don’t mention it!”
“That’s a relief, Ah-hyun.”
I waved my hand at Sun Ah-hyun’s thanks and took another look at the photo of the two people displayed on Big Sae-jin’s smartphone screen.
‘…Hmm, I’ve seen that face somewhere.’
Just then, Big Sae-jin chimed in knowingly.
“Oh, that guy. Ribbon Fried Chicken?”
“Yeah.”
Ah, that’s the one.
Dami’s Younger Brother in the photo was the guy I’d faced in the finals of 【My Singer】.
A member of Gold 1.
I can’t remember his name. Honestly, his singing ability didn’t seem all that impressive either.
‘Making it to the finals was just luck anyway.’
Though I did recall Chung-ryeo’s advice.
-That group’s doing well. Keep an eye on them.
“…Hmm.”
From the song itself to these trivial talking points—there’s an undeniable streak of luck running through them.
I arrived at a reasonable conclusion.
‘I should establish contact with their composer.’
Outright acquisition would be too aggressive.
As I was organizing my thoughts, Cha Yu-jin’s voice suddenly cut through the silence.
“But why can’t we date?”
“Huh??”
Everyone froze.
“You… want to date!?”
“Yeah! Hyung, you don’t like dating??”
“Oh, no… yes.”
Bae Sae-jin stammered over his words. Come to think of it, actively disliking dating would be strange.
Cha Yu-jin’s sentiment probably stemmed from a similar place.
‘He’s not saying he likes someone specific—just that he’d want to date if the opportunity came.’
Of course, having trained at an Entertainment Agency, he understood the reality well enough.
“I know it’s not allowed! But I don’t understand why….”
“Hmm….”
This was an exceptionally difficult topic to explain.
The real issue wasn’t dating itself, but rather that in a profession where ‘not dating’ has become the standard, openly dating sends the signal of ‘I care more about romance than idol activities’….
“The, the fans won’t like it!”
“…!”
What was he doing?
Sun Ah-hyun’s face flushed crimson as he cried out again.
“There are fans who think of you as their boyfriend…!”
“Why?”
“Um, well….”
Big Sae-jin interjected with a goofy grin.
“Because you’re handsome~!”
“Ah!”
Cha Yu-jin nodded, his face brightening as if everything had become crystal clear.
“Got it. I won’t date!”
“….”
I wasn’t sure if such a leap in logic was acceptable.
‘I have no idea.’
But it worked, so that was enough.
That day, Cha Yu-jin posted on SNS: “Am I your boyfriend?”
He was blocking his own romantic path all on his own.
And then, a week later.
The music video teaser for Testa’s new album was released.
Except it was a full eight minutes long.

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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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