Debut or Die - Chapter 154

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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 154
Testa’s latest album naturally drew overflowing expectations from fans, but simultaneously faced concerns from some of them.
It was because of the advance notice of member-specific solo tracks.
-Oh, it’s already a solo song. How can I line it up?ㅠㅠ
I’m already stressed just thinking about the aggros causing a fuss trying to reshuffle the rankings.
-They were trying so hard to create universal fans, so why suddenly change direction like this
Of course, the digital performance of solo tracks didn’t directly reflect the members’ individual popularity.
Since they were released as a single album and exposed together under the group name, ultimately the rankings would be determined by the songs’ mainstream appeal.
However, given the survival group’s nature, real-time broadcasts of ‘Testa members’ individual digital performance’ were inevitable.
While such mild concerns grew alongside inflated expectations, Testa’s teaser was announced.
It was a video preview using YouTube’s premiere feature.
It meant the video would be released a day later.
[TeSTAR ‘Present’ Official Teaser]
A thumbnail with the vague hint of ‘a dark forest with an arrow lodged in a tree’ appeared alongside it.
Since it didn’t spark much interest, people were lukewarm.
-It does seem like a historical drama concept though
-Is this intentional
“An arrow? lol”
But when people checked the video details, the situation changed dramatically.
Because the video length was a whopping 8 minutes and 12 seconds.
-It’s a teaser! A teaser!
-There’s a group that drops an 8-minute teaser??
-What on earth is happening with these guys I’m going crazy so curious
-Is this a mistake? What kind of teaser is 8 minutes;
K-pop music video teasers were typically short, under a minute. Eight minutes was exceptionally long.
Of course, length alone wasn’t fatally problematic. After all, teasers nowadays served more to satisfy fan anticipation than for promotional purposes.
Still, some performance-conscious fans expressed disappointment.
Since it was just a teaser, few non-fans would watch it anyway, and with an 8-minute length, the view count would obviously suffer.
Especially since the America program appearance was performing well and an influx of overseas K-pop fans was expected, there was also a desire to quickly confirm solid metrics.
-No matter how many teaser views are not used well as data… it would be better if it were shorter.
-I think it would’ve been better to split it into multiple releases, but I’m not sure
-Please tell me it’s not T1’s sentimental melodrama no-fun story music video? Tell me it’s not
-I think it’s about time they stumbled, but I hope they didn’t. Hope they spent the budget wisely
Of course, nothing bad should happen right before a comeback, so fans pushed positive vibes on public communities and SNS.
-8 minutes is so good. I can see the kids’ faces for a long time from the teaser.
-Can we maybe see our Bae Sae-jin acting??? Ahhhhh I’m so excited
-How do we wait 24 hours
-If the premiere ends in 30 seconds I’ll actually lose my mind, but they’re giving us 8 minutes, truly Testa is a generous group
Hoping the anticipation wouldn’t fade the moment the teaser dropped, fans waited anxiously for its release.
And on the day of release.
In the live chat of the teaser video, those waiting for the premiere reacted with delighted astonishment.
-????
-What is this
As fans had speculated, the teaser was indeed a full-fledged historical drama aesthetic.
However, the roles the members played were not human.
The video began with a massive Palace, spiraling inward as if being pulled in, turning corners repeatedly before opening a single paper door and stepping through.
It was a Library filled with books.
The camera followed an antique, weathered tome lying open on the floor among them.
Within its pages, a single arm rising from a beach was rendered in rough ink wash painting.
In that instant, the video cut to an actual beach scene.
Splash.
The screen plunged beneath the surface in a heartbeat, revealing In-young lying atop a massive underwater boulder.
In-young was Sun Ah-hyun with blonde hair, draped loosely in a white robe.
Sunlight pierced the blue seawater, rippling across the pale face resting on the rock. It was beautiful yet eerie.
At the bottom, white subtitles appeared in an antique typeface.
[Breath]
It was the track name from the released tracklist.
And with the haunting sound of a gayageum, Sun Ah-hyun’s solo began to play.
In that moment, Sun Ah-hyun rose and began to dance slowly underwater.
Not choreography set to the song, but simply beautiful movement.
Hair and robe traced elegant lines through the water.
I’m crying…
-He’s seriously handsome
-The underwater filming is insane
People marveled. And they thought.
‘So Sun Ah-hyun’s solo is the intro!’
But the moment the beautiful underwater performance ended, the camera locked eyes with Sun Ah-hyun amid the water spray and surged back up from the depths.
It then approached a strange circular pattern drawn in mother-of-pearl on the sandy beach.
In the dusky light of sunset, In-young crouched within the pattern straightened and rose.
It was Cha Yu-jin, hand covering his mouth.
On his cheeks, collarbones, and the backs of his hands, ancient Hangul in an otherworldly script glowed with iridescent mother-of-pearl light like a pattern.
Ting-ding-ding, ping-ping, ting-ding!
With the sound of a gong, a new song with an intense beat began.
[Jangdan]
It was Cha Yu-jin’s solo.
-Huh?
-It’s here
-Wait, no way
-Crazy Cha Yujinㅠㅠㅠ
Reactions to Cha Yu-jin’s performance and powerful speculation about the current situation swirled chaotically, sending the live comment section into overdrive.
And their speculation was correct.
In this manner, every member’s solo track was introduced in succession.
After Cha Yu-jin, Bae Sae-jin with his eyes covered sat perched on an ancient tree, singing a ballad melody track. Subtle bell chimes had been layered into it.
Then the camera’s view, having entered a cave deep within the Forest, captured Kim Rae-bin using lantern light like neon.
Kim Rae-bin’s solo track was future bass with the sheng as its main instrument.
After that, the camera, having escaped the cave, moved toward an old Thatched House at the edge of the Forest.
Oddly colored fabrics were draped incongruously across the rotting paper doors of the Thatched House.
Park Moon-dae sat on the veranda.
And the already familiar salt-like sound of “Flower Moonset” rang out.
-Wedding clothes!! Thank you so muchㅠㅠ
-Park Moon-dae really needs to be seen
Finally, the video returned to the ornate Palace in contrast to the Thatched House.
In its center, Lee Sae-jin, wearing a massive tail-like waist ornament, performed an acrobatic dance to the rhythm of a drum. It was an upbeat easy-listening track.
Naturally, the fans were delighted.
-All the tracks are good though
I’m crying / Boo hoo / Wah wah wah
-Hair and makeup good
-The cinematography is insane
-Oh, I want to receive the album quicklyㅠㅠ
-Please full video
-The most fulfilling 8 minutes of my life
But as Lee Sae-jin’s dance ended and he smiled faintly, turning his body to disappear into the Palace, the screen went dark.
-???
-Where’s Chung-woo
-Can’t you show me the title? Haha.
-Is this really a teaser?
One member hadn’t appeared at all, and they hadn’t shown the actual title track, so the confused fans let out a sigh of relief when the screen came back on.
-Traffic error maybe
-Oh thank god
-It’s a problem because it was first revealed.
But the screen showed Sun Ah-hyun Underwater again, accompanied by the gayageum sound used in his solo track.
-Huh
-Again?
-Definitely a loop error
It wasn’t an error.
Sun Ah-hyun on screen stared at the camera for a moment, then disappeared, and the next cut showed Cha Yu-jin on the Beach staring at the camera.
Then came Bae Sae-jin.
But even as the person changed, the traditional instrument sounds playing in the background didn’t disappear—they remained and continued to layer.
-Wait?
The members had each woven a traditional instrument into their solo track’s beat and melody.
Each traditional Korean instrument harmoniously layered in as a side element, and a new beat melody began to take shape.
As the camera finally captured Lee Sae-jin, the sound of a drum joined in, and the song began to develop its skeletal structure.
The moment modern instruments filled that foundation.
The song suddenly stopped.
And on the screen that returned… a hand appeared.
[….]
A large, firm hand picked up a book that had fallen to the floor. It was the strange book with ink wash paintings that had appeared at the very beginning.
The camera caught the spine of the book.
[Yokai Investigation Records]
“Will you make an appearance?”
The camera, traveling up the hand, captured the owner of the arm.
It was Ryu Chung-woo, dressed in a jeogori.
-so handsome
-ahhh Chung-woo
Regardless of what the comments were screaming, Ryu Chung-woo on screen brushed off the book with a complicated expression and tucked it away.
And with clear eyes, he answered someone beyond the screen.
“I have to.”
As the camera captured Ryu Chung-woo’s back turning to leave the library, the melody exploded outward.
And as Ryu Chung-woo walked beyond the fence, he drew the bow hanging on his back and aimed it into the forest.
It was a traditional Korean bow, lacquered black.
[Now, you have appeared
Warning upon warning
Approaching in a figure eight
Slow and thrilling]
The arrow flew with a sharp whistle, embedding itself deeply into a massive bamboo stalk.
[Me.]
The video ended as it captured the arrow lodged in the tree.
It was the thumbnail.
-insane insane
-wow
-that’s the title track just now??
-ahhhhh
-so the other members are yokai and Chung-woo is catching them??
-I love you Testaㅠㅠ
-ah the solo tracks connecting to form the title track is insane!1
The members’ solo tracks connected to compose the title track. And through the video, it hinted at the story of the music video.
In a sense, it was faithfully fulfilling the purpose of a teaser.
And it was a composition that clearly demonstrated the consideration of organic completeness within the album.
This point became even more evident in the information deliberately added to the “More” section of the teaser video.
It included a list of copyright holders for lyrics, composition, and arrangement for all tracks on the album.
-Why does every song have the members’ names in it?
-We all made it together.
Though the credits appeared toward the end, different members’ names showed up on every track. The same held true even for songs outside my solo work.
And the fact that they deliberately connected all of this from the teaser itself felt like a clear statement of intent.
‘The album tracks are group projects,’ it seemed to say.
Even if direct cam view counts might later be ranked, they’d preemptively provided the logic to defend against member-by-member performance comparisons based on the album’s audio tracks.
-These kids are really so sincere about the group
-We’re going together until the dinner show. We’re going to watch the Testa dinner show.
-Right, music video views matter, but the teaser just needs to be fun for us, right? Thanks you guys, 8 minutes well spent
Testa group fans who liked all the members equally, and non-extreme individual fans, mostly seemed satisfied.
However, Ryu Chung-woo’s fans had a peculiar reaction.
Looking at the end of the teaser, Ryu Chung-woo seemed to be the center of the title track, yet they hadn’t introduced his solo track at all.
-Wait, Chung-woo’s solo track doesn’t have a video?
-We’re already frustrated about no core, and now this cold treatment? lol
-If they complain, Park Moon-dae’s fans will just say he’s the center and it’s just a teaser why are you freaking out? lol Disappointed
-I hate how they’ve set the mood so we can’t even complain about screen time
The tension between ‘it’s too early to overreact before the comeback even drops’ and ‘of course it feels bad when the song didn’t appear in the teaser at all’ simmered quietly.
Fortunately, before it could be captured and displayed across various platforms as ‘a controversy brewing in Testa’s fandom,’ a post went up on Testa’s SNS.
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Hello, Reviewer. Did you enjoy the teaser?
I’ve been hearing encouragement that my role is significant in this activity throughout the production process, so I’m a bit nervous, but I hope you’ll look forward to the album.
Oh, I’m Ryu Chung-woo. (laughing emoticon)
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It was a post carrying the nuance of ‘don’t worry about Ryu Chung-woo’s screen time.’

* * *
“Will this be enough?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm, it feels a bit arrogant though.”
“It’s not, so don’t worry.”
“Ha, got it. …Thanks.”
“…Don’t mention it.”
Ryu Chung-woo turned off his smartphone with a smile.
He didn’t seem particularly concerned about the reactions. After all, once time passed and the content rolled out, the backlash would naturally die down.
Still, I thought it would be good to reassure him at this timing, so I suggested it.
‘That’s settled then.’
After confirming that Ryu Chung-woo’s fan sentiment had reached a consensus of “let’s wait and see,” I pulled up the articles I’d been reading earlier.
‘This is what I’m really concerned about.’
It was an article about the group that included Gold 1.
[Major Rookie Golden Age, Countdown to Comeback]
[Golden Age from Ajusa, Will They Meet Testa?]
[Turbulent August Music Charts… From Testa to Golden Age]
In short, these were articles announcing that this group’s comeback coincided with Testa’s activity period.
Naturally, a certain scenario came to mind immediately.
‘Our debut.’
Testa’s debut, which had launched simultaneously with the unshakeable top-tier VTIC.
This was precisely the same simultaneous activity that came to mind.
‘Tsk.’
I clicked my tongue. Now I had a clear sense of what was happening.
These bastards’ agency knows how to work.

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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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