Debut or Die - Chapter 16

—————

This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

—————

A Fatal Illness if I Don’t Debut – Episode 16
The opposing team wasn’t terrible either. Ryu Chung-woo suited the song well, and objectively, they performed above average compared to the other teams’ stages.
But in the audience’s minds, the team they’d compare this group to wouldn’t be the other teams.
It would be VTIC.
That was the problem with covering the latest hit song from the most successful same-gender idol group. The original stage was currently imprinted in countless minds.
Even if there were aspects where they performed better than VTIC, they wouldn’t easily receive recognition. The internet was flooded with VTIC fans.
Most opinions would be buried under comments like “Can’t even compare to VTIC.”
Of course, setting all that aside… we performed better.
My teammates seemed to know it too—their faces were bright when they returned to the stage for their pre-vote greeting.
The MC introduced the teams in performance order.
“Ah, our October 31 team! That was a spooky and fun stage, just like Halloween! That’s what the team name was going for, right?”
“Yes! It means the cute ones of Halloween! And there’s another meaning to it.”
“What could it be?”
“Like 31 flavors of ice cream, each member of our team has diverse and unique charms!”
Big Sae-jin gestured gracefully toward the other members. Following the prepared introduction, the rest of the team quickly struck their poses.
I… simply placed a finger against my cheek in a cute gesture.
In reality, people my age only did this sort of thing when drunk and trying to mock someone obnoxiously, but what did dignity matter when survival was on the line?
“Aaaaaah!!”
“So cute!”
Fortunately, the reaction wasn’t lukewarm. I was grateful I’d invested in Park Moon-dae’s appearance stat.
A B-rank was just barely enough to cross from “handsome” into “beautiful” territory.
Then the opposing team’s introduction followed.
“Hello, everyone! I’m…”
It wasn’t embarrassingly quiet, but the difference in cheers made it clear the opposing team felt the tension.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Ryu Chung-woo!”
“Kyaaaaaaah!!”
The only consolation was that the cheers for Ryu Chung-woo were loud, but unfortunately, that wouldn’t be enough for his team to win.
“Viewers, please express your choice! Vote for whichever team you think performed better! October 31 is number 1! Mountain Hero team is number 2!”
People throughout the studio held up fingers indicating their team’s number.
As the audience pressed their remote buttons, voting ended immediately, and a new voting format was announced.
“Now, please select one participant from each team who impressed you the most!”
The MC emphasized once more.
“Let me say this again—not combining both teams! One person per team, two people total!”
This was blatantly sowing seeds of discord.
The Production Team seemed eager for dramatic developments, so the rewards for this individual vote within the team competition were better than the team competition rewards.
They even dropped this bombshell right before the stage rehearsal without prior notice.
-Everyone! The reward for this “individual competition” within the team match is… an elimination immunity pass!
-…What!?
That’s why other teams were causing a fuss about it.
Fortunately, our team wasn’t a source of such conflict. Sun Ah-hyun was easygoing, and Gold 1 and 2 lacked the courage to voice complaints even if they had them.
Lee Sae-jin must have been overwhelmed just managing her own parts, and once I’d dampened Choi Won-gil’s spirits, he stopped making unnecessary comments.
Big Sae-jin had secured the main dancer position for himself, so he had no complaints.
Listing it out like this, it seems less like teamwork and more like everyone was too swamped with their own problems to have the energy for conflict, doesn’t it?
That’s right. But what the camera captured will look like teamwork, so it doesn’t matter.
Anyway, the individual voting ended in an ambiguous atmosphere, unlike the first round.
“Thank you!”
With that brief greeting, the participants descended from the Stage. Of course, I went down with them.
Strangely, I felt reluctant to leave.

* * *
Filming didn’t wrap until the middle of the night.
“Everyone worked hard~”
“We did pretty well!”
When they heard that the individual results would be announced at the ranking ceremony, everyone quickly composed themselves despite their disappointment.
Since it had been the same last season, they probably half-expected it anyway, and besides, the fact that we won the team competition eased their minds.
That’s right. We won the team competition.
-The team competition… is a victory for October 31! The score is, incredibly, 82 to 401!
-Whoa!!
And with such an insane score of ’82 to 401′ at that.
When it was announced, the next five seconds were a maelstrom of shock and cheers.
Everyone except Big Sae-jin came close to tears, so there was nothing more to say.
But these guys had no choice but to calm down quickly and regain their composure.
-Ugh….
-…Dong-gyun.
-You worked hard. You did well.
Because an actual participant from the opposing team started crying.
Usually, it’s not easy for the one who’s less heartbroken to cry than the one who cried first. Even more so if those are tears of joy.
Thanks to that, my teammates, who had been maintaining an ambiguous state of joy while being conscious of the camera and the opposing team, fell into an extreme state of euphoria the moment filming ended.
“Should we make a group chat? No, we’ve been living together and going through this so earnestly~ shouldn’t we at least have a group chat!”
“Oh my god, that’s perfect!”
“I approve, leader.”
Under Big Sae-jin’s initiative, a group chat was even created.
Surprisingly, catching the mood, even Lee Sae-jin shared her number without complaint.
“Huh!”
“Hey! Hyung!”
“Wow~ now all our team members can chat cozily!”
“….”
In the end, I naturally exchanged numbers and joined the group messenger.
…I should turn off notifications.
“Moon-dae~ you worked so hard!”
“Hey, you worked hard as the leader too.”
Big Sae-jin spoke to me as I gathered my things. Since the performance had gone well, I accepted the courtesy gracefully.
“Haha, I was a pretty good leader, wasn’t I!”
“….”
Did this guy not understand humility?
“I was joking, joking!”
Big Sae-jin grinned. It didn’t seem like he was, and I wished he’d drop it.
“Let’s stay in touch. We should keep in contact regularly!”
“Yeah, sure.”
Big Sae-jin seemed intent on pulling me into his circle.
‘He seems ready to cut ties with the other participants from his agency.’
But I hadn’t forgotten that this guy was a prime suspect for drug dealing. I had no intention of taking unnecessary risks until the suspicion was completely cleared.
‘I’ll just brush him off and say my phone broke later.’
Just as I was thinking that, another voice cut in from beside me.
“M-me too! L-let’s, let’s stay in t-touch….”
“Stay in touch?”
Sun Ah-hyun nodded vigorously. He’d be better than Big Sae-jin.
I nodded, and Sun Ah-hyun’s face brightened instantly. Big Sae-jin spoke with a smile.
“Should the three of us make a separate group chat? It’d be nice to have one for people our age.”
How was he connecting the dots like this?
But with Sun Ah-hyun’s quick agreement, another group messenger room was created in an instant.
An ominous premonition brushed past me.
It was a concern I’d shelved because I was too busy completing the Stage performance, but I’d heard that in the last season, there were quite a few cases where voting came in with the same groupings from the first team performance. That weighed on my mind.
Could it be that I’m going to be locked in as a set with these guys?
“….”
I don’t know. Either way, the team performance seemed to go well, so I should at least pass the first round.
“Everyone, take care~”
“See you again!”
The participants finished their farewells and left the Filming Studio. I walked out as well and boarded the bus.
Once I got back to the Temporary Studio Apartment, I’d need to look up reviews of the team performance right away.

* * *
Audience members typically signed agreements not to disclose the stage content before it aired.
Yet spoiler bans were rarely enforced anywhere.
So on anonymous sites where identities remained hidden, reviews poured in relentlessly.
They went something like this:
========================
[Viewing Impressions from Mountain Hero]
: Malang Dalcom was absolutely insane
========================
-Who even are these guys, they keep popping up
└Is this a joke?
└No no, they really were incredible?
└Wait, how did Malang Dalcom even pull that off, did they pop popcorn or something
It was unexpected.
I’d assumed Cha Yu-jin’s team—the ones ranked first—would get more mentions, but somehow this team seemed to be getting even more buzz.
Of course, about half of it seemed to come from people who weren’t actual audience members but were just riding the wave of mocking Idol Corporation to stir up trouble.
But still, that meant they’d left a strong impression on quite a few people, didn’t it?
I picked out some more legitimate reviews to read.
========================
[First Team Match – Writing Down What I Remember]
…And those kids who did Malang Dalcom’s debut song really killed it, honestly they could debut as-is right now the physical synergy was great and only Lee Sae-jin was clunky but even she basically got absorbed into the vibe… curious who came up with the idea
Oh right the high notes were insane too, they could totally be the main vocalist here
+People were accusing me of lying so I’m attaching proof (blurry stage setup photo)
========================
└So who was there besides Lee Sae-jin
└Magic says he did a great job but doesn’t remember who the members were haha. Next week’s episode.
“Nah, it’s not made up. Show me proof pics first lol”
Looking at the profiles now and matching names, Sun Ah-hyun was definitely there. Seriously incredible, if there was a center system he would’ve been center 100%
└But how did you do it so well? I’m really curiousㅠㅠ The soft and sweet debut song makes me cringe.
└They did it like an occult concept, it was creepy.
└??
└No it was a robot concept
└ㅋㅋㅋ Ignore the aggro, just push forward with the fairy concept.
It was a werewolf concept.
└No it was vampire
└What on earth is right, you crazy idiots?
“Yeah, it’s a fairy.”
“This post is a mess.”
Checking other posts, the same thing happened—trolls jumped in midway and turned everything into a game.
By the time it aired, rumors would probably be flying everywhere, but honestly that worked out better. The less people knew in detail, the more curious they’d be, right?
The Production Team would certainly monitor Internet opinion, so this overwhelming mention volume had a high probability of working favorably for our team’s performance metrics.
‘I’ve seen enough of the reactions now.’
Let me check the next priority to handle.
I summoned the popup that had appeared the moment the Stage ended.
[Successful Stage!]
You impressed the majority of the audience!
-Audience Count: 582 people (Record Updated!)
-Impression Rate: 81% (Record Updated!)
: Rare Trait Draw ☜ Click!
The explanation was longer than before. It seemed that whenever the audience count and impression rate set new records, the system granted better traits.
Since both traits I’d used so far had been effective, getting a trait draw from a single Stage performance was a solid reward.
Besides, if I don’t debut within a year, I die—so the system should at least offer this much to keep things balanced.
‘…Hmm, thinking about it that way suddenly irritates me.’
Apart from that, I’d leveled up once from the Dance Practice 500 Times Achievement I’d completed while preparing for the first team competition.
However, I’d postponed stat distribution. I planned to invest most efficiently depending on the next Filming Studio content.
‘So I’ll keep that on hold and just spin the trait draw.’
When I clicked the draw, a slot machine appeared as expected. I was starting to get used to this interface.
The slot machine spun through its usual cycle before stopping on bronze-colored text.
“Ah…”
There were only a few silver-tier options, which seemed like high-grade traits, so landing on bronze was a bit disappointing.
‘I can’t always be lucky, after all.’
Besides, the content mattered more than the grade.
I quickly composed myself and checked the effect of the trait I’d obtained.
[Trait Acquired: ‘Look at Me! (D)’]
People pay slightly more attention to your actions.
“…”
I was at a loss for words.

—————

This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

—————