Debut or Die - Chapter 164

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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 164
11 PM that night, after finishing all the day’s schedules including W Live, I returned to the Dormitory.
The rest of the guys, having cleared out one room for the two who’d fought, gathered in the Living Room again.
For reference, the room they vacated was a triple room. It was more spacious that way.
Sun Ah-hyun, who’d rushed out and left behind even the sponge he’d grabbed, muttered under his breath.
“I hope they work things out well….”
“Yeah.”
Actually, I’d wondered if Ryu Chung-woo should’ve been included in that room too, but I’d scrapped the idea—figured he’d make them both self-conscious about a third party watching, and they’d just gloss over everything.
‘Better to let them have it out properly.’
Now that they had time to think and were in the right mindset to talk, even after fighting they’d actually be able to hear what the other was thinking.
‘Then after some time passes, they can keep their boundaries.’
Because intense emotions fade, but memories remain.
And since both of them were the thoughtful type, that time wouldn’t be long.
“Let’s put on Netflix!”
“Sure. Watch whatever you want.”
Cha Yu-jin, with Ryu Chung-woo’s permission, casually turned on an American sitcom.
In the Living Room now filled with English chatter, I looked down at my smartphone.
The call history with the Company was displayed on the screen.
[Operations Team Deputy Manager Oh Seo-hyung]
To put it plainly, this was a record of my protest.
About how, despite my request and warning, the two who’d fought today were put on the same team in the W App.
‘If I don’t get angry after this happens repeatedly, I’m an idiot.’
Since it’s such a work-life-balance-free place, I’d overlook typical mistakes. But something this potentially catastrophic—they should be careful about it on their own, right?
‘How are they handling a discord bomb like this?’
According to their excuse, the instruction ‘don’t pick the ones with marks’ got twisted into ‘pick them’ somehow, which is how this happened. Well, I get that part.
The problem was the nuance.
-But honestly, there weren’t any major issues between the two during filming…. It’s good to be careful, and we did make a mistake on our end, but maybe you don’t need to react so sensitively about it….
In other words: ‘It wasn’t a big deal to begin with—didn’t you guys overreact?’
‘These bastards have gotten too complacent.’
Probably because so many external issues had erupted lately and everyone was focused on those, internally they’d started naively trusting Testa’s steadiness.
If someone actually pulled something reckless at this rate, the response would be slow. I didn’t like it.
‘This needs some fine-tuning.’
I sketched out a rough plan, then shrugged and set my smartphone down.
‘First… once those two are sorted out.’
In front of the sofa, Cha Yu-jin was excitedly chattering about his favorite sitcom character.
Kim Rae-bin seriously tried to stop him.
“You might be spoiling it for people who haven’t seen this drama yet, so please restrain yourself….”
“It’s not a spoiler!”
“It totally is!”
Their voices were so loud the drama’s audio was barely audible. Even if the two in the room were screaming and fighting, I wouldn’t be able to hear them.
The moment I thought that, the door burst open and someone rushed out.
“…!”
It was Bae Sae-jin, his face flushed as if it might explode.
“Park Moon-dae!”
‘I think this is the first time I’ve heard him call my name.’
Had the two of them somehow decided to team up and attack me?
Of course, that wasn’t it.
“You, you… come on, let’s go inside.”
“Huh?”
“Come on.”
I had no idea what he was talking about.
Either way, I didn’t want to stir up unnecessary trouble, so I got up without resistance.
And before I knew it, I was being herded into the room by Bae Sae-jin.
“Oh! The hyungs are fighting….”
“Come on, watch TV, Eugene.”
Bang.
Bae Sae-jin closed the door behind us. The loud drama sound suddenly dropped to a fraction of its volume.
Big Sae-jin, who had been sitting in the quiet room, had a composed expression.
It didn’t seem like any violent scuffle would break out.
‘Things seem to be going fine, so why did he call me?’
As I sat down on the floor somewhat reluctantly, Big Sae-jin opened his mouth as if he’d been waiting for this moment.
“Well… I talked things through with hyung and tried to sort things out.”
“I see.”
“Listen.”
Big Sae-jin calmly explained the current situation, maintaining a perfectly composed demeanor that even gave Bae Sae-jin room to interject.
‘Very businesslike.’
First, it seemed both of them had focused on their attitudes going forward.
“We’re going to try our best not to hurt each other’s feelings from now on.”
Big Sae-jin apologized for having treated Bae Sae-jin dismissively because of his negative feelings, and Bae Sae-jin also apologized for suddenly attacking harshly due to his complicated emotions.
“From now on, we decided to be more careful with each other.”
That much was fine.
“But there are parts we just can’t understand about each other.”
As they talked, there were things neither could accept, apparently.
Bae Sae-jin nodded.
“…Listen and give us your objective take. What do you think?”
The words rose to my throat—that we had Ryu Chung-woo as our leader, so why did they need to call me in as a juror—but I held back.
‘If it weren’t for my condition…’
These guys should be grateful for my terminal state.
“What is it?”
Bae Sae-jin swallowed hard, then opened his mouth.
“Am I… still being this uncooperative right now?”
“…!”
Bae Sae-jin’s face turned ashen as he clenched both fists tightly.
“I know I’m not good at this, and if that’s disappointing, I understand. But… I’m doing my absolute best. I really am.”
“…Everyone knows you’re putting in the effort, hyung.”
Big Sae-jin let out an exasperated sigh.
“That’s not what I’m saying—you’re not lazy. But you only focus on your own effort and ignore everything else….”
Bae Sae-jin’s voice dropped.
“…Ignore everything else?”
Big Sae-jin sighed again.
“You get angry before you even try to listen. That’s why I just….”
“Wait.”
I understood the situation well enough. I cut in before Big Sae-jin could unload anything else.
“You need to explain more clearly. What exactly is this ‘everything else’ he’s ignoring?”
“You already know.”
Big Sae-jin continued his explanation in a slightly calmer tone.
“He doesn’t care at all about showing the group as a unit. Only himself.”
“What do you…”
“He doesn’t seem interested in making the group look like all the members get along and are close. But even if he doesn’t care much about the group’s survival, I wish he’d at least put in that effort when the cameras are rolling.”
Big Sae-jin spoke in an exhausted tone.
“We’re an idol group. That stuff matters too.”
“…!”
Bae Sae-jin went rigid. For a moment, he stared down at the floor with his mouth firmly shut.
When he finally answered, it came slowly.
“I understand.”
“…!”
“…I didn’t realize that was important. I’m sorry. I’ll pay attention to it from now on.”
This time, Big Sae-jin was left speechless.
‘This is going differently than I expected.’
But perhaps it made sense.
Idol groups were unfamiliar territory for Bae Sae-jin to begin with, and he’d climbed through the survival competition as an individual contestant.
So he probably never had the chance to notice or care about group chemistry and such things.
‘Stage practice alone must have been overwhelming.’
In fact, if Big Sae-jin had thought about it without bias, he might not have misunderstood in the first place.
But the trauma of being eliminated from the Debut Group because of the “actor” had overlapped with his perspective, fixing his thoughts unconsciously.
‘He’s going to be an actor anyway, so he’s probably just trying to hold on until now.’
And shockingly for Big Sae-jin, Bae Sae-jin’s words weren’t finished.
“I think this is a good team. I want to do well, and I don’t want to be a burden. And I’m grateful I can be active with this team….”
“….”
Bae Sae-jin hesitated before continuing, then forced the words out in a strained voice.
“And… I’m sorry for pretending to be close just when the cameras were rolling. You were just trying your best.”
“…!”
Big Sae-jin’s expression grew complicated.
His response came a beat slower, after sufficient deliberation.
“No. I made careless assumptions. I apologize.”
“…!”
This time Bae Sae-jin looked taken aback, then responded with a slight cough.
“Ahem, ahem. It’s, it’s fine!”
I could see he was slightly irritated and wavering between anger and restraint—but he held back. That guy has grown considerably.
Big Sae-jin replied with a faint smile.
“And I was definitely trying to benefit too! The homonym character is pretty cool~”
His tone was similar to usual, with that characteristic smoothness.
But it felt far more genuine than his typically hollow conversations with Bae Sae-jin.
Bae Sae-jin averted his gaze and muttered.
“Yeah… yeah, okay.”
In a different scenario, denying it here would have led to deeper reconciliation, but Bae Sae-jin’s limits seemed to end here.
Sure enough, Big Sae-jin was already wearing a bitter smile. He wouldn’t understand why the reconciliation gesture was cut short.
‘It’s fine. This development alone deserves five stars.’
After all, we’d just proven with one example that neither harbored serious malice toward the other’s actions.
Going forward, whenever he frustrated me, I could simply think ‘that’s just how he is’ instead of stressing over excessive speculation.
‘I’ve just reset us back to the starting point.’
I exhaled a sigh of relief internally.
‘I’ve done everything I could.’
I desperately craved a beer. I should go find one.
“Then I’ll consider Bae Sae-jin cooperative… and I’ll take my leave.”
Bae Sae-jin startled.
“Huh? W-wait.”
“Hey, let’s go together~ Oh, hyung, is there anything else you wanted to say?”
“…No.”
“I see.”
Big Sae-jin nodded with a smile. Neither seemed eager for further conversation.
“Yeah, okay.”
It was better to leave things as they were rather than risk something exploding from a deeper discussion.
I left the room with both of them.
And to avoid the flood of relief and welcome voices from the living room, I headed toward the refrigerator.
‘I think there were about two cans left.’
With my current weight, one wouldn’t be a problem even at this hour.
Click.
“….”
Empty.
“Beer here…”
“Coming!”
“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t know it was the last can, and Cha Yu-jin just…”
In the living room, an empty, crumpled can dangled in Cha Yu-jin’s hand.
“…”
This bastard…
“M-Moon-dae. I, I have some liquor I received. Would you like to…”
“Thanks.”
“W-what!”
No matter how I thought about it, Sun Ah-hyun was the only one who actually helped my mental health.
I finished the day in my room with Sun Ah-hyun’s liquor.
“H-here’s to us!”
My roommate Bae Sae-jin, seemingly intoxicated by the relief from extreme stress, eagerly participated in the liquor tasting before falling asleep like the dead—that was the last incident of that day.
And the next day.
“Um… there’s one proposal that came for Big Sae-jin.”
The Manager quietly brought up the source of conflict again inside the car heading to the salon.
“It’s a drama, and the Writer apparently knows Big Sae-jin… right, guys?”
“…”
You should’ve called Bae Sae-jin separately to discuss this, you bastard.
The Manager was flustered by the suddenly tense atmosphere in the car, but Bae Sae-jin in the back seat, with bleary eyes from his hangover, shook his head without much agitation.
“No. I’m not doing it.”
“R-really? But it’s not a big role…”
Before the Manager could grow more flustered, Ryu Chung-woo asked Bae Sae-jin.
“…Sae-jin, it could overlap with the hiatus period anyway, so wouldn’t it be better to at least take a look?”
“…!”
Bae Sae-jin shrugged his shoulders, embarrassed by his own slight agitation.
“No… I…”
“Chung-woo’s got a point! Everyone’s fine with that, right?”
The first Manager, who hadn’t been in the car on the day the two had fought fiercely, designated the ‘cheerful guy’ in the front seat for a reaction.
Big Sae-jin.
“…Mm.”
Big Sae-jin, who had been watching the Manager without much expression, opened his mouth.
“As long as it doesn’t interfere with our activities, wouldn’t that be fine? You’ll decide for yourself anyway, hyung~”
“…!”
It was a plain and tactful declaration of neutrality.
This time, Bae Sae-jin didn’t feel the sense of ‘handle yourself properly,’ and looked toward Big Sae-jin’s seat with a somewhat surprised expression.
Then, after swallowing hard, he spoke to the Manager.
“…Then. I’ll look at the synopsis.”
“Oh~ nice!”
However, the Manager added an explanation with a slightly troubled expression.
“But I don’t think we’ll need a synopsis….”
“Pardon?”
“Oh, this is more of a cameo, you see?”
“…!!”
“You know that young shaman character Big Sae-jin played in that movie back then? It’s going to be a surprise appearance like that…. Sae-jin? You’re listening, right?”
“….”
That was it. This entire mess had stemmed from a misunderstanding from the very beginning….
Big Sae-jin and Bae Sae-jin remained dazed throughout their entire schedule that day, unable to regain their composure.
And sure enough, a few days later, Bae Sae-jin wrapped his cameo appearance as the ‘young shaman raised among lunatics’ in episodes one and two in a single day of filming.
“Wow….”
“Uh, uh, uh….”
Upon viewing that same day, his synchronization with the shaman character was nearly supernatural in its excellence, and his performance was remarkably powerful.
The only caveat being that the eerie quality seemed to stem from genuine irritation….
“Your acting is truly impressive, hyung.”
“That was amazing!”
“…This much is… nothing special.”
Well, in the end Bae Sae-jin was satisfied too.
But the preview that aired after the drama was far more shocking.
[Idol Stock Company 2]
[Airs Friday at 10 PM]
Ajusa Season 4 was approaching in the blink of an eye.

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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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