Debut or Die - Chapter 172

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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 172
To explain what on earth this situation was, it went like this.
Testa’s roommate assignments this time were determined through a territory-claiming board game disguised as a card game.
“Alright, now Yeouido is the territory of my ‘Red-Nosed Faction’! Everyone owes me one coin~”
“…Huh? W-what??”
“Already? Big Sae-jin is really good at this.”
“Haha~ Thank you!”
For the record, this unfamiliar game had complex rules, a long playtime, and crucially, had nothing to do with roommate assignments.
It turned out to be a new board game using the IP from the ‘127 Section’ we’d collaborated with before.
‘This must be PPL that T1 inserted.’
I’m used to it by now.
Anyway, so the Production Team somehow tried to force-fit this into the roommate reassignment, allowing us to choose roommates in order of game rankings.
And here’s the result.
“Eugene’s ‘Flame Rampage Tribe’ takes first place with 36 squares!”
“Yeah!!”
“Aw~ Too bad!”
Cha Yu-jin had pulled off a last-minute reversal.
‘Three consecutive rolls of six on the dice.’
With Cha Yu-jin’s insane luck, everyone eventually stopped caring about winning or losing and just screamed like we were watching gambling.
And this guy Cha Yu-jin… without a moment’s hesitation, designated me as his roommate.
“Moon-dae hyung, let’s be great roommates! I’m looking forward to it!”
‘What the hell.’
When did we ever get that close?
On top of that, the option to distribute responsibility by bringing in someone else was also blocked.
“Hmm, so Eugene who placed first gets to choose his room….”
“Number 1!!”
A room for two people.
“Oh~ Moon-dae’s back in Room 1? Congratulations~”
“…Yeah.”
I wasn’t happy about it at all.
Of course, I had no intention of openly expressing that crazy sentiment.
I couldn’t bring myself to say anything overtly positive, but I was still giving Cha Yu-jin plenty of positive physical signals—high-fives, shoulder pats, and the like.
‘I can’t provoke Cha Yu-jin’s fans.’
Those people wouldn’t let this slide as a joke; they’d squeeze me dry and turn me into the bullying instigator who picks on the maknae.
So calm down, and think about the good points of sharing a room with this guy….
“….”
…Were there any?
“Then what’s Big Sae-jin’s choice, since he placed second?”
“Yep, my choice is… drumroll please. Our charming Rae-bin!”
“Ah, thank you!”
“Haha! Oh, I think it’d be nice for us three to share a room?”
“Well, since Park Moon-dae’s in third place, we’ll skip that… and it just so happens Kim Rae-bin’s fourth, so it’s his turn to pick a roommate. Kim Rae-bin, what do you want to do?”
“I would like Sun Ah-hyun to join us as my final roommate!”
“…! Me, me?”
“Yes! Since our roommate days together, there are a few things I’d like to ask you about….”
While the others were becoming roommates one after another, I thought it over, but I couldn’t come up with a single advantage.
Though I did know one thing.
“He eats jelly!”
“That’s right.”
Early, peaceful sleep was off the table for a while.
And this judgment proved accurate.

* * *
A few days later in the Music Broadcast Waiting Room. The stylist fixing my costume accessories asked.
“Park Moon-dae, are you okay? You look out of it.”
“I’m fine.”
Though I wouldn’t have been fine without Bacchus.
‘That crazy Cha Yu-jin didn’t sleep until 2 AM yesterday.’
That much would be okay. Everyone has their own style.
But the problem was that he was actively engaged until that 2 AM.
While talking to me, no less.
“…Sigh.”
Actually, I’d preemptively given Cha Yu-jin some instructions beforehand.
-I’ve been managing my stamina lately… so outside of exercise time, I’d really like to just lie in bed and rest.
-Oh… is it hard for you, hyung?
-It’s not hard. I’m just trying to build up my stamina, so try to keep me from getting out of bed as much as possible.
-Got it!
And Cha Yu-jin, contrary to my worry about a barrage of questions coming, cleanly agreed, and from then on he was really considerate.
Well… only with the modifier of ‘things he could do without getting out of bed.’
-Wow! Look at this, hyung!
-….
On Cha Yu-jin’s smartphone, which he checked by sticking only his head out from the bed, a video of a Siberian Husky having a conversation with a baby through strange howling was playing.
-[Isn’t it so cute and funny?? A baby and a puppy. They always make my day happy, you know?]
-Yeah. That’s nice.
I had no idea this similar pattern would repeat until 2 AM just from giving positive responses.
When we have a pre-recording for the Music Broadcast tomorrow, Friday, no less…
-Hyung, hyung! This hippo….
-Stop.
Eventually, after telling him to be quiet and get some sleep about three times, Cha Yu-jin finally went to sleep.
If he’d gone on any longer, I would’ve smacked the back of his head and forced him to bed.
‘I’m going to lose it.’
Of course, it’s not like this every time.
Cha Yu-jin does go to bed early sometimes, but the problem is that it’s entirely on his own terms.
Looking at his attitude, he does seem to make an effort to follow what I say, but the issue is that he’s the type who can’t retain things in his head if he thinks they’re no big deal by his standards, so he forgets every time.
‘Maybe I should scare him a little.’
Of course, that’s a joke. The moment Cha Yu-jin shows any sign of being intimidated in front of the camera, it becomes ammunition for discord rumors.
Normally I’d ignore it, but the problem is that just a few months ago, I left footage of myself appearing uncooperative with Ryu Chung-woo.
That summer package thing.
‘This isn’t good.’
So for now… I endure it.
But based on the pattern so far, this roommate will likely be fixed for more than half a year, and I’m not sure if I can manage not to show any sign of inconvenience toward this guy during that time.
‘How did Ryu Chung-woo even tolerate a roommate in the first place?’
Hmm, come to think of it, with Big Sae-jin around, all of Cha Yu-jin’s attention must have been drawn there.
“Hyung! Cookie cookie?”
“It’s fine.”
“It’s delicious!”
“You eat plenty.”
Now Cha Yu-jin has been approaching me more frequently even outside the dormitory. If he’s starting to feel a sense of closeness because we’re roommates, I’d rather decline.
“Testa will head to the waiting room right away~”
“Yes!”
Anyway, our stage was next. Roommate is roommate, but for now, let’s focus on the work.
Waaaaaaah—!
Cheers pierced through the in-ear monitor.
The rumbling sound that penetrated the small soundproofing component had a peculiar way of elevating one’s spirit.
‘It’s like all distracting thoughts vanish.’
Especially in songs with complex and flawless choreography, that surge of adrenaline proved quite helpful.
But with a song loosely structured like this one, it’s better to force myself to think a bit.
If I just let it flow, it often ends up looking flat and dull.
Precisely because it’s simple, I need to pay more attention so it doesn’t appear bland.
‘Wait a bit here… then gesture.’
-Cool breeze sweet coffee
With lots of syrup
Just like me, yeah
Take a seat
The gesture of resting my chin was captured well by the camera as the light came on.
‘Strangely smooth.’
The delay and felt difference from thought to expression seemed to have narrowed compared to before.
‘Is this the power of the charm stat?’
It was quite enjoyable.
I added several unplanned expressions—changing my facial expression or making glasses with one hand—and I was able to match the timing appropriately without any hesitation.
‘Interesting.’
How fascinating.
-Just relax and wait for now
(Hold on a second)
I’ll come pick you up
The stage ended with us standing and sitting back-to-back with each other.
“Thank you!”
“Thank you!”
The guys came down from the stage with bows, and their faces looked remarkably composed.
“Monitor check, monitor check~”
“Watch that cable over there!”
There was a somewhat spirited dance break at the end, but we weren’t breathing so hard that our lungs felt like they’d burst out of our chests.
‘The B-side is a ballad too.’
What’s interesting is that despite the lower activity difficulty, the track performed exceptionally well.
The Manager came rushing over the moment stage monitoring ended and shouted this.
“Guys! The Picnic track climbed again! It’s at number 7 on 24Hits!”
“Wow!”
It was an incredible achievement for day five of release.
In a system where even repeated listens by one person only count once within 24 hours, this ranking among male idol tracks this year is a first for us besides VTIC.
‘It’s more than double the performance of our previous album right before this.’
Since it was matching the speed of Young-rin, who has much better public appeal with tracks, it meant this song really had excellent easy-listening quality.
Big Sae-jin subtly stepped in.
“It’s because Kim Rae-bin did such a great job with the arrangement~”
“W-well, yeah. The song is really good…!”
“Oh, no! I think these results came about thanks to the great demo and the wonderful input from my teammates!”
It sounded like an award acceptance speech.
‘His face has brightened.’
Kim Rae-bin smiled widely with a much more relaxed expression than days before. Well, he still looked rather fierce.
“Make lots of songs! Give them to me.”
“Songs aren’t something you just churn out like that—you need a certain kind of inspiration to work….”
“Inspiration? Is that your grandfather?”
“Idiot! That’s not what I meant, I….”
I sighed.
“…Inspiration.”
“Ah, thank you, Park Moon-dae!”
“Thank you!”
…Watching these two bow their heads, I started to suspect Cha Yu-jin hadn’t picked me as his roommate for nothing—maybe he was using me as a translator.
Convincing argument.
“Guys, ending stage!”
“Ah, yes!”
In any case, during the hectic comeback schedule, an opportunity to organize my thoughts didn’t come easily.
So it wasn’t until a few days later, during the free time right before bed on a Monday night, that I learned what Cha Yu-jin was really after.

* * *
[It doesn’t matter what the weather forecast says~ It’s a day I want to see you.]
Monday night, one of the rare moments when I had time to spare.
I was lying in bed watching a fancam.
It was the official vertical fancam uploaded from the Music Broadcast Studio I’d filmed on Friday.
[(K-cam) TeSTAR Park Moon-dae Fancam ‘Picnic’ 2X1018]
The thumbnail featured a close-up of me resting my chin in my hand, and it had already accumulated a decent view count.
It seemed to have become a light topic in the Online Community and elsewhere, with people comparing it to my first Ajusa fancam.
That one—the fancam from the 〈Just Me〉 tier evaluation.
I scrolled through the comments, which were plastered with things like “Park Moon-dae is a deep learning AI puppy,” feeling slightly embarrassed, and finished watching my fancam.
‘It’s definitely improved.’
The control of dynamics was solid, and the feelings I wanted to express came across clearly without seeming awkward or forced—that was what I liked about it.
‘Hmm.’
At this level, even my past self would’ve thought this guy was worth investing in, so I figured a little self-praise wouldn’t hurt.
But that thought was temporarily shelved when the next video autoplay started.
[(K-cam) TeSTAR Cha Yu-jin Fancam ‘Picnic’ 2X1018]
It was Cha Yu-jin’s fancam from the same day.
‘This guy’s a real monster.’
It wasn’t just naturally good—each movement had a subtle presence to it.
‘Hmm, snappy?’
That’s the kind of word that fit. He wasn’t just dancing well; he was bringing it to life.
‘This’ll be worth analyzing.’
I left Cha Yu-jin’s fancam playing.
Then suddenly, his head popped into view beside mine.
“Hyung! You watching my video??”
“Yeah. You did well.”
“Hehe.”
Cha Yu-jin’s face lit up with excitement as he rattled off words in English.
[How is it? So you’re watching because it’s fun?]
“That too, but I’m also comparing it with mine and doing some research.”
“Oh!”
Cha Yu-jin’s eyes sparkled as he bounced on my bed.
[Hyung! Then I think we could share some tips! If you teach me about singing, I can teach you about dancing!]
“Yeah?”
“Yes!”
Just as I was thinking he didn’t seem like the type to have any aptitude for teaching, Cha Yu-jin got to his real point.
[And what if we did a unit performance? At the next Concert!]
Huh?

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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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