Debut or Die - Chapter 184

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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 184
Park Moon-dae continued to float upward into the void. Even as his limbs dangled freely in the air, his elongated body maintained a strikingly elegant line.
And he kept singing.
-This yearning melts away
Until there’s not a shred of hope left
Aching and shattering
Until I become nothing but a drifting speck
Like the poignant lyrics themselves, it was a performance both serene and intensely powerful.
Home Ma, who had been watching the scene in a daze, suddenly realized something.
‘That’s why the headset microphone!’
From the moment he’d sat in the chair, he’d been wearing a headset microphone instead of a standing or handheld one.
‘I thought the fabric wrapping looked awkward atmospherically….’
But that wasn’t it at all—it was because of this insane performance.
And that wasn’t even the end.
-Still, I will wait
Just as the final chorus was about to surge.
The accompaniment suddenly shifted to a slow string solo.
Within that mournful sound, the fabric binding the singer’s entire body came loose and began to flutter with the wind.
And a hazy night sky began to appear on the display screen.
“…!”
Vibrant colored fabrics swaying against a dark, starless night sky as backdrop.
And In-young, suspended in white, floating at the center.
The fabric that had been binding him, as if pulling him upward, had completely come undone, yet Park Moon-dae still floated in the air by sheer body control alone.
‘Insane.’
There was no time to comprehend how he’d done it. Every element of the scene created a dramatic contrast, appearing almost like contemporary art.
The white costume gleamed under the lights.
The song flowed beautifully without a tremor.
-Finally, the day you arrive
The day you call truly beautiful
Unlike the original song’s burning intensity, the vocal delivery and accompaniment conveyed a clear, crystalline sorrow.
-I will wait
The sound of the orchestra’s ensemble resonated through the hall. It was actually being performed from below the stage.
Park Moon-dae’s body descended slowly through the air, riding the melody.
And the next moment.
As if nothing had happened at all, Park Moon-dae sat calmly in the chair.
The loosened fabrics lay scattered across the floor like a pattern.
Snap.
Without warning, the lights cut out, and the stage ended.

* * *
Waaaaaah!!
The screams and exclamations echoing through the Concert Hall reverberated all the way to the Backstage.
Even as the daily staff stacked equipment while stealing glances at the monitoring screens, they were all secretly impressed.
Seeing the main display screen directly from the front, they thought it was a performance worth paying for.
The disgruntled part-timer fiddling with their smartphone felt the same way.
‘Seeing it in person would probably be even more incredible….’
But since it came through the monitor indirectly, the magic of the performance wore off quickly.
‘…Though, isn’t it all just about the equipment anyway?’
The Stage experts who built all that did the real work—honestly, the singer just sang, didn’t they?
‘It might not have even been live, like before.’
The part-timer deliberately ignored the excitement and went back to halfheartedly moving boxes.
Still, the kid seemed to be putting in effort, so maybe I shouldn’t say anything bad about them—they wavered slightly.
Then, a commotion echoed from far down the corridor.
It was background noise of a magnitude I’d never heard during a performance before.
“What’s going on?”
“Did something happen?”
From a distance, I could hear someone faintly shouting, “Hey, oxygen mask!”
But soon Lee Sae-jin’s performance began, and the background noise became barely audible.
‘Ugh.’
The part-timer, who had been listening intently hoping for some juicy gossip, clicked their tongue.
But shortly after.
People newly assigned to move equipment whispered the news they’d picked up around the part-timer.
“Apparently some device malfunctioned and someone passed out?”
“No way.”
“Park Moon-dae?”
“Seems like it based on the order? Like, the staff were apparently all fussing about why he didn’t give a signal… then I got chased away for eavesdropping.”
“That’s such a waste.”
…!
The part-timer, pretending not to listen, caught on.
‘So the guy who did that aerial Stage performance collapsed?!’
He was popular on YouTube lately, so even the part-timer knew the name.
Park Moon-dae, who debuted at number one.
He collapsed after finishing his Stage performance—it was the kind of passionate professionalism you’d hear about in heartwarming stories.
‘…But if he collapses like that, what about the remaining performances?’
The part-timer thought as sarcastically as possible—wasn’t that thoughtless?
But eight minutes later.
It was the moment when Ryu Chung-woo’s solo song ended and they began the group song again.
[Bleeding Midnight
Blurred focus
wavering, time dragging on]
On the monitoring screen, Park Moon-dae appeared completely fine, performing his part flawlessly.
“…!”
There was no trace of his collapse anywhere.
And witnessing that gap between expectation and reality had something oddly direct about it—something that pierced straight through to the heart.
‘…He’s really something.’
Suddenly, as if my resolve had crumbled, my heart felt lighter.
Seeing him grit his teeth and work that hard, my inferiority complex actually melted away instead.
“Let’s get back!”
“Sure!”
After tidying up everything I’d scattered and returning to my position in the background, I fell into thought for a moment.
“….”
With the noisy Concert Hall as my backdrop, I pulled out my smartphone and began typing.
=======================
[Male idol Concert staff mid-review]
So many obsessed fans, screaming like crazy nonstop.
But the floating stage was insane—honestly, he worked so damn hard despite the chaos
Something went wrong and right after the song ended he put on an oxygen mask and passed out, but honestly this guy’s a real pro
=======================
It was written without any malice.
But the comments were brutal.
-Is this staff?
-The idol’s effort is so touching
-Don’t care
-Even in the old days they wouldn’t have done this kind of promotion lol next fabrication
“You bastards…!”
Annoyed, I took a photo showing my staff vest in the corridor and uploaded it triumphantly as proof.
‘Now they can’t say anything!’
And thirty minutes later.
“Who uploaded this?”
‘Oh crap.’
I was immediately caught and dragged away by security for violating confidentiality.
It was pure farce.
But separate from this commotion unfolding on the periphery, the Concert proceeded smoothly until finally reaching the intermission break.
It was time for the talk segment.

* * *
[Testa’s second concert!]
[Thank you all so much for coming to participate in 【Enchanted ME】.]
[Wooo~]
The members clapped and laughed as Ryu Chung-woo continued the MC.
Most of them were still sweating or catching their breath from the previous performance, sipping water—but that had its own charm.
The cameraman, who happened to be sitting next to Lee Sae-jin and Park Moon-dae, zoomed in on them and thought idly to himself.
‘If anything, I should let Sae-jin do the MC too.’
It was Home Ma, who had just started running their twin home channel, ‘Puppy Bear’.
‘I heard from the leaked setlist that there’s no unit stage.’
It was a shame. I was starting to want to—no, I wanted to see their stage together.
The cameraman quickly did the math and felt satisfied anyway.
‘The followers are coming in at a different scale.’
In six weeks, he’d surpassed the follower count of his original fan account for a mid-tier entertainment agency male idol.
So there was no point in keeping the old account—he’d switched over completely.
‘This is why I do it.’
Capturing popular ones was definitely the way to go, the cameraman thought with calculated precision.
‘Especially Sae-jin—she’s the type for longevity.’
Just then, the person in question opened her mouth.
[Ah! If you watched today’s concert and thought, “Wow, our section was so neglected! We didn’t even make eye contact!” is anyone here like that?]
Me!! Me!!
Over here!
A thunderous roar filled the concert hall.
Lee Sae-jin grinned widely, pointing with her fingers to wherever the voices came from, asking “Here? Here?” as she went.
Park Moon-dae offered a subtle smile and made a suggestion.
[Then shall we each say hello and continue?]
[Ah, an excellent idea~ Stand up!]
[Hello everyone!]
[Let’s have fun together.]
Testa stood up in unison and circled the edge of the stage, bowing up and down to the audience.
The concert hall warmed with laughter and cheers.
The cameraman kept the camera trained persistently, licking his lips.
‘If only he’d show his abs.’
He was confident he could capture it cleanly even if it was just for a moment.
Unfortunately, that didn’t happen, but the talk continued naturally.
[Did you enjoy the concert?]
“Yes!!”
The cameraman reflexively answered along with the people shouting from all directions, feeling slightly embarrassed.
But it couldn’t be helped.
‘It really was fun.’
Moreover, the stage setup was even more elaborate than the first concert, and with so many elements designed to highlight each member’s individual talents, it was all the more captivating.
Especially the solo stages flowing from Park Moon-dae to Lee Sae-jin were exceptional.
Park Moon-dae’s extremely serene and artistic performance, followed immediately by Lee Sae-jin’s vibrant and dynamic stage, doubled the audience’s satisfaction.
‘Absolutely not because I’m their Home Ma, but objectively speaking, they performed the best…!’
The office worker maintained her composure while indulging in her fandom.
[Ah, we prepared so hard, and I’m really glad it went well!]
[Thank you.]
[Actually, we’ve also prepared a stage that we’ll improvise on the spot!]
Huh?
Murmurs rippled through the audience.
‘Please don’t mess this up.’
The office worker, who had witnessed idol concerts become awkward after “improvised stages” went wrong, clenched her teeth.
But the members continued excitedly.
[Before that, everyone, a sentence will appear on the screen now! If you think it’s YES, please keep your light sticks on, and if it’s NO, could you turn them off?]
[Shall we try? Go ahead and turn them off!]
While some audience members looked confused, the Concert Hall suddenly darkened.
[Wow, this is actually scary!]
[With over ten thousand audience members here, we thought it would naturally have a significant impact.]
[That’s true.]
[Actually, I’m scared too, so could you please turn them back on quickly? …Haha, thank you, thank you!]
The explanation that followed was simple.
Listen to a statement about one member—if it seems true, keep your light stick on; if it seems false, turn it off.
[Alright then, here’s the first question… Oh, ‘Sun Ah-hyun likes dogs more than cats!’ What do you think?]
Sparkle sparkle.
Most of the light sticks remained on, swaying gently.
[Ooh~ We don’t even need central control! Everyone’s saying YES!]
As Lee Sae-jin made a fuss, Ryu Chung-woo laughed and announced the answer.
[The answer is… YES, that’s correct!]
[Wow, how do you all guess so well!]
Sun Ah-hyun nodded shyly, his face flushed. The members applauded while laughter and cheers erupted from the audience.
Questions about each of the seven members continued in the same format. The audience got more than half correct, but naturally made mistakes too.
[Oh no. All three are emoticons that Kim Rae-bin uses in the group chat, that’s right! Everyone, Rae-bin is such a mature friend.]
[I’m good at swimming! Reviewer, do I really look like I can’t swim?]
Amid bursts of laughter, the final batter stepped up.
It was Park Moon-dae.
Park Moon-dae had been relatively quiet throughout the talk, but when his turn came, he read the words on the screen in a gentle voice.
[Hmm, ‘The largest amount Park Moon-dae has ever cooked was seven servings.’ What do you think?]
Sparkle.
A fair number of light sticks turned off, but the majority kept theirs on.
‘Since there are seven members, seven servings is pretty likely.’
The office worker turned it on too.
[The answer is… Ah! NO.]
Wow!
After the members each left comments saying what a shame it was, Park Moon-dae picked up the microphone again.
[It never ends with just one serving. We usually go generous and make twelve servings.]
Ahhh~
The audience quickly came around to understanding.
‘We got that wrong.’
‘We didn’t think of that.’
After that half-joking realization, the Q&A finally ended.
[Well then… the members you all got wrong are Kim Rae-bin, Lee Sae-jin, and Park Moon-dae!]
[Ah~ great combination!]
When Lee Sae-jin self-destructed with that comment, the members snickered.
[These members will now receive their punishment!]
“…??”
“A punishment?!”
I’d thought we were just filling time before the performance with casual conversation, but it seemed something more elaborate had been prepared.
[Yes. Everyone. Please wait just a moment~]
As the members jumped to their feet, the Stage machinery rumbled to life, and enormous boxes began rolling in from both the right and left sides.
[See you in a moment~]
The members who’d answered correctly rushed to the right, while the three who’d gotten it wrong bolted to the left.
The box on the right had a handsome castle printed on it.
And the left one… was a tissue box with some kind of character drawn on it.
“…??”
Just as the audience erupted in laughter at the ominous setup, an accompaniment suddenly began playing.
It was an unsettlingly cheerful and upbeat intro.

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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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