Debut or Die - Chapter 185

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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 185
It wasn’t long before one of the boxes on either side of the stage opened.
[TA-DA!]
It was the right box, where the winners of the audience mini-game had entered.
As Cha Yu-jin burst out of the box first with infectious energy, the other members followed, laughing as they took the stage.
They wore what looked like red uniforms—costumes that resembled the toy soldier outfits from “The Nutcracker.”
In other words, they were adorable.
“Whoooooo!!”
The moment the audience erupted at the costumes, a melody seamlessly wove into the accompaniment.
‘Ah, this one!’
‘Ah~’
Many spectators recognized the song—a famous children’s nursery rhyme that had dominated the 2000s.
However, a crisp band arrangement had been tastefully incorporated, creating an atmosphere perfectly suited for an idol concert.
Though perhaps a touch excessively cheerful.
The winning members bounded onto the stage, waved their hands about, arranged themselves into proper formations, and began performing.
Their movements were perfectly synchronized.
-My friend is
Really, really cute
Though they don’t speak
Their hearts are so warm
Though they seemed to be glancing at the prompter occasionally, the winning team handled the song remarkably well, dividing the parts and singing through the chorus sections while suppressing their laughter.
There were no special formation changes, yet the quality was impressive for something assembled on the spot.
‘Cute.’
With the intention of exchanging footage from different angles with data of Lee Sae-jin or Park Moon-dae, the staff member recorded quite carefully.
‘Definitely need to capture Cha Yu-jin.’
The one with the highest market value, naturally.
For this largely event-oriented performance, the fans indulged in the cuteness without hesitation, waving their light sticks and humming along to the melody.
Thus, the first verse ended in a warm atmosphere.
[Thank you!]
[Thank you very much.]
As the interlude began, the winning team took a deep bow and concluded their stage.
So cute!
Cheers and laughter rippled through the audience.
And within me, a sinister premonition flashed intensely.
‘If the winners are doing this… what will the losers be doing?’
‘Sexy.’
‘It’s all about the costume.’
‘Fairy wings.’
As all manner of expectations surged through my mind, the winning team excitedly bounded down from the stage.
And in that moment.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzing—!!!
A piercing electric guitar sound suddenly tore through the interlude, ringing out triumphantly.
“…??”
Confused murmurs mixed with laughter erupted from all corners of the venue.
‘What the—??’
As bewilderment rippled through the crowd, the clean interlude smoothly transformed into a heavy metal sound.
[Uuuaaahhh!]
Then the penalty team burst through the tissue box.
“…!!”
“Whoa whoa whoa!”
They weren’t wearing pristine uniforms like the winners.
Instead, they were dressed in oversized animal mascot costumes—far too large for their bodies, with only the face cutout visible.
These were the very creatures that had been floating on the tissue box.
The waddling animal heads were undeniably cute, but their outfits screamed gangster aesthetic.
It matched the backing track perfectly.
“Whoa whoa whoa??”
As the concert hall descended into momentary chaos,
the three members charged toward center stage with rock-and-roll gestures.
Lee Sae-jin, momentarily unsteady from the swaying costume, was immediately straightened by rough shoves from both sides.
‘This guy knows what he’s doing…!’
The office worker nailed the timing perfectly.
Lee Sae-jin, still struggling, tested the waters with some rhythmic movements before striking a fierce pose and raising the hand mic at precisely the right moment.
Then a piercing high note erupted.
-My friend is!
Really, really kind~
Their hands may be small
But their heart is huge!
However, the voice was heavily modulated.
A chipmunk-like voice—as if they’d inhaled helium—poured through the speakers.
Making the high note even more piercing.
“No way!!”
The roaring laughter from the audience blended with the distorted vocals.
Park Moon-dae then laboriously raised the hand mic with the thick costume’s front paw.
-I love my friends~
We’re best buddies~
A capitalist smile accompanied by elaborate autotune enveloped the audience.
“Hahahaha!!”
The fans were now in absolute hysterics.
The office worker was no exception—he even saw the person next to him waving their light stick instead of flailing their arms everywhere.
‘Insane.’
It couldn’t have been more avant-garde.
‘Insane!!’
They were so unnecessarily good at it that I couldn’t help but laugh.
And of course, it was adorable.
-Best friends, best friends
We’re best friends~
Friend, I love you
Give me a tight hug~
A low, almost cursed-sounding voice emanated from Kim Rae-bin’s rabbit costume.
Instead of hugging each other, they were slapping each other’s backs while sitting down.
Thanks to that, the three of them nearly toppled over the fluffy mass, but managed to get up by grabbing and pushing each other.
‘Goodness.’
Watching those singing the chorus naturally perform the choreography, the office worker running Twin Home had an instant realization.
‘This is… this is definitely going to blow up!’
This comedy, this impact.
I could already see it trending in real-time and popular posts.
Testa’s crazy bastards lol
[Testa concert going wild in real-time.jpg]
‘I need to drop a preview right now and upload a short video on the way back!’
The office worker worked with unparalleled enthusiasm to gather the data. Meanwhile, the three members of the losing team were giving an equally passionate performance on stage.
They were generously throwing off the skull-patterned arm warmers and black jumpers draped over their costumes, tossing them into the audience.
By the way, they were disposable paper ones. They just looked convincing.
“We’ve really lost it!”
“Over here!!”
The fans cheered, nearly laughing and crying at the same time. Their attitude was nothing short of rock stars.
-Yeah~ best friends!!
And so the heavy metal version of the nursery rhyme performance ended with that fiery kneeling.
Watching the three costumed figures waddle off stage in a coolly stylish manner amid roaring laughter and cheers, the office worker cried out internally.
‘Uploading the moment this ends!!’
I could already see my follower count skyrocketing!
Unlike the office worker who was busily selecting photos from the camera and marking previews during the intermission, another Home Ma nearby was falling apart internally.
‘I’m going crazy.’
She was Park Moon-dae’s first Home Ma.
With the expression of someone who’d ridden a roller coaster about ten times, she stared at the stage Park Moon-dae had just left.
In fact, she’d been in this state ever since watching Park Moon-dae’s solo stage.
‘Moon-dae, this is… sigh.’
Lying naked in midair and floating while singing?
It was painfully clear how he’d injured his wrists and waist.
And that was the problem.
‘How long has it been since you recovered, and you’re actually doing that…!’
The fact that he actually performed it without even fixing that detail made my heart clench.
And there was an even bigger problem.
‘…It was incredible.’
The solo stage was genuinely, spine-tinglingly good.
Despite all of Home Ma’s worries and ominous premonitions.
‘It’ll be hard to make this public under artist protection….’
So many people loved that stage that it seemed the consensus would inevitably become, ‘If Park Moon-dae is fine with it, then it’s fine, isn’t it?’
I was tempted by it myself, after all.
‘The problem is that he did too well.’
Home Ma, her expression vacant, mechanically filmed the VCR across from her.
This sentiment was actually the same from the heavy metal nursery rhyme performance earlier.
Watching someone who’d barely recovered breathlessly power through the group song and then put on that heavy costume to dash around—it stirred all sorts of thoughts.
But at the same time, it was impossible not to feel cute, heartwarmed, and proud.
Still, Home Ma could only cry out internally.
‘Park Moon-dae, you’re really okay, right?! Later when the behind-the-scenes footage drops, I won’t have to bash my head in, right?!’
Park Moon-dae on the VCR turned with a smile.

* * *
“Ugh.”
“Park Moon-dae!”
“You okay?”
I’m fine. My inner ear just overworked itself from moving around in the costume.
‘It must have looked funny.’
That’s good enough. Truth is, I found it funny too.
“I’m fine. Just one glucose capsule.”
“Here!”
A staff member quickly handed over the capsule. Saline glucose.
I removed the wrapper and swallowed the tablet with water. Immediately, the makeup artist came over and wiped away the sweat and moisture.
‘Two minutes and thirty seconds left.’
I have time to catch my breath before heading out. I’ve already shed this damned cotton monstrosity.
Big Sae-jin was just taking off his costume and tossing it aside.
“Try breathing.”
“I’m fine.”
Breathing difficulties are ancient history. I clicked my tongue.
‘Why did it have to press so hard there?’
The performance I’d prepared for my solo stage was a wire apparatus—lying suspended in mid-air.
It looked like I was floating thanks to the fabric, but then even after the fabric came loose, I’d still be floating—giving one more moment of surprise… that’s what I was aiming for, and it seemed to work.
Actually, even with the wires, the safety equipment was distributed widely around my waist beneath the costume, so there wasn’t much strain on my body.
As long as it was installed properly.
‘It had been misaligned.’
The equipment had functioned perfectly during rehearsal, so the malfunction must have occurred during setup due to time constraints, or something went wrong during maintenance.
It had pressed relentlessly against my left lung.
Fortunately, it hadn’t compressed the fractured ribs, so aside from oxygen deprivation, there were no major complications, and I managed to finish the performance without incident.
Once I came down and put on an oxygen mask for a bit, my condition recovered quickly.
‘Besides, I use an oxygen mask regularly anyway, accident or not.’
In fact, everyone except Ryu Chung-woo and Sun Ah-hyun uses one. Even those two have tried it a time or two.
Still, an accident was an accident, so the others seemed visibly tense.
Sun Ah-hyun was already swallowing hard as he asked.
“D-do you have any pain….”
“Nothing in particular. My stamina is fine too.”
Between playing around, eating, and training, my physical condition had remained excellent.
‘My wrist is… well, there’s almost no reason to use my wrist aggressively anyway.’
This should be manageable with some care after the Seoul Concert. I shrugged and nodded.
“Let’s go. We can’t be late. We need to get ready.”
“Y-yeah….”
….
Ryu Chung-woo, who’d been watching from the side, interjected.
“Moon-dae. Can we talk about this after the concert?”
“Yes, of course.”
If it was about changing the equipment operator, I wanted to have a deeper conversation about it.
The others chimed in as well.
“…If you start feeling worse, please tell us right away.”
“Above all, your health is what matters most.”
“I will. Got it.”
While I thought silence might actually help me rest better, I wasn’t a sociopath, and I was genuinely grateful, so I nodded appropriately.
“Moving out!!”
After the rather lengthy VCR ended, I had to head back up to the Concert Hall.
Roaaaaar—
Cheers.
And the Concert Hall was flooded with violet lighting.
‘This reminds me of the first concert.’
It made sense—they’d deliberately structured it that way.
Hearing the crisp percussion sound through my in-ear monitor, I sang the opening verse.
-I think of you, whom I met tomorrow
All day long today
My debut song, “Magic Boy.”
-Dreaming of a sky-blue dream as bright as daylight
In that moment, small glimmering objects began to drift through the air above the audience, carried on the breeze.
“…!”
Soap bubbles.
Countless rounded surfaces sparkled in every color beneath the violet lighting.
“….”
All these people were blowing soap bubbles in unison.
Just like at the start of my first concert.
Because we shared that memory together.
[Reviewer shows something today!]
The slogan was captured on the massive display. A familiar phrase, transformed.
‘This is fun.’
I laughed.
‘…I like this.’
My brain felt like it would dissolve from the adrenaline.
It was as if I’d taken some kind of drug.
The remaining concert time melted away in an instant, slipping past like water.

* * *
The first day’s concert concluded successfully.
I heard praise was coming from all directions. Of course, anyone attending the concert would already be favorably disposed toward Testa…but still, it felt quite rewarding.
‘Good.’
However, not everything unfolded as expected.
“Why don’t you reconsider?”
“…?”
The members, the company, and the fans each brought one variable to the table.
This is maddening.

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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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