Debut or Die - Chapter 194

—————

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 194
Chung-ryeo of VTIC.
‘Is this the first time since the vacation?’
Truth be told, there’s nothing particularly moving about it. Given how quiet things have been, the odds of him pulling some pointless nonsense seem low now.
‘I can just let this slide.’
As expected, I only hear the chatter of the others. They must have raised their voices, conscious of the bustling Awards Ceremony Venue.
“We’ve been watching the reality show!”
“Thank you.”
Since the comeback was postponed, it seems he must have consumed all sorts of video content while staying quietly at home.
But the VTIC guy, mistaking my lack of reaction for his words falling on deaf ears, pressed on regardless.
“No, we all watched it together and it was really fun!”
“Right, you found it fun too, didn’t you?”
“…!”
One of them prompted agreement and drew Chung-ryeo into the conversation.
‘Just leave it alone.’
Up until now it could pass as casual camaraderie, but now the atmosphere’s turning sour—if a fancam catches this, it becomes rumor fuel.
‘These bastards are really annoying.’
The moment I sighed, my eyes met Chung-ryeo’s.
“….”
He gave a slight nod.
That was all.
‘Oh.’
That’s a surprisingly appropriate response for the situation.
It was the moment I thought that maybe after getting knocked around, common sense had finally returned to that guy’s head.
“Ah~ Thank you so much, seniors! We watch your stages so often these days~”
“Oh~ How embarrassing!”
“Right!”
“So today I brought a cushion to sit with a truly reverent attitude and focus!”
“Haha! So that’s what you brought it for?”
“Of course~ Senior, fighting!”
“Yes, Junior Member, fighting too!”
Big Sae-jin handled the conversation and wrapped it up on his own.
Maybe I should buy him a gift.
‘He’s earning his keep.’
I’ll give Bae Sae-jin credit for doing his part just by not glaring at VTIC.
And the moment VTIC returned to his seat, Big Sae-jin immediately covered his mouth so the audience couldn’t see and spoke quietly.
“…Where exactly did you hit him so much? There’s no mark.”
“Back of the head. Neck.”
Chung-ryeo was wearing a black turtleneck. It was clear the bruises hadn’t faded yet.
Big Sae-jin’s expression turned enigmatic for a moment, then he quickly erased it.
[Hello, everyone. As we begin a new year, let us reflect on the accomplishments of the past….]
And in that moment, the MC’s greeting began to echo from the Stage.
The live broadcast had commenced.
‘This is going to be tedious for a while.’
I settled my weight against the backrest without letting it show.
It was time to operate the reaction machine.

* * *
Naturally, having a stretch of time to simply sit still amidst a hectic schedule was a comfort.
However, having to maintain an appearance of concentration while watching the Stage and doing nothing else was quite inconvenient.
‘Still, it’s better than the first recording session at Ajusa.’
At the very least, everyone performing on Stage now was guaranteed to have award credentials.
Woooooo!
I clapped in sync with the cheers for the group that had just finished their performance.
They’d incorporated contemporary dance into their dance performance, but honestly, aside from the one person in the center, it wasn’t particularly impressive.
If I were to convert all these well-known idols into Ajusa rankings… they’d fall somewhere between Gold and Silver.
Well, let me hear the expert’s opinion.
“How was the Stage?”
“Me, me?”
“Yeah.”
“Um… they, they seem amazing with all their effort. Um, the extensions are, pretty.”
They can’t bring themselves to say it was good. I understand.
As a result of maintaining reactions just appropriate enough not to appear disrespectful on the direct cam.
[We love the Reviewer!]
[Thank you. Thanks to all of you, this year has been such a joyful time of activities for us.]
After delivering the award acceptance speech an hour and a half in, it was finally time to prepare our Stage.
“Let’s move, move.”
“Okay.”
And this Stage performance was not something to simply let pass as one of many special performances during awards season.
It was our first Stage after the successful reality broadcast.
We had to draw the public attention gained through variety entertainment back to the Stage to truly capitalize on that goodwill as an Idol Group.
‘In the end, we have to excel at our core craft.’
So this time, I put in some real effort.
-The Day Finally Arrives
Procession
Grrrrr- Woo!
The moment the two-pronged choreography collided with numerous dancers on Stage, colorful flags depicting landscape paintings and beast drawings fluttered in the air.
And a sharp dance break utilizing laser effects that resembled a sphere.
Vibrant colors and movements interlock with aggressive arrangements.
It was a performance adapted from “Gyeokgu,” a traditional game said to have been played by warriors during the Goryeo and Joseon periods on horseback.
Cheers pierced through the in-ear monitors.
Wooooaaaaahhh!!!
Ahhh!
I’d added a modified version of the dance break segment from the concert—shorter and simpler—and the response was quite solid.
Had I thought about this before? It’s funny, but now I could tell just from the atmosphere on stage whether a performance landed or not.
Whether it was a stage people could accept, or truly one worth watching.
This time, it was definitely the latter.
“Phew.”
“The floor was slippery, but everyone did well.”
“That was excellent~”
Even as Big Sae-jin said this, he glanced up slightly, disappointed. It seemed we hadn’t shown the more aggressive movements we’d planned.
“Right, good work. It’s been a while since we performed domestically, hasn’t it?”
“It has.”
“It was fun!”
With a flawless, polished performance and the camera lights coming on, it looked like the choreography had been executed pretty much as rehearsed.
Everyone caught their breath with satisfied expressions and returned to their seats.
VTIC happened to be nowhere nearby.
‘Their stage should be coming up soon.’
With the live broadcast nearly finished, it made sense they’d gone to prepare for their final stage slot.
Only the Popularity Award and Album of the Year remained.
‘If we win at this timing, they’ll burst out from backstage.’
I’d seen that happen a few times before, but honestly, it had less impact than standing up from your seat and walking out.
Thinking that this year’s awards ceremony structure was somewhat awkward, I waited for the VCR on screen to end.
And shortly after.
[The Golden Disc Popularity Award winner is… Congratulations. Testa!]
The presenter announced Testa for the Popularity Award.
“…!!”
“What?? Huh?!”
The guys who’d been sitting somewhat slouched after their performance suddenly jumped to their feet.
Understandably so.
This was… honestly unexpected.
After receiving sanctions not long ago for “encouraging unhealthy competition,” the Popularity Award voting results had switched to a non-public format showing only total votes.
‘Still, you usually have some sense of it.’
The Popularity Award often goes to the same artist who wins Album of the Year.
We’re in an era where streaming services dominate. An artist people still buy physical albums for? That means the artist themselves is popular, not just one song.
Yet this award—won through 100% voting without any organizer intervention under the guise of “expert judgment”—went to Testa, not VTIC.
‘Even accounting for fewer VTIC fans participating…’
I knew that VTIC fans, assuming they wouldn’t attend this ceremony, hadn’t been particularly enthusiastic about voting right up until the final moments.
Even considering that, this was a surprising result.
‘There should have been a late surge after the attendance article came out.’
In other words, this means we’ve reached a state where we can ‘actually compete,’ doesn’t it?
A strange exhilaration brushed past my back for just a moment.
‘Stay composed.’
Regardless, my body moved reflexively independent of that fleeting thought, rising from my seat and bowing repeatedly.
The others were doing the same.
“Wow….”
“Whoa!”
Some stood with bewildered expressions, others rushed out excitedly—a varied response, but none of us had genuinely expected this. It made sense.
‘The organizers hadn’t said anything about it.’
They probably wanted to capture genuine surprise on camera. Cunning bastards.
We creaked our way up onto the Stage, accompanied by cameras eagerly capturing close-ups.
“Th-thank you so much…!”
“Thank you!”
But as we waved to the cheering fans, our formation naturally scattered, and the handheld microphone the staff offered went to the wrong person instead of the leader.
Kim Rae-bin.
“Uh… well.”
He was flustered. Spontaneous remarks really were too much of a burden for him.
‘But now that he’s started, he has to say something.’
At least say ‘thank you, we love you.’
“Thank you.”
That’s right.
But once Kim Rae-bin got going, he seemed to gain momentum. He continued holding the microphone and rattled off a lengthy speech.
“While preparing the album, there were frequent concerns about whether we could achieve commercial success with the public, but as a result of receiving votes from so many people and winning this award, it feels like we’ve confirmed that the group’s choice wasn’t wrong.”
Please, end the sentence.
Still, this much was passable, if verbose.
If only it had ended here.
“And the adventurous choice of a solo track… ugh-ughhhh, I’m sorry!”
But Kim Rae-bin finally spotted the staff’s signal from the front and, startled, respectfully handed his microphone over to me.
“…??”
Why me? The leader’s right here.
Laughter erupted from the audience. Kim Rae-bin’s face reddened as he politely stepped back.
‘Maybe it’s for the best.’
More than half the audience filling the ground were VTIC fans, and their mood had loosened up a bit.
Seeing rookies who hadn’t even been around two years win and look flustered seemed to allow them the mental victory of ‘I’ll let it slide this time.’
I naturally tried to pass the microphone to Ryu Chung-woo, but he smiled and gestured for me to do it.
Since he’d already given the main award remarks, he was probably being considerate.
‘It’s fine either way.’
I took the microphone despite my reluctance.
“Rae-bin is really smart. I agree with everything he said.”
After a small wave of laughter, I calmly continued.
“Even amid our busy schedules, I’m grateful to everyone who took the time to vote for us. We’ll return with an album that’s even more worthy of your votes.”
“Thank you so much!”
“We love Reviewer! I really like you guys!”
With Cha Yu-jin’s thumbs-up gesture, the awards presentation concluded.
Though cameras were present even during the brief backstage passage, we couldn’t have any substantive conversation yet, but everyone seemed to sense it.
That Testa had now solidly entered the first division, no longer merely guarding the gates.
‘Motivation confirmed.’
I even wondered if by next year, the company might foolishly dream of establishing a proper rivalry with VTIC.
But moments later.
Watching VTIC’s comeback stage, I realized the company had abandoned even those modest dreams.
Aaaaaahhhhh!!
The roar from the audience was deafening. And rightfully so.
‘They’re damn good.’
Despite being reduced to four members, they’d positioned dancers strategically to fill every gap. And the song itself was flawless.
‘This is what happens when a company does its job right.’
They’d swiftly cut the irredeemable one and meticulously managed the rest throughout the entire hiatus without a single scandal.
Not even Chung-ryeo’s injury had ever surfaced publicly. From this single response alone, I could feel the company’s experience, capability, and vision all at once.
As a result, against a carefully cultivated public sentiment, VTIC would clearly escape their decline crisis with this one perfect stage.
In short, it was a stark contrast to a certain other agency.
‘Yeah, I want to quit.’
As I was reciting every office worker’s dream, VTIC’s lengthy stage wrapped up and the Grand Prize was announced.
Well, predictable.
[The Grand Prize goes to… VTIC’s “Insight”!]
If I didn’t want to create an attitude controversy, I’d better get up and applaud.
[Thank you so much! We… *sniffles*, we’ll do even better.]
They seemed to have suffered emotionally—the stage was a sea of tears. Sniffling echoed not just through their acceptance speech but from the audience as well.
‘Hmm.’
But Chung-ryeo’s face was composed.
He habitually made gestures to comfort the others a few times, then finally took the microphone last.
And he began his remarks in an oddly feminine tone.
[I’m not sure what to say.]
Is this guy insane?

—————

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

—————