Debut or Die - Chapter 195

—————

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 195
“…?”
“…??”
When he uttered something like “I’m not really sure” during the grand prize acceptance speech that was supposed to be today’s finale, the concert hall froze over in an awkward silence.
It wasn’t even a slip of the tongue born from overwhelming emotion and bewilderment—just a soft, puzzled tone.
‘Please tell me he’s not about to say something ridiculous.’
My spine went cold. Of course, he’d know that if he so much as mentioned Park Moon-dae, the recording of VTIC Chung-ryeo’s attempted murder would blow up as a headline.
Most of the audience watching the stage were probably rolling their eyes at this awkward timing.
Chung-ryeo continued speaking.
[I really am not sure. There was a time when I wanted this moment so desperately that I couldn’t sleep, when I wept and endured nights I thought I couldn’t bear.]
While the members beside him remained frozen, Chung-ryeo’s measured voice pressed on.
[And then time passed, time that seemed like it would never come, and somehow I’ve arrived here.]
Chung-ryeo tilted his head to the side.
[I still don’t quite understand what kind of revelation that desperation gave me. But now, there’s a different emotion that remains.]
The audience held its breath. Chung-ryeo smiled.
[Thank you. For not letting me give up.]
The acceptance speech ended there.
Only then did people realize it had been a reasonably heartwarming and moving conclusion, and proper applause began to fill the hall.
The fans had been responding enthusiastically from the start.
They seemed to think the acceptance speech had come from the recent scandal involving all the members that had dominated the news.
Though in reality, it probably stemmed from different experiences altogether.
“….”
I quietly took my seat along with everyone else.
On stage, the VTIC members were wiping away tears and awkwardly patting Chung-ryeo on the back—something they clearly didn’t usually do.
Still, as the grand prize album’s title track played, VTIC remained on stage until the song ended.
And only after the camera lights went out did they slowly descend from the stage.
“Hmm.”
It looked like they’d bowed in my direction just now, but the distance was too great to be sure.
Not that it mattered.
In any case, the awards ceremony concluded amid the cheers.
“I want to win the grand prize!”
That was Cha Yu-jin’s somewhat sulky mutter the moment we got in the car after leaving.
It seemed he was annoyed that VTIC had snatched the grand prize right after we’d come down with the popularity award.
“Why~ we got one too. ToneA’s Artist of the Year!”
“That’s not real! We just got broadcast time!”
Big Sae-jin remained unperturbed despite the surprisingly sharp remark.
“Ah, but we still got it~”
“No. We should win it fair and square.”
Well, now it was time for Kim Rae-bin to chime in.
“Fair and square, then.”
I knew it would come to this.
“Same thing.”
“It’s not!”
“It is!”
At least there was no one around to witness this. I picked up my smartphone, ignoring the two of them as they devolved into a pointless argument, the original topic already forgotten.
It wasn’t the first time—they’d quiet down on their own eventually without me stepping in.
“A-are you checking our comments?”
“Among other things.”
I’d intended to do some routine monitoring, but there were more pressing matters to sort through first.
[You have 34 new messages]
Text messages and notifications were piling up on my screen.
Congratulatory messages, most likely. Since Testa had unexpectedly won the Popularity Award, the articles were probably making quite a splash.
‘Nothing urgent.’
They were just perfunctory messages from people I barely knew, sent out of courtesy after exchanging numbers. I scrolled through the texts and messages with indifference.
And then, among the congratulatory messages, I spotted one that stood out.
[I brought him over]
The message contained only those five words with no further explanation, accompanied by a photo of a scruffy-looking dog.
The creature sprawled in the corner of a sofa, sleeping, appeared to be some kind of retriever mix.
“….”
Well, that settles it.
I didn’t delete the message—just moved past it.
Just as I was about to resume monitoring, a voice loud enough to rupture eardrums came from behind me.
“Moon-dae! Don’t you think Cha Yu-jin’s remarks about the award were reckless and foolish?”
“We need to have dreams! Kim Rae-bin is petty!”
Did they even know what that word meant?
In any case, they’d circled back to arguing about the award.
‘Where’s the leader?’
Ryu Chung-woo was busy discussing the next schedule with the Manager.
There was nothing I could do.
I nodded and opened my mouth.
“Winning an award is great.”
“Right!”
“But maybe don’t talk about winning next year’s award so often.”
“Why?”
I let out a soft laugh.
“If you keep saying it, you might lose that sense of awe when you actually win it, don’t you think?”
“…!”
Big Sae-jin chuckled behind the stunned faces of the two.
“Look at Moon-dae’s confidence.”
“That’s cool.”
“Thank you for offering such a fresh perspective.”
“Don’t mention it.”
If Testa maintains this momentum, there’s a genuine chance they could win the Grand Prize within a year.
‘Those VTIC bastards will have to enlist eventually too.’
Of course, whether I’ll still be living as Park Moon-dae by then is another question entirely.
But I’ve decided to assume that I will be.
“Hey, that’s right, Moon-dae. Let’s work hard and win the Grand Prize together…!”
“Yeah.”
“The Grand Prize!!”
Cha Yu-jin started humming the song excitedly, substituting “Grand Prize” for the original lyric. Bae Sae-jin plugged his ears with earbuds and retreated to the corner. Poor guy.
‘He’s going to be in a good mood about this for a while.’
Well, it’s not just because of the Grand Prize.
“Finally heading home on Grand Prize day~”
The next reality show filming location was my house in San Diego, the very place Cha Yu-jin had been singing about.
Just thinking about baking hundreds of hotteok again in two weeks already had me excited—or maybe it was muscle soreness setting in prematurely.
As expected, the food business was grueling labor.
‘Well, my arm’s completely healed now.’
I examined my wrist, where the bruising had nearly faded.
The medical checkups no longer flagged any concerns.
Which meant that by then… I should be able to resume my solo performance.
‘That’s good.’
I was already looking forward to the Seoul encore concert.
Of course, I’d need to finish the Japan tour scheduled for January first.

* * *
Testa’s Japan Concert Tour proceeded at arena scale.
It was the size right before the dome tour, commonly seen as the symbol of mega-sized artists—an ambitious booking made before Ajusa aired in Japan.
For reference, Park Moon-dae had expressed bitterness about how remaining tickets seemed destined to be dumped at discount prices.
But once Ajusa actually aired, it turned out to be a very accurate demand forecast.
[Testa’s First Japan Arena Tour: 4 Cities, 8 Performances, All Sold Out]
The concert reservations, conducted through lottery format, showed quite impressive competition rates in each city.
And the performances that followed didn’t disappoint those who succeeded in securing tickets despite that fierce competition.
-They all opened with smiling faces, so cool and adorable!
-An idol otaku screaming at my favorite’s solo stage is here (laughs)
-The moment the encore came, I realized this magical moment was ending too, and I just couldn’t hold back the tears… I’m still crying ･ﾟ･(ﾉД｀)･ﾟ･
-Not even 1mm of composure lost despite the flowing sweat, so they’re not human, right? Definitely an angel descended to earth
‘But where are the photos…!’
Bang. Kim Rae-bin’s individual fan slammed the keyboard with their fist.
If one or two fancams appeared per stage, that was lucky; often there were complete blackouts of individual cuts.
‘Why are there so few detailed stage reviews either!’
The individual fan lamented their hatred of the Japan tour. With such strict controls, it was no different from having no schedule—pure empty bait.
Still, Testa was relatively decent about it.
========================
Dear Reviewer, I’m here~
(bear emoticon)
Today’s punishment outfit~ Still cute though, right? I know! (smug emoticon)
(photo)
========================
During the tour, members took turns consistently posting the day’s schedule and performance reviews on SNS.
‘That Big Bird always seems to pick only the photos where he looks good.’
Kim Rae-bin’s individual fan grumbled for no particular reason, yet carefully saved the photos of Kim Rae-bin and Park Moon-dae that Big Sae-jin had posted.
“So cute….”
Testa’s impromptu stage punishment outfit this time was a kindergarten uniform.
Scraping together mentions from Japanese fans’ reviews line by line, apparently they performed a nursery rhyme arrangement of “It’s Me,” the theme song for Ajusa Season 3.
‘Damn it…!’
Last week in Yokohama or wherever, they even performed some famous idol rhythm game unit song, but it ended with just one blurry photo, and my stomach hurt.
The individual fan buried their head on the desk.
Thud!
‘Please come back to South Korea…!’
Fortunately, thanks to the overwhelmingly impressive awards ceremony stage and the cute congratulatory W Live from recently, domestic fan sentiment was still okay.
But there was a subtle anxiety that they might lose all this year’s new influx to VTIC.
Since the awards ceremony comeback stage, they continued to advance triumphantly, maintaining first-place records.
‘That guy showed his teeth well.’
The individual fan’s eyebrows twitched as they recalled how Chung-ryeo’s awards ceremony remarks had sparked massive backlash while encouraging fan hardcore loyalty.
I also remembered having had quite the exchange with some VTIC fans who kept making snide comments online.
I think we feel sorry toward our juniors because our generation won’t step down, so that’s why we treat them so well…
-A skilled team continuing to lead this scene is inevitable since it’s about ability! That’s why we’ll probably see them at the top for a long time. Love you
└This was the statement of VTIC members who were scared of juniors rising according to their abilities and getting beaten.
Even after securing the last comment at the time, Kim Rae-bin’s fan was still seething.
‘You guys, hurry up and release something in Korea already!’
That was when it happened.
Ding.
“Huh?”
A YouTube notification popped up on my smartphone.
[(Preview) Selling hotteok instead of lemonade at the youngest’s place (Determined) | Testa’s Idol Walking Holiday Season 2]
“Insane!!”
At the massively popular bait I’d been waiting for, the fan threw their Bluetooth keyboard in the air in celebration.

* * *
The morning right after completely finishing the Japan arena tour.
After sleeping soundly on the plane and waking up, I’d arrived at Cha Yu-jin’s neighborhood, just as expected.
I’d even brought some gifts along the way to his place, but a few unexpected things happened there.
Mainly due to language issues.
An elderly man came rushing out of Cha Yu-jin’s house, threw his arms wide open, and shouted like this.
“Welcome, dear!!”
And Cha Yu-jin answered like this.
“Grandma, I’m here!”
“…??”
It wasn’t English…
‘Spanish?’
Naturally, it was a language none of us in the team had ever spoken before.
Cha Yu-jin ran out from among us, who had frozen at the unexpected language barrier, and embraced the elderly man.
It must be his grandmother.
Ryu Chung-woo hurriedly grabbed Cha Yu-jin.
“Y-Yu-jin? Is she your grandmother?”
“Yes! Oh, she speaks English! My grandmother speaks English well!”
What surprised me was his nonchalance in not even mentioning that he spoke Spanish.
In any case, after conducting an awkward introduction in English along with a welcome greeting and gift exchange, we began the actual reality filming in earnest.
First, of course, was the scene asking Cha Yu-jin’s family to taste the hotteok.
“Where are your parents?”
“They’re working right now!”
For that reason, a solo shot of the grandmother was included instead of the others who hadn’t gotten off work yet.
And the grandmother cleaned her plate completely.
“Seems like it suits her taste.”
“That’s a relief.”
Six grown men crowded around the kitchen to make a single hotteok, murmuring amongst themselves, when Cha Yu-jin, who had just been chatting with the grandmother, relayed her message.
[It tastes good, but she said it could be a bit sweeter! Since it’s a snack and all!]
“Got it.”
I nodded in agreement.
From what I’d seen at breakfast earlier, it seemed this place generally preferred things sweeter than they do in South Korea.
“Then let’s add dalgona on top.”
“Huh?”
“What?”
And moments later, we’d settled on selling what could only be described as an insane snack—dalgona ice cream hotteok.

—————

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

—————