Debut or Die - Chapter 20

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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 20
Inside each of the two Gold Balls I’d obtained through the treasure hunt was a slip of paper.
[Guitar]
[Flower Crown]
“…Ah.”
This is hopeless.
Guitar? I can’t play it.
Flower Crown? With an A-rank Appearance stat, I could probably manage it through content.
No, even if I poured all my current points into Appearance, the Flower Crown still wouldn’t be a good choice.
It had nothing to do with Familiarity, after all.
Both items were objectively high-rank, but for me, they were landmines.
‘I’m going insane.’
I needed to trade with the slip that Big Sae-jin or Gold 1 didn’t pick. If that didn’t work, I’d try another participant.
The moment I turned my body, participants came pouring into the Assembly Point.
-20 seconds remaining~
“Aahhh!!”
“Hey, wait! Just wait!”
They seemed to have rushed frantically to the Assembly Point after hearing the announcement, desperate not to lose their balls.
Could I even manage a trade request through that chaos?
Just as I was feeling skeptical, a familiar face caught my eye.
It was Sun Ah-hyun, his face drained of all color.
A brown ball hung from his hand.
With his personality, it was almost miraculous that he’d managed to get even a Bronze Ball.
But judging by his expression, the draw had gone poorly.
Then, the slip of paper inside the already-opened Bronze Ball caught my eye.
[Frozen Food]
Jackpot.
I quickly pushed through the crowd and approached Sun Ah-hyun.
-5 seconds remaining!
Sun Ah-hyun looked flustered.
-5!
“I, I….”
“Can you play guitar?”
-4!
“W, well, I c, can play….”
“Do you like flowers?”
-3!
“Y, y, yes.”
“Then want to trade?”
-2!
“Huh, huh?”
I decided to accept it positively.
-1!
I handed over the two Gold Balls in my hands and swiftly grabbed the Bronze Ball.
-Ding! Treasure hunt is now closed!
Sun Ah-hyun looked bewildered.
Amid the cheers and gasps erupting from those around us, I gazed contentedly at the Bronze Ball I held.
An excellent trade.
I’d exchanged one Bronze Ball for two Gold Balls—surely no one would criticize that.

* * *
Thursday, 7:50 PM, just before the PR live broadcast of Idol Stock Company began.
The Internet’s related communities and SNS were ablaze with excitement, opinions clashing in every direction.
-Are they putting on a waste like live broadcasting with 77 people at the same time again this season? Haha I couldn’t come to my senses even after it was ruined. Ugh.
-These crazy people are doing blatant advertising when the PPL is already bad? Truly tasteless
-★☆Kim Rae-bin☆★ is doing a live broadcast with that face, no need to say anything, it’s god-tier content right? (photo)
-Our Yu-jin could advertise a massage chair and we’d buy it right away.
-These marketing tactics are so annoying, seriously
└It says all proceeds from video link purchases go to charity?
Anyway, Bapsuni believes anything lolol. Yeah, next loser~
I really hope the event went well without any of the participants getting hurt.
That’s literally the funniest part though lol what are you talking about
It was a chaotic cauldron where all manner of human nature expressed itself, but one thing was certain.
The mention volume for the participants had skyrocketed several times over.
Those who’d watched Episode 1 and developed genuine affection for the participants themselves were genuinely waiting with anticipation for the content.
And at exactly 8 PM.
The “Live Broadcast” indicator appeared on the YouTube channel.
-It’s up.
-Oh
-Going in
-I’m working overtime so I can’t watch, someone update me on viewer count, who’s in first?
└Cha Yoo Jin-im Wow, he is a thousand times different from the last place haha. I feel sorry for the 7 last place people.
– Won-gil has apologized ㅠㅠEveryone, please come see it.
-Crazy Sun Ah-hyun is wearing a flower crown but that crazy face
Soon promotional posts about all the participants began flooding in. Comments expressing only their own opinions overflowed, drowning out the malicious remarks.
That’s when it happened.
-Wait, who’s filming a mukbang?
└? What are you talking about
└No, they’re eating pretty seriously
└What are you saying, in the self-introduction video?
└No, seriously;; (link)
A few intrigued viewers clicked the link and entered.
“Hello.”
Park Moon-dae’s face appeared on the screen.
Holding chicken feet in his hand.
The participants couldn’t see the live comments, but Park Moon-dae’s live chat was already exploding.
-Wait, Moon-dae, why are you holding chicken feet?
– Hahahahahaha Mundae again
-After popcorn, boneless chicken feet has made its appearance
-Wasn’t this supposed to be a self-introduction video? Sudden chicken feet, is this real?
Why on earth did you pick this? Is it a punishment or something? lol
I really want to communicate with you, I have so many things I want to ask you lol
In stark contrast to the comment section, Park Moon-dae continued speaking without making a fuss over the chicken feet in his hand.
“Well, the product I’m promoting today is… boneless chargrilled chicken feet from T1 Food.”
Park Moon-dae was seated at a dining table with a full griddle setup.
The boneless chicken feet held in his disposable-gloved hand looked appetizing, but created a jarring contrast compared to the video thumbnails of the other participants.
“First… I’ll eat and review it.”
Park Moon-dae cheerfully popped a piece of chicken foot into his mouth in one go. He chewed diligently, then swallowed and spoke again.
“The charred flavor is excellent, and it’s not too spicy so you can keep eating. There’s no gamey taste, so the aftertaste is clean. The texture is crispy and satisfying.”
-Is this guy a mukbang YouTuber or something?
-Tell me about you! You can just briefly talk about what to eat, Mundae-ya.
-Give up, we should’ve noticed when he was so dedicated to the popcorn
Haha, that’s actually hilarious.
-Our Moon-dae may lack social skills, but he’s a good kid
The comments erupted at Park Moon-dae’s sincere approach to the review. But the atmosphere shifted again not long after.
Park Moon-dae’s mukbang was more entertaining than expected.
-But he really eats well
-He doesn’t spill and pops pieces in his mouth so smoothly
-It’s cute because it crinkles when it chews.
-He’d score points even if he just kept his mouth shut and ate at a formal family meeting
-It would be nice if you wrap the chicken feet in perilla leaves and eat them, Mundaeya.
Lol I need to go on a mission so bad
-He eats so cleanly without getting his mouth dirty, so cute
-There’s something satisfying about watching someone eat well
And Park Moon-dae continued his review enthusiastically.
He even pulled out a tuna mayo triangle kimbap, saying it pairs well with the chicken feet, causing the comment section to flip once more.
By then, posts had already been uploaded to SNS and online communities.
[Ajusa participant doing a live mukbang.jpg]
[Wow Park Moon-dae eating chicken feet]
[I thought he was the main vocalist, but he’s a mukbang star on YouTube?]
[Park Moon-dae’s PR video is insane lolol]
The viewer count swelled in an instant.
Park Moon-dae’s viewer count, which had already been respectable, was now breaking into the top five.
The participants couldn’t see the comments, but they could see the viewer count. Park Moon-dae blinked as he watched his numbers surpass ten thousand.
“There are… quite a lot of viewers. Thank you. I’ll do my best.”
-Mundae, that’s not it. Now tell your storyㅠㅠ
-why though it’s nice to watch him eat
-is this a new mukbang streamer? eating well
-he’s an idol audition participant!
-he’s a participant who sings well lolol
-but why is he eating?
-i don’t get it lolol
-we don’t get it either lololol
-i never dreamed he’d stubbornly just eat without singing even a single verse
Park Moon-dae was in the middle of giving a detailed review of the triangular kimbap’s flavor.
Then, an alarm sounded from the clock in the corner of Park Moon-dae’s desk.
“Ah, time’s up.”
PR video livestreams were given a standard ten minutes.
Then, based on viewer count and likes converted to numerical scores, only the top thirty-three received an additional five minutes and a special gift.
Park Moon-dae thought, ‘These bastards are shameless, making us do ads too,’ but of course he didn’t show it and just nodded respectfully.
“It might be the end, so I’ll say goodbye in advance. Thank you.”
Park Moon-dae bowed his head respectfully. Then, after pausing as if thinking for a moment, he added something.
“…Please watch 【Idol Stock Company】 Episode 2.”
-bet a thousand won this is the sample text the production team gave him
-this guy really can’t lie lololol
-it’s fine moon-dae you’re cute anyway
-yeah cute
-sings well and eats well too my grandson makes grandma happy
-lololol everyone’s charmed real funny lololol
About ten seconds after Park Moon-dae’s farewell, a notification sound suddenly came from the screen.
“Ah, the results must be out.”
Park Moon-dae pulled out a chunky smartphone from under his desk. It seemed he’d received the results via text from the production team.
But the comments, already knowing that Park Moon-dae had easily made the top thirty-three, were focusing on something else.
-that’s a flip phone
-thrifty
-frugal
-it seems like you’re treated as uncivilized if you don’t use an apple phone… but somehow it’s charming?
lololololol are you all crazy
– Moon Dae-ya, my sister will buy you an apple phone. Let’s debut at our Moon University.
Park Moon-dae had simply chosen a free phone to maintain a minimal lifestyle within his budget, but an unexpected synergy was emerging.
In any case, Park Moon-dae had already sensed his high ranking, so the results were announced without tension.
“Ah, I’ve made it into the top 33, so I’ll be able to continue broadcasting. I look forward to the next five minutes as well. I’ll do my best to keep things moving.”
Park Moon-dae bowed his head respectfully, then immediately picked up the chicken feet again. And with another hearty laugh, he popped a piece into his mouth.
Are you asking me to do a mukbang for you? Haha
I find people being serious the funniest thing lol
– No, you should have introduced yourself during the extra time haha.
Ugh, Moon-dae, forget that stuff and spill the tea! Tell me your favorite color, whether you’re a cat person or dog person, or at least tell me your MBTI, pleeeease!
The speed at which comments were flooding in had become absurdly fast. Even if Park Moon-dae had been watching, he couldn’t have read them all.
Then Park Moon-dae’s smartphone rang again. This time it was the Production Team.
‘What now? Ah, maybe it’s about a special gift or something.’
“The Production Team has sent down another announcement. One moment….”
Park Moon-dae checked the message. It was quite lengthy.
[Special Gift for Participants! Direct interaction with viewers!
Viewer donations are now available! Participants can see donation popups for amounts of 【10,000 won】 or more.
Please inform the viewers.^^ (※All donation amounts will be donated in full—must be announced!)]
The stipulation that all donation amounts would be donated in full was meant to prevent any potential controversy.
But considering that the participants would receive the donations while the program would handle the charity in its own name, it was frankly a petty move.
‘I knew they’d pull something like this without spending their own money.’
Park Moon-dae thought this with indifference, yet obediently read the message aloud as written.
-Donations??
-They probably set it at 10,000 won to block trolls
-What donations? Just give it to the participant—they’re just trying to save face anyway;;
-If they give it to the participant, they’ll just curse him for being vulgar anyway. All talk, no action;;
-If we send Moon-dae chicken money, will he do a chicken mukbang?
-This is amateur hour at a hole-in-the-wall shop
Most comments were cursing the Production Team, but that didn’t mean there were no donations.
Immediately, the first fanfare burst across the screen. A donation notification.
-Crazy fast
-Is it chicken money?
– Haha, someone ask me quickly, why are they chicken feet?
“Ah, 123. Thank you….”
Park Moon-dae fought off a wave of harsh reality and read the donation message appearing on screen.

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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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