Debut or Die - Chapter 201

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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 201
The day of Testa’s Seoul encore concert.
The Graduate Student who had entered Gocheok Sky Dome wore a faint smile.
‘I finally… my first concert…!’
Because the encore concert started on Saturday, I had barely managed to make it in time.
At last, it was time to enjoy the concert without spoilers!
Standing at a crossroads between pursuing a doctorate or finding employment with a master’s degree, the Graduate Student had only one concern today.
‘Park Moon-dae will look amazing from here, right? This is the best seat, isn’t it?’
Indeed, the Graduate Student had successfully secured a seat in the protruding front section—an absolutely incredible spot.
It was the very same area that had caused controversy when Ajusa Season 4 occupied it at the last concert.
Her friend, who was taking photos of Park Moon-dae, congratulated her while tears streamed down her face in envy.
-I just entered and my heart feels like it’s going to burst out of my mouthㅠㅠㅠ
The Graduate Student replied to her friend’s message from a few minutes ago and took her seat.
Her heart truly felt like it was about to burst!
Encore concerts typically had similar setlists and venues, so the estimate was already clear.
‘I’ll definitely see at least four songs from the protruding stage!’
With the anticipation of being able to watch Park Moon-dae’s performance right before her eyes, she gripped her light stick and waited for the concert to begin.
And shortly after.
“Ahhhhhhh!!”
“Ohhhhh!!”
Among the crowd whose adrenaline had exploded from the relentless performance, the Graduate Student was also cheering.
‘Oh, this is so good!!’
Watching a concert from such a perfectly centered, excellent vantage point was almost an artistic experience.
“Park Moon-dae!! Moon-dae!!”
Park Moon-dae’s solo stage that had just ended was the perfect example.
Removing the chair used during the tour and performing once more suspended in mid-air with his bare body, this stage felt far more intentional when viewed from the center.
The chaotic dance of vivid fabrics swirling like an emotional vortex.
Beneath the lights at center stage, ephemeral affection floating through the air beyond the falling cloth.
The Graduate Student quietly nodded and murmured her admiration.
‘Park Moon-dae is… a genius.’
And the reason all that emotion came through so vividly wasn’t solely because of the excellent seat.
‘Moon-dae performed so well.’
An even colder intensity than last time.
The acoustics should have been the same since it was the same venue, yet his voice carried an emotional resonance that touched something within, feeling somehow more raw and vivid than before.
Had the Graduate Student accessed social media, she would have seen these impressions from people watching the live stream.
-Was lying in bed and started clapping
-Yo, I’m not accepting low quality excuses anymore lol Park Moon-dae sounds incredible even like this lol
-Is it just me or does Park Moon-dae sound better than the original recording right now?
-Please release the encore concert on Deep Dive
As the level of immersion changed, the quality of emotional expression on stage transformed as well.
It was a definitive effect of ‘Indulgence Time (S)’—even more pronounced than Park Moon-dae had anticipated.
And Park Moon-dae himself, having just disengaged the stage equipment backstage, could feel it too.
“…Phew.”
My hands were trembling.
Not from pain or cramps, but from the lingering resonance of the performance.
The emptiness and exhilaration of being pulled up from drowning in emotion—it was overwhelming.
‘Still… it was a better choice than I expected.’
After all, I had been satisfied with the stage itself just now.
Immersion without a conscious transition elevated a person far more intensely.
Especially when performing alone a song with such an eerily desolate sensibility.
‘Stronger than usual.’
Park Moon-dae drank an ion beverage to regain his composure, steadying his mind.
“M-Moon-dae! Is there anywhere your body feels uncomfortable…?”
“No, I’m fine.”
“Oh, I see. That’s a relief…. B-but if anything feels off, you have to tell me!”
“I will.”
“Y-yes! …Oh! Your ‘Twilight Moon’ just now was incredible…!”
“Thanks. You were great too.”
As I listened to Sun Ah-hyun, now changed into fresh clothes, voice his concerns under the guise of conversation during the intermission, time was drawing near.
‘Group number next, then the impromptu stage, a longer VCR….’
“Seven minutes remaining!”
‘Unit performance right before the encore.’
Park Moon-dae reflected that time passes far faster than expected during a concert.
So I needed to stay even sharper.
‘Do this right.’
With my resolve set, I moved down the corridor to wait below the stage once more.
And as Ryu Chung-woo’s final solo performance reached its chorus, I stepped out and began immersing myself in the stage again.
Waaaaaaah!!
In truth, it would have been difficult not to immerse myself in such an environment.

* * *
Now that a respectable number of title track stages had passed, and the cute impromptu performances had come and gone, the audience was thoroughly reveling in their first offline experience in ages.
Yet everyone understood.
Based on their previous experience—which they’d even reviewed through VOD—the concert was now unmistakably in its final act.
Which meant that the ‘unit stage’ featuring Testa’s massive hit, complete with promotional buildup from their reality show, would be coming soon.
‘The setlist hasn’t changed much!’
‘The unit stage really does seem to have gotten some serious effort put into it….’
Particularly when the VCR that overlapped with the previous concert appeared, even amid the excitement, their minds whirred with calculations as if taking a breather.
And without disappointing those expectations, the unit stage arrived at the perfect moment.
[Falling— Like a falling autumn star, I fall, fall, Fallen to you.]
First came Sun Ah-hyun and Ryu Chung-woo.
The audience found the pairing refreshing, having rarely seen them together before.
The two cleanly performed the debut song of T-Holic, a famous male idol senior group.
‘Oh~ that was great!’
Such was the assessment of the Graduate Student, a Park Moon-dae fan.
Next came the stage of Bae Sae-jin, Lee Sae-jin, and Kim Rae-bin.
[I’m targeting you, my Target, I won’t miss, my enemy.]
They brought a female idol song with the intense concept of a hitman and distributed the parts appropriately.
‘That was cool!’
As expected, the Graduate Student—who possessed ordinary sensibilities aside from Park Moon-dae—offered appropriate praise.
Both unit stages were far grander in scale and more concert-like than during the first concert.
As a result, she naturally leaned forward with anticipation.
‘So Moon-dae is the one left…!’
Given how excellent the two preceding stages had been, she was brimming with curiosity about what kind of performance Park Moon-dae and Cha Yu-jin, who were handling the finale, had prepared.
‘Everyone was expecting it on social media too!’
If one dug a little deeper into the underground discussions, there were plenty of opinions worrying with the intensity of nail-biting, but the Graduate Student wasn’t quite that intimate with the Internet yet.
So she simply approached the final unit stage with 100% anticipation.
[….]
As the previous stage ended and a short video played on the large screen, the stage darkened.
Dong—
The chime of a grandfather clock rang out, and suddenly the lights blazed back to life.
On the black and white stage stood the silhouette of a tall man, positioned with eight dancers in a sharp choreographic formation.
It was Cha Yu-jin.
‘Where’s Moon-dae…?’
Before the Graduate Student’s thought could even form into a complete sentence, the music crashed in.
It was a pop song melody she’d heard somewhere before.
Boom-boom-boom-boom!
-Listen!
No matter how hard
I think about it,
I can not hold it
Cha Yu-jin began his movements, leading the dancers over a brisk and sharp electric swing sound.
Among all those people, he alone wore a black shirt with a harness and jewelry chains fitted perfectly—unmistakably the image of a solo artist.
-Why Why~
are you not a monster?
Cha Yu-jin was dazzling.
The sparkling lights, the lively vocals, and the glitter effects bursting in the background—all woven into the choreography—were breathtaking.
Cha Yu-jin was savoring the stage as if possessed by divine inspiration.
-Umm Umm Umm~
Screams of excitement never ceased.
It wasn’t until he stepped away from center stage and strode boldly to the left that the Graduate Student finally came to her senses.
‘Wait, so where’s Park Moon-dae??’
But Cha Yu-jin mercilessly launched into the chorus.
Thanks to the hook-song structure, it was an iconic part repeated four times in rapid succession.
-Monster, monster
you got me so
I grabbed you
bebe, babe
Cha Yu-jin executed the intricate choreography among the dancers with singular lightness and suppleness.
It was as if he drew all eyes toward himself.
-bebe, babe!
After a sharp, snapping movement, Cha Yu-jin drew his index finger across his lips and smiled.
“Wow….”
Even Park Moon-dae’s fans reflexively gasped in admiration.
But at that very moment, the finale of the first chorus was so impressive.
Suddenly, the accompaniment changed.
Uuuung-!
‘Huh?’
The refined arrangement using cutting-edge electronic instruments vanished as if swallowed.
And in its place, a fierce band orchestra crashed in.
“…?!”
“…??”
Before the audience could even voice their confusion.
The backdrop opened with a brilliant flash of light at center stage.
“…!!”
And a massive blue carpet structure emerged, topped with a golden throne-like chair.
Reclining upon that majestic chair was Park Moon-dae—wearing a school uniform with a prominent knit sweater and glasses.
‘What is this??’
Park Moon-dae began singing with a naturally troubled expression on his face.
-Yeah,
Just thinking about it
I can’t bear
any longer
It was a pop song adapted into Korean lyrics.
Park Moon-dae pulled the song forward with a clear, distinct voice. Somehow it sounded slightly more exaggerated than usual, more emotional….
‘Wait, hold on.’
The Graduate Student, who had almost been swept away, realized that Park Moon-dae’s arrangement also sounded quite familiar.
This wasn’t simply an adaptation.
‘…This is a musical!’
That’s right.
This pop song, ‘Monster Baby’, was also one of the famous numbers from a certain musical created by collecting songs from that artist.
-You don’t even
seem human!
Park Moon-dae, dressed in a neat school uniform, lounged casually in a chair and continued singing.
He was performing the song sung by a modern student character who had been stranded in a bizarre seventeenth-century castle and lost his mind.
And that wasn’t the end of it.
Ooh, ooh, oooh~
Around Park Moon-dae, In-young appeared in loud period costumes, and began dancing while adding chorus parts.
To anyone’s eyes, it was clearly a musical ensemble.
Thanks to that, whether the audience knew the background or not, they could roughly guess.
That a musical scene was being recreated.
‘Wow.’
It was a stage showing the same song in completely opposite forms all at once, but the sheer impact was so tremendous that the audience forgot their bewilderment and was drawn in.
-Monster, monster
Seize me
Pull me in
Yes, like that!
As Park Moon-dae performed choreography atop a massive golden chair, the structure itself moved this way and that in the ensemble’s hands, matching the lyrics and story.
-Just like that, always like that!
Amid colorful lighting and feathers, dazzling period drama elements that made one’s mind spin, Park Moon-dae’s vocals cut through the Concert Hall.
It was the explosive, dramatic flavor of a musical.
“Waaah!”
The audience reflexively applauded again. The quality was so stunning it gave them chills.
However, there was nothing to call a unit stage.
‘It’s practically… just a solo stage showdown?’
‘This isn’t a unit.’
Just as several people were about to predict that once they escaped the concert’s high, such talk would emerge naturally.
Zzzing!
The interlude trembled, and from the darkened lighting on the left side of the stage, In-young dressed in a refined black-and-white suit surged into the center stage.
“Huh?”
It was Cha Yu-jin and the dancers.
And they shoved Park Moon-dae and the ensemble members—who had been singing atop the chairs and carpet structures—clean to the right!
“…??”
The musical set tumbled aside like dominoes falling….
And then.
Boom-boom-boom—boom-boom!
As the synthesizer and brass surged back in, Cha Yu-jin and the dancers pulled out staffs.
The staffs connected and disconnected with each movement, amplifying the intensity and brilliance of the choreography.
“Wow.”
The moment luminescent light flickered from the staffs, countless glowing drones descended from above, accentuating Cha Yu-jin’s movements.
It was a glow-in-the-dark drone performance.
Cha Yu-jin grinned crookedly, handling the drones with casual grace as though they were alive.
-bebe, babe!
Just as the chorus concluded grandly once more.
This time, Park Moon-dae surged toward center stage without a moment’s hesitation.
Standing atop the golden chair with arms crossed, Park Moon-dae refused to yield—mounting an enormous chandelier onto the structure with a resounding thud.
And like a declaration of war, he wove in harmonies with the ensemble and high notes.
-I thought about it again today
I can’t hold back anymore!
The lyrics were perfectly timed. The chandelier blazed with light, assaulting the dancers’ eyes.
‘Insane!’
Now the audience began to laugh.
But it wasn’t nervous laughter—it was the comfort and anticipation of savoring a fully realized performance.
A genre-defying, somewhat meta humor was unfolding brazenly on stage.
Because Cha Yu-jin and Park Moon-dae themselves were so naturally shameless about it, the stage became not awkward but utterly delightful.
Drrrrr-!
The two, bickering back and forth, ultimately engaged in a silent battle of wills during the final chorus, then leaped onto the thrust stage together and began their finale.
As the synth sound and orchestra merged, the song became as loud and grand as something for a festival or carnival.
-Monster, Monster
bebe, babe!
Seize and pull
Yes, just like that!
Original and adapted lyrics intertwined. Dancers cut through the ensemble.
Cha Yu-jin climbed onto the golden chair and shifted his vocal technique to sing while Park Moon-dae danced with the drones.
A reckless momentum—each invading the other’s domain without hesitation—set the stage ablaze.
-Monster, just like that!
Boom!
Fireworks of every color erupted as the harmonies and choreography reached their crescendo.
The two disparate elements of the stage amplified each other’s destructive energy, hurtling toward the finale.
Uooooaaahhh!!
Beyond the crackling fireworks and electric instrumental accompaniment, the audience’s screams shook the venue as if they were part of the performance itself.
“Kyaaaaa!!”
The Graduate Student, without even realizing it, slapped her light stick against her palm and clapped along.
An hour later, on the way home, she still didn’t know she would be shocked to discover that this Stage performance had lasted merely four minutes and twenty seconds.

* * *
“Incredible! Incredible!”
“I know.”
Cha Yu-jin shook my shoulder repeatedly throughout the VCR, repeating the same words. He seemed absolutely thrilled with the performance we’d just delivered.
I understood the sentiment. I was a bit surprised myself.
‘This actually worked.’
It was a composition that would be difficult to immerse oneself in without considerable shamelessness, yet I hadn’t felt a single moment of awkwardness.
‘I thought it would be a disaster, but it still delivered S-rank quality.’
If I’m being honest, I wanted to skip the VCR entirely and just keep performing on that Stage without stopping.
“Let’s do it again! A hundred times! Incredible!”
Though not quite to that extent. Come on.
“Right. Let’s start breaking down the set pieces first.”
“Yes!”
I couldn’t afford this kind of unexpected physical exhaustion. I needed to keep my mind sharp for tonight.
There was still another event left after this unit Stage challenge.
‘…Is this really the end now?’
Approximately thirty minutes remained until the Concert concluded.
The removal of my abnormal condition was truly within reach.

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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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