Debut or Die - Chapter 208

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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 208
To be honest, I’d experienced quite a bit of invasive privacy violations while doing group activities.
-That crazy taxi driver deliberately caused an accident, right??
-Um, um… from behind, they keep trying to hit me….
-Wow~ Testa! Sign here for me and take a picture!
-Huh? I’m sorry, but this place is….
-They’re a relative, just do it.
Ranging from severe cases where people deliberately tried to cause collisions to minor ones where they’d push their way in during Music Broadcast Studio waiting times.
Well, it wasn’t an unexpected side effect, so I’d carelessly dismissed it as just a downside of the job.
In this digital age, it seemed like there were more cases of people trying to hack electronic devices than showing up in person.
At least the Dormitory was safe.
‘It didn’t seem like an incident like the one-room apartment situation would happen.’
The Dormitory was in an apartment with pretty solid security.
It would’ve been nothing compared to the level of trespassing that happened at the shabby one-room apartment I’d been using as a temporary base.
Maybe Bae Sae-jin felt a stronger urge to buy real estate with good security after moving into this Dormitory.
But it seemed even that had its limits now.
“They broke through completely?”
“Yes. Ugh. They apparently bribed a delivery person to get into the Parking Lot, but the way they got caught was….”
“H-how did they get discovered….”
The Chief Manager sighed and answered the tense Kim Rae-bin.
“It was a diversion tactic!”
“…?!”
“They infiltrated the management office CCTV room looking for blind spots, but all the ones who got caught spilled everything and got dragged away… Ugh, seriously.”
“Oof.”
….
This is ridiculous.
What kind of mafia operation bribes employees and executes diversion tactics?
It was so systematically organized that their persistence and passion were almost admirable. But I wasn’t surprised.
‘I’d gotten similar cases a few times back when I was doing data work.’
The kind of requests where someone would stick with me all day asking me to leave behind data.
The pay was pretty good, but it was easy to cross the line, so I’d avoided it.
Anyway, after witnessing this mess, the apartment management office and residents’ meeting finally issued a recommendation that we couldn’t ignore any longer.
“They said it was already hard enough chasing away people who kept camping out in front of the Apartment Complex, and now they say they can’t handle it anymore….”
“…hmm.”
In short: ‘It’s your problem, so figure it out yourselves.’
It was a reasonable request, so there was no way around feeling embarrassed.
Plus, it was dangerous to ignore it just because the Company didn’t want to deal with it. The moment the apartment residents leaked this to the media, things would blow up.
[Testa Dormitory Controversy… Apartment Residents Report Fear from Noise and Intrusions]
The headline was already sensational.
‘There really is no other option but to move.’
The company would have chosen a move that allowed for media play along the lines of ‘we’ve relocated to a better dormitory’ rather than pouring money and manpower into this apartment.
Still, the fact that he explained the situation in such detail meant something more than a simple explanation.
It was easier to secure cooperation by intimidating them this way than by wiping his mouth and spouting something like ‘we’re moving you to a nicer place~’.
Especially when it came to dealing with stalker-related incidents going forward.
‘In that sense, he’s definitely more competent than the First Manager….’
Still, I thought it would be better to bring in a new road manager with better character.
This group had too many people who burned themselves out for work. We needed a manager who was warm-hearted and quick on his feet.
“So, since things have come to this, how would you feel about moving to a bigger, nicer place?”
“Yes! That sounds great!”
“Wait a moment. Let me see who actually wants to change dormitories by raising their hands.”
At Chung-woo’s words, Cha Yu-jin and several others quickly raised their hands.
Big Sae-jin shook his hand as if he were lifting something, laughing with a grin.
“Ah, moving is definitely good~ But where are we going?”
“We’re still checking candidates, but it has to be somewhere with better security and a better location than here!”
“Right~ Ah, somewhere close to the Shop, right? I’m all for it!”
That meant he’d oppose anything that wasn’t close enough to the Shop in Cheongdam-dong—essentially the heart of Seoul.
“Haha, understood! Ah, would you like to see the candidate locations directly? I’ll send them over!”
“Yes!”
Soon, a file appeared in the company’s work messenger room. I immediately clicked on it and scanned through the candidates.
‘Not bad.’
Of course, I wouldn’t know for sure without visiting in person, but judging by location and name alone, they all looked quite decent.
‘There are already quite a few places where celebrities have moved in….’
Wait. Why is this place here?
At that moment, the Chief Manager happened to pick that very ‘place’.
“Actually, we’d really like to push SV Village, you know? Testa has a name value! I think it’s worth moving there~ We’re actively communicating that!”
No way.
“…What about somewhere closer to the Broadcasting Station? Like Endless Felice….”
“Ah, we’re looking at that meaningfully too!”
The Chief Manager smoothly changed direction. Sun Ah-hyun asked from beside me.
“Um, Moon-dae really dislikes spending long times in the car…?”
“…I’m not a fan of it.”
“Oh, I see!”
No, that’s not it.
I simply know whose dormitory is in SV Village.
‘It’s VTIC’s dormitory.’
Sure, they’d all gradually moved out as their seniority increased and it had become nominal, but there was no need to give them an excuse to be neighboring friends.
‘Though from what that bastard’s been doing, it doesn’t look like he’s planning to leave the old house.’
I don’t know why he keeps sending photos of a dog rolling around in the garden, but I’d prefer he just stayed as he was.
But since you never know what people will do, it’s better to avoid it.
“Then I’ll make sure to organize everyone’s opinions and relay them properly!”
“Yes!”
The meeting wrapped up cleanly, and it seemed the relocation would proceed swiftly once this promotional cycle ended.
‘There shouldn’t be any major issues.’
That’s what I thought, but the problem was that this news had leaked elsewhere.

* * *
-We are moving to each islandㅠ E fellow
-Those bastards suddenly got expensive
└Kkkkkkkkk Now is the part where I can complain about invasion of privacy?
Haha, you’re such a top star that you can’t even stand having fans waiting for you outside the Dormitory.
“This is so annoying, damn it. I barely got past the security guard.”
‘They’re losing their minds.’
Twin Home Manager closed the screenshot he’d been casually reviewing.
This office worker, who managed the Twin Home for Lee Sae-jin and Park Moon-dae, had been browsing SNS during a break.
That’s when he discovered this post.
[Testa’s sasaeng fans are so disgusting]
Someone had captured their private account and uploaded it.
Even as the post got thoroughly criticized with comments like ‘why drag this into the light’ and ‘this is privacy invasion against Testa’, the poster refused to take it down—their true intentions were obvious.
‘Looks like they want to stir up trouble during the promotional period.’
The office worker briefly considered the usual suspects—VTIC fans, One Curve fans—then dropped it.
Because this wouldn’t damage the atmosphere anyway.
Testa’s current promotional cycle was proceeding smoothly.
While there was an influx of new fans, the weakening of mainstream appeal that had been gradually solidifying into ‘their own world’ since Ajusa had halted thanks to the reality show.
‘That’s probably why they’re panicking and acting out.’
Moreover, the two that Twin Home Manager had picked were especially succeeding in adding new image dimensions.
Lee Sae-jin, who changed monocle styles at every music broadcast, was naturally receiving praise, and Park Moon-dae’s silver hair was also getting tremendous acclaim.
-He licked the pen nib in the music video but licks my heart in the fancam, Moon-dae’s out here eating people’s hearts
-Silver-haired Moon-dae absolutely preserved, can’t give up that 1000-year-old elite yokai vibe (fist emoji)
-Yeah I knew this was coming, the era of black and gold unification has arrived
└Is silver hair Tibet?
Comments flooded the YouTube fancams—not even personal SNS—with obsessive fan reactions running rampant without restraint.
‘Picking up Park Moon-dae was definitely the right call.’
At this rate, selling season greetings would cover the promotional costs. Twin Home Manager logged into his own SNS with satisfaction.
What did sasaeng activity matter? Once new bait dropped, this issue would be swept away anyway.
Frankly, the ones he’d picked wouldn’t fall for sasaeng traps, so there’d be no additional controversies.
‘Lee Sae-jin’s definitely solid.’
Based on years of experience in this industry, Twin Home Manager was certain: the idol Lee Sae-jin would never feel sympathy for stalkers.
He was clearly someone skilled at cutting ties cleanly, good at separating public and private—an ambitious one.
‘Park Moon-dae? Absolutely not either.’
He was the type who’d wonder why anyone would even bother stalking in the first place.
He seemed weak toward people he favored, but given how impeccably he crafted his image, he appeared intelligent enough to handle things on his own.
The office worker finished his assessment cleanly and continued his editing while gulping down zero-calorie soda.
It was the moment he uploaded the duo’s photo from the recent concert—one he hadn’t shared before—to SNS.
“What?”
-Pube, have you seen this?ㅠㅠ
An internet forum link from an anonymous account with no prior connection felt ominous.
[Testa Swatting Down Sasaengs]
Twin Home Manager immediately checked the content.
The post contained a GIF showing a large man pressing up against Testa with a camera, only for a member to swat him away using his elbows and forearms.
And that member was… Ryu Chung-woo!
“…??”
This guy shouldn’t be like this either?
I thought he was the type who, having come from an athletic background, was skilled at avoiding conflict, but from the footage alone, it looked almost threateningly like he was hitting someone.
The top comments were in similar chaos.
-Wow, was Ryu Chung-woo really like that?
-Honestly, guys like that deserve to get hit lolol But Ryu Chung-woo seems kinda intense
-What did Chung-woo even do wrong that this is getting thousands of comments? It’s actually scary
-That’s so cool though? People really do need to exercise
Opposing and supporting comments flew back and forth in dizzying succession.
“Something’s off.”
While I thought ‘figures’ since these weren’t the two I’d chosen, Twin Home Manager couldn’t shake an uneasy feeling.
Ryu Chung-woo wasn’t an idiot, and there was no reason he’d act like that in front of cameras with security and managers present.
‘It must be the angle of the shot.’
And sure enough, not long after, other camera angles and eyewitness accounts from the situation poured in.
-That guy broke through security and was practically throwing his camera at the kids’ bodies. It could’ve been dangerous if Ryu Chung-woo hadn’t done that
-Looking at it, he didn’t even hit him. From another angle, the guy who was pressing up against him tripped over his own feet and fell. Stop fabricating (screenshot)
-I don’t even understand why this obvious self-defense is being talked about. Dragging up Chung-woo’s national team days and speculating like this is making me so mad I could go crazy
Ryu Chung-woo’s usually non-aggressive personal fans emerged and vented their frustration, which Twin Home Manager understood.
It was like getting slapped out of nowhere.
And suspicion quietly crept in.
‘Who orchestrated this?’
It was the right guess.
There existed hired data brokers who received decent daily wages and group chat rooms frantically trying to regenerate the controversy.
And those who’d paid the data brokers… were the same ones who’d breached Testa’s dormitory apartment security.
Their eyes had gone wild at the news that Testa was moving to a place with tighter security.
Naturally, this story couldn’t go unmentioned at Testa’s company either.

* * *
“Are you out of your mind? Get yourself together?”
“I apologize.”
The one falling apart right now wasn’t a Testa member—of course not—but the First Manager.
“No, what are you going to do if you dodge alone? Why are you even getting paid, you bastard?”
I slipped past the guy who’d lunged at me like he was about to swing a camera, and now I was enduring a barrage of abuse for supposedly biting him.
‘Sure, it might be a bit irritating that I dodged alone… but this is excessive.’
The manager wasn’t a martial arts master or anything—just an ordinary office worker. There was no need for him to throw himself into the line of fire like some noble sacrifice.
So this was all performance.
“I sincerely apologize. I’ll be more thorough with security measures going forward!”
I redirected all the arrows of blame toward the First Manager, just in case our affiliated artist got upset about the lax security.
‘You can see the experience here.’
In reality, security personnel hadn’t been understaffed before—this was just a special circumstance—but he was skilled at appeasing people regardless.
Some of the members were already panicking, unsure what to do in this situation.
“It’s… it’s fine.”
“I don’t think the manager needs to be held accountable. I believe the situation has been clarified…”
“Phew, thank you!”
The Chief Manager continued with a visibly relieved expression.
“Chung-woo, you don’t need to worry either! Everything’s been explained, and there were actually a lot of positive reactions calling it cool.”
“…”
Ryu Chung-woo offered a bitter smile.
As a former national representative with an inherently gentle image, he’d probably taken a real hit from this.
People who’d always disliked him could easily pretend to be shocked right now.
“Don’t worry!”
“Yes, I understand.”
Though it probably would’ve been better if the manager hadn’t added what came next.
“But you don’t need to do this sort of thing going forward! The company should handle it, but when artists step in like this, it often backfires like today…”
Beneath words that sounded like self-reproach lay a subtle undertone of ‘why did you even do that?’
‘Why is he being so unnecessarily difficult?’
As I was debating whether to jump in and respond, Ryu Chung-woo spoke first.
Unusually sharp in tone.
“…So you’re saying I should’ve just left it alone, then?”
“…!”
“No, that’s not it… I mean dodging would’ve been enough! There are so many eyes watching, after all…”
“…”
Ryu Chung-woo was silent for quite a while before responding with just one phrase.
“I understand.”
His voice was exhausted.
And throughout the rest of that day’s schedule, Ryu Chung-woo barely spoke except during official appearances.
‘Damn it.’
It was unmistakably a case of burnout.

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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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