Debut or Die - Chapter 212

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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 212
After hanging up with the T1 representative, I replayed the conversation in my mind.
‘A KPOP Global Survival Reality show asking me to appear as a mentor… I see.’
Of course, there had been more than one or two survival shows claiming to be ‘global’ up until now. Just look at Ajusa—they were already touting themselves as selecting global KPOP stars.
But this format was… distinctly unique.
‘It’s a Netplus original production, not a Tnet broadcast.’
It seemed the production had been greenlit based on Ajusa’s modest success in the English-speaking regions on Netplus.
The program structure was quite experimental, but honestly, what mattered more was that the offer itself was solid.
-Once you confirm your appearance, we’ll immediately assemble a dedicated team for you.
Clean and simple.
A dedicated team plus a variety show appearance—wasn’t that exchange rate worth considering?
‘And it’s not like only Testa mentors are appearing.’
And I wasn’t the only one thinking that way.
Every member’s reaction I received was uniformly ‘worth doing.’
“Hmm… sounds good.”
“So we just appear and they establish a dedicated team? That seems like a tremendous long-term advantage!”
But concerns emerged proportionally.
“…The thing is, these producers are a bit…”
“I-I don’t have the skills to teach anyone… w-will it be okay?”
It was what I’d anticipated, and most concerns were resolved reasonably.
“You don’t need to worry about that. You’re good at this.”
“Right, right~ From what I can tell, the program format means the ‘mentor’ probably won’t get beaten up that badly, right?”
“Yeah.”
This program seemed like having a rookie mentor would actually be a selling point. Plus, the format was such that there was no reason for the mentor to receive malicious editing.
What kind of program was it, exactly?
The explanation would come from what the production team told me during our meeting after I accepted the offer.
“We’re gathering KPOP haters and training them in KPOP activity. Of course, it’ll end as a one-off joke, a disposable gimmick.”
“…??”
The members were slightly taken aback.
‘Still the same, I see.’
No matter what, she really did speak with brutal directness.
Writer Ryu Seo-rin, whom I hadn’t seen in a while, had a gleam in her eyes.
This woman—even with Testa having blown up this much, her attitude had only gotten rougher.
‘Maybe she doesn’t need to coax us gently like she did when recruiting us for appearances.’
Considering that Ryu Chung-woo was somewhat uncomfortable around the Writer, Big Sae-jin quickly responded.
“Ah~ so it’s that kind of setup where foreigners unfamiliar with KPOP grow to love it as they learn about it?”
“You could see it that way.”
Meaning she was envisioning something bigger and more extreme. Of course, we didn’t need to understand all those details.
The production team had one requirement from Testa.
“You absolutely have to do well.”
And I’m not particularly worried about this.
“We’ll do our best to structure the script so your skills appear even more superior.”
“…That’s right! Testa members are always so amazing anyway! I think if we just work harder and capture that on screen, it should be fine~”
Ryu Seo-rin’s unfiltered words seemed to catch the other production team members off guard, and one of them quickly jumped in to give Testa a subtle compliment.
Then, Ryu Chung-woo, who had been quiet, asked calmly.
“There won’t be any moments where it comes across as arrogant on screen, right?”
“…!”
“…Of course not.”
Ryu Seo-rin answered composedly, but there was a slight tremor in her voice.
‘Ah.’
So that earlier attitude was a preemptive strike.
They must have come on stronger because they were worried Testa, who had reservations about this production team, might become unnecessarily difficult.
‘I should have suspected from the beginning when they offered the appearance as part of a deal to swap with my dedicated team.’
Word had already spread among industry insiders that Testa wouldn’t willingly appear in this production team’s work.
But since they’d directly shown their discomfort, they couldn’t back down now. It was clear that T1 had already exerted considerable influence.
‘Well, at least I don’t need to worry about editing.’
The production team wasn’t stupid, and they had no reason to antagonize their parent company.
“The mentors include various K-pop stars along with Testa members, and we’ve already secured them….”
“Yes, yes.”
After that, the meeting proceeded smoothly and wrapped up without any major issues.
A few days later, articles came out in a big way.
[Netplus Partners with K-pop for Large-Scale Survival Entertainment Production]
[‘Guaranteed Glamorous Cast’… What’s the Real Identity of Netplus’s K-pop Reality Show?]
[Netplus Makes Massive Investment in K-pop Entertainment ‘Know KPOP Now’… Targeting the K-pop Market]
It seemed they deliberately didn’t mention T1, the parent company, wanting to build the image of the new production studio independently.
Instead, seemingly intentional, rumors about the cast spread quickly and widely on the Internet.
-Park Moon-dae’s appearance confirmed
└Stop fantasizing. Why would the leader of the boy group appear on some third-rate Netplus variety show?
└Why is Netplus third-rate? They produced documentaries too lolol
-The lineup is so stacked that insiders are talking about it. Curious what it is
-Mighty Studio is producing this? Lol this is where all the Ajusa production team members hang out, so it’s definitely gonna be fun lololol
└Apparently even Sae-jin and Ryu Seo-rin are appearing. Looks like they got all the Ajusa cast
└The Internet’s gonna flip
-So what exactly is this? Is it actually an audition? What kind of survival show is this with that lineup?
If people had known the mentors’ screen time wouldn’t be that substantial, they would have cooled off quickly, but those unaware were already in an uproar just from the appearance rumors.
‘The effect of not revealing specifics is really paying off.’
While all sorts of idols were being discussed, the official cast announcement remained under embargo as filming’s first day approached.
And after an 11-hour flight to Los Angeles, I finally confirmed the identity of the rumors.
“Hello.”
‘Damn it.’
There really was a VTIC member here.
Just Chung-ryeo—not the rest of them.
‘He wasn’t on the cast lineup I’d heard about beforehand.’
Apparently, he’d only gotten the green light at the last minute and joined us via private jet.
Without a doubt, one of the top-tier mentors must have been cut.
“I had no idea you’d be participating in an Audition Program as one of the mentors rather than as a solo act.”
And certainly not in a variety show format like this.
And Chung-ryeo gave an answer that caught me off guard.
“Oh, I’ve got a solo album dropping soon. So this is partly for global promotion?”
“….”
“Like you said, I’m just branching out into activities outside the group. Ha ha.”
“Ah, yes.”
‘How did the company convince him?’
That Agency—the one that wouldn’t budge even when fans demanded solo activities and sent trucks regularly—actually approved a solo album? Did he threaten to leave the group?
…Wait.
‘Could it be that he’s been deliberately blocking solo releases all this time?’
He might have artificially suppressed it to keep the other members dependent on group activities.
‘Well, it’s none of my business anyway.’
Whether this guy shows up or not, aside from the bad taste it leaves, there’s no real problem.
“…Park Moon-dae! Let’s sit!”
“Ah, yes.”
I returned to my assigned seat in the booth at Bae Sae-jin’s loud call.
Bae Sae-jin quickly covered his microphone and whispered urgently.
‘Why does that crazy bastard keep talking to you?’
‘Right? Does he want his head smashed in again?’
‘….’
It was convenient having people who knew the full story of the injury incident during vacation offering their support like this.
‘I’ll just go with this.’
And to be honest, even if this program fails, I don’t care.
If it flops after pulling together this lineup, that’s the Production Team’s fault—Testa can’t be blamed for it.
Besides, yesterday the company approved the dedicated team composition plan. Now I just need to bring in the right people once activities wrap up.
‘That’s all I need.’
I’ve gotten everything I could from this deal, so as long as Testa doesn’t get criticized within this program, that’s enough.
The flight time is a bit wasteful, but since I’m already here, balancing the schedule by handling some America commitments works out fine.
‘Well, looking at the script, the cast will be taking all the heat anyway.’
The Ajusa Production Team guys really seem like they crawled up from the depths of hell itself.
“Standby, everyone!”
“Yes~”
On the monitors the mentors were watching, the participants’ images were displayed.
They matched the script—their appearance and behavior exactly as written.
-I’m ready to become famous!
-I know it’s not cool behavior, but of course I’ll tell a few lies to get hearts on social media. Doesn’t everyone do that?
-I want people to know me, go crazy for me, and be obsessed with my actions. I’ll do whatever it takes for that.
The helpful Korean subtitles beneath the English emphasized who these people really were.
Bluntly put, they were attention-seekers.
They were perfect candidates for the criticism: ‘They’d sell their souls to become famous, to become celebrities.’
And apparently, this program had recruited participants with the pitch that ‘celebrities will teach you how to become famous.’
But there was one more thing the Production Team had secretly filtered out without explicitly stating it.
It was music taste.
-K-pop? No way! I don’t listen to that kind of… music! Absolutely not! (bursts out laughing)
-At High School, you know? I’ve seen lots of kids listening to that kind of stuff.
These guys hated K-pop, just like Ryu Seo-rin the Writer had said.
Actually, ‘hated’ was too mild a word—’dismissed’ would be more accurate.
It was exactly like Cha Yu-jin, who’d scoffed when we appeared on that American talk show thanks to the game collaboration.
“Oh~ that’s too much!”
Though it was kind of funny how he said it while watching the monitor without any hesitation.
Anyway, that’s how this program’s story was established.
Participants appeared on the reality show expecting to become famous through Netplus broadcasts to the whole world, only to get a taste of K-pop extreme training…
‘That’s why they were making such a fuss about having to do well.’
They wanted to capture the moment when these guys’ jaws dropped in shock, and when they declared ‘I will never disrespect K-pop again.’
‘That’s definitely some Korean pride right there.’
Plus, it would definitely draw attention from overseas K-pop fans. The question was how to digest it as universal appeal without it being cringey.
“This is fun.”
“You might hate it!”
The guys making comments while watching the monitor looked relaxed. They already knew these kinds of scenes would happen anyway.
‘Honestly, there’s a pretty good chance the participants already know all this and it’s all rigged like a card game.’
Well, it’s not my concern.
We just had to do our assigned roles properly.
The mentors would appear on stage equipment, one team at a time, to where the participants were gathered, eagerly wondering which ‘celebrity’ would show up.
With very flashy effects—the ‘K-pop-like’ aesthetic that overseas people imagine.
Poof poof poof pow! Beep beep beep boom!
[Please welcome them! The K-pop stars of 7 teams who will teach you how to become famous!]
The artificial intelligence MC supported by Osung shouted in English.
And as fabric fell from the top of the Set, the truth appeared on the LED screen.
-Welcome to
☆K-POP Training Camp☆
Naturally, the reaction wasn’t good.
[Oh.]
[Oh my gosh!!]
But the filming moved to the next cut right away, with the bewildered, disgruntled attention-seekers—some exaggerating their amazement on purpose, others forcing laughs.
‘No time.’
With seven popular idol groups on this program, how much time could they possibly spare?
So while most of the mentors clocked out and only a few returned to change into their stage outfits and prepare, the participants received a briefing on the new content.
It was called the ‘Intro Stage.’
[On this stage, you could become the winner of this reality show and leave right now. Before even entering the camp!]
In short: ‘You don’t acknowledge them as mentors, right? If you win, I’ll give you the prize money immediately.’
And I took on the first hosting duty here.
[Our mentors~ please take the stage!]
A juvenile but effective setup.
[With 100 randomly selected Los Angeles residents as your audience, you’ll alternate singing the same song as your mentor!]
[Of course, this song isn’t K-pop… it’s a pop song you selected in advance! You chose it as your specialty, right?]
[And the mentors will find out what that song is right now!]
Stripping away rank and throwing it all on the line.

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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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