Debut or Die - Chapter 215

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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 215
Bae Sae-jin spoke calmly.
“Next is… your turn.”
“Yes, yes!”
Sun Ah-hyun swallowed hard, his face tense with anxiety, before calling out carefully.
“I’ll… I’ll point to Sae-jin…!”
“What? Ah-hyun, just because I suspected you earlier, you’re not going to just randomly pick me, are you? We can’t let personal feelings get involved here~”
“No, that’s not it!”
This was the first time I’d seen these two bicker like this.
What made it even funnier was that everyone around us was watching their standoff with sweat on their palms.
‘How did things end up like this?’
I stared at the remaining cards in my hand, lost in contemplation.
When we first entered the new Dormitory, the atmosphere had been nothing like this.
“It’s amazing! It’s so nice!”
“The bathrooms are still three, right?”
“They added one more small bathroom during the remodeling and plumbing work. There are four now.”
“I see.”
Since the cleaning company would be sending people anyway, the increase in bathrooms was definitely welcome.
…Though the location of the Dormitory did bother me a bit.
‘We ended up in SV Village after all….’
The neighborhood where VTIC’s Dormitory was located.
The plan to go to E Palace had leaked, so there was no choice. With security concerns, the options narrowed further, and we ended up here.
Though there was a difference in size, the distance within the Apartment Complex was quite far, so we shouldn’t have any unnecessary encounters.
‘Let me check the bedrooms.’
I pushed aside the vague unease and looked around the Dormitory.
“Wow! So many rooms! Do I get one to myself??”
“There are four bedrooms. Only one person can have a private room!”
“…!”
Hearing their conversation, Bae Sae-jin suddenly looked startled and muttered solemnly.
“…A private room all to myself?”
“Yes! Or alternatively, three people could share one large room while the remaining person also enjoys the benefit of a private room….”
That wouldn’t work.
‘That wouldn’t look good.’
I could have rented two separate Dormitories and each had my own private room. But the reason I continued using one Dormitory was also to prevent rumors.
Before we’d even reached our second anniversary, if people saw us already using private rooms, they’d easily start saying things like we weren’t getting along.
‘We need to wait at least another year.’
But if we went out of our way to create a three-person room just to add another private room?
There would definitely be people trying to attach strange images to whoever used the private rooms.
I stepped in at that point.
“There’s no need to squeeze ourselves. Three two-person rooms and one private room would be better, like you said.”
“Yes!”
Kim Rae-bin nodded readily with a somewhat satisfied expression, but the moment the words left my mouth, they tasted bitter.
‘I wish I could use it alone.’
It was frustrating to kick away an opportunity that would have doubled my chances.
“Wow, this room is amazing!”
“Huh, the bed is quite a bit bigger now.”
In any case, with the Dormitory expanding and the rooms growing larger, it seemed like our daily lives would gain some breathing room.
“Oh, that’s right.”
And then came the decisive moment.
Ryu Chung-woo chuckled and spoke as if joking.
“Should we give the biggest room to whoever uses it alone?”
“…!”
And surprisingly, this proposal received strong support from the majority and passed.
“Oh! That’s a great idea~”
“Yes, I believe fans will feel the persuasiveness of the reward when they watch roommate-related content!”
“Haha, really?”
Ryu Chung-woo himself seemed a bit surprised, but it was clear everyone had been eagerly picturing themselves using a private room.
That’s probably why the room assignment game became absurdly heated.
“Examining it from a rational standpoint, Cha Yu-jin’s statements over the last two turns have been contradictory, so the liar is Cha Yu-jin!”
“No! Think again!”
“That’s right!”
“Well, so you think Eugene is lying, Rae-bin?”
“Yes! I will ‘verify’ that Cha Yu-jin could not have received a bribe in the previous turn!”
“I don’t like it!”
The moment Cha Yu-jin was called out, he started making a fuss as if drinking poison.
‘The problem is he’s not the only one acting like this.’
Everyone’s been like this the entire turn. I gave up entirely and rested my chin in my hand.
Actually, this was a simple board game that mixed Mafia with card games.
Depending on the job card you secretly drew at the start, certain actions were available to you, and whoever accumulated the most money through those actions won.
But there was one distinguishing feature.
‘You could basically do any action you wanted, and as long as you don’t get caught, that’s it.’
You could bluff and freely perform actions your job shouldn’t allow.
In other words, lies were inevitably going to dominate the game.
‘…I picked it because it seemed funny.’
The problem was that Big Sae-jin won the first round with a completely straight bluff.
-S-Sae-jin… you’re not a congressman…?
-…A florist?
-That’s right~ Ah, ‘you fell for that~’ is the right thing to say here, right? Hahahaha!
-Ugh!!
Big Sae-jin’s quotation of his own music video line left quite an impression, and from the next round onward, lying became the dominant meta that ruled the game.
Everyone started spouting lies left and right to scrape together money, and by the third round alone, the whole thing had descended into chaos.
“Alright, Eugene—let’s verify. Show your card.”
For reference, if someone got their occupation ‘verified’ by another player, they couldn’t earn money for a while regardless of whether they were telling the truth.
So naturally, everyone who got targeted for ‘verification’ defended themselves fiercely, but….
Well, didn’t I say it already? Chaos.
“Hmm… Eugene’s occupation was ‘police officer’! Since you took a bribe last turn, Eugene is eliminated!”
“Uuugh….”
“Just as I thought!”
Now every verification was catching someone.
‘This is a mess.’
We’ve been filming for over two hours now, and it looks like it’ll all get edited down to about thirty minutes.
The fans would probably beg for the full version, but if we actually released it uncut, the mood would turn heavy… that kind of boring brain-dead content.
‘At this rate, someone who doesn’t look like they’d lie needs to win to escape this brain-dead situation.’
This won’t do.
‘Next round… I should push Sun Ah-hyun to win.’
Isn’t he the one who can’t lie to save his life?
So in the fourth round, I gave Sun Ah-hyun a slight push to help him perform better.
-I, I’ll buy this…!
-Hmm, it seems like acquiring the store would give more money.
-R, really? Then I’ll go with that…!
And Sun Ah-hyun steadily grew his money, and surprisingly, he even held his own against Big Sae-jin in their argument, successfully targeting him for ‘verification’.
“I, I really, n, thought it through before deciding… I, I’d like to request verification on Sae-jin! The building construction from last turn!”
“Got it, Ah-hyun.”
Ryu Chung-woo, who apparently didn’t feel much attraction to being in the hot seat, stepped in as host and immediately checked Big Sae-jin’s card.
I folded my arms.
‘One person eliminated, then.’
I naturally thought so, but what came out of Ryu Chung-woo’s mouth was unexpected.
“…! Sae-jin… wasn’t lying!”
“…!!”
“R, really?”
“Yeah. It’s an occupation that can do building construction.”
This bastard pulled a double bluff.
“Come on, if I lied again this time, wouldn’t it be obvious? I have a conscience too!”
Lies were pouring out of him.
As a result, Sun Ah-hyun, who failed the ‘verification’, had to sit out for three turns as a penalty.
“Ah-hyun is banned from acting this turn too.”
“Y, yes….”
“And Sae-jin can’t earn money for one more turn.”
“Understood~”
And so an unexpected winner emerged.
“First place in this round goes to… Moon-dae!”
That’s me.
“Yes, thank you.”
For the record, none of this matters.
The difference in total winnings came down to the fact that Big Sae-jin had marked me intensely in the previous round.
‘Damn it.’
I should’ve just swept up all the money without worrying about fun or anything else.
Anyway, so who’s the final winner?
“The overall champion who gets to choose any room they want is Lee Sae-jin!”
“Hahaha!”
That bastard won after all.
It probably looks entertaining to the viewers, but… something about it irritates me.
‘Should I poke at it?’
I opened my mouth with a smile.
“Congratulations.”
“Oh~ Moon-dae, thanks!”
“A private room would be nice and convenient.”
“…??”
“This was about choosing who gets a private room, wasn’t it?”
“That’s right, I’m jealous!”
“I hope you enjoy a pleasant solo life in a spacious room.”
As I pushed the idea of using a private room as a foregone conclusion, Big Sae-jin’s expression twitched for a moment before quickly recovering.
“Ha, no! Well, it’s not necessarily like that~”
Oh, he’s trying to dodge it.
He’d performed well in the game to get screen time for this content, but it seemed he didn’t actually want a private room after all.
Having a room to himself would likely reduce his chances of appearing in the self-produced content.
‘He’s probably going for a natural-looking concession.’
Well, then there’s only one candidate.
“Ah, I’d like to use it too, but… I’d like to give the private room to Chung-woo hyung! Our leader has really supported this team since our debut!”
“Huh, me?”
“Yes, hyung~ Isn’t this something the senior members and leaders are supposed to use?”
“Ohhh!”
“What a wonderful choice!”
And just like that, Ryu Chung-woo got the private room without lifting a finger.
‘Envious.’
I was clicking my tongue inwardly when I heard a small voice from beside me.
“…I’m the oldest….”
Bae Sae-jin hadn’t intended to say it out loud, and when our eyes met, he hastily closed his mouth.
Now that I think about it, Bae Sae-jin has the earliest birthday. That’s why image matters so much.
‘…Of course, if we’re being honest, I’m the real oldest.’
I watched the opportunity for a private room slip away and smacked my lips in disappointment.
Well, a double room wasn’t inherently problematic. At least my roommate turned out to be a quiet guy.
“So Moon-dae and Ah-hyun will be sharing a room.”
“Please take good care of me…!”
“Yeah. It’s been a while.”
I’d ended up sharing a room with Sun Ah-hyun. The moment the roster was finalized, his face brightened considerably.
‘Don’t tell me this guy also went out of his way to avoid a private room just to steer clear of Cha Yu-jin.’
It was a remarkably plausible hypothesis that crossed my mind, but it wasn’t important enough to dwell on.
As for Big Sae-jin, he reaped what he sowed—blinded by screen time, he’d disrupted the game and paid the price accordingly.
The problem was that an innocent guy got caught in the crossfire too.
“Oh, so… the two Sae-jins will be sharing a room!”
“….”
“….”
Cha Yu-jin and Kim Rae-bin had both shouted at each other to get out while simultaneously choosing the same room.
In the end, Big Sae-jin—who’d surrendered his choice to Ryu Chung-woo and thus had no say—automatically ended up joining Bae Sae-jin’s room.
“Hyung, please take good care of me!”
“Y-yeah.”
The two exchanged a cordial greeting a beat too late. At least they should be grateful this wasn’t a live broadcast.
‘They won’t fight, will they.’
After their big blowup, they’d stopped interfering with each other except for necessary conversation.
And even though they were sharing a room, it was as spacious as the living room of our last dormitory. I figured there shouldn’t be any reason for them to clash.
‘Well, if things look dicey, I can always swap them.’
The public excuse would be something about their sleep schedules being too different and causing mutual suffering—phrased in a somewhat humorous way.
“Well then, we’ll each unpack in our rooms and come back to talk about our other roommates!”
“See you later, Reviewer~”
And so the roommate game segment wrapped up with the closing remarks.
I shrugged my shoulders, then headed into the room that had been assigned to me and started unpacking.
‘The quality is definitely better here.’
They’d done extensive renovations, and it really showed.
“M-Moon-dae. Let’s have fun together and get along well…!”
“Sounds good.”
I was already looking forward to peaceful, quiet sleeping hours.
-I’m going out to play! Going out a lot!
-I’ll just appreciate the sentiment.
This exchange was a bit ominous, but still—escaping Cha Yu-jin as a roommate was a win in itself.
‘That guy talks way too much.’
I sighed and stretched out on the bed.
All I could hear was Sun Ah-hyun organizing his French embroidery and cleaning supplies.
‘Peaceful.’
So this is what moving feels like.
…And just so you know, this satisfaction won’t last even a day.
The very next day.
I had to board another plane and head to Los Angeles.
The culprit was that damn variety show’s additional filming, and the content was absolute garbage.
Apparently, they were mixing in the mentors for a one-off special Stage performance.
The problem was that Chung-ryeo was on my team.
‘Damn it.’
It all started with episode 2 of K-NOW that he appeared in.

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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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