Debut or Die - Chapter 257

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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 257
Year-end.
As the season to wrap up the year and welcome the new one arrived, popular culture buzzed with various events and commemorations.
And those interested in the K-pop industry began preparing to attend related events.
-MBS collaboration tea spilled this year
-T1 doing the awards ceremony overseas again? Are they insane about ticket sales
-Picturing VTIC and Young-rin each taking home an album and digital music award
Of course, this year too, Testa—a controversy bomb from every angle, whether intentional or not—remained a hot topic.
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[Testa Likely to Win Album of the Year]
At award ceremonies that give out multiple album awards, they’re worthy of winning. Didn’t ToneA give them one last year too?
With such strong buzz this year, they seem likely to win from various places. There were incidents too
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-?? After a car accident, they said they felt sorry for me?? LOL
-The reviewer acted like a reviewer
Lol, you should objectively be the top pick and talk about the target or whatever..!
-Stop pretending to be baited, how is this a Testa fan? You’re just trolling;
It was precisely the bait: ‘Is Testa worthy of album of the year?’
First, ‘Spring out’, released early in the year, was a digital single with no performance metrics beyond digital sales, so it was shelved.
The ‘Call (Nightmare)’ released afterward was certainly a hit song for the year, but the problem was that the promotional period wasn’t very long and the traffic accident occurred.
The potential of an activity that could have exploded further unfortunately stalled at a moderate level due to the traffic accident issue.
With one member falling into a coma, even pre-recorded variety shows had their airings postponed, making it even harder to shake off the feeling of ‘somehow regrettable’.
So even though they held a charity concert to refresh the narrative, truthfully it felt insufficient to call it a perfect album of the year candidate.
Moreover, the trolls understood this too.
That Testa couldn’t make another comeback in the second half of this year.
-Definitely can’t make an immediate comeback
I’m worried my agency might be doing something shady again, so I’m scared of getting hate for it lolol
-I’d rather hurry up and replace all the cartilage and just turn it into a waste product.
-Even during the donation con, I could see that he was acting like a bastard haha. It’s better to be an old pitiful person.
Testa’s antis actually cheered and rejoiced at news of Testa’s sudden hiatus.
They judged that ‘this year is beyond recovery’.
However, it was around then that a rumor article emerged.
[Testa, Year-End Comeback Countdown?]
It was an article stating that, ‘according to sources’, Testa was preparing a comeback with their first stage at the awards ceremony in mind.
According to the article, it was an activity that would narrowly fall into either the second half of this year or the first half of next year.
The underground reactions from core fans were quite mixed.
-Ah, it’s finally a comebackㅠㅠ Since the island entertainment show, I’ve been having a hard time finding rice cakes, so I’m really looking forward to itㅠㅠ
-Are they seriously doing their first stage at the awards ceremony at this critical time?
-Huh there were lots of idols doing year-end comebacks, why worry about it yourself and digital/physical releases from December often count in the full year chart anyway?
└The annual chart gets cut in half
-All the variety shows will get pushed back for year-end specials anyway, so we won’t even get proper promotion ugh
From late November through mid-December, the year-end rush actually steals the spotlight from new releases.
Unless it was a Christmas carol aimed at holiday vibes, releasing during this crucial period wasn’t a smart move.
Especially when I remembered that ToneA, the awards ceremony hosted by T1, was scheduled for early December—I couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling.
-If they made us comeback around that time just to match the T1 awards ceremony, I’m seriously not letting this slide
-Let’s just support their activities after half a year, and here I am having broken my savings account for this
Amid that typical pre-comeback tension where anticipation and anxiety crossed paths.
A major news article broke.
[ToneA Shifts from Year-End Finale to New Year’s Beginning… Announced for January]
The news was that ToneA would be held in January instead.
Rumors circulated about various reasons—from difficulties securing presenters to conflicts over booking major international venues or website overhauls—but nothing was confirmed.
What mattered was that Testa fans’ hearts found peace.
-Phew, I had a feeling
-The moment I saw it, I felt -relieved-
-Yeah, this is right
-If we just cycle through the remaining awards in January and get some music show appearances starting late month, that should work
At this point, public attention shifted.
It wasn’t about making up for this year—whether Testa would hit a home run next year was suddenly right around the corner.
-Testa’s comeback looks like early January
-Wow, full annual chart reflection lolololol
-Already the first-division competition is so fun, wonder how it’ll turn out
Rather than focusing on whether Testa would win the Grand Prize at this awards ceremony, interest shifted more toward this comeback’s performance.
Traffic accident controversy, successful charity concert, VTIC aggro, and finally nailing variety shows—Testa’s latest comeback results!
-If they just pick a good song, it’s guaranteed to be a hit, no counterargument possible lololol
-Honestly, Testa always picks solid releases during important moments, and even if T1 is a greedy bastard, they’re good at this
-By the way, I heard this is a full album lol, what do you think? Isn’t there a chance they’ll overreach and stumble?
└Nice wishful thinking lol
-Testa really works like oxen, honestly I thought they’d rest for another six months while recovering
And as Testa’s appearances were officially confirmed for various year-end music programs, fans were slightly excited to experience their main work after so long.
-Love the stage
-Never overdo it. Thank you guys for just coming out.
-I’m definitely getting audience tickets, it’s been forever since an offline event!!
Moreover, on Testa’s account, photos of members returning from vacation heading to the Training Room were uploaded every day or two, with members taking pictures of each other.
[Vacation’s over! Now practicing feels amazing~ (bear emoji)]
The members looked excited and happy.
-I saw all the posts the members uploaded, everyone’s faces looked good, I felt relieved
└Honestly seeing the photos directly is reassuring somehow, now I’m just looking forward to it lololol
Fans waited for Testa’s year-end stages with that subtle sense of pride and fulfillment that comes from loving ‘idols who are serious about their craft.’
The comeback date shouldn’t have any obstacles—the atmosphere was quietly positive.
-Just waiting for the stage schedule update
-How about an orchestral version of “Call”
-I’m betting my Park Moon-dae photocard that our Moondae will definitely do a traditional instrument arrangement remix stage
└Can I take it if I’m wrong? Lining up for spring
hahahahahaha
And Testa was planning something more ambitious than the fans predicted.
The first move was revealed not long after.
Among the articles promoting year-end programs that were pouring out, there were many stories about special stages and compositions, and one of them even included a poster.
[MBS Gayo Daejeon Collaboration Stage Lineup Revealed? Dazzling Lineup from Senior Artists to Monster Rookies]
A banner-style poster image made up of black silhouettes.
Among them were silhouettes familiar to the fans.
-Isn’t that silhouette Sun Ah-hyun?
-I think so
-Wow, Ahyun’s special stageㅠㅠ
It was Sun Ah-hyun, Testa’s main dancer.
Testa was planning to spend this year-end season actively as an advertisement for their next album.
And at the moment the article broke, Testa had already begun their year-end preparations.

* * *
“Let’s have a snack!”
“Here.”
“….”
Cha Yu-jin stared in horror at the carrot stick placed in his hand.
“This isn’t a snack!”
“W-would you like an apple…?”
“Yes….”
Cha Yu-jin took the apple from Sun Ah-hyun and chewed it sadly.
Crunch crunch.
‘His teeth are pretty sturdy.’
I clicked my tongue.
For now, this group was managing their diet to regain the muscle they’d lost during Chuseok with the year-end season right around the corner.
Even if Cha Yu-jin had a high basal metabolic rate, he’d been living recklessly, so careful management was necessary.
Of course, there were some who didn’t need it.
“A-apple aside… we also have tomatoes…!”
Like Sun Ah-hyun, who just habitually maintained his own physique.
This guy hadn’t even swollen up during Chuseok.
“Tomatoes have too much sugar!”
“B-but that won’t work….”
“Ugh….”
Cha Yu-jin trudged over and sat in the corner of the Training Room.
He’ll be like that for at least ten days. Though he’s still eating plenty of meat.
‘Should I even supply protein powder?’
I was mentally organizing suggestions to send to the dietary specialist when I noticed Sun Ah-hyun holding cherry tomatoes with a regretful expression.
“Eat them.”
“Oh, no! I’m fine.”
Sun Ah-hyun put the container of cherry tomatoes back into the refrigerator.
I watched absently before checking the current time on the LED display mounted on the refrigerator door.
“You need to head out within the next hour.”
“Huh? Oh… yeah.”
Right. Sun Ah-hyun had solo practice sessions scheduled for the next few days.
He was performing a special collaboration stage on the MBS year-end program on December 31st.
It was predictable—the kind of stage where broadcasting companies pressured agencies to extract one member from each popular group and combine them into a lineup.
Everyone was so busy that we barely saw each other, but at least the individual parts had already been received as videos and memorized.
‘It took three hours.’
This is why good dancers have an advantage. Honestly, learning choreography burned more energy than learning vocals.
Moreover, Sun Ah-hyun had even contributed to some of the choreography concepts for this title track.
-Oh, this is pretty good, isn’t it?
-…! Really?
-Of course it is! Right, Director?
-Yes, from what I can see, it has great impact and… the scale will look excellent on camera, Ah-hyun?
This time, we’d received choreography concepts from more than seven different sources and merged them, so getting his choreography incorporated into the final version was no small feat.
‘He has talent.’
The movement style wasn’t even his specialty of contemporary dance.
So a collaboration like this was nothing—he’d gotten a good part, and there were no issues with the performance.
Since Testa had the best name value, the camera would favor him too.
I nodded. There were no problems.
“Go out there and do well.”
“…Yeah!!”
Seeing Sun Ah-hyun’s fired-up energy, he’d definitely deliver.
Of course, it wasn’t just Sun Ah-hyun. Listen to Bae Sae-jin muttering beside me.
“…I’m presenting an award.”
“Hmm? A child actor award presentation, huh. That suits you well, doesn’t it? Moving around might be a bit inconvenient though….”
“I’m presenting an award!”
“…Calm down, Sae-jin.”
From film festival award presentations to entertainment award ceremony special stages.
I’d carefully selected only substantial schedules with potential for press coverage, nothing excessive.
Everyone had agreed to use the free time this way instead of participating in year-end events.
‘…This quarter’s settlement is going to be cut in half.’
Still, it was profitable business. It was an effective promotional method too.
So I’d also taken on one or two offers after filtering by name value, but… it felt a bit unsatisfying.
‘Why would this offer even come to me.’
There probably would’ve been more suitable members, but… well, if you really want to use me.
‘Whatever.’
I shrugged and put my headset back on.
I planned to review the third recording session. This title track had to turn out perfectly, no matter what.
‘Let’s do this.’
And then the year-end season rushed toward us in a blur.

* * *
A few weeks later, early-to-mid December, Friday night.
Netizens were waiting for the year-end season that had returned, the very first public broadcast music program.
-Who’s watching the SBC Music Awards tonight? Oh, just me…?
Haha, is it today? Time flies so fast.
-Let me know when the kids come on
└How old are you, grandma
Actually, let me correct that. There were plenty of people just wanting to watch clips, or those only keeping an eye out for their own idols who appeared later in the show.
Still, since everyone could make an appearance during the opening, the fans of the cast members at least watched the beginning out of courtesy.
-It’s starting
-Ooooh
-Let’s see how many unknown rookies they’re pushing this year!
A massive broadcast hall gleaming brilliantly under the lights.
[☆Gayo Daejeon☆]
[Sangam Hall Live Broadcast]
And then, appearing from the broadcast booth were… impeccably dressed male and female MCs, sparkling under the stage lights.
But their faces were exceptional.
[Hello, Gayo Daejeon viewers!]
With slight smiles, they were the picture of handsome and beautiful, but they weren’t the profession anyone expected.
They were three active idols.
And the most successful ones at that.
[I’m Chae Yul from VTIC!]
[Young-rin from Saint You.]
[And I’m Park Moon-dae from Testa, the youngest MC here.]
Park Moon-dae on screen poked his cheek with an enigmatic smile. The senior MCs standing beside him struggled to suppress their laughter.
-?????
-This MC lineup is insane
Oh my god, hahahaha
-Celestial world’s most popular member combination hahahaha
The comment section exploded at the unexpected first-rate elite lineup.
For reference, even the people being cast hadn’t anticipated this would happen.

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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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