Debut or Die - Chapter 26

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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 26
[This participant has garnered attention for their exceptional dancing skills.]
‘Park Moon-dae isn’t even seventh place!’
She clenched both fists tightly, her mind erupting in a thousand silent screams.
All those votes—no, all those shares she’d persistently urged people to buy through SNS posts and videos—came flooding back like a tidal wave.
And then, past sixth place, came fifth.
[This participant… received attention for their distinctive ideas and unique talents, didn’t they?]
Finally, the MC called out Park Moon-dae’s name.
[Fifth place, Park Moon-dae!]
The camera caught Park Moon-dae jumping up from his seat.
‘Insane, absolutely insane….’
She couldn’t contain her overwhelming excitement and typed furiously on SNS.
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[5th ​​place in crazy liberal arts college, Ah, Mundaeㅠㅠ I really thought you would do well, you’re a genius at our liberal arts collegeㅠㅠㅠ Thank you for being an idol, reallyㅠㅠ]
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Then she deleted it without posting.
A thin thread of reason prevented her from uploading it—her SNS account had already become notable enough that it could be weaponized against her.
Park Moon-dae climbed onto the stage, his golden-brown hair swaying as he bowed once, then began to speak.
[I feel this ranking is more than I deserve. I promise to show growth that won’t disappoint the shareholders who purchased my stock. Thank you for your support.]
And he bowed again.
It was a textbook acceptance speech, but the word choice made it sound more like a corporate presentation than an idol showcase.
At a time when people were saying things like ‘Are you the boss of Mundaengdaeng? Haha’ on social media, the MC asked a question prepared in advance.
[You received a lot of attention through your chicken feet mukbang PR. If you were to debut, what other mukbang content would you like to do?]
[Hmm… Steam-grilled beef intestines?]
The MC burst out laughing at the unusually precise product name.
[Is there a reason?]
[Among everything I’ve tasted, it was the most delicious after the chicken feet.]
Park Moon-dae’s calm response drew laughter from various corners of the studio.
The MC packaged it humorously.
[Ah, another PPL-related product! This participant really cares about Idol Corporation~ And that’s fifth place! This was Park Moon-dae!]
[Thank you.]
Park Moon-dae simply smiled faintly, bowed once more, and made his way to his designated seat.
It was a moderately witty edit that avoided unnecessary controversy.
She exhaled in relief as she watched.
She’d been worried because the editing often included subtle implications questioning Park Moon-dae’s attitude.
‘They must have gone after another participant instead.’
Sure enough, Kim Rae-bin, announced as fourth place, received awkward editing.
The conflict from the team match with the seventh-place participant was highlighted—it seemed to be a consequence of that.
Either way, she watched the rest of the announcements with a much lighter heart.
Honestly, it didn’t matter who ranked where.
I just hoped Sun Ah-hyun would perform well. And I wouldn’t mind if Cha Yu-jin flopped a bit.
The malicious fans of Cha Yu-jin on social media were calling Park Moon-dae by insulting nicknames and spouting nonsense so relentlessly that I was ready to press charges out of sheer frustration.
However, Idol Corporation typically favored contestants who left their agencies to participate, so the traditional structure made it difficult for an agency’s legal action to quell public opinion.
And besides, Park Moon-dae was a civilian contestant to begin with.
I was only worried he might have stumbled upon some of those comments and gotten hurt.
Once he debuts, I’ll have his agency send out cease-and-desist letters left and right.
With that firm resolve, I habitually continued watching the broadcast.
Sun Ah-hyun ranked third.
“I-I’m… so grateful. Sob…”
Sun Ah-hyun wept openly as he gave his thanks.
Against a touching background score, reaction shots of several October 31 teammates with reddened eyes were captured.
“I… I didn’t think I c-could… do this. Th-thank you to my teammates. A-and for voting… I’m truly grateful.”
The MC silently mouthed “It’s stocks, not votes!” with an amused expression.
But the cross-cut of Sun Ah-hyun, too overwhelmed to notice, drew gentle laughter amid the emotional moment.
Sun Ah-hyun sniffled his way back to his seat, and during that process, the warm interactions between Park Moon-dae and his October 31 teammates were briefly highlighted.
It was evidence that the Production Team was also aware of the heated reactions online.
After that, the top two positions went to Cha Yu-jin and Ryu Chung-woo as expected, and after a close competition, Cha Yu-jin was announced as first place.
“I’m so happy!”
I would’ve preferred Ryu Chung-woo to win instead.
Cha Yu-jin’s bright and cheerful acceptance speech felt subtly annoying.
But I wasn’t foolish enough to leave hateful comments, so I decided to simply celebrate Park Moon-dae’s fifth-place ranking.
A relatively unnoticed contestant was announced at forty-ninth place, bringing the ranking ceremony to an anticlimactic end.
After a brief, heartwarming scene of the October 31 members teasing Sun Ah-hyun and laughing together, Park Moon-dae’s screen time ended.
How disappointing.
From a fan’s perspective like mine, the content was insufficient. I wanted to see more.
Hoping that next time they’d film him on his commute, I silently wished for Park Moon-dae’s continued success.
After the ranking ceremony ended, they probably went straight into filming for the next team mission.
I wondered if Big Sae-jin or Sun Ah-hyun—or maybe one of them—would be on his team again.
As I speculated about various possibilities, I harbored a deep wish.
Whoever it is, I hope Park Moon-dae can create a wonderful Stage performance with peace of mind.

* * *
My head feels like it’s about to split open.
What in the world is happening now?
“Ah! Park Moon-dae has been selected!”
The MC’s excited voice and the participants’ surprised exclamations echoed from all directions.
“No way!”
“Moon-dae hyung?”
Even after the group had been reduced from seventy-seven to forty-nine, the noise level was still ear-splitting.
Surprised? I was too.
Why did that guy pick me?
“And so Park Moon-dae will be joining Kim Rae-bin’s team.”
I’d already anticipated that the second team competition would be filmed immediately after the ranking announcement.
-This team will be decided by drawing lots!
-Seven participants I select will become leaders, and they’ll pick their teammates by answering quiz questions!
I figured a rule like this would come up eventually.
But I never expected him to pick me.
Kim Rae-bin.
A participant from the same Entertainment Agency as Cha Yu-jin, currently ranked fourth. From what I know, he makes it to the final second place.
For the record, I’ve never even exchanged greetings with him.
“Park Moon-dae, please move to your position!”
“….”
I trudged over and stood beside Kim Rae-bin.
‘I can’t just ask him why he picked me out of the blue.’
Who knows what kind of editing would result from that. For now, let’s just exchange polite bows like we’re meeting a business associate.
“I look forward to working with you.”
“Yes, and I look forward to working with you as well.”
Fortunately, despite his fierce appearance, he bowed respectfully.
‘So it wasn’t malicious intent.’
My prejudice had probably gotten the better of me—his handsome delinquent look and three-white eyes were exactly the type modern teenagers would find appealing.
‘So he really did pick Park Moon-dae because I seemed useful.’
Since Kim Rae-bin was a rapper, it made sense that he wouldn’t feel threatened by the main vocal position.
If a lower-ranked participant had picked me, I would’ve simply assumed they wanted the main vocalist.
But clearly, there had been a participant in Kim Rae-bin’s previous team who was originally supposed to debut as the main vocalist.
So why did he deliberately exclude them?
‘Ah, so the previous teammates were uncomfortable with each other.’
Now that I thought about it, that made sense.
Kim Rae-bin’s previous team was the one where the atmosphere had completely fallen apart because of the individual first-place reward.
Right, I remember that broadcast.
-Did you deliberately give me this part?
-No. I assigned each person the part they could perform most aptly so everyone could show their best on stage….
So I thought that was all I could do.
It didn’t air on broadcast, but I heard that after the individual match rewards were announced, someone even grabbed someone by the collar.
‘That brutality was captured really well in the broadcast edit too.’
Thanks to that, only Cha Yu-jin survived in a good light in the broadcast edit.
That team’s main vocalist didn’t have much screen time, but it wouldn’t be strange if they just cut ties with each other awkwardly.
And if they chose Park Moon-dae, the most proven vocalist among those remaining, it makes sense.
‘Though it is a bit odd that he was chosen first.’
It’s not something I need to worry about right now, so let’s move on.
I quickly organized my thoughts and grasped the situation.
“Next quiz~ Five words starting with ‘Park’!”
“Museum, applause, bat, Park Hyeok-geose, Park Go-ji.”
Kim Rae-bin immediately raised his hand and answered quickly. His momentum was resolute.
“Wow! Participant Kim Rae-bin, that’s another correct answer!”
“Ahhh!”
“Isn’t this way too advantageous for someone who raps?”
With the participants’ rich reactions, showing they understood broadcast dynamics, Kim Rae-bin immediately nominated the next participant.
“Cha Yu-jin… I’ll nominate you as the next participant.”
Even though we were on the same team before, he’s still securing first place. I would have done the same.
He was surprisingly wise.
Based solely on how the last team match went, he seemed to have worse social skills than Lee Sae-jin, but it really was the power of rumors and editing.
But I’m not sure what kind of impact it will have on me if the team is composed this way.
‘It seems like it’ll be very different from the first round.’
“Good pick!”
“Yeah.”
The moment he was nominated, Cha Yu-jin rushed over and greeted Kim Rae-bin. Then he immediately gave me a thumbs up.
“We’re together!”
“Yes… that’s right.”
“You perform well on Stage!”
“Yes. I look forward to working with you.”
I don’t know how long I have to keep talking like this. It’s awkward.
What’s funny is that it seems only I find it awkward. Cha Yu-jin is nodding his head as if he’s figured out some context all on his own.
I can already roughly predict how our communication will go from here on.
Meanwhile, Kim Rae-bin continued picking team members without hesitation. His hit rate was decent, so the team filled up quickly.
“Participant Ryu Chung-woo.”
“Participant Min Jung-hoon.”
And I started to feel uneasy.
The lineup was excessively good. By “good,” I mean they ranked high.
All team members were in the top 15. Just thinking about what kind of edit might come out makes my head spin already.
‘If we don’t perform at a celestial level, there’s no way out of this?’
And on top of that, only my image became a bit strange.
This was because Choi Won-gil was among the first seven participants selected to form teams.
“Sun Ah-hyun!”
“Big Sae-jin, ah, Lee Sae-jin!”
Choi Won-gil had essentially reconstructed his team from the first round, starting with Sun Ah-hyun and including nearly all his former teammates.
Of course, I was the exception. Kim Rae-bin had already picked me first, so there was no choice in the matter.
‘Though honestly, even if he had the choice, I doubt he would’ve picked me anyway.’
But there was one more October 31 member that Kim Rae-bin had picked first.
“Lee Sae-jin, child actor-turned-participant Lee Sae-jin A! Joining Kim Rae-bin’s team~”
Lee Sae-jin walked toward us with a distinctly displeased expression.
The unexploded bomb that hadn’t detonated in the first round thanks to Big Sae-jin, Gold 1, and Gold 2’s chaotic social skills had just joined Kim Rae-bin’s team.
“….”
Why had Kim Rae-bin picked Lee Sae-jin anyway?
Could it be he simply chose the highest-ranked person still available?
I turned my gaze from the remaining unpicked participants and caught sight of Choi Won-gil’s team.
“Moon-dae~”
The moment our eyes met, Big Sae-jin, Gold 1, and Gold 2 stretched out their hands toward me with sorrowful expressions, as if performing some kind of comedic skit.
And Sun Ah-hyun, looking flustered, waved his hand restlessly.
“….”
This ominous feeling of having boarded the wrong ship—what on earth was it?
A chill ran down my spine. It seemed like a moment that required supernatural intervention.
‘Status window.’

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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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