Debut or Die - Chapter 27

—————

This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

—————

A Fatal Illness if I Don’t Debut – Episode 27
I summoned the Achievement notification I’d been holding back.
[Call of Renown!]
50,000 people have remembered your existence!
: Rare Trait Draw ☜ Click!
Since it appeared after Episode 1 aired, it was already a popup from weeks ago.
‘I’d inadvertently held out on claiming it.’
In fact, not long after Episode 3 aired, I’d already achieved the 100,000 people milestone, and that one had given me points as a reward.
So my current status window looked like this.
[Name: Park Moon-dae (Ryu Gun-woo)]
Level: 12
Title: None
Vocal: A
Dance: C+
Appearance: B+
Charisma: C
Traits: Infinite Potential, That Makes Sense When You Think About It (C), Look at Me! (D)
!Abnormal Status: Death if I Don’t Debut
Remaining Points: 1
For reference, the training points I’d earned during the team matches were already distributed one each to Vocal and Dance before the team stage.
Ah, you might ask—wouldn’t it be a waste not to add one more point to Appearance and enter the A tier? And I even had one point left over.
Of course it felt like a waste.
‘But… unlike other stats, a sudden change in Appearance would be suspected as the result of medical intervention rather than natural growth.’
Especially a change significant enough to shift letter grades.
I could rationalize the initial jump from C+ to B- as the result of management during broadcast preparation. But jumping immediately from B- to A- left no room for excuses.
Even raising B- to B+ required a month’s worth of time and a hairstyle change to barely create a plausible explanation.
‘Well… I was planning to strengthen my dog image anyway, so it worked out nicely.’
Looking at search rankings, Golden Retrievers seemed to be trending among dog breeds lately, and I hoped people would associate me with that.
Anyway, I’ve been rambling. Let me just proceed with the trait draw from the popup.
‘I hope something useful comes up.’
In the newly appeared popup, the roulette machine I’d grown familiar with spun around and came to a stop. A bronze-colored slot.
The silver slot that looked like a higher grade didn’t land this time. Just as I was about to feel disappointed, the trait’s name appeared.
[Trait Acquired: ‘Look at Me! (D)’]
People pay slightly more attention to your actions.
‘…?’
Why did this come up again?
The popup didn’t stop there and displayed a new message.
[Duplicate Trait Detected!]
Would you like to synthesize ‘Look at Me! (D)’?
“…”
This was… the ‘enhancement using identical items’ that commonly appeared in mass-produced games, wasn’t it?
I had no idea where this system came from or why it took this particular form.
‘For now, if I debut and avoid sudden death… I should look into this more.’
Either way, I didn’t have any other options, so I went ahead with the synthesis.
[Synthesis Successful!]
‘I Want to Be the Center (C)’ acquired!
People pay considerable attention to your actions
-When activated, ‘Charisma’ stat increases by one tier
“…!”
The name was terrible, but the effect was impressive.
If it raised my stats, I welcomed it. It felt like a useless trait had been given a second life.
But ‘Charisma’ stat, huh. It was quite an enigmatic ability to gain.
To put it crudely, it’s the ability to not look awkward in front of the camera, and to put it simply… well, it seems like star quality.
Conveniently, the participant with the highest Charisma stat was right next to me.
“And that’s how the teams have been decided~”
“Woooow!”
The MC’s voice came through as team recruitment finished.
I clapped along appropriately while discreetly checking Cha Yu-jin’s status window.
[Name: Cha Yu-jin]
Vocals: C+ (B+)
(Rap: B)
Dance: A+ (S+)
Appearance: A (S)
Charisma: A+ (EX)
Trait: Black Hole (A)
No matter how many times I looked at it, it was a terrifying status window.
Three consecutive A-tier stats—seeing them again, I could only think that this was the kind of person who should be an idol.
Especially the Charisma stat; Cha Yu-jin had the highest potential and current level among all participants.
Even higher than Young-rin, the judge, which meant it exceeded most active idols.
And right now, one of the lowest stats on my status window was the ‘Charisma’ I’d just received a boost to.
I hoped I could get a hint about whether to raise Dance or Charisma first by doing well in this team battle.
“Alright everyone, start by introducing yourselves to your teammates! Once introductions are done, we’ll move right on to explaining the second team battle!”
The problem was that I was already uncertain whether this team battle would even go smoothly.
Following the MC’s words, I sat down with my teammates and silently surveyed their faces.
‘No matter what chaos unfolds, I just need to stay out of it.’

* * *
“Ah, I’m counting on you all.”
Ryu Chung-woo, who had claimed the leader position despite the subtle tension from other participants, smiled as he greeted his teammates.
They all clapped their hands, but the underlying nervousness was palpable beneath the surface.
‘This… they’ll probably catch it even without editing.’
The Production Team had an uncanny knack for capturing these undercurrents of rivalry.
“Have you all finished greeting each other?”
“Yes!”
“Wonderful, what a heartwarming sight~ Now then, shall we announce the second round team challenge?”
“Wooooo!”
While the other participants erupted in cheers at the MC’s words, this team maintained a relatively composed demeanor.
‘It’s exactly like that feeling when you end up in the same group project with engineering majors in a liberal arts class.’
Either way, this wasn’t something I could resolve, so I might as well focus on what the MC was saying.
“For the second round team challenge, Idol Corporation has been running a consistent content series~ Do you know what it is? Ah! That’s right. It’s the 【Hidden Masterpiece Rediscovery】 project!”
So they’re doing that again this season too.
“Wasn’t that the thing where people voted on like… 50 songs on the Website?”
“Yeah.”
People murmured around me. The other participants seemed to already know, offering only perfunctory reactions.
“Masterpieces that unfortunately never got their moment in the spotlight for various reasons! Idol Corporation reinterprets them and presents them to the public once more through this project, and this year our shareholders have selected several iconic idol songs for us!”
In plain terms, they were saying they’d take songs that never took off, remake them, and use them as their own.
‘And they’ll save on composition fees too. Creative economy at its finest.’
Just as I was marveling at the Production Team’s remarkable cost-cutting abilities, someone suddenly spoke to me from the side.
Surprisingly, it was Lee Sae-jin.
“…Do you have a song you want to do?”
“Hm?”
The person who asked seemed to regret it, but a question was still a question, so I answered.
“I’d prefer something with good catchiness.”
It meant I didn’t want to do a song that was already obscure and lacked mass appeal on top of that.
“What about you, hyung?”
“I’d like to do 【Base】.”
It was a solid choice. 【Base】 was like Malang Dalcom’s debut song from the previous team—a title track from a famous idol’s pre-fame era.
I’d actually seen the Stage performance before, and I remembered it having a strong concept and an addictive melody.
“That’s a great song. It should work well as a Stage performance too.”
“…Right.”
Lee Sae-jin nodded in agreement.
Just when I thought he was finally developing some social skills, Cha Yu-jin suddenly interjected into the conversation.
“I like that song too. ‘Base~ Uh, the resonant heartbeat~'”
“…Ah, yes.”
Lee Sae-jin’s expression grew uncomfortable as he clamped his mouth shut.
‘This guy does this every time.’
I wanted to ask why I even came here in the first place.
Either way, with cameras rolling, it was better not to make a scene. I’d just have to salvage what I could.
“I see. I’d love to do this.”
“Yes!”
Cha Yu-jin responded with an oblivious, cheerful affirmation.
‘No sense of the room or context, but the guy’s got a positive attitude.’
I was revising my assessment of him upward when the MC finally announced the song selection method.
“Look straight ahead—on that table over there, there are seven different items!”
Sure enough, I could see a table positioned at a considerable distance from the participants.
“These items are personal belongings of the original artists behind each ‘hidden gem’ song. You’ll choose one of these items using deduction and intuition!”
“Huh?”
“Oh no, I’m terrible at this kind of thing!”
“The method is—ah, quite traditional. It’s a race! Leaders, get ready!”
“A race?”
With Ryu Chung-woo as the leader and his athletic prowess, we’d have an advantage in this situation.
Of course, it would only matter if we could actually identify the original artist based on their belongings.
Still, this approach had possibilities.
“That’s a pouch! Looks like it belongs to a woman!”
“A baseball—is the artist a baseball fan?”
“Oh, a skull pencil. That’s pretty unique.”
Murmurs of speculation echoed from all directions. Everyone was racking their brains in their own way.
Ah, this team had reached a consensus quickly.
“We’d like you to bring back the item that appears most expensive upon close inspection.”
“Yes, that works!”
If someone was putting expensive items on display like this, they were probably a successful entertainer—the logic was sound enough on the surface.
It seemed like a decision made with an eye toward broadcast time as well as song selection.
Kim Rae-bin’s suggestion earned a nod of agreement from Ryu Chung-woo.
Before long, the MC called the leaders again.
“Leaders, are you ready?”
“Yes!”
“Then… go!”
The leaders bolted forward and thrust their hands toward the table with reckless abandon.
‘No matter how I look at it, there’s no time to choose carefully up there.’
Isn’t this just pure luck then?
“Got it!”
But Ryu Chung-woo snatched something and came back with a grin on his face.
With confident certainty, he held up what he’d grabbed.
It was a baseball.
“This was a baseball autographed by Ryu Wan-beom!”
“…!!”
“Wow.”
Everyone’s eyes widened in surprise. Ryu Wan-beom was a famous batter who’d made it to the major leagues.
Cha Yu-jin asked immediately.
“How did you know?”
“I watch baseball sometimes. That’s how I recognized him right away.”
Ryu Chung-woo grinned and tossed the baseball back and forth. With things going smoothly, the tension in our team temporarily eased, and a comfortable atmosphere settled over us.
But it didn’t last long.
“The owner of the baseball is… ah, Lee Chan-woo, the vocalist of the idol band Taeyang Island!”
“…??”
The owner of the baseball was… a complete stranger none of us knew.
“Who are you?”
To Cha Yu-jin’s straightforward question, none of my teammates could provide an answer.
“Woohoo!”
Right next to us, Choi Won-gil’s team was celebrating excitedly.
“Hello. I’m Jung Ha-im, currently working as a film actress.”
“Uh… uh…”
The owner of the pouch that Big Sae-jin, the leader of that team, had chosen was a famous actress.
Because of the first team match, I felt an odd sense of déjà vu.
I shrugged my shoulders.
‘Well, this can happen.’
After all, the most important thing was the song.
Of course, having a currently famous celebrity appear would help secure screen time.
Plus, it could completely block reactions like “stealing a poor unknown idol’s precious song.”
But ultimately, having a good song was overwhelmingly advantageous. On an audition program, the Stage performance had to be excellent.
So once I confirmed the song….
“The song I’m entrusting to you all is… “Burning Like the Sun”!”
Oh.
Oh… What do I do about this?
“Ah!”
“I know it!”
The other team members exclaimed in recognition.
“Thank goodness it’s a song we know….”
“Senior, I listen to you all the time!”
Relief flooded through the team.
With decent recognition and a good song, they seemed to regain their energy.
The original artist seemed delighted by their reaction and enthusiastically introduced the song.
“‘Burning Like the Sun’ was released seven years ago, but it’s still beloved as a cheering song. If you’re into baseball, you’ve probably heard the chorus at least once.”
“Ah, I know it well. It’s a great song.”
Ryu Chung-woo answered with a gentle smile, and the original artist laughed contentedly. Cha Yu-jin opened his eyes wide and asked a question.
“What’s the chorus like? I don’t know much about baseball!”
The original artist cleared his throat as if he’d been waiting for that question.
“Ah, well. ‘Come now, wake up~ Like that blazing sun~’ This one.”
“I see. That’s right.”
“Haha!”
The team members laughed warmly at Cha Yu-jin’s awkward grammar.
Creating this harmonious atmosphere alongside the original artist looked far better compared to before.
The problem was… the outlook wasn’t good.
That’s right. After this cut, they’d probably insert a “Two days later” caption and preview the team’s collapsed morale in the teaser.
That song simply didn’t fit an idol survival competition at all…

—————

This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

—————