Debut or Die - Chapter 285

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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 285
I heard something I hadn’t anticipated at all—no, something that contradicted my expectations entirely.
‘Do I need help?’
So instead of questioning why the facts didn’t align at all, he was asking out of concern about whether something had gone wrong with me….
‘Is this just atmosphere-setting?’
I lifted my head to read Ryu Chung-woo’s expression, wondering if this was bait meant to elicit a more detailed explanation.
And immediately I retracted that assumption. Ryu Chung-woo’s face was transparent.
Right, he wasn’t that kind of person.
He’d spoken those words because he genuinely wanted to help.
“…Sigh.”
…I felt taken aback.
‘I never expected talk of help to come up in this situation.’
It seemed Ryu Chung-woo still carried the belief that he owed me a tremendous debt from the car accident.
‘I didn’t particularly account for that aspect.’
Now that I thought about it, I’d even settled it myself by saying ‘be grateful’ before.
I recalled the words I’d spoken to Ryu Chung-woo, who seemed to be suffering from a sense of indebtedness during the deserted island survival variety show.
-Right. So, let’s say I saved your life, hyung.
-…!
-You can just keep thanking me from now on. If you need anything, call me without hesitation, and make sure you repay me.
Ryu Chung-woo was truly acting according to those words.
‘…It was during hiking that time too.’
Receiving similar words in the same situation was somewhat amusing.
“Mm.”
I rested my arm on the railing and smiled wryly.
Looking at it all together… I felt something more peculiar. A helping hand instead of suspicion.
‘How strange.’
It felt awkward. Yet it wasn’t bad.
I answered slowly.
“First of all… thank you.”
“….”
“For saying that. It’s a situation where you’d have every right to be angry.”
“That’s not it.”
Ryu Chung-woo answered firmly, then rested his own arm on the railing and leaned comfortably against it.
“You didn’t lie, and I didn’t suffer any harm, so why would I be angry.”
“….”
The fact that he believed I hadn’t lied was surprising in itself.
I was about to sink into strange sentiments, but I quickly pulled myself out.
There was still an answer I needed to give.
“And regarding my situation… honestly, it’s difficult for me to understand or explain it myself, but it’s not so dire that I absolutely need help.”
I turned over my situation in my mind.
I’ve found success in this profession, my condition has stabilized, and everyone I live with is decent. I’m doing fine.
More than fine, really.
‘If anything, it’s almost excessive.’
Managing risk is the inevitable price of this job. And compared to sudden death, at least there’s some context to it.
“The difficult part is already behind us. Now I’m just… deliberately creating problems for myself. I’m trying to figure out why those contradictions you mentioned even exist in the first place.”
Right now, I simply can’t understand why I’m in this body doing all this. I need to uncover the truth.
‘If I don’t know the cause, I won’t know when this situation might suddenly spiral again.’
Ryu Chung-woo nodded.
“So you need to find out what happened to Ryu Gun-woo.”
His perceptiveness is impressive.
“Exactly. Which means you’re already helping me.”
Ryu Chung-woo let out a dry laugh.
“Got it. I’ll do everything I can on that front, so don’t worry. Anything else?”
“I’m fine—”
Wait, actually there is one thing.
“I need to hit a specific target this time. Could you help me with that?”
I can only get the reward for the ‘Conversation with Park Moon-dae’ mission if I hit the target.
“What?”
Ryu Chung-woo looked momentarily stunned, then smiled easily.
“That’s something our team should be aiming for anyway.”
“Right.”
The fact that he doesn’t question this nonsensical statement is probably because he’s mistaken it for a joke meant to steer the conversation back on track.
‘Not that I have any better explanation anyway.’
But there was something… a strange sense of relief in saying it so openly like this.
The tension in my shoulders melted away.
“Good. I’ll work harder.”
“Thank you.”
We both chuckled before I turned my attention back to the scenery outside. The mountainside, empty of people, was quiet.
“It’s a bit hot, but the weather is nice.”
“Yes.”
The heat was more noticeable than the pleasantness, but I didn’t bother pointing it out.
Ryu Chung-woo didn’t ask for further details or explanations after that.
He only confirmed one thing as we descended the mountain.
“The fact that Ryu Gun-woo’s situation matches yours… that’s not a coincidence, is it?”
“…No.”
“I see.”
That was all. The topic ended there.
‘Doesn’t he find this frustrating?’
If it were me, I’d demand to know everything regardless of whether I understood it or not. His composure was remarkable.
Instead, Ryu Chung-woo wrapped up the conversation by saying that while I didn’t need to tell him now, I should feel free to reach out whenever I needed help in the future.
And that wasn’t even the end of it.
“Moon-dae, should we drop the formalities?”
It was something Ryu Chung-woo said while driving as we headed back to the Dormitory after coming down from the mountain.
“Now that I think about it, I’m not even at the athletes’ village anymore, so I wonder if I was too strict about keeping up the courtesy.”
“No, sir. That’s understandable.”
He was saying something dangerous.
“Actually, dropping formalities entirely would’ve looked worse to people. It could’ve caused unnecessary controversy.”
If I’d done that right after debuting… well, I would’ve been beaten to a pulp with accusations of disrespecting the leader as “Park Moon-dae’s number one.”
But Ryu Chung-woo didn’t give up.
“Hmm, I see. Then how about this? Let’s keep the formal speech level, but not be too stiff about it. Just adding ‘yo’ should be enough.”
“….”
Really?
Still, I could sense why he was saying this.
I ended up chuckling and replied.
“Sure thing, hyung.”
“Ha ha.”
We didn’t have music playing in the car on the way back, but the silence didn’t feel awkward.
And I realized my concern had been resolved.
‘…The Summer Package controversy won’t repeat itself.’
That’s how I adapted to my new roommate.
But as the saying goes, solving one worry just brings another.

* * *
After my conversation with Ryu Chung-woo, I was grinding through another grueling comeback preparation schedule in the early morning hours.
[VTIC Senior Shin Chung-ryeo: You’re not exercising?]
An unexpected message came through.
‘Why is this guy texting me out of nowhere….’
[VTIC Senior Shin Chung-ryeo: (dog photo)]
“….”
I checked the photo—a dog happily walking along the familiar Apartment walking trail.
The dog was familiar too. Specifically, it was the one I’d encountered while jogging through the fog at dawn.
‘Come to think of it, I haven’t gone that way for a walk since then.’
Even I couldn’t believe it, but I’d forgotten about it while mountain climbing.
I typed out a casual reply with one hand, no flourishes.
[I switched to a different exercise]
[VTIC Senior Shin Chung-ryeo: I see. I reached out since I hadn’t seen you. Today’s my last day too]
So I wouldn’t have to worry about running into this guy anymore and could resume my dawn walks. Good news, but I’m too swamped with comeback prep to go out anyway….
‘Wait, this guy can’t go that way either?’
Which meant….
I threw out the most pressing possibility directly.
[Are you preparing for a comeback?]
A curveball came back.
[VTIC Senior Shin Chung-ryeo: I’m always preparing albums^^]
‘Damn.’
These guys are coming back now. The way they’re dodging the question makes it obvious.
‘What’s the gap going to be?’
I ran the numbers quickly in my head.
We came back in January this year. They came back in February.
It’s late May now… so judging by this guy’s tone, VTIC’s comeback is around June.
‘That’s a four-month gap… and a repackage is perfect timing for their tier.’
Typically, repackages see lower sales compared to the previous album.
Since it’s just the previous full album with one or two new tracks added, there’s less incentive to buy, and the short turnaround makes consumers hesitant to spend heavily.
But four months is enough.
‘At that interval, there’s almost no loss.’
It’s nearly the gap of a rookie group’s regular activity, and VTIC’s album quality has such a solid reputation that everyone who wants it will buy it.
And the way they’ve structured this….
‘They won’t take a hit on their annual performance.’
The bare minimum acceptable line is an early third-quarter comeback, so they must have planned this from the start of the year.
‘They need to secure half a year’s worth of results.’
At the same time, it means they’re confident in this repackage.
“….”
It’s going to be intense. I let out a bitter laugh.
‘They’ve set their schedule exactly like ours.’
After all, we’re also aiming for a summer comeback this year for the exact same reason.
“Park Moon-dae, we’re going to start shooting right away!”
“Got it.”
I set my smartphone down and followed the staff member. But my mind was spinning rapidly.
“Tilt slightly forward a bit… Yes, that’s perfect.”
And as I went through the album concept photo shoot, I reached a conclusion.
‘Don’t let the months overlap like this.’
Our deadline is also July, after all. If possible, come back in June as planned so we can each have at least a month of breathing room.
But shortly after, an urgent message that came through the company’s emergency contact line was the complete opposite of what I hoped for.
“…July, you said.”
-Yes. Ah….
Through Ryu Chung-woo’s phone, I could hear a planning team member grinding their teeth while holding back curses. I suppressed a sigh.
Just two days after I texted with Chung-ryeo, news articles about VTIC’s sudden July comeback were spreading everywhere.
[“KPOP Monarch” VTIC July Comeback… Album Pre-orders Counting Down]
They’d sealed it tight without any leaks, then detonated it all at once.
“….”
Well, to think about it charitably… they did blow it open relatively early, with more than a month and a half of lead time.
It was basically a message: if you don’t want to get eaten by someone in your weight class, get out of the way.
‘This is irritating.’
Our company’s security would be terrible, so our comeback schedule has probably already leaked through T1.
‘So are you really saying we should either push to September or go head-to-head without the rank difference?’
Chung-ryeo would do something this reckless?
“They know we’re coming back in July, right?”
-…No. I think they probably think it’s June. That’s how the initial articles came out on our end….
“….”
I see.
It seems that when T1 released stock-related presentations and articles mentioning Testa’s activity plans, they announced June out of the planned June-July window.
‘June is Q2, so the PowerPoint composition felt different.’
It was a common sleight of hand.
And if LeTi, VTIC’s agency, thought we were coming in June and scheduled accordingly, then VTIC’s comeback is probably… late July.
That’s worse. We could actually overlap.
“Understood for now.”
I hung up with a cool head and handed the phone back to Ryu Chung-woo. Besides, we were in the middle of schedule changes anyway, so there was no point in talking further.
“Hyung, here.”
“Yeah.”
And what this meant was that the members were listening to the call right next to me.
“We’re overlapping with VTIC Senior again, aren’t we?”
“Yeah.”
“Sigh.”
Big Sae-jin sighed and smiled wryly. The others were visibly tense as well.
And understandably so. It was a nightmare replayed—the simultaneous release they’d faced at debut.
Back then, we’d somehow held on and claimed first place, but thinking of the emotional toll, anyone would naturally feel overwhelmed.
“Umm~ OK!”
Ah, except for that guy.
And Bae Sae-jin interjected with an exasperated tone.
“If you’re that burdened by it, couldn’t you just delay the release? Late August would work fine.”
“If we push it that far… I’m concerned we’ll lose points in the year-end rankings.”
Crossing into the third quarter would cost us too much in year-end streaming scores.
Then we could only focus on album awards, but that’s… already dominated by VTIC.
….
A decision was necessary.

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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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