Debut or Die - Chapter 287

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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 287
VTIC’s teaser began with an ominous siren wail and an antiquated four-legged bathtub.
Weeeeee—
‘Hm?’
An office worker watching the teaser briefly wondered at the incongruous pairing.
The siren gradually faded, its place taken by the sound of water droplets falling into the bathtub.
Tap.
Tap.
A white marble tile backdrop with only a black bathtub existing within the frame.
The moment the siren vanished from within it, leaving only the sound of falling water.
Click.
Images flashed past.
Red candles, a finger pressed to lips in silent gesture, weathered books, viral structures, blood droplets, ominous symbols.
Tap.
And finally… a man’s foot entering the bathtub.
Tremendous momentum and symbolism.
After those fleeting image cuts like memories ended, just as a brief silence and black screen seemed to steady one’s breath.
Elegant, delicate string instrument sounds filled the screen.
[Oooh— ooooh— ooooooh]
A cappella-like humming.
Simultaneously, light illuminated the screen.
It was the same bathtub cut from moments before….
“…!”
The bathtub had somehow become half-shattered, rising into the air. A firm, solid form gripped the bathtub’s body as if wringing it, lifting it upward.
Eight tentacles of a sharply sculpted dark-green cephalopod.
The camera panned across the precarious bathtub’s interior.
In-young lay within it, submerged in water up to his neck.
Silver-haired Chung-ryeo. Whether from the screen’s light or reflected luminescence, it appeared greenish.
‘Dyed hair??’
Before the viewer could process further thoughts.
Chung-ryeo’s eyes opened.
[What cannot be understood
may be forgotten
Understanding is needed in this moment]
A simple melody gently enveloped the screen as light cascaded down from the shattered ceiling onto the bathtub.
Light poured across Chung-ryeo’s languid face.
‘Look at that face.’
Just as the office worker felt a reflexive sense of awe at the somewhat moving cut.
The cuts of the other three members gradually flowed onto the screen.
[Oooh— ooooh— ooooooh]
Chae Yul stood before the massive Stained Glass, a finger poised thoughtfully at his lips. Shin O held a candle aloft in the darkened Corridor. And in the Forest, Ju-dan drew a black robe over his head.
Then the screen returned to Chung-ryeo submerged in the Bathtub.
An elegant shot of him lying back until his head disappeared beneath the water, the final verse ending in a whispered murmur.
[Blow out the candle right]
Pop.
The empty Bathtub plummeted through empty air.
“…!”
The amphibian legs that had been constricting and supporting it vanished without a trace. Just before impact shattered it into fragments against the ground.
The screen froze at that moment.
And ominous black letters were etched across it.
[He got a Permission to Explore my Land]
The sentence rearranged itself, collecting only the capital initials to form a title.
[H. E. L. P.]
And as the final letter flipped.
[H. E. L. L.]
The sound of the Bathtub shattering echoed across the black screen.
“….”
And so the video ended.
“Ah.”
The office worker started to respond aloud, then consciously stopped himself.
But his mind already knew. One glance at the live reactions flooding in made it impossible not to understand.
-OMG is it real?
-These guys are absolutely insane
-What the—
-VTIC’s eating everything this year too
VTIC had arrived with a concept so audacious it would drive their fans wild.
And they’d layered it with a chilling horror sensibility perfectly suited for summer.
“…They’re going to make a killing.”
The office worker was calculating projections when reality hit him.
And he found himself wanting to ask the idol he’d signed.
He hoped—desperately hoped—that a slump album wouldn’t drop now and derail their momentum.
‘Why did you bring a seasonal song to a market like this?’

* * *
“….”
I scrolled through social media.
-Nearly had a breathing attack
-So good I’m going crazy outfit song concept please keep going like this
-Firm belief the teaser isn’t a scam VTIC made it gotta protect it
-With this many years of experience, aren’t they just being lazy with management and falling into a rut? No way lol VTIC are pro idols~
These were the reactions to VTIC’s teaser.
It wasn’t just people blindly praising it for the sake of public opinion—I could see genuine fans getting excited and running wild with real enthusiasm.
“Hmm.”
The song definitely had a strong hook.
Even at a glance, I could tell the horror concept had been refined to the extreme without becoming crude, with thick layers built up carefully.
‘It even looks like they’ve made it seem like some grand finale for people who listened to the previous album.’
They’d maximized every advantage of the repackage.
Because of this song, the previous album’s concept seemed completely flipped, giving room for fresh interpretation.
Something about a 20th-century cosmic horror concept—and it was clear the public got that it wasn’t just a one-dimensional spooky special, but something deeper.
-The timing with the previous album and Broadway is perfect cosmic horror lol
-A 10-year cosmic horror concept idol? Isn’t that only supposed to exist in 2D
-Can already hear the overseas fans losing their minds they love this stuff more than we do lol
-It’s otaku-like and I love it the original spirit shines through
The moment the second teaser focusing on choreography was released, public opinion surged upward once more.
‘Sophisticated.’
They were satisfying nearly every expectation the public would have for a successful idol group at every point.
Camera work placed strategically, intense formations using dancers, group choreography, costumes that weren’t excessively experimental.
I could see the mass appeal neutralizing the first teaser’s extreme conceptual nature.
‘I thought the vocals would be weak.’
They’d managed the vocal range well too, making it easy to listen to. They weren’t just coasting on experience.
In summary… this was an activity that would make fans clap and cheer.
‘There’s no luck involved here.’
I let out a small laugh. I’d suspected as much ever since I saw Chung-ryeo’s dyed hair.
Still, I’d worried that maybe they’d lose their touch while rushing forward, but instead they’d become less cautious and the song had become even more interesting.
‘Hmm.’
“Moon-dae, let’s stop watching~ We’re busy with our own stuff~”
“Yeah.”
I obediently turned my smartphone screen away at the urging.
“Good!”
Continuing to watch the competitors’ stuff wouldn’t change anything anyway, and it would only complicate my mind.
But honestly, I wasn’t particularly anxious.
‘No overlap.’
The concern I’d been most wary of as a late entrant had been resolved.
The concept and genre these guys are targeting feel completely different from ours.
Still, it seems one of them had thought this through carefully, piece by piece.
That’s why Bae Sae-jin brought it up once today’s schedule ended.
“Hey, this is okay, right?”
“Sorry?”
“Our teaser. The vibe feels a bit….”
“Ah.”
Looking at just the teaser… I understood what he was getting at. I nodded.
“I think it’ll be fine.”
“…You’re sure?”
“Yes. Actually, it’ll work in our favor. Any reaction is buzz, after all.”
If public opinion was going to flip anyway, it was just buildup that expanded the narrative.
And a few days later, VTIC’s music video dropped two days before our first teaser.

* * *
VTIC’s music video maximized the teaser’s atmosphere, then layered in something slightly more poignant and sensual—a masterpiece.
The ominous occult elements paid homage to the previous album’s lavish, leisurely Broadway scenes while delivering chilling cuts that heightened the tension.
Most importantly, it was polished without a single juvenile or jarring moment.
-This should be passed down as cultural heritage
-I can only express my despair that VTIC is a god
-Pushing it hard when they’re already old tsk tsk
└You calling them old when they haven’t even enlisted yet… are you perhaps their fan? haha
Haha, I can see the subject!
-It’s really amazing to be held in check during this year. How big are you planning to grow?
Reaction videos poured in, praise flooded the comments, and fans were satisfied.
The initial criticisms—”the song is exhaustingly ornate,” “it’s hard to understand”—flipped as time went on. The track had strong staying power.
-Muggles also caught on. What should I do if the popular chanting no longer works?
-Only VTIC can keep a male idol group on the charts with a song like this
└Beep boop! This comment will be deleted once Testa comes out
└Sorry? The group that forces easy-listening tracks into every album just to look accessible?
Hahahahahahahaha
Strong performance had the power to make negative opinions hesitate.
VTIC delivered a title that didn’t just meet expectations but exceeded them, and their fans grew even more resistant to news of Testa’s comeback.
If they hadn’t announced their activities so closely timed, VTIC’s promotions could have been enjoyed without worry.
-Rude + stupid combo is insane
-They’ll rank 1 for a week then disappear don’t worry
-The strategy is so visible it’s disgusting
But the general public was entertained.
A clash of the highest-tier male idols!
Wasn’t it just too fun to pit them against each other with a VS, comparing and evaluating no matter who won?
Some quick-moving Entertainment Agencies even rushed comebacks for lesser-known idols. After all, this would surely be when music broadcast viewership peaked for the year.
-Testa’s teaser should drop soon
-Oh this is gonna be fun lol
-What if it gets buried under VTIC and nobody even notices? lol
└Judging by how much they’re hyping it daily, I doubt that’ll happen
└lololol damn
And when Testa’s teaser finally dropped, even people who normally skipped teasers found themselves clicking.
Because they wanted to compare it to VTIC!
Though truthfully, people had already handed VTIC a decisive victory, so they clicked the video with somewhat harsher expectations.
Click!
[TeSTAR ‘Promise’ Official Concept Teaser]
And then, genuinely ambiguous reactions began to ripple through.
-???
-Hmm
The video was a brief first-person exploration—swimming up from the deep sea toward the surface.
A slow bass and string accompaniment without the main melody echoed through.
With the video dark and a calm, profound ambient sound layered underneath, it oddly resembled VTIC’s teaser.
-Looks like some kind of immersive VR game
-Hmm
-That’s interesting.
-Is it just me or does this remind you of VTIC? lol
After some time passed, SNS and the Online Community were overtaken by outright harsh criticism.
It seemed to be in a similar vein to VTIC, but it wasn’t nearly as impressive.
People wanted to pour out even crueler evaluations and mockery.
-Same old thing we always hear, otaku-ish and bland
-Yeah VTIC’s inferior knockoff, you can tell just from the teaser
-They’re standardized now too, just doing the same thing and going on tours, can’t stop the flow, get ready
-I think the song is good~ But the concept feels the same.
-Yeah that’s why I’m not a fan of having in-group producing members, but at this point the sense has dulled, it’s like.. such a shame
The evaluations were brutally harsh enough to freeze the fans. Surely some of VTIC’s fans were mixed in deliberately, but regardless, the prevailing opinion was unmistakable.
It’s just a check, so it’s best not to worry too much and just go ahead.
-We’ve experienced reversals like this a couple times when people tried to tear things down, we just gotta do our job
Don’t worry about buying it, seriously. Let’s just focus on preparing for streaming instead.
Anonymous accounts excitedly spouting things like “Testa’s already done for” did strut around, but most fans quietly waited for the next reveal.
It was because they had built up trust over time.
Regardless of anything else, Testa’s album quality had never been poor!
And a week later.
Testa’s actual music video was released.
-MV’s up
-Horror again? lol
However, people’s expectations were spectacularly wrong.
The Testa music video thumbnail featured a stunning white Sandy Beach with azure waves rolling in—it exuded the quintessential bright, summery feel of a seasonal hit.
-???
-Is it so bright?? LOL
It was a teaser scam!
Well, at that moment, everyone thought it was a teaser scam.
People clicked on the video, somewhat bewildered.

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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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