Debut or Die - Chapter 299

—————
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 299
It’s not unusual to hear my roommate’s voice in the early morning, but this situation is somewhat exceptional.
‘This is driving me crazy.’
Today Ryu Chung-woo went as a guest to a camping variety show that runs for one night and two days.
So I’d been having a video call in what was essentially a solo room, which was convenient.
[Oh….]
“Wait.”
Click.
I closed my laptop first. Then I got up and headed toward the door.
“Hyung, just a moment.”
And I opened the door.
Ryu Chung-woo stood there in casual clothes with a somewhat puzzled expression. I’m puzzled too. What are you doing here?
“Um, I thought you’d gone to film.”
“Oh, there was a casting issue, so we decided I’d rejoin tomorrow evening instead.”
Ryu Chung-woo touched the back of his neck a few times, then spoke in a slightly embarrassed tone.
“But the door was locked, so if you were sleeping, I was planning to just sleep in the living room, but I heard a sound.”
“….”
If he’d understood what he heard, he wouldn’t be acting so calm.
‘Besides, this place has pretty good soundproofing anyway.’
I held back a sigh and stepped aside.
“There are a lot of noisy people, so I must have locked it earlier and forgotten. I’m sorry.”
“You don’t need to apologize.”
He sounds sincere, but what’s funnier is that he seems to have accepted this excuse. I gave Cha Yu-jin a brief thanks and sat on my bed.
I’d wait a moment, and once Ryu Chung-woo goes to wash up, I’d grab my laptop and head out….
“Moon-dae, your laptop light is on.”
“I was playing games until just now.”
Ryu Chung-woo seemed somewhat shocked.
“Until this early morning?”
“…Yeah, well. I figured one night would be okay.”
Because I’d been thinking about Cha Yu-jin right up until then, this pathetic excuse came to mind. I felt my dignity crumble.
A lukewarm response came back.
“Hmm… it might not be good for your health, so let’s try to exercise some restraint.”
“…Yes.”
I answered with difficulty.
“I’ll clean up now.”
“Yeah. Even if your schedule is in the afternoon tomorrow, it’s already 3 AM.”
Ryu Chung-woo smiled faintly and began pulling out his pajamas.
I held back the urge to punch my bed and thought rationally.
‘He’ll go wash up in 30 seconds.’
So I prepared to gather my things while pretending to organize my laptop….
“Hmm, Moon-dae. Since the situation’s come up… would it be alright if I asked you something?”
“Of course.”
Ryu Chung-woo, holding clothes, broached the subject with some caution.
I should have guessed from that alone.
“It’s about that VTIC senior.”
Damn it.
I swallowed hard at the mention of the guy inside my laptop.
‘Since I closed it, he shouldn’t hear anything.’
“From what Se-jin said, it sounds like something happened. Did that senior do something?”
“Well…”
I did a quick calculation. How specific should I be while staying close to the truth?
And I struck the right balance.
First, I’d hint that it was in the past so the reaction wouldn’t blow out of proportion.
“There was an incident a while back.”
Then I shifted the tone by focusing the explanation on how it wasn’t my fault, rather than the incident itself.
“He started the confrontation and we fought. I didn’t hit him first—I was just defending myself.”
“Started a confrontation?”
“Yes. So we ended up… exchanging blows.”
“…”
He seemed a bit taken aback.
Good. This was heading the same direction as with those two namesakes from before.
“That sounds like… he tried to hit a junior member and got hit back.”
Exactly right.
“That’s correct. Given the difference in seniority and hierarchy, it was his fault. I was justified in defending myself.”
“I see.”
Was that it?
This felt like the right moment for some consolation or advice and then we’d be done…
“But you’ve gotten close enough with that senior to play games together?”
“…!”
Damn.
I’d lost count of how many times I’d been caught off guard.
Though it seemed Ryu Chung-woo wasn’t interrogating me—he was just genuinely curious.
“I heard sound coming from your earbuds when I came in. I wasn’t trying to listen on purpose.”
The laptop must have stayed active for a moment instead of going into sleep mode right after closing. This guy had annoyingly sharp ears no matter what.
“Is there anything bothering you? Any concerns about that situation?”
…He seemed a bit worried too.
Probably, combining my informal speech recording incident with various other circumstances, he suspected some kind of ongoing harassment or bullying.
Like being used as a farming bot in games until dawn to torment a junior member.
‘Guess he’s seen a lot of cases like that from his athletic background.’
I shrugged my shoulders.
“Not particularly. We fought it out, and it became easier to stay in touch. I’ve received a proper apology too.”
“Hmm.”
“I’m using it well, so don’t worry.”
“…Using it?”
“Well… once I organized it, it became manageable. I just deploy it conveniently from time to time, so don’t be concerned.”
“Manageable….”
Ryu Chung-woo seemed to accept it, but then worry suddenly flickered across his face.
And he asked urgently.
“Moon-dae, you’re not tormenting him in return, are you?”
It’s me who gets frustrated every time, you bastard.
“…Of course not.”
I spent a moment reassuring Ryu Chung-woo, who had begun worrying about the situation in reverse.
“Hyung, do I really seem like that kind of person to you?”
“No, of course not. But well, you’re so clever that… if you ever feel like taking revenge, I just want you to know you don’t need to become the same kind of person.”
“Stop saying obvious things and go wash up.”
Ryu Chung-woo entered the Bathroom with an embarrassed laugh, and I came out to the Living Room with my laptop, explaining that I’d finish the game and come back out.
Then I opened the laptop with my back to the Balcony. I was thinking of closing the app and shutting down the power… but surprisingly, Chung-ryeo’s face appeared.
[Oh.]
He seemed to be working on something, writing notes.
But he hadn’t ended this video call on purpose?
[Are you done talking?]
“I didn’t expect you to still be connected.”
[I wanted to hear the answer to my question.]
Ah, so we’re coming back to that after all.
‘Why are there so many people demanding explanations like this?’
I pressed my throbbing forehead and answered quietly.
“It’s a situation where I can’t speak out loud, so let’s use chat.”
[Okay.]
-CHR : Like this?
-Apple : Yeah
-CHR : ^^
-CHR : So why are you analyzing something you can’t even use?
Did you hand it over?
I felt a moment of doubt, but quickly typed away, considering his contributions.
-Apple : If I completely analyze the pattern, I want to deduce something
-CHR : What kind of thing?
-Apple : I don’t know why I’m here
-Apple : My memory from back then is hazy
I heard him make a low sound through the earphones.
I thought he was lost in thought, but then an absurd message appeared.
-CHR: Wasn’t debuting with a new identity your wish?
-Apple: I was a civil service exam candidate
-Apple: My relevance was just data I collected and sold
-CHR: Could it be you were secretly nurturing a longing for idol life?
This bastard, seriously.
I deliberately kept my expression neutral and calmly operated the keyboard.
-Apple: Looking at your case and Kwon Hee-seung’s, it seems you both had pretty specific wishes
-Apple: Do I look like that to you?
Laughter came through the earphones. I was about to mute it when I stopped myself at the last second.
-CHR: I understand
Right.
-CHR: But I don’t think that’s all there is to it
What?
-CHR: You didn’t seem like someone who’d show all their cards just to feel relieved
-CHR: So what’s the other reason?
“….”
Right. I had exceptional means—a status window and missions—so more things were possible for me.
But there’s an explanation I could give without necessarily revealing that.
I paused for a moment, then slowly typed my response.
-Apple: So this insane situation doesn’t happen again
In the end, everything circles back here.
A wish is a wish in name, but in reality, navigating through “abnormal status” without a status window is pure madness.
Even I, who have one, nearly died several times.
…As for the person on the other end, I don’t even know how many times he’s died.
‘It’s already madness in the sense that there’s no choice and no knowledge.’
There’s definitely this reason too—why I acted the moment I caught a clue instead of waiting blankly for a conversation with Park Moon-dae.
But the guy chatting doesn’t seem particularly convinced. Chung-ryeo glanced at the monitor.
-CHR: So you’re saying it would’ve been better to just die?
-Apple: How could that be
Always so extreme.
-Apple: If you don’t want people to die, you use other methods
-Apple: Donate or run campaigns
-Apple: Sending someone back to the past out of nowhere and making them die again if they can’t clear it doesn’t seem like a good idea
A brief response came back.
-CHR: Are you unhappy right now?
It’s funny hearing that from someone who benefited.
I typed again.
-Apple: We’re a success case
-Apple: I can’t know what happened to those who failed
Kwon Hee-seung’s abnormal status.
It clearly only said ‘failure’, with no description of what that failure entailed.
‘Chung-ryeo’s message definitely specified a restart.’
Which meant that normally, if I ‘failed’, it might just end like some kind of status abnormality and that would be it.
What came after that… didn’t feel particularly optimistic, to put it mildly.
-Apple : Catching the next target won’t be easy
-Apple : But if we keep analyzing the pattern, we might find a way to stop it
-Apple : Isn’t it worth trying?
Spacetime is a controllable factor, after all.
[….]
Chung-ryeo didn’t respond for a few seconds. He just moved his hand over the mouse a few times.
Around the time I realized it looked like he was petting a dog, a response came back.
[Maybe so.]
I nodded slowly.
And the guy on screen suddenly broke into a grin.
‘What?’
-CHR : And
-CHR : Also to prevent variables in activities from arising because of someone with future knowledge?
“….”
-Apple : You know and you’re still asking?
[Hahahaha!!]
I could hear it even through the earphones. Fed up, I finally switched the settings to mute.
-CHR : Good for kicking away the ladder, right?
-CHR : Yes. I’ll cooperate well with you going forward, Junior Member ^^
“This bastard….”
“Still gaming?”
In that moment, I suddenly remembered I was sitting in the Dormitory Living Room.
“No. Just a moment.”
Good thing I muted it.
-Apple : Signing off
This time I closed the app for real and shut down the laptop completely.
Ryu Chung-woo was leaning out from his Room with an enigmatic smile.
“Looks like the game was pretty fun.”
“I’ll delete it.”
“No, you don’t have to go that far….”
“No. I’m doing this for my own sake.”
I silently endured Ryu Chung-woo’s subsequent encouragement before lying down on my Bed.
“I’ll close the door.”
“Okay.”
‘I should just get some proper sleep.’
After getting Ryu Chung-woo’s permission, I set an alarm for 10 PM and set my smartphone down.
Whether spoken or typed, I’d been saying things I normally wouldn’t, and it left me more exhausted than expected.
‘…I’ve already matched all the circumstances I could think of right now.’
A system that switches to candidates who are temporally and spatially close.
Discovering that pattern was worth calling an achievement. But the more I understood it, the more unsettling details became concrete.
‘How does this system know which people will voluntarily die in the future and switch to them?’
No, the very fact that it sends me back to the past at the moment of death was a transcendent ability to begin with.
I casually pulled up my status window.
[Name: Park Moon-dae (Ryu Gun-woo)]
A list of continuous text starting that way.
Why does this remain with me even though the body-switching system has disappeared?
The more I analyzed the pattern, the stranger it felt that my own uniqueness became apparent.
And ultimately, I came to realize that my choice hadn’t been wrong.
‘In the end, I need to have a conversation with Park Moon-dae.’
I couldn’t deny it. There was a high probability I could find the missing pieces there.
‘And if things continue this way, I might be able to….’
That’s when I fell asleep.
It was a deep sleep, dreamless for the first time in a while.
And the next day.
Beep beep beep—!
“….”
I slept well.
I turned off my 10 AM alarm and cleared the message notifications and pop-ups on the screen.
And though I didn’t pay much attention, among them was an entertainment news app I’d recently started subscribing to.
[“Can’t Feel the Pressure” T-Holic Six-Member Comeback]
Later, I’d realize that notification was nothing short of a disaster alert.

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