Debut or Die - Chapter 318

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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 318
The voice on the other end of the phone shifted in tone, ringing out softly.
-Hello. We’ve met before, haven’t we?
Even hearing it again, that was unmistakably Chung-ryeo’s voice. Goosebumps crawled across my skin.
‘What the hell is this bastard doing here?’
And the phone number was different too—what kind of absurd situation was this? On top of that, what did he mean by “we’ve met”?
-I’m moving into the dormitory room, and we exchanged greetings when I arrived. You’re Ryu Gun-woo, right?
“…?”
-It’s nothing serious, but I found something you left behind in the room. I was going to send it by courier, but could you give me your address? The academy only gave me your phone number since it’s personal information.
“….”
Was this a voice phishing scam?
I fell silent for a moment, utterly bewildered, then briefly considered the possibility that this might actually be someone else.
And I arrived at the right answer.
“Don’t worry about the courier. I’ll stop by today and pick it up myself. Thank you.”
-I see. Understood.
He backed off surprisingly easily. Wait—could this really be someone else whose voice just happens to sound similar?
-Since it’s a weekday and I have lectures during the day… shall we meet in front of the academy at 9 PM?
There’s no way that’s it.
I couldn’t hold back and opened my mouth.
“Cut it out.”
-What do you mean?
“I said cut it out, Shin Jae-hyun.”
-…!
I’d deliberately avoided using his stage name, keeping one last possibility in mind, but his reaction confirmed it was really him.
There was a brief silence on the other end of the line, then a voice tinged with laughter came through.
-So you are my senior.
“…!”
-Hmm… judging by your reaction, you do know me. But how are you managing to live two separate lives?
His quick intuition only irritated me more. I couldn’t believe he could deduce such an absurd situation so readily… but first, I needed answers.
“How did you get this contact information?”
-You came to the VTIC fan signing event.
“I must have done thousands of fan signings. Don’t give me such ridiculous excuses.”
Even if we’re talking about advertising model signings, it wasn’t just once or twice, so how could he possibly have identified someone who got an autograph over a year ago without even giving their name?
Yet his voice remained composed.
-Well, you made quite an impression. Plus, it’s not every day someone changes their name twice and uses both as nicknames.
“What?”
He explained the situation from back then with considerable specificity.
My mind automatically reconstructed and replayed the relevant words in Gong-myeong’s voice.
‘Park Moon… no, Ryu Gun-woo…. Oh, I’m sorry. Just Gold 2, please!’
-You said both of my names back then, so it would be stranger if I didn’t remember. I recalled it immediately once I heard your description.
“….”
-I thought you told me on purpose… but you didn’t?
This damn….
I swallowed my curses and endured the fury in silence. There was no point cursing at Park Moon-dae, who knew nothing about this.
Fundamentally, since he wasn’t here, the same question kept circling back.
‘Where the hell did this bastard go.’
Still, I had to say one thing.
“That’s not me.”
-Even your nickname was Big Moon, so that excuse is pretty funny.
“I’m telling you it’s not.”
I pressed my throbbing head.
“That’s… actually Park Moon-dae. Not me.”
-….
Chung-ryeo on the other end of the line paused for a moment before speaking.
-I think we need to have a more detailed conversation.

* * *
An hour and a half later.
I found myself face to face with the guy holding a dog at a house-style cafe in the Seoul Outskirts.
The location was identical to where we’d met before, and with the dog in tow, the situation was strikingly similar.
‘Is he testing whether it’s really me one more time.’
The guy’s mind works persistently. I sat across from him and spoke.
“You come here often, it seems.”
“When I have time, I stop by occasionally.”
Chung-ryeo petted the dog holding the ball in its mouth and shrugged. There was no hint of suspicion in his demeanor.
I held back a sigh.
Having to face off with this bastard again made me a bit skeptical… but he’s someone who’s experienced special circumstances. Better than nothing.
Meanwhile, he studied my face and nodded.
“How should I put it… your appearance matches your personality.”
It sounded like an insult, but I didn’t have the time or energy to get upset over it, so I let it slide.
I nodded slightly, and he changed his question.
“And it’s strange too. Do you live by switching bodies? Though when the Junior Member was active, it always seemed to be the Junior Member…”
“When did you pick up voice phishing as a hobby? That’s what I’d like to ask.”
“That’s harsh. Voice phishing… I’ve never lied.”
Chung-ryeo placed something on the table.
“You left this behind.”
“…!”
It was… a compact camera. A brand new product, still in its packaging.
And the advice I’d given to Park Moon-dae came back to me.
-If you’re interested, you could buy a camera yourself and take pictures around. Of course, after this test is all over.
‘Was this something he bought for motivation?’
I exhaled with a complicated feeling that was hard to put into words. Chung-ryeo smiled faintly.
“I just traced it based on eyewitness accounts, and the Dormitory Academy came up, so he hired someone. There’s no fraud involved.”
“And you made the call yourself anyway?”
“Of course. The crucial decisions can’t be delegated to someone else.”
He was a meticulous bastard.
Even thinking back on the process that brought me here, my assessment doesn’t change.
Just look at what he said the moment we agreed to meet.
-Sounds good. Should I send a car to the Officetel to pick you up?
I was about to nod absently when I understood what he meant.
-…You already knew the address.
-Ha. Procedure matters in human relationships, doesn’t it?
Like someone who’d lived through the same time period multiple times, he knew how to play his cards well.
So I’m not exactly thrilled about revealing my own hand… but in this situation, revealing it would be more advantageous.
I decided to give him a few more points for the cooperation he’d shown during the Gold 2 incident.
“Listen.”
I leaned back in my chair.
“I was able to see the mission in text form.”
“….”
“For me, it appeared directly in front of my eyes as the words ‘abnormal condition.’ Like a game window.”
Silence hung in the air.
Chung-ryeo tilted his head to the side, then responded casually.
“Is that so?”
He didn’t seem particularly surprised. I clicked my tongue.
“It showed, didn’t it.”
“A little, but it’s a statement that makes sense when you consider balance.”
“Balance?”
“Think about it. In exchange for letting you restart, there’s a mission… with ‘abnormal condition’ attached. It’s the type where if you get one thing, a penalty follows with it.”
Chung-ryeo slowly drew a line on the table with his finger.
“You had both your body and your profession changed, didn’t you? That’s a major penalty. In exchange, it wouldn’t be strange if you were given hints.”
“….”
That’s one way to look at it.
Chung-ryeo asked with genuine curiosity.
“By the way… you came from a prestigious university background, didn’t it feel like a waste to give that up?”
“I was studying for the civil service exam anyway.”
“Ha ha.”
Chung-ryeo asked with an ominously gentle tone.
“Did you infer from those hints that if you die, it’s all over?”
“…Yeah.”
“Hmm, should I count that as a penalty too.”
At this rate, the leveling system will be completely drained too. I held back a sigh.
Since things had come to this, before getting into the main topic, I wanted to test something I’d been curious about.
“First… try copying me.”
“Huh?”
“…Shout ‘Status Window’.”
“…”
He stared at me with a rare, expressionless face.
Then he burst out laughing.
“Hahahaha!”
Don’t laugh, you bastard.
Saying it directly in front of someone made my tongue curl in embarrassment. I removed my glasses and pressed the bridge of my nose.
“Junior Member, you certainly have a vivid imagination.”
“Shut up.”
“No, I tried it too.”
Chung-ryeo leaned forward.
“I’ve tried all sorts of content and superstitions. Logout, coma… um, was that the ninth or tenth time?”
“…”
“Do you think I haven’t tried things like that countless times? Nothing works.”
Chung-ryeo chuckled softly.
“Nothing at all.”
“…”
“So… well, should we still try shouting Status Window?”
“That’s enough.”
I pressed my eyes shut. Then, after hesitating, I finally spoke.
“You’ve worked hard.”
“…”
It was pointless.
‘…Did teaching Park Moon-dae become a habit?’
This guy would be the type to say something like ‘Would you rather I do it through a song instead of words?’…
“…Thank you.”
“…”
“Can I hear an explanation about Junior Member’s current condition now?”
“Yeah.”
I ignored the dog sitting at my feet and finally got to the main point.
After the ‘abnormal state’ ended, I received a mission on my own and briefly explained the situation that had unfolded since then, leaving out unnecessary details.
At the words ‘received a mission on my own’, his eyes narrowed slightly, but still, his impressions of the explanation came out first.
Though it wasn’t particularly useful.
“That’s strange.”
“What is.”
There were more than one or two strange things, and throwing out a comment like that—how was I supposed to understand?
Chung-ryeo tapped his fingers on the table.
“Look. Whether it’s a junior member or me, when we restart, the previous timeline ceases to exist.”
“Right.”
“But this time, we both exist on the same timeline and influence each other. That’s a completely different phenomenon.”
“What are you saying?”
“That a different force must be at work. A time paradox seems to have occurred in the process. Well, it’s fascinating.”
Whether this bastard found it fascinating or not didn’t matter—no conclusions would come immediately, and what mattered was the result of this situation.
“In any case, after the abnormal condition tied to passing the test ended and I woke up in this body, ‘Park Moon-dae’ disappeared.”
“Ah, you said he entered that body?”
“Yeah.”
I needed to scratch for some clue about what the hell was going on here.
“I want to ask—did anyone ever suddenly disappear during a restart?”
“No. It was always the same.”
He answered as if there was nothing to consider.
And he replied with a face that said he didn’t quite understand.
“But… is that really so important?”
What?
“From what I hear, it seems like the junior member will return to normal after today passes. After that, wouldn’t he naturally return to that body?”
“Maybe not.”
“It seems like it would be better if he didn’t. Oh, are you worried the original body might disappear?”
“Right now….”
What the hell was this madman spouting?
“You’ve saved yourself from pointless ethical deliberation. Think about it carefully. Junior member, if that… ‘Big Moon’ comes to you asking for the original body back?”
“….”
I swallowed the now-cold coffee and set the cup back on the table.
“If he wants it, I’d have to think about it.”
“There’s no method for that, is there?”
“There’s something worth trying.”
I had no intention of telling this guy, but I had thought of something.
‘A mission.’
If I received another mission and set ‘body swap’ as the reward, that would work.
“And Park Moon-dae has rights to his own body.”
Regardless of whether I do this or not, strictly speaking in terms of authority, wasn’t that the case?
But the guy sitting across from me… was indifferent.
“I think you’re misunderstanding something.”
“…!”
“Everything Park Moon-dae has, the junior member achieved. Regardless of that body or not, what’s in your head is your spirit, and it’s something you created.”
“….”
“So why are you planning to give it away? You should be thinking of a more effective way to stay uninvolved….”
“I’m not making a plan, I’m just considering the options….”
“Why would you even keep that option open?”
“….”
“Listen. I’ll tell you about Junior Member’s actions up until now.”
Chung-ryeo’s fingers began tapping the table again.
“You brought someone who never existed into being with your own body, helped them study, and made plans to keep them alive all this time. Well, morally speaking, it seems like you’ve done more than enough.”
“….”
“I’m not saying you should kill them. Just… I’m wondering if it would be fine to leave things as they are.”
Chung-ryeo met my eyes.
“Isn’t that right?”
I clenched my fists.

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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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