Debut or Die - Chapter 32

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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 32
‘First, I need to handle the urgent tasks.’
I grabbed Sun Ah-hyun, who was stammering through questions and requests from the crowd gathered around the billboard.
“Give me your phone.”
“Huh, what?”
“We need to take a verification photo.”
“…!”
Sun Ah-hyun finally came to his senses and shuffled toward his billboard. I took the smartphone he handed me and activated the camera.
The crowd reacted immediately.
“Oh, a photo!”
“Let us get out of the way~”
“Take a picture of the guys!”
Remarkably, the people who had been rushing forward passionately began voluntarily stepping back and creating distance.
…I’ve seen so many people desperately trying to get into photos that I’m wondering if I was being overly cautious.
“Straighten your shoulders.”
“Y-yes!”
“Ah-hyun, you’re so handsome!”
That last comment wasn’t from me, but from someone who appeared to be a Sun Ah-hyun fan.
Sun Ah-hyun’s face turned red like a broken machine.
“N-no, that’s not… I’m not…”
After muttering a few more times, Sun Ah-hyun stiffly straightened his posture.
Anyway, I mechanically adjusted the composition and took the photo, and the moment I lowered the smartphone, Big Sae-jin shouted from beside me.
“Moon-dae! Me too, me too!”
I turned my body while still holding Sun Ah-hyun’s smartphone and took a verification photo of Big Sae-jin as well.
Big Sae-jin kept changing poses, which made it annoying to photograph.
But the crowd was busily recording the whole scene on their own smartphones.
“So cute…”
“Do another pose~”
‘…Wait, did I even need to take verification photos myself?’
I could have just downloaded anything trending on the Internet today.
“Moon-dae, your turn!”
“Right.”
Since it would be strange if only I didn’t take a photo, I moved in front of my own billboard.
With everyone cleared away and the billboard fully exposed before my eyes, I felt an overwhelming sense of its sheer size.
The photo used on Park Moon-dae’s billboard was taken at the production presentation.
Fortunately it wasn’t a cheek poke or finger heart photo, but having such a massive face displayed was rather embarrassing.
‘…Don’t make eye contact with it.’
As I turned my head away, I caught sight of the text written in the background.
[Park Moon-dae]
[A stellar stock that appeared like a comet!]
At the very bottom in small letters was even written “Please buy lots♡”.
“….”
I couldn’t deny that it was an incredibly impactful message.
‘They must have worked hard on this.’
I quietly took a verification photo. This much sincerity was the least I could show.
And the moment I stepped away from the billboard after taking the photo, people’s voices poured out again.
“Did you come to see the advertisement?”
“Oh, what do I do….”
“Did the shoot go well?”
“I’m voting right now!”
The crowd was swelling to the point of obstructing foot traffic. It was definitely worse than when I’d gotten off the bus alone at the station. This was the downside of coming as three people.
If I wasn’t careful, I’d be criticized for causing a nuisance.
I wanted to do something nice before leaving, but it seemed difficult.
‘I should take advantage of the fact that we came as three.’
I gestured to the other two. Fortunately, they understood the signal from their expressions.
We all bowed our heads respectfully.
“Thank you so much!”
“We’ll do our best!”
And we immediately ran toward the nearest exit.
Three tall men running at once naturally opened up a path.
“We’ll head inside~ Thank you so much!”
Big Sae-jin turned back, waving his hand and shouting. When I followed his lead, I heard multiple voices responding.
“Hey! You guys!”
“Go on in!”
“Fighting!!”
Fortunately, no one seemed to find it rude—the voices were bright and cheerful.
It was my first time running while hearing so much encouragement.
The feeling was very… peculiar.
We immediately caught a taxi at the protruding entrance.
“Ah! That was really great!”
The moment the taxi pulled away, Big Sae-jin said this with a grin spreading across his face.
Sun Ah-hyun was also nodding his head vigorously, clearly in high spirits.
‘Did they enjoy it that much?’
Of course, I felt more grateful than anything, even a sense of debt. But I didn’t feel particularly elated just because many people recognized me.
Was it a matter of temperament? Or perhaps….
‘…it might be an age thing.’
After all, those two were both twenty-one.
Just as I was thinking somewhat flatly about this, Big Sae-jin suddenly exclaimed “Ah!” and pulled out his smartphone.
And immediately, my phone vibrated.
[(Photo) (Photo)]
It was a photo of me taken in front of Park Moon-dae’s billboard.
The exposure was off, the colors had all blown out into a washed-out white, and my face was blurred and smudged across the advertisement above.
“….”
This bastard really can’t take a decent photo.
“Hey, the blur actually gives it a sense of immediacy, doesn’t it?”
The sense of immediacy was so overwhelming that you couldn’t make out anything else in the photo.
As I stared at him silently, Big Sae-jin laughed and pretended not to notice, turning to Sun Ah-hyun instead.
“Haha… that’s right, Ah-hyun! You have my verification shot on your phone too, right?”
“Oh! Yeah, just a sec.”
Sun Ah-hyun fumbled to turn on his smartphone and uploaded the photos to the group chat.
They were photos of Big Sae-jin and Sun Ah-hyun that I had taken.
‘Why are you uploading his photos?’
He probably uploaded them all at once in his panic.
“Ooh~ the photos Park Moon-dae took are….”
Big Sae-jin, who had been peering at the screen with a cheerful expression, suddenly trailed off, his mouth stopping mid-word.
Then, with a genuinely surprised expression, he let out a real exclamation this time.
“Wow, oh…. You really are good at taking photos.”
I’d made a living doing this for several years, so it was only natural.
I glanced at the screen too.
There were three or four photos per person with perfect horizontal composition, natural human proportions, and well-captured expressions and poses.
My skills hadn’t gotten rusty.
As I felt a bit proud, Big Sae-jin added in an embarrassed tone.
“…Well, next time I’ll take some better shots of you too. Sorry about that.”
This seemed genuine too.
Big Sae-jin without that business-like edge—today really was something. I just shrugged.
“Well… photos with a sense of immediacy aren’t so bad either.”
“…!”
Big Sae-jin looked startled for a moment, then quickly grinned and changed the subject.
“Right? Oh, speaking of which, that restaurant Ah-hyun recommended—we’re not going to make it, are we? What a shame.”
“N-no, it’s fine. We can g-go together next time….”
“…Hmm.”
Right. We had talked about that too.
Going to the restaurants Sun Ah-hyun had found right now was impossible.
Since he’d only picked trendy places from social media, if we went with this group, we’d end up live-streaming our meal on someone else’s SNS.
Besides, Sun Ah-hyun didn’t seem to have much talent for research—these places had the stench of viral marketing about them, so the value for money was poor.
I fell into thought for a moment, then checked the navigation as we passed Ewha Womans University Station.
“Driver, could you take us to Yeonhui-dong instead?”
“Sure, I can do that~”
“Yes, then….”
I turned to look at the two in the back seat.
“I know a quiet place. Want to go there?”
“Oh~ Of course I’m in!”
“Y-yeah, sounds good!”
Done. I asked the driver for permission and manipulated the navigation to mark a restaurant.
Only after the meal ended did I realize I had voluntarily done something unnecessary.
Good grief. We’re becoming friends!

* * *
“Hmmmm.”
The woman staring at her smartphone let out a pained sigh as she wrestled with her dilemma.
On the screen floated the choice that had plunged her into this quagmire of indecision.
[Idol Stock Company Stock Package Mega Discount! ~80%]
Beneath the massive banner were stocks bundled with all sorts of services sold by Tnet’s parent company, the channel broadcasting Ajusa.
For example, if you bought Tnet’s music streaming site package here, you’d receive a 3-month streaming pass at 50% off plus the right to purchase 20 shares of Ajusa stock.
In other words, I could give Park Moon-dae 20 more votes.
These Broadcasting Station bastards sold stocks in nothing but package deals like this, except for monthly subscriptions that let you add one vote per day!
What’s terrifying is that these packages have such high discount rates that existing service users buy them for the discount, only to fall for Ajusa in this dual structure.
‘They really have ruthless marketing tactics….’
The woman sighed and was scrolling through the page when she saw a message popup that had just arrived.
It was from that friend who had fed her Park Moon-dae through her own mouth via an audience application.
[Performance: Crazy crazyㅠㅠ There was an eyewitness account of Mundae! (link)]
‘Gasp.’
She hastily clicked the link, which led to an SNS post.
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[Oh I just went out to eat with family and saw an Ajusa participant. Those kids who sang for Malang Dalcom? (photo)]
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In the attached photo, Park Moon-dae, Sun Ah-hyun, and Big Sae-jin were receiving bowls of samgyetang at a table with a divider.
Below the photo, a long stream of comments followed.
-Look at how they’re eyeing that samgyetang lolol their eyes are about to pop out
-That’s right, K-samgyetang beats rootless chicken. They know what’s up
└Please stop discriminating against chicken.
-I’m all for these three continuing to get along like this.
-Oh, I guess I went to eat this after seeing the billboard. I love cute guys.
‘Billboard?’
The woman searched “Park Moon-dae billboard” on a whim.
Immediately, a post from a few hours ago that was being shared by the tens of thousands appeared at the top.
========================
I went there to take a proof photo of the College of Liberal Arts billboard. There were too many people there so I couldn’t stay for a long time, but he was so cute and friendly that it broke Sunni’s heart. Even though he was wearing a mask, his good looks came through. He was really handsome in person. (short video)
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When she played the attached video, Park Moon-dae appeared in jeans, a black hoodie, and a black baseball cap, taking photos in front of his billboard.
[You’re so handsome!]
[I’m going to buy a lot of stock, Moon-dae!]
[Um, thank you….]
Park Moon-dae answered with a hint of embarrassment at the flood of comments.
The video ended with him and two other participants cheerfully dashing away and disappearing from view.
-So cute
-Moon-dae is more sociable than I thought?
-ㅠㅠAs expected, Mundaengdaeng is not a brain official, but a formula. ㅠㅠ What, Tibetan fox? It’s heresy!
-The PD who edited this with such a cute angle, please die. Our boy was just calm, you know
-Even with a hat on, he’s absolutely adorable
‘So cute…! Absolutely adorable!!’
As she was bouncing on her feet, she suddenly realized that Park Moon-dae’s billboard photo looked familiar. It was the photo her friend had shown her, saying she had posted it!
She quickly typed out a message.
[Min-so: Wow, isn’t this the one you posted? Congrats, Moon-dae saw it! (link)]
[Yeon-ju: I was actually passed out after seeing it, but I just came to… I didn’t post it myself, the fan union did, but still… I’m so excited… I’m overwhelmed…]
When she asked why she hadn’t told her sooner, the answer came back: ‘My heart was pounding so hard I couldn’t type.’
The woman giggled and sent congratulatory emojis. Then she thought to herself.
‘I want to do something for him too.’
She wanted Park Moon-dae to succeed and see many wonderful performances.
In the end, she went back to the purchase page and bought a music package.
After contentedly buying Park Moon-dae’s stock, she checked the post about the samgyetang restaurant sighting for any other updates, only to find a fight had broken out.
-Please take down the photo. Stalking is a crime.
└No, I just happened to see him by chance, what stalking;; It’s just a sighting
└So secretly photographing a man eating is a sighting? Please say something that makes sense.
I blocked them, so don’t worry.
After this exchange, the heated reactions from people fizzled out awkwardly.
Because sightings of Park Moon-dae were rare and hard to come by, people had reflexively gotten excited, but then realized it could be a violation of privacy.
The woman also felt awkward and closed the window. She had forgotten that Park Moon-dae hadn’t even debuted yet.
‘Well… he did so well…!’
As she recalled the audience experience from earlier that still made her mind go blank, she suddenly remembered something she’d forgotten.
“Oh! Ajusa is airing live!”
That’s right. She had been checking the stock purchase page during the break while waiting for Idol Stock Company to air.
She hurriedly switched the channel and fortunately caught the logo of the broadcast just as it was starting.
“Phew….”
She had barely relaxed when suddenly the MC’s meaningful expression appeared on screen.
“…?”
[Everyone, do you remember the promise of Idol Stock Company’s Return?]
As if sitting at a desk in a conference room, the MC spoke seriously and tapped the desk.
[We promised to proceed with everything according to your wishes. So right now, we’re still conducting numerous votes on our website—the final number of debutants, the evaluation song selection, and more.]
By the way, people were already starting to cry, saying ‘I voted for too small a number of final debutants at the beginning.’
[And today, we’re implementing one more of those promises. Viewers, have any of the participants become unpleasant to watch?]
‘What…?’
The moment the broadcast began, the Production Team hurled a massive bomb at the confused viewers.
[Then sell that participant’s stock! With the newly introduced 【Stock Selling】, shareholders can now reduce the stock of any participant you don’t wish to see!]
“…?!?!”
[The ‘Stock Purchase Rights’ that shareholders acquire can now also be used as ‘Stock Selling Rights’. In other words! Instead of buying a specific participant’s stock, you can sell it and drive it into the negative!]
Hell itself had arrived.

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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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