Debut or Die - Chapter 320

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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 320
The moment I heard the definitive answer, all the questions I’d harbored about the Status Window flashed through my mind like a montage.
‘…Park Moon-dae was the Status Window.’
And before I could reach my conclusion.
The original Park Moon-dae, Big Dal, began recounting the events he’d experienced as the Status Window, as if retracing his steps.
“At first, I had no consciousness at all. But… when you called out the Status Window, suddenly my consciousness would flicker into existence.”
-Closing this account since I’m busy gaming lol
The last message I’d posted when closing the YouTube account ‘gun1234’ where I used to upload direct camera footage.
“Since you enjoyed games, I thought it might be helpful….”
“….”
“Perhaps it was the last shock I experienced when I was human, or maybe because I realized that account was you, that’s why it happened.”
I barely managed to open my mouth.
“Then what about leveling up and trait draws?”
“Yes. Since all I’d experienced was mobile games… I think that was probably the only thing that looked somewhat convincing. I’m sorry.”
There was nothing to apologize for.
The privilege I’d obtained, the Status Window I alone possessed… wasn’t something that emerged due to balance, as Chung-ryeo had thought.
It was purely this bastard’s doing.
“After that, I synchronized back with the system… and mainly just played the role of displaying what the system was trying to do in a presentable way.”
I cut him off.
“No, thank you.”
“…! N-no, that’s not….”
The guy sitting across from me floundered helplessly, then hung his head low.
“Actually, something strange started happening from here.”
Something strange?
“I told you that I, who prepared for the civil service exam in your body, synchronized with myself who lived as the Status Window.”
“Yeah.”
“That… the Status Window version of me seemed to be influenced in reverse by the me who prepared for the civil service exam.”
“…!”
“So… even when I was the Status Window, I vaguely knew what would happen to you in the future. I saw all your activities starting from Ajusa.”
“….”
I see.
I recalled how the Status Window’s trait draws had given me not just what I wanted, but traits that seemed to predict the future, exactly when I needed them.
It wasn’t predicting the future. It was because this bastard, who had actually lived through the future, was mixed in.
I pressed my forehead.
‘There’s no beginning or end.’
If I hadn’t set the mission ‘Conversation with Park Moon-dae’ after clearing all the status abnormalities, this guy preparing for the civil service exam wouldn’t have existed.
But for me to clear the status abnormalities with the Status Window’s predictive shots, this guy preparing for the civil service exam had to exist.
“Cause and effect are all mixed up, right? Haha… I’m confused too.”
“Tell me about it.”
Even when returning to the past, time doesn’t reset—it coexists as is, so there’s no before or after.
As if I had been intervening in Testa’s activities on and off while helping this bastard with his civil service exam.
“Hmm.”
In the meantime, Big Dal cautiously opened his mouth again.
“Well, so… my state window, or rather my true self, fully awakened when I realized your traffic accident wasn’t far off.”
“…!”
In that instant, I recalled the strange choice I’d received as a reward after clearing the “200,000 Audience Abnormal State.”
[Choice]
: Confirm ‘Truth’ ☜ Click!
: Obtain ‘Coins’ ☜ Click!
※ No duplicate selections allowed
“…Coins.”
Big Dal smiled faintly.
“That’s right. That choice wasn’t made by the system—it was me.”
Good heavens.
“And the error that happened after?”
When the next abnormal state appeared immediately after, countless lines crossed through it as the abnormal state kept updating.
‘Death if not in first place!’ triggered!
‘Death if not the target!’ triggered!
‘Death if not a performance!’ triggered!
I’d thought it was as if someone had hacked the system, and my intuition had been correct.
“Yes… fortunately you chose coins, but an error occurred there too.”
I found myself speaking without thinking.
“Because the truth confirmation wasn’t completed.”
Since the final condition wasn’t cleared, an error was generated.
“…! That’s right. So the abnormal state that should have ended there appeared one more time….”
“….”
“Ugh, I, I ended up interfering, so that happened. So I tried to change it to something easier or cancel it… but it didn’t work.”
The bastard lowered his head with an embarrassed expression.
But truthfully, the burden of that abnormal state fell entirely on him.
“So the target of death changed to you instead.”
-If Park Moon-dae fails to meet 400,000 or more audience members within the set period, ‘Park Moon-dae’ dies
Big Dal nodded.
“…Yes. You had actually already finished all your abnormal states by that point. The penalty must be borne by whoever created it.”
I muttered calmly.
“That’s what I don’t understand.”
“Yes, yes?”
“The number of my abnormal states.”
I counted on my fingers.
“After all, I simply don’t remember, but I did live several more years before returning, didn’t I?”
That future of mine where I’d gotten a job at the Company—the one this bastard had sorted through my belongings for. The one I saw in that final truth confirmation.
“Why do I have fewer abnormalities based on my own memories rather than that standard?”
“That’s because… before you returned to the past, preliminary work was done first to grant my wish.”
That bastard’s wish was….
-I hope Ryu Gun-woo hyung lives happily for a long, long time….
It’s an absurdly selfless wish, but what’s even more ridiculous is something else.
“You’re saying I had to lose those memories to survive?”
“Yes.”
The guy across from me looked a bit paler, but his tone was resolute.
“During those years, your heart was in so much pain that the system judged you wouldn’t accept the new body.”
“….”
“And based on your memories that were deleted that way, when I looked at how far back you’d returned, the abnormalities decreased by that much.”
I was at a loss for words.
I clenched my teeth against the hollow ache, then responded slowly.
“I don’t even have memories of meeting you.”
From buying him soup to the occasional messages—I had no recollection of any of it.
“That’s the same. If you entered a body of someone you knew… the system thought you’d show abnormal reactions.”
This is insane.
‘It really set things up so it could thoroughly grant that one wish.’
Erasing someone else’s memories wasn’t exactly a respectful method, and it was the kind of judgment an AI would make.
Now that I think about it, my own peculiarity naturally connects and comes to mind.
“Don’t tell me it’s also for verifying the truth?”
The abnormality clear reward that was given only to me.
“Yes.”
The guy across from me squeezed his eyes shut.
“The system analyzed that you could only overcome your trauma by facing it directly… I think.”
That crazy bastard.
“So it used the status window that had already been created to carry that out.”
“The system used the status window?”
“Yes. From that point on, it wasn’t just me using the system—the system started using me too. …We began to influence each other.”
“….”
I suddenly examined the guy across from me carefully.
Big Dal sitting in the Mental World had Park Moon-dae’s foundation with Ryu Gun-woo mixed in, but looking again, something felt… off.
Tick.
In that moment, a crackling noise like static scattered along the outline of his form.
‘Damn it.’
“Actually, even now it’s a bit confusing. It seems like I’m mixed with the system too.”
It was a strange situation. I furrowed my brow.
“The system should have moved to someone else.”
Gold 2, Kwon Hee-seung.
“You stayed as the status window. But you’re still mixed together?”
“Well… as you cleared the abnormal state, my sense of self became increasingly clear. So when the system moved, I was able to remain on my own.”
He opened and closed his fist.
“And… I found I could use some abilities similar to before.”
I automatically recalled what I’d drawn from my final trait selection.
[Trait Acquired: ‘Mission Constitution (S)’!]
An ability that trades rewards and penalties in a form similar to abnormal states.
“You’re the one who gave me Mission Constitution.”
“…Yes.”
So in the end, he’d saved himself.
‘Hmm.’
I almost felt amused for a moment.
“So… it seems we’re still somewhat connected. Though we can’t directly interfere with each other.”
“I see.”
This could be useful somewhere. I nodded and relaxed my posture.
“Phew…”
The guy across from me let out a small sigh as if he’d just handled something major.
‘Is that everything he had to say?’
I chuckled softly. Now it was my turn to speak.
“I heard you out well. All my questions have been answered.”
“Yes!”
This was where the real conversation began. I wiped my expression clean and opened my mouth again.
“And… thank you for saving me.”
“Huh…?”
“Thanks to you, I lived well.”
I recalled the years I’d spent in Park Moon-dae’s body.
There were plenty of ridiculous moments, but looking back… the endings were always good.
All those experiences came vividly to mind. So… I never thought I’d actually say this out loud.
“Being an idol was fun.”
I could do it again if asked.
Of course…
“I didn’t know I actually wanted to be an idol, but I guess I must have.”
“…”
Suddenly, the guy in front of me began to tear up.
“…??”
What are you doing?
“I’m s-sorry. This is really touching… I hope you’ll say that at the Concert too…”
“…”
It was absurd, but I just laughed. I didn’t feel bad about it.
And I spoke as if joking.
“Your civil service exam was unexpected too, though.”
Was that the kind of job you wanted to have?
“…!”
In that instant, he wore the expression of someone caught red-handed.
What was this?
“Well, hyung, that, that’s…”
“Why.”
“That was actually… I think I just decided on it roughly because I was thinking of you, hyung, as a status window.”
“….”
You should’ve gone for Grade 9 instead, you bastard.
Since he’d passed in the end, I couldn’t really complain, but I couldn’t fathom why he’d pushed himself into such a hellhole.
He muttered a few excuses about how he didn’t know much about civil service exams, then quickly returned to the main point.
“You helped me so much there. Honestly, starting from the missions, you saved my life several times….”
“Then let’s say we helped each other.”
“Yes….”
As the conversation continued, the tension gradually eased and thinking time began to emerge.
And as if to represent that very sentiment, the sunset had faded beyond the window and stars were beginning to appear one by one.
At that moment, the lounging figure suddenly sprang to his feet.
“Huh! We’re almost out of time??”
“Time?”
Even in the Mental World, he was concerned about such things.
“Yes! Right before you left the body of the one who passed the test, hyung… I used a trick….”
Now that I thought about it, that was the most important thing.
His future whereabouts.
“So what happens to you from now on.”
“That… I could go back to being a status window!”
He was spouting nonsense.
“Have you never thought about wanting to use your own body?”
“Uh… honestly speaking, since I spent such a long time as a status window, it doesn’t really feel like my own body anymore…. I’m not drawn to it.”
“…I see.”
It was a situation advantageous to me, but for some reason my mouth felt bitter—or so I thought.
Then an additional explanation came.
“And if I go back to my body, Testa would be disbanded. I can’t do that, really… how did we even get here.”
“….”
Why were you even concerned about that.
Whether he’d become too absorbed from spending so long as a status window, or too absorbed because it was a comfort during his exam preparation, I wasn’t sure—but this didn’t seem right.
“You could do it too. Since the body remains, the stats should be the same.”
In the daydream, I had used Ryu Gun-woo’s body, but that was never reality after all.
However, the figure across from me chuckled.
“Hyung, I had something I wanted to say about that….”
“…?”
“Do you remember the trait you had from the very beginning? Before trait draws even existed.”
A trait that existed before draws were introduced….
“Infinite Potential?”
“Yes!”
Right. That absurd, game-breaking trait that let me grow every stat to its maximum limit….
“That was originally yours.”
“…!”
What?
“So all the traits you drew, all the stats you raised… they were just your original talents revealing themselves.”
“….”
“Everything you’ve accomplished, there was nothing you couldn’t originally have.”
Big Dal nodded decisively.
“I just wanted you to know that.”
“….”
I stared at him blankly, as if I’d been struck on the back of the head.
‘It was mine all along.’
Slowly, a strange exhilaration rose within me.
Its name was… fulfillment.
His voice continued.
“So show me something amazing.”
I nodded reflexively. The sense of peace flooding my mind left me unable to think clearly.
The guy across from me murmured.
“I really want to keep supporting you as an idol from now on….”
“…!”
In that moment, I snapped back to attention.
This wasn’t the time to get sentimental. I needed to sort things out.
Starting with this guy’s situation.
‘If he originally had no interest in that body….’
“So you’re not interested in the body that passed the exam.”
He wouldn’t be thinking of throwing away a Grade 7 qualification after investing four whole years.
“Uh-uh-uh!”
Fortunately, this time the response was positive. He must have genuinely wanted to do it, having committed four years to it.
“Huh, well, but is it okay? It’s your body!”
“I’m already using your body anyway.”
It’s not like I’m keeping a spare body around to make soup with. I looked at him with an attitude that said I wouldn’t refuse.
He nodded, his face flushing slightly.
“Then… I’ll use it well for a while.”
For a while?
Just as I was about to question that oddly specific word choice—
“Hyung, time’s up! It’s about to flow soon. Lie down quickly!”
“Ah.”
I twisted my body to lie back on the sofa, away from his fussing. That was when it happened.
The reflection from the darkened window—now fully night—cast my image back at me.
“…!”
The figure reflected there wasn’t purely Ryu Gun-woo. Yet if you asked whether it was only Park Moon-dae of Testa, I couldn’t say that either.
It was both.
I didn’t understand how it was possible, but it felt as though whoever knew me in any form would recognize that reflection as me.
Unlike Big Dal’s appearance, which still seemed unrefined and fragmented, this was completely settled—a solid, unified form.
As if I had already made certain of who I was.
‘How absurd.’
So I’d denied it, yet in the end, I was thinking of myself as both anyway.
I lay down with an indescribable feeling and let out a hollow laugh.
Somehow, it felt refreshing.
“Um, hyung, if the chance comes….”
I answered his hesitant voice with certainty.
“Let’s see each other again.”
“…! Yes!”
And then, as sleep rushed in again, I closed my eyes.
This time, it was a complete blackout—all five senses fading away.
A dormancy where consciousness and thought vanished.
Ding.
The moment I thought I heard a bell chime.
“Park Moon-dae…!”
As I came to, I realized I was standing on the Stage.
The scent of stage equipment and air conditioning.
“…Ha.”
It was the day Testa received the award.

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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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