Debut or Die - Chapter 34

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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 34
Kim Rae-bin on screen calmly explained his reasoning.
[Kim Rae-bin: Park Moon-dae possesses vocal prowess that transcends song selection, so there’s no burden from a song choice perspective.]
[Kim Rae-bin: Additionally, I’ve witnessed many instances during team activities where he flexibly accommodates his teammates. He’s my first priority pick.]
Immediately after, a scene flashed where Kim Rae-bin swiftly won the mini-game and pointed to Park Moon-dae.
Then came Park Moon-dae’s interview, his expression dazed.
[Park Moon-dae: …?]
[Park Moon-dae: I’m grateful, but… (Why exactly?)]
Thanks to the BGM and added captions, Park Moon-dae joining Kim Rae-bin and bowing in greeting appeared utterly bewildered.
Another cut showed Kim Rae-bin clenching both fists, expressing a small sense of victory.
It felt like some YouTube comedy sketch.
“….”
The Production Team fabricating reactions wasn’t anything new, but pinpointing my true feelings this accurately was a first.
[Kim Rae-bin: Next is Cha Yu-jin.]
[Kim Rae-bin: And Ryu Chung-woo.]
Kim Rae-bin picked his teammates without hesitation using his own logic, while they continued looking bewildered.
It was editing with a certain charm to it.
‘So Kim Rae-bin is getting the sympathetic edit.’
The editing was openly softening his brutal appearance from the first round.
However, that atmosphere didn’t last long.
After a bright red “But” caption appeared on screen, a suffocating scene filled only with white noise was broadcast.
[Several Days Later – Mid-Point Evaluation]
[Young-rin: Who did the arrangement?]
Scenes alternated between Kim Rae-bin dropping his head and several teammates turning to look at him.
A large caption appeared again.
[What on earth happened?]
And….
The commercial break started.
“…Hmm.”
I drained the remaining beer down my throat.
That desperation to squeeze out viewership by any means… now it just amazes me. Impressive, those Ajusa Production Team bastards.
On the Internet during the break, all manner of speculation was running rampant.
The consensus was ‘Kim Rae-bin screwed up the team match again, didn’t he?’
-From the moment they showed why he picked Park Moon-dae, I knew his eye for people was trash lolol
“No….”
Park Moon-dae’s getting criticized first here too?
With the beer loosening me up, I felt more irritated than usual.
I turned off the screen irritably and switched back to Tnet. The commercial had just ended.
As expected, the screen showed the discussion scene after the song had been decided.
[Ryu Chung-woo: First, let’s hear Sae-jin’s thoughts?]
The editing overall highlighted Ryu Chung-woo’s ability to look after even the team members with poor social skills.
In particular, the way he calmly responded to Lee Sae-jin’s irritable reactions was captured on screen exactly as it happened.
‘Lee Sae-jin got her moment too.’
Was this turning into another one of those segments where Ryu Chung-woo took everything?
There were a few cuts showing Cha Yu-jin’s genius in choreography in an appealing light, and a few cuts of Kim Rae-bin spending time on the arrangement, but so far it was still a clear win for Ryu Chung-woo.
Things changed starting from the mid-evaluation.
[You touched up the original song quite a bit, but it feels worse than the original.]
The judges’ comments were edited to sound more serious than the lukewarm atmosphere they’d actually had.
The original artist’s sudden, out-of-place remark had been spliced in and inserted in the middle of the judges’ comments for effect.
[In your performance, I didn’t feel the power that the song “Burning Like the Sun” possesses.]
I never expected that piece of nonsense would air as if it were some cutting remark.
Anyway, in the serious atmosphere, one team member pointed to Kim Rae-bin as the person responsible for the arrangement.
[(Immediately) Rae-bin handled it.]
The way the team members’ gazes flicked toward Kim Rae-bin was emphasized so blatantly it made it onto the broadcast.
It was the kind of editing that made your spine tingle with dread.
‘Damn it….’
I’d put on that whole show to cover for this, and now we’re all going down together?
At that moment, the screen suddenly zoomed in on Park Moon-dae.
“Huh?”
‘No way.’
Park Moon-dae on screen had a thoughtful expression, and then suddenly a flashback cut appeared.
[I think it would be better to lower the key first.]
[What if we add some rap?]
[The arrangement should fit the cheerleader concept.]
[…Yes.]
It was a scene of several team members telling Kim Rae-bin to try adding arrangement elements that didn’t quite fit.
The camera work was directed as if Park Moon-dae had been carefully observing all of this.
Then the screen returned to the mid-evaluation moment.
Park Moon-dae opened his mouth casually.
[Yes. Since Rae-bin is capable of arranging, we consulted with the arranger, and we all decided on the arrangement direction together.]
A close-up of Kim Rae-bin’s surprised face appeared.
Then Park Moon-dae’s interview was inserted.
[Q: Why did you cover for Kim Rae-bin?]
[Park Moon-dae: (puzzled) I was just telling the truth.]
That was… a cut from an interview about the arrangement I’d done during the first team competition.
“…Heh.”
‘I’d deliberately spoken in a flat tone to naturally deflect the conversation.’
After the magic of editing, it came across on broadcast as if Park Moon-dae simply didn’t care what others thought and just blurted out the truth.
‘No matter how much I experience this, it’s still absurd.’
Whether I was bewildered or not, the broadcast continued on.
[Conveying Sincerity]
[Kim Yu-jun: I’m sorry…]
After my teammate apologized to Kim Rae-bin, the atmosphere shifted dramatically—brightening with warmth and hope—culminating in Kim Rae-bin’s touching interview.
[Kim Rae-bin: I think I gathered my teammates well.]
Kim Rae-bin’s face, smiling faintly as he spoke, surprisingly didn’t look disagreeable at all.
And the new arrangement came about in an absurdly casual way—as if Kim Rae-bin and Park Moon-dae had suddenly gotten excited and hastily thrown it together during a casual conversation.
[Ryu Chung-woo: I saw them chatting during break time.]
[Ryu Chung-woo: But when I came back… Rae-bin was already at the keyboard, and Moon-dae was excited saying we’d do this [beep], you know?]
As Ryu Chung-woo’s interview played as narration, the sped-up footage of the arrangement discussion looked exactly like that, making it even more ridiculous.
[Ryu Chung-woo: Is this what geniuses are always like? Haha.]
After that, short clips followed as if Ryu Chung-woo were fondly watching over two unsociable geniuses, showing the team coming together harmoniously, and the Stage preparation segment ended.
“…”
I never imagined they’d spin it this way.
Either way, it wasn’t a bad edit, so I should be satisfied with how well it landed.
Besides, I’d always thought our Stage performance was the best among them, and thanks to the Production Team deliberately taking care with the editing, I was very satisfied with the result.
The ending was solid too.
[Third place?]
[An unexpected situation]
They highlighted our team’s third place finish as something shocking and surprising, even inserting a commercial break in the middle.
You could say they extracted everything they could.
It was a clean gain.
“Not bad.”
I immediately tidied up my bedding. As the tension released, fatigue washed over me.
‘I can check the Internet tomorrow.’
Because I didn’t check reactions right away, it wasn’t until around lunchtime the next day that I realized my screen time in Episode 7 had created far more of an impact than I’d anticipated.

* * *
-Park Moon-dae decided to keep. Compared to the first team competition guys, he was like a celestial being
-Looking at Moon-dae again, his face is decent too. The chemistry with Rae-bin seems good, keep teaming up together
-A rabbit and a dog are a fantastic combination, and the fact that they are a medieval rabbit and a Sigorzav species is just the icing on the cake.
-Hey hey, I knew this combo would skyrocket one day, right? (puffs chest)
-Unexpected, I thought they’d fight but they got close;;>
“…Oh.”
Remarkably, the moment Episode 7 aired, public opinion about Park Moon-dae shifted dramatically among Kim Rae-bin’s fanbase.
Most were normal fan accounts that didn’t disparage other contestants, but some accounts that had been calling “Park Moon-dae” a derogatory name and snickering just yesterday were now silent.
The shift in stance was truly impressive.
Park Moon-dae’s fan accounts seemed relieved of their negative voting concerns, but some people still looked upset.
Whenever he curses like that and then wipes his mouth clean like nothing happened, it’s just… it leaves me speechless. And in the meantime, I end up hating myself for feeling relieved about it.
-If both of them debut, thinking about supporting alongside people like that makes me sigh… I’ll just watch Moon-dae and leave…
– Moon University showed a great attitude, came up with great ideas, and even put on a great performance, so why should I care about anything else?
‘I hope they’re not too stressed.’
If you spend money, it should be fun, but it seemed like they weren’t having that experience, which didn’t sit well with me.
If I debut through this program and end up on the same team, all current contestants are still in competition with each other, so it might be unavoidable.
Still, the overall atmosphere was one of enjoying the well-executed stage.
From midnight right after the broadcast ended through this morning and lunch, Episode 7 was scheduled every other slot on the broadcast schedule, so we were seeing an influx effect.
The stage video immediately entered YouTube’s real-time trending rankings.
-To pull off such a crazy concept this well, these crazy guys;;;>
-These heroes came to ruin my grades but I love them
-Transforming a baseball stadium cheer into a hero theme song like that. The stage itself, the concept, and the arrangement ability are all extraordinary.
-Ahh, the kids seem to have matched their colors too. They are wearing one item for each color! Details like this make my heart race.
-This stage is 3rd? Aren’t you embarrassed by the check mark? Haha.
-Summary post. 0:06 Cha Yu-jin (Red), 0:16 Min Jung-hoon (Green), 0:24 Ryu Chung-woo (Blue) … [Read more]
Individual fancams released in the early morning were also seeing their view counts skyrocket.
The scale was bigger than the first team competition, but even accounting for that, Park Moon-dae’s fancam view count was growing incredibly fast for a main vocalist.
The comments were more favorable than before, and the “dislike” ratio had dropped.
-Can’t deny he’s a genius
-Moondae, thank you for making me blonde. Thanks to you, my sister had strength and endured the resignation letter. We will buy a lot of Mundae stocks. Let’s make sure to debut and have silver hair and pink hair.
First coming up with a horror concept and now a hero concept too—this friend is amazing! I’m rooting for you. Hope you debut! Haha
-Why do you look more handsome and better every time I see you? If you debut like this, won’t you ascend to heaven?ㅠㅠ
I felt embarrassed but also quite proud.
It’s work I’m doing out of necessity, but I can’t deny that there’s a sense of accomplishment.
While thinking that way, the last best comment caught my eye.
-A young, cute-looking main vocalist with decent dancing is like a left-handed fastball pitcher. You’re supposed to grab them even from hell, but thank you so much for walking in on your own two feet. Moon-dae, you can’t leave now ^^
“….”
Honestly, I was a little scared.
‘What if debuting comes with some abnormal status like “Unable to Retire”?’
I quickly shook off the ominous delusion that offered no benefit whatsoever and collected myself.
In any case, at this point, there seemed to be nothing to worry about when the next ranking announcement came around.
‘So only two stages remain.’
Once I got through two more team competitions, this program would be over.
The thought that we were already entering the latter half stirred something strange in my chest.
I’d expected that once the day came to shed this wretched abnormality, I’d feel refreshed—but that wasn’t quite how it was.
It was probably because my performance had been far better than I anticipated.
After spending the past few years cooped up in my room as a civil service exam candidate without experiencing any sense of achievement, the taste of this success was remarkably intoxicating.
‘Though admittedly, the exhaustion from having my energy drained is the bigger problem.’
If I avoided sudden death and looked back a few years from now, maybe I’d think of this as a meaningful experience.
Of course, that’s only if things don’t go south—so for now, let’s focus on survival.
Zing.
The moment I made that resolve, a message came in.
[Big Sae-jin: Moon-dae, you doing well? Wanna go together on filming day? Ah-hyun’s coming too haha]

* * *
So when I met up with those guys on filming day, their faces looked absolutely dead.
I mean, I even sent off Choi Won-gil, who was always trolling—so why the grim expressions? Who pissed them off?

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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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