Debut or Die - Chapter 343

—————
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 343
Gold 2, Kwon Hee-seung.
I keep tabs on the activities of Spacer, the group he belongs to, at least in broad strokes.
Of course I do. If he’s a junior artist from the same agency under the same umbrella, I need to constantly verify whether any unexpected developments occur.
Besides, he’s someone who knows something about the future, however little. I can’t predict what advantage he might be gaining.
Though that’s not the primary reason I keep an eye on him.
‘It’s because he’s a useful card to play.’
I recalled meeting him at the company a few months ago while he was preparing for the year-end awards ceremony.
-Hello, senior!
More precisely, I recalled his status window.
Given the timing, there wasn’t much time left in his abnormal status period, yet he still had an abnormal status displayed.
Only the content had changed.
[!Abnormal Status: Make It Work]
-Is teamwork really the answer for idols?
: If the team fails to release a collaborative work within the time limit, it counts as a ‘failure’.
A new abnormal status had taken the place of the previous one.
-Ever since Chae Seo-dam hyung stepped back on his own, the team atmosphere has really improved! If things continue like this, we’ll all get along great and succeed in the mission…. …? You said we already succeeded?
-Eeeek! There’s another one? What else do I have to do? What is it??
In other words, he had already cleared the first abnormal status, and now a second one had appeared.
It seems the system judged that eleven months was close enough to a year. Given that he received this second abnormal status.
‘…Have the conditions become harsher?’
Since that’s uncertain, I’ll set it aside for now.
In any case, having one person continue to carry a system quest without needing to find a new system user wasn’t a bad situation for me. It required less effort.
‘Here, “collaborative work” probably means self-producing.’
Since he’s from the same agency, if I get involved a bit, clearing it within a year should be no problem—it was perfectly manageable. Thanks to that, I thought I’d been keeping good tabs on his movements through occasional contact.
…That is, until the VTIC leader in front of me handed over an audio file.
“Why would you do that? We need to check it.”
“….”
If he weren’t a dog, I wouldn’t have let that mouth of his slide so easily, but let me move past it for now.
I looked down again at the audio file from the radio program Gold 2 appeared on.
‘This radio program.’
If it’s Future Midday Radio, I remember it too. It’s quite a traditional program—we even appeared on it back when we were rookies.
It’s hosted by a broadcaster with the stage name Mi-rae, and it became famous for a comedy bit where they’d make puns and guess situations ten years in the future.
-Kim Rae-bin gave me 100 songs!
-Cha Yu-jin, no matter how many years pass, it’s difficult to give 100 songs to the same person….
-He gave me 200 songs!
-That’s impossible!
-You guys… no, you thirty-year-old men, please calm down.
I briefly recalled the absurd comedy sketch Kim Rae-bin and Cha Yu-jin had done, then dismissed it.
And naturally, I stared at the smartphone screen with suspicious eyes.
‘Don’t tell me this guy too….’
I played the file with the volume turned as low as possible.
The host’s voice came through first.
[…He’s become a hot topic due to this special friendship, and there are rumors that our Kwon Hee-seung maintains his friendship with Chung-ryeo from VTIC and Park Moon-dae from Testa.]
Damn it.
[Recently you went on a 10-year friendship trip? How did you all become so close?]
[Well… we all knew Mi-rae, so that’s how we became close.]
[Pardon?]
[…! Through that Future Midday Radio~ because we all know our host Mi-rae, through that common connection!]
[Ah~ It seems Hee-seung’s first appearance on our radio 10 years ago left quite an impression.]
[Y-yes! Haha!]
“….”
It seemed he’d carelessly said it while trying to do a skit to promote the program by matching the host’s name with a rhyme in the moment.
And after saying it, he’d flinched and stiffened as if thinking, ‘Wait, that’s actually true?’
‘This guy has no sense of tension….’
I should have shut him down when he’d labeled us both as “senior acquaintances” in that early interview.
I held back a sigh.
‘…It’s not a major issue.’
It was the kind of mistake that commonly happened when you were barely sleeping amid an insanely packed rookie schedule.
Kwon Hee-seung’s fans probably cursed him out for pointlessly asking about connections with other groups during his first radio appearance anyway.
But I understood why Chung-ryeo specifically told me about this.
I gripped my smartphone.
‘Is this a warning?’
At best, it was advice.
About the dangers of sharing secrets with other people.
“This seems to need management. I could handle it, but… it doesn’t seem like the junior member would particularly like that.”
He smiled faintly.
“The people we’re in business with don’t seem to be the particularly attentive type, so… I thought it would be good to give you a heads up. What do you think?”
“….”
“Managing people is always the hardest part, after all.”
That wasn’t just about Gold 2.
It also included the fact that I’d gone and blabbed secrets to the guy standing next to me.
“Park Moon-dae.”
Just then, Big Sae-jin opened his mouth. He seemed to have figured out what was going on to some degree, and muttered quietly with a hardened expression.
“Is this guy… Kwon Hee-seung also involved?”
“Hm?”
But the response came from someone else, not me.
From Chung-ryeo.
He looked between me and Big Sae-jin with a slightly puzzled expression, then nodded as if he understood.
“Ah, you didn’t know. Sorry about that.”
“….”
“I thought that just because I told you my story, I’d told you everything. So that’s where it ends.”
Then, with a slightly admiring expression, he turned to face me.
“You really do respect boundaries, Junior Member.”
This bastard, seriously.
I swallowed my curses and replied calmly.
“If you were so worried that my actions might cross a line and ruin things, why didn’t you say something sooner?”
It seemed like he was dissatisfied that I’d explained this absurdly unrealistic situation to Big Sae-jin.
But Chung-ryeo simply tilted his head to the side.
“Hmm… I think there’s a misunderstanding.”
A misunderstanding?
“Junior Member. I don’t suffer losses from situations like this.”
“…!”
“When you get caught up in gossip like this, there are plenty of good explanations to use.”
Chung-ryeo smiled faintly.
“I’ve already verified which words and expressions work. At this point, it’s hard for me to take damage from someone else’s slip of the tongue.”
“….”
“You wouldn’t have thought I’d never experienced something like this before. You’re smart, after all.”
I stared at him.
“You’ve told other people about this too.”
“Of course. I wondered if it might be useful. But after trying it, I found the effectiveness lacking, so I stopped.”
Chung-ryeo seemed lost in thought for a moment, staring into empty space, but soon refocused.
“So this isn’t something I’m saying for myself—I’m saying it out of concern for you, Junior Member. I told you already. I’m saying this as an apology.”
Damn it.
I pressed my brow.
The most infuriating part… is that it actually sounds sincere.
“Fine then. Listen up. First, Gold 2 is… I’ll keep an eye on him and manage things.”
I spoke while looking at Big Sae-jin, who had wisely kept quiet and was listening to the conversation.
“You don’t need to worry about this side. He’s not the type to go blabbing about it anywhere.”
“…Obviously.”
Big Sae-jin extended his fist.
‘Do we really have to do this right now?’
Still, if I didn’t respond here, it would look even weirder. I bumped my fist against his.
But Chung-ryeo’s expression remained unimpressed.
“Yes. Well… you said you’d trust my words, didn’t you? That’s usually how it goes.”
What?
“But there seems to be another misunderstanding here too… ‘trusting’ doesn’t mean ‘understanding.'”
“…!”
Chung-ryeo muttered on effortlessly, as if relaying someone else’s words.
“People want to say they ‘trust’ by attaching various reasons—because we’re close, because we’ve known each other a long time, because we’re in the same group. It makes sense. Because if you don’t trust them, it means your member is mentally ill, and nobody wants to believe that.”
“….”
“But that’s where it ends. After that, he wasn’t very cooperative, so… well, I abandoned that approach. It became more trouble than it was worth.”
He continued smoothly.
“Unless you experience the same thing, there’s no way you can empathize with such an unrealistic situation. So don’t have too high expectations, Junior Member.”
“….”
‘So that’s why.’
This guy’s inability to feel human solidarity even with the members he’d spent so long with—maybe it stems from this.
‘It’s almost like he’s dealing with a different species.’
It’s a somewhat eerie assessment. Especially since he’s saying this right in front of Big Sae-jin.
“Mm.”
I crossed my arms and was about to speak.
That’s when it happened.
A shiny voice came from beside me, beating me to it.
“But senior, I’m incredibly~ cooperative with Moon-dae.”
“…!”
Big Sae-jin. What’s he doing now?
“Ah, is that so?”
“Of course. Come on~ how can everyone grow up having only the same experiences? We’re friends, after all. It’s nice that friends have things in common and things that differ~”
“I see you put it that way.”
“Yes. Even if you can’t relate much, there’s nothing to be done about it! Everyone has their own circumstances. It’s really fine~”
It’s amazing how he can deliver such an indirect jab—’you might not know because you’ve never had friends’—with such finesse.
The problem is that the target is Chung-ryeo, who was just dwelling on twisted memories.
‘He won’t lose his temper, will he?’
I confirmed that Chung-ryeo was staring at Big Sae-jin with an expressionless face.
“….”
“….”
No, don’t you dare smirk and glare at him too, okay?
I suppressed a sigh and took stock of the situation.
“Right. Well… everyone has their own thoughts. Anyway, I listened to the radio file well, and I hope the dog recovers soon.”
“Yes. If there’s anything to talk about, feel free to contact me anytime, Junior Member.”
“Sure~”
Big Sae-jin answers naturally in his place. What is he, the right-hand man of some bandit chief?
‘He really kills the mood.’
At that moment, the entrance door opened with perfect timing.
Ding.
Honestly, I was almost relieved.
And the one executing this action was… Sun Ah-hyun, looking somewhat tense.
“Um, uh… the camp meeting start time has already passed.”
“…!”
“Oh, sorry. You were in the middle of work.”
Chung-ryeo smiled and gave a slight nod.
“Then I’ll head inside.”
“Yeah.”
“Yes, yes!”
Finally, the atmosphere was winding down. He should go in quickly.
However, instead of turning around immediately, Chung-ryeo hesitated for a moment before adding something.
“I’ll contact you when Kongi comes back.”
“…Okay.”
I nodded at the guy putting on his mask.
Still hoping his dog would be fine.
Chung-ryeo turned and disappeared into the elevator.
“Let’s go inside.”
“Yeah.”
We finally stepped back into the entrance and went inside.
Big Sae-jin went ahead to check on Sun Ah-hyun heading to the living room, then whispered quietly enough that he wouldn’t be heard.
“Wow, that senior really knows how to get under your skin. Man, Park Moon-dae. How did you put up with it all this time?”
“….”
For a moment, I almost blurted out “Right?” which was embarrassing in hindsight.
“Just so-so.”
“Hmm~ Yeah. I noticed you were using informal speech with Park Moon-dae too, so at least you got some stress relief out of it, right?”
“….”
Now that I thought about it, that was true at some point.
I chuckled and watched the guy patting my back, then opened my mouth.
First, the part he must have been curious about throughout that earlier conversation.
“About Kwon Hee-seung….”
“Ah~ I get it, you couldn’t talk about someone else’s business. I can tell right away when I hear something like that~”
Understanding from context that Kwon Hee-seung was my next target, Big Sae-jin didn’t seem particularly dissatisfied about it.
“But since I already know, should I keep Hee-seung quiet? I’m pretty good at this kind of thing~”
“Let’s see how it goes first.”
I’d tried not to drag him in, but now he was about to spill everything, even system-breaking objectives. I sighed and returned to the living room with him in tow.
“Did that guy leave?”
“Yes. He went inside.”
Big Sae-jin played innocent.
“He was acting so friendly with Park Moon-dae~”
Lying without a hint of guilt.
“…! You just let that slide?”
“No, I’ve been coming back from arguing with him this whole time?”
“…Okay. Then next time I’ll….”
“If you do it, it’ll turn into a real fight, so that won’t work.”
“Hey!”
I let the two namesakes fight comfortably and returned to my seat.
Then Sun Ah-hyun, who had been sitting beside me, opened his mouth first.
“M-Moon-dae. Did something… happen? The conversation seems to have gone longer than expected…”
“…Yeah.”
I hesitated briefly, but soon explained the gist of it truthfully.
“Nothing major. The conversation just got longer because of a difference in opinion.”
“Ah…”
Sun Ah-hyun faltered, but then forced himself to speak again.
“W-what kind of opinion was it…?”
“…”
“Oh, never mind. Sorry…!”
His habit of apologizing first when there’s nothing to apologize for remained unchanged. I suppressed a sigh.
‘…Is this the second time?’
Sun Ah-hyun had asked me to share my thoughts.
He hadn’t directly asked if I had secrets, but something felt off. It seemed like he’d figured out that Big Sae-jin had heard everything.
Instead of saying “there’s no need to apologize, it was just personal circumstances,” I kept quiet. For some reason, that explanation felt like it would backfire.
‘Sun Ah-hyun’s expression isn’t particularly bad right now, so I should observe the situation a bit longer.’
The situation seemed to be wrapping up.
But that evening.
Sun Ah-hyun’s attitude during camp participation suddenly changed.
For the worse? No.
More proactive than he’d ever been.

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