Debut or Die - Chapter 344

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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 344
Sun Ah-hyun’s attitude had changed.
It started during the Camp schedule meeting.
“So we don’t need to gather more concept image references, right? Should we go with this?”
“I’m fine with it!”
“Alright. Then, does anyone else have a different opinion….”
This was the kind of line typically delivered assuming no one would object.
“Me, me…!”
“…!”
Yet someone who had never once interrupted or pushed past others’ words raised his hand before I even finished speaking.
Ryu Chung-woo seemed slightly taken aback, but he kindly asked him a question.
“Alright, what do you think, Ah-hyun?”
“I, I’d like us to expand the scope a bit and collect more references just once more. We still have time….”
“Hmm….”
And Sun Ah-hyun was even voicing outright opposing opinions.
‘What’s going on with him?’
‘Could there be a moral issue if we finalize things now?’
The members had even begun communicating such thoughts with their eyes, but Sun Ah-hyun’s words didn’t end there.
“Two more days…! Would that be possible? The Project Team staff member mentioned before that the deadline is tomorrow afternoon, so if the schedule is like that, delivering it early won’t speed things up anyway…!”
He began attaching persuasive reasoning on his own, as if he might break into a sweat at any moment.
And those reasons were actually plausible facts at that.
“Oh, now that you mention it, that’s right.”
“Wow~ Ah-hyun remembered that? It was three months ago….”
“Y-yes, I, I had it recorded….”
He didn’t come up with any particularly outstanding ideas. But he made good judgments given the circumstances and maintained his argument with persistence.
That was consistent with what Sun Ah-hyun usually showed.
“S-so…! Let’s think about two more days…!”
“W-well, of course I agree! Right?”
“Mm, that’s right.”
But his momentum was about ten times stronger than usual, so his impact was different. Everyone was surprised and swept along with it.
‘What’s happening here.’
I wondered if I should be pleased, but something felt off. Had he suddenly undergone some change of heart to act like this?
“What do you think, Moon-dae!?”
My heart nearly stopped.
“…I agree with you too.”
“Yes!”
Now he was even collecting agreement from me. This was an aggressiveness I’d never seen before.
‘What is this.’
And during the composition meeting that evening, this momentum was the same.
“I, I would… like the song to have more string instrument accompaniment!”
“Oh.”
“Which string instrument?”
“Something that can produce sharp, bright, and dramatic sounds… For example, violin fiddle! I think it would fit the concept better…!”
“Fiddle?”
Sun Ah-hyun then launched into a more detailed explanation of what a fiddle was.
It was the least classical violin technique, so it had its own name, and it had that country-style twangy sound, and so on and so forth…
“Oh.”
It was like he was giving a presentation. Cha Yu-jin, who had been listening with interest, was practically ready to applaud.
“That’s a great idea! You were amazing, hyung!”
“Mm!”
Sun Ah-hyun’s face looked like it might burst from the compliment, but he didn’t refuse it.
“…”
What’s going on?
I really couldn’t understand the situation.
‘Well, it’s only when the others speak strongly that… it’s like that.’
Yes, if he’s had a change of heart and wants to participate actively, that’s a good thing.
Actually, Sun Ah-hyun just hadn’t been chiming in much with the conversation. If I averaged out how assertively the members spoke, it wasn’t really that extreme compared to him.
“Then, following what Ah-hyun hyung said, I’ll try adding violin as a string instrument that has both sharpness and softness while harmonizing with the string arrangement…”
“Ah, no! Not just violin, but fiddle! I’d really like it to be fiddle!”
“Yes, understood!”
“…”
No, wasn’t that a bit much?
‘The kid’s clinging to it like it’s a matter of life and death.’
“I’ll do my best!”
“Th-thank you…!”
With Bae Sae-jin watching the mood, the meeting continued under Sun Ah-hyun’s lead and eventually wrapped up.
That night.
Big Sae-jin, sitting in the Kitchen and chugging carbonated water, asked seriously.
“Moon-dae, Moon-dae, there’s no sad backstory like someone’s going to be ruined if we can’t release our album, right?”
“…”
“Huh, or don’t tell me you’ve been tormenting Ah-hyun to make him earn his keep… Ow!”
As if that could be true.
I watched the guy who’d gotten hit on the back exaggerate his pain and held back a sigh.
“…There must be another reason. It’s not something like that.”
“Yeah? Hmm… Well.”
Deciding the situation wasn’t bad, Big Sae-jin shrugged and moved on just the same.
“You don’t need to know every detail of a friend’s business, right?”
“…”
It irritated me that the guy who’d been prying into everyone’s business was saying that.
Meanwhile, Sun Ah-hyun bolted to his Room the moment the Camp night event ended and hasn’t come out since.
‘What is he doing?’
I swallowed my sigh and opened my mouth.
“…I’m worried Sun Ah-hyun might feel left out.”
“Huh?”
“Every time we do something, we just leave him out and talk between ourselves.”
In reality, we were all on equal footing—same age, same experience, same rank.
The theory was that he was venting his stress in a positive way by going berserk in meetings over this unfair treatment.
Big Sae-jin paused to reconsider, nodding slowly.
“Hmm, yeah, that could be it. Ah, but Ah-hyun isn’t really the type to… oh.”
He sighed.
“Ah-hyun had pretty poor friend quality back in high school, didn’t he?”
“…Yeah.”
“That might have… left a bad feeling, I suppose.”
Big Sae-jin glanced back at me and asked quite seriously.
“What are you going to do?”
“….”
How would I know?
Of course, he wasn’t actually offering a real solution—he was asking how I’d handle keeping this secret.
After all, if Sun Ah-hyun’s strange behavior stemmed from the fact that only we knew about this supernatural phenomenon.
“Hmm… I can’t tell you what to do, but I don’t think Ah-hyun’s attitude will change just because you talk to him?”
“….”
That… I thought so too.
‘He’s just too genuinely kind.’
I let out a short sigh.
“Hey, and we’re not ostracizing you as some middle-aged man mentally—ow! Hey, did that really hurt?”
Yeah. That’s the arm strength of a man in his twenties, you bastard.
…Actually, the most embarrassing part was that my hand went out first because I felt guilty.
I sighed watching Big Sae-jin giggle.
He stopped laughing before changing the subject.
“Aigo, and since we’re on the topic… how should we tell that Hee-seung? Well, I could just explain that I was invited to this gathering too, and give him some advice?”
He chuckled mischievously.
“Or should I just tell him I came from the future too? Man, that would be hilarious.”
“Stop it.”
Don’t bring up examples of hypothesis-breaking cases that don’t even fit the timing.
“That kind of joke won’t work. This seems to be transmitted in a baton-touch format.”
“Ooh, Moon-dae’s analyzed quite a lot. You’re really something, Moon-dae. So you paid that much attention to Hee-seung to figure that out?”
Sharp bastard.
I interlaced my fingers.
“Yeah, Gold 2 has his uses too.”
“….”
However, Big Sae-jin fell silent for a moment.
‘What’s this about?’
Then, as if suddenly struck by curiosity, he opened his mouth again with a serious expression.
“But Moon-dae, Moon-dae.”
What?
“I wanted to ask earlier… that Gold 2—are you talking about Hee-seung?”
“…!!”
How did he know that?
“….”
Wait, did I… say that out loud just now?
“I knew it! You’ve been calling Hee-seung Gold 2? Why?”
“…Well,”
“Hold on, hold on. Let me guess. Don’t tell me… Gold ranks from Ajusa?? Did you number them?”
“….”
“That’s right too?? Oh man, this is insane! Wow~ look at you being so cold-hearted, Park Moon-dae! When did Ajusa even end and you’re still calling them Gold!”
Damn it.
I ground my teeth watching him burst into laughter.
“It’s my choice. So what?”
“You’re really embarrass—no, no, sorry. I laughed too hard, didn’t I? Hey, I’m really sorry~”
This bastard was trying to brush it off with insincere words.
But Big Sae-jin actually composed himself, his eyes lighting up with genuine curiosity.
“Moon-dae, Moon-dae, I’m really curious about this… did you call Sae-jin that way too? Like, did you classify all the kids that way back at Ajusa? Am I Gold 1?”
His ambitions knew no bounds.
“…You were just Big Sae-jin.”
“Oh~ what’s that then. Still a nickname though. I like it, I like it.”
I held back a sigh watching Big Sae-jin nod his head contentedly. This guy was going to drive me crazy.
“So how long did you keep calling them that?”
“….”
“Moon-dae, Moon-dae?”
I’m still calling them that, you idiot.
I left him whining behind and returned to my room to sleep.

* * *
The album production camp continued the next day as well.
And Sun Ah-hyun’s momentum continued with it.
“If we keep making progress at this rate, we’ll have to work until late into the night. Everyone will hate the overtime. So….”
“Yeah, overtime…! Let’s do it!”
“…Yes.”
Was it really necessary to go that far?
This was character collapse. I watched Sun Ah-hyun burn with passion like he’d encountered some special mechanism that turned him into Cha Yu-jin, and I closed my mouth.
“Hyung, I hate overtime!”
“W-well, we still have to, if necessary…!”
Huh. Now he was even saying things Cha Yu-jin disliked.
Of course, it wasn’t bad. In fact, it was good for efficiency, but somehow it seemed like he was pushing himself too hard.
I made my decision watching Sun Ah-hyun secretly wipe away the cold sweat from the back of his neck.
‘This won’t do.’
I should try to lighten the mood.
“You’ve worked hard~”
“Let’s wrap up.”
Right after the meeting ended temporarily following dinner, I followed Sun Ah-hyun, who had headed to his room, and visited his quarters.
Knock knock.
“…!”
“It’s me.”
Thud.
As I opened the door and stepped inside, I saw Sun Ah-hyun bent over his desk, seemingly trying to hide something.
What was he doing?
“D-did you lose something, or…?”
“I just wanted to talk a bit….”
As I approached, I realized what he was concealing.
Articles, reviews, ratings.
It was a kind of scrapbook—all printed and organized materials related to our previous albums.
[The most crucial part?]
[A matter of expression]
And comments in elegant handwriting, apparently added by him, were neatly organized throughout.
But that wasn’t all—on the e-reader he reflexively hid, something else was displayed.
[The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe, Volume 5]
…Could it be.
‘Was he preparing this separately?’
To anyone’s eyes, everything was preparatory material for Testa’s new album.
Still, let me ask once.
“What’s all that?”
“…! Ah, um, this is….”
Sun Ah-hyun hesitated for a moment before responding with a fairly confident voice.
“I think I found a theme from Edgar Allan Poe’s works that Sae-jin mentioned—one that suits us better.”
“…!”
“The Black Cat was good too, but it felt like it overlapped a bit with 【The Call】… I wanted to incorporate what Testa does best.”
Sun Ah-hyun seemed nervous, but was smiling faintly.
And what this guy was saying already sounded plausible.
“….”
“H-here.”
I accepted the notebook that he handed over with slightly trembling hands, which had been tucked beneath the e-reader.
Inside were the title of the work and Testa’s existing concept elements he wanted to incorporate with it.
I quickly read the emphasized words in the notebook.
[Energy Burst]
[Immersion, Velocity]
Then I read through the entire notebook.
“….”
“Ah, I haven’t organized it nicely yet, so I couldn’t mention it. If I spoke without evidence… that wouldn’t be right.”
Sun Ah-hyun lowered his head somewhat embarrassed.
“I’m not good at speaking… so I thought if I at least structured the content thoroughly, it would be better….”
Seriously.
“Seeing how you presented today, I don’t think you needed to worry about that.”
Sun Ah-hyun’s face flushed red.
“Th-thank you. But if I add more finishing touches….”
“Oh, so you were working on it separately!”
“…!”
Startled.
When I turned my head, Kim Rae-bin, who had been working at the other desk with headphones on, had already removed them and turned around.
‘When did he get here.’
I hadn’t noticed because he was working silently without any reaction.
“I had no idea that what Ah-hyun hyung was reading during these past few days at the Dormitory was an album review.”
“Mm….”
Sun Ah-hyun’s face turned bright red as he affirmed, and Kim Rae-bin nodded knowingly.
And his eyes gleamed.
“I thought it was a new hobby that emerged during the tour, but to think you’re conducting such large-scale analysis with so much time and effort… truly, you possess both diligence and talent.”
“…U-uh-uh.”
His face screamed reluctance, yet he affirmed nonetheless.
I chuckled.
“Right. Excellent.”
“…!”
“The content is good too. You could’ve suggested it as is. This is more than enough.”
“R-really…?!”
So would I lie here?
“Yeah.”
To put it cleanly, this is the kind of content that would’ve hooked anyone even if someone just threw out a rough draft.
‘The logical progression is so clean.’
Of course, there are cases like Kim Rae-bin in this world—people who get struck by inspiration and instantly conjure something that captivates everyone in one shot.
But sometimes there are those who find that single answer, that one possibility, by fitting together countless puzzle pieces and filtering them as meticulously as a sieve.
And right now, this guy’s judgment was exactly that.
The conclusion he’d drawn after thoroughly reviewing and analyzing an enormous amount of existing Testa album material was… remarkably compelling.
‘He must’ve worked hard.’
I recalled the guy who’d been depressed about not properly participating in the Camp, and I found myself genuinely impressed.
This exceeded my expectations.
“I want to try this right away too.”
“…!”
Sun Ah-hyun’s eyes shone brilliantly. He looked almost moved.
“M-Moon-dae. Really… thank you.”
“I should be thanking you for the great input.”
But Sun Ah-hyun’s words didn’t end there.
“S-so… you know.”
Hm?
“C-could I maybe… what, what’s going on…?”
In that moment, I realized what ‘what’s going on’ that he was referring to meant.
‘Is he asking me to spill the secret?’
I must’ve misunderstood something.
His eagerness didn’t come from frustration.
The way he was watching my reaction… it was like he was proving his credentials to some secret society.
“Oh, no! It’s not like that… I’m just… organizing this a bit more…”
Despite saying no, Sun Ah-hyun approached the desk with a face full of anticipation.
“Would it be alright if I took a look too?”
“Sure!”
“…”
It seemed Sun Ah-hyun had fused two emotions in a far more productive direction than I’d predicted.
The desire to contribute to the album Camp and the desire to be recognized by his peers.
‘If I don’t say anything at this point, things are gonna get messy.’
“…”
Damn it. I don’t even know anymore.
‘Might as well make room for it.’
At this rate, everyone with a tight lip would end up spilling. I let out a dry sigh.
Anyway, that night, Sun Ah-hyun, who’d ended up calling a meeting, proceeded with his presentation.
And true to their good taste, the reactions came out similar to mine.
It was high praise across the board.
“…I prefer this direction too.”
“Then we should solidify this approach and push forward with it. Ah-hyun, what do you think?”
“Y-yes, th-thank you…. I’m g-grateful!”
From the person who suggested the idea to the pragmatists, everyone seemed pleased, and Sun Ah-hyun bowed repeatedly in acknowledgment.
The atmosphere was bright and warm, as if everyone was applauding him.
That is, until the next words were spoken.
“Well, I suppose we need to recheck the schedule.”
“…?”
Ryu Chung-woo smiled faintly.
“That means we’ll have to revise all the structural plans we’ve finalized so far.”
“….”
“….”
Sun Ah-hyun’s eyes widened.
“I-I’m so sorry.”
“What are you talking about? The album concept is getting better—that’s a good thing.”
It was a response that reeked of corporate resignation.
‘K-pop’s inferno of overtime… back in session.’
The one saving grace was that this overtime camp had proven remarkably effective.
“Let’s just add this one thing.”
“Mm.”
And since we’d come this far, I added the element I’d wanted to include but had excluded for balance.
‘This is the final version.’
By the time the weather had turned completely warm, we had finished preparing for the new album’s release.

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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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