Debut or Die - Chapter 345

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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 345
Testa’s album teaser was released in mid-May.
Around the time the movie they’d made a cameo appearance in, 【Cosmic Gunner】, was leaving theaters after achieving massive global success—drawing 8 million domestic viewers in South Korea.
Aren’t you rushing out to try rowing when the water comes in? lol
-Please, I’m begging you, don’t let this be about riding on Shem-byul’s popularity wave. Don’t do this hastily
-You even established your own label, so why does this feel so haphazard…?
Some people were murmuring about the comeback article and rumors that had suddenly surfaced just three days before the teaser dropped, with no prior announcement.
Park Moon-dae’s first Home Ma was on the verge of biting her nails down to the quick.
‘The Director seems like such an idiot with his American fever…! Could he be pulling the same thing with Testa?’
The Director had somehow managed to fixate on Miry-nay and avoided making moves on others until now, but the thought suddenly struck her that maybe he’d finally lost his mind.
Of course, only some people were murmuring—most who heard about Testa’s comeback were intoxicated by the excitement that had built up through 【Cosmic Gunner】.
That was actually somewhat worrying too.
-Big hit, big hit, Testa’s surprise comeback is crazyㅠㅠㅠㅠ
-Billboard here we come wow I’m already excited
‘…These expectations just keep climbing endlessly.’
Moon-dae had never disappointed her even once, but could anyone really control everything perfectly every single time?
‘Even if Moon-dae and the guys do well, if the company pulls another stupid move it’s all for nothing…!’
The phrase “an album that will delight diverse global fandoms” in the company representative’s statement at the end of the article made her even more anxious.
-Excited! (link)
Still, she’d shared Testa’s comeback article with that comment, but this was just her public-facing response.
‘I’m a named fan…. I must exercise restraint….’
She found herself particularly missing Moon-dae from the fan signing events, the one who’d stick the red bean cake stickers she’d drawn onto her cheek.
…At least, once they made their comeback, she’d get to see that again. They’d be holding fan signing events, after all.
‘Right. I’ll trust and wait.’
Besides, looking at the timeline, it wasn’t strange for them to make a comeback around this season!
She organized her thoughts with genuinely pure fan devotion.
And four days later.
-It’s here! It’s here!
The teaser she clicked on amid tension and excitement began with black smoke rising like heat shimmer.
What unfolded was a dark and mysterious Masquerade Hall of the near-modern era.
In that place, shadowed so thickly it seemed slightly ominous yet elegant, masked performers in brilliant costumes danced.
Silhouettes overlapped and harmonized.
Just as a shot that seemed like a scene from a twentieth-century art film continued for a few seconds.
The sound abruptly changes.
-Rumble!
Thunder.
“…!”
As light flashes, the screen shifts the landscape to outside the dark, pale Masquerade Hall.
On the Castle Gate in the dead of night where rain falls softly, the lights from the Masquerade Hall seeping out through the windows.
[….]
Splash.
And then, bare feet came to a halt before the Castle Gate, where rainwater pooled.
The skin stained crimson, droplets falling steadily into the water.
Contaminating it.
“…!”
The camera work and editing carried an eerie, unsettling quality.
And slowly, the view ascended.
What was revealed… a faceless shadow draped in a crimson hood.
A mask devoid of features.
Gooooo
The moment I confirmed that chilling, grotesque aura, the screen turned pitch black once more.
Blackout.
A riff melody echoing within it.
-Oooooooh.
An elegant, languorous violin in deep tones flowed ominously and hauntingly, while the laughter of the Masquerade Hall guests faded away.
The album title appeared.
[OVER the Masquerade]
[TeSTAR]
“…Wow.”
The atmosphere was unmistakable.
Elegant and ominous, dark and refined.
-Wooow!
-Insane!
Contrary to some netizens’ speculation and concerns, the visual quality was exceptional—capital meticulously invested in every frame.
Those anticipating national pride began churning out glowing reviews, excitedly chattering away.
-Nothing to be ashamed of showing internationally
-Even the sound is high-class lolol
The problem emerged after some time had passed.
This enigmatic yet aesthetic and intense atmosphere created a sense of discord.
Because I’d seen it many times before.
-Hmm… feels like a combination of VTIC and all the other K-pop idols popular in America
-Guess the American taste was that sweet lolol shameless benchmarking
-These guys really have no identity, just copying whatever’s popular like bats clinging to whatever works;
Dark and fatal, refined symbolism—from VTIC, which had firmly captured American enthusiasts, to several other idols whose global momentum exceeded their domestic standing—all came to mind.
Idols changing concepts was common enough, but the calculated timing of this switch left many unable to laugh it off.
In other words, it lacked authenticity.
-Lost all first-tier credibility
-Lolol still seems like they’ll grab a slice of the American K-pop pie though? Quality’s befitting a major label
-Didn’t really need to do this, feels subtly calculated…
“Oooooh.”
I knew I was being a bit forceful, but the momentum of other group fans rushing in with a sense of crisis was excessive.
‘Still, the public response is decent.’
Many people had discovered various classical symbols in the short teaser.
-This looks like a reference to Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Masque of the Red Death.” When plague swept through, the privileged class built luxurious hideaways to live among themselves, but in the end, the plague’s silent visit… I’ll stop here^^
└Oh, I’m curious how they’ll apply it!
└Wow, it seems like it’ll feel incredibly profound and dangerous
-The guy above is being unnecessarily complicated, but basically it’s a horror story where even those bastards who built walls to live well together when the plague spread all die lol
But she too felt something unsettling.
‘This isn’t even a similar image to the movie appearance.’
Isn’t it excessively heavy? It doesn’t feel like Testa at all….
“….”
In any case, contrary to her worries, the quality was good, so she concluded that as long as they weathered the initial backlash well, there would be no problems.
‘Let’s make this comeback a career high!’
However, in truth, these concerns and worries of hers had already been addressed by the parties involved.
What is the essence of Testa?
Where does the source of their uniqueness lie?
-It seems like everything comes down to one thing in the end.
Receiving Sun Ah-hyun’s analysis, Park Moon-dae drew this conclusion.
-It’s fun.
Simply fun.
And the captivating pull that fun’s charm exerts.
Immersion.
-So the first keyword Ah-hyun extracted after analyzing all of this would be immersion, right?
They had never made ambiguous symbols and implications their primary value.
That was merely supplementary material for discussion.
The primary value was singular.
‘The joy of watching and listening.’
The most primal and fundamental value that the Stage and music possess.
Clean enjoyment that could be savored without burden, without an unsettling aftertaste.
Testa’s core had never changed. And it would be the same with this album.
-Let’s go.
One week after the teaser release.
The music video was unveiled.
‘Ugh!’
Home Ma clicked the video immediately, her hands trembling.
The music video began with a Castle Gate half torn away.
It was a cut continuing from the teaser, but there was a clear difference.
‘…There’s no light.’
The faint light from the Masquerade Hall that had seeped through was gone. And there was no rain either.
The desolate landscape of an outdoor midnight where everything had stopped.
Gooooo
The chilling sensation was fleeting.
The camera work, as if being sucked into the Castle Gate, continues through a darkened corridor and into a dimly lit Masquerade Hall.
Shattered masks. Red paint.
In the midst of that wreckage, already transformed into ruins, the grotesque figure in the crimson robe from the teaser is captured at the center.
To anyone’s eye, clearly the cause of this devastation.
‘Hmm… Is that Plague?’
Could it be one of the members? That eerie feeling?
But the camera didn’t zoom in further.
Instead, the scene shifts abruptly.
Back to the Castle Gate.
-Whoosh.
The sound of a short, sharp breath.
Facing the massive, half-torn Castle Gate, a silhouette stands with its back to the camera.
Instead of silence, the sounds of the night forest and insects fill the air.
A tall, striking figure draped in a navy-blue robe.
In that moment, the music returns.
Uuuung-!
Drum and trombone sounds cross rapidly and grandly, and the figure slowly gazes upward at the sky.
Crash!
Thunder and lightning strike down.
Rain falls.
But thanks to the music, instead of the gloom seen in the teaser, it was somehow refreshing and exhilarating.
‘Huh?’
The moment that figure turns around and removes the mask.
A close-up shot captures the face.
It’s Park Moon-dae.
“…!”
Across that shadowed neck and shoulders, even the ears, techwear elements of the military uniform are attached like sci-fi equipment.
But I only properly registered it for a single moment.
In the very next scene, Park Moon-dae swiftly tosses back the navy hood on his head.
White hair with a blue tint whips through the air.
Zzzt!
And just as a glitch seems to burst behind his head, a blue light surges up like a mane across his shoulders, undulating.
“…!?”
Park Moon-dae smirked.
[Ha!]
With a sharp battle cry, the eerie outdoor space instantly transforms into a stage ablaze with sci-fi luminescent light!
-A voice calling out desperately over there
I hear it, my footsteps rushing forward
The first to appear
The vanguard!
From the opening verse, the melody rap flows into a piercing high note that cuts through the accompaniment like a blade.
The moment Park Moon-dae strikes the ground as if leaping upward with the highest note, the camera pulls back and a robe billows behind In-young.
And emerging from that space, six other figures.
Kim Rae-bin’s deep rap surging to center stage intersects with the opening verse of the high note.
-Yeah, give me that baton.
The symbol of Rule, the bell of justice
Rings louder today
Clang clang clang strike strike strike
Arrival!
Park Moon-dae doubled the final verse.
The sense of speed created by the rushing rap and piercing high notes.
Moreover, with the performance of throwing back the hood and letting it billow, the chorus erupts instantly.
-That’s ma savior!
Cast aside the tension and enjoy
The night of victory!
“Whoa.”
A thrilling and pleasant beat.
As I watch the video with my mouth agape at the suddenly shifted atmosphere, the seven members wave at the camera and leap into the Castle Gate.
Wherever they go, yellow and blue luminescent lights flicker from the candles. Sharp, cheerful accompaniment from skillfully layered strings follows along in support.
And drawing attention again as if being pulled in, the eerie barefoot In-young draped in a crimson robe.
Zing!
The members each take their places in seven colorful Masquerade Halls, and fierce performance cuts clash like battles for each part.
Like heroes fighting villains.
“Wow.”
Because only the collision impact moments were cut short and sharp, it didn’t look like an amateurish action film.
The dynamism of the performance simply came alive more vividly.
‘What kind of concept is this?? Who is this?’
Home Ma clenched her fist in excitement, but no clear answer emerged.
Still, it was fine! What was certain was simply that Testa, dressed in techware mixed with traditional martial arts uniform details, wildly dancing around was cool and fun.
Yeah, it was fun!
-Climb aboard this dance
The drawn bowstring, the thrown dice
Don’t stop the march
Melody!
Lightning strikes down into the dark Masquerade Hall.
And rain pours down, scattering around the brilliant dance.
The spectacle of performance created by the afterimage of blazing blue light.
And the intense choreography of the bridge that seems to transform posture and body into something like a massive siege weapon.
-That’s my savior!
A hand stretched out.
The red hood was seized in an instant.
At that moment, the performance and music that had been raging forward came to an abrupt halt.
[….]
The fabric around the seized head drooped, and the red hood fell to the ground.
There was nothing inside it. It was merely the embodiment of disease and fear itself.
All that remained was the mask held in Cha Yu-jin’s hand.
Gooooo
In an instant, white noise flowed across the screen, and the color palette and camera work shifted with a slightly eerie quality.
But Cha Yu-jin, holding the mask, simply looked bewildered, tilting his head.
The tension evaporated entirely.
“…?”
Moreover, Bae Sae-jin, who had been standing behind, casually came forward and snatched the mask away, then smashed it to pieces without hesitation and hurled it out the window.
[…!]
And he turned to face the remaining members with an expression that asked, ‘Is that enough?’
[Clap… clap clap clap!]
The members, awkwardly clapping their hands with apparent hesitation, presented such an absurdly four-dimensional sight that it contrasted sharply with the intense performance, drawing out an odd laugh.
“Ah, what!”
Home Ma chuckled as well. The screen concluded with the members encouraging one another as they trudged out of the Masquerade Hall.
-Ring the bell, Ring my bell
I wanna be your savior
The empty Masquerade Hall, no longer ominous.
The final verse appeared prominently in the subtitles, cleanly ending all sound and cuts.
It was a perfect conclusion that left one wanting more.
“Ha….”
However, before Home Ma could even formulate her thoughts on the performance, the video resumed.
“Hm??”
An open ground within the Castle Gate, where clouds parted and moonlight poured down.
Seven round stone statues were arranged in a circle, captured from an aerial perspective.
And she recognized these statues.
“…! This is….”
The massive, rounded form she had seen in front of Gyeongbokgung Palace.
It was a Haetat.
“…?!”
In South Korea, it is traditionally a mystical creature with a strong emphasis on its guardian character, punishing the wicked.
And Home Ma experienced a sudden flash of realization.
“So… that’s why!”
This was… a concept of a Haetat striking down plague!
There was even a post-credits scene.
The members and Haetae burst through the concert hall doors, rushing down the mountain toward the Steampunk City below.
The city sparkled with recovered nightlights, as if the plague that had swept through had never existed at all.
“Wow….”
Home Ma’s mouth fell open.
It felt like they’d distilled the very essence of every Testa album activity into one performance… truly, the specialists in concept performances were operating on a different level… but anyway!!
‘It’s entertaining just watching it! And even more entertaining when you understand the deeper meaning!’
And the members dressed in techware looked insanely handsome and sang brilliantly!
Especially Park Moon-dae!
A few minutes later, when she finally calmed down from her excitement and opened SNS, posts were already flooding in.
And the members were rapidly monitoring all of it as well.

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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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