Debut or Die - Chapter 351

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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 351
Waaaaaah!!
Music blaring loud enough to make ears ring, mixed with roaring cheers.
Cha Yu-jin glanced outside and whistled.
“Wow, there are so many people here!”
“Yeah, seriously. This place has real energy.”
It wasn’t the first time I’d seen large crowds, but watching peers all dressed in matching colors chanting and jumping together was genuinely spectacular.
The thought that I’d be standing out there performing within thirty minutes at the fastest made my hair stand on end.
“We’re third in line. We have enough time to warm up, right?”
“Yes!”
“I’m really grateful we arrived on schedule.”
“Right. Phew, thanks for all your hard work, Manager!”
The Manager let out a relieved sigh and dashed off to speak with the staff.
We settled into the Waiting Room, loosening our necks and bodies while we waited.
‘I didn’t know a place like this existed.’
Back in High School, I’d never cared much about festivals, so I didn’t even know spaces like this were set up. Even if I had known, I’d never have had reason to enter one.
‘Anyway, as long as we perform well, that’s what matters.’
University festivals are technically just events, but people seem to anticipate them quite a bit.
‘Maybe it’s because they can use it as a measure of mainstream appeal.’
Direct camera footage tends to gain popularity pretty easily too.
Actually, even this morning I’d marveled at how stubbornly they kept the lineup private.
‘Whoever pushed for this really went all out to prevent scalping.’
Of course, the moment our van showed up, everything seemed to blow wide open.
-Testa??? Testa?
-Is this really TST’s van?
└Yeah, it’s Testa fans
-This is insane, what’s this year’s lineup? They got Testa?
-Ticket prices are going up in real time lol
At the same time, reasonable posts appeared asking them to lower tuition instead if they had that kind of money, but it wasn’t directed at us, so I didn’t mind. Besides, I didn’t even have a diploma anymore.
Still, I should give them their money’s worth.
“Park Moon-dae, do you need to hydrate before stretching?”
“I’m fine.”
“Give me some!”
“Cha Yu-jin, you’re sitting closer to the water than I am!”
Same as always.
I continued stretching while watching those two warm up through bickering.
Meanwhile, Sun Ah-hyun was methodically loosening his muscles beside me, starting with the larger ones and working down to the smaller ones.
I’d seen this routine countless times.
‘He does it like breathing.’
Well, he’d been doing it since he was half his current height, so it was only natural.
Hmm, I should have learned that beforehand.
“Ah-hyun.”
“Hm?”
“Could you teach me that sequence just once?”
“Of, of course…!”
Sun Ah-hyun’s face brightened instantly.
‘…To that extent?’
For some reason, it reminded me of those days learning choreography at Ajusa.
I found myself half-reluctantly following along earnestly with the stretching techniques he taught me. Sun Ah-hyun was teaching with excessive enthusiasm.
‘This guy could’ve made a living as a teacher.’
“The last one is… again, with your whole body.”
“Got it.”
I completed the final movement cleanly.
This is actually really good, isn’t it? I should keep doing it like this from now on. I should have figured this out sooner.
“Thanks. This is great.”
“….”
But Sun Ah-hyun remained silent for a while before suddenly opening his mouth.
“Um… M, Moon-dae.”
“What?”
“…Ah, never mind.”
Sun Ah-hyun smiled faintly.
“I just… wanted to say, let’s work hard together today too.”
“…Yeah.”
It didn’t seem like that was what he was going to say.
I closed my mouth.
‘…Is it awkward after all?’
He might have various thoughts about the fact that I’m originally older than him.
‘…Never mind.’
No, let me stop thinking about it.
I need to work, so I’ll focus on work for now. I stopped making unnecessary assumptions and stood up from my seat.
“Let’s get ready!”
And shortly after.
The Outdoor Stage I jumped onto was already warm with heat.
Uuuuuaaaaahhh!!
Roars from throats already hoarse, crowds surging thickly from below the stage, and behind them, waves of people swaying.
Wildly excessive.
‘Was it like this?’
This massive collective community passionately screaming—it’s a different flavor from just fans.
Wait, there are fans here too.
Park Moon-dae!!
I couldn’t help but chuckle when I spotted a few brave souls holding light sticks.
The moment we took the stage and launched into “Promise,” last year’s award-winning track, the atmosphere became absolutely electric. This is why having popular songs makes events so much easier.
‘There’s something special about hearing the crowd sing along.’
Some people even perform with one earpiece pulled out so they can hear the audience better.
As the final instrumental of “Promise” faded, we straightened up perfectly, riding the wave of deafening cheers.
Then the hand microphone was passed to me.
“Take your star! Hello, we’re Testa!”
Uwaaaaah!!
After Ryu Chung-woo led the greeting with a breathless shout, the talk flowed smoothly.
“Today, we’re truly delighted to meet such wonderful students from Yeon-hee University….”
But then Ryu Chung-woo glanced at me and suddenly smirked.
‘What the hell.’
He smoothly brought the microphone toward me.
“…??”
“How do you feel about it?”
This bastard was messing with me too.
Suddenly tasked with sharing my impressions of returning to my alma mater, I suppressed a sigh and opened my mouth.
“The passion here is incredible, truly wonderful. Blue is definitely a cooler color than red, no question.”
And I gave a thumbs up.
‘That’s the golden rule.’
Mention the school’s signature color and praise it over the rival school.
Everyone knows that when they visit the neighboring school, they’ll flip their stance and say red is better.
Uaaaah! Ugagayak!
The crowd loved it.
Ryu Chung-woo laughed and took the microphone back.
“So we’ve prepared a song where blue beats red.”
“Please enjoy our movements and our dancers’ choreography~ Here’s the next song!”
As Big Sae-jin waved and took his position, the intro to this title track began.
I didn’t miss the opening and came in strong.
“That voice calling out desperately,”
I moved my gaze more than usual. There were dozens of cameras visible right away.
Smartphone lights, that is.
“The first leader to appear!”
Aaaah!
The crowd’s reaction was great when I hit the high note.
I moved with exaggerated motions, dancing across the stage.
The next song, and the one after that—the momentum never wavered.
Neither ours, nor the audience’s.
“Phew.”
“Thank you!”
We had three contracted songs. But since we had time to spare, we did one more encore. Having plenty of songs meant no pressure—that was a good thing.
“One more?”
“Let’s do it! Come on, let’s do it!”
The next encore was “Black Hole,” a movie OST.
Since we could perform it while walking around, it was easy to manage our stamina, and with its strong recognition, the crowd’s reaction was excellent.
‘This is success.’
I felt it instinctively.
We’d scored real points with this high school festival event.
Maybe because things have been falling into place lately, but I wasn’t getting any particularly negative premonitions.
Even without me, the excited guys next to me were already launching into another song, ignoring tomorrow’s dawn shoot and everything else.
“Phew, should we do one more song? Is there anything you’d like to hear?”
Picnic! Picnic!!
Magic Boy!
Popular crowd-picked tracks poured out. We listened with quiet chuckles.
‘All prepared tracks.’
I was planning to tease them a bit before deciding based on the volume of cheers.
But suddenly Kim Rae-bin’s eyes lit up brilliantly.
“Um… would it be alright if I said something?”
“Oh? Go ahead!”
“Since this is a university, and the audience is preparing to enter society, wouldn’t it be good for us to perform our debut song?”
Woooow!!
“….”
Was this guy really that good with words?
“…I agree with that!”
Was Bae Sae-jin really this proactive?
Everyone must be excited today. Anyway, given the atmosphere, there was only one right answer.
“Then let’s do that?”
Yes!!
“Great! Play ‘Magic Boy’ for us.”
At Ryu Chung-woo’s powerful call, the stage crew below exchanged signals.
Now if the “Magic Boy” track played like this….
-Ooooh~ Ooooooh~
“…!”
“Huh.”
Then, a resonant male and female chorus came through the speakers.
A slightly low-quality, exaggerated band sound with a melody borrowed from famous classical music.
It was definitely not the music box sound of the “Magic Boy” intro.
I understood immediately.
‘They played the wrong track.’
They’d started the cheering track meant to play after our ending instead.
“…Hmm.”
In a word, a technical malfunction.
‘It happens.’
The kind of accident that commonly occurs at events.
The problem was that seven seconds had already passed, and the sound still hadn’t cut out.
‘Looks like chaos broke loose backstage.’
If we panicked here and froze up together, we’d kill the entire encore atmosphere.
With smartphones recording everything, that wasn’t an option.
‘I should at least move my hands.’
Pretend to enjoy it.
I watched the others around me laughing and swaying to the rhythm, so I raised both my hands to do something similar.
And then, suddenly, it struck me.
‘If that’s the case, why not just….’
Wouldn’t this work instead?
I stepped forward and picked up the handheld microphone that had been set down on the stage.
“…?”
And I opened my mouth in time with the chorus.
[Rise up with the morning! Advance with the dawn! Ooooooh~ Our voices!]
“…!”
An old-fashioned cheer naturally poured out.
Ohhhhh!
‘I haven’t forgotten this one.’
They played it on the way to the library every time this season rolled around.
‘And the lyrics came from poetry.’
Actually, even if I got the lyrics wrong, it didn’t matter. All that mattered was drawing out the crowd’s response.
[Voice! Voice! Voice!]
I sang along with the crowd chant, keeping it measured, and filled the time with the members.
And just as we passed the chorus of the first verse, the music finally cut out.
Wooooow!!
“Thank you.”
Lucky timing. I didn’t know the second verse anyway.
And laughter and applause poured out. The funny part was that the members were doing the same thing.
“That was great crowd support~”
“Awesome!”
…Well. That was pretty quick thinking, I’d say.

* * *
“Jackpot!”
“That was brilliant ad-libbing, hyung!”
On the way back late at night, as we entered the Dormitory, the members each added their own comment. To be honest, I’d just riffed off some background knowledge, so my conscience pricked a little.
Bae Sae-jin murmured softly.
“You really do know trot well….”
“….”
Even if they understood it that way… well, it wasn’t exactly wrong, which was oddly amusing.
And the one who actually knew what was going on poked me in the side once the others had scattered to their rooms.
“Moon-dae, Moon-dae!”
Stop it.
“Don’t tell me you actively participated in events like that and just happened to learn this? A cheer song?”
As if.
“There’s an orientation for freshmen where they collect and teach only this stuff.”
“Really??”
“Yeah.”
Big Sae-jin burst out laughing.
“Hey.”
“S-sorry! I just… imagining it… ah, um.”
And even Ryu Chung-woo, who’d been standing quietly beside us, made a sound.
“Hmph!”
“….”
That bastard kept pretending he had nothing to do with it while getting his jabs in.
‘Do whatever you want.’
Anyway, since I’d managed the situation and pulled off the moment, things worked out fine.
“Ah~ thanks to Moon-dae, we’re gonna get another viral video~”
And Big Sae-jin even grabbed Sun Ah-hyun, who’d been trying to slip away to the corner.
“Ah-hyun, did you hear? Moon-dae learned this separately.”
“….”
But Sun Ah-hyun didn’t turn around.
“…um, Ah-hyun?”
“…y-yeah, I… I heard….”
Sun Ah-hyun still didn’t turn around, but she did answer.
However, her voice had grown quieter. And her shoulders trembled as if she were breathing heavily.
‘Right now….’
Something felt off.
It was just as I was about to say something.
Sun Ah-hyun stumbled.
“…!”
“Ah-hyun.”
“…Ugh.”
The sound of held breath. Or perhaps gasping.
‘…Hyperventilation?’
And in that instant, Sun Ah-hyun stumbled and bolted.
“…!!”
Bang!
Into the entrance bathroom.
“Sun Ah-hyun!”
I reflexively rushed after him and grabbed the door handle.
Thud!
…It was locked.
Why?
I heard someone who’d run alongside me shouting from the side.
“Ah-hyun? Sun Ah-hyun! Are you okay?”
Only the sound of retching—ugh, ugh—echoed from inside.
“Moon-dae, move. Let’s break it down.”
“Watch out.”
Cha Yu-jin came running from somewhere and slammed his body violently against the door.
Bang! Bang!
Click….
And with the sound of the door handle giving way, the door swung open.
As it opened, I saw Sun Ah-hyun’s back hunched over the sink.
His hair was completely drenched—clearly he’d done something desperate in the meantime.
“Sun Ah-hyun, where does it hurt?”
“I… I’ll call an ambulance!”
“Wait, the kid’s condition right now….”
I stepped into the bathroom and reached out to gently pat the shoulder of the figure standing at the sink.
His shoulder flinched sharply.
“…!”
And a small voice emerged.
“I’m… I’m sorry… Moon-dae. I’m… I’m really sorry….”
“…!!”
Why….
“….”
“Hey, everyone, wait….”
Behind me, I faintly heard Ryu Chung-woo ushering the others out.
And I stood there as if struck by lightning.
“…What is…”
I’d barely spoken those words when the dam burst, and words poured out.
“I sh-should have told you right away…. But I c-couldn’t, because b-being together like this felt so good…. And it… it made me feel safe….”
“….”
“You, if you really thought about yourself, if you truly cared about you, you should have said something, but… Park Moon-dae.”
Sun Ah-hyun turned away.
His face had gone deathly pale.
“Y-you need to get treatment. C-counseling too…. Right now, you, you shouldn’t be active, shouldn’t be performing…. It’s, it’s getting worse and worse… No, if I say it like this, I c-can’t, I need to say it properly….”
“….”
“I’m s-sorry…. I c-couldn’t trust you… and I c-couldn’t help….”
Sun Ah-hyun’s face turned ashen, and he began gasping for breath again.
And I had seen that face before.
-H-hello there….
A daydream.
Sun Ah-hyun’s condition when I’d abruptly brought him to Testa as a complete stranger.
‘Ah.’
I reflexively pulled up his status window.
Past the grand stat categories where A and S intersected… below that.
Special attributes.
Trait: Perseverance (Inactive)
!Abnormal Status: Self-Esteem Deficiency
Abnormal status.
[Self-Esteem Deficiency]
: Despises oneself.
All stats decreased by two stages
And I understood.
That I had truly screwed up.

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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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