Debut or Die - Chapter 36

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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 36
The Production Team’s explanation was straightforward.
Relax a bit, have some fun, and take home some prizes.
In other words, that’s what it really meant.
‘You all fool around a little, enjoy some school trip vibes, and take home the products that T1 sponsored for promotional purposes.’
Everyone probably caught the drift, but the atmosphere improved compared to right after the ranking announcement.
The prizes were decent, and the rules were loose.
“There’s no ranking—it’s all voluntary~”
“Ah….”
“Once you come out, you can definitely pick one prize from the lottery!”
“…Yes!”
The responses came with noticeably lighter energy.
It was a setup where no one lost anything.
‘The fact that there’s no MC probably helped too, making it feel more relaxed.’
…Honestly, I was tempted by the clothes dryer myself.
Even though my one-room apartment had nowhere to put it, I couldn’t believe they’d thrown in large appliances for such a hastily planned segment.
‘This program must be doing incredibly well.’
As I thought that while looking at the kimchi refrigerator photo included in the prizes, the product images vanished from the screen and large text appeared.
[Talent Show: Random Dance]
[The last person standing wins!]
‘They didn’t even touch the font.’
The Hamchorom Batang typeface gleamed.
Regardless of my impressions, a five-second countdown soon appeared on the screen.
Then a few of the ones in better condition rushed out and got ready.
[Start!]
And famous K-pop choruses streamed out relentlessly, one after another.
“Ugh, ugh.”
“Hey, you got it wrong! You have to stay in!”
“Ugh, what?”
At first, the participants mechanically took part, perhaps due to the volume, but by the end they were practically performing a comedy sketch as they determined the winner.
After about twelve songs had passed that way, a winner emerged.
“Ah, thank you so much~”
It was Big Sae-jin.
“No one asked, but I’ll share my thoughts. I think I must have been honing my skills at the PR Live for this very moment! Haha!”
“Ooooh~”
Big Sae-jin, who had done similar content during the PR, spoke shamelessly with a grin and quickly thrust his hand into the prize lottery box to draw a slip.
“So, my prize is….”
[(Authentic) Charcoal-Grilled Boneless Chicken Feet 1 Box]
“I’ll give it to Moon-dae.”
At Big Sae-jin’s swift pivot, the participants burst into laughter. Even the staff covered their mouths as they laughed, and as Big Sae-jin winked at me, I couldn’t bring myself to look stern.
‘How much longer will this chicken feet image haunt me?’
At this rate, it felt like it would follow me all the way to retirement.
In any case, Big Sae-jin’s hearty laughter had lifted the atmosphere considerably.
“Next one, please!”
“I’m taking this one, for real.”
After three or four more rounds played out in that fashion, most of the participants had become genuinely invested in the talent show.
And there were still several expensive appliances left as prizes.
Then the sixth talent show appeared on the screen.
[Talent Show: Random Noraebang]
[Winner: Whoever completes the first verse!]
“This event was made for me.”
“Wow, I really wanted to go, but I’ve already won? What do I do?”
I ignored Big Sae-jin’s teasing, hesitated for a moment, then stepped forward.
“Ooh~~ Park Moon-dae, feeling confident?”
Truth be told, I wasn’t particularly confident. I had no desire to make a big show of it either.
I was simply guarding against the appearance of arrogance if I seemed passive after my ranking had improved.
…Besides, if I won and took home the clothes dryer, that would be even better.
With seven prizes remaining, that gave me roughly a 14% chance—odds worth hoping for.
I waited for the countdown to finish alongside four other participants I barely knew. The Production Team quietly left a microphone on the floor.
[Begin!]
The moment the screen changed, the intro flowed out immediately.
Boom-chick boom-chick boom-cha-ra boom-chick~
An addictively catchy trot melody resonated through the auditorium.
“…?”
“Huh?”
The participants’ faces went blank—they’d expected K-pop.
That’s right. What had played was a K-trot noraebang backing track.
“Uh….”
“Wait, wait.”
The participants listened intently to the intro with confused expressions, but there was no way to tell what song it was from the intro alone.
There were more than a few trot songs that started with an upbeat, catchy rhythm like this.
“….”
I wavered for a moment, then quietly stepped forward and picked up the microphone.
“…!!”
“Park Moon-dae doing trot…?”
Gold 1’s murmur reached all the way over here.
“Maybe he just grabbed it?”
“Hyung, do you actually know that song?”
I didn’t answer the barrage of questions, simply waiting for the intro to end before I began singing.
“Rain falls on Seoul Namdaemun Street~ but the person I’m looking for isn’t there~”
“…!!”
The participants murmured among themselves.
“Wow.”
“How did you know that?”
How did I know? I’d seen it plenty of times.
After attending event shoots several times, I’d watched trot singers perform more often than I could count.
Especially since I was often positioned right before idol stages, I’d heard quite a lot of the popular songs that appeared in the latter half of events—the kind that resonated with older audiences.
This song in particular… I’d watched the original artist’s stage so many times that I think I saw it twice in a single day at one point.
Later, the singer even recognized me and winked at the camera.
The memory of uploading the fancam to YouTube out of conscience came flooding back. Well, this is turning out to be quite useful.
“Ah~ the one I’ve been searching for~ the one I’ve been longing for~”
Since it was a fairly famous song, the participants joined in singing the chorus. I wondered if this was how the singer felt at events.
“Left Seoul behind~”
“Ooh.”
Caught up in the moment, I belted out the first verse, and the participants responded with exclamations and applause.
It felt less like cheering and more like the kind of reaction you’d get watching something amazing at a magic show.
It was a bit embarrassing, but since I’d pulled it off, I decided to focus on drawing the prize.
I bowed to the participants a few times, set down the microphone, and grabbed the raffle drum.
When I unfolded the slip I’d drawn, a silvery metallic body gleamed in the photo.
‘Could it be a dryer…?’
[Kimchi Refrigerator]
“….”
This is insane.
“Yo! A kimchi refrigerator!!”
“What kind of luck does Park Moon-dae have~!”
“So the one Park Moon-dae was searching for was a refrigerator.”
The participants rushed forward, surrounded me, and chattered excitedly. I stared at the slip in a daze before reality suddenly hit me.
‘…Don’t they deduct taxes from prizes?’
I didn’t have money to pay the taxes.
I’d probably have to sell the prize on the secondhand market as soon as I received it, pay the taxes first, and then rebuild my savings account.
Still, catching something expensive felt good.
Big Sae-jin, who’d been congratulating me from the side, whispered something suggestive.
“Park Moon-dae, can we swap prizes…?”
“No.”
“Yes.”
Go eat some chicken feet.

* * *
After the final cockfight brought the talent show to a glittering close, the team competition filming began in a noticeably lighter atmosphere.
The MC seemed to have difficulty maintaining the adjusted filming schedule, so surprisingly, Young-rin took over the hosting duties and announced the new team competition.
“Welcome to 【Idol Stock Company】, already our third team competition. Participants, I hope you’ll take a moment to praise yourselves for enduring from 77 members down to 30.”
Though her voice lacked the MC’s usual vibrancy, Young-rin proceeded through the situation with calm composure and gravity.
More importantly, since she was already an established idol, the participants seemed to receive her words with greater significance.
Right next to me, Gold 2 was grinning and patting his own head in self-congratulation. It was quite a sight.
“This third team competition has been structured in a rather unusual way.”
Let me think—until now, teams had been formed based on participant choice, so it was about time some other factor came into play.
But this factor was quite peculiar.
“It’s big data algorithms.”
“…Pardon?”
“Big data?”
As a concept suddenly appeared that you’d normally see in IT news, the participants turned to Young-rin with bewildered expressions.
Young-rin smiled and continued her explanation.
“Idol Stock Company has analyzed the patterns in which our shareholders purchase your stocks. Teams have been formed primarily around stocks that numerous shareholders purchased simultaneously.”
In other words, the show had grouped together participants that viewers who spent money tended to like together.
“Detailed analysis data can be found on the Idol Stock Company website. Participants, are you ready to meet your teammates chosen by our shareholders’ big data?”
“Whoa.”
“That’s so interesting.”
The participants murmured with dazed expressions, beginning to look around to see who they might be paired with.
I casually surveyed the other participants as well.
‘Well… Sun Ah-hyun and Big Sae-jin seem likely to be in my group.’
These two were obvious just from looking at social media. Sure enough, even Sun Ah-hyun’s eyes sparkled as he waved a small hand toward me.
Big Sae-jin went even further, patting my back and saying this.
“Hey, let’s do our best together.”
“Yeah. Sure.”
Big Sae-jin burst into laughter at my composed response, apparently finding it amusing. It seemed he’d approached me just to tease.
“It appears everyone is ready. Please come forward in order and receive your boxes.”
Behind Young-rin, a table lined with black boxes had been set up.
“Inside each box is a badge. After receiving your box, proceed to the corridor and enter the room marked with that badge’s shape.”
Young-rin then began calling participants in alphabetical order and handing out boxes.
Naturally, “Park Moon-dae” was called relatively early.
“Participant Park Moon-dae. Please take your box.”
I took the box with the paper labeled “Park Moon-dae” and stepped outside.
A staff member with a camera was naturally waiting in the corridor. Reading the situation, I opened the box in front of them, revealing a rabbit-head-shaped badge.
“…A rabbit?”
I muttered somewhat bewilderedly, then quickly closed my mouth, conscious of the camera.
I lifted my head and examined the rooms lined up in the corridor. Each room had a nameplate.
【Chick】
Cat
Deer
Dog
Bear
And in the very last room, I found the name I’d been looking for.
Rabbit
“….”
Overall, the naming sense was distinctly reminiscent of a kindergarten classroom.
‘Well, it’s just dividing teams.’
Assuming it was meant as a joke, I immediately opened the door.
Since all the participants who might end up on my team would be called after me, I wasn’t particularly nervous.
‘I’ll be the first one here.’
But the moment I stepped through the door, the person sitting on the floor suddenly looked up and stared at me.
“…?”
It was Kim Rae-bin.
What are you doing coming out of here…?
“Park Moon-dae hyung.”
Kim Rae-bin stood up with a pleased expression, then quietly shifted his position and moved to the side.
It seemed like he was being considerate, offering me the center seat.
Even though there were only two of us…?
“I didn’t expect we’d be on the same team again. I’m really glad.”
“…Yeah. Let’s work well together.”
“Yes.”
The conversation was pleasant enough, but my mind was churning with complex deductions.
‘Why is Kim Rae-bin on my team?’
The only episode where I had a scene interacting with Kim Rae-bin was episode 7, the most recent one.
So the voting rate after episode 7 was significant enough to influence that algorithm of theirs?
‘Of course, if they only considered the stock from the last ranking announcement, it would be possible….’
I was weighing the possibilities when I realized something simple.
‘Ah.’
It was because Kim Rae-bin had few connections to other participants.
I wasn’t sure how they weighted it, but it was fairly convincing that since Kim Rae-bin’s only real connections were with me and Cha Yu-jin, he ended up on my team.
‘Well, having a highly-ranked participant is good.’
I organized my thoughts neatly and sat down on the floor. Kim Rae-bin immediately spoke again.
“Hyung, the song you sang during the talent show earlier—I like that song too.”
“…Really?”
I wondered if I really needed to know that Kim Rae-bin liked trot, but in any case, I passed the time with casual conversation until the next team member arrived.
And after quite a bit of time had passed, the next team member finally opened the door and entered.

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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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