Debut or Die - Chapter 37

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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 37
The next participant to enter the Rabbit Team room after me was Sun Ah-hyun.
“…Ah!”
Sun Ah-hyun peered nervously into the room, but the moment our eyes met, his expression brightened and he quickly rushed inside.
And he smiled widely.
“I, it’s g-good to be working together this time.”
“Yeah, looking forward to it.”
“Y-yeah, I’ll w-work hard….”
It was at that moment when Sun Ah-hyun, who had been speaking eagerly, locked eyes with Kim Rae-bin, who was staring blankly in this direction.
“…!!”
Only then did Sun Ah-hyun seem to realize Kim Rae-bin’s presence, and he froze in surprise.
‘Come to think of it, these two have no connection.’
They were different ranks and had never met in team competitions.
Sun Ah-hyun hurriedly glanced between me and Kim Rae-bin, swallowed hard, and greeted Kim Rae-bin.
“P-p-please work with us….”
It was solemn beyond measure.
“Yes. I should be the one asking for your cooperation.”
“N-no, I should be the one….”
Kim Rae-bin also bowed his head with a serious expression. Then Sun Ah-hyun quickly bowed his head to the floor.
It was a bizarre scene that looked like something from internet humor.
‘If I leave these two alone, the conversation won’t progress.’
As I watched what seemed like an eternal greeting battle between Kim Rae-bin and Sun Ah-hyun, the fourth team member forcefully opened the door and entered.
“Who’s in the Rabbit Team?!”
It was Big Sae-jin. The way he waved the rabbit-shaped badge with one hand showed he was completely absorbed in the room’s concept for some reason.
Big Sae-jin quickly identified Sun Ah-hyun and Kim Rae-bin. Then, seeing me, he burst out laughing.
Why again.
“What, why are you here?”
“…?”
I looked at him with an expression asking what nonsense he was spouting, and Big Sae-jin continued slowly.
“I mean, since there’s a Dog Team room, I naturally thought you’d be there. Did you want to work together this time?”
“….”
Wasn’t the Tibetan fox interview enough.
The dog image was something I intended to keep for the production, but the shock was a separate issue, and I wanted to punch this guy just once.
Big Sae-jin, quick to read the mood, quietly approached the others and changed the subject.
“Anyway, it’s good to work together~ We have great team members this time! Let’s do our best! Is there just one person left?”
There were six doors with name plates in total. Considering that 30 participants were currently surviving, the probability of five people being assigned per room was extremely high.
‘So if four have come so far, then one person remaining is correct.’
But I had no idea who would come.
‘For now, we’ve already secured rankings and positions.’
We had team members without overlapping images, high rankings, and everyone had solid skills.
Kim Rae-bin would handle the arrangement, and Big Sae-jin would naturally claim the leader role anyway, so that was settled. With the all-rounder Sun Ah-hyun on the team, staging the performance was straightforward.
Truthfully, the four of us could manage just fine without anyone else.
‘As long as no troublemakers show up.’
A few names came to mind that I’d want to exclude, Choi Won-gil among them. Without those people, I honestly didn’t care who joined.
The real problem was that my teams had never come together smoothly before.
I assessed the situation.
‘Even Lee Sae-jin, I could manage up to that point.’
She was uncooperative, but she wasn’t the type to throw grenades at others for personal gain—a little coaxing would do the trick.
Still, there was a chance her mental state had cracked during the ranking announcement, so it was better not to team up with her if possible.
That left one option for the final team member, alphabetically speaking, after eliminating those already taken.
‘Gold 1 would be the easiest choice.’
Just as I was considering the participant with the highest potential, Big Sae-jin grinned and made a suggestion.
“What if we hid behind the door? Since they’re the last one, we could give them a really enthusiastic welcome.”
It was an obvious idea, but if the final team member’s reaction was decent, it would make for good broadcast material.
The problem was the thought that if Choi Won-gil walked in, the atmosphere would turn awkward—but the other three were already shuffling behind the door, so I just gave up.
If I tried to stop them now, I’d be the one who looked weird on camera.
As I let my teammates’ quiet chatter from behind the door go in one ear and out the other, Big Sae-jin pressed against the wall and let out a soft shout.
“They’re here!”
He held his index finger to his lips with exaggerated drama. Since I was already keeping my mouth shut, I just kept it that way.
Soon, footsteps sounded and the door opened.
“Excuse me, I’m coming in… huh?”
“Surprise!”
A head popped out from behind the door with perfect timing.
“Kyaaaah!!”
The participant who’d been about to look inside jumped straight up into the air, doing a full physical comedy bit. More dramatic than I’d expected.
‘Great broadcast material.’
The final team member sprawled on the ground with that strange shriek was a familiar face.
“Oh man, sorry, hyung!”
Gold 1, who I hadn’t anticipated, had joined the team.
‘…This works.’
For the first time, I gave a positive assessment of my team composition.

* * *
“Please take good care of the Rabbit Team~”
“Wooooow!!”
Clap clap clap. Without a single sullen face among us, the discussion began with perfectly reasonable reactions.
Even accounting for my university years, I’d never experienced a team project with an atmosphere this harmonious.
With cameras rolling, there were no curses, no one slacking off.
‘This is like kindergarten.’
Of course, not every team was as fortunate as the Rabbit Team when it came to group assignments.
For instance, a couple of teams composed entirely of lower-ranked trainees already radiated an air of resignation.
“Ah….”
“Well, let’s do our best….”
“…and here we are.”
Surprisingly, the atmosphere of despair came from a different team—one composed of the highest-ranked trainees.
Choi Won-gil and Lee Sae-jin had been placed on the same team as Ryu Chung-woo and Cha Yu-jin. On top of that, the troll who’d grabbed Kim Rae-bin by the collar was on that team too.
Several participants whispered knowingly.
“Can they really be grouped like that?”
“What an interesting combination.”
I could practically hear Ryu Chung-woo’s stomach churning from here.
‘Unfortunate for him, but honestly convenient for me.’
If they drew all the editing attention, things would be easier.
Just as I was wrapping up my thoughts, Big Sae-jin was already steering the discussion forward.
“Alright then, let’s talk about the song first! Does anyone have a preference?”
Several teammates’ eyes lit up as they raised their hands. Even Sun Ah-hyun quietly lifted his, and everyone clearly seemed excited.
With good reason—this was finally a “free song selection team battle.”
I recalled the MC’s announcement from moments ago.
‘You’ll each be able to create your Stage by freely choosing a song that suits your team, the choreography, the concept—every detail exactly as you wish! We call this the 【Self-Produced Stage】!’
The Production Team was essentially asking us to do their job for them.
‘Last season, they at least had mini-games to determine some of these elements.’
The Production Team had apparently prepared about ten preset concept patterns in advance, complete with costumes and stage design, and participants would simply choose from those options.
But this season, there was none of that—we were expected to create everything from scratch.
Probably the Production Team couldn’t manage the workload during the planning phase due to budget constraints.
At least now that the show had become successful and secured additional funding, this content had virtually no budget limitations—that was one advantage.
‘That’s why everyone’s so excited.’
I listened carefully to each teammate’s opinion.
Speaking order was determined clockwise, and Sun Ah-hyun, who got the first turn, called out softly.
“How about ‘Waiting Feels Good’…!”
‘Waiting Feels Good’. Its hallmarks were high notes and choreography with a musical-like structure.
Fresh and refined, the high-teen sensibility had hit its target demographic perfectly.
Released five years ago by a nine-member boy group, it had earned them their first music show win.
Given his track record, it was clearly the kind of song Sun Ah-hyun would naturally gravitate toward.
“Oh, the first suggestion is a great song.”
“Right. We’ve never really shown that youthful, refreshing concept before.”
I added my own comment.
“Sounds good.”
“Y-yes!!”
Sun Ah-hyun nodded vigorously, his face brightening. Even if this song didn’t get selected, he looked like he’d be thrilled just from the positive reaction.
‘How does someone live their life to have that kind of expression?’
I found it a bit pitiful and absurd.
“Next is Rae-bin!”
“Considering our member composition, I believe VTIC seniors’ 【Hone】 would be the most effective choice.”
His prepared remarks came pouring out.
“Since it uses many Oriental sound samples, the concept is distinctive, and the vocal range is appropriate. It’s a song with challenging choreography, so it’s easy to showcase performance elements, and it’s convenient to add a dance break interlude. We can even have an arrangement draft ready within a day!”
“Mm…”
‘He really wants to do this, doesn’t he.’
I wasn’t the only one thinking that—the other team members responded slowly with bewildered expressions.
Kim Rae-bin seemed to realize his mistake and awkwardly tried to add more, gauging the room.
“Of course… if there are other good opinions, those would be fine too.”
“Okie-dokie, Kim Rae-bin’s song choice was good too, but let’s take our time hearing other opinions first~”
Big Sae-jin brushed past it quickly.
‘But it might be better to listen more carefully to the opinion of whoever’s going to do the arrangement.’
It seemed Big Sae-jin probably had a song he wanted to push for himself and wasn’t planning to give Kim Rae-bin any more attention.
‘I should probably take note of this.’
I opened my mouth.
“Of the things you mentioned, which element appealed to you the most?”
“Huh? …Ah, well, rather than a specific element appealing to me, I considered what would be most suitable overall for the assignment.”
He meant he’d focused on the overall completion of the Stage. I nodded.
“That’s a perspective we should keep in mind.”
“Right. I was honestly surprised.”
“Kim Rae-bin really has a plan for everything!”
“…Thank you.”
As the team members offered praise, Kim Rae-bin lowered his head and murmured.
After a brief, warm atmosphere of watching the awkward Kim Rae-bin, Big Sae-jin finally offered his opinion.
“The time has come.”
“…?”
“We’ve come this far, and now it’s time to do a sexy concept…!”
“S-s-sexy…”
“Ugh!”
“Oof…”
Reactions of disgust and shuddering followed. Big Sae-jin laughed out loud.
“Haha! Honestly, you can’t deny it, right? You can’t, right?”
“….”
He stated it so brazenly and shamelessly that it was irritating, but….
‘…there’s merit to what he’s saying.’
I couldn’t deny that it was a solid concept.
‘If I execute it properly, there’s no stronger concept than this.’
A sexy concept was a traditionally proven path to success—if I could maintain sophistication while keeping things tasteful and still look impressive.
I crossed my arms and asked Big Sae-jin.
“Which song did you have in mind?”
“Huh? As expected, Moon-dae has good instincts. Actually, I don’t have one specific song I want to push. I was thinking we could compare several songs and decide together on whichever one showcases this… sexy concept most successfully. What do you think?”
“….”
That worked for me.
But the other two opinions weren’t bad either.
I turned my head to look at Gold 1, who hadn’t spoken yet.
Gold 1 looked completely burned out.
“I… I’m not sure. I was just going to suggest we try to save the Rabbit Team a bit…. But you all… have such clear visions…?”
The conviction in the others’ opinions seemed to have drained his fighting spirit. Fair enough. I shrugged.
“M-Moon-dae… w-what do you want to do?”
“Me? I don’t have anything set in stone.”
I answered Sun Ah-hyun’s question immediately, and Big Sae-jin’s eyes lit up.
“Oh, then I want to hear your choice! Which of our ideas do you think is best?”
“…!”
At Big Sae-jin’s words, all the other team members’ gazes fixed on me.
…It was incredibly daunting. But I couldn’t ignore the situation either.
‘Which one is best,’ he asked.
I fell into thought.

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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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