Debut or Die - Chapter 370

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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 370
The backstage of the awards ceremony was in chaos as the live broadcast loomed.
“Unnie, this one!”
“So-hyun has arrived!”
This year, Malang Dalcom was frantically busy as always. It had become routine for members to arrive late due to personal schedules and scramble to prepare.
A staff member who had been setting up for the performance nodded absently.
‘These girls are really all beautiful.’
Though they looked exhausted, Malang Dalcom carried the distinctive aura of an idol group that had reached the upper ranks—the unmistakable bearing of those who received meticulous management.
‘Though I suppose they did select beautiful members from the start.’
One reason for this assumption stood right beside them.
“Let’s do this properly.”
“Yes!”
The trainee dancers who had come with them were equally impressive in appearance.
‘I heard Retti is betting everything on this new boy group.’
Not all the entertainment industry gossip that circulated could be trusted, but perhaps half of it held some truth.
The seven or so of them were, by any measure, exceptionally good-looking.
‘Hmm.’
Taking advantage of a moment when his hands were free, the staff member discreetly observed them. After all, he might see them on music programs around next year.
And besides, this kind of one-sided observation and speculation was fun!
Then he noticed one person who stood out for their composure.
‘…! That’s definitely a Retti trainee.’
A boy in black slacks and a shirt with a slightly dark impression. His features were refined with clean, precise lines.
And there was a subtle, understated elegance that seemed somewhat cool.
‘Oh.’
It was a moment of slight admiration for the staff member.
Suddenly, as if he had something to say, the trainee turned his head toward the staff.
“…!”
And their eyes met.
‘Oh no.’
Just as he was hurriedly trying to look away as if he hadn’t been observing—
‘Ah, he’s smiling.’
The trainee gently bowed his head and then raised it.
His natural smile carried such ease, as if he had done this a hundred times over.
There was no forced artificiality that stood out as burdensome.
The staff member quickly nodded along while inwardly marveling.
‘Wow… he’s been trained well.’
He was wrong.
Ryu Gun-woo, a current Retti trainee who had originally been a fifth-year idol from Testa, was quietly letting out a sigh of relief.
‘I almost asked for my microphone back.’
It was because this kind of atmosphere had become so familiar that his unconscious mind had found comfort in it.
Moreover, the thin glasses perched on his face were somewhat off-putting, drawing even more of my attention.
‘He’s wearing contacts, yet he’s got these fake glasses on top of them….’
I couldn’t fathom what angle they were trying to sell. Why would a trainee dancer have styling that stood out more than the idol themselves?
‘Even back then, he didn’t avoid criticism for that kind of thing.’
If anything, he would have faced harsher backlash, not less.
But the moment I saw Malang Dalcom’s outfit, all such judgments evaporated.
‘…What on earth is this?’
Layers upon layers of chiffon and glittering artificial crystals were everywhere. It looked like something from a film festival red carpet.
I wondered if anyone could actually dance in that, but regardless, Ryu Gun-woo compared it to his own outfit and made sense of it.
‘It’s probably some kind of butler or servant concept.’
It was tacky, but this was an era when excessively over-the-top concepts were rampant, so I let it slide.
‘As long as my existence becomes known, that’s all that matters.’
My part was only a brief dance in the intro.
“Thank you for having me~”
“Thank you, senior.”
After bowing to So-hyun, whom I’d coordinated with just once during the in-house rehearsal, I fell into step with the other trainees.
I heard whispers nearby, voices deliberately lowered.
“Damn, she’s so pretty.”
“Yeah. But her personality is kind of….”
‘I see.’
Thanks to that, I readily understood Chung-ryeo’s VTIC Member selections.
It wasn’t for nothing that he’d pulled Shin O and Ju Dan from the back rows of that lineup.
‘Duds everywhere.’
Whether the agency had gone mad and assembled them based solely on looks and chemistry, they clearly couldn’t distinguish between what should and shouldn’t be said in public.
“Hmm?”
“Nothing.”
Chung-ryeo, who happened to be standing nearby, caught my gaze and offered further explanation.
“Ah, that. We tried bringing them along as a test once… but in their third year after debut, their girlfriend posted an exposé about their personality.”
“….”
“Haha, people really don’t change, do they?”
I wouldn’t have been surprised if Ryu Gun-woo had been buried in cement and thrown into the Han River at some point.
In any case, the gossip ended there.
“I don’t think they’ll overdo it on their first stage.”
“Yeah. They’ll handle it.”
The trainees, each lost in their own thoughts, took the stage with Malang Dalcom.
And that night.
On an internet community dedicated solely to celebrity gossip, particularly idol talk, a post appeared.
========================
[Retti Next Male Idol Debut Group Candidate Lineup Added]
The kids who appeared in the Goldie Malang Dalcom intro earlier are apparently the debut group according to the consensus in the community
=======================
The post then explained the trainee dancers briefly captured in the periphery by combining GIF files with previously leaked selfies of them.
Most were people whose rumors had already spread quietly among the long-time fans of the Entertainment Agency, but there was one new face.
It was Ryu Gun-woo, who paired briefly with Malang Dalcom Sun Ah-hyun before entering.
========================
Originally a private trainee, but it looks like he joined the Debut Group this time?
=======================
Malang Dalcom had put on what people called a ‘chaotic’ concept stage this year, but the intro itself had implemented the dazzling princess concept excessively well.
Thanks to that, the stage was dominated by that atmosphere, so there was no particular reason for the trainee dancers to become topics of conversation through skill or appearance, but there was an anomaly.
-Check out the private trainee’s eye contact lol
-He finds the camera like a ghost
Ryu Gun-woo had unconsciously located the camera far too accurately.
He had tried not to overdo it, but that was an unavoidable force born from experience.
Ignoring the camera would have looked even more awkward—a choice made reluctantly, like eating mustard out of spite.
But the effect exploded right there instead.
-What’s with the private trainee and So-hyun turning their faces toward the camera together, they’re so handsome and pretty, their face types match so well what’s going on
-Right, only Jaehyun? and the private trainee are catching the camera perfectly, looks like they’ll pick those two as the main axis for the Debut Group lol
-What do I do, Retti’s external bias, my heart’s racing again
Along with Chung-ryeo, who had appropriately adjusted his own intensity based on decades of experience, Ryu Gun-woo was mentioned quite a bit in the comments.
-Retti’s really a pine tree lol
-Wow the face genealogy is certain lol
-Please merciful Retti experts give me the answer, where is the handsome guy with glasses from, who is he please
└We don’t know either… he’s a private trainee
└Only sasaengs would know
Of course, the reaction ended there.
After all, he had appeared once as a dancer, so only idol fans deeply interested in Retti would notice him in passing.
But for the person involved, even that was quite a novel feeling.
‘It’s been a while since I’ve done monitoring like this.’
Ryu Gun-woo lowered the smartphone screen he’d been looking at.
It was fortunate that he hadn’t shown any expression in his attempt to control the pace. He hadn’t stood out that much.
However, the very fact of becoming newly known somehow made him think of Ajusa’s first stage reveal day.
“….”
That state where his mood had strangely improved just from seeing a few supportive comments.
A strange nostalgia washed over him.
[♪♪♬♪♩♬♪~]
A Golden Disc Awards rebroadcast was in full swing on the television.
Ryu Chung-woo, who had been making a PPT on his laptop in the Living Room without much thought, lifted his head and was quite startled.
“…! Is that your brother in the back?”
“Yeah.”
Just when he thought he’d suddenly become an idol trainee, he’d already made his screen debut.
‘Wow.’
Yet even though this was my first time appearing on Television, my relative showed no particular excitement or nervousness.
Instead….
‘…Satisfied?’
Yes. That seemed closer to the mark.
There was actually someone who could feel such contentment watching my first Stage performance.
Because he was so composed, I’d even mistaken him for my older brother when we were younger.
‘I’m not the strange one here.’
I shrugged my shoulders.
Then, after lowering the PPT for a moment, I watched the Television screen that Ryu Gun-woo was looking at.
“Ah, there I am again.”
“Yeah.”
I thought I should avoid teasing him just in case, but there was no need.
Ryu Gun-woo, whenever he appeared on screen, looked remarkably natural.
Ryu Chung-woo expressed genuine admiration.
“…Hyung, you weren’t just randomly trying to become an idol. You’re really good.”
“What.”
But he didn’t notice that his older brother’s fists were clenched tightly.

* * *
It came through!
I finally tore open the status window popup that appeared after the awards ceremony was rebroadcast.
[Fame is increasing….]
+Exp 10000
The settled fame Exp was a whopping 10000.
‘They’re really handing it out.’
Even considering it’s early on, just for being revealed as a trainee? If this were a real game, it would’ve flopped.
‘Whatever.’
I viewed it with mixed feelings but gladly decided to spend all the fame points.
Besides, something else popped up right after.
[Condition Met]
: 【Colleague Recruitment】 has been unlocked!
-> Go
‘Finally.’
A new feature had appeared.
They’d even created a tab with a grand image banner. It showed a silhouette of two figures shaking hands.
[Colleague Recruitment]
Find colleagues with whom you share a connection.
As expected.
I’d suspected it from when they said it was based on 【Section 127】, but this format is exactly that.
‘Character recruitment.’
It meant which colleague would appear was random.
Compared to when I drew traits, the format just looked more like an actual mobile game, but the content wasn’t really that different.
However, judging by the wording, it seemed someone with a connection would appear…
I glanced sideways at Ryu Chung-woo sitting next to me.
“Hm? What?”
“Nothing.”
The guy who knew all about my situation as Park Moon-dae, or someone close to me here—I was wondering which it’d be.
‘Anyway, let me just try it.’
I got up from the Living Room and went into my Room where my Bed was. Then I closed the door.
[Hyung! Are you doing it now? Fighting!]
“Yeah.”
I moved my finger while watching Big Dal chatter away.
‘Ten consecutive draws… never mind that.’
Let me just recruit one for now.
I pressed the button, and with a spinning motion on the screen, a shining star flew in from the black void, and then…
…it went out?
[Failed!]
“…”
What.
[Would you like to try again?]
-Exp 1000 Used
I was at a loss for words, staring at my status window, when reality hit me.
One thousand Exp just vanished.
“…”
This… damn pay-to-win game.
[I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! I didn’t do this! Really!]
“…I know.”
Now that I thought about it, Section 127 had these kinds of shitty duds with low probability too.
And the assholes at the Game Company who set up this garbage exchange rate—the ones who developed the business model this way—they’re to blame.
T1!
‘…Come to think of it, that’s my company.’
Well, so what. I can vouch that those bastards are money-obsessed since I directly contracted with them.
‘Wait.’
Thinking about it that way, my eyes opened wide. I immediately flipped through my status window to check the previous pop-ups.
And I found it.
[-Recruit colleagues and awaken them.]
Recruitment and awakening were separate.
Could it be…
“…They set the Exp for recruitment and the Exp for awakening separately.”
So, after recruiting a colleague, you need fame points again just to awaken them….
[Ahhhhhhh!]
That’s right.
Awakening is leveling up and recruitment is gacha… so naturally you need separate currency to pull and level them up.
That’s just… basic game knowledge, isn’t it.
“…Phew.”
I took a deep breath.
[H-hey, hyung, are you okay??]
“Yeah.”
I’m perfectly fine.
Perfectly.
I pressed my eyes shut, then tapped the ‘Single Recruit’ button repeatedly.
Then some bronze and silver colors swept across the black void without much impact, and a photo appeared.
This time it seemed to work normally….
[★★ Kim Ik-je / Sub Vocalist]
[★ Lee Ha-ram / Sub Dancer]
[Will you accept these members?]
Who the hell are you guys.
Actually, I don’t even need an exclamation.
‘Why are these unknown bastards showing up.’
Predictable.
One or two stars? They’re definitely dummy characters filling out the gacha pool.
I suppressed a groan and covered my face with my hand.
‘But where did these stars come from.’
Section 127 doesn’t have a star system, so where the hell did this bastard pull a mass-produced gacha game mechanic from.
[It’s not something the system did,]
“I know.”
It must be the system.
I think I misunderstood something. This bastard didn’t want me to settle here after all. Why pull this kind of bullshit?
…Or maybe.
‘Is it trying to interfere?’
After seeing me add descriptions to awakening, is it doing this to make me give up no matter what?
‘That’s ridiculous.’
Anyone can throw money at gambling.
You don’t even need willpower. Just press your finger, that’s it!
I sent the recruited colleague to the reserve inventory instead of accepting them.
Then I spent 5000 of my remaining 7000 Exp and mashed the button 5 times.
Tap tap tap tap tap!
[Whoa whoa whoa!]
Don’t be shocked, I was planning to throw this much at it anyway!
And then, without sincerity, light flickers again.
[★ Choi Dong-ho / Sub-Rapper]
[Failed!]
[★★ Jin Yun-tae / Visual]
[★ Kim Seok-won / Sub-Dancer]
More unfamiliar names blur past in succession. And among them, another failure.
‘Damn it!’
But then, the final one.
Aurora light flickers brilliantly.
[~♪♬♪~]
Musical notes passing above the stars.
“…!!”
I swallowed hard.
‘Could it be.’
This time, someone who actually knows what’s going on?
Dazzling light so brilliant it makes my eyes spin bursts forth from the status window, crossing the cosmos.
And the text that appears next is….
[WOW!]
[★★★★★ Cha Yu-jin / Center]
“….”
[….]
Huh…?

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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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