Debut or Die - Chapter 371

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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 371
Cha Yu-jin.
A center with the trait ‘Black Hole (S)’.
With stats optimized for idols from skill to mentality, he boasts triple-A ratings at a young age—a combination of insane conditions. He won’t even have to serve in the military, so there won’t be any gaps in his career.
The system giving this guy five stars made perfect sense.
The problem was everything else.
[You don’t know anything, do you, Cha Yu-jin?]
“Yeah, I don’t.”
This guy knows nothing—not about his body changing, not about returning to the past, not about the status window appearing, none of it.
And he’s exactly the type of person who’s hardest to explain this to properly.
-OK. So we originally knew each other, went back to the past, and I became someone else?
-Should I call 911?
‘This is a disaster.’
I sighed and rubbed my face.
But the status window was gleaming away quite happily.
[Will you accept this?]
“…Yeah.”
Damn it, yeah, I can’t refuse.
[First Comrade Recruitment]
: 【Comrade Awakening】 has been unlocked!
-> Move
Another new tab opened.
I immediately pulled up the popup. This time, instead of a banner, something like a comrade list from a game appeared in a stream…
[Comrades Available for Awakening]
Shin Jae-hyun: Currently exercising (*^^*)
Cha Yujin: Sleeping soundly (ㅡpㅡ)zZ
“…”
I could see dot images of each of them that looked like emoticons. This too seemed to be a degraded version of 【Section 127】.
It’s not exactly impressive, but it might not be bad for information gathering purposes. Crude as it is.
…It’s been a while since I saw Cha Yu-jin’s name, so it feels a bit nostalgic. Anyway, it looks like everyone else is here too.
“Sigh.”
I checked my remaining Exp while sighing. 2000 of it.
‘I hope leveling up doesn’t have failure messages too.’
That would be crossing a line that even the original ‘127 Section’ game didn’t cross. Though the system was already broken the moment they introduced star ratings.
‘If I think of it as a reinforcement concept, failure is possible.’
And if it fails, it just vanishes.
“Is there a probability table or something here?”
Like, what percentage for failure, what percentage for five stars, that sort of thing.
I need to at least know the expected value before I calculate anything.
[One moment!]
Big Dal’s popup, which had vanished in a flurry, crept back into view a moment later as if squeezing through a crack.
[There’s… no such thing.]
“….”
My minimum expectations… shattered.
Well, there wasn’t anything on the colleague recruitment banner earlier either.
I’m not even frustrated anymore. I’m the fool for expecting morality from this insane system. I held back a sigh, staring at the ceiling of my room.
Then I noticed there was a mail icon in the corner at the top of the status window.
‘Wait.’
Could that be notifying me of something?
I clicked on it.
[Failure consolation rewards have arrived….]
+ 10G
+ 10G
“….”
By the way, there’s no Gold tab in this status window.
In other words, it’s a false listing. It must have appeared when overlaying the existing Section 127 skin.
‘Patching text fragments with gold, you damn bastard….’
If I continued, my blood vessels might burst, so I looked away. Then I returned to the main task.
Colleague Awakening!
[Awaken colleague: Cha Yu-jin?]
-Use 1000 Exp
Alright.
I pressed confirm.
Then, an unusual light emanated from Cha Yu-jin’s dot image.
[A leap toward transcendence….]
And a few seconds later.
A fanfare burst from Cha Yu-jin’s name.
[First Awakening Success!]
Done.
I clenched my fist. Not because of the thrill of success.
‘So what happens now.’
I needed to verify how effective the description I’d written was, but even though I’d summoned them as colleagues, there was no concrete indication beyond their emoticons.
‘What am I supposed to do with colleagues?’
That’s when it happened.
Another popup quietly appeared.
[【Communication】 has been unlocked!]
“…!”
Could it be that, like Big Dal, I’m supposed to communicate with colleagues through the status window….
[A contact has been created….]
Cha Yu-jin : 858-XXX-XXXX
“….”
He just rattled off the actual number without hesitation.
Wait, looking more carefully… this is even an American area code.
San Diego, California.
‘Damn it.’
I slammed my fist against the bed.
Cha Yu-jin is in America.
So that’s why his status was asleep!

* * *
Cha Yu-jin was dreaming.
In the dream, he had left his hometown and taken a job in a foreign country—the ancestral homeland of his bloodline.
-Take your STAR. Hello, this is Testa!
He was a K-pop idol!
It was a profession he could never have imagined appearing in his life.
Everything had been decided in an instant, from the moment he impulsively accepted a scouting offer that came suddenly after the semester ended.
There was only one reason.
It was fun!
And eventually, he debuted with a good team….
-Eugene is the best at this kind of thing.
They were good members.
It wasn’t always smooth sailing, but every moment ended in good results.
Thrilling… an incomparably dynamic life of his own!
In that moment, he realized something.
‘This isn’t a dream.’
Cha Yu-jin opened his eyes.
And in that instant, he understood that he had remembered the past—not a dream.
“Sigh…”
6 AM.
He reached over and dismissed the alarm that hadn’t yet rung.
Then he walked to the kitchen, drank some water, and reflected on what had happened.
‘Ah.’
Hair that wasn’t dyed felt strangely unfamiliar. So that meant….
Who was he?
‘A 23-year-old named Cha Yu-jin, member of the K-pop group Testa.’
But currently, Cha Yu-jin’s body was living an entirely different reality. He had enrolled in a local high school and was on the football team….
He didn’t know much about K-pop. Not until yesterday.
‘Wait, was that really yesterday?’
He couldn’t make sense of the situation at all. He was certain he had taken a rare vacation and gone to a friend’s house to hang out….
Was he actually dreaming right now?
Without hesitation, he brought his hand to his face.
Smack.
“Ow.”
It hurt like hell.
He cursed his own decision to slap himself, and immediately understood why he’d done it.
He had to perform on stage soon—he couldn’t afford a bruise on his face.
“Hmm.”
He set down the water glass and shrugged.
‘I’m an idol, after all.’
That was where I needed to start.
All that knowledge, information, and technique I remembered—none of it was fabricated. It was too intricate, too grounded in genuine experience for a madman to have conjured.
‘If anything, this is what’s suspicious.’
I rubbed my chin. Compared to my actual life, wasn’t this High School existence far too mundane?
No different from middle school.
‘Well, regardless.’
First, I’d text the other Testa members at their numbers….
‘…but I don’t know them.’
Who memorizes phone numbers anymore in this day and age?
I shrugged and was about to think of another approach when my smartphone buzzed with a notification.
Ding.
A message had arrived through FaceBook.
And it was in Korean, no less.
-Apple: Hello
-Apple: It’s Park Moon-dae. If you remember me, reply
The text had a familiar tone.
“Good grief.”
Cha Yu-jin let out a dry laugh.
How did he always manage to show up at the most perfect moment?
I tapped the screen with one hand.
-I’m in America lol
-Going back to Korea tomorrow!
So blowing through my savings on a plane ticket was going to happen regardless. Cha Yu-jin chuckled to himself.

* * *
“…So you’re waiting for a former member coming in from America right now?”
“Yeah.”
I nodded.
The phrase “former member” didn’t sit well with me, but there was no reason to be curt with someone who’d followed me all the way to the airport.
“Random fragments of past memories returning—that’s certainly an unusual variable. Though I’m not sure we should rely on it.”
Chung-ryeo manipulated something on his smartphone with a listless expression. He seemed to be operating under the complete assumption that this was reality.
‘…I understand, though.’
It wouldn’t have been just once or twice.
I briefly considered bringing up the story about the dog to him, then decided against it.
‘I should only mention it once I see a way back.’
Bringing it up now would just drive him further into madness. I suppressed a sigh and picked up the placard instead.
[Welcome Testa Cha Yu-jin]
…It was embarrassing, but since my face was different now, there was no helping it.
‘At least I was able to find the Facebook account using the phone number.’
And fortunately, not long after I picked it up, someone came bounding through the gate with excitement.
A guy wearing a ski jacket, dragging a suitcase with one hand like he was swinging it around.
“Hyung!”
Cha Yu-jin—the ordinary version.
I was momentarily at a loss for words, caught in a strange wave of emotion… wait, how old is this guy?
The fresh-faced young Cha Yu-jin stopped midway and furrowed his brow.
“Park Moon-dae hyung?”
“Yeah. It’s me.”
Get it together.
Regardless of how old he is, I need to explain why my body is different first, or we won’t get anywhere.
But before I could open my mouth, he spoke first.
“You look like Park Moon-dae hyung, but you’re a different person. Did you get plastic surgery?”
“…Something like that.”
“Oh….”
“Heh.”
I heard Chung-ryeo snickering. I pressed my brow and muttered.
“Anyway… I’ll give you the Dormitory password, so try whatever you need to.”
“That’s not necessary. You’re definitely hyung!”
“…Really?”
“Yes. [Only Park Moon-dae hyung talks like that among us.]”
Cha Yu-jin smiled brightly.
“I know you. So please explain!”
“…Alright.”
I left the airport with this guy, who’d started mixing in formal speech patterns from his Ajusa days just because he’d gotten a bit younger.
And then to a PC Bang in Seoul.
“…That’s how it happened.”
I finally managed to wrap up an hour-long explanation of this absurd situation.
Cold sweat drenched my entire body.
‘The fact that even summarizing this is becoming increasingly embarrassing is beyond ridiculous….’
I silenced my trembling lips with coffee. I had no idea how Cha Yu-jin would respond.
But he simply nodded without hesitation.
[So this is like a parallel dimension or multiverse, right?]
“…??”
Cha Yu-jin… understands this?
And using those kinds of terms?
He shrugged his shoulders.
[Plus an alien mind parasite… Limestone movies love stuff like that, don’t they? I know at least that much.]
At the same time, he seemed to be thinking what pathetic taste this was, but the fact that he accepted it at all was something to be grateful for. I never thought I’d benefit from Limestone like this.
Of course, it was possible because I could feel the evidence in my skin right now.
My life had changed.
[Anyway, somehow this place didn’t feel like my reality.]
Cha Yu-jin, who had “recovered all his memories,” downed his hot chocolate in one shot and shook his head.
[It’s too boring. How do I put it—like a tape being played on repeat?]
That so.
[And there’s no way I’d be a quarterback candidate this easily. That’s a world of six foot three and above.]
At six feet tall, he grumbled that he needed more impressive adversity and greater mountains to overcome to succeed.
I agreed with him.
“It feels like the conditions were adjusted just right. The ages don’t even match.”
“Right. You, senior? Now that I think about it, you’re actually older than the original senior.”
Cha Yu-jin pointed at Chung-ryeo with considerable politeness.
“….”
That guy… had lived far longer than you’d think.
In any case, the designated Chung-ryeo remained unperturbed, handling something on his smartphone.
“Are you busy?”
“A bit. I need to adjust the debut schedule soon.”
You’re adjusting the schedule…?
That’s when Cha Yu-jin suddenly interjected.
“Debut?”
“Apparently I need to become famous to return their memories. It seems to work like game experience points.”
“Hmm….”
A momentary look of disappointment crossed Cha Yu-jin’s face, but he quickly accepted it.
“OK, got it.”
What.
“I’m debuting too!”
Cha Yu-jin laughed with a grin.
“If I’m there, the group will become famous much faster.”
“…!”
It was a statement brimming with arrogant confidence, yet I couldn’t refute it.
“And we’ll become Testa again quickly! Everyone, let’s find a way!”
“…Find what?”
Cha Yu-jin laughed with a grin.
[Anything! We need to find the path back. To Testa!]
This bastard….
For someone who was only seventeen, he somehow managed to feel surprisingly dependable.
But it seemed the other one didn’t share that sentiment.
“Hmm.”
Chung-ryeo looked Cha Yu-jin up and down as if appraising livestock, fell silent for a moment, then delivered his verdict curtly.
“That won’t work.”
“…!”
But Cha Yu-jin didn’t seem fazed.
“Everyone has a chance to challenge. That group hasn’t debuted yet. So it’s not yours, senior.”
He was trying to counter with facts.
But Chung-ryeo remained unmoved as well.
“There seems to be a misunderstanding.”
Chung-ryeo smiled faintly.
“It’s not me—the company won’t accept Eugene.”
“…!?”
And he spoke as if pronouncing a death sentence.
“Because he’s not the type of appearance LeTi prefers.”
“….”
“….”
I recalled the Debut Group, Shin O, Ju Dan, and Chung-ryeo. And finally, I thought of my current appearance.
…They all had something dark and chilling about them, didn’t they?
And then I looked at the seventeen-year-old Cha Yu-jin sitting before me.
His eyes practically blazed with intensity.
Hmm.
Certainly… if this guy joined, there would definitely be a sense of discord.
“I’m really good though. Even so?”
“Well, even if you ask me… I’m not the company owner.”
Chung-ryeo smiled faintly.
“Just as you said.”
Ah, this bastard’s pissed.
Honestly, with Cha Yu-jin’s abilities, even if they didn’t debut him immediately, any company with eyes would keep him on the roster somehow.
‘LeTi would do the same.’
But seeing someone who knew all this still act this way meant he was planning to reject him on his own terms.
Cha Yu-jin stared directly at Chung-ryeo, then nodded without hesitation.
“OK. Then hyung, come out of there. Let’s find a new agency together!”
“Wait.”
It wasn’t like agencies churned out rookies every quarter, and if we went that route, there was no telling when we’d ever debut again.
‘This is driving me insane.’
I pressed my temples. Chung-ryeo spoke without losing his smile.
“That’s what I’m saying.”
Cha Yu-jin stared at Chung-ryeo in silence for a moment, then opened his mouth with considerable seriousness.
[I don’t know why you’re being so hostile, but don’t you want to go back? You already have your group. Don’t you miss them?]
“….”
Should I have gagged one of these two?
[We could look for a way back together, so I don’t understand why you won’t.]
Chung-ryeo stared at Cha Yu-jin expressionlessly. I prepared myself to move if necessary.
‘Right now… isn’t this like poking a dud bomb with a skewer?’
But shortly after. What came from his mouth was refreshing.
“Is that so?”
“…!”
“You’re right. Now that I think about it… maybe I was getting too complacent.”
Chung-ryeo twisted his mouth.
“There’s no mission or anything, haha!”
Ah, damn it….
Just as I was about to stand up, Chung-ryeo stopped laughing.
“So let’s go with survival of the fittest logic.”
What?
Chung-ryeo laughed.
“Now that I think about it, this is the first time I’m saying this… do you know how many members my original group had?”
Five.
But that didn’t seem to be what he meant.
The original VTIC… untouched by this guy.
“Nine.”
“…!!”
“Quite a lot, right? Haha. Right now the Debut Group has seven, with two more added… where do you think those two suddenly came from?”
“….”
Why was there a team change at the last moment?
‘If I judge based on the timing.’
I reflexively spat out the answer.
“The Survival Show Program.”
“Exactly.”
Chung-ryeo picked up his smartphone again.
“There was originally an in-house Survival Show Program that LeTi ran in partnership with Tnet.”
While it helped form a fanbase initially, by the time Testa was active, the trend had lost its momentum as more sensational idol survival shows flooded the market.
But at this point in time, it’s still in vogue.
“However, people’s hearts are truly difficult to control, aren’t they? The larger the unspecified masses, the more variables emerge.”
Chung-ryeo’s eyes narrowed.
“So at some point, I just shut it down entirely….”
He set down his smartphone and spoke casually.
“This time, I’ll just let it run.”
“…!”
“Whoever survives in there debuts.”
“That’s….”
“Rational, isn’t it? Efficient.”
I swallowed hard. I was screwed.
-The person who wins the internal survival show debuts.
On the surface, Chung-ryeo’s words sounded like he was relinquishing his influence over the group—letting whoever survives debut. That’s what it seemed like.
But that wasn’t the reality.
‘The level of influence this bastard wields over the agency is insane.’
Whether he’d leveraged some weakness, remembered and exploited every butterfly effect, or was doing both—I couldn’t say. Yet one thing was certain.
But would this man really let the survival show unfold naturally?
‘That would be madness from the start.’
He’d already witnessed countless times what happens when you leave a survival show to chance.
‘He definitely has predetermined winners.’
And this time, he’d construct those winners entirely himself. His handpicked elite from VTIC, and someone like me to replace the main vocalist.
In other words… that was just a declaration: ‘I’m going to screw you over before you even debut.’
‘Damn it.’
I opened my mouth in panic.

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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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