Debut or Die - Chapter 389

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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 389
I already knew how Sun Ah-hyun lived in this world.
‘He shows up.’
Articles.
Interviews, magazines, YouTube….
The fact that typing just ‘Sun’ in the search bar brings up Sun Ah-hyun’s name in autocomplete is no different from reality.
But the keywords are different.
…In this world, Sun Ah-hyun never quit ballet.
[Sun Ah-hyun wins Prix de Lausanne… Korea’s ballet future shines bright]
[Is ballet experiencing the K-syndrome too? Sun Ah-hyun says “I approached it with sincerity”]
After placing in a certain international competition reserved for teenagers, he distinguished himself in various competitions and joined an overseas ballet company.
Since he was such an impressive person, he became famous in Korea as soon as he hit the algorithm on YouTube, and apparently filmed a few commercials after appearing on talk shows.
So I initially thought there would be no reason to meet him unless Ryu Gun-woo debuted.
But the person himself suddenly appeared and started talking to me.
Without stumbling over a single word, speaking in a far more refined manner than the voice of the guy I knew.
“Would you like me to bring you coffee instead?”
“…No, thank you.”
It felt like I’d been hit over the head. Damn it.
I drained the remaining drink in my mouth and muttered.
“Thank you. It was delicious.”
So just go already.
“Yes….”
But Sun Ah-hyun didn’t leave and quietly sat down beside me.
‘What are you doing?’
I reflexively checked him out. He was wearing a plain black turtleneck and his hair wasn’t styled.
It was a state he wouldn’t have chosen if he’d come to the filming studio as an idol.
“….”
I wasn’t suddenly questioning why Sun Ah-hyun wasn’t an idol in this state.
Because I knew for certain at what point in their lives the idol version of Sun Ah-hyun and this guy diverged.
[Sehwa Arts Middle School Graduation List]
‘Chae Seo-dam wasn’t among my classmates.’
Sun Ah-hyun in this world was a different age, so he never met Chae Seo-dam at the arts middle school.
So he graduated without incident and continued majoring in ballet, walking that path straight through.
Without any opportunity for derailment.
-Actually… to continue ballet, there were body type issues too.
This guy had mentioned before that he quit because of things like his feet or pelvis, but it seemed there were psychological factors involved as well.
The fact that he’s still continuing ballet here now shows that his physical condition didn’t change.
‘…So I wasn’t even trying to make contact in the first place.’
Realistically, there was no way to meet him other than it being awkwardly unnatural, and even if we did meet, what kind of persuasion would I offer?
To someone who’d already achieved direct success in a completely different field at roughly the same age as in reality.
…that awakening him would only create confusion rather than help.
‘I was just planning to let him live as he sees fit and clear the stage.’
I silently folded the paper cup and set it down.
Then a voice suddenly interjected.
“I apologize if I disturbed your rest.”
“It’s not like that.”
I should make an excuse.
“I was just surprised. I didn’t expect to meet Sun Ah-hyun… the athlete here of all places.”
I’d referred to him like a national representative even though he wasn’t an athlete, but it didn’t matter.
“Thank you for your concern.”
“Ah… yes.”
He smiled faintly and seemed about to say something, but his smartphone suddenly began ringing in his pocket.
Buzz buzz.
His expression shifted to something awkward.
“If it’s alright with you, could you keep our meeting here a secret? I made a mistake.”
“Of course.”
“Thank you. Ah,”
Sun Ah-hyun picked up the paper cup I’d left on the floor, then answered the ringing call and hurried down the corridor with quick steps.
Even as he left, he turned back and gave a polite bow—his true nature remained unchanged.
[Why is Sun Ah-hyun here…?]
I held back a sigh.
‘Obvious.’
We’d met in the middle of a corridor at a set for a program in active preparation, and he’d asked me not to notice him?
That meant he was appearing on the program.
Not as a private consultant offering choreography advice, but as a genuine special guest.
For example… yes. A judge.
“The theme of this performance is ‘art.'”
Filming had resumed.
The CEO was enthusiastically holding the microphone on stage again.
‘Singers can perform special stages at various collaborations and commemorative performances, so they must be able to properly express meaningful stages’—that was the gist of his lengthy explanation.
-We’ve secured a special guest related to the arts! We have to use them!
‘Sun Ah-hyun must be included in that.’
And as expected, before the CEO even announced the arbitrarily formed teams, he introduced him under the title of ‘special judges.’
After a pop art master and an orchestra conductor had entered.
“Ballerina Sun Ah-hyun.”
“Wow!”
I wasn’t sure if it was appropriate to recruit someone like him for a program making a male idol group, but the CEO seemed thrilled regardless.
Cha Yu-jin patted my back.
“Hyung, did you see that??”
“Yeah.”
I have eyes, so of course I saw it.
Fortunately, Cha Yu-jin’s theatrics were just treated as a broadcast reaction. Either way, the lineup was flashy enough to use in an in-house agency survival show.
‘Did the broadcast go well enough that they’re getting more investment than before?’
There’s only one person who would know.
I glanced back at Chung-ryeo, but naturally his face was composed and broadcast-ready.
And when our eyes met, he smiled as if sending some kind of signal about his impressions of the special judges.
‘Even capturing reaction shots.’
He was truly excessive in every sense.
‘Of course, I could read it another way.’
I pulled up the 【Colleague List】 from my status window.
Well, with this I should be able to figure out what that bastard’s thinking….
[Shin Jae-hyun: Filming diligently(^-^)]
“….”
Can’t I get more detailed information about this?
[Brother, privacy! We have to respect our colleague’s privacy!]
Ah, right.
I clicked my tongue and closed the status window.
Separately, I could feel Big Dal deliberately making a fuss through the popup. Probably because I was acting crazy stuck in the corridor before filming.
‘But I’m fine now.’
Right. Filming was good because it carved out time and space entirely for work, allowing me to exclude stray thoughts as much as possible.
With my work instincts dominating, I could only think goal-oriented.
Thanks to that, my head was less noisy.
‘Pointless thoughts are forbidden from now on.’
Just end it with being glad to see a face I hadn’t seen in a while, and as for Home Ma first… well, she seems to be living enjoyably anyway, so that’s fine.
Let’s end it at that.
I just waited for the CEO to announce my team.
“The judges will also be providing feedback as mentors, so we’ll be forming teams under each judge.”
Got it, you bastard.
And the participants were called one by one.
They were organized into 4 groups of 3 people each, and aside from Ryu Chung-woo and Chung-ryeo being in the same group, there was nothing particularly noteworthy.
Until I was called.
“Ryu Gun-woo, Jung Woo-dan, and… Jin Chae-yul.”
“…!”
“Your mentor artist is Sun Ah-hyun.”
“….”
Sun Ah-hyun and Jin Chae-yul together.
‘I said filming would be fine, but they’re raising the difficulty.’
This team match seemed designed to test my patience.

* * *
“Hyung, we’re finally on the same team!”
“Yeah. Let’s do our best together.”
“Yes! I’ll work hard!”
Jin Chae-yul looked to be in exceptional condition. And he readily spilled the reason why.
“Our CEO really must have changed his mind about us. The guerrilla stage, and now putting us back together on stage—he made it all happen!”
People are free to think what they want. And if that improved his condition, so be it.
Of course, the CEO hadn’t genuinely come to love the marine-look concept beyond his personal taste.
I reviewed my teammates and mentor once more before reaching my conclusion.
‘He deliberately gave us this to demolish the marine-look image.’
Pairing me with a ballet dancer meant we couldn’t pull off a light concept like before, and throwing Ju Dan in for atmosphere control sealed the deal.
In other words, he seemed intent on producing something more impactful than that previous marine-look stage to bury the image Jin Chae-yul and I had built together.
‘Ambitious, isn’t he.’
If anyone in this world benefits most from Chung-ryeo, it’s that bastard. How does a CEO with such pointless taste obsessions even manage a successful agency?
‘Anyway… am I the leader again this time?’
The other two are VTIC Members, so there’s no helping it. They’ll both be yes-men.
And honestly, I should lead again and earn the CEO’s praise to make this picture-perfect.
“Alright, let’s do this well.”
“Yes!”
“Yes.”
I naturally picked up the practice sheet and proceeded with planning.
First, the song selection would come from LeTi Entertainment’s roster, and the collaboration would be… dance.
…Of course. The mentor is Sun Ah-hyun.
Fortunately, the choreography and specific arrangements were handled by the agency’s Communication Expert and Sun Ah-hyun, so we just needed to nail the concept.
I opened my mouth out of courtesy.
“Do you have any concept ideas that fit the ‘art’ keyword?”
I hadn’t expected an answer, but surprisingly, Chae Yul raised his hand with an unusually determined expression.
“Ah, I… I’ve thought of an idea…!”
“…!”
This VTIC guy… has an opinion?
Let me hear it first.
“Go ahead, speak freely.”
“Yes! You know that concept you did during our last photoshoot? That vampire concept!”
“…Yeah, I remember.”
Though it was so cringingly awkward it made my limbs curl up.
I suppressed a sigh, recalling that particular shoot which had surprisingly decent reactions online.
“What if we did something like that? Vampire gives off such an elegant feeling… and dance is elegant too…!”
“That sounds decent to me.”
“…Yeah, it’s not bad.”
Actually, it was terrible.
‘Why is that?’
I found the answer in that strange sense of déjà vu.
Dance and vampires.
And LeTi artist song selection.
‘Ah.’
This overlaps way too much with what we did in the Ajusa first team match.
-come to me
come to me
Dazzling, the Paradise beside you
That stage where we did a horror arrangement of Malang Dalcom’s “Into a New World.”
‘Should I change the flow?’
But now the two VTIC guys are egging each other on and driving the conversation forward.
With explicit guidelines on what ‘must be done’ and what ‘must not be done,’ even these guys started opening their mouths.
“Do you have any song ideas?”
“I’m not sure… Ah, should we find a song from our agency that suits ballet?”
“A song that suits ballet… Then first, let’s write down the songs where we used dance in the choreography.”
“Okay! Hyung, by any chance… what do you think about this? Does it look good?”
To stop them here, I’d need both precise timing and solid reasoning.
The problem is that I rationally know there’s no real need to stop them.
‘They don’t know.’
Nobody knows anyway.
This isn’t a world where Park Moon-dae appeared on Ajusa.
I know it too. That stage doesn’t exist in this world anyway. Using it causes no problem. But….
‘Shut up.’
I don’t know why I’m whining like this. I have the answer key—just use it.
Before it gets any later and strange editing creeps in, right now when silence can pass for careful deliberation.
I opened my mouth.
“That sounds like a good approach. I’ll look for songs too.”
“Yes!!”
Jin Chae-yul’s face brightened.
He said something like ‘I really need to be helpful this time, didn’t hyung struggle alone last time’ and excitedly searched YouTube.
But even after searching through every song LeTi had, there was none that borrowed dance in the choreography quite like “Into a New World.”
Of course not. It’s a song that flows with soft dance movements without any phrases strong enough to be called ‘distinctive.’
“….”
But… this much should be fine.
“I’ll also look for songs that would suit dance with arrangement. That way, it could look like a fresher charm different from before, so let’s keep them as candidates.”
“Wow… yes!”
I found three or four more candidate songs and finished the song selection by listing them up.
But an hour later.
Sun Ah-hyun came as a mentor and gave this advice.
“Each dance has different rhythms, so I’d honestly recommend using a song with existing dance choreography for better final quality.”
“Ah, then… this song?”
Chae Yul carefully pointed to the track with his finger.
[Malang Dalcom – Into a New World]
Sun Ah-hyun nodded with a smile.
“Yes.”
Ah.
Then that settles it.
“Gun-woo, what do you think?”
“Sounds good.”
Let’s go with that.
“I think it’ll be a fantastic stage. I’ll make sure the choreography flows perfectly with the tempo.”
“Thank you!”
“Thanks.”
He spent time patiently and meticulously teaching us several key movements.
Before leaving to retrieve the camera data, Sun Ah-hyun suddenly approached me and spoke.
“I’m sorry for pretending not to know you earlier. They said I couldn’t talk to participants before the first shoot….”
“No, it’s fine. We were filming anyway.”
I reflexively pulled out a thank-you gift from the front pocket of my training clothes.
“Thanks for the hot chocolate. It was delicious.”
“…Yes.”
Sun Ah-hyun accepted the glucose candy but didn’t leave despite the awkward atmosphere suggesting she should.
I didn’t know why.
“Um….”
Then a loud voice came from behind.
“Ah-hyun! Ah-hyun?”
“…! Oh, I’m over here.”
Probably someone from Sun Ah-hyun’s agency.
I nodded politely.
“Then I’ll head to practice.”
“…Yes. See you again.”
He walked away following the staff member.
“….”
I turned and headed to the training room to practice the Malang Dalcom song once more.
My mind was blank.
I saw Sun Ah-hyun again two days later. It was the day of the mid-evaluation.

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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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