Debut or Die - Chapter 423

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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 423
Kim Rae-bin opened his mouth with a tense expression.
“So to summarize, if our live concert airs on broadcast, the company expects increased demand from the promotional effect, and they’re planning what amounts to an encore tour—additional concerts—to capitalize on that. Is that correct?”
“That’s right.”
“But all of this is a calculated path, designed to make us accept continuing the tour without resistance, isn’t it? A conspiracy?”
“Something like that.”
Not quite a conspiracy—more like playing along with their preferences.
At that, Kim Rae-bin’s expression turned hollow, as if he’d just realized his own company was a global drug trafficking ring.
Anyway, at least he understood.
“Won’t the fans get suspicious? If we keep not releasing albums like this?”
“Even if the fans suspect something, the general public won’t know, so public opinion won’t form.”
In truth, I suspect most casual fans who consume content lightly won’t think that deeply about it.
Looking at Testa alone, withholding an album makes no economic sense from a market perspective. I figured we were just delayed because we were filling it with original compositions.
“We haven’t been around that long, and our last album’s performance wasn’t poor either.”
“…I see. We’ve only completed four years ourselves.”
Objectively speaking, Testa had just won the Grand Prize and was entering the early stages of their prime as a legitimate first-tier idol group.
Big Sae-jin let out a bitter laugh.
“But with a five-year contract instead of seven, there’s not much we can do about it~”
Right.
The problem was that deformed five-year contract. And….
‘An agency linked to a broadcasting station that can endlessly produce reasonably famous rookie groups through survival shows.’
We’d created a label to prevent them from poaching our planning staff, but now they weren’t scheduling our activities, and everyone—this one and that one—was sighing.
“Still, going on endless tours like this is a bit much.”
“I like those concerts! But we can’t lose. We’re boycotting tours now.”
“Isn’t a boycott a bit strange coming from the performers themselves? It’s still our company.”
“Um, if we just… said we didn’t want to and wouldn’t do it… couldn’t we…?”
Protesting by refusing to do the tour.
I touched my chin and imagined that future becoming reality.
[Famous Male Idol Group… “Won’t Hold Concerts” Conference Room Chaos]
-Who is it?
-Give us the initials
-Under the circumstances, I heard it was ㅌㅅㅌ. Is this nonsense trustworthy?
If the rumor is true, isn’t that really messed up?
“I think they’ll figure we’re uncooperative and less willing to renew, so they’ll lower our market value and strike us through the media.”
“….”
Bae Sae-jin’s expression twisted as if a bad memory had flashed through his mind.
“You know your stuff.”
Yeah. Early in my debut, I’d dug up information after seeing what happened with that shitty former agency. They’re unusually brutal, but it’s rare for companies not to do it at all.
Anyway, that’s why we decided not to refuse the broadcast concert but to wait for the right moment.
“We’re continuing album preparations.”
“Okay.”
And as expected, the broadcast shifted at some point from our full concert to distributing portions of the setlist to guest performers.
“These bastards really….”
“Moon-dae’s instincts are spot-on as always~”
Moreover, using the phrasing “secondary stage agency junior member appearance,” they assigned it in a subtle manner that avoided calling it an Entertainment Agency concert outright, just like last time.
The title remained Testa’s performance.
‘So they want to milk Testa’s buzz for all it’s worth.’
It’s infuriating, but refusing is awkward.
Since the Broadcasting Station, the Agency, and the investors all have stakes in the concert, if I escalate it to a copyright issue, we’d only accumulate an image of being unreasonably angry without gaining anything.
‘I need to aim for the right moment.’
Until then, I should keep a low profile and act like I don’t fully understand how everything works behind the scenes.
“We should still rehearse.”
“Of course. Come on everyone, let’s realign your foot positions from the start~”
And while I was refining the broadcast-ready Concert Stage performance….
An unexpected call came through via a company contact.
From a junior.
But not from Spacer.
-Hello, senior!
Mirinai’s Park Min-ha. That idol from Ajusa’s second rank.
The stated purpose was “inquiries regarding the secondary stage,” but once I picked up, they were saying something different.
-I….
“Yes.”
-Senior, um, I have something urgent to tell you, no wait, I’m sorry for taking up your time first. Is it okay if I take up your time? …?! Wait, no,
“Yes.”
But why were they so flustered again?
“It doesn’t seem like you’re taking up my time. Just speak freely about what you need.”
-…! Yes, the thing is….
Mirinai got straight to the point.
-Is there… any way for the company’s other groups to move to your Label?
“…!”
They said “other groups,” but realistically, there’s only one group this junior would be asking about.
Themselves.
“Are you talking about Mirinai?”
-…Yes, that’s right. Including us. Since we’re basically under the same company anyway, I was wondering if there’s a way to change our affiliation even if the ratios and such stay the same….
Just as I thought.
‘But why are they asking me instead of the Label representative?’
I felt a bit awkward, suspecting that my announcement at the Awards Ceremony about moving to the Label had been too bold, but I gave them a reasonable answer anyway.
“You could add that as a condition during contract renewal. But doesn’t Mirinai still have over a year left before your contract renewal?”
-Ah. Um.
Their voice dropped slightly, and they hesitated.
‘Hmm.’
Could this be…?
I decided to ask directly.
“Is there another problem right now?”
-Well, that’s actually….
I took a deep breath.
-The album seems like it’s going to fall significantly behind schedule.
“….”
-Our team staff members have been leaving recently due to personnel restructuring.
Right.
“They didn’t quit—they transferred to a different team?”
-…Yes.
I see. But your situation is a bit different from ours.
-There’s a new group debuting from this agency. The ones who debuted from the 【Be My Girls】 program.
“Ah.”
This Junior Member was referring to the newly concluded survival program on Tnet. That broadcasting station couldn’t shake its addiction to idol survival shows.
While it didn’t have the same impact and buzz as Ajusa, it performed decently overseas and had secured a solid fanbase as a result.
And from what I’d seen online….
[A survival program where the final debut group is considered historically promising]
I’d seen posts saying the number of people interested surged dramatically the moment the debut group roster was announced.
A fresh new group without the messy image of something like Ajusa, clean and with an established fanbase? The company was probably excited and throwing resources at them.
And where would those resources come from?
They’d poached people who were working in the same division.
-Staff members who worked with us like this went over there… and now the album production has stalled.
So this wasn’t a contract renewal issue at all.
An attractive new business venture had appeared, and they were stripping away all existing planning staff to attach to it.
Since the label separation wasn’t even established here, they could take everyone without the artists having much recourse. They were company employees to begin with.
If that’s the case.
‘I bet they probably mentioned adding tour dates here too.’
Miry-nay was definitely one of the guests we included in our concert.
They’d probably lock in tour dates while talking about promotional effects, then buy time and money until they could hire new planning staff. The group had decent international fanbases after all.
Even if they’d locked it in early, they wouldn’t tell them beforehand. Not many idols would celebrate the fact that they’d be touring the entire year.
In any case, Mirinai Member (Rank 2) continued speaking with considerable composure.
-If it’s an independent label, the staff would be separate, so I thought the situation might be different for us… I wanted to ask if you knew anything about it.
It was an honest answer without any attempt to laugh it off. She seemed to be taking the situation quite seriously.
‘She seems to have guessed that we’re in a similar position too.’
Still, no matter how similar our situations were, she probably wouldn’t want to talk about this with a senior from another group.
‘I’ll give her credit for the audacity.’
But there’s no way for you to transfer agencies right now. Even if I knew, I wouldn’t tell you.
“Even if it’s independent, it’s ultimately a subsidiary, so there’s nothing particularly different. And as for transferring now… honestly, I’m not an employee with that kind of authority, so I’m not really sure.”
-…Ah, yes! I apologize. I brought it up far too abruptly!
But before that, a rather promising idea had occurred to me.
After hearing this case, one thing became crystal clear.
‘In the end, the Company’s eyes turn toward promising new ventures.’
“….”
Hmm, worth considering.
Let me lay some groundwork first.
-I should have organized my thoughts better before reaching out, but I made a poor impression by stumbling on introductions. I’ll be more careful going forward!
“That’s fine.”
Anyone watching would think I was this person’s superior. I suppressed a sigh and began laying my groundwork.
“And about the album.”
-…Yes.
“Now that I think about it, there might be ways to proceed without transferring to a Label.”
-…!
“Would you be willing to cooperate? Though I can’t say it’s entirely without risk.”
A brief silence came through the phone, then a question emerged.
-What kind of risk?
Essentially, they’d do it if the risk wasn’t too severe.
I let out a quiet laugh and opened my mouth.
“The risk that your Agency ceases to exist.”
“…?!”

* * *
“So Testa’s side is all settled, then?”
“Yes. We’ll proceed as planned without any issues.”
T1 Stars’ largest conference room.
The staff members gathered for Monday morning’s full meeting, conversing busily.
More precisely, it was a time of nodding along whenever the executives spoke and offering plausible responses while hoping the minutes would pass quickly.
“We need to secure the time slot, even more than the runtime itself. Right?”
“Yes, yes, of course….”
This week’s topic centered on planning the Entertainment Agency Concert Version 2, disguised as the Testa Concert being broadcast on public television.
And there was a brief mention of hiring that came and went, but anyway.
One public relations staff member, whose eyes gleamed with years of experience yet seemed ready to go mad from boredom, suddenly found themselves thinking.
‘Come to think of it, why are they doing this with public broadcasting instead of Tnet?’
Tnet usually fought tooth and nail for broadcast rights like these whenever they came up.
The employee couldn’t think of a particularly fitting answer and grew more puzzled, but soon dismissed the thought.
What did it matter? As long as they got their paycheck, that was enough.
“Thank you for your hard work~”
“Everyone, let’s pay a bit more attention this week, please.”
After hearing the same words as always, they quietly slipped out of the conference room without drawing attention, and only then did they walk through the corridor with colleagues of similar rank, gossiping.
“So now Spacer’s getting their turn in the lineup?”
“That seems likely, doesn’t it?”
Gossip about promotions and the friction between departments and teams.
“I heard a lot of talk about how T1 is pushing the Label and all that, but honestly, I have no idea how it’ll actually turn out….”
“Ah, but the people from Orbit seemed to have good faces.”
“Right! The fact that they don’t even seem to acknowledge that one workplace is the same as another—honestly, that’s unusual. Normally people are supposed to act like they’re dying~”
Whenever they encountered people from Orbit, Testa’s so-called Label, their faces seemed bright and composed, and the employees’ mouths grew busy with chatter.
‘The planning is fun,’ ‘There’s high autonomy,’ ‘The artists’ personalities are supposedly good,’ and so on.
There were such typical stories of a good workplace, but there was also malicious concern that they might become an isolated island and see their careers sink.
The company’s current state of affairs was complicated, after all.
‘Nobody knows who’ll rise and what’ll fail.’
Wasn’t pushing a new group instead of Testa, who’s currently doing the best, the same thing?
Ah, the entertainment business!
Even sitting at their desks, they continued exchanging such talk via messenger.
That guy’s got a good-looking face too, you know.
“Going to start causing trouble lol”
This was said as the Management Director passed by.
That guy, who’d built his position through Testa’s dedicated team matters, still had that smug, handsome face.
The employee thought absently.
Probably Testa’s the same way, right?
‘Yeah, well, they made a lot of money… the tour settlement money is no joke.’
Maybe it’d be better if they took comebacks a bit slower. They could go sightseeing on weekdays when they weren’t performing during tours, after all.
‘Regardless of what happens, it’s clear their luck is better than mine.’
So I’d just do my job for the pay I received. Exactly what I was paid for, nothing more!
The staff member reviewed the Spacer’s press distribution materials once more, refining them carefully.
Unaware that around that same time, a Director would suddenly receive an urgent verbal report and promptly convene an emergency meeting in an excited state.
And regardless of how all those uncertain variables would unfold, the Testa Concert planning proceeded successfully, and its broadcast date steadily drew near.

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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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