Debut or Die - Chapter 432

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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 432
A few hours earlier.
After Park Moon-dae rushed onto the Stage and stage equipment came crashing down like a cruel joke above him.
Screeeeeech!
Gack, gasp!
In the Backstage filled with screams, tumbling bodies, and chaos, Lee Sae-jin stood motionless, her mind racing.
‘Is this a dream?’
It certainly felt like she was trapped in some bizarre nightmare.
Otherwise, how could a perfectly healthy member suddenly collapse, rush onto the Stage, and have stage equipment come crashing down on top of him?
No matter how many supernatural phenomena she’d experienced, this was far too absurd… in other words, it made no sense.
‘This can’t possibly be happening….’
Smack.
Pain.
“Snap out of it!”
When she turned her head, she saw Bae Sae-jin, his face drained of all color, striking her back.
“He might still be alive, he has to be alive, we need to check…!”
“…!!”
Lee Sae-jin drew in a sharp breath. Sound flooded in.
She looked again at the Stage, where the massive, heavy equipment had collapsed into a mangled heap.
The density of the rubble made it impossible to see any sign of a person through the gaps. And yet, there was still a possibility that a pocket of space existed inside….
“We need to check inside.”
Hearing those hollow words, Ryu Chung-woo’s voice came through, unusually emotional.
“The other side of Backstage!”
“…!”
“Let’s go that way!”
Cha Yu-jin immediately sprang forward. The rest of the members seized the moment when staff and crew were too overwhelmed by the chaos to stop them, circling around the Backstage toward the opposite direction.
But when they arrived at the other side… only the completely collapsed steel framework lay stacked like a sinister sculpture.
“…Hah.”
Crackle, crackle….
Electricity sparking from shattered lighting fixtures.
And steel beams stained with traces of blood.
The thought of what condition someone would be in if crushed in that moment was chilling beyond words.
It shouldn’t have happened like this.
‘He has to be alive in here….’
That was the moment.
Boom.
Screeeech, crash, bang, crackle, boom, screech, crash!
As if to stop her thoughts, the concrete structure of the ceiling above the Stage suddenly collapsed again in an instant.
“…!!”
“Come here! Hurry!”
The wall shuddered.
The members bolted up the Emergency Stairwell that Cha Yu-jin had frantically wrenched open, tearing at it with urgency.
“Get inside, now!”
And listening to the screams, shouts, and footsteps echoing from all directions, they too must have followed the staff’s instructions to evacuate in the chaos.
If only I hadn’t witnessed this.
“…There’s blood here!”
What Bae Sae-jin discovered without realizing it was Park Moon-dae’s blood trail leading upward.

* * *
“…That’s how it happened.”
“….”
Ryu Chung-woo laid out the entire explanation in a brief summary.
After that, to make evacuation easier, he’d gathered the remaining people still in the building, but after another collapse occurred, both the first and third floor doors were sealed, leaving them trapped on the second floor.
And I understood.
That iron door on the second floor, across from the collapsed Emergency Stairwell that I’d seen from the drone earlier.
It wasn’t the door I’d escaped from the Backstage through when the stage collapsed. I’d simply been confused in my panic as I fled upward at that moment.
‘Based on the height, the Backstage door would have been next to where we flew the drone.’
The iron door on the second floor that had been firmly shut… was actually connected to this office space.
Ryu Chung-woo finished his explanation.
“So Sae-jin came up with the announcement idea. Fortunately, the walkie-talkie was rechargeable, so we could use it.”
“….”
So they couldn’t evacuate because they couldn’t abandon the possibility that I might still be alive somewhere here.
This was maddening.
I managed to speak.
“Thank you. But going forward….”
“…Going forward?”
I’d meant to say ‘don’t do such reckless things,’ but I realized my position was indefensible and closed my mouth instead.
If I hadn’t done something that looked like suicide in the first place, these guys wouldn’t have stayed behind anyway.
“…If there’s time, I’ll explain. But right now, things are really urgent.”
“….”
Ryu Chung-woo looked at me with an expression suggesting he had plenty to say, but ultimately didn’t voice it all.
Because I’d already explained things.
“…You said time is running short, so let’s get up first.”
“Yes.”
I’d just explained that the status window—or whatever it was—had displayed a collapse message.
[00:26:03]
“Then we need to find this Big Dal person first.”
“Yes. But evacuating the others takes priority.”
And as we exited the Management Office, someone suddenly burst out from the adjacent room.
“I’m here!”
Cha Yu-jin held several temple passes in his grip.
In just these few minutes, it seemed every office in this corridor had been ransacked—we’d already achieved our goal.
“We found them with the fans’ help. Let’s get out of here quickly!”
You really do need sufficient manpower for something like this.
By the same logic, since we had enough people, we could simultaneously handle those two in the audience seating as well.
“Gasp!!”
I turned my head at the sharp cry of a fan beside me.
“P-Park Moon-dae…!”
“Hyung! You’re safe!”
“…!”
Beyond the wall, I saw the two people Bae Sae-jin had brought. They must have felt the same way I did.
Whether they’d climbed up using the rope we’d secured, they were covered in even more dust than before.
“….”
And both of them looked like they were about to burst into tears.
From their perspective… the building suddenly collapsed early, the person who went up disappeared, and then contact was cut off entirely.
Damn.
“Well….”
I scrambled to think of something.
“I miscalculated the time.”
“Yeah, right. I don’t believe that.”
“….”
This was bad.
“Park Moon-dae, you….”
“It was really a mistake.”
Under Bae Sae-jin’s suspicious gaze, I found myself surrounded, moving along with Sun Ah-hyun and Kim Rae-bin.
What surprised me was that Kim Rae-bin had even brought a laptop and a drone controller.
“Kim Rae-bin! Are you okay? What is that? We need to travel light—throw it away!”
“You shouldn’t hastily judge the value of something based solely on your own knowledge….”
Kim Rae-bin rarely checked his surroundings and then grasped the situation.
“…It’s something that might be useful for our escape!”
That was the real problem.
Right now, dozens of fans were watching us.
I could still hear whispers.
“Are all the kids still here?”
“Ah… what do we do.”
If we disappeared to talk among ourselves about a status window briefing in this situation, there’s no telling what kind of chaos would break loose.
We’re trapped just like everyone else, but as public figures, we naturally draw attention. Besides, the fans are already worried about us just as much as they are about their own situation.
That’s why I didn’t just casually go into a room with Ryu Chung-woo earlier to talk.
We need to slip away carefully without saying anything suspicious, so the difficulty has increased somewhat.
Of course, our remaining time is also more pressing.
[00:24:01]
Naturally, as the atmosphere and situation shifted dramatically, some people remained visibly unsettled.
“Um… did something go wrong?”
“It’s fine. I accidentally got separated at the beginning, so everyone was just startled.”
“Ah…”
I smiled as gently as I could manage. I hoped it resembled the atmosphere of a fan signing event.
The fan was glancing at my changed shirt. It would stand out since everyone else was still in their stage costumes.
‘They probably didn’t notice the injuries.’
“Right~ but I’m so glad we got to meet like this anyway! I was really shocked and happy earlier! Now we just need to focus on getting out safely!”
Big Sae-jin patted my shoulder while making light conversation.
He must have had a rough time earlier, especially after cursing, trying to calm everyone down in the corridor.
“Thanks…”
“We’ll talk outside.”
“…”
Right, there were circumstances involved… well, never mind.
I focused on the most urgent matter first.
“Is there perhaps a male audience member here?”
With people scattered throughout various offices, there was a decent chance Big Dal could be among them.
‘He might not have noticed the commotion while accessing the status window.’
Judging by over a hundred search attempts, he’d been pouring all his focus into that.
“If it’s something that requires effort, couldn’t we all help together?”
“No, no. It’s not that kind of thing—I’m looking for a specific person.”
“Ah, I see…”
I must have looked desperate enough that no one bothered asking what it was about. They all began searching.
But there was no one. Most of the fans were female, and the few remaining staff members were all women too.
“Hmm.”
Wasting more time would be foolish.
“What do I do…”
“It’s okay. Let’s start evacuating right away.”
I spoke to the fans while signaling Ryu Chung-woo. He calmly began gathering people and explaining they should move to the basement.
“See what Kim Rae-bin is holding? It’s a drone controller. He confirmed there’s a door in the basement with it. Everyone, please maintain order and go in sequence…”
People quickly got to their feet at the hopeful news. Those who had been scattered anxiously throughout the area lifted their heads.
Among them, someone who had been crouching in a corner room poked their head out.
“Park… Park Moon-dae?”
“…!!”
I’d heard similar sounds many times, but this one was different.
I had just heard that glow stick and that voice moments ago.
‘Ah.’
…It was the fan I’d seen in the storage room earlier. The graduate student.
She’d escaped well.
“Uh… uh…”
“Hello. We met earlier, didn’t we?”
When our eyes met, I could see her holding back tears.
It seemed she hadn’t told anyone that I’d apparently fallen to my death, keeping it all bottled up inside.
‘If I said anything, it would only spread panic.’
Anyone could think that way easily enough, but actually restraining yourself like that was no small feat.
I spoke in the gentlest voice I could manage. Time was running out, but damn it, I had to do this.
“Ah-hyun caught me, so I managed to get out safely. Thank you for worrying about me.”
“No, it’s…”
Perhaps trying to maintain composure given the circumstances, her expression quickly became composed.
Being a graduate student, she either had exceptional mental fortitude or a high threshold for psychological distress—one of the two was certain.
Either way, this wasn’t the time to dwell on it. I should follow her example.
I asked this graduate student something as well.
Since the man himself was hard to spot, I decided to collect eyewitness accounts this time.
“Did you happen to see a man about this tall, wearing glasses? He’d look like he’s in his late twenties.”
“He was handsome.”
“…”
Even when Big Sae-jin is furious, he still chimes in. Whether it’s actually helpful, I have no idea.
The graduate student had a blank expression, as if she had no idea what he was talking about. I figured as much…
“Wait, I think I know who you mean!”
“…!!”
“I was leaving from the front row and fell, so I couldn’t use the evacuation route in time… but there was someone who helped me up!”
What?
The graduate student gestured animatedly.
“He was wearing a hat and glasses like this, tall, pale skin, and… yes, that’s right. He was handsome!”
A perfect match.
I asked urgently.
“Did that person evacuate?”
“Oh, no, the evacuation route was already blocked, so the members called him and he was trying to come up with us, but…”
The graduate student had the expression of someone who thought he’d gotten separated and was somewhere else in the chaos.
But he’s not here.
“Where… where did he go?”
Damn it!
“When was that, roughly?”
“It was when everything went crazy the second time! When the stage ceiling collapsed and everything just… fell apart!”
“He went up the emergency stairwell.”
“Yes, yes!”
“…”
I took a deep breath and traced that route in my mind.
This person had been sitting in the front left audience seating.
‘He probably tried to run back and escape.’
But he tripped midway, and Big Dal helped him up. In that moment, the evacuation route got blocked, so everyone else went to the Emergency Stairwell.
‘But Big Dal isn’t on the Emergency Stairwell….’
I didn’t see him on the drone footage either, and everything above the 3rd Floor is collapsed.
So then.
“….”
Damn it.
I spun around and bolted down the Corridor.
“Hey!”
“Someone’s still here! Please make sure everyone else goes down to the Basement through the Emergency Stairwell!”
I shouted, then vaulted over the wall.
Instantly, Sun Ah-hyun and Big Sae-jin were right beside me.
“What are you—”
“I think I found him!”
I rushed past the Waiting Room and headed toward the collapsed Stage where the rope was still hanging.
And I saw it.
The Audience Seating beyond the Stage.
“Why… why are we back here….”
I grabbed the rope, breathing hard.
“He has to be here.”
“…!!”
Big Dal is still in the Audience Seating.
‘And the reason we didn’t find him even though we were here for a while earlier is….’
Because he’s in a state where we can’t meet him.
“He’s probably collapsed.”
“…!”
Why else would he vanish from the movement pattern? He can’t move.
‘He can’t use his body.’
The likelihood that he went beyond just concentrating to access the Status window to stop this mess—that he actually transformed into the Status window itself—is high.
So he couldn’t follow us to the Emergency Stairwell, which means he’s still….
“He has to be in the Audience Seating.”
My mind clears.
I grabbed the rope and wrapped it around my waist. I was planning to descend and search through it like sifting through sand… but wait.
‘There’s a problem.’
As my mind sharpened, the vast expanse of the dimly lit Audience Seating came into focus.
“…Shit.”
This Audience Seating holds a thousand people.
Do I have time to find him in this space, wake him up, and then discuss anything with him?
[00:19:35]
Within this time limit?
And could I climb back up here and make it to the basement?
“….”
This was hopeless.
I knew I should move quickly instead of indulging in such thoughts, but my body went limp instinctively, and in that moment when I loosened my grip on the rope.
A low voice came from beside me.
“Park Moon-dae, you’re injured right now.”
“Not really,”
“No, I’ll go down quickly and come back up. Give it to me.”
Big Sae-jin extended his hand with a hardened expression. And Sun Ah-hyun approached without hesitation.
“No…! I, I’ve used ropes before and I know the area below well… I’ll go and come back.”
This was maddening.
The rope was wound properly around my waist, and just as I was considering whether to take a chance and simply hurl myself downward.
Thud, thud, thud.
“…!”
The massive stage and audience seating. The far end of that dark, vast expanse.
From that corner, where blue emergency light spilled out, came a faint sound.
An emergency exit.
“That’s….”
The place that had been half-blocked when we sent the drone through.
Yet, impossibly, a shoe emerged from there.
Dust-covered but still impeccably crafted men’s dress shoes.
And long legs descended beneath the emergency light, followed by a torso brushing dust from its hands, and finally a face.
“…!!”
Chung-ryeo.
He didn’t even glance around the audience seating—his gaze fixed precisely on us.
On the collapsed stage.
On us holding flashlights.
“….”
What… was this situation?
Chung-ryeo smiled faintly beneath the emergency light and opened his mouth.
“Who are you looking for?”
In his hand was what appeared to be a portable surveillance device issued to facility staff.
…A CCTV monitor.

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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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