Debut or Die - Chapter 442

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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 442
I tapped the armrest of the sofa.
At the same time, a cheerful greeting flowed from the radio app on my smartphone.
[Hello! Take your star, this is Testa~]
And a few seconds later.
-Just now Testa
-??
-Turn on SBC Radio right now
-Radio?
-Why is Testa on the radio
The internet pages refreshed rapidly.
I pressed my forehead.
If I had announced the radio appearance in advance, it would have attracted less attention. People usually watch YouTube and don’t bother searching for radio shows.
‘At best, some clips would have circulated later.’
But with the attribute of ‘surprise appearance without warning,’ it actually generated more mentions.
It’s similar to how a movie you stumble upon while flipping through channels feels more entertaining than one you deliberately search for on an OTT service.
‘That’s exactly what I was aiming for, damn it….’
Karma had come back around.
And whether my head hurt or not, the radio show proceeded smoothly from the greeting through the recent updates. And the internet pages kept refreshing too.
[Testa~ it seems like you have wonderful plans for this year. Being in the same place as the award-winning groups at the music awards makes me quite nervous.]
[Haha, we’re even more grateful and nervous to be invited. And… yes. We’re preparing our best to see you more often this year.]
[That’s right! We’ll come to show our fans a good side of us. And that’s why we came today. We’ll do our best, DJ!]
[Oh my~]
Ryu Chung-woo must have been well-versed in this type of interview. And Cha Yu-jin—he knew how to speak well when he needed to.
The atmosphere was warm with laughter.
The problem came next.
‘…According to the script, it’s my turn.’
[Well, thank you. Then shall we start our segment? Oh, have you ever listened to our late-night radio before…?]
I decided to open the chat just in case. I could just speak directly.
“We….”
And the voice of Ryu Gun-woo that I produced and Big Dal’s voice from the app overlapped.
[…Since we often ride in cars, we naturally started listening. Later, we tuned in by searching for the frequency. Because we liked it.]
A calm voice.
[Really?]
[Really~ We’re all regular listeners, so we requested to appear directly, DJ Song!]
[That’s right!]
“…Phew.”
I leaned back against the sofa.
Good. Passing grade.
Big Dal could surprisingly mimic my speech patterns quite convincingly.
‘Just how often has this bastard been watching Testa content…?’
[Hyung! How was that??]
“Good job. Identical. Keep going like that.”
[Yes!]
…Wait. But I can’t suddenly lift my head noticeably like that!
“You….”
Fortunately, just as Park Moon-dae in the app was about to crane his neck, someone put an arm around his shoulder.
It was Big Sae-jin. He was pressing down on Park Moon-dae’s head.
“….”
Thank goodness.
‘Damn it.’
I rubbed my eyes.
“You don’t need to stay frozen in place, but if you react and move to my popup, it’ll look suspicious.”
[Y-yes. Right!]
I understand. Suddenly trying to watch the host’s words, the camera, the script, and my popup all at once—his head must be about to explode.
I’m in the same boat, trying to monitor the app, shared vision, and viewer reactions all at once. My eyes are spinning.
‘But there’s no other way, so I have to do it.’
And if I’m going to do it, I’ll do it right.
-Is this a comeback signal?
-Doesn’t seem like they just showed up, right?
-Full roster radio? Lolol
-Testa’s really good at talking after all
I quickly confirmed the favorable viewer reactions and listened to the radio while observing the atmosphere through Park Moon-dae’s perspective.
Big Sae-jin occasionally looks at Park Moon-dae with a smile that seems to make his eyes twitch, but it’s fine. I’ll understand.
And finally, we get to the main event.
[Monday returns. 【Weekly… Lucky】!]
[Woah!]
[A corner where we hear unusual Monday stories different from everyday life this week.]
There are two things the radio does frequently.
Reading stories. Skits.
So what are we doing here? The explanation is simple.
Both.
[Today, some friends from a Music Club at a high school will be reading stories for us. Shall we have our friends introduce themselves?]
[Sure~]
[Mom, I’m on the radio!]
…In other words, Testa is pretending to be a high school student from the same Music Club while reading the stories.
By the way, that last line was Bae Sae-jin. His complexion didn’t change at all.
Cringe? That’s what happens when you become self-aware during a skit. Just bear with it.
[Since you haven’t slept for four days straight from the weekend and have been working on the project continuously, you must feel really exhausted and drained…. We relate to the story you sent us from our profession as well.]
[But you’re a high school student—how do you relate from your profession?]
[Oh.]
[Uh~oh?]
[…Of course~ Because Sae-jin is a high school student! Young people with big dreams have great imagination and empathy skills~]
Hahahahaha
-Possessed defense
-Should we say the idol persona won or the high school student persona won?
└The comedy persona won
The stories made their way around without incident. It was fine when the idol persona occasionally slipped out uncontrollably, making people laugh.
Most importantly, Big Dal in Park Moon-dae’s body safely delivered his assigned story.
‘Alright, buy time with exclamations.’
[Hmm…. User 9503 says a friend they didn’t get along with transferred schools today, but we don’t have any transfer students among us….]
Big Dal safely read the popup I sent and navigated through the longest unscripted situation.
He didn’t stammer once.
‘Phew.’
“Good job.”
[Yes!!]
I pressed my brow.
Big Dal’s anxiety and tension seemed to ease slightly, and his focus stabilized compared to before.
‘Good.’
This nerve-wracking ordeal was almost over.
Soon the radio segment reached its designated time. This was the guest appeal portion.
[Today’s final story is… brought directly by our high school friends!]
[Woooow!]
[Yes! It’s a great honor to share the unique incidents we’ve experienced up until today with our listeners….]
Kim Rae-bin’s tone was too sharp to be that of a high school student, but he’d been like that even back then, so it wasn’t a historical inaccuracy.
And Testa began telling the story of a strange incident that had occurred in the school dormitory.
Ah-hyun spoke calmly.
[Um, last week, I decided to throw away something I had on my desk, so I organized it….]
[I see. But then?]
[It keeps… coming back.]
[…What?]
[Back onto the desk.]
[….]
[Until today, Monday.]
Silence fell.
-????
-Sudden horror story
-Ah-hyun?
To summarize: it was Ah-hyun’s urban legend about an aromatic plaster figurine that kept returning no matter how many times it was thrown away.
[…Is that really true, hyung?]
“Huh.”
We’d reconstructed it as a high school version. It actually happened at the Dormitory not long ago.
[It’s a true story, everyone.]
[That’s right. I witnessed it firsthand as Ah-hyun’s roommate.]
-Come on, call it a skit
-Don’t try to keep it realistic in a situation like this
Haha, that reaction was hilarious lol
The audience stirred at the fairly strong story.
Of course, if I were to report today’s shocking Testa truth, I’d definitely be number one.
‘Who could beat a body swap?’
But there’s no point telling anyone—they either wouldn’t believe me or would faint, so let’s skip it.
Anyway, these guys pulled off the atmosphere quite convincingly like seasoned broadcasters. And the host smoothly established a radio-like vibe.
[We’re receiving lots of opinions from listeners right now. ‘Could it be a ghost?’, ‘What shape is the doll?’, ‘Do you have a source?’]
[Ah, it’s in the shape of a deer.]
But Kim Rae-bin threw in an unexpected comment here.
[I witnessed Park Moon-dae picking it out together during a school trip…not a tour!]
[Really? Moon-dae, do you remember when?]
The conversation suddenly turned to Park Moon-dae. Damn it!
‘Don’t panic.’
I quickly tried to bring up a popup.
But surprisingly, Park Moon-dae’s calm voice came through the app first.
[That’s right. Ah-hyun bought it directly in Japan last year. At a used goods shop with no sign….]
“…!”
The members and host made a fuss saying it got even scarier, and internet reactions poured in.
I opened my mouth.
“How did you know that?”
…Surprisingly, it was the absolute truth.
A proud popup appeared.
[Hehehehe…. It was in the behind-the-scenes footage from last year’s tour! You picked out the one with straight antlers instead of split ones!]
Even I don’t remember such details. Just how much has he been watching?
“…Yeah. You handled that well and calmly. Better than expected.”
[Really?! Hehe, yes….]
Anyway, Big Dal seemed to have found his confidence—his vision no longer wavered. It was an unexpected score.
‘Not bad.’
I chuckled softly and refocused on monitoring.
[…So! When did Ah-hyun first see that deer doll again~?]
[Um, it was midnight that day.]
Anyway, the story unfolded smoothly, capturing that eerie late-night atmosphere perfectly. And it wrapped up with appropriate comedy while preserving the essence of the skit.
[Yeah, actually everyone’s the culprit!]
[…?!]
Here’s how the situation unfolded.
Sun Ah-hyun didn’t realize he was throwing it away, and his non-roommate companions kept finding the plaster figurine in front of the entrance door and kindly bringing it back to his desk in turns.
Even Sun Ah-hyun himself, who had no fear, simply accepted it with bewilderment.
As a result, only his actual roommate Kim Rae-bin suffered—a heartwarming tale indeed.
[We even verified the construction year of the Dormitory… well, the Dormitory itself.]
The host burst out laughing.
[Why? I was curious if there was some story before it was built! Can you imagine!]
[So what was it like, Rae-bin?]
[There was a cow living in the peaceful rice field path….]
Hahahahaha
-what did our rabbit do wrong
-that’s peak YouTube energy
The two of them, energetically tossing the conversation back and forth, gradually steered things toward the truly important part.
[You know, there’s actually a superstition that ghosts in recording studios are a good sign!]
[Well, it wasn’t actually a real ghost, but it was something similar…!]
[Yes. Although we’re still just a high school music club, we’d like to think of it as a sign that we can do good music activities!]
Bae Sae-jin responded in a cheerful voice (though I’m not sure why he chose this character for the skit).
This was the main point.
[That’s right! Oh, did you know? Testa is making a comeback early this year.]
-???
-for real?
The sudden announcement, flowing as naturally as water, sent the internet page refreshing into overdrive again.
‘Right. Testa’s comeback is coming soon.’
It’s actually an obvious story. It’s been quite a while since they released an album, and they’ve been subtly dropping hints on SNS, so fans were all expecting this plan anyway.
Still, isn’t it more fun to make a surprise announcement on an unscheduled radio appearance rather than hearing it through an article?
I let out a soft chuckle and adjusted my smartphone.
And for the first time, Park Moon-dae’s vision wavered in an unusual way. Not so much tense as… almost breathless.
‘Was I surprised?’
Well, now that I think about it, Big Dal would be hearing this news for the first time too.
Anyway, Park Moon-dae has no lines here, so it’s fine to just listen to the Testa news comfortably. I stretched my legs.
[From what I hear, they’re stealing something.]
[Wow~ is it a phantom thief concept?]
And here, Ryu Chung-woo was supposed to give an answer like ‘the hearts of the fans~’ and wrap it up.
But suddenly, words burst out.
[T-Testa has a phantom thief concept this time!?]
It was Park Moon-dae.
…Big Dal had just accelerated without warning.
Without consensus.
[….]
[….]
A suffocating silence hung in the air for a moment.
Big Dal clamped his mouth shut.
‘Don’t do it.’
That would be even stranger.
Kim Rae-bin opened his mouth, staring at Park Moon-dae as if he’d seen a ghost.
[Huh?]
I pressed my brow.
‘This is a disaster.’
In that instant.
[Mm. Moon-dae really seems interested in Testa, huh.]
“…!!”
[Are you, perhaps, a fan…?]
Sun Ah-hyun… caught it?
‘How?’
But there was no time to dwell on that question—I immediately scanned the viewer reactions.
It was….
-Is it that kind of situational drama? Haha.
-Moon-dae’s acting what’s going on why is he so good
-For a second I really didn’t know
Did you get special training from Bae Se-rang? lol
Surprisingly favorable.
Because we’d been doing sketches with that ridiculous high school student premise earlier, this was being accepted as part of that bit.
Then… wait.
“…!”
I touched my chin.
Is this… actually beneficial?
[…Right~ Moon-dae likes Testa! Hey, I know all the songs too~]
On the radio, Big Sae-jin was skillfully salvaging the situation. If I just played along naturally, the conversation could flow back to normal.
‘But….’
Hmm.
[Hyung, I’m sorry, what should we do about this….]
“No.”
[Huh?]
I sat back down on the sofa.
“We’ll go with this. Just react naturally.”
[…?!]
And shortly after.
Park Moon-dae on the visible radio app opened his mouth with a serious expression.
[Yeah. Actually… I’m a huge Testa fan.]
[…??]
[So you’re a real Testa fan, huh.]
I’m counting on you to handle things from here, Big Sae-jin.

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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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