Debut or Die - Chapter 450

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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 450
Seeing Chung-ryeo at the Awards Ceremony was nothing new to me.
Whether it was VTIC or Testa, neither agency had ever failed to produce results worthy of being called to the stage after debut.
However, seeing him from this particular vantage point was something I hadn’t experienced in a very long time.
Specifically, from the position of holding a camera in the Audience Seating and filming him.
‘…Hmm.’
Chung-ryeo was dressed in formal attire.
He still carried that air of commanding a high price. It was only natural, given he’d occupied that position for decades.
‘Though there’s no point in exploiting that anymore.’
I habitually captured a few shots.
That was when it happened.
“…!”
Chung-ryeo turned his gaze. Then, slowly, he raised his hand.
“….”
A light wave of greeting.
But the direction happened to be toward the Audience Seating area near where I was positioned.
It felt like our eyes had met through the viewfinder.
‘…No way.’
Did he notice me?
No. Even for someone like him, it wouldn’t make sense without any hints. That’s just common sense.
‘Could it be that GM function he still has left allows him to see something….’
At that moment, a popup appeared before my eyes.
[Hyung! You’re here?]
It was Big Dal.
“…! Yeah.”
Opening my mouth to respond, I ignored the gaze I felt from the seat beside me and answered internally instead.
‘Did the VTIC member sitting next to you say anything separately?’
[Uh… No? They didn’t say anything or try to talk to me. …Should I, should I try talking to them?]
‘No.’
Just avoid it.
[Phew.]
Why would he ask when he’s already letting out a sigh of relief?
I shook my head and responded.
‘Don’t worry about that. Just sit quietly and behave yourself, and everything will be fine.’
Unlike the radio appearance, there were no lines to deliver, so I had only one role: to sit there looking impressive.
[Right?]
Exactly.
Oh, that’s right.
‘Make sure to focus intently when the other performers are on stage.’
One yawn or frown and YouTube would be plastered with it.
‘Even if I slip up once or twice, there’s no helping it….’
[…I will absolutely never let my guard down!]
I want to tell him there’s no need for that, but honestly, it’s the best approach anyway. Might as well cheer him on.
I lifted the camera away from my eyes and turned it back toward the Singer’s Seating Area.
Chung-ryeo had already shifted his gaze toward the Stage on the Road.
‘Was I mistaken.’
I clicked my tongue briefly and snapped a few more shots of Testa.
Park Moon-dae, with Big Dal backing him, was no different. That guy’s intensity was firing on all cylinders—he looked surprisingly convincing.
He’s copying me, of all things.
‘…So this is what it feels like.’
I kept pressing the shutter in silence.
Photographing Testa Park Moon-dae myself felt oddly strange.
“Excuse me, sorry—could you move your arm?”
“Of course.”
Our elbows bumped several times in the process. This person was shooting quite aggressively.
I glanced over my shoulder to see who’d spoken to me, rotating slightly.
Given the similar shooting angle, this person was also photographing Testa….
“…!!”
…which was correct.
I knew this face.
The problem was that Ryu Gun-woo would know it too.
‘…Ryu Seo-jin.’
Sitting beside me was a senior from my university photography club—the younger sibling of the Writer from Ajusa, Ryu Seo-rin.
In other words… Home Ma who photographs both me and Big Sae-jin.

* * *
‘The lighting here is terrible.’
Ryu Seo-jin grumbled as she adjusted her camera. Around her, others wielded similar equipment with practiced ease.
This spot must offer particularly good shots.
‘Besides, this Awards Ceremony doesn’t seem to mind camera-wielding audience members, so it’s easier to film.’
Photographers had clustered openly in this area.
The seat beside hers was no exception. A man with sharp features and a black mask held a camera steady in his hands.
What struck her as odd was his attire—a black formal suit that screamed professional competence and polish. The kind of outfit someone wore when they meant business.
‘Must be staff.’
Though he wore no credential badge around his neck, he could have pocketed it.
If she could gauge his age, she’d know for certain, but….
‘Not my concern.’
She was too busy capturing idols to care what the man beside her looked like.
Ryu Seo-jin refocused on her viewfinder.
‘Did those two have a fight?’
There seemed to be an awkward distance between Lee Sae-jin and Park Moon-dae—getting a decent shot of them together would be difficult.
Then the stage performance began.
[This year’s Hot Performance Award goes to Spacer.]
Singer after singer, group after group, took the stage.
Out of hundreds, thousands of groups active over the past year, barely twenty made it here—and even among them, hierarchy and positioning mattered.
‘I need to balance my data exchanges.’
Having agreed to swap footage with other Home Ma managers from different positions, she’d made a genuine effort to capture several groups.
But she had neither the loyalty nor the stamina to photograph groups she didn’t care about. She was just someone who’d clocked out from her day job.
‘I think I’m done.’
Besides, Testa had temporarily left the Singer’s Seating Area, so she rolled her shoulders and lowered her camera for a moment.
And then she saw it.
Click.
The dazzling camera work of the man in the formal suit beside her.
‘…That’s…’
He shoots really well.
You could tell just from watching his camera movements.
Stable framing, fluid motion, and masterful technique.
And judging by his camera angles….
‘…He’s only shooting the ones that’ll sell best?’
He wasn’t simply capturing popular members.
He hunted down idols at that perfect inflection point where demand exceeded supply—where data was scarce but coveted.
Members like Park Min-ha from Miry-nay, for instance.
She’d recently appeared on a variety show and appealed to hardcore fans over casual viewers, causing her fandom popularity to spike suddenly.
Or members whose stage presence was so strong that demand never dried up. He targeted only those kinds of idols.
‘What is this.’
It was an action impossible unless you had a complete grasp of the entire game.
‘Is that person staff, or a data seller?’
An active first-tier idol who was formerly a data seller.
Twin Home Manager, who couldn’t possibly have guessed that fact, simply regretted inwardly that he hadn’t sat on the opposite side.
‘It would’ve been better if he’d been sitting across from me.’
The angle was almost identical to what she’d captured, so there was no need to purchase his data.
‘Well, with that method, among Testa members, it probably would’ve been Cha Yu-jin they were trying to capture.’
She thought absently and was about to review her own data again when she suddenly realized something.
‘…?’
This man in the suit next to her… his photography habits seemed oddly familiar.
They resembled her own.
‘Hmm.’
She looked again, carefully this time.
To be precise, it wasn’t something only she possessed. Tips and postures shared among club members occasionally peeked through.
‘Now that I think about it, his build also seems somewhat familiar….’
It was the moment she was about to examine Ryu Gun-woo’s face closely.
“Whoa, Young-rin!”
A voice shouted from the back row.
At the name of such a famous singer, she reflexively turned her head toward the Stage.
Young-rin was indeed ascending onto the Stage.
‘Already?’
By seniority and ranking, she should have appeared later. Wasn’t she supposed to come after Testa according to the leaked cue sheet?
But looking closely, Young-rin’s appearance was during her juniors’ Stage performance.
It was a kind of surprise feature Stage.
‘Oh.’
Young-rin cleanly integrated into the performance formation.
Though she’d succeeded greatly as a solo artist, this Stage made it feel anew that Young-rin had originally been a member of a group.
‘The juniors are being overshadowed.’
If the intention was to push the juniors forward, it was the Agency’s failure. This was when Ryu Seo-jin made her cold assessment.
Young-rin looked this way and threw a gesture.
“Aaaah!”
“Young-rin!!”
The surroundings erupted in a deafening roar. Everyone seemed to think their eyes had met hers.
Usually in cases like this, it’s the illusion of ‘Young-rin saw me!’….
‘Hmm?’
Ryu Seo-jin’s brow furrowed slightly.
She didn’t think Young-rin had been looking at her.
‘Young-rin… wasn’t she just looking at the data seller sitting next to me?’

* * *
[Thank you!]
I captured a few more shots of Testa accepting the award on Stage.
It’s become a habit, but I also intended to double-check Big Dal’s demeanor once more.
‘Not bad.’
Even as I gave my approval, I deliberately kept the camera pressed to my face.
Truth is, there’s another reason I keep doing this.
‘…Hiding my face.’
Just in case Ryu Seo-jin happens to recognize me. Well, I’m wearing a mask anyway, and it’s been years, so the odds are practically zero.
‘I should stay cautious until the body swap happens.’
I made the careful decision to just film various idols through the camera.
Naturally, my mind automatically updated the unit price rankings in my head like I used to during my data-selling days, and one of the top-ranked female idols appeared a bit earlier than expected.
‘Young-rin.’
The star of that first viral fancam that earned me a semester’s tuition. That’s how Young-rin, who was unknown back then, became famous.
‘It was that fancam I shot on a rainy day.’
I continued staring through the viewfinder without much thought.
That’s when it happened.
Young-rin pointed at my camera with her hand.
“…!”
I froze momentarily, camera still in hand.
If this wasn’t a mistake….
‘Could she actually remember?’
That couldn’t be.
It had been nearly ten years since then. There’s no way she’d still remember it, and even if she did, how on earth would she recognize me in this very moment?
‘But….’
Just before the final ending, Young-rin turned her gaze away when the broadcast camera didn’t catch her.
-Remember me
Eye contact. And a hand gesture.
It was a familiar hand movement.
The signature gesture from the song that appeared in that rainy fancam I’d filmed back then.
This… couldn’t possibly be a coincidence.
“….”
-Waaaaaah!!
The Stage ended with cheers. Young-rin’s gaze disappeared along with the lights.
But… something felt strange.
‘How does she remember?’
Back then, I wasn’t even a fan. Even when I filmed Young-rin a few times at events afterward, she never did anything like that.
I’d thought the exceptional camera eye contact in those fancams was simply due to my seating position.
But perhaps….
‘…I left an impression on her.’
The audience member who had been holding the camera—the one who had filmed the fancam that sparked my rise to fame.
If this were before, I would have dismissed it as nonsense.
But now I understood.
That it was possible.
That sensation when gazing out at the audience from the Stage, when searching for my own fancam, when observing people’s reactions—that very feeling.
And what I might feel if I saw the camera of that fancam returning after all these years.
“….”
I lowered the camera.
Then I checked the time displayed at the top of the screen.
-PM 11:21
‘Ah.’
It was time.
I breathed slowly and began the countdown.
3
2
1
That moment.
A flash.
“…Huh.”
I closed and opened my eyes.
My vision changed. So did the sound.
-Wooooow!
Cheers ringing out from a distance, not right beside me like before.
I was sitting in the Singer’s Seating Area next to the speaker.
And.
“Perfect timing.”
A hand patted my shoulder. It was Ryu Chung-woo.
When I looked up, the others had clearly noticed right away that he’d been checking the time.
“…! Moon-dae hyung,”
“You good?”
Of course.
I nodded, glancing naturally around me without drawing attention.
The members greeted me as discreetly as possible—some with smiles, others handing me water.
If we weren’t in the Singer’s Seating Area, they would have made a much bigger fuss.
‘And they probably would have asked first whether this body-switching thing is finally over.’
Truth be told, I’m curious about that too….
“….”
I closed the Popup without looking at it.
I block out anything that might affect the Stage performance.
‘Big Dal’s doing the same thing.’
When I turn my head, the VTIC seating area where Chung-ryeo had been sitting moments ago is right beside me.
But that seat is already empty. He must have gotten up to prepare for his stage performance.
‘That works out.’
Actually, this is better. Right now, there’s only one thing that matters.
It’s almost time.
[Song of the Year / Album – Q2]
[Congratulations.]
[Testa / Savior]
A few minutes later.
I head to the Backstage to make my way up onto the Stage.
The comeback performance I’ve been waiting for so long is right before my eyes.

* * *
“Excuse me, just a moment.”
“Yes, yes?”
“Ah, right. Ryu Gun-woo.”
“…??”
“It’s been a while. You’re still doing this, huh.”
‘…hyung!!’
…Of course, I had no idea Big Dal was experiencing something like this in the Audience Seating.

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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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