Debut or Die - Chapter 452

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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 452
“Hey, Moon-dae…! We’re getting off now.”
“Yeah.”
I climbed out of the van following Sun Ah-hyun.
It had been several days since that nonsensical popup appeared about the System.
Still no problems whatsoever.
Testa was handling their comeback schedule so frantically they were practically eating with their face in a bowl, and the response was excellent.
“Moon-dae, you’re okay, right?”
“Yeah, no issues.”
Oh, I’d shared the news about the mission failure with these guys that same day. Since there was no longer any risk of a member suddenly collapsing mid-performance due to body-swapping, we started our activities with much greater ease.
And… during that process, a popup appeared saying I’d collected two System fragments.
This thing.
[■■■(ver. Beta) Binding Complete!]
[Owner: Player Park Moon-dae(Ryu Gun-woo)]
That incomprehensible nonsense was finally resolved.
‘Status window.’
In my status window like this.
[Item: ■■■(ver. Beta)]
That’s right. Now an item category has been added to the bottom section.
And honestly, this didn’t exist before either—Big Dal simply manipulated the status window to add the category.
I recalled the conversation I’d had with him at the time.
-Eek?!
He’d been startled by the news of a ‘System comeback possibility,’ but quickly regained his composure when I summarized it as ‘but there’s no response—it seems dead.’
And after searching through the status window.
-Um… it looks like some kind of item?
-…??
Surprisingly, this fragment had truly become ‘bound’ to me.
The System hadn’t attached itself to me—I possessed it. It was my property.
-Is it definitely the System?
-Hmm… it does feel like that, but it doesn’t seem to have that overwhelming, ominous sensation! Oh, let me add a notation so you can see it!
And so it was added as an item to the status window.
Naturally, a thought occurred to me.
‘…If it’s an item, can I use it?’
I even clicked once with that idea…
[‘Item: ■■■(ver. Beta)’ Use]
[Target: _______ ]
The moment that popup appeared, I shut it down. Big Dal screamed too.
‘I’ve lost it.’
Seeing a target designation popup made it crystal clear—this was definitely the System, no question about it.
Who on earth would I use this on? This is permanently sealed from here on out.
‘I’ll just shelve it.’
I dismissed the item popup and resumed monitoring among those checking the schedule.
“Manager, didn’t our group have a appearance on Tnet’s new variety show today?”
“Ah, that got postponed due to broadcasting issues, so it was changed to a corporate event instead.”
“Understood!”
‘Anyway, that new variety show was something we went on because T1 pushed it so hard that we had no choice but to make a deal.’
I was planning to check feedback on other variety appearances and stage reactions.
And then I saw this popular post.
[Photo of the currently trending Sai Chart taken by a camera enthusiast]
“….”
I reflexively clicked on the post.
And I saw them. The photos I’d taken at the awards ceremony a few days ago.
==========================
An anonymous account suddenly appeared and just dumped a ton of photos without any explanation
But they’re so well taken… (photo)
There’s debate about whether they’re a professional or career photographer, but anyway the K-pop camera enthusiast timeline is in festival mode
(link) (link) (link)
==========================
‘Why did this become a hot topic.’
…A few days ago, after finishing the item discussion, Big Dal was trying to get permission.
-Would it be okay if I shared the photos you took with the fans? Of course, if you don’t want me to, I won’t!
There didn’t seem to be any reason to stop him.
To be honest, looking at it objectively, since it had been a while since I’d been photographed, they didn’t seem to turn out better than before.
‘There were plenty of people holding cameras at the Sai Chart anyway.’
Besides, that camera wasn’t even his to begin with—he’d bought it. It didn’t matter what he did with it.
-I think it’ll be fine if it’s anonymous.
-Yes!!
That was yesterday.
And now… it came back with this result.
-This person’s back, insane
-Is this person that Young-rin fancam shooter?
-Wow lolololol
-Were they job hunting
-Crazy Park Moon-dae cut the bread room ㅠㅠ Thank you so much.
“….”
Anyway… the way Big Dal uploaded it.
Usually, even if they don’t sell data, they either trade with other singers or upload separately to each singer’s fan community.
It’s rare for someone to dump all the photos of every singer they’ve taken on a single account.
And without a single word of explanation or introduction, just tagging them and letting them scatter.
Of course, Big Dal probably thought this way.
-Alright, I’ll create an anonymous account and upload everything at once!
…And so this efficient, commonsensical action inadvertently drew aggro in the idol world.
Eventually, after Big Dal’s edited Young-rin cut was compared with the fancam of Young-rin from the performance, it even led to this comment.
-Wait, is this the person who filmed that fancam? Young-rin’s legendary fancam!
-Awesome… Did Youngrin recognize me?ㅠㅠㅠㅠ
And heartwarming stories and interesting posts about Young-rin remembering ‘that fancam creator from debut days’ were dominating the Internet’s trending posts.
As a result, the account received even more attention in reverse… and suddenly became the account everyone was talking about.
-This person seems to have caught Testa, the photo volume is insane lol
└Right? Looks like they photographed all the members wow
“….”
Do they see that?
I examined my photos again. No matter how many times I looked, I couldn’t see much difference.
‘Did I take too many?’
It seemed the culprit was that I’d taken an unusually large number of shots of Testa while checking on Big Dal’s condition.
Of course, Testa wasn’t the only one mentioned.
-Cheongryeo was also well filmed, but it’s too bad why there wasn’t a cut of Cheongryeo’s stage ㅠㅠㅠ
-Of course I have it. There’s no way I didn’t film it. I hope it’s in the process of being edited. Testa stage cut, Cheongnyeo stage cutㅠㅠㅠㅠ
I don’t have them. I was backstage when he performed.
‘…He did perform well though.’
I recalled Chung-ryeo’s stage, where he’d openly used a VTIC song as an intro before his own solo performance.
He’d cleverly cut off the VTIC song and performed it completely on his own with such fullness.
It was essentially a declaration.
‘That I’m making a solo comeback at full-group level.’
This year’s competition doesn’t seem like it’ll be easy either.
Still, since Testa got this comeback off to a good start, we won’t fall behind in momentum.
‘Let’s keep going like this.’
Anyway, after comprehensively checking the reactions to the photos, I relayed them appropriately to the person involved.
Big Dal was startled.
[Oh no, I’ll delete the account right away…!]
…To that extent?
‘No, it’s fine.’
That would draw more attention. Let’s just let it pass as a happening.
‘As long as I don’t upload more, it should be okay.’
[Yes….]
People’s interests shift quickly anyway. This will be momentary too.
I examined the reactions once more, almost reflexively.
It was still strange that no one had openly called me out as a data seller or criticized me for it.
It seemed to be because I’d previously created a separate account on YouTube uploading fancams that hadn’t been sold, drawing attention there instead.
-Min-ha is so pretty… thank you ribbon Min-ha is the best in the world
You’re doing art with Hee-seung, haha.
Either way, it was a strange feeling.
I’d already sold off everyone who made money, after all.
My photos were always released only after going through Home Ma’s selection and editing.
This kind of direct reaction was a first.
‘…It’s not a bad feeling, though.’
I examined Big Dal’s account with the ID ‘gun4321’, and only after confirming there were no other peculiarities did I prepare to end my search.
That’s when it happened.
“Um, Moon-dae. Is that… you…?”
“…!”
When I turned my head, Sun Ah-hyun had an oddly hopeful expression on his face. What was that about?
“You took that, right?”
How did he know?
“Oh, when our bodies were swapped.”
“Ah, that’s right…! Oh, I saw you editing it.”
“….”
Now that I thought about it, I’d done it on the laptop in the Living Room. Anyone could have seen it.
And Sun Ah-hyun’s comment drew attention from the Waiting Room.
“Whoa, no way~ Did Moon-dae take that? Did you upload it to the Internet?”
“That’s amazing! Is that me and Chung-woo hyung!”
“…Park Moon-dae, you’re really good at taking photos.”
The members chimed in from all over, asking to see it themselves, and handed over their smartphones.
‘Do you guys not have phones?’
Anyone watching would think my smartphone was communal property for the group.
Kim Rae-bin’s eyes lit up.
“Uploading separate works for hobby purposes… it’s just like that ‘Star of Stars Song’ account that uploaded our arrangement works before!”
Right. The difference was that there was no way anyone would ever find out it was me, but still. It was physically impossible for me to photograph myself.
‘…? Wait, I didn’t even upload it.’
But there was no point in saying that—the guys were already making a fuss again after playing around with the photos.
“Should we film another travel reality show when this activity wraps up? It’d be fun if Moon-dae took photos there too. We could even swap hobbies with each other.”
“Oh, that sounds great! It’d be nice to just hang out together, and doing a part-time job concept at a Theme Park sounds fun too~”
“Great! I want to try that!”
Since we’d made a comeback with a high school concept, had we really started acting like high schoolers?
Either way, it was nice that despite this grueling schedule with no breaks, the atmosphere wasn’t heavy with exhaustion.
“What do you think, Moon-dae hyung?”
“…A Theme Park part-time job sounds good.”
“Oh, Moon-dae’s a real pro~”
I chuckled and shook my head as I took my smartphone back.
‘Hmm, maybe I’ll take some shots now and then.’
Well, it was a refreshing incident.
And that day’s schedule ended without any major issues.
For the first time in a while, we had a day where we could sleep more than six hours, so everyone headed back to the Dormitory in good spirits.
“We can leave at 7:30 tomorrow.”
“Oh, nice.”
I agreed.
I quickly showered, changed clothes, and eagerly went to bed.
And how much time had passed?
“…Moon-dae!”
Hmm.
“Park Moon-dae…!”
My alarm hadn’t gone off.
“Wake up for a second! This article…!!”
An article.
In that instant, my sleep evaporated like blood draining from my face.
I opened my eyes immediately.
In front of me, Bae Sae-jin stood in the darkness, his face drained pale, holding his smartphone.
Why was this guy in my room… no, that wasn’t the issue.
“What article?”
“This.”
Bae Sae-jin immediately thrust his smartphone toward me. Reflexively, the current time caught my eye.
‘…6 AM.’
Still twenty minutes before my alarm would go off.
And it was precisely the right time for something that broke last night to be organized and pushed to the main headlines.
‘What is it?’
I immediately read the article’s headline.
[(Breaking News) Prosecution Seeks Arrest Warrant for T1 Entertainment CEO]
“…!”
“It’s not about us, but… the Company seems to be in serious trouble.”
Bae Sae-jin, who had dealt with Agency issues before, seemed to sense something was off the moment he saw the article.
“You’re probably the best at handling things like this.”
“….”
“…Sorry for waking you up.”
“No, it’s fine.”
He woke me up well.
I immediately took the smartphone and read the article.
‘Please let it be embezzlement.’
If the CEO alone screwed up over money, that would be the best-case scenario with no connection to us.
But unfortunately… it wasn’t.
-The CEO (58) arrested for violating the Political Funds Act….
“….”
Politics?
Right. Bae Sae-jin probably saw the details and acted immediately, so it’s only natural.
‘Damn it.’
I read further into the article. The CEO of T1 Entertainment had apparently received promises of congressional nomination endorsements and poured money into some political party.
And not just the CEO—several others were arrested on similar charges….
“….”
“What… do you think?”
Wait.
“Just a moment.”
I filtered out a few keywords from the article and reset the date settings.
‘Last three months.’
And instead of just T1 Entertainment, I broadened the search to the entire ‘T1’ conglomerate.
I immediately sorted by popularity and began scanning the articles.
[T1 Food Violates Imported Food Safety Act, Food and Drug Administration Issues Corrective Order]
[Tnet 【Voice of You】 Receives Warning from Broadcasting and Communications Deliberation Committee]
[T1 Running Delivery and 3 Others Collude on Port Distribution, Face 5 Billion Won Fine]
….
Articles about indictments and fines poured in at intervals of just days. What’s more, even when multiple subsidiaries appeared on the list, ‘T1’ was emphasized in the headlines as if it were the central focus.
The interval was abnormal even for a major conglomerate.
“….”
I scrolled through the screen quickly. Bae Sae-jin clenched his teeth.
“T1 itself has a problem, doesn’t it?”
“…You could say that, yes.”
To be honest about it.
Tnet has been pulling shady stunts while expanding its business for ages, and until now it’s managed everything just fine by using capital and connections like any major conglomerate would.
But suddenly, in the last few months, the number of newsworthy incidents has skyrocketed?
“T1 was always like this. It just seems like the ones ‘catching’ them have suddenly gotten stricter.”
“…!”
Bae Sae-jin swallowed hard.
“If that’s the case….”
“Yes.”
I muttered darkly.
“Brother, you know there’s a presidential election this year, right?”
“….”
This was… connected to the political sphere.
Damn it.
‘T1 got marked.’
I don’t know what they got marked for, but either way, they’ve been targeted.
And what was singled out as an example… was the entertainment division.
‘The more recent the articles, the more they focus on entertainment-related matters.’
After slowly reviewing the entire two-month record, I identified the item that appeared most frequently.
[Tnet 【Be My Girls】 Unfair Contract Lawsuit]
[T1’s Corporate Abuse… 【Be My Girls】 Cast in Tears]
[T1 Stars Studio, 【A Tender Ending】 Review Faces Obstacles “Expression is Vulgar”]
‘Tnet.’
In other words, T1 Entertainment.
From the Broadcasting Station to the production studios.
It seemed they were targeting this division because it was likely the most crucial business segment for public image, making it the most impactful pressure point.
So then, how would the corporation respond?
If they had to make immediate concessions one way or another….
‘…they’d have to cut off the tail.’
They would inevitably sacrifice one of the most problematic divisions and decide on a strategy—whether to grovel or play tough.
But abandoning the Broadcasting Station in the entertainment business would be insane. They’d definitely keep the Broadcasting Station and instead choose which tail to sever….
What would they discard?
‘Predictable.’
As long as they held onto the Broadcasting Station, they had confidence they could replace anything else.
And the ones who served as the company’s figurehead were in their contract renewal season anyway.
Specifically… the subsidiary entertainment agencies.
“…Wake all the kids up.”
The various agencies that T1 Entertainment held as subsidiaries.
And days later.
The executives of T1 Stars, the agency where Testa was signed, were arrested.

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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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