Debut or Die - Chapter 461

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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 461
-This board game is insane;;;;
The news of TeSTAR’s limited edition board game album sent fans’ SNS timelines ablaze.
When comparisons revealed that the board game appeared to have the same appearance as the one featured in the teaser, reactions intensified even further.
-Looks like they actually used it as a music video prop
-Is it a game structure using photo cards? I’m curious what it’ll feel like. Will TeSTAR’s worldbuilding come through?
-Now that’s a way to sell things lol
-Wow, I really need to get this
Most reactions were excitement and anticipation, though not everything was positive.
The limited quantity was the issue.
Even if a general edition releases later, it would definitely differ in composition from the limited version.
-Only 1,000 copies?
For a group that sells millions of albums?
-Do they not think about casual fans? Wow, the merchants are really going all out
-How can I buy this?
-The agency can’t shake off T1’s habits
-No wonder, coming from a subsidiary label under them lol
As a result, TeSTAR’s new agency, Orbit Entertainment, finally began receiving criticism too.
In reality, they’d rushed production to meet the schedule and simply couldn’t manufacture tens of thousands of units within the timeline.
However, I’d deliberately allowed some of this negative reaction to persist.
It was to preemptively cool down the excessive reverence fans had been showing toward the label.
It was a burden neither the startup company nor the group could afford to carry.
Besides, if the general edition’s composition barely differed from the limited version, this complaint would soon fade.
Moreover, since the comeback itself—TeSTAR’s actual return—was the primary topic, fans couldn’t focus solely on criticizing the agency.
For instance, like this.
-Oh, the album is USB format
TeSTAR’s album being released this time wasn’t a CD, but a USB drive.
Standalone, at that.
Just the album USB, a playback box, and a single photo card—a minimalist composition.
-Seems like they’ll keep making it as USB for environmental reasons
Honestly, with album sales getting overheated, a ton of garbage is coming out.
But the inability to receive photos and lyrics as physical items left people feeling oddly disappointed.
In an era where online streaming dominates, buying an album carried stronger meaning in owning something tangible.
Moreover, the sparse number of components felt somehow shabby.
The USB would contain photos and lyrics as data inside, but the inability to hold them in your hands somehow dampened the mood.
-Hmm, three types of USB…
-I wish they’d at least shown what the USB looks like
-I wish it was a figurine or something
-They’re taking preorders without even properly explaining it? At least release some concept photos lol
The teaser quality turned out decent, and enthusiasm for the concept itself—continuing the high-teen aesthetic from the previous album that ended somewhat unsatisfyingly—kept these voices relatively quiet.
But there was undeniably a strange, deflating atmosphere created by the murmurs of discontent.
‘Sigh….’
In the end, fans who noticed it made deliberate efforts to find more positive aspects.
On TeSTAR’s album pre-order product page, they discovered special content not typically included in standard CD albums and deliberately spread word about it in various places.
-This album has an extended MV in it. It’s in USB format, so they probably tried to include a large volume. Already looking forward to it
-There is a warning regarding the QR code reader! I guess there’s something to read through QR. I think I prepared a lot.
But that was the end of it.
No additional detailed information about the album was released even as the comeback date drew near.
‘What are they thinking??’
As a result, Home Ma was biting her nails to the quick over the first comeback.
Concept photos had been released once, but they featured a comfortable high-teen concept similar to the previous teaser.
It was plain and pretty, but it lacked any distinctive character.
It even felt excessively similar to the previous album.
Compared to ‘Procession’ with its thirty-minute teaser, ‘Better Me’ with its cinematic trailer, and ‘Promise’ which felt like a film….
‘Just one teaser, a USB album, and a simple composition….’
The terrifying word ‘value for money’ inevitably crossed her mind.
-Can’t believe they’d treat them like this at a new company lol
-That’s a backstab~~~ what did they do, so the vibe that only worked for them was all they had
-Is Sae-bin doing one week of activities and then going on tour loops too
-Doesn’t this title feel like it’ll be similar to the previous title ‘Pose’? But now it seems even worse
Undercurrents swirled beneath the surface.
Thus, as anxiety and worry crossed with excitement and anticipation, the fateful day finally arrived.
TeSTAR’s first comeback under the new company, at that midnight hour.
Finally, the MV… dropped.
“…Sigh.”
[TeSTAR ‘Roll the Dice’ Official MV]
Home Ma took a deep breath.
The title was about dice, and the thumbnail had dice too….
How far were they planning to take this?
‘Is this really a complete board game concept? Now that it’s gone this far, I’m worried it might feel ridiculous…, …no!’
Home Ma shook off her unnecessary thoughts and clicked the MV with trembling hands.
Then….
“Huh?”
What appeared on screen was… a wooden floor. The attic floorboards from the previous teaser.
But TeSTAR, who had been sitting there before, was nowhere to be seen. The focus wasn’t on them.
It was on the board game board.
Tokens and cards were scattered across it.
But the impression was somewhat different from when it briefly appeared in the teaser.
She had thought it was a conventional setup where you divided squares and advanced by claiming territory.
But seeing it like this… it felt more intricate, more tangible, more like the blueprint of a building….
‘…A prison? A maze?’
In that instant.
The camera was sucked into it.
[You have my dice]
A low voice echoed through the black screen.
And the image returned.
-Boom…!
A long corridor stretching in a single line.
Built from stone with varying shades of gray, it resembled a section of some massive Underground Dungeon.
A massive rusted nameplate on the floor briefly appeared in the camera’s view.
【KIS】
-Keep It Safe
And the camera moves forward.
Thud, thud.
With each footstep, iron doors lined on both sides come into view. As if seeing through someone’s eyes.
‘A guard?’
Then the camera cuts away again.
Whoosh.
The camera pierces through one of the iron doors on the left, immediately approaching In-young sitting on the floor.
In-young wore a white costume with harnesses—a stage outfit that evoked the image of a straitjacket or prison garb.
The moment Home Ma saw that figure with head slightly bowed, she recognized it instantly.
Eyes closed… Park Moon-dae with black hair.
‘Gasp…!’
His bangs were slightly long, partially obscuring his eyes.
The instant his pale face was zoomed in.
-Beepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeep….
A faint sound began emanating from somewhere.
The kind of noise a machine makes when detecting something or activating.
Then Park Moon-dae, eyes still closed, raised his hand.
And struck downward at something.
Smash.
Along with the surveillance camera shattering in midair.
The music explodes.
[Touching your hands
My tape winds again]
A refreshingly bright mid-to-high note.
And the screen bursts upward cheerfully, piercing through the dim Secret Room and ascending to some upper level.
And from the ceiling there, a single beam of light shining through the barred iron cage was illuminated.
The tempo rises.
[The moment my heart races
All senses [Slow]
Within that beam of light, someone nimble descended by looping a rope around the torn end of an iron cage.
It was Ryu Chung-woo, dressed in a form-fitting leather suit.
Thud.
A faintly playful smile crossed his face as he landed.
Drum beats blend in, and with a slightly more rock-inflected sound, the bass surges with weight.
[Electric contact
In your silent eyes
Finding the certain answer]
As Ryu Chung-woo brings his hand to his ear, the cut shifts to someone performing the same motion.
It was Kim Rae-bin, wearing glasses.
[The choice is one
Yeah, take it all (one more)
Even if I let go of this tight grip]
Kim Rae-bin, sitting in front of the dark Monitor Room, looked like a hacker or an employee.
But soon, with an expressionless face as if completely clueless, he tilted his head, then simply pulled an awl from his pocket and smashed the monitor.
Just before the monitor crackled and went dark.
Between the distorting angles of view, Cha Yu-jin in a straitjacket looked at the camera and smiled, fangs showing.
And as the monitor went out, silence.
[Let’s Start, begin the chaos]
With a low melody, the pre-chorus exploded.
[Find it, see the face
I don’t care what’s next]
Gray Corridor, Secret Room, Maze, Monitoring Room, and countless other incomprehensible conceptual spaces—each member of Testa’s cuts connect relentlessly without a moment to breathe.
[Chaser, today too
Don’t stop your hands]
Just as it seems impressive yet impossible to count how many cuts were filmed, someone’s hand blocks it.
A hand wearing white gloves.
[Figure it out, everything
Don’t be scared what’s next]
The hand’s owner was Lee Sae-jin.
Lee Sae-jin, dressed in a navy uniform and sipping coffee, smiled softly.
Then she turned her head to look at the broken monitor, grabbed a key, and hummed as she left the Monitor Room.
[Chaser, tomorrow too
Don’t end the reversal]
And the chorus.
[Just roll the dice]
Dance break.
As if the footage were cross-edited from multiple stages, the costumes and backgrounds shifted seamlessly.
From white prison garb to navy uniform, and from there to leather suit once more.
“Wow.”
I couldn’t even fathom how many takes they’d shot for this… no, it seemed to demand far more effort than all that running around, but what struck me first was how thrilling it all felt—my heart was genuinely racing despite myself.
Home Ma swallowed hard, continuing to watch the video.
[Trust, take my side]
After the chorus ended, the second verse wove story and choreography together seamlessly, and the video returned to that quintessential K-pop aesthetic.
It was a performance video brimming with symbolism and raw intensity.
Yet thanks to the opening sequence, the narrative remained fairly comprehensible.
‘Let’s see… Park Moon-dae and Cha Yu-jin seem to be prisoners, I think? Kim Rae-bin and Chung-woo are the thieves. And Big Sae-jin is the guard?’
But Bae Sae-jin and Sun Ah-hyun appeared throughout the performance in various costumes, and she tilted her head, unable to pinpoint their specific roles.
[Yeah this Final round]
It was when the bridge melody flowed through.
Suddenly, the rapid-cut footage shifted into a long take.
…Click.
What appeared was the silhouette of someone standing before an enormous iron door.
The camera soon spun halfway around, revealing the figure’s identity.
It was Bae Sae-jin.
‘Ah, so he was the thief!’
He wore an outfit similar to Ryu Chung-woo’s. Home Ma nodded in recognition when—
-….
Bae Sae-jin gazed calmly at the iron door, then reached his hand toward the lock pad beside it.
A peculiar mechanical device resembling a key hung there, and his gloved hand seemed to zoom in for a close-up.
Bzzzzt.
Suddenly that hand flickered—becoming a hand in cotton gloves, or a wounded hand—crackling several times in succession.
“…!”
But it quickly returned to the gloved hand.
And the moment he connected the key to the lock pad, a code input field appeared on the device.
[_____]
‘Oh!’
Bae Sae-jin seemed to smile faintly, but….
-Smack!
With the sound of impact, the screen went dark.
“…??”
[Just roll the dice
Trust, take my side]
There was nothing after that.
In an instant, the dazzling performance video resumed.
Mesmerized by it, Home Ma still had question marks swirling in her mind… but ultimately, she surrendered to the performance.
‘They’ll definitely drop the hint at the end…!’
Yes. The hint came right when the song ended. But it wasn’t in the form she’d anticipated.
Instead of revealing Bae Sae-jin’s whereabouts, the darkened screen showed something else entirely.
It was a close-up shot of a beautiful face.
“…?”
It was Sun Ah-hyun with blonde hair, dressed in a navy uniform.
He stared directly into the camera, his lips moving slightly.
-…Choose your side.
Soft string music began to flow.
Within the screen slowly fading to black from top and bottom, Sun Ah-hyun turned his head slowly and began walking down the corridor.
It was that Gray Corridor from the very beginning.
A black baton swayed slightly at Sun Ah-hyun’s waist.
It looked perfect for subduing someone.
“….”
Black screen.
Until only the distinct sound of military boots remained, cutting through the soft strings.
-Thud, thud, thud….
And then, text appeared.
[Roll the Dice]
~Please enter the code
What appeared last was a blinking black box.
It was the same one that had appeared when Bae Sae-jin accessed the keypad in the music video.
And….
“…Hah!”
Home Ma exhaled the breath she’d been holding.
Insane!
‘I worried for nothing!’
The quality was like a movie! It was different from their existing music videos, but this would definitely get a reaction.
‘International reactions are going to explode….’
She could already predict it.
‘The worldbuilding was a bit… pretty grand though.’
It felt like a whole new universe! They’d put so much force into it that it felt like a fan-made drama music video.
‘Is the board game that universe? Does playing it make it make sense?’
That’s when she was racking her brain hard.
Suddenly, direct messages flooded her SNS.
‘What’s this?’
She clicked, thinking it was just fan talk.
-The album product page dropped and the key from the music video is insane
“…??”
-The key from the guys’ music video is the album USB!!
“…What what what??”
She opened her mouth and screamed.
‘Ahhhhhhh!!’
And then the next day.
‘Hurry! Hurry!’
She tore open the album she’d received like a madwoman.
So, carefully handling the USB that had been a music video prop, she frantically separated it and connected it to her computer, then tried to access that folder.
Because….
‘They made it so meaningful!’
There had to be something in the extended MV! She absolutely had to see it!
‘If I just click on the video like this!’
I’d be able to watch the extended MV….
“…!!”
However, what greeted her was not a video player.
[TeSTAR – Roll the Dice MV Extended Edition (Playable) App – Allow this app to change device settings?]
An app?
In that moment, she realized.
“….”
‘Playable.’
A game.
The extended MV was… a game!

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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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