Debut or Die - Chapter 462

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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 462
‘Insane.’
Home Ma could barely breathe as she waited for the game installation to complete.
Normally, any modern person would kill time during an app installation by checking messages, social media, or browsing the web on their phone, but she was in no state of mind for that.
She had no room for questions like ‘When and how did they even make something like this?’ or any analysis. Her heart pounded with pure excitement, overwhelming emotion, and anticipation that felt like tension itself.
And moments later.
[Installation Complete.]
-Run Now ( )
She didn’t hesitate and checked the box.
The screen turned black as the logo passed by.
[Ruin Factory Area]
-Stars Orbit
Then Testa’s logo, warped to evoke industrial disasters and workplace hazards, descended from the top of the screen as the title appeared.
[Roll the Dice]
~please enter the code
What flowed smoothly was the main melody of this title track—slightly eerie and remixed with a modern twist.
Behind it, a dimly lit wooden floor, a board game, and dice were projected.
The quality was flawless.
“Wooooow.”
It was this serious?
Home Ma felt a joy bordering on shock, but simultaneously, a subtle worry crept in.
‘But I don’t really know games….’
She’d assumed it would just be fan service, but now that it was like this, she hesitated slightly about whether she could truly enjoy it.
She didn’t know gaming conventions well, and she had no clue about controls. She’d only casually enjoyed 【127 Section】 because it was a mobile game.
And since some people disliked games, she sensed this would be divisive.
‘Hmm.’
Of course, the accumulated anticipation conquered everything. There was no time to hesitate!
“Let’s go!”
She boldly pressed ‘New Game’!
The text vanished as if sucked away, and the dice rolled….
Brief loading.
And… the screen brightened.
[2025. 06. 01.]
[PM 07:03]
-Yoohoo!
A sports car racing down a road at sunset filled the computer screen.
“…??”
What is this?
And the people in the sports car were complete strangers.
A man and woman wearing sunglasses—and the man definitely didn’t look like anyone from Testa.
How can I be sure it’s a game character? Well….
‘It’s live-action?’
Because it wasn’t graphics!
-♩♪♬♬~ ♪♪♬~
The sports car racing to the upbeat music flowed like a scene from a movie.
It was a moment where I could have mistaken it for a defective product shipped by accident, but I already knew better.
‘This is… Pose.’
The song flowing from the sports car was Testa’s latest hit, ‘Pose.’ A cheerful dance track perfect for a drive played like background music.
‘This is definitely the Testa app.’
So I decided to wait a moment.
The sports car on screen continued racing down a mountain road stained crimson by the sunset.
And then, something unexpected happened.
The road was blocked.
“…?”
A massive barricade with alternating yellow and black stripes and flashing emergency lights stood in the middle of the road.
-What’s this?
The music fades.
And someone approached the stopped sports car with heavy footsteps.
A tall man.
-Just a moment, ma’am.
“Wow.”
It was Lee Sae-jin!
Lee Sae-jin, dressed in a neat police uniform, smiled and leaned toward the sports car.
The woman in the driver’s seat waved her arm casually.
-Why are you doing that?
-Ah, this road ahead is currently restricted. I’m sorry, but could you please turn around and use the main road?
-Where’s the main road? I’d have to detour for another 30 minutes. Can’t you at least tell me why?
-I’d like to, but I’m in the middle of official duties, so I can’t explain the details. I appreciate your understanding.
Lee Sae-jin spoke gently and smiled with a casual warmth.
‘He’s handsome….’
The exposed forehead suited him incredibly well.
But the woman in the driver’s seat seemed remarkably faithful to her lover—she didn’t seem swayed by Lee Sae-jin at all.
Instead, the way she continued to scan him with a meaningful gaze was captured suggestively by the camera.
-….
-Ma’am, will you turn the car around?
A subtle tension mounted.
The background music changed.
‘What, what is this.’
-Officer, you’re quite young.
-Ah, I just got transferred here. Haha.
-Is that so?
-Yes. I apologize for the inconvenience, but I’d really appreciate it.
Yet Lee Sae-jin maintained her smile until the end, bowing her head slightly.
However, the tense BGM and the oddly amplified footsteps didn’t cease.
Thud, thud.
“….”
And after Lee Sae-jin entered the guardhouse bathed in the crimson sunset light.
Vroom.
The sports car turned around and began to leave the area.
‘Phew.’
It was just as Home Ma exhaled a sigh of relief.
The man in the passenger seat, who had been silent, broke the quiet and spoke.
-Huh? This isn’t the main road, is it?
‘Huh??’
-Yeah, if we turn around here, it connects right back to the temple, honey.
-What?
-We’re going down the road that bastard blocked.
Huh??
And as if representing Home Ma’s feelings, the man in the passenger seat was also shocked.
-Why are we going there? Honey, the police blocked it.
-Police?
The driver scoffed.
-Have you ever seen a cop calmly talk to a speeding sports car like that?
-What?
-And look. That road blockade.
As the man in the passenger seat turned his head, the camera’s view turned as well.
A barricade.
It appeared on screen once more, slowly, and Lee Sae-jin’s smiling lower jaw overlapped like a memory.
The driver’s voice rang out.
-That barricade isn’t the police’s. It’s fake.
-…!!
-If you ask me, that guy doesn’t seem to be a cop.
-Ah….
-Look how young he is. Some YouTuber? A streamer? Isn’t that just some punk messing around? Hiding a camera somewhere.
That was the moment.
The bottom of the sports car’s view became slightly translucent and darkened, and something floated up onto the screen.
▶[That could be it.
-Relief
]
▶[How can you be sure about that?
-Caution
]
It was a choice!
‘Right. Since it’s a game, choices appear.’
It felt unfamiliar, but I figured I should just pick whatever drew me in.
But then….
[00:10:00]
There was a time limit!
‘Ten seconds?!’
She panicked, but somehow, on instinct, she chose the lower option.
-How can you be so sure about that?
It was a hunch born from movie clichés.
Whenever characters deliberately enter a place that’s been blocked off, something bad inevitably happens—that’s just common sense in storytelling.
‘Sae-jin said not to go!’
Then don’t go! Why would you go! Is it really that important whether they’re actual police?
‘Listen to them, even if you’re an idol!’
Besides, I had no idea why I was even making choices for these people who weren’t even part of Testa’s situation… but the pressure of the time limit made me scramble to decide.
-Ah, you don’t trust me.
The person in the driver’s seat was angry!
[The other party is displeased.]
“Ugh.”
Wait, was choosing the upper answer and then appeasing them the right move?
She fell into confusion, but the scene didn’t stop.
-That’s… that’s not it….
-Then just watch. I’ll get us to our airplane on time, no problem.
The driver said that and began steering the sports car roughly with one hand, accelerating into a high-speed drive.
As the camera pulled back, it showed the sports car forcibly entering a side road past the “No Entry” sign that blocked the main road.
And it captured the eerie gloom of the darkening mountain path….
“….”
She swallowed hard and watched the scene unfold like she was watching a thriller film.
And then, moments later.
-That came out of nowhere.
The sports car, traveling down the darkened mountain road with its headlights on, suddenly passed in front of some dilapidated building that appeared.
It was a gray structure, roughly patched together with concrete.
It was large in size, but there was no sign of human presence.
-A factory? Or not?
-Ah, I guess so.
-It’s a bit odd to have something like that on a mountain.
And in slow motion, through the sports car passenger’s perspective, the camera began to slowly scan the building’s exterior….
It focused on a single embossed symbol on the outer wall.
[K.I.S Facility]
Home Ma recalled it too.
‘I think it appeared in the music video?’
That’s right. It was the initials on the floor of that Gray Corridor.
Could it be that these people were entering that prison as players?
‘Yeah, and since the viewpoint has shifted to their first-person perspective now, it’s definitely possible.’
She was making her own deductions when it happened.
-Wait, that’s….
In that instant.
Crash.
The sports car flipped over.
“…?!”
Huh?
And then it exploded.
-Boom boom boom boom boom boom!!
The screen spun wildly, tumbling across the ground.
‘Ahhhhh!!’
Insane!
Home Ma let out an involuntary scream. The camera’s view twisted and turned, catching glimpses of the mangled sports car before a trembling hand came into view, feeling along the ground.
Then a choice appeared.
▶[Grab the smartphone.]
▶[Call out to the passenger.]
This is… this is!
‘Calling the passenger won’t help! The smartphone!’
Calling out won’t heal an injured person, so I need to take productive action first!
She quickly pressed the top option.
And gratifyingly, the hand fumbling along the ground found the smartphone!
‘Yes!’
Just as she was about to cheer the hand dialing 119 in her absorbed state.
-Ahhh!!
The smartphone turned out to be broken.
“Ugh.”
This… this has no solution?
Home Ma, breaking into a cold sweat as she wondered if she’d made the wrong choice, was considering restarting the game when.
A voice rang out.
-Are you alright?!
As the screen turned as if the head had rotated, a tall, handsome In-young in a police uniform rushed over in panic.
It was Lee Sae-jin who had come running.
-Hold on!
‘Huh huh huh? What’s this?’
I was caught off guard, unable to comprehend what was happening.
Lee Sae-jin approached and immediately extended her hand.
-Give me that.
She smoothly extracted the smartphone that was hindering her support, then shrugged her shoulders.
And while maintaining eye contact with the player, she fired the tranquilizer gun.
“…?!”
My vision—no, the screen suddenly blurred.
Silence.
-….
After a brief blackout, the screen reappeared showing the area behind Lee Sae-jin’s shoulders.
It seemed I had been hoisted onto her back.
“…??”
Still unable to grasp the situation.
Lee Sae-jin’s voice reached me.
-Ah~ it works every time, every single time.
And the screen moved again.
A red frame, a crumpled metal chassis, and smoke.
The player was being shoved back into the half-destroyed sports car!
“Wh-wh-what?!”
-It’s so convenient that you break the rules on your own. I’ve done my part, so I have no pangs of conscience.
“…!!”
Insane!
And Lee Sae-jin’s neat face standing outside the sports car came into view again.
She was holding a notebook.
-So, this time too….
-‘No Entry sign’… check, ‘direct notification’… check, ‘kindness’… check, ‘repeated emphasis’….
Lee Sae-jin, looking just like a police officer, tipped her hat with a wink.
-You asked me to return the car, didn’t you?
-Ugh….
-Yes, yes. I knew you wouldn’t listen~
Slam.
The sports car door shut.
And the half-destroyed red sports car was towed by a black vehicle, being dragged away.
Behind it, Lee Sae-jin’s humming from inside the black vehicle echoed like a BGM.
-Hmm~
It was a famous B-side track from Testa’s previous album, known among fans as a relaxing easy-listening song.
And above that chilling sense of incongruity, subtitles appeared.
[Prologue End]
-Welcome to the K.I.S
Home Ma screamed silently.
‘What is this!?’

* * *
Home Ma, whose mental state had been shattered, managed to press the enter button and enter Chapter 1 only after thirty seconds.
It was entirely because she had been persuaded by Lee Sae-jin’s stunning visuals.
‘Park Moon-dae must look incredibly handsome too…’
And though she hadn’t consciously realized it, the shocking and thrilling story had also played a part.
‘Alright!’
The game, now progressing into the main story, unfolded this time from a member’s perspective.
-Shall I give you a ride?
On a rainy autumn day, Bae Sae-jin, having lost his wallet, receives help from Ryu Chung-woo and boards his personal vehicle to head to work.
And then he receives a sudden proposal from Ryu Chung-woo.
-There’s something I’d like to steal.
-…Pardon?
-I need a hacker.
That’s right! Bae Sae-jin was a hacker.
But if that’s the case….
‘…What about Rae-bin?’
He was sitting in the Monitor Room in the music video, wasn’t he?
Even now, sitting in the back seat wearing glasses and looking at a laptop, it felt exactly like that.
So Home Ma gladly selected the choice option to ask about it.
-Isn’t he also a hacker?
-No. He’s just incredibly strong. Really… incredibly strong.
“Hehehehe.”
Kim Rae-bin, who had poked his head up from the back seat, lowered it again.
By the way, Kim Rae-bin truly delighted Home Ma by generously displaying the qualities of the strongest attacker even after infiltrating the facility.
In any case, what Ryu Chung-woo showed Bae Sae-jin was information about a jewel called ‘tutáculum’.
-Tutáculum?
-It means protection and sanctuary in Latin. This jewel seems to be the key to accessing the facility where it’s located.
He said he had received it from a colleague previously and handed over a device shaped like a ‘key’, requesting its analysis.
And this was handled as a flashback, immediately connecting to a cut of infiltrating the facility!
-But I never expected that place to be such a bizarre protective detention facility.
And from that point on, it was nothing but a succession of nail-biting tension and choices….
‘Aaahhh.’
Home Ma, already burned by Lee Sae-jin’s spicy performance in the prologue, absolutely did not want to be caught no matter how handsome Lee Sae-jin was….
So regardless of which character she controlled, she made every effort to avoid meeting the guards, grasping at every choice option possible.
And from this point on, one more system was added.
A ten-sided die.
Rumble rumble rumble….
When a wrong choice was made, rolling the die gave a chance to recover if the number came up small!
The more fatal the mistake, the lower the numerical cost required.
‘Phew!’
-Oh~ Today’s coffee.
She narrowly dodged Lee Sae-jin’s gaze and barely managed to slip into the cabinet, catching her breath.
And not long after… I caught sight of my favorite’s face too.
-Hmm.
“Ahhhhh!”
Park Moon-dae was in the Laboratory!
The problem was, he had some kind of syringe in him… and he was drenched in cold sweat, looking absolutely agonized.
But he was pleading not to remove the syringe!
-…I can’t, please.
▶[Destroy the syringe.
-Compassion
]
▶[Leave it alone.
-Indifference
]
Ahhhhhhh!!
Home Ma, who had been controlling Kim Rae-bin, was horrified, but ultimately reached upward with trembling hands.
‘I’m sorry, Park Moon-dae…!’
But if I don’t destroy the syringe here…! In movie clichés, Park Moon-dae dies!
And sure enough, the moment I destroyed the syringe, Park Moon-dae immediately stabilized.
I lost consciousness and watched the close-up shot of Park Moon-dae’s peaceful, fallen face with tears in my eyes before hitting capture.
Kim Rae-bin fortunately picked Park Moon-dae up and carried him to a safe location.
‘Thank goodness….’
Deeply immersed, I wiped away the cold sweat.
In any case, what followed was Ryu Chung-woo engaging in a battle of wills with Cha Yu-jin beyond the Iron Door to extract information, or a dizzying chase sequence.
And soon the thieves completed their deduction that this place was a strange facility where test subjects were confined, and that the ‘jewels’ they had obtained were part of an experiment bait scheme.
-We need to escape.
So they corrected their route, and soon thanks to Cha Yu-jin’s aggro, they discovered the official escape route….
But there was one final obstacle.
-If we just go around this perimeter….
-Shh.
‘Gasp, it’s Ah-hyun!’
Thud, thud.
Baton, gloves, combat boots, jaw. Eyes.
What walked from beyond the Corridor was directed with cinematic mise-en-scène.
Sun Ah-hyun had appeared throughout this movie—no, game—with only a cool and composed impression.
And it happened to suit him so perfectly that there was an unexpected charm to it.
‘It really is all about the face….’
Home Ma fell silent.
And yet, she intuited it.
‘In that music video… when Bae Sae-jin escaped, there was a hint that it was Ah-hyun who suppressed him!’
This had to be that hint. Her heart racing, she frantically mashed the ‘Hide’ option.
-….
Surprisingly, despite it seeming like the right choice, the die rolled.
[Threshold: 6]
60% probability!
Home Ma clenched her teeth.
Clatter, clatter, clatter….
‘Please, please…!’
The die slowly came to a stop, its face showing….
[2]
“We made it!!”
Sun Ah-hyun vanished serenely beyond the corridor.
And so, I safely cleared that turn.
‘Phew.’
-Let’s go.
She exhaled in relief, watching as Bae Sae-jin approached the massive iron door.
It was the scene from the music video.
He held the key against the lock pad, and now if he entered the code….
‘Huh?’
Come to think of it….
[______]
What’s the code?
“….”
The game progression halted.
So there was no ten-second time limit like before. It meant I could enter it whenever I wanted.
But… what code could it possibly be?
At that moment, Bae Sae-jin’s narration flowed across the screen.
-It’s a code I already know.
-I heard it from the Phantom Thief when I received this key.
And this time, I began to hear Ryu Chung-woo’s voice as he recalled it.
-I’d like you to analyze the key.
Bae Sae-jin’s eyes were magnified in close-up.
-And I did analyze it.
-Information the Phantom Thief wanted came out. The location of this place, the value of the jewel, and such. But there was also a lot of dummy data that seemed deliberately inserted.
-As if to increase the file size to make it harder to find.
-At that time, among the dummy data I almost carelessly overlooked, there was also a photograph of a man… and on the back of that photograph, there was a code.
The narration ended there.
‘What… what is this?’
Home Ma read the subtitle again in confusion.
‘A photograph of a man.’
“….”
Could it be?
“Gasp!”
She bolted upright, retrieved the USB she’d ejected earlier, and grabbed the album box she’d pushed aside.
From it, she pulled out the single remaining component.
A photo card.
On the back of Kim Rae-bin’s photo card—the one showing him with a stylus between his lips—a code was printed alongside the logo.
[Roll the Dice]
~please enter the code
[AW23-5DQ2-B25E]
With trembling hands, she entered it.
…The moment she pressed enter.
Bae Sae-jin on the screen began moving his hand across the lock pad.
And.
-Success…!
The door opened.
“Yes!”
She instinctively clenched both fists, then immediately realized something.
‘Wow!’
This really made buying the album feel worthwhile!
In any case, she rose from her seat, instinctively sensing a happy ending.
Completely unaware that what she’d witnessed was merely ‘Normal Ending -3’, she reacted like someone with zero gaming knowledge.
Still, her evaluation was finally starting to improve.
‘The immersion was absolutely incredible!’
I had no idea how they’d filmed this or how much the cast had suffered, but I wanted to replay it immediately and try different choices!
The costumes were perfect, and the acting and action sequences were excellent without feeling cringe.
Honestly, Bae Sae-jin’s acting was so good that it created great chemistry.
But there was one nagging concern….
‘Ah, the thieves really did come across as the protagonists, didn’t they?’
There was a slight issue with screen time, but the events felt subtly structured from the thieves’ perspective.
‘Ah, Ah-hyun really didn’t get much screen time either.’
And there was still some unresolved mystery about what the board game was supposed to be….
‘The quality was truly… unbelievable.’
I didn’t know how to describe it. It was like watching a movie where I got to choose what the characters would do!
Even fans who didn’t like games would probably enjoy this.
Experiencing the ‘interactive movie’ genre properly for the first time, she nodded enthusiastically.
‘Thinking about it again, the outfits were so good… ah, this is truly the best.’
She waited for the epilogue to load, and only then did she finally decide to use the bathroom.
And it was just as she naturally reached for her smartphone.
-Please try playing the other album versions quickly, I’m telling you this out of loyalty, seriously
“…??”
-When I switched to Crazy Version 2, the prologue changed and a prisoner appears
-Wait, was this album having three versions actually a character choice? Phantom Thief, Prisoner, Guard?
What, what did you say?
-The main storyline is almost identical but the personal events are different, what the heck
“….”
Home Ma, flustered, forgot all about the bathroom and rushed toward the delivery box.
And she opened the second USB box.
She hastily pulled out the second USB album, pushing aside Cha Yu-jin’s photo card with his tongue slightly out.
She swallowed hard.
‘Should I, should I start with this one?’
Since Park Moon-dae was the prisoner, did she need to do this to see more of him? Home Ma spiraled into confusion.
Then her smartphone screen lit up again.
-Oh, if you don’t break the syringe, Park Moon-dae becomes the phantom thief version
-Insane, Park Moon-dae in phantom thief outfit, are you crazy, his thighs! His thighs!
“…?!”
What… what is that supposed to mean…?
Thus began the start of Testa’s album plot hole rabbit hole.

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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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