Debut or Die - Chapter 468

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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 468
Seoul. Inside a quiet office.
“I’ll explain right away!”
“Yes. Thank you.”
Bae Sae-jin sat across the table, maintaining composure as best he could.
‘So it’s really happening.’
It had been quite some time since his last project meeting.
He had memories of working as an actor in that bizarre virtual world for several years, but despite how recent those experiences were, they felt oddly distant—like something from the distant past or a vivid dream.
Perhaps that’s why he felt so nervous, Bae Sae-jin thought, taking a short, measured breath.
Soon, the person he’d been waiting for appeared in a hurry.
“Sae-jin’s here!”
“…! Hello.”
The Director (Film Producer) holding documents—the one who had offered him the role.
And she had brought someone else with her.
“Director (Film Producer), Director.”
“Yeah~ Sae-jin’s grown so much.”
The Director with a bold impression smiled broadly and sat on the sofa.
‘So it was you…!’
When he was a child actor, this was the director of the project where he’d played a kidnapped child.
His track record… someone who succeeds at the box office roughly every other time.
‘…Good.’
This was worth taking a shot at.
Bae Sae-jin bowed respectfully and sat back down.
“The kid’s really exactly the same. That composed nature grew right along with him.”
“Right? He still has that exact same upright, proper feeling to him.”
‘Hmm.’
Not quite that much.
Bae Sae-jin, who thought he’d actually strayed quite a bit(?) during this time, finally received the proposal in question.
Whoosh.
Documents slid across the table, and the project was explained lightly.
‘Contemporary mystery horror…’
Based on a webtoon, it unfolded in a slightly eerie and chilling 21st-century South Korean contemporary setting.
As Bae Sae-jin quickly skimmed through the content, a helpful explanation followed.
“It’s a Netplus original drama.”
“Ah.”
In that case, as long as the production studio wasn’t involved, it was capital completely separate from T1.
Then…
‘I can do this properly.’
If it’s a drama rather than a film, the shooting period would be longer, but then wouldn’t it work out fine if he promoted the next album?
It was at that moment when Bae Sae-jin was thinking hard.
“But actually… I’ve already shot quite a lot of material?”
“…!”
Wait a moment.
“…You’re casting me right now?”
Could this be a seasonal series?
Maybe he’d appear in Season 2….
“Actually, we had this Rookie Actor who showed promise, so we tried using him… but that crazy bastard went and shot some video that made headlines. Some regional controversy or something!”
“…Hmm.”
“Our Sae-jin’s been debuting for almost 20 years and he’s spotless, right? But where does some Rookie Actor get off being so careless!”
The Director was about to foam at the mouth, ranting about how kids these days only had YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok in their heads.
The Film Producer hastily offered a sugar-bomb coffee and deftly steered the conversation elsewhere.
“Anyway, so we had to cut out a bunch of footage… which left a gap in the schedule, and it just happened to open up right when Sae-jin reached out? We finally got to work together again after all this time?”
“Ah… thank you so much.”
“Don’t mention it. It’s just one of those fateful connections, you know!”
“Really, it worked out perfectly~ Thanks to you, our wonderful Film Producer~”
“Oh, it’s all because Sae-jin said yes~”
The Director and Film Producer chuckled together. And Bae Sae-jin’s senses sharpened.
“…So the role you’re offering me is the one that Rookie Actor was supposed to play?”
“…! Ah, but the screen time is definitely substantial!”
The explanation tumbled out urgently.
“We met with all sorts of people and held auditions left and right, but we just couldn’t find the right fit.”
So that Rookie Actor was what we miraculously found, and since there was no suitable replacement, we persuaded the investors to give him a shot.
“Netplus is pretty flexible about these things, but even they suggested we use someone with more recognition for such a great role!”
“And since that Rookie Actor had no publicity value anyway, the news didn’t even spread! There won’t be any talk about replacements or anything like that, I’m telling you?”
“Ah, yes.”
Bae Sae-jin nodded, but the Film Producer and Director watched his expression carefully, worried he might have taken offense at being treated as a ‘patch job’.
But that wasn’t what Bae Sae-jin was actually concerned about.
‘If the shooting period gets shorter, the release date will probably come faster than I expected.’
Being able to see the finished product sooner wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.
But at the same time, one thing slipped away.
‘The album promotion… will be awkward.’
Because Netplus releases all episodes of a drama season at once, or at most in two batches.
Since that requires securing editing time, the release would inevitably be pushed back slightly.
In other words, this drama would release around the tail end of the album promotion cycle.
‘…Maybe a month or two.’
If that was the case, it wouldn’t help the album promotion at all.
“….”
Bae Sae-jin managed his expression and asked himself.
Could he really not have known this?
His members, who understood idol activities far better than he did.
The fact that everyone agreed to bury a drama or film—work whose release date remained uncertain—under the guise of “album promotion”….
‘…was just them supporting me.’
Regardless of whether it helped the group or not, they were simply cheering on their member, Bae Sae-jin.
Bae Sae-jin steadied himself against the surge of emotion threatening to overwhelm him.
“…Well then, let me start by looking at the roles.”
“Yeah, yeah!”
“Wow, Sae-jin really talks exactly like when he was tiny.”
Bae Sae-jin pushed the documents aside and picked up what lay beneath them.
It was a freshly completed new script.
He flipped through it with fierce determination.
‘I’ll do well.’
Whatever role it was, however it needed to be done, I would master it.
That was my repayment for their support….
“….”
“How is it, Sae-jin?”
Repay, repayment.
“Idols usually start with safe supporting roles, but with your acting ability, you shouldn’t be treated the same way! Don’t you think?”
“….”
“If we establish a strong image of you as a psychopath character, wouldn’t that be really good for your acting career?”
“I…”
Bae Sae-jin began to break out in a cold sweat!

* * *
Meanwhile, Testa was planning a three-week album promotion campaign starting with their first public broadcast music show.
And the fans were beginning to sense a shift in the atmosphere.
-Wait, Testa’s not appearing on Noraebang? Didn’t they stamp their commitment to come back next time too?
-Wow, so sketchy. All those variety show accounts that were desperately trying to get close to them suddenly stopped mentioning them lol
-Their variety shows… SBC MBS… hmm…
And everyone reached a similar conclusion.
-T1 being T1
-Ah lol of course
-Wow, they’re really petty. Wasn’t blocking Music Bomb enough?
-They really seem desperate to kill Testa and steal their fans. Fine, I’m not watching you guys anymore
Faced with T1’s obviously malicious behavior, fans flooded social media with every curse word imaginable, and it became prime viral content.
[Testa Facing Economic Retaliation from Their Former Broadcasting Station]
[Did T1 Cut Ties with Testa?]
Articles carefully curated from fan reactions and Testa’s publicly released schedule, or shocking exposés, all conveyed the same message.
‘Testa is on T1’s blacklist! It’s not just a line drawn between them! They’ve completely split!’
From the moment Park Moon-dae saw the article about T1’s executives being detained, that situation he’d anticipated was now being shared among the public as rumor and gossip.
-Whoa…
-Insane lol
In truth, the group’s image could have been damaged.
An entertainer being ‘cut off’ by a platform. Doesn’t it feel like their buzz will fade, their appearances will decrease, and they’ll wither away?
But it didn’t go that far.
-T1 probably grinding their teeth looking at the album and music charts lol
-Testa living free lol
-Oh so they’re not T1’s slaves anymore
-Is this speculation? Maybe Testa just got tired and decided not to appear
Because Testa’s performance was excellent.
That’s right.
‘Grudges’ in the entertainment industry were defended against with numbers and buzz, and Park Moon-dae trusted that logic.
So he understood that no special defense was necessary in this situation.
-Tsk tsk, the conglomerate that was pushing them cuts ties… they won’t last long either
└That’s some pathetic attention-seeking
└Yo but Testa already broke 1.7 million in first-week sales and hit their career high, what do you think about that lol
└Lmaooooooo
└Wow getting cut off is such a win!
└Wait, did you mean the conglomerate cut ties with T1, so T1 won’t last long? (thinking emoji)
Because netizens found it more entertaining to be invested in Testa!
How satisfying was it! This feeling of quitting your job and becoming even more successful!
However, not every fan was thrilled seeing these reactions.
– Are they really doing this because they like our kids? They’re just… sexual predators… ㅠㅠ
-The reality right now is that the kids have lost half their broadcast appearances. I can’t imagine how much they must be worrying… ugh, it’s frustrating.
Going against a platform isn’t something to take lightly.
-I was wondering why the game was included in the album, but I guess that’s why… Since it doesn’t seem like it will be on TV much, I’m trying to fill it with content like this.
I’m crying so hard.
└Ah, this is really making me tear up. I need to go buy another copy.
And then, as the members’ individual appearance schedules began to be announced one after another, everyone came to understand the situation….
-Yeah, you guys are working hard…
-This is the first time I’ve seen Testa members doing this many individual appearances… though other teams do this kind of thing pretty often too
-I’m going to watch all of it! Fighting!
Moreover, the members even spoke about it openly on the W App.
[This time, we wanted to show ourselves in a variety of different schedules… We even filmed individual content.]
[That’s right.]
[We’re working this hard as a group! Everyone!]
They phrased it very gently and softly, but everyone could tell it absolutely wasn’t “We wanted to do individual activities this time.”
It meant they were filling the time slots where they couldn’t appear as a group.
-As expected
-Still, let’s enjoy what has become of this and how nice it would be to see the kids playing together again.
It was that timing when group fans were heartbroken while individual fans were celebrating their gains.
That’s when Bae Sae-jin’s article dropped.
[Testa’s Bae Sae-jin, ‘Ten-Million-View Child Actor’ Returns in Netplus’s Highly Anticipated 【Puppet Hunter】]
-????
Bae Sae-jin, who had no individual schedules—whether variety shows or events—finally announced a schedule.
-Insane
I guess it’s about time I got back to acting lol
-I’m so excited, what do I do bbb
-Hmm, I’ve been waiting for this work to be adapted into a drama for a while now. How’s Bae Sae-jin’s acting?
└Incredible
└He’s an actor to begin with
Public reaction was favorable. After all, he was a good-looking entertainer with no acting ability controversies.
And thanks to all the groundwork laid until now, even Testa fans were relatively calm about it.
-Yeah, Sae-jin… he’s better at acting than variety shows anyway
Ugh, I did want to see our hamster go on a variety show alone and act all nervous and fidgety lol
-ㅠㅠㅠCheering to all testers!
Still, acting was a “proper” individual activity.
There would definitely be malicious fans waiting with their eyes peeled, ready to pounce at the slightest hint of a flaw in Bae Sae-jin’s group activities.
“Sae-jin, even if you’re a little tired today, make sure you’re present here.”
“Got it.”
So Testa was even more careful to look out for each other during live performances and schedules, diligently carrying out their activities.
However, one member had something else weighing on their mind.
‘It’s about time, isn’t it.’
It was Park Moon-dae.
Since Testa’s debut anniversary was just days away, late June was already approaching.
And with it, the summer weather had drawn noticeably closer.
And the reason was that he possessed peculiar information related to “this summer.”
As expected.
One day while repeatedly checking.
[T-Holic Junior Group Incoming… Wonderhole, “New Boy Group 【Iter】 Launches”]
The article appeared.
‘As I thought.’
Park Moon-dae immediately pulled up his status window to verify.
The “hint” he had drawn.
[Wonderhole’s Rookie (B)]
-202X year. This summer, Wonderhole will finally debut a new male idol group.
A massive project with 20 billion invested over three years, and the new team’s bold planning is garnering expectations within the company.
The hint was accurate.
‘Definitely worth using.’
And there was one more thing to note. This hint had a high rank—golden ‘B’ grade.
While more specific hints do tend to have higher ranks, that wasn’t the only factor.
It must be because it was that useful.
So Park Moon-dae thought.
‘This rookie group seems like it’ll do quite well.’
Even the online community comments had decent momentum right away.
Of course, the reason was the prestige of Wonderhole and T-Holic.
-Finally a T-Holic junior group
-Wonderhole has always picked visuals with good impressions from Silken Tofu to Quick Guy, so please let it be like that this time
-Really curious if they can become as mainstream popular as T-Holic
└The market’s changed since then, so it’ll be tough?
└Still, since it’s Wonderhole, it feels like it might work lol
The demand for T-Holic’s casual, comfortable, cool concept—like cool classmates or seniors—still remained.
No matter how much Testa became a mainstream idol known for individual names, that was built through variety shows and songs, not through concept.
Park Moon-dae made a cold judgment.
‘I should keep monitoring their movements steadily.’
But the next week.
When their debut teaser was released.
-???????
-Insane
-This is a T-Holic junior group…?
I can’t even imagine lol
Even Park Moon-dae hadn’t imagined this reaction would come.
“…!”
The nation’s idol, T-Holic’s Junior Member, had chosen an entirely conceptual direction.
Just like Testa.

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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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