Debut or Die - Chapter 469

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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 469
“These guys?”
“Yeah.”
Big Sae-jin, having finished his personal schedule, checked the smartphone link.
For reference, the guy who had deliberated over various individual gigs ranging from performance competitions to exploration variety shows had made quite an unexpected choice.
[Hope Game – Choice and Reversal]
It was a death game survival reality show.
This program, produced by YouTube under a public broadcast network, wasn’t particularly mainstream, but it had a solid fanbase and good internet buzz.
-And they use dice as a symbol here too~ Since our album is ‘Roll the Dice’, I thought it’d be perfect for some subtle promotion?
-I figured if I performed well, they’d probably use our game footage in the edited videos.
And true to his nature—someone with excellent social skills and a sharp mind—he was already managing his image by staying likable like a seasoning ingredient, then shining brilliantly at a few critical moments.
His character image actually became clearer through this than through more conventional variety shows.
They film two episodes at a time, and apparently he’s still surviving through episode six, which they’re currently filming.
‘After all, he’s experienced in survival shows anyway.’
He’d be handling everything without ever forgetting the cameras are rolling.
In any case, this meant that someone who would expend considerable mental energy had grasped this situation sharply the moment he joined.
“T-Holic sunbae’s junior… hmm, Wonderhole Entertainment.”
The group name was ĭter.
Their teaser video had just been released.
I turned my gaze back to the smartphone playing the video.
“….”
A hazy-toned background.
A slightly muted sepia filter and the sensibility of a film camera.
Grassland and a smile, a soft color palette and a view with understated highlights unfolded.
And boys.
They ran, leaping across countless spaces.
A dilapidated school rooftop, a bus stop, a junkyard, a bridge glittering with night scenery, a sports field carpeted with grass….
Props from bygone landscapes appeared or were arranged in midair as if clinging to the scene—it was dreamlike.
And though it seemed desolate without people, with a clean filter applied, it reached a hazy intersection road.
After a few sensual dance cuts passed in time with dreamy, refreshing music.
Only the song’s voice rang out in the silence.
[Leap over the line of time
That I haven’t yet seen
To you]
A boy standing atop a traffic light pushed off as if soaring toward the still-dimly-lit dawn sky.
A white hand blocked the sky as sunlight sparkled brilliantly.
[Show the way
– ĭter]
White subtitles silently appeared on the screen and it ended.
“….”
Big Sae-jin silently verified everything. Then he checked the view count.
In the millions.
“Hmm.”
He scrunched his eyebrows and laughed.
“Should we hear from the expert first?”
“So, what’s our Rae-bin’s take on it?”
“There are some interesting elements in the code and instrumentation, but….”
Not long after, the ‘expert’ among Testa’s full roster began offering commentary on the teaser.
Kim Rae-bin.
He was appearing solo on a program that gives songs to overlooked artists getting a second look.
Of course, the composer’s identity isn’t revealed at first. The singers who made it through auditions listen to the given songs for only thirty seconds before competing to select and evaluate them.
Then… only after the song becomes theirs can they see the composer’s identity and hear the full track.
-MC: Track number five, ‘Melody’—the composer White Rabbit’s true identity is… Testa’s Kim Rae-bin!
-Kim Rae-bin: I look forward to working with you all going forward….
-Participant: Kyaaaaaaah!! Ah!!
-Participant: Thank you so much!
-Kim Rae-bin: …??
Despite being in a position where he could truly enjoy Testa’s reputation, he didn’t enjoy it one bit. Only the viewers were enjoying themselves.
Anyway, after savoring the entire teaser, he delivered this assessment.
“It seems your standards for melody progression and auxiliary instrument selection are quite similar to mine! I’d love to ask how you came to choose this approach.”
“….”
Bae Sae-jin, who had been quietly holding back, finally couldn’t take it anymore.
“You copied it!”
“Pardon?!”
That’s right.
I rubbed my chin.
“I analyzed your song and used it as a reference.”
“…!”
“From what I hear, it seems like they referenced the ‘Magic Boy’ or ‘Wheel’ style.”
The guy himself, being the one involved, would surely have identified far more similar tracks scattered throughout his mind.
Sun Ah-hyun blinked, looking bewildered.
“Oh right, now that you mention it, this teaser image too….”
“Yeah. It has a similar feel to our debut teaser.”
But it wasn’t like they’d only referenced the ‘Magic Boy’ teaser.
For instance, this teaser’s pacing, editing, and composition were more similar to ‘Procession’.
The color palette came from ‘Airplane’, the props from ‘Picnic’.
In that way, they’d taken various elements to their liking from Testa’s past activities, then mixed them well with other appealing elements and restructured them.
‘Like a puzzle.’
“…! Did they seriously create a universe or something too?”
“I’d imagine they naturally would have.”
These days, it would be harder to find a boy group in the K-pop industry without a worldview.
I immediately searched and found a summary.
-Psychic boys who travel between past and future in virtual reality.
Guides to eternal dreams.
Wandering through their own youth, they set out to find the light.
Show the way –
ĭter
‘I see.’
Time travel, superpowers, dreams—everything.
Bae Sae-jin’s hands trembled.
“…This is way too similar to our previous concept…!”
“To be precise, only the keywords are similar.”
I assessed it coldly.
“And even those keywords don’t completely overlap.”
They twisted time travel into virtual reality and magic into superpowers—subtly distorted.
‘More modern tech-oriented, then.’
That would be easier to weave into current platforms.
“Besides, they’ve clearly established their own identity.”
“Where?”
“Here.”
I pointed to the group name.
–
ĭter
“It means ‘path’ in Latin. They anchored their group concept as ‘guide’ and attached a unique image to it.”
“….”
Maybe I should have anticipated something this conceptual the moment I heard the group name was ĭter.
In any case, Bae Sae-jin muttered with a somewhat deflated tone.
“So… they didn’t copy us?”
“They did copy, but it’s benchmarking.”
Strictly speaking, it wasn’t plagiarism.
“They researched the best-selling product on the market right now and created their own version of it.”
“….”
Bae Sae-jin sat down with a dissatisfied expression.
‘I understand.’
I wasn’t feeling great about it either.
Looking at it, they’d pieced together various references and mixed in this agency’s unique points, so it definitely wasn’t plagiarism.
But… it was also true that this group wouldn’t have existed without Testa.
‘Hmm.’
And it seemed everyone felt the same way.
Bae Sae-jin eventually muttered with a slightly bitter expression.
“We’re not the only ones who have to do this concept… but still, it feels like we’ve been the only ones doing something like this so far.”
“….”
Big Sae-jin paused for a moment, then opened his mouth with a somewhat reluctant smile.
“Well~ actually, there were quite a few groups like that before?”
“Huh, huh??”
Bae Sae-jin was flustered.
But it was an undeniable fact.
‘It’s usually the latecomers who push out what’s selling well in the market right now.’
How many groups had attempted to benchmark Testa’s conceptual aesthetic over the past few years?
There was just one decisive difference.
“But they just didn’t get that kind of explosive reaction, so hyung probably overlooked them.”
“….”
“This kind of concept is actually hard to pull off impressively.”
That was right.
Planning capability and capital.
Trying to copy and churn out a conceptual image like this in a short timeframe with limited budget and manpower was a surefire way to lose money.
“Then these guys….”
I answered.
“20 billion won over three years.”
“…!!”
“They even established a new project planning team to oversee it, so a lot of manpower must have been invested.”
Information I’d gleaned from the hint.
So… planning, capital, manpower.
They had prepared with all three elements in place.
Over three years, no less.
“….”
A brief silence fell.
Ryu Chung-woo, who had been listening quietly, spoke up.
“Then… they must have prepared properly.”
And shortly after, their title track was released.

* * *
[Ready and shut, go!]
Intense mumba-ton music accompanied laser light slicing across the screen.
Dazzling CG effects erupting, coding screens flashing past, and superpower boys in goggles launching a boss raid!
And then, with ferocious intensity, a dance break section that seemed to embody some colossal beast.
“Wow.”
Cha Yu-jin chewed popcorn with a disinterested expression.
“What do you think?”
“The typical nerdy things. Seriously, did K-pop suddenly spawn some kind of academy or something?”
Cha Yu-jin settled coolly onto the sofa, remarking that video game enthusiasts would go wild over this. He seemed to have forgotten that he’d actually created a game in his previous album.
“You did it too.”
“I’m cool. I do everything well. But those kids didn’t have that immersion factor, you know?”
Hmm.
I rewound the music video.
‘Their visual stats look decent enough.’
And the camera work was flashy too—close-ups and dynamic angles alternated smoothly, making it feel like cuts from an action game.
I couldn’t quite grasp what Cha Yu-jin meant, but at least it didn’t look awkward.
As a result, the comments were already flooded with hardcore K-pop fans.
-The silver-haired boy has flawless skin
-They’re literally perfect five stars! I’m looking forward to their music broadcast stage 😀
-I think ĭter is going to be one of the biggest K-pop groups
But after monitoring on TV, Testa delivered a cold assessment.
“This reminds me of ‘Better Me’ or ‘Drill’ again.”
“Yes, yes. The dance break is in the same style we did back then.”
Well, even just watching it, the sections are similar enough.
The motorcycle prop composition and costumes evoke ‘Drill’, and that battle choreography, the atmosphere of the realized closed facility—it all brings ‘Better Me’ to mind.
Of course, since the base concept is different, I didn’t think the general public would immediately make the connection.
‘Still, at this level, anyone who knows will have figured it out by now.’
Even though we’re the ones who created the album, self-producing it all the way, so we naturally feel it more acutely, there’s no way we’re the only ones who noticed this.
“Is this… something the fans are talking about too?”
“….”
“Park Moon-dae, just speak freely.”
I glanced briefly at my smartphone.
“Yeah, they are.”
“…!”
It’s already showing up in the top English comments right now.
-Am I the only one who sees this as just another Testa copycat? 🙁
“…I knew it!”
“But that’s not exactly something I’d call a good thing.”
“Hmm.”
Bae Sae-jin looked ready to cry out ‘why’ at any moment, but seemed to have restrained himself through years of accumulated trust.
And Sun Ah-hyun muttered somewhat cautiously.
“…Ah, well, we can’t really call it plagiarism, can we?”
“That’s right.”
It could actually become a subject of mockery instead.
Like this.
-Did Testa monopolize the refreshing dreamy concept?
-They’re probably just jealous ’cause the quality’s good lolol We’re the only ones who should be doing this stuff!
-Lol magical boy was years ago, when are you talking about? Plus ĭter doesn’t even wear school uniforms lol
-If you’re gonna cut up every single Testa music video and compare it frame by frame like this, then all idols are plagiarists, seriously
The discourse clashed.
It had become something worth fighting over.
‘This isn’t good.’
Even if public opinion was swayed once by this ambiguous proof into ‘they copied, they’re copycats,’ it could be flipped back anytime.
‘As long as the other side gains popularity!’
I immediately logged into the entertainment gossip board and skimmed through the trending posts.
[This is ĭter’s visual member apparently]
[Wonderhole’s new rookie T-Holic, but reminds me of Testa]
[Have you heard ĭter’s debut song?]
[Wonderhole male idol rookie seems to be small and medium ㅠㅠ]
Posts fiercely insulting the rookie, praising their visuals, and evaluating or mocking the song were all rising as trending posts in succession.
“….”
Damn it, I’ve been played.
“Hyung, your expression doesn’t look good.”
“….”
Ryu Chung-woo spoke to me soothingly.
“Is it because of the backlash you mentioned? That’s why, right?”
“…It doesn’t even need to go that far.”
I rubbed my shoulders.
“They’re becoming a hot topic. This group.”
“…!”
“This kind of controversy is the type that can be buried once time passes and fans attach themselves to it. If the song’s good and the choreography’s good, it’s always better to get one more click.”
“So that’s what’s happening.”
Exactly.
So this is just… their buzz volume has increased dramatically.
Viral marketing.
‘Damn it.’
At the same time, I had a hunch.
“They definitely timed this release on purpose.”
“Timed what?”
“….”
I lifted my head. Big Sae-jin, whose eyes met mine, offered a bitter smile and opened his mouth.
“When we were on the worst terms with T1… right?”
“….”
“When we were making such a fuss about independence, there’s no way industry people wouldn’t have heard those rumors. If they’d heard back then… it would’ve been almost guaranteed, right?”
He was right.
“…Yeah.”
“…!”
The expressions of the members who understood his meaning shifted.
“So, we…, when we were on bad terms with T1, we were trying to debut….”
“Exactly.”
It was Testa’s weakest moment.
When they were being coldly abandoned by the Broadcasting Station subsidiary that had held them so firmly, when distance from the public naturally grew and exposure frequency dropped. When it became difficult to respond to rising stars climbing their way up.
When it became difficult to respond to rising stars climbing their way up.
“Right now we can’t do any schedules related to T1. Whether it’s broadcast or YouTube.”
But.
If they were rookies from Wonderhole, a major entertainment agency that had already nurtured T-Holic, who was close with every broadcasting company.
“But these guys can go anywhere.”
An unfair game had begun.

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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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