Debut or Die - Chapter 476

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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 476
Six years into our debut, a member had deserted without warning.
Blood-chilling circumstances.
The moment the elevator carrying STier’s Cha Yu-jin descended, I bolted down the stairwell—but I was already too late.
The relocated dormitory was high-rise; no matter how athletic one was, there was no catching an elevator’s speed.
And so… the company was turned upside down in the dead of night.
-…What?
Starting with the Manager and Team Leader, who seemed utterly disbelieving, the news eventually reached the CEO’s ears, rousing nearly every sleeping employee and sending them to comb through Seoul like it was a crime scene.
We were no exception.
Ryu Chung-woo, his face rigid, had been sprinting between the security office and the dormitory ever since.
“They’ve checked the CCTV?”
“He was confirmed walking to the main gate, but after that it’s dark—looks like they missed him. Seems like he took a taxi, but…”
“…”
And to trace that taxi, we’d have to file a missing person report with the police.
Of course, doing that would be insane. Unless I wanted to expedite his appearance on tomorrow morning’s entertainment news headlines.
‘Damn it.’
I wanted to bite my own tongue.
I kept monitoring SNS in real-time for any witness accounts while racking my brain for places he might go.
‘Last time during the tour, I caught this bastard when he bolted too.’
If you know someone well enough, you can deduce their movements.
But…
“…”
The problem was, I didn’t know him well at all.
‘Because he’s STier’s Cha Yu-jin.’
Yeah.
I’ll admit it.
Before becoming Testa’s Park Moon-dae, Ryu Gun-woo had taken considerable interest in STier and kept tabs on them consistently.
That’s how I recognized him in the hospital room—this was that guy from STier back then.
‘But that doesn’t mean I know him as a person.’
Everything I knew about STier’s Cha Yu-jin came filtered through media.
Idol information, in other words.
There was no way I’d know his personal preferences, his favorite haunts.
And on top of that.
“…Well, I don’t think anyone else will say anything right now, so I’m bringing it up myself.”
Big Sae-jin spoke with a bitter smile, shaking his head.
“…We have a group schedule tomorrow evening, right?”
“…”
“An event.”
Right.
Tomorrow was our last major domestic group schedule for this promotional cycle.
The Summer Festival.
“We announced Eugene’s absence in advance, but if we stay up all night searching for him now and go all-in only to ruin the performance… I don’t think that’s the right call either.”
He was right.
The only alternative would be to cancel the event entirely, but….
‘…Can a headliner of Testa’s caliber really handle a same-day cancellation at an event this size?’
It was crude to say, but events had different reputations, which meant the fallout from cancellation varied accordingly.
‘And tomorrow’s event is….’
“Water Bomb.”
“….”
We were screwed. Damn it.
Cancel on the day itself and we’d face a media circus.
‘No excuse would hold water.’
The moment we cancelled, it would be guaranteed headline material.
And even if we didn’t cancel and pulled off the event successfully, if witnesses spotted Cha Yu-jin walking around perfectly fine outside while he’d skipped due to illness….
-Is Cha Yu-jin insane? This is going to make all the fans leave lolololol I’m already out
-This is why you shouldn’t cast foreigners in K-pop, these f***ers pull this every time
-Yeah yeah Eugene or whatever, dirty Korean money, stop supporting and go back to America
On top of everything, Cha Yu-jin already had a mark against him from the camera assault incident.
There was no getting around it—this meant total collapse. Unfiltered abuse and personal attacks from people who’d made up their minds would pour down like artillery fire.
‘…What do I do.’
The problem was I had no damn answer right now either.
All I could do was keep searching.
But by the time morning came, there was still no word of Cha Yu-jin….
“….”
Naturally, not a single person had gotten proper sleep. Half of them were still out chasing leads at the company.
I’d watched the dawn break in the living room with wide-open eyes, no different from them.
I rubbed my smartphone, lost in thought.
My head was spinning.
‘…If it comes to this.’
Maybe it would’ve been better if the album had just flopped.
At the time, I thought it was the best call, but if things go like this, what happens to Cha Yu-jin’s career?
How am I supposed to fix this?
“….”
My head was throbbing.
‘There’s too much to do.’
Even if I find STier Cha Yu-jin… I have no idea where to start or how to salvage this.
The company, public opinion, activities.
I don’t even know what to do with him for the next month.
‘I can only think of extreme measures.’
I pressed my eye sockets.
That was when it happened.
Tap.
A glass of cold water appeared on the table in front of me. An invitation to drink.
“….”
I picked it up and drank the water down. The one who’d set the glass sat across from me.
…It was Bae Sae-jin.
Perhaps thinking I’d left because of what he’d said, he didn’t look particularly well either.
Not well at all.
“Hyung, the day after tomorrow… no, there’s filming tomorrow too. I think you should rest for now.”
“I’m fine. I’ve done all-nighters before.”
Bae Sae-jin spoke bluntly, but soon lowered his head with a somewhat confused expression.
“I just… don’t understand why he’d go this far.”
“….”
“No matter what different experiences he’s had over the years… Cha Yu-jin is still Cha Yu-jin. I really thought… he was never the type to do something like this.”
Something like this.
In truth, even though Cha Yu-jin might seem like someone who does whatever he wants at first glance, he was someone who knew how to show consideration when others were genuinely struggling.
Rather, he was the kind of person who didn’t even make a show of that consideration—he just naturally let things slide.
‘Bae Sae-jin must have heard Cha Yu-jin, someone he saw that way, suddenly say something like it’s none of his business what happens to anyone.’
He must have been shocked.
Right. From a position of not knowing the full situation, there’s no way to gauge how much stress STier Cha Yu-jin was under in this environment.
He’d quit being an idol—it wasn’t like someone was asking him to try out a 30-day experience of sudden success. Of course he’d be frustrated.
‘I should have handled this more carefully.’
So focused on getting through these 30 days safely and returning Cha Yu-jin to normal, I’d failed to properly manage his mental state.
“….”
My head felt heavy.
As silence settled.
“Um.”
A quiet voice was heard.
“Is that really true?”
When I looked up, a pale-faced figure sat carefully on the sofa.
It was Kim Rae-bin.
“I don’t think… Cha Yu-jin left intentionally to put us in a difficult position.”
“…!”
Bae Sae-jin lifted his head.
“…I wish that were true too. But you heard him too. Testa said it’s none of his business.”
“B-but… saying it’s not his responsibility doesn’t necessarily mean he intends to deliberately interfere, I think.”
“Huh?”
“Did Cha Yu-jin perhaps say he would freely harm Testa’s career?”
“He didn’t say that exactly… but given the situation, if he doesn’t care, it’ll obviously turn out that way.”
“….”
Wait.
It feels like I’ve been struck across the head.
Probably in a good way.
“Hold on a moment.”
“…! Park Moon-dae?”
“Kim Rae-bin seems to be right.”
I picked up my smartphone with a clearer mind.
It was still quiet.
There wasn’t a single piece of news about Cha Yu-jin.
But if I flip that around… it means there’s not a single sighting report.
Does that make sense?
‘It’s been over five hours since Cha Yu-jin ran out.’
He doesn’t even own a car.
So no matter how lucky he is… is it even possible for an entertainer with Testa’s level of recognition to wander around outside without a single sighting being reported?
It’s impossible.
‘Unless he’s deliberately avoiding it.’
“Cha Yu-jin is moving right now in a way that deliberately avoids being spotted by people.”
“…!”
“If he really wanted to openly damage Testa, he would’ve gone to a club or something, but that’s not what’s happening.”
It means he’s still moving according to the habits of an idol who avoids people’s attention.
Whether he’s maintaining boundaries even in this situation, or what… I’m not sure.
Unconsciously, I recalled the things he’d said.
-But where I live after that is my choice. It’s my body, and I’ll do as I please. OK?
-Your consideration has a purpose. That’s not consideration—it’s control. Control.
“….”
‘Could it be… that he’s frightened?’
That’s when it happened.
Kim Rae-bin carefully raised his hand again.
“I’m not sure if I should say this, but….”
“Feel free to speak.”
“…! Yes.”
Kim Rae-bin answered with a serious expression.
“I believe we need to have a more genuine conversation with Cha Yu-jin.”
“…”
Bae Sae-jin murmured in a dejected voice.
“…It didn’t work.”
“Pardon? Ah, I think I was too broad in my word choice! What I mean is….”
Kim Rae-bin seemed to be carefully selecting his words, then rephrased.
“I believe that until now, we’ve been attempting persuasion rather than dialogue with Cha Yu-jin.”
“…!”
“It seems like it was a conversation aimed at persuasion. But since there’s no conversation without purpose, I suspect it was difficult for us to build trust with each other.”
“….”
“Why, why are you like that?”
“No.”
Probably both Bae Sae-jin and I were staring at Kim Rae-bin with something close to shock in our eyes.
It was a remarkably sharp analysis.
So much so that it was hard to believe he was someone dull when it came to interpersonal relations.
“…Ahem, your words seem right.”
“…! Yes. Since worrying about the members comes naturally, I think it was an inevitable flow.”
I looked at Kim Rae-bin.
‘This guy has really thought about this a lot.’
For someone who usually hides his true feelings and struggles to guess what others are thinking, it seemed he must have gone through several stages to reach such a conclusion.
‘So that’s why he’s been unusually quiet lately.’
Kim Rae-bin seemed confused about the situation itself, but he appeared confident in what he was saying.
“I’m not sure what that Cha Yu-jin is thinking either… but that’s why I want to know.”
“….”
I looked at him.
And I nodded.
“Yeah.”
“…!”
“I agree too.”
I’m curious about what he’s thinking as well.
Since we’ve already crossed the line anyway, wouldn’t it be better to just lay everything out and talk about it?
“Thank you!”
This is how it should be.
And.
“Anyway, to do that we need to find him first.”
“…Yes.”
I turned my smartphone screen back on.
Since I’d noticed that he seems to be moving around without drawing attention, the list of candidates does narrow down a bit.
Both the means of transportation and the destination.
‘Places an idol would go.’
Bae Sae-jin nodded at my words and spoke.
“Then… we could narrow it down within what we know.”
Especially focusing on information about Cha Yu-jin from when he participated in Ajusa.
So then, who would know that best?
“Did Cha Yu-jin have any places he used to go to back when he was a trainee?”
Kim Rae-bin.
He answered seriously with effort.
“He seemed to prefer places with a lot of people!”
“….”
That’s a bit difficult.
“…What if you provided more detailed descriptions?”
“An outdoor cafe with a nice view or a meat restaurant…. It seemed like a noisy, open space. Ah, I think I preferred outdoor locations to indoor ones!”
“Ah, that sounds like places that remind me of Cha Yu-jin’s hometown.”
So we narrowed down the possibilities.
And then, that thought occurred to me.
‘If he wanted to escape from here in the first place.’
There was a chance he’d gone far away.
“Did you ever go outside Seoul for fun during your trainee days?”
“Excluding my hometown… well, I did go to the beach once.”
“The beach?”
“It was Ganghwa Island.”
“…!”
In that moment, something clicked into place.
‘Cha Yu-jin lived near the beach in San Diego.’
When he’d deserted during the tour, we’d found him at a cafe near the beach.
…And.
-That guy came to Ganghwa Island during the variety show we filmed back in STier days.
Ganghwa Island’s beach.
It was STier’s first variety show filming location.
“…There.”
“Pardon?”
“Let’s search there.”
And two hours later.
“Cha Yu-jin!”
STier’s Cha Yu-jin was reunited with his friend.

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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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