Debut or Die - Chapter 480

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

A Fatal Illness if I Don’t Debut – Episode 480
Testa at Water Bomb had flooded social media like a madness.
-Damn it Ryu Chung-woo showed up!!
-Water Bomb was insane; my phone screen is cracked right now
-What do I do what do I do
Hahahahaha everyone’s lost their minds
Impressions, videos, and photos poured out in real-time streams.
Heat and energy.
Every expression was punctuated with exclamation marks, overflowing with vitality and dynamism. And a frenzy bordering on madness swept through it all.
And without question, the MVP was….
-That madman (video)
Cha Yu-jin.
Cha Yu-jin had burst onto the stage midway through, tearing across it like he was devouring the very air, and his image was captured from every conceivable angle on phone cameras and uploaded across the Internet in waves.
Countless eye-contact photos and videos continued to pour in even now.
In this brief span of time, how many dozens or hundreds of people had he captured? There seemed to be hundreds of posts alone of people frantically claiming they’d made eye contact with Cha Yu-jin.
-I can’t hear anything but Cha Yu-jin? Every time he comes out I just scream Cha Yu-jin
-ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ (Photo)
-Did he always look like this Cha Yu-jin? (video)
A midsummer night.
Cha Yu-jin, backlit by blazing lights that pierced the eyes like the sun itself, seemed to swallow all gazes into him.
-Wow damn
-It hurts
-He’s flying around so much;;;
-I guess you’re crazy. Oh please, you son of a bitch, I sold the tickets because I thought you wouldn’t show up.
Naturally, among Cha Yu-jin’s personal fanbase, the wails of anguish were considerable.
Just days ago, an announcement had gone out that Cha Yu-jin would be absent from schedules due to health reasons. It had become common knowledge that he would likely not attend Water Bomb either.
But on the day itself.
-????
-What is this
Without a word, he suddenly appeared midway through, rushing madly toward the stage and the audience, leaving everyone dumbfounded.
And soon they were screaming.
But such complaints born from individual losses were hardly noticeable….
-Cha Yu-jin wow crazy
The sentiment was far too overwhelming.
Cha Yu-jin’s eyes at Water Bomb shone through even the low-quality footage trembling with water droplets and moisture.
Expression, movement, impact.
-It’s legendary
-I thought he’d suit Water Bomb but not to this extent…
-He’s not sick, what kind of training did he go through
Of course, if one examined each detail meticulously, one might have noticed something amiss somewhere.
How Testa had deliberately allocated fewer group dance parts, how they’d intentionally increased sections where members filled in with ad-libs rather than hitting their usual synchronized beats.
How Cha Yu-jin’s vocal delivery seemed somewhat less stable than usual.
Yet the audience hadn’t been left with enough mental breathing room to even notice such details.
The ability stat that reached its absolute peak at festival-type events like this.
Because of the existence of a charisma stat honed to its limits.
That alone captured every eye.
-Cha Yu-jin got 3 seconds in the crazy in-heart clip and already hit 50k views in 10 minutes;
Just uploading short clips with hashtags on SNS caused the view counts to pour in.
-Ugh I’m dying, I should’ve gone
-Does Water Bomb sell VOD or something? Please
The audience in the video seemed to be going absolutely insane, matching the frenzy of the internet people’s reactions.
And it was actually happening.
At the Water Bomb venue.
Waaahhhhh!!
The stage charges forward with wild abandon.
[In the pose!]
The third stage was their latest hit, ‘Pose’—an upbeat American 80s high-teen concept song.
Originally a track centered on playful, energetic boyish charm, it unfolded with a more relaxed and hot vibe tailored for Water Bomb.
Though he hadn’t commented on it, STier Cha Yu-jin actually quite liked this song.
So he tried not to overthink it.
He executed the choreography he’d learned and let loose.
“Phew.”
And finally, the break between songs arrived.
[Did you enjoy yourselves~]
He barely heard the MC’s voice.
‘…Wow.’
As he caught his breath and swept his hair back, he saw a steady hand offering him a water bottle.
It was leader Ryu Chung-woo.
“….”
STier Cha Yu-jin almost got confused for a moment. It was the adrenaline.
But he quickly came back to his senses.
‘It’s fine.’
“Thanks.”
He drank half in one gulp and poured the other half over his head with a grin. Screams erupted from the audience seating again.
And then Lee Sae-jin’s cheerful voice.
[That’s right, Cha Yu-jin appeared as a special guest for us~ Everyone, isn’t this amazing?!]
Yesssss!!
Yeah!!
A cacophony of affirmations, exclamations, and expletive-laced screams filled the air.
The crowd, the crowd!
‘Oh, damn it.’
It was embarrassing to use such language, but Cha Yu-jin felt a tingling sensation that seemed to make every hair on his head stand on end.
Was it because such a reaction had been absent for far too long?
Park Moon-dae, who was wringing out his jacket beside him only to be drenched again by the water cannon, also noticed the shift in Cha Yu-jin’s expression.
‘He was momentarily overwhelmed.’
He understood the precise reason.
It was simply that STier had been given an environment like this far too long ago.
Unlike Testa.
‘…Testa is the headliner of this performance.’
Which meant the audience here had already come prepared to give their attention to them.
‘….’
That was an element Cha Yu-jin of STier had never possessed despite all his activities.
STier was already a group that had ‘cooled off.’
The public, having consumed such material until it lost its flavor, would not regain interest until the ‘cooldown’ period passed again.
They would not pay attention.
How terrifying were human psychology and preconception.
That very characteristic had prevented them from even watching this Cha Yu-jin’s stage.
‘But.’
That miraculous moment when public attention returned.
Waiting for only that single instant, STier’s Cha Yu-jin—ground down to the very last—now displayed a presence so violently immense that it commanded an almost overwhelming pull.
At the very least, Park Moon-dae understood this, and so he smiled for multiple reasons.
‘Yes. Discharge….’
Until the water cannon drenched his entire body once more.
“Take it off!!”
“…Yes.”
Woooow!!!
Park Moon-dae unhesitatingly abandoned his jacket to the water cannon again. Unexpected cheers erupted regardless of the program’s flow.
[So here comes our encore song~]
And slowing the tempo slightly, the final song brought out the atmosphere of a summer night.
A song so universally appealing that everyone could sing along.
The OST from a Limestone film.
[Black- hole
Let me swallow it]
Black Hole.
A deep timbre resonated through the ears.
What sounded like a chorus was the voice of the audience.
Oooooh-
Some excited audience members turned on their smartphone flashlights and waved them to match the mood.
Cha Yu-jin moved his body while listening to that unfamiliar yet beautiful song, which he had practiced for only a few hours.
The cheers deepened once more.
He gazed out at the audience through the surging adrenaline, listening to the music.
Deep, rich, and distinctly layered.
And within it, he found a trace he recognized.
A guitar riff.
He remembered the hesitant, quiet voice of his friend as he’d played it, speaking of his uncertainty.
-I hope I can use it in the next album… or if that’s impossible, someday, if I could just write it…
‘Kim Rae-bin made this.’
Here, it seemed he had transformed it into a song exactly as he’d wanted.
But that appreciation was fleeting. There was no time to dwell on such thoughts.
This stage—it had been far too long, and it was far too vast.
And there were people whose eyes continued to follow him.
As if entranced.
“Cha Yu-jin!”
“Eugene!”
Were these people fans of ‘Testa’s Cha Yu-jin’?
Or was this purely a reaction to my performance?
I couldn’t tell.
But in this moment…
[Black-hole!]
Because it was I who stood upon the stage.
Cha Yu-jin could fully absorb that stimulation.
Moving my body, expressing myself, consuming the song.
And those watching respond!
That electric thrill.
And then I understood.
‘Ah.’
So that’s why.
[Hit it like a comet]
To cleanly abandon it and find another path.
The reason I couldn’t uphold that simple principle.
The reason I couldn’t let go.
‘It’s fun.’
[Shatter like a shooting star]
I damned well loved this.

* * *
The bed was comfortable.
And the posts catching my eye were equally comfortable to read.
-Please come out for Water Bomb just one more time…please
“Hmm.”
I scrolled through the smartphone page with satisfaction.
Half a day after Water Bomb ended.
The Water Bomb-related posts still dominating real-time trends were all about Testa.
‘It was quite a challenging route—from safety to exposure.’
Even accounting for the risks, the buzz generated from pushing through such a bold choice was worth it.
-Please, could you come to Incheon? I’ll really do my best, I’ll bring a water gun with your signature move, please
-ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠA fancam of Ahyun’s shirt being torn… It’s finally here.
-How did all three of the jacket trio end up losing their jackets (video)
-Lee Sae-jin is totally a fox… did you see how she played hard to get with her top off? If you don’t stan after watching this, you don’t like men
Even humorous posts like this were trending.
=========================
[An idol gave you a gift but you don’t know if it was meant for your boyfriend or you]
(Screenshot) (Link)
A couple who received a jacket from Kim Rae-bin at Water Bomb are arguing without any compromise about who received it
Kim Rae-bin’s verdict is urgently needed lol
==========================
That’s crazy lolololol
The guy claims it’s his because of the size, and the girl says she made eye contact first—both have their own convincing arguments lol
-Ravin, please show up quickly before the Solomon verdict is announced haha.
Lol half jacket
For reference, when asked about it directly, here’s what he said.
-Pardon? Ah! The lady seemed to be feeling cold, so I offered her my jacket, but….
I knew it.
Anyway, so the conclusion is….
‘What else would it be?’
A massive success.
I let out a quiet laugh.
This automatically meant one more thing was being overshadowed.
‘But ĭter in all this?’
The first-tier idols at Water Bomb monopolized all the buzz—there’s no way a rookie from Summer Pool would get mentioned.
They just did some pointless gig for cheap.
Or rather….
-Seems like they don’t have much charm after all
-Doesn’t it feel oddly solemn?
If you sort the comments on the YouTube fancam by latest and search for Korean ones, you can actually find reactions like these scattered throughout.
In short, they’d built up such a tight concept for marketing that appearing at this raw, water-spraying kind of event exposed their weaknesses.
Lack of experience.
Lack of live adaptability.
‘Hmm.’
I rubbed my chin.
If I played this right… I could turn it around in my favor.
‘It’s a bit irritating, honestly.’
No matter how I looked at it, trying to reverse-viral Cha Yu-jin seemed excessive.
‘Can you really call that strategy?’
But if they insisted on thinking of it as strategy themselves.
I smiled and pushed myself up from the bed.
‘An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth—I could do the same thing….’
“Lie down, Park Moon-dae.”
“….”
Damn it.
I leaned back against the headboard. Lee Sae-jin sat at the edge of the bed with a grinning face.
“Wow~ the moment the schedule ends, body aches! A fever of 38 degrees!”
“….”
“See, Moon-dae, you always finish the schedule and then get sick!”
Stop it.
“But that means you’re going to rest now, right? Hm?”
“Yeah.”
Though the body can rest while the mind keeps working, can’t it?
And I’m not the only one laid up like this.
If you listen carefully.
“Ugh.”
“Sigh….”
That’s Kim Rae-bin and Bae Sae-jin groaning in their respective rooms.
Right. Only the guys in bad condition at Water Bomb had worn jackets.
‘All of them had the most movement during the Cha Yu-jin incident.’
But since they all got their jackets stripped and ended up running around half-naked anyway, you could say it was a predictable outcome. Once the tension eased, my body felt heavy from dawn onwards.
I nodded, then arrived at a fairly credible deduction.
But even if we had a lot of movement, the others must have had their share too, right?
‘Stayed up all night, ran around the company, dealt with stress for days.’
And then getting hit with mysterious water jets across the entire body while performing….
“You’re probably not feeling great either. Right?”
“….”
This bastard’s avoiding eye contact.
“Go lie down.”
“Yes, sir.”
And two hours later.
Soon, everyone began to suffer from body aches in a stable manner.
“…What?”
In other words, everyone except STier Cha Yu-jin.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————