Debut or Die - Chapter 486

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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 486
After absorbing all the information from the ‘Profile’ folder allocated to me.
I opened my room door and stepped out into the dimly lit Testa’s Former Dormitory.
‘The door had been locked.’
I felt slight resistance against my hand. I gripped the doorknob with a bit of force, then pushed it open smoothly.
Creak.
“W-who is it?”
“It’s me.”
“Park Moon-dae!”
Several people were already in the Living Room, and they brightened at the sight of me.
Despite the darkness, I could make out their builds and faces.
Kim Rae-bin and Bae Sae-jin.
It looked like the two of them had been huddled together on the floor rather than the sofa, and they scrambled to their feet.
Hmm.
“Did everyone wake up in their own rooms?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
Kim Rae-bin nodded, saying he’d come out first. And Bae Sae-jin cut straight to the point.
“How did you pull this off? It’s exactly the same as our old dormitory!”
He wasn’t simply talking about the layout.
Since we’d reverse-acquired our former company T1 Stars, I’d heard that the lease contract for the old dormitory was still in effect.
‘We could definitely use that dormitory for the reality show filming right now.’
But that wouldn’t be what shocked him.
I shifted my gaze and checked the plaster air freshener in front of the dark Television.
Shaped like a flower crown.
It was remarkably similar to the one Sun Ah-hyun had displayed in the old dormitory and brought to the current one.
“Right. The items are almost identical.”
In other words, they’d recreated the props from when Testa lived here almost perfectly.
And that’s not all.
“But it feels rather desolate because the lights aren’t on….”
“…Yeah.”
The light switches weren’t working. Only a few in the Corridor and the indirect lighting at the ceiling’s edge were functional.
“….”
This was an environment that would unsettle anyone with a vivid imagination.
An eerie atmosphere, as if something could happen at any moment.
‘Hmm.’
Now that I thought about it, I didn’t see the faces of those who were particularly strong in situations like this.
People like Ryu Chung-woo or Sun Ah-hyun.
‘…! Wait.’
I examined the others’ faces again, then asked.
“Did you happen to have no roommates in your rooms?”
“Ah.”
The others seemed to catch on to something as well.
“Now that I think about it, we were all alone in our rooms, weren’t we?”
“Yes! At least, that’s the case for me.”
That’s right.
All three of us use different rooms.
Kim Rae-bin with Sun Ah-hyun.
Bae Sae-jin with Cha Yu-jin.
Me with Ryu Chung-woo.
In other words, none of us have a roommate.
‘If that’s the case… are they selecting one person from each room?’
Then I could make this assumption.
In a manner of speaking, the three of us have become the ‘Dormitory Team.’
Of course, since this is a group reality show, we won’t keep filming just among ourselves, and eventually the others will be contacted one way or another.
But if they divided us into teams like that, one room would be left empty.
‘A solo room.’
Realizing the same thing, Bae Sae-jin clenched his fists.
“Ah, that’s right! Then let’s look for Lee Sae-jin—she’s the only one in the solo room…!”
“Yes.”
But when we cautiously approached and touched the solo room door, it was locked.
“….”
Not a single sound could be heard from the dark dormitory….
“…Is she inside but staying quiet on purpose to surprise us?”
“That’s possible.”
He really does know entertainment.
But Big Sae-jin never suddenly burst out of the room.
For at least three minutes or more, there was nothing but silence.
“….”
“….”
At this point, we’d have an audio problem, they say.
Someone who times comedic moments this perfectly wouldn’t stay holed up in their room this long and miss the main story.
I had to assume the door simply couldn’t be opened right now.
“It doesn’t seem like she’s here.”
“Or maybe she’s here but doesn’t want to come out?”
That, I couldn’t say.
“Hmm.”
Bae Sae-jin and I felt an odd sensation as we stared at the firmly closed solo room door.
That’s when it happened.
“Um, there’s something under here.”
“…!”
Kim Rae-bin bent at the waist and picked up something jutting halfway out from beneath the door.
It was a white piece of paper with writing on it.
‘Instructions?’
There was only a single sentence.
-I open from the end.
It was laden with meaning.
“Sounds like an escape room hint.”
“Right?”
We stared at the paper with serious expressions.
At the far end of the corridor where even the indirect lighting barely reached, cool air—whether from the air conditioning or something else—brushed the back of my neck.
‘They’ve really set the mood.’
They could at least give us a flashlight or something.
The atmosphere was so eerie that it wouldn’t have been surprising if a zombie suddenly burst out and the whole thing transformed into a full-fledged survival scenario.
‘It’s possible.’
I nodded to myself.
Of course, before that, I should proceed with the segment the Production Team had instructed us on.
-We’d appreciate it if you could introduce yourselves for the viewers in the edited version.
“Should we sit down for a moment and tell you about ourselves?”
“Sure.”
This was the self-introduction segment.

* * *
“First of all, I’m a ‘doctor.'”
“Oh.”
“That’s such a fitting job for you, hyung!”
Kim Rae-bin marveled as if someone had handpicked it for me.
‘No, we all drew lots together before being deployed here.’
I was certain we’d distributed the dossiers based on that draw. We might have even divided into teams that way.
But I decided to save that as behind-the-scenes content for the viewers to enjoy later, so I simply nodded.
“Thanks for the kind words. So, Sae-jin hyung, what about you?”
“Ah, I’m a ‘lawyer.'”
“….”
“What, what?”
“Nothing.”
At this point, I could already imagine my interview being inserted: ‘Wouldn’t a prosecutor have suited him better?’ And everyone would agree.
They would all nod in unison.
“But when you say lawyer, it kind of feels like you’d be given a mission to deceive people….”
“What are you talking about! That’s not it!”
Bae Sae-jin bristled.
Ah, what’s the mission anyway?
-Occupation Mission
: Must be completed before the first game ends.
That’s exactly it.
I saw it written in my profile folder.
It’s probably different for each occupation. I nodded while recalling mine.
“Understood. I’ll be suspicious of you for now, hyung.”
“Usually people say they trust at first…!”
“I’m not usual, am I?”
“…?!”
A bit of comedy to lighten the mood and add a touch of survival show energy.
As we started shouting back and forth, the awkwardness typical of variety show introductions definitely eased up.
“So what about Rae-bin?”
“I’m a ‘journalist.’ Nice to work with you.”
“Okay.”
It was after hearing Kim Rae-bin’s occupation, which was somehow both fitting and completely unfitting.
“So now… should we explore this place a bit more?”
“Yes, we should. We need to find an exit.”
This was clearly set up as an escape room.
The large window next to the living room, which should have led to the balcony, was blocked off by a thin temporary wall.
Anyone could see it was designed as a sealed room.
And the decisive fact.
Bae Sae-jin, who had approached the entrance, reached out to open the semi-transparent inner door installed in front of the entrance door.
Click.
But it wouldn’t open.
“…The inner door is locked too.”
As expected.
The keypad that was installed in the previous dormitory for double security is firmly holding the inner door shut.
“This one doesn’t seem to have power either.”
“Sigh.”
After checking that first, the exploration resumed.
“Should we split up and search…?”
“I think it’s better if we all move together in case something goes wrong!”
“Right!”
“….”
Well, if that’s the case.
The three of us moved together as one unit and started enjoying the ‘escape room content.’
We searched through our individual rooms and gathered clues leading to the kitchen, eventually reaching the bathroom door locked with a padlock.
“If we input the numbers in rainbow order here….”
“2724! That’s it!”
“Excellent work!”
But the thing is, these guys are actually enjoying this more than I expected?
Once we adjusted to the darkness, the atmosphere became just like a regular escape room cafe.
There weren’t any particularly scary elements.
No zombies jumping out, not even eerie background music suddenly blaring from nowhere.
‘This is a bit boring.’
Could Ryu Seo-rin, the Writer, have actually hidden her abilities or something?
‘I’m expecting a twist.’
I casually anticipated a heartwarming and fast-paced edit, and diligently solved hints with the others.
And soon we even unlocked the padlock hanging on the bathroom door.
“2724… That’s it.”
“Ooh!”
“At least we can preserve some dignity with this….”
Click.
And the moment I opened the bathroom door.
The light inside turned on.
“Huh?”
“Ah, it looks like the power came on!”
The fluorescent lights were bright enough to sting our eyes for a moment. And following natural human instinct, everyone walked into the newly illuminated bathroom.
‘Hmm.’
I immediately checked the interior.
They’d recreated the former dormitory almost exactly here too… but there’s one thing that creates a sense of incongruity.
A black rectangular portable device sitting alone on top of the washroom sink.
“A walkie-talkie?”
“Why would there be a walkie-talkie in the dormitory?”
“….”
Could it be.
I immediately approached the sink and picked up the walkie-talkie.
…It has batteries!
‘It works.’
I immediately pressed the button and spoke.
“Can you hear me?”
[….]
“Chung-woo hyung? Ah-hyun?”
“…Lee Sae-jin, Cha Yu-jin!”
But the other end of the walkie-talkie remained silent.
I shook my head and lowered my hand.
“There’s no response… I thought maybe this was how we communicate with the other members.”
“Ah….”
“It’s possible the hyungs or Cha Yu-jin just haven’t discovered it yet.”
“That could be. Hmm… Hey, can I take a quick look at that walkie-talkie?”
“Of course.”
We were exchanging our own deductions.
Flicker.
“…?”
“Just now…”
Flicker, flicker.
“….”
This time, it definitely wasn’t an optical illusion.
I lifted my head and looked at the ceiling.
‘The bathroom light…’
It had flickered twice in a row.
‘And typically, this kind of production technique…’
Damn it.
“Park Moon-dae?”
I grabbed both of them by the scruff of their necks and backed away.
And then,
Flicker, flicker, flicker, flicker, flicker, flicker, flicker, flicker, flicker, flicker, flicker, flicker, flicker, flicker, flicker—
“Ahhhhh!”
“Wahhh!”
I shoved the two screaming guys and immediately bolted out of the bathroom.
My vision flashed rapidly.
And something like a shadow behind me… damn it!
‘Someone’s there!’
The moment I stumbled out of the bathroom door, I thrust my hand backward.
Slam!!
“Ugh!”
I slammed the bathroom door shut and locked it immediately.
“What, what was that??”
“It just felt off!”
This was clearly a scene where a ghost or zombie jumps out from some corner cabinet!
“Did anyone happen to see?”
“I, I didn’t turn around to look…”
“…Neither did I.”
Sigh.
I stared at the now-silent bathroom door, then let out a relieved breath I’d been holding.
‘At least I didn’t get caught.’
I’d better come back to the bathroom after we film more scenes.
‘…Though I probably looked pretty cowardly on camera just now.’
Bae Sae-jin patted my shoulder in a comforting gesture. For some reason, it irritated me.
“I, I grabbed the walkie-talkie.”
That was well done. It’s standard practice to keep a good grip on the last thing you’ve caught and not drop it.
“Impressive! Ah, it looks like the Living Room switch is working now too!”
In the meantime, Kim Rae-bin quickly applied what he’d learned from the Bathroom situation and figured out that other lights in this house had come back on.
‘Then could the electricity work the same way?’
I pushed myself up.
“What about the keypad for the inner door?”
“…! Yes! The light came on!”
Kim Rae-bin waved his hand. I took a breath.
‘…Okay.’
So the inner door was starting to open too.
‘This might be about as much as the opening section.’
And it was right then that I was moving toward the inner door.
“…Hey, Park Moon-dae.”
Bae Sae-jin lowered his voice so Kim Rae-bin wouldn’t hear, and spoke to me.
“Yes.”
“About this… there’s something like blood smeared on the bottom.”
“…!!”
I focused on the underside of the walkie-talkie he was holding out, flipped over.
Sure enough, something dark red and sticky was visible.
‘…Is it starting already?’
Is it really a zombie?
While I was watching the camera angles and predicting where it might appear, Bae Sae-jin whispered softly.
“He’d probably be scared… so let’s not tell him.”
Hm?
“…Yes, okay.”
As I nodded, Bae Sae-jin nodded back firmly, gripped the walkie-talkie, and moved forward.
And I thought.
‘…Should I retrieve the walkie-talkie?’
That guy just seemed a bit unnatural.
Kim Rae-bin would be scared?
Kim Rae-bin is the type who’d respond with something like ‘…? Isn’t that fake blood made for the show anyway? Why would you think I’d be scared?’
He’s surprisingly wild.
‘He’s the kind of guy who’d catch a chicken with his own hands.’
Growing up in a farming family, he’s particularly unbothered by such things.
And Bae Sae-jin probably knows that too.
‘Well, he could brush it off as being startled and trying to protect the younger member as the eldest.’
But there’s one more thing that bothers me.
‘Bae Sae-jin’s profession.’
A lawyer.
A lawyer is ultimately someone who represents the accused in criminal law.
And the suspect has a probability of being the culprit.
‘What if I’d paid attention to that characteristic in the game?’
What’s the probability that Bae Sae-jin received a mission to either shield some kind of troll or engage in trolling?
‘…For now, I’ll keep it in mind.’
I decided to keep my eye on “Lawyer” Bae Sae-jin.
Well, it’s entertainment anyway, so I don’t necessarily need to win… but I’m done with getting blindsided one-sidedly like that time with and his carrot coin heist.
And I quickly pretended not to know and joined the middle gate area.
Bae Sae-jin and Kim Rae-bin were reading the message “The number doesn’t match” with serious expressions.
“The middle gate number… it doesn’t match.”
Of course not. For security reasons, they wouldn’t have used Testa Dormitory’s original password.
‘But finding the number again feels a bit loose, doesn’t it?’
I thought briefly before answering.
“How about 0000?”
“Ah.”
The default number.
And then.
Beep beep beep—
“Oh!”
“It works, it worked!”
Finally, the middle gate opened.
Beyond it, I could see the entrance door.
‘Check ahead first.’
That’s when it happened.
[…hyung!]
[…guys~!]
“…!!”
“M-members?”
I could hear shouting from the other side of the entrance.
“It seems they were waiting on the other side!”
“R-right!”
‘So they’re joining in after all.’
We quickly approached the entrance. The voices grew louder.
[…happened! Let us out…!]
It sounded roughly like they were asking me to let them out. I nodded and moved forward.
That instant.
The entrance door began to glow.
“…!!”
“W-what is this?”
Both of them jumped back.
They react quickly based on their bathroom experience, which is good, but.
“It’s fine.”
I raised my hand and brought it to the door.
Swish, peel.
Just like peeling a sticker from paper, a layer of wrapping material smoothly came off from the edge.
Coated paper.
“A… cover?”
“Yeah.”
The outline of the paper cover, which had been obscured by darkness, became visible in the light emanating from behind.
And the source of that light was….
“A panel?”
A pad—like a smartphone screen or monitor display.
“Huh?”
“Is it… really okay to install something like this on a normal residential house door?”
A bewildered voice came from across the way. Something must have happened over there too.
That was the moment.
Ding.
[Welcome to the Lamb Game, participants!]
“Ahhh!!”
Light burst from the screen attached to the entrance door, and text appeared with a sound effect.
Very loudly.
Kim Rae-bin covered his mouth, his eyes bulging as he stared at the screen.
“What, what is this?”
“Let’s step back a bit.”
Shuffle.
The three of us moved in perfect unison, taking three steps back from the door.
And at the same moment, the screen changed brilliantly.
[First Game]
– Choose the Sacrifice
“…!!”
– Designate one profession as the sacrifice and open the entrance door.
Time until results: 3 hours.
What?

* * *
Internet.
The moment Testa began filming.
An unexpected post appeared on their company’s account, Orbit Stars.
[Please choose a character to become the sacrifice. (link)]
-??
-What is this
Many suspected it was a hack, but pioneers exist everywhere.
As curious people clicked, a list appeared alongside vague black silhouettes.
============
1. Doctor
2. Sheriff
3. Detective
4. Scholar
5. Undertaker
6. Lawyer
7. Jester
============
It was a public vote to choose the scapegoat.
The true survival entertainment show was beginning.

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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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