Debut or Die - Chapter 489

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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 489
A person with the same name claiming to be a lawyer.
Bae Sae-jin and Big Sae-jin were engaged in a heated verbal exchange.
“…Lee Sae-jin stayed quiet the whole time, and only opened her mouth after someone was marked for death. That’s clearly strategic no matter how you look at it. She’s deliberately confusing people!”
“Come on, hyung, it’s the opposite. Isn’t it more unnatural to go around talking about your job and abilities right from the start? Think about a mafia game for a second~ Usually, innocent citizens don’t do that even when they’re wary of the mafia.”
Both made valid points.
Either way, they can’t both be lawyers—one of them has to be bluffing. Impressive. I found myself genuinely impressed.
“Oh… hyung, who do you suspect?”
“Looking at just the current situation, both seem possible.”
One was an actor, and one was good at variety shows.
‘Either of them could naturally pull off pretending to have a different job.’
Both of them could play a troll role seriously if they wanted to.
Even right now, neither of them sounds logically inconsistent.
“…! That’s sophistry. I spotted a suspicious person early and shared it with trustworthy people!”
“But if you’re the mafia, then everything you said is a lie anyway. So it’s just baseless talk, right?”
‘This is getting heated.’
I could see the other guys’ eyes spinning. I clicked my tongue inwardly.
Then I raised my hand.
“I have a question for both of you first.”
“Huh?”
“Could you explain the lawyer profession in detail? Usually, people who lie have gaps in their stories.”
“That makes sense. If we keep pressing for details, someone will definitely contradict themselves.”
Ryu Chung-woo nodded.
‘Right. No matter what, if we keep digging, they’ll have to make things up on the spot for things they didn’t prepare for.’
Then their story will fall apart with contradictions and faulty logic.
“Ah.”
I couldn’t tell what they were really thinking, but the two Sae-jins with the same name seemed quite interested on the surface.
“Oh, good idea, Moon-dae, Moon-dae~”
“Then I’ll go first.”
Bae Sae-jin jumped in, not wanting to lose the initiative.
“As a lawyer… I know how many professions there are in total, and what those professions are.”
And Bae Sae-jin explained the professions he knew.
The others nodded and recited the professions.
“Doctor, sheriff, detective, scholar, undertaker, jester….”
“And lawyer.”
“That’s right.”
Bae Sae-jin nodded seriously.
“If the profession I have isn’t among these, raise your hands.”
There was no objection.
‘No one’s expression changed noticeably.’
That must mean one of their occupations is among those listed.
‘In other words, there’s a high probability that Bae Sae-jin’s story is true.’
Bae Sae-jin, noticing my expression, looked at Big Sae-jin challengingly.
But he wore a bitter smile.
“Well, you know what occupations exist….”
And he shrugged his shoulders.
“But listening to your tone, hyung, it seems like you really do know, doesn’t it?”
“…!!”
“You’re admitting right now that you lied about not being a lawyer….”
“No, no.”
Big Sae-jin shook his head. And he spoke quite seriously.
“It seems like Bae Sae-jin hyung must be a different occupation with that ability. Only the lawyer part is a lie.”
“…!!”
So, what Big Sae-jin was saying was….
‘Bae Sae-jin discovered this fact using the ability of a different occupation, and he’s currently impersonating a lawyer?’
Certainly, that scenario is possible!
“I mean… honestly, just looking at it, the ability doesn’t seem to have much to do with the lawyer profession at all.”
“Gasp.”
Kim Rae-bin was startled. And at the same time, Bae Sae-jin bristled.
“A lawyer is supposed to know the defendant well in the first place. What’s strange about that!”
“No, an ability like that just looks like something a criminal or mastermind would have! It looks perfect for framing people~”
A fleeting expression of ‘that does seem to be the case’ crossed the members’ faces.
And now Bae Sae-jin’s face had turned cold, his eyes narrowing.
‘Whether he’s overcommitted or just acting.’
I shrugged and turned to Big Sae-jin, asking.
“Then what’s the actual lawyer ability?”
Big Sae-jin grinned and spoke without hesitation.
“You designate a person, and you can tell if that person is innocent.”
“…!!”
Good grief.
And Big Sae-jin’s statement didn’t end there.
“By the way, I’ve already used it~”
“…?!”
In that moment, the atmosphere in the room shifted.
Sun Ah-hyun, who had been quietly keeping his mouth shut, reflexively asked back.
“W-who…?”
“One of our members here~”
Big Sae-jin tapped the back of the member sitting right beside him.
That was….
“Kim Rae-bin?”
“Exactly!”
He grins, and Kim Rae-bin’s eyes look ready to pop out of his head.
But soon he glances around the room and nods, though confusion still clouds his expression.
“W-well, of course I’m not the culprit. I never swapped cards in the first place….”
Bae Sae-jin clenches his fists and interjects forcefully.
“That doesn’t make sense!”
“…?!”
Kim Rae-bin recoils in shock.
“Kim Rae-bin said his job was a journalist! But… there’s no journalist among the occupations!”
“…!!”
“Ah, now that you mention it.”
Kim Rae-bin’s eyes begin to spin. Oh no.
“And every time I tried to reveal this fact, he blocked me.”
“What?”
“Lee Sae-jin!!”
Bae Sae-jin shouts passionately, then interlaces his fingers and mutters.
“…And there was something strange among the occupations.”
“What?”
“Jester.”
“….”
Interesting.
“Remember that card game we played last time? The one where if you’re holding the joker—the jester card—at the end, you lose….”
Catch the thief, that’s what it was.
I watch Bae Sae-jin swallow hard.
“So maybe Kim Rae-bin has that kind of job too? His mission is to make us fail.”
“What!?”
Kim Rae-bin gasps even louder.
‘If that’s an act, I’ll have to make him act too.’
But Bae Sae-jin’s logic clicks into place, and he continues with growing conviction.
“And Lee Sae-jin is the scholar.”
“Huh??”
“Lee Sae-jin is the sacrifice, and by preventing me from pointing out Kim Rae-bin, the two of them win!”
“…!!”
There were rules like that.
-If you correctly deduce the black sheep, that culprit is burned along with the sacrifice.
-However, if you fail to find the black sheep, everyone except the black sheep and the sacrifice is burned.
In other words, the only way for the sacrifice to survive is to make sure people can’t identify the culprit.
“What do you think.”
“….”
The circumstantial evidence was quite solid.
However, Lee Sae-jin burst out laughing.
“Ah~ I get it now.”
“…?”
Lee Sae-jin declared like dropping a bomb.
“Wait, you’re the jester, aren’t you?”
“…!!”
“People who are trying to bluff always speak first to set the stage.”
“What? Hold on, this kid is just grasping at straws because he’s cornered—it’s such a clichéd move! He’s just parroting what I said!”
“No way! You just gave yourself away.”
“Hey…!”
The overinvolvement was escalating. At this point, I could practically add a subtitle saying “They’re really fighting right now ^^” without it feeling out of place.
Ryu Chung-woo rushed in to mediate.
“Um… Sae-jin, I mean Lee Sae-jin.”
“Yes!”
“So can we hear the logic behind your deduction too?”
“Of course~”
Big Sae-jin smirked.
“I think Sae-jin is the jester, and the black sheep—the mafia we need to catch—is likely him!”
“What?!”
“Sae-jin, calm down and listen for now.”
Ryu Chung-woo was trying to settle Bae Sae-jin down.
Big Sae-jin looked at me and winked.
“….”
“And before I came in here, I heard something from Park Moon-dae.”
“…!?”
That’s right.
In a game like this, I’d shared information beforehand with the person who’d have the most influence—Big Sae-jin.
-Actually….
“Can I say it?”
“Go ahead.”
I nodded. Big Sae-jin opened his mouth readily.
“Ah-hyun said she’s the Scholar.”
“…!!”
There it was.
‘That’s suspicious.’
‘Scholar’—the role designated as the final sacrifice in this game.
“I don’t know what the first role the fans voted for as the sacrifice was, but the final sacrifice right now is the Scholar.”
I continued matter-of-factly.
“And the person who said she’s the Scholar is right here. Ah-hyun.”
“….”
“So anyway, we need to ask Sun Ah-hyun about this….”
“Um, wait.”
Sun Ah-hyun opened his mouth with a pallid face.
“I… I never said anything like that.”
“…!!”
What?

* * *
The dimly lit Cult Foundation.
The people surrounding it were floundering amid endless revelations.
“I have a different occupation.”
“Pardon??”
Was there even a single participant in this game who had revealed their true profession?!
Kim Rae-bin was shocked once again.
Even Ah-hyun’s brother was caught up in this!
‘Bae Sae-jin and Lee Sae-jin are claiming to be lawyers.’
‘Moon-dae said he was a doctor.’
He quickly organized the current situation in his mind.
So then….
===================
Testa’s Professions (Claimed)
Ryu Chung-woo – ?
Bae Sae-jin – Lawyer
Sun Ah-hyun – Scholar
Lee Sae-jin – Lawyer
Park Moon-dae – Doctor
Kim Rae-bin – Journalist
Cha Yu-jin – ?
===================
That was the state of their respective claims.
And mutual accusations were flying everywhere.
Especially since the newly exposed Sun Ah-hyun was saying he wasn’t a ‘scholar’ either!
“Then what occupation do you have, brother?”
“Well, I have an ability to discern other people’s professions.”
“Gasp.”
“And… I used it to check on Moon-dae… and I found something out.”
Sun Ah-hyun spoke with a determined expression.
“Moon-dae isn’t a doctor.”
“…!!”
“He lied about his profession…!”
Again?
Kim Rae-bin’s head snapped around so sharply his neck nearly cracked.
‘Park Moon-dae definitely said….’
-First of all, I’m a doctor.
Bae Sae-jin wore a similar expression of bewilderment.
“…Park Moon-dae?”
“….”
Park Moon-dae didn’t answer. Sun Ah-hyun continued speaking.
“You said you were a doctor, but… you weren’t.”
“No, I am a doctor.”
“Ah, no…!”
Sun Ah-hyun’s eyes glistened as though tears might spill at any moment, yet his voice remained resolute.
“You’re a mortician, Moon-dae.”
“…!!”
“What!?”
In that instant, shock struck the room’s atmosphere once more.
-A mortician?
Kim Rae-bin turned his head.
He needed to stay calm. He had to verify this clearly!
‘Park Moon-dae’s reaction is….’
“….”
Remarkably composed?
Slightly… embarrassed?
Park Moon-dae scratched his head.
“Well… mortician still ends with ‘doctor,’ doesn’t it? So technically, I am a doctor.”
“….”
Everyone was left speechless.
“Hey!”
“No, I mean… it seemed like some kind of Mafia game, so being too honest at the beginning felt suspicious, you know?”
Park Moon-dae scratched his cheek. The tension evaporated in an instant.
“What are you even talking about!”
“There’s a saying that even an unjust law is still law. So a mortician is still a doctor.”
“I’m going insane….”
“You’re an idiot, hyung!”
Park Moon-dae muttered something like ‘anyway, I didn’t lie’ with shameless confidence, and everyone lost it.
Bae Sae-jin was practically shrieking now.
“So you’re admitting it then? What even is a mortician?! What kind of job is it?! Do you have to deceive people?!”
“No, it’s not like that. It’s just… apparently I can communicate with dead people. Since there haven’t been any dead people yet, I’m not sure how to use it.”
“Ugh.”
“Actually, I found out about that ability during the mid-check. I told you about it—that I didn’t know about this skill.”
“Ugh…”
Park Moon-dae didn’t look like his feet were numb or anything. He’d simply tried out some impulsive strategy at the beginning.
Bae Sae-jin groaned before crying out.
“Then you should have said something when we started this!”
“I was going to, but with two lawyers showing up and Ah-hyun’s job being exposed and everything in chaos, I figured it would just get buried if I brought it up.”
“….”
That was fair.
With that expression, Bae Sae-jin accepted it, and Kim Rae-bin half-accepted it too.
“And.”
Park Moon-dae turned his head.
He looked directly at Kim Rae-bin.
“…!”
“I find the professions Sae-jin mentioned quite convincing, actually.”
“Y-yeah.”
“Though I’m not sure if that’s a lawyer’s ability.”
“Hey!”
Park Moon-dae smoothly brushed off Bae Sae-jin’s objection and fired his shot in an instant.
At Kim Rae-bin. At me.
“So Rae-bin. Are you really a journalist?”
“….”
Silence fell.
He bit his lip.
‘Is this where it ends.’
And just as Kim Rae-bin was about to open his mouth….
“Wait! We’re losing sight of our goal!”
“…!”
This time, Cha Yu-jin, who had been quiet, jumped in!
“Our goal is to figure out who the victim and culprit are. So what matters is something else.”
“Huh?”
“What is it?”
Cha Yu-jin asked without hesitation.
“How did the card exchange happen?”
“…!”
“The important thing is getting that sequence right! So we need information on everyone. We can’t presume someone’s suspicious beforehand. That creates bias.”
“Hmm….”
Park Moon-dae summarized it.
“So you’re saying we should lay out the card exchange records from the beginning.”
“Yes!”
“…That makes sense.”
“Yeah, definitely.”
Quite a few members nodded, but Park Moon-dae added calmly.
“However, I think it would be wise not to abandon suspicion. From what I observed, it seemed Eugene was covering for Kim Rae-bin.”
“Ha?”
“I agree~”
“Right. For now, let’s organize the exchange records and make sure to question Kim Rae-bin again.”
“…Understood!”
Kim Rae-bin answered spiritedly.
Still, he intended to do his best in every way he could.
-It is advisable to conceal your identity.
Kim Rae-bin had not forgotten the advice written in the occupation profile he received.
“Well then, let’s organize this.”
In the meantime, the members began arranging in chronological order the scenes they had witnessed of card exchanges at the Entrance.
“First… Park Moon-dae and Sun Ah-hyun exchanged, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Next, Cha Yu-jin exchanged with Chung-woo hyung.”
After that, an alarm sounded, and people returned to their starting rooms to check their cards….
After that.
“Is that all for the second half?”
“Seems like it.”
To summarize, it was like this.
===================
1. Sun Ah-hyun 【-】 Park Moon-dae
2. Cha Yu-jin 【-】 Ryu Chung-woo
[Mid-check]
3. Ryu Chung-woo 【-】 Bae Sae-jin
4. Cha Yu-jin 【-】 Park Moon-dae
===================
Exactly four times.
“I’ve listed the person with the coin first. In other words, the person who suggested it.”
“Understood!”
Kim Rae-bin nodded.
“You guys~ said you were going to reheat chicken, but you ended up exchanging anyway! Did you secretly do it in a suspicious way~?”
“You were making such a fuss! We did it quickly while you were in the Bathroom. Everyone else saw it.”
“Unbelievable.”
Beside him, a banter-like argument was unfolding, but he thought intently.
‘Then the suspect is among these people… is that how it appears to everyone?’
Of course, even so, there were five people.
In this bizarre situation where he, who had concealed his occupation, was included among the excluded few, Kim Rae-bin felt his eyes spinning.
“Um, besides what was just mentioned, did anyone else exchange?”
Silence followed Lee Sae-jin’s question. The smile on her face deepened.
“So then… the person who had the blank card during the midpoint check? That’s the victim’s mark!”
“….”
Still, there was no answer.
That was the moment.
“I figured it out.”
“…!”
Cha Yu-jin’s eyes gleamed as he raised his hand.
“The person who had the victim card during the midpoint check is the mafia.”
“…!”
“Because that person isn’t showing up now. That means they don’t want to reveal their exchange record.”
If they weren’t the culprit, they would have definitely cooperated and let us figure out the exchange order and who received it.
“Ah…!”
The members gasped in admiration.
But.
“It could be the opposite, Cha Yu-jin!”
“Umm?”
Kim Rae-bin responded with a cautious tone.
“The person who had the victim card back then might not have exchanged it, so they could still be the victim right now.”
“Oh,”
The victim survives alongside the culprit only if the culprit deduction fails.
There was definitely a reason for the victim to keep their mouth shut!
“Ah, but the current victim is a scholar, right~”
Lee Sae-jin spoke as if she’d just remembered something.
“If the viewers were voting, I don’t think they’d choose scholar as the job to kill here, right? They’d pick something more eye-catching. Wouldn’t they, Moon-dae?”
“That’s true.”
Park Moon-dae nodded lightly. And Bae Sae-jin agreed as well.
“Yeah, Park Moon-dae said it…! The first vote probably came down to detective or jester.”
“Um, yes.”
So it definitely meant the person was among those who exchanged.
“Ah~ but this could still happen.”
Lee Sae-jin chuckled.
“Someone who exchanged early before the midpoint check might have kept it as is.”
“…!”
“Then they’re the victim, just like Rae-bin said!”
That was the moment.
“Ah…!”
“…?”
Sun Ah-hyun covered his mouth.
‘What just happened?’
It was the instant Kim Rae-bin was about to look at Sun Ah-hyun with concern.
“It’s me.”
“…??”
“I think… I passed the sacrifice to Park Moon-dae.”
Sun Ah-hyun spoke with a pallid, drained expression.
“I’m a detective….”
“…!!”
And Sun Ah-hyun straightened his body.
“B-but Park Moon-dae isn’t a scholar. So that means… Park Moon-dae passed the sacrifice’s mark to someone who is a scholar.”
“….”
Kim Rae-bin checked the exchange list.
After the midpoint check, Park Moon-dae’s exchange record….
4. Cha Yu-jin 【-】 Park Moon-dae
“…!”
If this was the truth.
‘No way.’
Cha Yu-jin was the sacrifice.
‘Park Moon-dae is the culprit, and Cha Yu-jin is the sacrifice, the scholar…!’
Realizing he didn’t know Cha Yu-jin’s occupation, Kim Rae-bin clenched his fists as he thought.
‘If this is right… do I need to act?’
He was still waiting for an opportunity to use his ‘occupational ability’!
His ability.
-When you eliminate the correct ‘culprit’, you can kill instead of the sacrifice.
Culprit elimination.
That’s right.
Kim Rae-bin’s occupation was ‘Sheriff’.

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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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