Debut or Die - Chapter 503

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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 503
System Auto-Update?
The moment I saw the Popup spouting absolute nonsense, my mind raced at full throttle.
Considering the incidents that had occurred during the last update, what needed immediate priority was….
‘Stop!’
[Forcing a halt to auto-update may result in errors.]
Damn it.
I couldn’t just stop it recklessly without knowing what kind of catastrophe might unfold.
I had to assess the situation first before taking action.
‘And… during the last update, STier Cha Yu-jin had awakened.’
If that was the case.
I immediately sprang from my seat and began checking each room.
“W-Moon-dae?”
“Moon-dae, Moon-dae, why are you running around like that… huh?”
“Hyung, are you exercising?”
And I found them.
One guy who had collapsed with his head on the laptop while working.
One guy who had lost consciousness while reading an e-book on his bed.
And… one guy sitting at his desk in front of a program brochure, his head resting against the bookshelf, eyes closed.
“….”
Kim Rae-bin, Bae Sae-jin, Ryu Chung-woo.
Three people.
I nearly bit my tongue.
Think about it logically.
‘Can three people suddenly fall asleep at the exact same time?’
And only those guys who had reported “feeling a brief dizzy spell” during the last System update?
And I wasn’t the only one thinking along those lines.
The moment the awake guys received a briefing on the situation from me, their faces paled.
“Wait, could this be….”
“Seriously? Again?”
I left the guys to their urgent discussion about whether we needed to go to the Emergency Room and turned my thoughts inward once more.
What caused this mess?
And I recalled the contents of that Popup from earlier.
‘Detecting owner dissatisfaction… auto-update?’
In that moment, a thought struck me like a lightning bolt.
Could it be.
…that the System determined I was in a “dissatisfied state” because I never touched it and kept ignoring its survey, so it pulled this stunt?
‘Damn it.’
In other words, it sounded like the System was saying it would keep adjusting itself until I used it.
‘What, does it think it’s some kind of customer satisfaction service?’
It was downright eerie.
I kept the Company System alive because of that VTIC leader’s lifeline—he’d face mission failure without a status window—but there were far too many variables at play.
‘…As if it had a sense of self.’
The humanoid form of the System that had been capable of conversation before I destroyed it flashed through my mind. A chill ran down my spine.
But I wasn’t unprepared for this situation either.
‘I’ve naturally considered the possibility of another update incident occurring.’
With someone who’d experienced it firsthand.
“….”
I locked eyes with Cha Yu-jin. He gave a slight nod.
‘There’s already someone who retains memories from the STier era.’
Even if those three all rolled back to that time… damn it, if we just lose that one Public Broadcasting Survival Program, we could hold out more stably than before.
‘No, actually, this might even be better for those guys than being alone.’
When multiple people develop these symptoms, there’s one problem that’s definitely prevented.
Isolation.
That suffocating situation where you’re suddenly thrown into an unfamiliar environment and start questioning your own sanity.
It was the same with Cha Yu-jin back then, but that’s what makes it so difficult for people.
‘But the side effect is….’
“…If this keeps happening, almost half of our members could forget what they were even doing, right?”
“….”
I clenched my teeth, then released them.
Group activities were out of the question until everything was restored.
“I’m sorry.”
“…!”
Big Sae-jin’s expression shifted instantly, and he smiled faintly, patting my shoulder.
“Why are you creating responsibilities that don’t exist, Moon-dae? We’re just organizing the situation~”
No, it really is my responsibility.
But telling someone who’s forcing the mood lighter that it’s my fault would only ruin the atmosphere, so I decided against doing something like that just to feel better.
So instead, we made a plan.
“Not the hospital across the street. [Waking up in a hospital bed with lost memories? That’s too clichéd. They’ll think we’re messing with them.]”
“Still… just in case, we need to make contact, I think.”
“Right. Oh, and preparing a good explanation for when the members wake up should be our top priority, right?”
That’s how we concluded it.
First, wait at the Dormitory.
But to enable quick explanations, we decided to gather evidence at the Dormitory—photos, data, YouTube, portal sites—and organize our story.
“If something goes wrong, we can head straight to the Emergency Room… I already contacted the Manager!”
“Okay.”
Finally, if these guys don’t wake up within 30 minutes, we attempt to wake them, and if that doesn’t work, we go to the Hospital—the dramatic agreement concluded there.
And we each stationed ourselves in separate rooms, keeping watch.
The Dormitory was thick with tension, as if cold sweat was about to break out.
After a few minutes had passed.
The signal came.
“…! H-here…!”
“…!!”
It was Sun Ah-hyun who had shouted.
We immediately rushed toward where he had been standing guard.
The place where Sun Ah-hyun was….
‘Bae Sae-jin.’
It was his solo room.
Sun Ah-hyun, already inside the room standing beside the bed, turned his head and cried out.
“He seems to be waking up…!”
Indeed, Bae Sae-jin’s facial muscles were twitching.
‘Phew.’
A tense moment.
“Mm….”
“….”
Bae Sae-jin furrowed his brow, pressed his eyes, and pushed himself up.
And I braced myself even more.
STier’s Bae Sae-jin?
That guy was falsely accused of drug use early in his debut, expelled from the group, and probably even went to prison.
‘Idol or whatever—there’s a high chance he’s completely sick of the entertainment industry.’
And there’s also a considerable likelihood of severe distrust in people.
Aside from all that, his uncooperative attitude from the Ajusa days hadn’t improved—it had only gotten worse.
So I was just thinking we should approach him more carefully….
Bae Sae-jin opened his mouth blankly.
Wait, …blankly?
“…What are you guys doing?”
“…??”
“…?!”
He was perfectly fine.
Bae Sae-jin seemed startled by these tall, lanky guys staring down at him sleeping in his own room.
“Oh!! Hyung, are you in your right mind?!”
“Of course I’m in my right mind! I just fell asleep reading a book, and now you’re….”
And as he looked around, he noticed the state of the guys who had brought along photo albums bundled up, and he was flustered.
“What’s all that?”
“…Well, you see.”
I got it.
It doesn’t seem like it’s him after all.
After a quick situational briefing.
Soon Bae Sae-jin joined this flow as well.
The guy who came out into the corridor looked troubled as he alternated his gaze between Kim Rae-bin’s room and Ryu Chung-woo’s room, muttering to himself.
“…So, you’re saying I could’ve ended up like Cha Yu-jin last time?”
“That’s harsh, hyung.”
“You have something to say about that?”
Bae Sae-jin, whose attack power had surged after hearing the “Are you out of your mind?” jab, growled at Cha Yu-jin. For someone contemplating such dire outcomes, the scene was remarkably peaceful.
However, I seized this moment to recall what I needed to do.
I understood that Bae Sae-jin’s memories from the STier era hadn’t returned yet… but I had no idea about the other two.
Which meant.
‘Should I tell him.’
That in your previous life, you suffered considerably.
‘Maybe getting beaten to the punch would help prepare your mind.’
In the end, I called out to Bae Sae-jin, who was holding an e-book reader with an anxious expression.
“Hyung, wait a second….”
“Huh?”
That’s when it happened.
“Ugh!”
A sound erupted from the outer room.
It was Kim Rae-bin’s room.
“Ravin!”
Without distinction, we all scrambled down the corridor and burst into the room.
And this time, the crisis we faced was….
“It seems to be a side effect of an energy drink! I sampled a newly released product from Company P this month….”
“Hold on.”
Damn.
“Ravin. How are you feeling right now.”
Kim Rae-bin, blinking his eyes, answered readily.
“…? I feel refreshed from the nap…?”
“….”
Perfectly fine.
Two consecutive safe calls left the members deflated.
“Sigh.”
“Ah, isn’t this just everyone happening to fall asleep by coincidence?”
“…Everyone’s been pushing themselves hard lately.”
“Y-yes, about the program appearance, we all had a late meeting yesterday….”
“Not going to the hospital was the right call. I’m smart.”
Now everyone was questioning whether it was coincidence at all.
‘…Indeed.’
I asked Kim Rae-bin once more.
“Did any forgotten memories suddenly come back to you.”
“Nothing in particular… Ah, is there perhaps a memory I absolutely must recall?”
“No.”
It worked out well, actually.
I patted his head a couple of times before stepping out of the room. The others seemed to be explaining the situation to Kim Rae-bin.
‘So now the only one left is Ryu Chung-woo.’
This one might be fine too, but I shouldn’t let my guard down.
Even if his sense of self doesn’t go haywire like it did with STier, something bizarre could still happen.
“Let’s wait out here for now.”
“Got it.”
And so all the members ended up waiting in Ryu Chung-woo’s room.
However….
“…It’s way too cramped.”
“….”
Seven grown men crammed into one room made for quite an awkward fit.
‘Hmm.’
Sitting here quietly like this felt off. Since the previous two times went smoothly, maybe it was time to try something a bit bolder.
I got up as a test and called out to Ryu Chung-woo, who was leaning against the bookshelf.
I wondered if this might wake him up, just in case he really was asleep.
“Hyung.”
“….”
There was no response.
‘So that wasn’t it.’
I lowered my expectations further and changed my approach.
Calling him by his exact name instead.
“Ryu Chung-woo.”
That was the moment.
“…!”
Ryu Chung-woo’s eyes snapped open.
“Mom?!”
“Does he always wake up like that?”
“This is like a cult movie right now.”
As the others chimed in one by one, I suppressed a sigh of relief.
If he opened his eyes just from hearing his name called, that was straightforward enough.
‘So he was just asleep.’
Come to think of it, since he was leaning against the bookshelf rather than collapsed, that made sense. I should’ve just woken everyone up from the start instead of waiting so cautiously.
‘I need to explain that I was being overly careful….’
“…Who are you?”
“….”
“….”
Wait.
I studied Ryu Chung-woo’s face carefully.
His expression held a faint wariness and confusion instead of the warmth I expected.
And that expression deepened the moment he looked past me.
“Cha Yu-jin? And Kim Rae-bin….”
“….”
This guy didn’t know Park Moon-dae.
But the fact that he specifically recognized and called out only those two… I see.
I forced my jaw to move.
“Is your group name STier, by any chance?”
“Huh? Yes, that’s right. But what on earth is this situation…?”
“….”
We’re screwed….

* * *
Ryu Chung-woo had reverted to his STier days.
“Thank you.”
I handed him a bottle of water I hadn’t even opened, worried he might be on guard, but he held it without drinking and smiled.
At least his expression carried some of the usual gentleness.
“But first, I’d like to hear an explanation of the situation.”
“…Yes.”
He must be wondering what kind of mess this is.
I quickly recalled the conversation I’d had with Cha Yu-jin, turning it over in my mind.
Though he’d forgotten many details from his STier days, he hadn’t completely lost them.
Which meant I could understand the impression Cha Yu-jin had retained of Ryu Chung-woo back then.
-Chung-woo hyung was kind of scary back then. We all had to be careful.
-In what sense?
-[What I mean is, um… typical burnout, and a particularly twisted kind of resilience?]
‘What’s he talking about.’
Cha Yu-jin himself hadn’t provided a particularly good example.
But I understood well enough that we needed to handle this like a bomb—with extreme care.
‘Maybe even more so than Cha Yu-jin.’
After all, I remembered how STier-era Cha Yu-jin had even run away from home because their relationship had fallen apart so badly.
Learning from that cautionary tale, we began our explanation to Ryu Chung-woo with an almost solemn, nearly grim demeanor.
“…So, right now we’re a group called Testa.”
“Mm.”
We provided visual evidence, Internet access, and witnesses appeared one after another. I’m confident we didn’t lack for materials.
But even after hearing the full explanation, STier-era Ryu Chung-woo remained silent for a while. He simply reviewed the provided materials several more times.
“….”
‘Did we fail again.’
It would naturally be difficult for him to believe immediately.
After all, he was never the type to be interested in such unrealistic matters….
“I see.”
“….”
Huh?
A clean affirmation had suddenly emerged.
Even Cha Yu-jin was taken aback and asked again.
“You believe in us, hyung?”
“Well… it’s hard to believe, but it’s also hard not to believe given the circumstances. You can’t manipulate a portal site, after all.”
Ryu Chung-woo touched the back of his head, then looked at the portal site screen that several members thrust forward on their smartphones—screens he’d accessed multiple times—and offered a wry smile.
Then he turned his gaze to the albums I’d presented, and looked back at me with an expression that was impossible to tell whether he was smiling or grimacing.
“You can’t manipulate all of this either, can you?”
“….”
“So here’s the thing—you have schedules right now, don’t you? I think it would be best to share those as quickly as possible.”
Huh?
“Pardon?”
At Kim Rae-bin’s question, Ryu Chung-woo answered casually.
“Well, I think it’s better for me to handle things to some extent rather than suddenly put group activities on hold.”
“…!”
Ryu Chung-woo looked around at the unfamiliar members and smiled with a hint of embarrassment.
“I’m fairly confident in my skills and perseverance, after all.”
Wait a minute.
‘It wasn’t… X’d out?’
And the situation began to take an unexpected turn.

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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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