Debut or Die - Chapter 66

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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 66
From the moment I first met with the Agency representative, something felt off.
This person had been working in the Planning and Marketing Team at a different subsidiary of T1, and had just been appointed as division head.
In other words, this guy was now the head of the Agency’s business division, but had zero experience in the entertainment industry.
‘Damn it.’
Fortunately, the Content Production Team under him seemed to be staffed with experienced professionals, but this bastard was spouting nonsense about some grand vision.
“A worldbuilding concept?”
“These days, pretty much every idol group targeting global fandom has some kind of worldbuilding, right? You know? All these young kids love that kind of stuff… like anime and cartoons.”
“….”
He was completely out of touch with reality.
Worldbuilding? Fine.
But if we’re releasing new music within a month, shouldn’t we be talking about the actual song first instead of worldbuilding? Even for a single, the music should come up immediately.
And Testa didn’t need worldbuilding urgently.
‘We already created characters and storylines through the audition program, so what is he talking about…’
From what I understood, worldbuilding was supposed to give fans content to immerse themselves in and enjoy, but Ajusa itself was already handling that kind of content.
Besides, the members had already gone through the debut process and established their public recognition and positioning.
All the Agency needed to do was bring a commercially appealing song, refined choreography, and stylish costumes.
We could sketch out the worldbuilding framework roughly and build it up slowly while preparing the next album.
‘Did he watch some kind of lecture or something?’
Recently, agencies had been emphasizing their own independent capabilities because of stock issues, so they kept bringing up worldbuilding like it was some grand century-spanning plan. This guy seemed to have fallen for it too.
‘It’s because of his background.’
What was even more infuriating was that he was working hard without really understanding what he was doing.
“…Us?”
“Yeah! I watched the broadcast and you all did great.”
The division head said he had thoroughly “binge-watched” Ajusa and praised each member, then dropped a bombshell.
“Anyway, let me be clear right now. We’re going to have two songs for our activities.”
“…?!”
“But the company will handle one song exclusively. For the other song, we want you capable folks at Testa to take charge and produce it, yeah?”
Of course, he’d be the one confirming and making revisions.
“If you match it with our worldbuilding concept, like this, it’d be great, right? Self-producing!”
He went on about how self-produced idols were all the rage and this and that.
He wanted to do everything that others said was good.
He seemed to covet the image of an “autonomous and hip” new-generation agency.
Naturally, the members were taken aback, but like those who had safely navigated through Ajusa—where schemes and machinations ran rampant—they didn’t show it much.
“Ah, we really appreciate it, but… we’re worried our capabilities alone might not be enough.”
“Hmm~ Of course all the staff will work on it together. You all should feel free! You know, artists’ creativity, inspiration, that sort of thing—just express it well.”
“Yes…”
With this high-ranking person being so firm, even Ryu Chung-woo, who had been trying to salvage the situation, swallowed his words with a bitter smile.
Kim Rae-bin’s expression had already gone blank.
‘He’s completely lost it.’
I’d been lost in thought about what needed to be done, only to find myself completely drained by the sheer volume of work relative to the timeframe.
“Well then, we have plenty to do ourselves, so shall we wrap this up?”
“Yes, yes.”
The division head said what he needed to say and left. I could see the satisfaction on his face as he congratulated himself for personally making time to look after Testa.
‘…So the representative director was the T1 owner’s nephew.’
I could already see the future unfolding.
‘…If we don’t hit number one on opening week, this is going to be rough.’
Looking back, I should have seen this coming from the moment T1 suddenly created a new agency, claiming they’d poach the Ajusa debut group.
‘Since they’re literally fighting to steal us away… there’s no way they could have inherited the debut album preparations that the original agency had been working on.’
As a result, we ended up having to create a brand new album from scratch.
On top of that, someone unfamiliar with industry standards is sitting above the working team, spouting nonsense left and right, and the deadlines are absurdly tight.
‘Man, I really want to quit.’
…Once again, I reminded myself not to expect much from this company.
The subsequent meetings with a few people from the Content Production Team and the A&R Team under Production Division painted the same picture.
These people hadn’t produced any results yet either.
…Though that was understandable. The agency had only been around for less than two weeks.
“Well… for now, our worldview is going to center around a ‘High School’ motif.”
“Ah… yes.”
“If you could keep that in mind as the foundation, that would be great. Um….”
Beyond saying the worldview was school-related, there wasn’t much practical substance to it.
“Of course, I’m not asking you to create the songs yourselves. Once we get final confirmation, we’ll send you the candidate tracks right away, so please take a look at them.”
“Yes!”
“What about the timeline?”
“Ah, well… we’re looking at within two days.”
The saving grace was that these people genuinely liked the Testa members.
‘They’re really reaping the benefits of that nationwide hit Audition Program.’
With a group that had guaranteed baseline success, combined with personal goodwill, the treatment was far more respectful.
“They really ask for our opinions a lot.”
Big Sae-jin said this as we were leaving the meeting.
“Wow, normally they don’t, right?”
“No!”
“Not at all!”
Surprisingly passionate reactions erupted from Cha Yu-jin and Kim Rae-bin. Sun Ah-hyun was taken aback.
“They don’t listen to what you say!”
“They don’t give you any say at all. The atmosphere is so firmly established that just following orders diligently is considered a virtue!”
“Uh, uh-huh….”
Cha Yu-jin and Kim Rae-bin had recorded their debut track at their previous agency before it all fell through, so they clearly had a lot pent up.
‘That agency was doing really well at the time. Maybe… their flagship idol got sued over an illegal contract and left, causing the whole thing to collapse.’
It seemed like those two got caught up in that mess, left the agency, and ended up on the Audition Program.
“There are some concerns, but it’s a good environment to work hard in. Let’s do our best.”
“Yes!”
“Yes!”
Ryu Chung-woo smiled as he counted the members and got in the car.
There was no explicit discussion about it, but the atmosphere made it almost certain that Ryu Chung-woo was the leader.
For one, Lee Sae-jin, the oldest and my age, wasn’t the type to be a leader, and the Agency preferred having the eldest member take the role whenever possible.
We’d go through a convincing process via reality content, but it was practically decided.
I had no complaints.
“Nice place~ …huh?”
“What?”
“A claw machine!”
Cha Yu-jin was the first to enter the Living Room and spotted the claw machine, rushing toward it.
The director had called people at the crack of dawn, and I’d left in a daze—I’d completely forgotten this thing existed.
‘At least the reaction is genuine.’
I walked over and examined it. Cameras were installed both inside and outside the machine.
The robot vacuum reappeared and handed over a card. Apparently, we were supposed to grab a plush toy and complete the mission inside it.
“Hmm, ‘Each plush toy has an anonymous mission for a Testa member attached’… Oh, I’m curious.”
“Let’s grab one!”
Most of the members were excited and crowded around the machine. Cha Yu-jin, who grabbed the controls first, took his turn.
“Here goes!”
The result was a pathetic failure.
“…The machine’s broken.”
“Let me give it a try~”
Big Sae-jin took the joystick from a deflated Cha Yu-jin and moved it enthusiastically.
And he failed just the same.
“Yeah. The machine’s definitely broken.”
What followed was an endless parade of failures.
As the members made pathetic excuses refusing to accept the results, I politely declined my turn.
‘Too much trouble.’
Eventually, someone would grab one.
And it was Lee Sae-jin who took the controls.
“…What should I grab?”
“A rabbit!”
“A, a puppy….”
And Lee Sae-jin succeeded on the first try.
“…!”
The moment the fluffy brown rabbit’s rear end dropped into the chute, the members accepted the result.
“Wow, woooow!!”
“You’ve got some serious skill, hyung.”
“So it was possible to grab one on the first try.”
“Can we grab the others too?”
However, the claw machine had already stopped operating.
It seemed to be a home-use model designed to automatically shut down once a prize was retrieved.
Behind Kim Rae-bin, who kept muttering that he’d definitely get one tomorrow, the members rushed over to the rabbit plush toy.
When we flipped the plush over, a card was attached to its belly.
“Well then, let’s see who wrote what…”
[Watch a horror movie together~*^^*]
“….”
“…Really?”
“No way.”
Big Sae-jin waved his hand dismissively, overflowing with confidence that he’d written down better content ideas.
And Ryu Chung-woo answered gently.
“Oh, that was me.”
“…Wow! That sounds fun. A horror movie!”
“I’m… really looking forward to it…!”
The handwriting of the senior we weren’t particularly close to urgently created a pleasant atmosphere.
In the end, that evening was spent watching a horror movie. I focused on the popcorn and half-watched the film. Screams echoed through the room.
It was a waste of time, but at least my body felt relaxed.
And the next day, debut title track candidate demos arrived at the crack of dawn.
It was time for my body to suffer.

* * *
“My ears hurt.”
After listening to all the demo tracks about twenty times with the volume turned up as high as it would go, that was Cha Yu-jin’s comment.
At those words, nearly everyone except Kim Rae-bin gave a faint nod of agreement.
Those who had eagerly attached themselves to the tracks with excitement at the thought of them being their own songs had exhausted themselves after spending hours obsessing over the music.
“…It doesn’t seem like there will be much change even if we listen more, so let’s do a first round of voting.”
“Yes~”
“Then starting with number one.”
That’s how we went through all eleven.
A pattern was already emerging. It was similar to what we’d already seen while working on Ajusa.
Sun Ah-hyun and Ryu Chung-woo both preferred medium tempo. In particular, Sun Ah-hyun loved lyrical songs.
And Kim Rae-bin and Cha Yu-jin preferred songs with strong bass and rhythmic elements.
Big Sae-jin chose whatever genre was trending. And he only raised his hand for songs with kitschy melodies.
Lee Sae-jin only raised her hand for one song, so I couldn’t tell her preference. That left me… and I just picked what sounded good.
That was acceptable in this situation.
After all, I’d acquired this trait from the ‘Successful Stage’ popup that appeared during the final live broadcast of Ajusa.
[Trait: Discerning Ear (A)]
-This song seems like it’ll do well?
: Hit Song Detection Ability +200%
The rank was actually an A.
It landed on a platinum-colored slot—one appearing roughly every ten spaces.
‘Regardless of grade, I absolutely had to keep this.’
If I was going to pursue music, there was no trait more valuable than this.
Because of it, I’d sacrificed the “I Want to Be Center” trait, which would have raised my Charisma stat by one tier, but it was worth the cost.
I’d actually considered discarding “That Makes Sense When You Put It That Way,” but it seemed useful across various situations, so I kept it for now.
‘Besides, I’d already compensated for the dropped Charisma stat by leveling up through practice and stage achievements during the finals.’
So my current status window looked like this.
[Name: Park Moon-dae (Ryu Gun-woo)]
Level: 13
Title: None
Vocals: A
Dance: C+
Appearance: B+
Charisma: B-
Traits: Infinite Potential, That Makes Sense When You Put It That Way (C), Bacchus 500 (B), Discerning Ear (A)
!Abnormal Status: Death if Not First Place
Remaining Points: 1]
The problem was that the song evaluation ability I’d just acquired wasn’t added as a fixed value but as a percentage multiplier.
‘Basically, if my ear was initially poor, the improvement would be ambiguous.’
It wasn’t a field I’d paid much attention to before, so I wasn’t entirely sure, but with a 300% amplification, I figured it would work reasonably well regardless.
So the song I chose was….
“Then Moon-dae, you’re just picking number seven?”
“Yes.”
Just number seven alone.
The song was somewhat ethereal, but with a trendy beat and accessible melody, it was uniquely pleasant to listen to.
‘The rest were weak.’
The progression dragged or got boring quickly. I’m not claiming to understand music theory—I was just trusting my “ear” to judge.
Still, it must have sounded convincing, because Kim Rae-bin’s eyes lit up.
“You definitely have a good ear. Number seven is the most polished, for sure.”
“Hey, Rae-bin, that’s too much—so mine isn’t good?”
“Oh, no, that’s not what I meant….”
As Kim Rae-bin broke into a cold sweat at Big Sae-jin’s joke, Ryu Chung-woo smiled faintly and summarized the situation.
“So we’re tied with number two and number seven. Let’s focus on researching these two songs.”
“Roger~”
Number two was an easy-to-listen R&B-style track.
‘I didn’t raise my hand because it got boring fast.’
Either way, everyone seemed exhausted and agreed without complaint.
‘I need to push number seven harder next time.’
As soon as we finished the morning session, another call came in.
It was a meeting with the Content Production Team. Apparently, the company had selected the title track they were producing.
‘…Shouldn’t we normally discuss the song with the A&R Team under Production Division?’
I had a bad feeling about this too, but there was no way to avoid it.
And the song they brought out was….
“What do you think? It’s good, right?”
“…Yes.”
The song itself was excellent.
The problem was they’d paired a disco track with a baseball club concept….
I was going insane.

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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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