Debut or Die - Chapter 76

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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 76
Big Sae-jin grumbled for quite a while.
“I mean, you’re being way too stubborn about this. I wasn’t even asking for a female idol’s number.”
“….”
If that were the case, something other than glucose would’ve flown at him.
In any case, after Big Sae-jin finished eating the candy and felt better, he started teasing me again once we got in the car.
“Ah, I get it now. Moon-dae, there’s a female idol you’ve been wanting to see?”
No, you idiot.
‘I saw plenty of them at the event anyway.’
I let out a soft laugh and shot back.
“What about you?”
“Oh, me? I married my fans~ Female idols? What was that again?”
At Big Sae-jin’s shameless remark, I heard Ryu Chung-woo laughing.
Kim Rae-bin chimed in seriously.
“That’s right. We should make an effort not to let our guard down excessively toward other groups, regardless of gender.”
“Huh?”
“Because female idols are competitors too…!”
“…?”
Since Kim Rae-bin suddenly spoke with such intensity, everyone fell silent for a moment.
Taking that as some kind of signal, Kim Rae-bin continued his explanation even more seriously.
“Think about it carefully. Being an idol is a long-term competition. But the number of people who like idols is limited. So regardless of gender, as idol groups persist over time and attempt various concepts, the target demographics inevitably overlap more and more…!”
Sun Ah-hyun was visibly startled.
“Oh, I see…!”
“Exactly. That’s why we must never lower our guard against idol groups whose demand overlaps with ours!”
“….”
“…um.”
A brief silence fell.
‘Just… go along with it.’
I forced myself to speak.
“Yeah, that makes sense.”
“…!! Doesn’t it!”
Kim Rae-bin savored the moment of victory for a brief instant, his eyes gleaming. Ryu Chung-woo smoothly took over the conversation.
“Rae-bin’s pretty sharp.”
“Thank you!”
Behind Kim Rae-bin’s spirited voice, I heard Cha Yu-jin muttering quietly.
“Isn’t he an idiot?”
So these fools just dismiss each other. I get it now.

* * *
Music broadcast recordings continued daily until Sunday.
After doing pre-recordings in the dead of night every other day, my head began to spin.
Friday’s broadcast at least started pre-recording at 9 AM, giving me a brief respite, but having to report at 7 AM made little difference.
If I—with my “Bacchus 500” constitution—was struggling this much, the others’ situations were painfully predictable.
‘Lee Sae-jin nearly collapsed yesterday.’
Fortunately, she passed out in the car without getting injured. The Agency seemed shocked by the incident, and afterward, the spartan diet became slightly more generous.
On top of everything, squeezing in reality content in the evenings meant my stamina was being drained at an alarming rate.
‘…and I have to do this every week.’
The only good part was that moment on stage, hearing the crowd’s cheers. Both fans and idols had to endure grueling hours for just that single moment—a truly demanding structure.
Thinking about how many more were crying because they couldn’t seize this opportunity made it even more sobering.
‘They really do squeeze people dry.’
I let out a sigh.
“The number one song on Popular Music for the third week of June is… congratulations, VTIC’s Night Sign!”
Regardless, I finally made it through the last music broadcast of the weekend. I gave the award recipient a mechanical round of applause.
‘At least they didn’t make us do pre-recordings here, so I got some sleep.’
From what I’d heard, they apparently showed some bias against cable audition alumni. Their performance order was suspiciously early in the lineup.
Of course, there were trade-offs. Without pre-recordings, stage composition became limited.
They had to complete their performance in a single live broadcast.
‘For the first week of promotions… pre-recordings would definitely be useful.’
Even as I thought it, I knew it was absurd, but if work-life balance didn’t exist anyway, wasn’t it better to at least get good results?
“Should we take some photos?”
“Yes, let’s!”
“Park Moon-dae, what about a selfie?!”
The moment we returned to the waiting room, photo requests came pouring in.
‘For SNS uploads, I guess.’
These things had to be done. I took the smartphone without complaint and switched to the front camera.
I carefully angled it so all seven of us fit in frame with our upper bodies and outfits visible, then took several shots in rapid succession.
They’d get excited and pick their favorites to post themselves.
Sure enough, an argument broke out over which photo to upload.
“Come on, photo number three is the best, right? All seven of us are smiling clearly—it just looks better~”
“My mouth looks weird. Let’s use the next one!”
“Don’t listen to them. Using a photo where only one person looks good is an irrational decision.”
“A-all the photos turned out well….”
Sun Ah-hyun’s attempt to mediate naturally fell on deaf ears.
In the end, two photos were uploaded—one Big Sae-jin chose and one Cha Yu-jin chose. Lee Sae-jin watched the whole process with a tired expression, shaking her head.
She’d completely forgotten about complaining yesterday that her photo didn’t turn out well.
‘Haha, the team’s running smoothly.’
At least having the camera there prevented the argument from escalating into an actual fight.
Anyway, it seemed like my first week of promotions was wrapping up.
‘…At least the stage response was good.’
I checked whenever I had a moment. Both the view count and overall reception were quite solid.
‘So focusing on dance was the right call after all.’
Truth be told… right before shooting the music video, I invested my last remaining stat point into dance.
Not just vocals, but my actual stage time turned out to be much larger than expected. It was probably a side effect of being ranked first.
‘With so many center positions and transitions, there was no way around it.’
I agonized over other stats until the very end, but ultimately decided that shoring up my weakest area took priority.
‘If a mocking meme starts circulating, it’ll be a headache.’
As a result, my current dance stat is ‘B-‘. It means I dance decently enough.
‘…Of course, with three members at A-rank in dance, I didn’t gain much of an advantage.’
Since this isn’t a solo anymore, I’ll be satisfied with making the leap to contributing meaningfully to the overall quality.
…Besides, watching fans enjoy themselves in Park Moon-dae’s individual fancam is entertaining in its own right.
“You all worked so hard~”
“We wrapped up the first week of promotions safely!”
Before leaving the Waiting Room, the members and staff celebrated with smiles. The manager added a comment.
“And congratulations on the song charting in the top 10~”
“Hahaha!”
That’s right. Just as the manager said, the song was climbing the charts encouragingly.
I recalled the 24Hits ranking screenshot that had been posted in our group chat today.
[#10 Magic Boy ▲4]
[#13 Hi-five ▲3]
‘So broadcast buffs really are a thing.’
What surprised me a bit was that Magic Boy had overtaken us.
It was probably helped by the stage performance, but the song’s replay value also played a role.
‘While some people still find Hi-five tiring to listen to repeatedly, Magic Boy probably didn’t have that problem.’
I was satisfied that my new characteristic for selecting songs seemed quite effective.
…Of course, VTIC still held firm at the top of the music charts. They really were incredible.
‘Hmm, I guess taking first on the broadcast this round is unrealistic.’
From the looks of things, they’d probably release another album before the year ended, and since this album’s performance was decent, there was no need to be overly anxious.
…Though honestly, it would’ve been better if this dog-awful situation of sudden death records updating didn’t exist in the first place.
A deep frustration I’d been forgetting amid the busy schedule tried to bubble up, but I barely suppressed it.
Getting angry won’t change the situation, so I need to calm down.
‘…I’ll be satisfied with putting things on a smooth trajectory.’
I shrugged and grabbed my bag. I heard Ryu Chung-woo asking the manager beside me.
“So we’re heading straight to the Dormitory today?”
“Ah… actually, a meeting just got scheduled for today on short notice.”
“Really?”
“You guys wanted to go on variety shows, right? Well, here’s your chance!”
When the manager spoke brightly, several of us took the bait despite our exhaustion.
“Oh~ what kind of variety show?”
“Are you enjoying the variety show?”
The manager nodded with confidence.
“It’s a program called 【Working Human】!”
“…?”
“TVC is launching it this time, and you know them, right? All the variety shows they’ve made have done well~”
“Ooh!”
A few members bobbed their heads with interest. The manager continued.
“It’s a variety show where you experience unique occupations, and the PD is a good person. Everyone has high expectations. They specifically said they want to work with Testa, so let’s give it our best shot!”
“….”
…Ah, I can already sense it.
‘Something felt off from the moment his tongue got loose.’
TVC is a broadcasting station under T1’s umbrella. In other words, they want to use Testa for buzz value since they’re launching a new variety show within the family company.
And this is a program I’ve never even heard the name of, coming from three years in the future.
‘They’re pushing it because the show’s going to flop.’
Right now, other broadcasters still can’t knock Testa out of first place, so they’re awkwardly maneuvering around offering love calls to cable audition alumni through variety show appearances.
‘They couldn’t wait for that deal and are burning Testa’s first variety show special here?’
Watching the company make such an unproductive choice for the group while they’re busy drawing up grand schemes is infuriating.
But the clueless members are cheerfully responding to the manager.
“Yes!”
“Understood!”
“…Yes.”
I ended up nodding too.
Right. What’s the point of arguing when cameras are rolling? Rookies don’t have the right to refuse schedules anyway—I’ll just do it without complaint.
And just then, my eyes met Big Sae-jin’s, who was smiling and nodding.
“….”
That look says it all—this sucks, but what can we do?
Later, when I casually asked in the car, apparently the first episode of 【Working Human】 that aired previously had a catastrophic response.
‘Of course.’
I thought I’d already abandoned all expectations for the company, but it seems I’d foolishly recovered some hope while preparing the album.
Time to let go completely.

* * *
“Hello there~”
It seemed the Agency and appearance details had already been settled, as cameras were present at the meeting with 【Working Human】.
‘They’ve already coordinated everything among themselves.’
“I’ll just ask a few preliminary questions first.”
“Sure!”
With the next shoot looming, the meeting wrapped up hastily after exchanging roughly a dozen questions and answers, skipping the usual pleasantries.
True to the 【Working Human】 title, the questions primarily focused on what kind of work I wanted to do.
‘…Not working at all would be ideal.’
But given my current profession, I couldn’t exactly give that answer, so I rattled off a few reasonably unusual occupations instead.
‘They’re in a rush.’
The Production Team hurriedly collected all the Q&A they needed and wrapped up the meeting. You could see the desperation written all over their faces.
‘The first episode must not have done well if people are divided like this.’
In any case, thanks to their haste, I managed to get back in the car heading to the Dormitory before it got completely dark.
“Come on, everyone raise your hands~”
I was mechanically waving at Big Sae-jin, who was filming a video to post on SNS, when my phone vibrated in my pocket.
‘I have a bad feeling about this.’
After confirming Big Sae-jin had finished filming and turned off the camera, I checked my smartphone.
[VTIC Chung-ryeo: I’m reaching out since you haven’t contacted me. Is this the right number for Park Moon-dae? ^^]
“….”
Ugh, this feels so uncomfortable.
‘Is he subtly guilt-tripping me for not reaching out first as a rookie?’
I knew full well he didn’t get my number because he genuinely wanted to be close.
Still, I couldn’t ignore him based on seniority, so I sent a reply.
[I haven’t been checking my phone much, so I apologize for the late response. Thank you, senior.]
A reply came back instantly.
[VTIC Chung-ryeo: No need to apologize. I just thought we could stay in touch and say hello.]
I’m exhausted.
I sent back a brief response along the lines of ‘understood, thanks’ and turned off my phone entirely.
‘I’ll just change my status tomorrow to say I’m slow at checking messages.’
Anyway, strange people kept texting me out of nowhere—I had no idea how they got my number—and it was getting annoying.
I’ll block calls from numbers not in my contacts and change my status message too.
‘So today is… just a regular day off, then.’
Just as I was about to doze off in the car, I heard Ryu Chung-woo’s voice.
“Hey guys, I’ve noticed our choreography timing is getting a bit off for each of us. Don’t you think we should nail it down while we have the time?”
“….”
Sleep vanished instantly.
Looking around, everyone’s faces screamed ‘I want to rest,’ but faced with his valid point, no one could muster a rebuttal—only the silent, implicit agreement hung in the air.
I stifled a sigh.
‘…So much for clocking out.’
I should go practice.

* * *
While Testa powered through their murderous schedule during the first week of activities, fans were basking in the overflow of content.
That very fact became the driving force that kept Testa diligently following their schedule.
-The first week music broadcast cross-edit just dropped on YouTube and it’s absolutely insane (link)
-This week’s reality showcase episode was so good! The kids doing their hair was so cute and I cried when they were seriously preparing for the stage. Let’s go testa for a long timeㅠㅠ
-CQ photo shoot and interview behind-the-scenes released. The magazine sold out completely. (link)
“Ugh… I’m late…”
└Please take a lot of additional photos..ㅠㅠ
Since Testa’s contract wasn’t short-term, the Agency deliberately focused on creating an atmosphere where fans loved the group itself rather than employing marketing tactics that pitted members against each other.
And those efforts were taking root in the fanbase.
With the group using only one SNS and frequently posting photos together, there was now barely any backlash to it.
However, there was one area where they couldn’t do the same.
Random photocards included in the album.
Since it directly affected album sales, the random photocards of members included in albums were inserted according to traditional marketing tactics.
As a result, people who wanted to criticize Testa swarmed the related comparison posts and talked excitedly.
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[Testa Photocard Trading Price Ranking]
: Cha Yu-jin >= Park Moon-dae > Sun Ah-hyun > Kim Rae-bin = Big Sae-jin >= Ryu Chung-woo >> Lee Sae-jin
+) Statistics from secondhand market. We don’t accept reality denial~ (link)
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As expected, Cha Yu-jin is in first place lol
“Hey Park Moon-dae, hand over the ending center lolol Did it feel good getting first place by selling out your dead parents~”
-Lee Sae-jin is really useless everywhere? Does he do anything besides taking up screen time in music videos?
“Ryu Chung-woo’s bubble finally burst. I thought there’d be no core when I saw the final rankings lol”
-Please stop pretending to be popular, pretending to control the situation, and pretending to be a cheerful and handsome guy. Big Sejin, unpopular members don’t show off like that.
-With that face, Sun Ah-hyun being #3 is the limit. Maybe he should’ve chosen a job where he doesn’t talk. Like a pictorial model instead of being an idol!
No matter how much fans reported or ignored it, there were limits. The envy and anger poured onto Testa—a rising group “just before exceeding imagination”—was incomprehensibly intense.
Since that mockery was directed at every member from all angles, it paradoxically created a strange sense of unity among the fans.
-Don’t feed the crazy people
-How long has it been since Ajusa ended and they’re still obsessed with ranking members? They’re definitely not real fans or individual fans
“This is right. If you’re a real fan, does it even make sense to be expressing yourself like that in those kinds of posts lol”
-Don’t be swayed by those delusional people who think they know everything because they watched Ajusa. We just need to focus on the members.
-Right, Testa is doing so well that there’s no need to waste emotions on that stuff. It’s just clueless Agency or losers
Among them, they weren’t just formally expressing it—a genuine identity as “group fans” was slowly forming.
And right around that moment, a special event was approaching.
Testa’s first fan signing event.

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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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