Debut or Die - Chapter 87

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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 87
“What in the…?”
Ryu Chung-woo muttered as he surveyed the Living Room, which looked like it had been hit by a balloon bomb, then stopped. Probably because he’d spotted the familiar rotating lens nestled between the balloons.
The familiar reality show camera had returned.
‘So reshooting starts today.’
Since I’d barely been spending time at the Dormitory lately, the reality camera would only show up briefly when we were shooting content, then disappear again.
‘Besides, we’d already milked the activity and daily life content so much that there was nothing left to use.’
But since this was the first time we were doing something this elaborate, the members hesitantly made their way into the Living Room.
And there, among the swaying balloons, they discovered an enormous note. It was so large that while it was technically just a piece of paper, it took up a quarter of the Living Room wall.
[Special! Testa’s 1st Place Commemorative Trip]
“Huh?”
“…A trip?”
“A trip!”
Cha Yu-jin immediately kicked at the balloons and rushed toward the wall. Colorful balloons—clearly chosen from three official Pantone numbers—went flying through the air.
“This is torn! What’s inside!”
“Yu-jin, be careful!”
“Okay.”
Cha Yu-jin, apparently remembering the scolding from last time, placed the note down obediently with a slightly deflated expression.
“Right, let’s check it together.”
“Yes…”
I wasn’t sure why we had to do it this way, but for the sake of the broadcast footage, we all tore open the note together.
“One, two, three!”
And then a massive roulette wheel appeared.
‘…A roulette wheel, huh.’
Just hearing the word made me want to flashback.
But the members were excited at the prospect of actual travel content.
“Wow! What’s this?”
“Luck or misfortune?”
“It says ‘Travel Luck or Misfortune’!”
Just as Kim Rae-bin said, the top of the wheel displayed 【Travel Luck or Misfortune】 in large letters. Below that, an explanation continued in reasonably sized text.
“Hmm~ ‘You will spin this roulette together to determine the concept of this trip… A 1-night, 2-day Testa friendship trip!’ Wow, this is really elaborate, isn’t it?”
“This is amazing!”
“C-come on, let’s spin it…!?”
Even Sun Ah-hyun, who’d seemed a bit down, got excited and rushed to the roulette. The wheel had seven sections total, each labeled with a different theme.
[Healing, Mukbang, Adventure, Extreme, Theme Park, History, Fruit.]
“Ooh~”
The keywords were filled with distinctly interesting options.
‘Healing would be the best.’
At a glance, it seemed like the kind of schedule where we’d go somewhere in the mountains and live a rural lifestyle. It’d be the easiest, and aside from housework, there wouldn’t be much physical exertion.
“I want to do Adventure.”
“This is so healing.”
“The mukbang segment seems like it was totally made for Moon-dae, right?”
Just as they were voicing their preferences while considering the content length, they couldn’t hold back any longer and excitedly gathered around the roulette wheel.
“Let’s all grab it together and spin at the same time!”
“Yeah, let’s do it. Moon-dae, come over here quick!”
“…Sure.”
As a result, the camera captured the bizarre scene of all six of us spinning the roulette wheel together.
‘Please, just let it land on something heartwarming.’
I murmured my hopes while touching the roulette wheel simultaneously with the members.
“Ooooh~”
“It’s spinning!”
‘Of course it’s spinning—what else would it do?’
We’d spun it with considerable force, and the roulette wheel rotated quite vigorously before finally coming to a stop.
“Theme park…!”
Contrary to Kim Rae-bin’s desperate words, the wheel passed right over the purple section for theme park and landed on red.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa!”
And in that vivid red section, the theme was written in an avant-garde font.
[Extreme Travel]
“…Extreme?”
“Ah, Extreme!”
Cha Yu-jin finally grasped the meaning of the word and raised both hands with a grin.
‘Cha Yu-jin’s pleased?’
Nothing could have felt more ominous.
And shortly after, a text from the Production Team arrived on Ryu Chung-woo’s smartphone.
[Testa’s travel theme this time is Extreme~]
[We’ll treat you to an exciting theme where you can experience the thrill of extreme pleasure! *^^*]
[※No backing out!]
“No… no backing out…?”
“Uh…, uh-huh-huh….”
As if their survival show instincts had kicked in, the members’ expressions began to shift.
“….”
I approached the roulette wheel.
“Moon-dae?”
And I spun the roulette again.
Spinning and spinning, the roulette wheel rotated earnestly….
It landed on Extreme Travel again.
…I spun it once more.
Whirring…, click.
…Extreme again.
And the members understood the situation.
“…!!”
“…That’s a scam!!”
For the record, when I met with the Production Team the next day, they chuckled to themselves while saying they had to arrange the schedule first, and obviously they couldn’t possibly let all seven locations fall through, could they?
‘These bastards….’
I could feel their determination to squeeze viewership ratings out of the travel content no matter what.
…Honestly, I had a bad feeling about this.

* * *
[Checked late because of the schedule. Congratulations on first place on Music Chart.]
[Thank you, senior.]
I was replying to a text that had arrived the moment I woke up this morning, and it was getting ridiculous.
Even though I’d written in my status message that I check late, they kept sending messages.
For the record, the person was Chung-ryeo from VTIC.
‘This guy’s really annoying.’
There’s no way he checked late when he was also a first-place candidate.
Obviously someone from his group would have told him on the day itself. There’s no way he wouldn’t have heard about the three-week consecutive broadcast network triple crown being blocked.
‘He definitely contacted me on purpose to be annoying.’
Sure enough, a reply came soon after.
[I hope you get first place faster next time.]
It meant: don’t bother me with simultaneous releases and just get out of the way—that way we each get our own first place and wouldn’t it be great.
[Thank you. I hope you have a good day, senior.]
‘Can’t really ignore this shit.’
I turned off the notification anyway. Every time I meet with the Director, there are all kinds of annoying people causing trouble.
“Let’s! Get! Ready! To! Go!”
“H-hey, Moon-dae, did you… did you pack everything?”
“Yeah. Just a second.”
The moment I turned off my smartphone, loud clattering sounds started echoing everywhere.
‘Departure preparation filming….’
The beginning of a reality travel content series.
“That’s all?”
“Yeah.”
“You sure you’ll be okay?”
“Of course.”
The moment I slung on a single backpack, people started chiming in from all directions saying my luggage seemed way too light.
‘It’s only one night, two days.’
It’s a package tour where we just go wherever the Production Team tells us to go anyway. Clothes and a toothbrush should be enough, right?
“What about snacks?”
“What?”
“What about snacks?”
“…Snacks.”
“Yes!”
“Let’s go grab some snacks.”
“Okay….”
In Cha Yu-jin’s eyes, I’ve apparently become his personal snack supplier.
‘I feel like a delivery boy.’
It’s such a prestigious title I never even earned back in high school—I can’t wrap my head around it.
“Alright then… we’re finally heading out on our first trip~”
“Woohoo!!”
“I hope we make lots of wonderful memories!”
Regardless, we nailed the opening in front of the Production Team’s cameras. Despite being duped, everyone was visibly buzzing with excitement at the mention of a trip.
‘It’s been relentless, though.’
From the debut album preparations until now, we’ve been running non-stop for about two months without a break.
But I should have seen it coming when the Production Team started snickering to themselves like that.
About three hours later.
We arrived at a Rural Village nestled beneath some mountain at the edge of Gyeonggi Province.
“Welcome to your first destination, Testa members! Congratulations!”
“Woohoo!!”
“The scenery is really beautiful!”
It was a bit hot, but the weather was definitely nice. The PD shouted through a megaphone at the members, whose faces were flushed from the outdoor activity after so long.
“Your first extreme activity is… skydiving!”
“…!?”
The atmosphere froze solid.
“See that small aircraft up there?”
Whirrrrrr.
A black aircraft zipped across the blue sky.
“You’ll be getting on that and jumping out.”
“…!!”
And then chaos erupted.
“Ahhhhhhhhh!!”
“This is completely safe… I’m safe….”
“Hahahahahaha!”
“…Is it not possible to quit halfway through?”
“Come on, we’re already paying for the plane ride~ and we’ve already paid for everything anyway?”
“….”
At the instructor’s casual response, Lee Sae-jin’s face turned ashen.
‘This is a mess.’
Still, the Production Team did provide one last safety net.
-If you really can’t do it, you can just come back down. However, the next course will be twice as intense!
‘I have a feeling the fans are going to crucify us for this.’
If anyone actually broke down crying that they couldn’t do it, we’d get absolutely roasted online for making an idol reality show unnecessarily sadistic, and we’d have to issue an apology statement.
But such moments seemed rare.
“Alright, one person at a time, everyone jump!”
“Ahhhhh!”
These guys were surprisingly gutsy, every last one of them.
They were the ones who’d clawed their way through Ajusa, so perhaps it was only natural.
Either way, from Kim Rae-bin huddled in the corner muttering to himself to Cha Yu-jin bouncing excitedly on his feet, they all jumped without hesitation.
Having an instructor behind them probably bolstered their courage as well.
“Alright, let’s go!”
“Yes, yes…!!”
Sun Ah-hyun jumped without any issues either.
‘Next is me.’
I’d somehow ended up as the last one again. That surprise VCR from Ajusa flickered through my mind.
‘This isn’t even scary.’
It’s not like I’m going to die or get seriously hurt. I just don’t quite understand why we’re paying for this.
“Alright, we jump together. Take a deep breath.”
“Okay.”
“Wow, this guy’s got nerves of steel! Let’s do it!”
Whoosh.
Wind pierced my face.
“…Hah!”
“Feels good, right~?”
It did.
…I hadn’t expected this.
A brilliant blue sky stretched out in all directions.
Beyond the azure horizon, mountains and fields unfolded endlessly.
Sunlight stung my eyes, yet it wasn’t hot. Wind swirled around me.
“Alright, parachute~”
With a soft pop and a jolt, my body slowed and hung suspended in the air, drifting gently on the wind.
It was an overwhelming sense of liberation.
“You’re doing great! Hold this and… let’s try pushing like this!”
“….”
If I’d continued living as Ryu Gun-woo, would I have ever even considered doing something like this?
‘Absolutely not.’
I would’ve said why waste money jumping out of the sky like that.
But now I was doing it.
And there had been so many moments like this. Achievements, performances, fans, cheers…. The sensation of truly living.
‘…It’s strange.’
Whether it was an abnormal condition or anything else didn’t matter anymore.
Strangely enough, I was pleased with being Park Moon-dae.
“Alright, time to land!”
The moment we touched down, those who’d gone ahead were laughing and waving their hands.
“Moon-dae’s here~”
…Well, extreme travel doesn’t sound half bad. I smiled and set my feet on the ground.

* * *
Did I really say it didn’t sound half bad?
“Alright, the second extreme experience of the day! It’s the ‘Haunted House Invitation’!”
“Ahhhhh!!”
I’m canceling right now. The Production Team has no sense of moderation.
“Can you see the building up ahead?”
“Yes…!”
“I can see it, but…!”
Several members already certified as cowards were whimpering. The PD was excitedly blaring through the megaphone.
“It’s a horror experience Set operated by a horror production specialist team that just arrived in Korea!”
“Ugghhhhh….”
“It’s only running this summer, so this is your only chance!”
This detailed explanation… meant product placement.
Lee Sae-jin muttered beside me with a gloomy expression.
“If we’d just survived this summer, that would’ve been enough….”
“….”
Tell me about it.
“So everyone, we’ll now divide you into groups to enter the ‘Haunted House Invitation’!”
“We…! We have bad memories about making groups…!”
“We’ll all enter together!”
…But of course, that fell on deaf ears, and Testa began dividing us into entry groups.

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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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