I’m Debuting With The Bias I Killed - Chapter 3

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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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Chapter 3
Kang Iyul stepped into the Practice Studio.
In that instant, my feet refused to move—as though they’d been welded to the floor.
I’d seen it clearly. That hand, limp and powerless on the cold asphalt. Drained of all color, bloodless.
Yet the Kang Iyul standing before me now was alive.
Breathing, moving, sweating.
“Thank God……”
The words spilled out unbidden.
Only then did the tension drain from my body.
He was alive. Truly alive.
I exhaled in relief and let my gaze fall—
‘What?’
A white cast wrapped his left arm.
My heart plummeted. The gratitude I’d felt at his survival vanished in an instant, my attention riveted to that arm.
“I had a small accident on the way. Just got some basic treatment.”
The Practice Studio erupted.
“What? What kind of accident?”
“Are you okay?”
“You’re not badly hurt, are you?”
But I heard none of it.
‘An accident? He’s calling it an accident?’
Kang Iyul was the type who never got injured. He’d even laughed about it on the radio.
“I’ve never had surgery.”
……And yet.
‘Something’s wrong.’
Song Inhyuk’s explanation about the survival show barely registered.
A simple injury didn’t sit right. This had never happened before.
My mind began racing.
What had changed from the past?
Only one thing.
‘……Danger Level.’
The word flashed through my mind.
‘Could it be—’
He was alive, but still in danger. Wasn’t he?
[※System Information Unlocked!]
[S: Danger Level indicates the probability of an accident occurring.]
[S: Until Danger Level reaches zero, an accident can occur at any time.]
As if to confirm my suspicion, the status window before my eyes began to flicker.
A curse I hadn’t uttered even when dying escaped my lips unbidden.
Danger Level was a matter of probability. As long as it wasn’t zero, it could erupt at any moment.
And the target was Kang Iyul.
* * *
Song Inhyuk, fresh from a major entertainment company, had a habit of copying whatever was trendy.
The colorful star-patterned blinds that covered one wall of the Practice Studio were a prime example.
He’d installed them after deciding to recreate an iconic practice space like another company’s “cloud blinds.”
‘His taste really is……’
He was definitely the one who’d convinced Kang Iyul to dye his hair that shade of pink.
But now even those glittering stars couldn’t hold my attention. Right after the survival show announcement, group dance class had started.
“Alright, from the eight count—”
At the trainer’s signal, everyone moved in unison.
Everyone but me.
When I raised my arms, my legs tangled. When I turned my head, I missed the beat. My dancing was worse than a mechanical automaton’s.
‘This is driving me insane.’
In the mirror, among all those bodies, I alone was out of sync.
‘This is getting bad.’
Knowing the rhythm and having your body obey were two entirely different things.
“Again.”
Wrong again.
Cold sweat trickled down my spine.
“Yu Seongwoo, you’re going to collide with someone at this rate!”
“Seongwoo, look ahead!”
“Seongwoo, not your left foot—your right!”
My head bowed of its own accord.
“I’m sorry!”
I’d lost count of how many times my name had been called out.
“Jesus.”
“How’s he going to be an idol with a body like that?”
I heard someone laughing at me outright from the back.
“He’s going to bomb on broadcast.”
Well, they weren’t wrong.
‘If I could’ve danced properly from the start, I’d have been an idol ages ago.’
That was why, before the regression, I’d never even considered the idol path despite all the business cards I’d collected.
“Let’s start from the top again.”
That’s when—
“…Hey.”
I turned at the low voice.
It was Kang Iyul. His expression wasn’t good.
“Don’t try to watch all the movements.”
His tone was colder than I’d expected.
“I—yes?”
Kang Iyul jerked his chin toward the back.
“Just… come stand behind me.”
For a moment, I went blank.
‘Did Iyul always talk like that?’
Before the regression, Iyul was always smiling, and his tone was always gentle.
But now—
“You keep breaking the flow because of hyung.”
Oh.
“…I apologize.”
My head dipped reflexively.
‘That’s our Iyul. Only speaks the truth.’
…Truth that stings.
His voice was sharp.
But somehow—
‘I like it.’
…?
‘Wait, hold on.’
My mind slammed on the brakes.
‘Get it together, Yu Seongwoo.’
But it was a tone I’d never heard in broadcasts or fan sign events.
Low, dry. This was genuinely rare—his true voice.
“Just watch the legs from behind.”
“Yes!”
“Forget the upper body. Let’s sync the footwork first.”
The music started again.
This time, I watched only the legs like Iyul said.
One, two—
“Ah—”
For the first time, I hit the beat.
What Iyul had thrown out in frustration turned out to be the perfect fix just for me.
‘If it’s about observing Kang Iyul, I’m confident.’
One movement from Iyul was more effective for me than ten lessons from the trainer.
“Seongwoo’s finally keeping up. Let’s move to the next combination!”
“Yes!”
It wasn’t perfect, but at least it wasn’t a disaster anymore.
“That works.”
His tone was still dry, but it was the first praise I’d ever gotten from him.
‘I’m writing in my journal tonight for sure.’
“Yes, thank you!”
“You don’t have to use formal speech…”
I nodded vigorously, trying to hide the overwhelming surge of emotion threatening to consume me.
Kang Iyul laughed softly at the violent motion. And in that instant, this place transformed into the location where I’d first seen him.
Before the regression, one day, songs simply stopped coming.
No, it wasn’t merely that they wouldn’t come. No matter how hard I wrung my mind, my head was utterly empty.
Of all times, it had to be when I was just beginning to make a name for myself as a producer. Requests poured in, yet I couldn’t produce a single melody.
It was a terrible slump.
I tried bungee jumping, drank myself into oblivion, ran through rain-soaked streets without an umbrella.
None of it made any difference.
Because it was the first thing I’d ever truly desired, losing it without warning cut deeper than anything I’d known.
That day too, I was wandering the streets under the pretense of seeking inspiration.
Then, by pure chance, I happened upon an Impacter performance.
There were almost no spectators. Nine out of ten passersby didn’t even glance at the stage. The venue was far too small for anything else.
I was no different.
‘What is this chaotic song?’
Just as I was turning away, that garish fluorescent hair caught my attention.
The first impression was simple.
A ping-pong ball.
‘The way his hair scattered was exactly the color of a ping-pong ball.’
It was an outdoor stage in the blazing midsummer sun, where the heat from the asphalt rose in waves. Yet that boy danced while smiling.
Sweat streamed down his face, his hair was soaked through, but every movement was alive.
In that moment.
Click, pop—
Something burst in my head. A melody. A new melody.
I pulled out my phone and scribbled down notes like a madman. My hands trembled with urgency.
For the first time in half a year, a song emerged.
That day, I returned to my studio and completed a track. I thought that was the end of this terrible slump.
……But it wasn’t.
I could feel it instinctively. To write songs again, I had to see his performance again.
From that point on, I searched for him obsessively.
It wasn’t easy. First, finding out what that ping-pong ball’s name was, then tracking down Impacter’s schedule when they were already a failed idol group.
I never had any intention of attending a fan meet.
‘What would two men even talk about?’
I just needed to watch him perform, and another melody would come.
But the cruel irony was that the only schedule where I could see Kang Iyul perform was at the fan meet itself.
Once I finally figured out how to apply and arrived at my first fan meet, I’ll never forget that crushing reality check.
I begged a staff member to let me just watch the performance without getting an autograph, earning a look that said ‘what is this crazy guy talking about?’ Those fan meet moments, which everyone else seemed to find too short, felt like an eternity to me. I found myself repeating “Really?” over and over before making my escape—this happened more than once.
But Kang Iyul was the same below the stage. He constantly asked how he could improve, what was lacking in today’s performance, and he genuinely developed with every show.
And he was always kind. On nights when I’d stayed up working, he’d first notice my bloodshot eyes and worry. When I caught a cold, he’d recognize the change in my voice before anything else.
As those moments accumulated, at some point Kang Iyul became more than just inspiration—he became someone I wanted to support.
“Seongwoo, next move!”
That voice snapped at my ear brought me back to myself.
“……Yes!”
Before my eyes was not the past, but Kang Iyul as he is now.
His face as he steadied his breath and pressed through the steps, his hair wet with sweat, his gaze concentrated.
The moment I saw that, I understood.
‘So that was it.’
Why I became your fan.
Not because you were talented. Not because you were flashy.
A person who did his best no matter the circumstances. A person who never gave up until the end. A person whose mere presence gave me inspiration.
I clenched my teeth.
‘I’ll make Impacter a first-tier idol group no matter what.’
Instead of Go Jaeseong, I’ll step in and use every ounce of producing skill I’ve honed to ensure you never become a failed idol. So whenever the time comes when it’s truly necessary, I’ll make sure you can afford the right kind of hair coloring to protect that precious scalp of yours.
From that ping-pong ball head to that final moment I’d rather never think about again—this time, it was my turn to change Kang Iyul’s life.
* * *
“Turn off the lights before you go. I’m leaving first.”
With Han Sangyun, Impacter’s leader, gone, now only two of us remained in the Practice Studio.
Four days after the regression. Nothing had changed.
Kang Iyul, always the last one practicing. And since he was staying, naturally, I couldn’t leave.
Kang Iyul didn’t leave the mirror.
He repeated the same movements over and over, obsessively examining the seemingly perfect choreography for any flaw.
‘So that was all it took…….’
I thought I understood everything.
How many times he’d been pushed back at the threshold of debut, how desperately he wanted it.
But seeing it firsthand was another matter entirely.
Watching him dance like that—even with a cast on his arm—I couldn’t breathe.
An injury that didn’t exist before the regression, a handicap he never should have carried.
‘It’s because of me.’
Guilt tightened around my throat again.
I had no idea how much time had passed. It was well past one in the morning.
My eyelids grew heavy, and Kang Iyul’s movements began to blur at the edges.
Thud!
But that wasn’t just my eyes playing tricks.
“……!”
Kang Iyul had slammed into the wall. His step had twisted beneath him.
I snapped awake.
The day he’d fallen in the past flashed through my mind. Rain had made the stage slick, and each time he stumbled, I’d wanted nothing more than to rush onto that stage and catch him.
What I could only imagine then, I could do now.
But I couldn’t move. The Kang Iyul in the mirror wore an expression I’d never seen before.
A face contorted with pain, fingers clawing at his hair in frustration.
“…….”
My eyes stung. I turned my head away sharply.
The music started again. Kang Iyul resumed dancing as if nothing had happened.
“……God.”
A sigh broke the dam I’d been holding. Once the tears started, they wouldn’t stop. There was no time to wipe them away.
The unbearable truth—that I was the one who killed Kang Iyul—became impossible to bear. I couldn’t take it anymore and forced myself to my feet. I had to get out of this space, now.
Click. The door swung open.
“Huh……?”
Our eyes met.
An employee holding a phone. She had been capturing Kang Iyul’s form—seizing the raw moment without opening the door wider or making a sound.
A moment of absolute silence.
I hurried to wipe my eyes, but it was already too late.
Her camera had already caught me in its frame.
I Debuted by Killing My Favorite (Serialized)
Author | Yu Sseu
Publisher | Kim Ju-hyung
Published by | J Plus Media Co., Ltd.
Marketing | Han Jae-hyuk
Address | 401, 11 Digital-ro 33-gil, Guro-gu, Seoul (Guro-dong, Acetech Tower 8th)
Email | [email protected]
Website | www.jayplemedia.com
ⓒ Yu Sseu 2026
※This work is published by J Plus Media Co., Ltd. in accordance with a contract with the copyright holder. No part of this work may be used or reproduced in any form or by any means without permission from the company and author.
Violation of this may result in criminal and civil legal liability.

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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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