I’m Debuting With The Bias I Killed - Chapter 5

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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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Episode 5
Kang I-yul laughed awkwardly.
“…Ah. I had another hairstyle in mind.”
‘Right. That ridiculous pomeranian cut.’
I-yul.
I like you, I really do, but that’s absolutely not it.
I drove the nail home without a shred of hesitation.
“Black hair suits you best.”
Since I’d already said it out loud, there was nothing to do but see it through.
Kang I-yul stared at me, his expression radiating pure bewilderment.
“…Why?”
“Because you’re good-looking.”
Silence stretched between us again.
This time it lingered.
Someone muttered “crazy” under their breath.
“…Ah.”
The tips of Kang I-yul’s ears slowly flushed crimson.
‘He’s weak to compliments, same as always.’
“Don’t dye your hair just to hide a handsome face.”
Kang I-yul opened his mouth, then closed it again.
He was choosing his words carefully.
“But why are you telling me this—”
“You just asked.”
I parried smoothly.
“Whether you should dye your hair or not.”
“That was just me thinking out loud—”
“So I answered you?”
Kang I-yul stared at me, lost for words.
‘Well, what of it.’
Yu Sung-woo always said that life is all about momentum.
“And suddenly saying something weird like that—”
“What? That you’re good-looking?”
“…”
I shrugged my shoulders.
“If someone’s good-looking, you call them good-looking. What else would you call it?”
Behind me, all hell broke loose.
We’d come this far—there was absolutely no turning back now.
Kang I-yul brushed his face with his hand once.
“…Ha.”
He laughed like he couldn’t believe it, but there was no displeasure in his eyes.
This was it—the moment to push.
“And what if you grew out your bangs a little longer?”
I was planning to press my advantage while the iron was hot.
“Longer?”
“Yes, so your forehead shows just a bit.”
Before the regression, as I-yul progressed deeper into the survival show, the evaluation of his visuals improved. It came as his hair grew out.
A hairstyle that others mocked as looking like a mussel somehow suited I-yul perfectly.
‘The way it fluttered across the stage was pure art.’
The designer nodded right on cue.
“That’s good, isn’t it?”
“Yes?”
“Your forehead and face shape are pretty—it’d really bring out the whole vibe.”
With the designer joining in, his expression shifted to one of consideration.
‘He’s cracking… he’s cracking…’
“…Do that, please.”
“Got it!”
…An exclamation slipped out of my mouth before I could stop it.
At this point, there was nothing left to be embarrassed about anyway.
“Wow—”
Kang I-yul let out a small murmur of admiration as he finished his hair.
Before the regression, Kang I-yul had emerged with brown hair like a mongrel dog’s coat. Handsome as he was even with it, black hair was something else entirely.
‘Right. Black’s definitely the way to go.’
“I never would’ve thought of a style like this.”
He hesitated for a moment, then looked at me.
“…Thank you.”
More than his words, it was his hands that moved me.
Both palms pressed together as if in prayer—a habit that always surfaced when he was genuinely delighted or excited.
For an instant, my chest felt oddly heavy.
While I-yul stepped away briefly, the stylist turned to me.
“For someone who just said thank you…”
“Excuse me?”
“Isn’t his reaction a little too subdued?”
What are you talking about? Our I-yul almost just flew through the ceiling. He nearly sprouted puppy ears right there?
“He’s absolutely thrilled right now.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“How can you tell?”
I smiled instead of answering.
Three years deep in my devotion to Kang I-yul—I could read him in an instant.
* * *
The makeover continued through to makeup.
“Tee-hee—”
The ticklish brushstrokes drew quiet suppressed laughter from around the room. Everyone stood with their lips pressed tight, looking awkward under the unfamiliar touch of the artists’ hands, and it was endearing.
The moment all the preparations wrapped up, the staff moved with practiced efficiency, gathering equipment.
“We’re heading straight to the Profile Shooting studio now.”
‘Wow, they’re really running a tight ship.’
You could feel the company’s fierce determination to extract every ounce of value.
‘I mean, it’s already taken hours just to do makeup on twenty people.’
…It was entirely reasonable.
When we arrived at the Studio, I took a moment to collect myself.
‘I-yul’s first Profile Shooting!’
Before the regression, I never could have imagined witnessing this—the very beginning of my favorite person’s journey, right beside him.
My heart raced without warning.
In the Waiting Room, everyone changed into identical outfits: white t-shirts and blue jeans—the biggest reason I’d insisted on the black hair.
Han Sang-yun, the oldest trainee at Nix Entertainment, went first.
Which meant I’d be going last.
‘This is going to take a while.’
But there was one bright side: I-yul would be up soon.
The moment I-yul, makeup finished, stepped into the Studio.
Click—
The photographer’s shutter snapped reflexively.
He hadn’t even taken his pose yet.
“Wow—”
A short exclamation rang out louder than expected. Murmurs rippled through the room.
The long bangs framing his face, the forehead just barely visible—nothing excessive, yet every element commanded attention.
The understated styling only amplified the luminous beauty of those features.
The photographer smiled as he checked the camera display.
“This is already an A-Cut?”
“He’s a trainee? His Camera Appeal is insane.”
The staff members nodded one by one.
“The styling suits him perfectly too—”
At the flood of praise, Kang I-yul modestly clasped both his hands together.
I felt a silent cheer erupt inside me.
‘Yes. This is right.’
This face deserved exactly this kind of reaction.
Before the regression, during the early rounds of the survival show, Kang I-yul had always received mixed reviews.
-He’s handsome, but not exactly knock-you-over-with-a-feather handsome, is he?
-His face changes so much depending on the styling—
-Wait, what does Kang I-yul actually look like? I can never tell him apart;;;
-Does he not photograph well? His real face is incredible, it’s such a waste;;
But not anymore. The Kang I-yul standing before the camera now was someone whose face commanded recognition. Handsome, certainly, but something more had crystallized—a presence that hadn’t been there before.
“Just move freely, whenever you like.”
Click, click. The shutter never stopped firing.
My chest swelled with something I couldn’t quite name, and I found myself clenching my fist.
This time, everything would be different from the start.
* * *
Kang I-yul’s shoot ended amid applause, and the trainees who followed were nothing short of spectacle themselves.
Bleached hair, garish colors, excessive perming and accessories jingling everywhere. Even Unnamed Trainees 1, 2, and 3—the ones who’d picked fights with me earlier—had coordinated somehow into traffic-light hair, each in their own neon shade.
“Wow—”
‘At least you’d spot them from a distance.’
They all threw themselves at the camera with everything they had.
‘I’m the idol. Look at me.’
Click, click—
I understood the desire to look good, but excess was excess no matter how you dressed it up.
The photographer’s sighs grew longer, and the staff exchanged knowing glances.
‘Half of them are going to kick themselves under the covers when they see these prints.’
I waited quietly for my turn, the last on the list.
“Last one then? Yu Sung-woo, Trainee?”
“Yes!”
Finally, my name was called. Three solid hours had passed—a small victory in itself.
The nerves had already evaporated long ago. Now that I was one step closer to going home, I practically bounced toward the lights.
But the moment I stepped under them.
‘Oh wow, this is—’
My eyes immediately began to water.
‘Just keeping them open is a job in itself.’
“Alright, center stage, face forward for me.”
The photographer’s voice came in a constant stream.
“Chin in a bit—no, don’t overdo it!”
“Like this?”
“That’s too much now.”
And this was the beginning of silent torture.
“Relax, but not too much. Just a hint of tension at the fingertips—”
‘What is this, some kind of lukewarm iced Americano metaphor?’
Click—
“Smile a little, but don’t squint your eyes, just lift the corners of your mouth as high as you can.”
I felt like a marionette dangling from strings. Pull the ones attached to my mouth up as far as they’d go, and leave the ones attached to my eyes slack.
“Expressionless face staring at the camera, but add just a hint of intensity to your eyes while relaxing your face—”
But what choice did I have? I simply obeyed. At least he wasn’t sighing like before, and I was grateful for that mercy.
Click—
The back of my neck grew numb. Tension crept all the way down to my toes.
“Right now! That’s perfect, hold it—”
But the photographer showed no signs of stopping.
The flash lit up again.
“Keep the pose, just change your expression. Let’s do one more.”
“Understood!”
While he took a sip of water, I finally exhaled the breath I’d been holding. For the first time since the shoot began, I actually saw the photographer instead of the camera—and his face was flushed with enthusiasm.
“This time, let’s go really big with that smile.”
The photographer spoke with a grin.
“Show those braces. It’s fine.”
In that instant, my mind went completely white.
Smile big?
“What’s wrong, you stiffened up all of a sudden?”
“Again! Try smiling more naturally.”
It was the hardest request I’d ever faced. My facial muscles refused to cooperate.
‘Naturally… naturally…’
The problem was, the very act of thinking about it was the opposite of natural.
Click—
For the first time, the shutter hesitated.
“Don’t force it. Just think of a moment when you were truly happy.”
A moment when I was truly happy. The words echoed inside my head.
When I first took on a song commission? When a track I’d produced hit number one? Countless moments came to mind, but none of them held sharp and clear.
That’s when it happened.
Kang I-yul, dressed in casual clothes, entered my vision.
His hand moved to brush his hair behind his ear—a gesture so habitual it felt choreographed.
In that instant, a memory overlapped with the present.
A flower festival in a regional area. Impacter was performing on stage, and a woman standing in front had handed him a single bloom.
The stage was so small, so low. You could reach it with just an outstretched hand.
Kang I-yul looked startled for a moment, then broke into a radiant smile and accepted the flower. Without hesitation, he tucked it behind his ear.
I thought my breath would stop there.
‘Even in a moment like that, you shine.’
No dazzling lights. No sprawling stage. And yet he glowed. No—he knew how to glow.
That memory rushed in like a wave.
Click—
Somewhere along the way, I’d broken into a full smile. Laughter that simply erupted from within me.
“Nice!”
The photographer’s voice grew louder.
“That expression right there—that’s it!”
Click, click, click!
The shutter fired in rapid succession, and I kept smiling. Not at the camera, but at Kang I-yul beyond it.
When the photographer finally lowered the camera, people crowded around the monitors.
“Incredible.”
“I think we could use this just as it is.”
“It came out beautifully.”
Only then did I look at the screen.
“……Ah.”
There was me.
A face beaming so brightly that my braces were fully visible. The emotion etched upon it was sharp enough to defy words.
An expression I’d never once glimpsed in a mirror, not once in all my years.
For a long moment, I couldn’t tear my eyes from the screen.
‘So that’s what my face looked like.’
It glowed brilliantly.
I’d never stopped to wonder. While gazing at Kang I-yul, what did I look like in that same moment?
My chest swelled. My throat tightened, and my eyes burned hot.
It wasn’t only Kang I-yul who shone. I, watching him, was radiant in every moment too. The me on that screen was proof of it.
“You did really well, Yu Sung-woo,” the photographer said with a smile.
He beamed at me.
“When these go public, people will lose their minds.”
“Exactly—they’ll vote the moment they see them.”
Praise continued from those around us.
But I barely heard what anyone said. My gaze simply wouldn’t leave the screen.
‘……Yes.’
I understood now. I wasn’t simply someone chasing after a luminous star. I was someone who faced that light, burned at the same temperature, in the same moment—shining alongside it.
For the first time, I was truly seeing myself.
I Killed My Favorite and We’re Debuting (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, Ace Techno Tower 8th)
Email | [email protected]
Website | www.jayplemedia.com
ⓒYu Sseu 2026
※This work is published by J Plus Media Co., Ltd. under a contract with the copyright holder. No content may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission from the company and the author.
Violation of this restriction 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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