I’m Debuting With The Bias I Killed - Chapter 52

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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 52
Ten minutes earlier.
Kang I-yul couldn’t bring himself to decide.
Normally, there would have been no reason to hesitate. He’d planned to choose the Dance Position without question.
But the same question kept circling in his mind.
‘What if Ju Han picks the Dance Position?’
‘What if I get compared to him again, like in Round 4?’
Before he knew it, his fingernail drifted toward his lips.
Clink.
Clink.
Lost in the unconscious habit of biting his nails, he suddenly looked up as a shadow fell across his face.
“……?”
It was Yu Seong-woo. He was smiling his usual bright smile.
“What brings you—”
“I-yul, got a minute to talk?”
Kang I-yul tensed immediately.
‘He’s finally angry with me.’
Or maybe…
‘Is he going to ask me for something?’
Either way, he had nothing to say in his defense. It was his fault Yu Seong-woo was hurt.
“Which position are you thinking of choosing?”
“I was… considering the Dance Position.”
“I figured as much.”
Yu Seong-woo nodded, arms folded across his chest.
Gulp.
He swallowed hard.
“Want to join my Vocal team?”
“……What?”
“I want to win this mission.”
Kang I-yul blinked.
“…….”
“And I need you on my team.”
“But I’m not a vocalist.”
“Says who?”
Yu Seong-woo let out a short laugh.
“You don’t realize how well you sing.”
“There are plenty of people who sing better than me.”
“True.”
Surprisingly, Yu Seong-woo admitted it readily.
“But I don’t need the best singer. I need you.”
At those words, Kang I-yul’s pupils wavered.
“You said so at the Hospital.”
Yu Seong-woo flashed a knowing smile.
“That you didn’t know how to repay me.”
“…….”
“So this time, help me out.”
His eyes burned with unwavering conviction.
“I know your voice pretty well.”
It made no sense, and yet somehow he believed him.
“Huh?”
Then.
“We’ll resume filming in three minutes!”
A staff member’s voice rang out.
“Let’s go.”
“…”
“We’ll be late.”
Kang I-yul followed behind him without giving an answer.
As filming began, Kang I-yul glanced toward the Dance Position for a moment.
Then he shifted his gaze.
The Vocal Position. There, waiting for him, was Yu Seong-woo.
He didn’t hesitate any longer.
‘Time to repay the debt.’
Slowly, but with certainty, he moved forward.
‘No—I’ll trust him.’
* * *
Because I hadn’t heard a definitive answer, I couldn’t let my guard down until the very end.
Maybe that was why.
When Kang I-yul stepped forward to the Vocal Position, I found myself crying out without thinking.
“That’s it!”
I-yul, standing beside me, spoke in a voice only I could hear.
“I… I came here just trusting your word.”
“Good call.”
I wanted to scoop him up and spin him around the Practice Room. But with a frame that massive, I decided to keep that fantasy to myself.
Instead, I rose up on my toes and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. Just a few pats made the whole thing look pretty ridiculous.
Yet I-yul didn’t tell me to let go.
‘Is he really going along with this too?’
I felt touched, but the cameras were still rolling, so I quietly withdrew my arm.
Kang Se-jun, intrigued by the unexpected turn of events, opened his mouth.
“Kang I-yul, quite the plot twist! Was there a special reason for choosing the Vocal Position?”
“I wanted to be on a team with Yu Seong-woo.”
……?
While everyone blinked, convinced they’d misheard, I-yul continued without changing his expression.
“I chose it because I thought we could take first place if I team up with him.”
Wow. I never would’ve imagined I-yul saying something like that.
Even Kang Se-jun let out a laugh.
“Yu Seong-woo, you certainly have Kang I-yul’s full confidence. How does it feel to be on the same team?”
‘Damn, it feels amazing. Why would he even ask?’
After answering that in my head, I smiled and spoke aloud.
“Since he trusted me and came to this team, we’re definitely taking first place!”
You know what I hate most? Getting on the bus—literally and figuratively.
But this time, I was ready to take the wheel gladly.
‘Go ahead, Kang I-yul. I’m your honorary driver.’
“The chemistry between these two trainees—I’m looking forward to it.”
The remaining trainees made their selections quickly.
Kwon Ki-hyun and Song Woo-ju came for the Vocal Position, and since they’d worked together before, there was less pressure. Finally, Jeong Eun-gyu, who’d made minor waves last round, joined us as well.
As expected, the Dance Position attracted top-tier trainees.
Go Jae-sung, Ju Han, Han Sang-yun—half the team consists of Debut Team trainees. It’s like an Avengers squad. And apparently Hwang Geon-hui was riding Go Jae-sung’s coattails again this time, even abandoning his original Rap Position.
But Hwang Geon-hui’s future probably won’t be as beautiful as he imagines.
“In this round as well, the top-ranking position team and the top-ranking trainee within each team will receive benefits. The first-place position receives 500 votes for the entire team. The top trainee within the team earns an additional 1,000 votes.”
Since everything is calculated by average, having more members isn’t necessarily an advantage.
In fact, when the strongest players cluster together, inter-fandom sabotage naturally intensifies.
‘It’s just how the voting system works.’
Once this week’s broadcast reveals that Go Jae-sung has Code 1, the noise will only get louder.
Especially between Ju Han’s fandom and Go Jae-sung’s fandom—there’ll be a major collision.
Before regression, Go Jae-sung chose the Rap Position and received no benefits, either as a team or individually.
That bastard will definitely try to change his future.
And I’m planning to flip that future upside down one more time.
“Well, all team formations are now complete.”
While filming paused briefly, I gathered my teammates in the spot that looked best on camera.
“This reminds me of Round 2, doesn’t it?”
“Right? I never thought three of us would end up on the same team again.”
Kwon Ki-hyun and Song Woo-ju had changed a lot in the meantime. Those who barely spoke before were now initiating conversation—it was remarkable progress.
“So you’re set on doing the Vocal Position now?”
“Actually… I came here because I wanted to be on a team with him too.”
I-yul, who’d been listening quietly, lifted his head.
“What, are you all just putting your faith in me?”
“In Round 2, we avoided elimination because of you, after all…”
These thoughtful guys.
Good. I was determined to deliver first place in this position no matter what.
“You all know the song, right?”
“Yes!”
“I’ve listened to this song so many times. The lyrics are just so good.”
Lee Seol’s “Shine” carries a message: everyone’s moment to shine comes at a different time, and if you wait, your turn will come eventually. The song had earned wide affection across generations, thanks to its comforting lyrics.
But that was precisely the problem.
Repurposing a well-known song was never simple. No matter how well you did it, the best you could hope for was “stands up to the original” or “doesn’t ruin the original.”
One misstep, and the accusations came: “butchered the original,” “disrespected the original”—that sort of thing.
So I’d settled on one approach.
“What if we wrote our own lyrics?”
“Us, too?”
“I’ve never written lyrics before……”
“Our own lyrics?”
Just as I’d expected, they were already frightened before they’d even begun. I studied the four of them in silence.
“……I’ll, I’ll try.”
“Now, now that I think about it, I think I can do it.”
Kwon Ki-hyun and Song Woo-ju’s hurried replies nearly made me laugh.
Only Jeong Eun-gyu, still lost, kept glancing between the two of them.
“Don’t overthink it. Just jot down whatever comes to mind.”
“What should the theme be?”
“Start with whatever topic you each want to explore.”
“Is that okay?”
‘What’s this feeling—like I’ve become a kindergarten teacher……?’
I almost said, “You can all do whatever you want!”
“Of course it is. That’s how Brainstorming works. Once you start throwing ideas out, something clicks.”
Waiting for inspiration to fall from the sky was far too reckless. First, you had to empty what was already in your head.
“Let’s reconvene in an hour.”
Kwon Ki-hyun and Song Woo-ju’s heads snapped up almost in unison. Their eyes went wide—the look of people who’d just heard something they weren’t supposed to.
“An hour?”
“Isn’t that too short?”
It was a perfectly natural reaction.
But—
“Giving you more time won’t produce better ideas. Ideas come when you’re under pressure.”
It really was like that. Work with a month’s deadline almost always came out worse than work due tomorrow. The longer you thought, the slower your hands moved.
I tilted my head deliberately.
“Though it might be tough for Ki-hyun and Woo-ju. I-yul and Eun-gyu, you’re both okay with it?”
Kang I-yul nodded calmly. After a moment’s hesitation, Jeong Eun-gyu gave a thumbs-up.
“I guess we don’t have a choice. I’ll give Ki-hyun and Woo-ju extra time—”
The two of them quickly interjected.
“I, I can do it too!”
“Whatever. Let’s try. One hour.”
Right then, that’s what I expected. An age when you live by competitive spirit and die by pride.
Without me even calling out “Ready, go!”, all four scattered with blank paper in hand.
Their Brainstorming methods were all over the place.
Kang I-yul stared at blank paper for nearly ten minutes before finally starting to jot down a word or two. Catching a glimpse, even those few words brought a satisfied smile to his face.
‘He really does have talent.’
Kwon Ki-hyun lay down with the paper under his head, then folded it in half…… I’d thought he was just quiet with words, but it seemed his head was just as sparse.
Song Woo-ju kept writing something continuously. Jeong Eun-gyu was steadily filling his page too.
“Hyung, aren’t you going to do it?”
“Yeah. Why is your paper blank?”
“I’m letting it ferment in my head.”
“Huh?”
‘Guess I should get started—’
I slowly loosened my hand and began writing down words as they came, without hesitation.
Five minutes later, they checked my paper and fell silent. It had far more than what they’d wrung out over nearly forty minutes.
“……You were right.”
The promised hour passed, and everyone turned in their papers. Their expressions, subtly tense, looked exactly like elementary school students having their homework checked.
“Hmm……”
Every time my eyes moved, theirs followed. A mischievous impulse took hold, so I deliberately rolled my eyes rapidly, and Kang I-yul’s couldn’t keep up—just blinking helplessly.
That was cute.
“But we—”
I spread out the papers my team members had written on the floor.
“I feel like you’ve written it all too beautifully.”
Everyone laughed awkwardly.
Honestly, they probably felt it themselves.
A hopeful future, radiant youth, dreams.
All fine words, certainly, but none of them quite felt like their own story.
‘Like a pretty soap bubble.’
Beautiful for a moment, but it won’t last.
“Why don’t we just talk about this more naturally?”
“What do you mean?”
“I think you’re finding it hard because you’re treating it like lyrics. But it’s making you overthink.”
I shrugged my shoulders.
“Lyrics always come from a story in the first place.”
Everyone, worn down by the agony of creation, simply gathered and sat in silence.
Under their collective gaze—all eyes on me—I felt awkward enough to speak first.
“I actually…”
I Killed My Favorite and We Debut (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]
Homepage │ 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, and the contents may not be used in any form or by any means without the permission of the company and author.
Violation of this shall result in civil and criminal 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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