The Gates Opened on the First Day of Debut - Chapter 94

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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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The Gate Burst Open on My Debut Day (94)
Eun Ha-su arrived at the Set Stage where the final live broadcast performance was taking place.
True to a stage utilizing an entire twenty-thousand-seat Concert Hall, the entrance was teeming with people.
“Wow, this is incredibly spacious.”
Eun Ha-su stepped into the Set Stage and gazed around in wonder.
Typically, live broadcast stages of this nature accommodated at most ten thousand people, sometimes as few as five thousand.
However, the EX-Grade K-POP Idol program, buoyed by unprecedented buzz, had expanded its scale to rival a first-tier Idol concert, ultimately achieving a complete sellout in just one minute.
“The view is decent, isn’t it?”
Eun Ha-su’s seat was in the fourth row of Floor C Section.
Though positioned behind Sections A and B, it sat directly beside the thrust stage, making it far better than expected.
Across the Display Boards installed throughout the Set Stage, Episode 11 of the EX-Grade K-POP Idol program was being broadcast.
Eun Ha-su settled quietly into her seat, checked her camera, and waited for the performance to begin.
Since today was a live broadcast stage, the security wasn’t as strict as it would be for a regular audience.
“Thank you for your patience!”
The MC, who had ascended onto the stage, captured everyone’s attention.
The audience held light sticks sold at the Concert Hall entrance in one hand and banners supporting their favorite trainees in the other.
Eun Ha-su carefully retrieved Kim Chowol’s banner from her bag.
“Today marks a truly historic moment—when our Awakened friends, who have honed their skills, officially become full-fledged Hunters.”
The program’s concept had become familiar by now.
In other words, the MC was saying that the trainees were debuting and becoming true Idols.
“So let’s meet the Awakened friends who will be obtaining their Hunter credentials today.”
As the MC finished speaking, the stage lights gradually dimmed.
―Crash, boom! Thud! Crash, thunderous bang!
Suddenly, sounds of something shattering and collapsing—the kind you’d hear in a disaster film’s opening—erupted from the speakers.
The audience startled, but quickly settled.
It was a familiar sound they’d heard before.
‘It’s similar to when Episode 1 started.’
The sounds of destruction, heavy gunfire, and sharp screams intertwined, building tension.
[―Ding!]
A crisp sound rang out, and a translucent window appeared on the Display Board above the stage.
[Gate Occurrence Alert. Gate Occurrence Alert. Gate Occurrence Alert.]
[A Gate has burst open. We repeat: A Gate has burst open.]
[Non-Awakened individuals within 100 meters of the Gate are advised to evacuate immediately or remain in a safe location until an Awakened arrives.]
[Gate rank is being measured.]
The red status window and blaring alarm.
Even knowing this was an intentional production, my mouth went dry.
The audience swallowed hard and stared intently at the Display Board.
[Rank measurement complete.]
[The measured Gate rank is EX-Grade. We repeat: The measured Gate rank is EX-Grade.]
[Non-Awakened individuals within 100 meters of the Gate are advised to evacuate immediately. We repeat: Non-Awakened individuals within 100 meters of the Gate are advised to….]
The Large Screen, which had been flickering as if the power had cut out, suddenly went dark.
“What, what is this…?”
The audience, suddenly tense, began to murmur nervously.
Eun Ha-su clutched Kim Chowol’s slogan like a lifeline, her eyes darting around the venue.
‘The production scale is no joke….’
This wasn’t some concert with hundreds of millions poured into it—just a live broadcast stage for a Survival Program.
―Boom, boom, boom….
A massive drum sound echoed at regular intervals.
It was a familiar intro.
The lights gradually brightened, revealing twenty trainees on the Stage.
Eun Ha-su tucked the slogan under her arm and raised her camera.
“In pitch-black darkness. A single ray of light illuminating my path.”
Han Theo’s hair gleamed brilliantly under the stage lights.
Only then did the audience release a collective sigh of relief.
“Hunt the stage, win the stage!”
Like someone who had found a hero at the cliff’s edge.
* * *
“It feels good to see a Stage after so long!”
The theme song of the EX-Grade K-POP Idol, Hunt the Stage, had finished.
The audience whispered excitedly among themselves.
“Han Theo really holds the center together. Kind of has that classic center vibe?”
“Right, right. The center is our Theo. His ranking dropped a lot last time, but don’t you think he’ll debut in first place today?”
“Han Theo will be the center for the final Stage too, right? From what I saw on the broadcast, Han Theo and Yoo Sung were on different teams.”
“So both Yoo Sung and Han Theo are centers? Wow, this is truly legendary.”
Eun Ha-su pouted her lips, glaring at the whispering audience members.
‘But our Kim Chowol is here too, you know? This time, our Kim Chowol is going to be the center!’
But honestly, Eun Ha-su herself wasn’t confident that Kim Chowol would be the center.
It would be nice if he were, it would be nice….
Objectively speaking, beating Yoo Sung seemed a bit difficult.
[“Have you heard about the Team composition? Who do you think will be the center?”
“Obviously ◼◼ and ◼◼, right?”]
Then the judges’ faces appeared on the Large Screen.
[“Whether it’s visuals or skill, there’s no trainee who can match these two. If ◼◼ and ◼◼ had been on the same Team, it might have been different….]
The names were all muted, but the audience immediately recognized which trainees the Vocal Trainer was referring to.
‘Yoo Sung and Han Theo!’
And they nodded their heads like the judges on screen.
As if they had never even considered any center other than Yoo Sung and Han Theo.
Then Kim Junwoo spoke up.
[“I think ◼◼◼ trainee will be the center.”]
The audience was taken aback.
◼◼◼? Who is ◼◼◼?
The audience had no idea who the trainee Kim Junwoo had mentioned was.
[“What, ◼◼◼?”
“Well, the number of ◼◼◼ trainees has increased quite a bit, but comparing them to ◼◼ trainees and ◼◼◼ trainees is a bit….”]
The judges’ reactions were lukewarm. But Kim Junwoo refused to back down.
I didn’t know who ◼◼◼ was, but I was certain that ◼◼◼ would be the center until the very end.
‘Could it be… my Kim Chowol?’
Eun Ha-su calmed her thundering heart and stared intently at the Large Screen.
But no matter how long I waited, it never revealed who ◼◼◼ was.
It meant to find out on stage.
―Pa-pa, pam-pam-pam, pa-pa-pa-pa, pam-pam-pam-pam-pam!
As I stood dazed looking at the stage, a loud brass instrument sound—whether trumpet or horn—blared out.
It was a grand sound that seemed like it belonged in a superhero movie’s OST.
The lights gradually brightened, and beneath the dazzling illumination, the Hero Team trainees stood with confident poise.
“The outfits are pretty.”
The costumes were predominantly white with gold and crimson accents for emphasis.
Some trainees wore gold while others wore crimson, suggesting it was related to the song’s concept.
“Open your eyes, the morning when both eyes burn bright”
The trainees stood in a V formation.
The trainee in the center position began to sing.
The trainee’s voice echoed throughout the Set Stage through the speakers.
“Huh…?”
The audience was startled upon seeing the singing trainee’s face. They had naturally assumed Han Theo would be the center.
But defying everyone’s expectations, a different trainee occupied the center.
The trainee standing in the middle raised their outstretched hand and sang the next verse.
There was no impressive vocal range or remarkable technique, but the voice carried genuine sincerity.
“Reaching toward that sky’s edge, within grasp of my hand”
The trainee confidently smiling toward the audience was none other than….
Okada Hiro.
* * *
Okada had never been fond of her name.
Her name ‘Hiro’ was an extremely common name just from its pronunciation.
Usually, people used the character for ‘wide’ (弘) or ‘broad’ (広) to create names like Hiroshi or Akihiro.
But Hiro’s name used neither the character for ‘wide’ nor ‘broad’.
Just katakana: Hiro (ヒロ).
Mispronounce it and it becomes Hero (ヒーロー), an ambiguous name in many ways.
‘Your name is Hero, so why do you act so pathetically? Your name would weep.’
Until I started playing volleyball, I struggled to fit in with friends my age.
I was teased about my name often, and I even resented my parents for giving me a name so easily confused with Hero.
Okada had neither the ability to save others nor the courage to rush into danger.
Where in this world exists a Hero who cannot make friends simply because they struggle to speak properly?
“That dazzling era when the entire world was on my side”
Okada, who had taken the intro, stepped back.
Trainees adorned with golden accessories stepped forward in turn, each delivering their own verse with practiced precision.
“Nameless as a shadow, I swallowed darkness for the light.”
The Hero in the lyrics was born into a harmonious family and grew up sheltered like a delicate flower in a greenhouse, but upon becoming a Hero, I faced every dark aspect of the world.
Yet despite it all, because I am a Hero.
“I’m the one, fearless, soaring high above that sky.”
I gather my courage.
I move forward.
“Even when darkness comes, I will not break.”
Seo Ijae’s voice echoed in Okada’s ears.
‘I wish Okada had done the first verse and Han Theo the second. Okada came in second place in the center voting after Han Theo, after all.’
The center position I thought I could never achieve in my lifetime.
I believed I lacked both the ability and courage to be center.
I thought center was something only people like Kim Chowol, Han Theo, or Yoo Sung—people who clearly shined brilliantly—could do.
‘I… want to try.’
But Okada gathered her courage.
I moved forward.
‘If it’s alright, I want to try.’
To debut, to become an Idol.
“Hero, hero. Call my name.”
Okada decided to become a Hero for the first time.
“I’ll stand by your side until the end, until this light fades away.”

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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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