Debut or Die

Do we have to put ourselves in such an uncomfortable situation?

I picked up my smartphone and thought about it for a while. To choose an appropriate refusal.

At that moment, Keun Sejin stepped in.

“What is it?”

“Ah, Raebin asked if Cha Eugene could join.”

“Hmm… I think it’ll be okay, though?”

Keun Sejin smiled.

“There’s no way the production team will untangle that team in episode 9, right? It’ll appear in the trailer for episode 10!”

“…”

Wow, I didn’t think that far.

Besides, I didn’t expect him to be so blunt. Since the school bullying controversy, he seemed more outspoken as if a strange trust had arisen.

“It’s better to build a friendship with this opportunity~ Oh, right, The landlord’s opinion is important! What do you think, Ahyeon?”

“I-I’m fine with it!”

“That’s right!”

Seon Ahyeon calmly shouted yes and concentrated on reading the rules of the board game.

This guy’s personality seemed to have changed a little.

I didn’t expect him to invite an uninformed participant to his house.

“Well… If you say so.”

I’ll just tell them to come.

I reluctantly sent a reply to Kim Raebin.

* * *

It was after lunch that Kim Raebin and Cha Eugene arrived.

“Oh~ Come in!”

Keun Sejin greeted cheerfully.

By the way, Gold 1, who hurriedly joined after Keun Sejin ‘s remarks, ‘Now that this is happening, I should call hyung’, was also sitting in the living room

.

It was true that the picture became weird if Gold 1 was the only one who wasn’t invited among the team members, but Cha Eugene’s presence here was also strange.

“Hello. Nice to meet you.”

Cha Eugene unexpectedly bowed his head and held out the standard plastic bag he was holding. By the way, everything in the bag was snacks.

“I’ve ordered chicken for now, but if there’s anything else you want to eat, let’s order again.”

“Yes.”

Kim Raebin nodded and sat quietly in the corner. It meant he wouldn’t order more.

But Cha Eugene asked with a twinkle in his eye.

“Can we order pizza?”

“Sure!”

“Wow!”

Cha Eugene turned on the delivery app, leaving only exclamations. I thought he would still be in low spirits, but he was still bright all by himself.

Kim Raebin calmly exchanged greetings.

“Did you join in the morning, hyungs?”

“Ah, I did~ Moondae came here way long before me.”

“Yes?”

There was nothing to hide, but it was a bit annoying.

In any case, I couldn’t ignore it, so I explained the great madness that occurred in my apartment.

In the middle, Seon Ahyeon stepped in and supplemented the story.

It was like this.

“…So when I went inside the front door, there were other people.”

“Eeek!”

“N-Not just one, there were three more people!”

“…Well, yes. So it took some time for the police to take them away.”

“T-The police were so half-hearted, as if it was nothing… They were too much.”

“That too… happened. Yes.”

As I repeated this process, the incident became more and more exaggerated and turned into a conspiracy theory.

Thanks to this, the participants who heard the explanation were speechless.

“Wow, it’s good that Ahyeon came. It’s scary.”

“I agree. Hey… I’ve also had someone visit my house, and I’m worried about that. I have a younger brother at home…”

“Heol, someone came to your house?”

“Yeah. Later, I heard that my brother couldn’t go out because they kept ringing the doorbell and sat in front of the house.”

“Ugh…”

Those who lived alone or lived in the agency’s dorm reported similar experiences.

It was a suitably eerie topic to talk about before watching the shock and horror of <Idol Inc.>

By the time we ate chicken, the story of an acquaintance’s idol friend passed by.

“…so when they went in, the lens detector rang ‘beep-beep’ in the shower…”

“It’s crazy.”

When chewing on the pizza that had arrived, the rerun of episode 8 of <Idol Inc.> finally began to appear on TV before episode 9.

I watched episode 8 and commented moderately. By the end, even Cha Eugene was caught in the atmosphere.

“Didn’t you feel disappointed for getting 3rd place?”

“It was disappointing, but it was good.”

“Hey, that’s cool.”

“Hehe.”

Cha Eugene grinned at Gold 1’s admiration. It was amazing how messed-up the <Husky> team was that they could make a guy like this lose his spirits.

It wasn’t until the pizza box was emptied that episode 9 began.

[Re-listed! Idol Inc.!]

The logo that I was starting to get tired of appeared, and the first portion that came out was the talent show.

Here, the participants managed to get the portion evenly.

I didn’t know if it was because the content was meant to promote healing or if it was simply an attempt to make up for the hasty poor progress with something heartwarming.

In any case, it mostly showed humorous scenes that saved the characters in moderation. Keun Sejin was a prime example.

The problem was, my portion… It appeared as a joke and ended as a joke.

[At this moment… He dominates the stage!]

[Park Moondae, is he serious about trot?]

They put in captions like this while I was singing.

Since they blatantly made it cringe, it was meant for laughs.

And everyone laughed so hard.

“Kekeke!”

“Pft…”

“You’ve got a lot of good footage that shows your personality. Congratulations, Moondae!”

The last one came from Keun Sejin. I wordlessly hit Keun Sejin on the back while he was drinking soda.

“Cough.”

Would you still want to laugh more?

Park Moondae’s portion didn’t end there.

After the scene where participants jumped out at the kimchi refrigerator and turned into a frenzy, they even inserted an interview as if to seal the deal.

[Q: Do you like trot songs?]

[Park Moondae: Yes.]

After the immediate answer, a cut of me raising my thumb was inserted.

‘That’s an interview where they asked if I liked the team.’

What kind of hoax do these crazy people make every single episode?

The caption was nailing it.

[Trot lover participant Park Moondae, be happy with the kimchi refrigerator!]

I haven’t even received the kimchi refrigerator yet, you bastards.

What made me even more annoyed was that my portion in episode 9 ended with that.

‘You only gave me dirty, useless things.’

If it was the beginning, I would have felt grateful for the positive amount of footage. But not now.

Because it wasn’t a very beneficial edit at the time when the last team match was approaching.

There were few words that were as fatal as the comment ‘He doesn’t look desperate’ in the final survival voting.

And so far, Park Moondae on the broadcast… Honestly, he didn’t seem that desperate.

it was understandable that there were more funny scenes than despairing ones.

So, I worked harder in this team match, but if this trend continued, it was unlikely that my ‘desperation’ would be highlighted.

‘I can’t help it.’

Because I didn’t come out with the decision to make my final debut here in the first place. I’d never shown enough to aim for a cut like that, and the timing to choose had surely passed.

I didn’t have a backstory, so the fans couldn’t create and share a desperate image on their own.

‘That’s kind of funny.’

Actually, I’m the most desperate person out here. I’m probably the only one who dies if I don’t make a debut.

‘I need to prepare my heart a little.’

Even if the ranking suddenly plummets in the last episode, let’s debut. Whoever picked me up, I would definitely be able to debut quickly.

I smacked my lips. For some reason… I was a little disappointed.

‘If I am really going to do it, it’d be better to do it with people I am comfortable with.’

Perhaps the majority of the people here would debut. I felt a strange sense of defeat when I thought I might not be able to join them.

Compared to when I first started filming, it seemed I had changed quite a bit, too.

But there was no room for sentiment.

Surprisingly, the production team put the whole collapse of the <Husky> team at the end of episode 9.

[Choi Wongil: So, hyung, you can do this much.]

[Lee Sejin: Isn’t what I can do and what I want to do have a completely different meaning?]

[Choi Wongil: Hyung, now is the time to prove your skills. If you think carefully…]

[Ki Jungkyun: Why don’t you try it a bit instead of talking like that? Don’t regret it later.]

[Lee Sejin: …Stop it.]

The broadcast aired the scene where Lee Sejin’s face hardened for several seconds after this conversation.

Then, in a state of complete disarray, they looked at each other as though fists were about to come flying and briefly answered again.

It was obvious that they were conscious of the camera and held back.

This disaster happened when Ryu Chungwoo went to submit a song selection to the production team, so there was no one to intervene.

[Cha Eugene: …]

By the way, Cha Eugene intervened once and was ignored as if he had never said anything.

I guess it was because his remarks didn’t fit the mood.

“…”

Cha Eugene looked at the screen with a depressed face, and soon shoved a cup to his face and started drinking soda.

It seemed to me that thanks to him, they passed it well without getting cursed at, but from his perspective, it must have been different.

[Ryu Chungwoo: …What’s going on?]

Episode 9 ended with Ryu Chungwoo, who had returned, dismayed by the completely ruined team atmosphere.

[A desperate atmosphere. Will they complete the stage safely?]

“Ah, it’s done, right?”

“Yes, you did well.”

Keun Sejin clapped appropriately and warmed up the atmosphere. I didn’t know why he induced me to respond, but I responded moderately.

Cha Eugene barely took his face off the soda and laughed.

It seems he’s addicted to sugar high?

‘…Is it my fault?’

I quickly erased the ominous idea.

On the screen, a closing disguised as a commercial break was now appearing.

Looking at the time, the broadcast would probably end with a short trailer or behind-the-scenes cut after the commercial.

“They only showed the preparation process today.”

“Right. We didn’t come out much.”

The <Moon Rabbit> team only had a few portions after briefly appearing during the initial formation.

The production team could arbitrarily adjust the order, but since we performed first, I expected our stage to be shown at the end of episode 9, but I didn’t expect them to not show any performances at all.

‘Isn’t this going to lower the ratings?’

As I wondered for a moment, <Idol Inc.> began to appear on the screen again after the commercial break.

The MC appeared on the screen.

“…I don’t feel good.”

“You too? Hey, me too.”

It was never good when the MC appeared alone on the show, so the participants reflexively tensed up and swallowed their saliva.

[<Re-listed! Idol Inc.> Did you enjoy watching it today?]

“No.”

“Nope.”

Weak denial rang out here and there.

It was a small deviation that we couldn’t do during the filming.

[What I’m going to present now is… That’s right, the status of the stocks so far!]

“What?”

“Well, I don’t think it’s going to be this easy… They probably won’t reveal certain rankings…”

[However, only ‘reduced stocks’ will be announced! Which stocks did you sell the most, shareholders?]

“Oh, my God.”

Kim Raebin sighed. It was understandable.

‘What kind of crazy person came up with the idea of only revealing the negative votes?’

Since I already knew about their big aggro, I thought nothing would surprise me.

‘But I didn’t know there would be a surprise like this.’

It was clear that the confidence of not putting the stage in this episode was directed here.

[Now, let’s reveal the sales ranking!]

Along with the MC’s words, the rankings with negative marks on the screen were neatly lined up.

And the living room was engulfed in silence.

Author\'s Thoughts

I feel the need to give a warning: I am sorry for any grammar mistakes and mistranslations that had occurred before and might occur in the future (:з)∠)