Debut or Die: Chapter 44

 TL: Miru

After finishing the performance, our team <Moon Rabbit> returned to the group waiting room for the filming of reaction cuts. It was a room with a large monitor installed for watching other teams' performances.

Speaking of, as soon as we got off the stage, everyone's eyes were swollen from crying, looking like a crucian carp.

Honestly, it was worth crying about. We couldn't rest properly for more than ten days and finished our preparations safely. If I were twenty years old, I would have also cried my eyes out.

"Hey, how does Moondae not shed a single tear? Are you really from the National Intelligence Service?"

"No. I am not."

I stopped Gold 1's attempt to make a nonsensical joke. All around the team members were laughing out loud.
It was a comfortable atmosphere.

'I know we did a good job.'

Because we were with other team participants, nothing was said out loud, but we could guess our results through the positive feedback from midterm evaluation and rehearsal.

Unless someone on the other team suddenly shows off their crazy potential and uses some shocking hidden ability on the stage, it's a winning game for us.

Thanks to this, our reactions to the performances came out especially well whenever other teams came out on stage.
When you feel comfortable, you can enjoy other teams' performances without any self-interest.

'This is fun.'

I also went back to the spectator's position and enjoyed the stages. Of course, while looking around and reacting accordingly.

'The second and third teams are done.'

The second team's arrangement was all over the place. They failed to complete the choreography in time, so more than half of the people messed up the formation during the dance break in the second half.

I think the third team also wanted to push for a sexy concept like Keun Sejin, but it just seemed way too senseless that.... it made people feel unpleasant.

'Women would hate it even more.'

The key question was how much the broadcast would correct it with editing.

And the fourth team seemed to be able to gain some benefit at least.
The team with Gold 2 chose a cute and upbeat song, and although it didn't have many differences from the arrangements of the original one, it matched them well.

"Heeseung is good!"

Gold 1 shouted excitingly as Gold 2 came out to the center. I applauded too.

Now there was one team left. It was the team of Ryu Chungwoo that had gone through hell.

'Poor guy.'

If Ryu Chungwoo didn't get any compassion in this round, the person must be someone who has never done a group project.

I could see that the relationship between Lee Sejin and Choi Wongil had gone completely wrong. But Ryu Chungwoo was able to complete the stage with a troll (Choi Wongil) and with Cha Yujin? That alone was an achievement worth paying for.

It should be mentioned, that Cha Yujin had still been in a state of low spirits, and in that meantime, he visited me once every two or three days to pick up some snacks.
I didn't know if he would use as much energy on the stage as the number of chocolates he put in his mouth, but it wouldn't matter even if he didn't. It was not about my team after all.

"Fighting!"

Keun Sejin, who had been sending encouragement to each team leaving the waiting room to go to the stage, also cheered for Ryu Chungwoo's team.

After a while, Ryu Chungwoo appeared on the monitor screen.

"It's starting!"

The atmosphere in the waiting room was filled with anticipation as it was a team of highly ranked participants, and with high-ranking participants gathered, *even if they were bad, it was still anticipated. Of course, it could have been an anticipation for them to fail and not perform well.

//TN: The original line was 'even if it's rotten, it's still Chinese herring', which is a proverb that kind of means that even if something is bad, it's still better than nothing because apparently Chinese herrings can be eaten even if they've gone bad according to my research. An English equivalent would be 'an old eagle is better than a young crow'.

However, Ryu Chungwoo's team did not fail.

'...why is that guy flying around?'

It was because Cha Yujin grabbed all the attention.
Whenever he became the center during the chorus, an illusion that the stage was perfect was created.

'So this is why he ranked first place.'

I thought he wasn't in a stable state of mind, but when he went on stage, he became a different person.

'Is it because of his attributes?'

I remembered Cha Yujin's attributes that I had checked in the last team match.

[Attribute: Black Hole (A)]

: A person who sucks everyone's immersion towards his performance by 150%

Since he was attached with this kind of attribute, there was no other choice for him but to debut.

"Oooh!"

At the end of Ryu Chungwoo's team's stage, participants in the waiting room applauded with admiration.

"Cha, Cha Yujin is really good."

"I know right."

I could hear the team members of <Moon Rabbit> mumbling next to me. However, their voices didn't sound anxious.

It was probably because no matter how impressive Cha Yujin was, there was a definite difference between his own performance and the team's overall perfection.

'The problem is that we were the opening.'

As time went by, the impression of our performance was bound to weaken.

It would have been better if we hadn't lost the mini-games that set the performance order.

I didn't know Gold 1 would be defeated that much.

At that moment, Gold 1's marvelous remarks came to mind when he appeared as our team's representative in the mini-games.

 

- Just trust me!

 

...However, this statement did not come true.
Gold 1, who poured all his energy into rock-paper-scissors, suffered a series of devastating defeats in the match.

What if we couldn't get first place by a narrow margin because of the order of our performance?

Well, the only regretful thing would be Gold 1. It was because the rest of the team members were the ones who would make it to the end even if their rankings dropped considerably.

Gold 1's ranking was low, so us winning this team match was important.

Based on the patterns of the show so far, the production team would definitely reward something that would help you survive this round as a winning prize.

'Soon it will be announced.'

Since the last team's performance was over, there was about an hour or so left until the team match rankings are announced.

Again, there was a high probability of leaving out only 1st and 2nd places and delaying the announcement of the next rankings, but the prediction was roughly outlined anyway.

And an hour and a half later, the results were exactly as I expected.

"Two teams remain for first place! They are the team <Moon Rabbit> and team <Huskia>! Which team will win the third team battle?"

That <Huskia> was Ryu Chungwoo's team name. So far, this was a predictable development.

"The result is... Please check it out at the ranking ceremony!"

Yeah, I expected this, too.

"But if I do this same thing every time, everyone would get very tired right? So, I am announcing the benefits of winning this team match now!"

"Huh?"

That... I didn't expect.

"The benefit of winning is... unconditional survival at the next ranking announcement ceremony!"

This was way too good. There were only 30 people left, so why give out such a reward?
Unsurprisingly, the MC broke the ice.

"However, only one person can benefit from it! Until the next ranking announcement, the first-place candidate teams will select one participant in their team to receive the benefits through internal team discussion!"

For some reason, the production team's ideas were getting more and more bizarre as the program entered its second half.

This... wasn't this a winning penalty for the rest of us who didn't get chosen? Even the one who would receive it was likely to be bombarded by the fans of the same team members and end up getting cursed at.

As far as I could remember when I got ready to become a public official, the production team did not give up on these means to cause controversy to pull attention until the final episode.

//TN: They used the word aggro 어그로 which is internet slang used for someone who tries to get attention problematically. In other words an attention whore.

These guys were amazing.

Anyway, there were no problems within the <Moon Rabbit> team. It was because the person who would receive it was already decided.

'It would be sensible to give it to Gold 1.'

I didn't think the rest of them would be eliminated anyway. Rather than causing controversy for nothing, it would be preferable to neatly give it to him and take care of our image.

If there was a problem, it was Seon Ahyun, who had been criticized on the internet until just recently and was scared, but due to his personality, it was unlikely that he would say he want to receive it.

Keun Sejin was in a position where the public opinion about the rumors of school violence and bullying has been reversed, so he should be able to guess his ranking well.

I roughly scanned the expressions of the team members who were looking at Gold 1. Everyone seemed to have a similar idea. Gold 1 looked embarrassed but didn't seem to refuse. I'm sure he would just say no a few times out of politeness.

'No problems on our team's side.'

As expected, it seemed there were problems on the other team.
I could guess the thoughts of the production crew who were watching and waiting for who would create what kind of mess in the <Huskia> team.

"Then <Re-listed! Idol Corporation> will wrap up the 3rd team match! Shareholders, see you at the ranking announcement-"

The filming ended with participants bowing their heads toward the camera with claps and applause.

"Thank you for your hard work~"
"See you at the next shoot!"

When the goodbyes of the participants could be heard here and there, the team <Moon Rabbit> gathered together again after changing clothes.

And in an instant, the winning benefits were given to Gold 1.

"Since we all worked hard, should the eldest receive the reward?"

"Yeah."

"I agree."

"I- I like that!"

"Hey, thank you very much, but let's discuss it a bit more..."

Keun Sejin smiled and organized his words.

"Do you not realize, hyung-nim? The longer we discuss, the later it will be for us to go sleep..."

"Ah."

When the tension completely disappeared after the filming, the sleep that we couldn't have for the past 10 days came rushing in.
Thanks to this, everyone was talking with their eyes half open.

"Well, okay. Thank you, guys. I'll buy you a meal."
"Haha. Thank you, hyung! I won't ask for dishes like beef with no conscience."

I think he said that for me to hear, but let's ignore him since I was tired.
Anyway, with a warm atmosphere, the team <Moon Rabbit> was disbanded.

I took my smartphone navigation to the bus stop as I was holding back my yawn.

"M-Moondae-ya."

"Huh?"

When I turned my head, Seon Ahyun was there with his fists clenched. Don't tell me he was trying to hit me.

"What is it?"

"D-do you want to go home with me? M-my parents came to pick me up..."

"Oh... sure, thank you."

Given the popularity of the program, I thought it would be difficult to get on the bus now, so I tried to call a taxi.

'Thanks to him, I'll save some taxi fare.'

It was a little burdensome to see another participant's parents, but I didn't think it was a big deal to get a ride.

"N-no! No need for thanks!"

Seon Ahyun took the lead and walked excitedly, stopping in front of a black sedan by the roadside. It was a foreign car.

'Seems like they got a new house.'

I assumed when I saw the destination of Seon Ahyun's apartment.

I greeted them as politely as I could, following Seon Ahyun in the car.

"Hello."

"So you're Moondae! Nice to meet you."

"Come on, get on~ Did Ahyun do a good job this time, too?"

"D-Dad!"

The family atmosphere was more harmonious than expected. When Seon Ahyun, whose flustered face turned red, I could see that his parents were happy.

"Yes, he did well. You'll be surprised when you watch the show."

"As expected of our son."

Seon Ahyun put his face on the back of the front seat with an embarrassed face. After meeting his family, he expressed himself more freely.

'After all, the root of his problems was bad peer relationships.'

I politely gave the address of the studio apartment and enjoyed the trip comfortably, leaning on the backrest. Sometimes I just had to answer some questions, so it was nice.

The feeling of strangeness when seeing a friend's harmonious family was long gone.
Thanks to this, I was able to sit there comfortably and enjoy myself.

 

* * *

 

"Get home safely~"

"Yes. Thank you."

"I- I'll call you!"

"Okay."

I was able to get off at my address after saying goodbye to Seon Ahyun's family several times.

'I heard more TMI (too much information) than I thought...'

I wondered if I needed to know that Seon Ahyun went to Europe to study and learned ballet, but let's think of it as a price for getting in the car.

I walked through the old stairs and hallways and approached the studio apartment I had rented.

When I got in, I would absolutely go to sleep...

"Ah."

Oh shit...

The door was open.

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