Debut or Die: Chapter 45

 TL: Miru

I carefully removed my hand from the front door handle to avoid making any noise. I had definitely locked the door and double-locked it when I left for filming, but now that I came back they were unlocked.

'I saw this coming.'

Problems that came with fame. Invasions of privacy.
It was already an issue I worried about. I just left it alone because I had no financial means to move.

'...First of all, there are no important things inside.'

I didn't buy much, and I already brought all my clothes with me for filming, so there was nothing valuable in the studio apartment.

'Then let's silently leave...'

The moment I thought about it, my smartphone rang.

Riiing.

 

[Seon Ahyun]

 

The moment I checked the name on the screen, I realized a problem.
The walls in the studio apartment were like paper, so there was no soundproofing.

'I'm screwed.'

I hastily moved from the door and immediately ran to the emergency exit.
As soon as I turned around the corner at the emergency exit and hid in a blind spot, I heard the door open.

Squeak.

I saw the back of a woman's head sticking out of the door to look around.
She was a normal-looking person. I had never seen her before, and the problem was that she was trespassing into someone else's house.

I broke out in cold sweat.

'This is crazy.'

I went down the stairs outside the emergency exit and answered the phone.
It was Seon Ahyun who made the call as it appeared on the screen.

 

- M-Moondae-ya um... Have you eaten dinner yet?

"I haven't, but I don't think this is the time for me to eat."

- Uh, huh?

"There's someone breaking into my house."

- Wha- what!

Behind the phone, I could hear Seon Ahyun swallowing his breath and his parents' voices asking what was going on. Normally, I would have just roughly explained and hung up the call, but now I wasn't in a situation to gloss it over.

'I'll have to ask them to give me a ride to the police station.'

If a police car was dispatched after reporting to 112, the neighborhood would get noisy, and strange rumors may arise.
It was the last minute, so there was no need to give any excuses.

Therefore, I was going to go there in person, explain the situation, and quietly hand the situation over to the police.

'I thought it would take forever to call for a taxi, but this turned out better.'

 

- Wa-wait. W-we'll be right there. Come down right away! We should report...

"I'm going to go do it myself. I'm sorry, but can you give me a ride to the police station?"

- O-of course!

I talked to Seon Ahyun on the phone and went down the stairs right away.
I was going through all sorts of things.

* * *

Fortunately, things went smoothly after that. 

Seon Ahyun and his parents, who were more surprised than me, rushed to the police station, so I was able to report it right away.

- What? Oh, a woman is...

- It's someone I don't know.

- Ah, I see.

The police officer seemed a little indifferent, but they were dispatched anyway.
And this was the conclusion.

'I didn't think it would be more than just one person.'

There were a total of four people in the studio. They had rummaged through the house together, messing up tableware and clothes.

It seemed that several people who had a history of stalking other idols gathered together and followed me, and then broke into the studio apartment with poor security.

'I never imagined it like this.'

I rubbed my trembling shoulders.

What was even worse was that the police had been consistent in their attitude of not wanting to arrest these people.

'Was I unlucky to pick this neighborhood?'

The four people who were discovered were laughing as they kept trying to talk to me without showing any signs of agitation.

 

- Hey!

- Moondae-ya, can't you hear us?

- You can hear us. Why don't you answer~

- Park Moondae!

 

'They will either just get a warning or a fine.'

I think I'll be in big trouble if I don't move out.

"M-Moondae. Are you okay?"
"Huh? Oh, I'm okay."

Seon Ahyun restlessly picked up his chopsticks and put them down. I was embarrassed for being in a position to receive a meal.

This is what he said after the situation was finished.

- I-I was going to go eat out nearby, b-but I thought it would be nice if you and I could eat together...

- Oh, that's why you called.

- Y-Yes!

Due to this, I was now sitting with Seon Ahyun and his parents in a restaurant.

'The ribs in this place are good.'

I silently brought the meat to my mouth. Since I couldn't sleep well, I should at least eat well.

"Oh my god, there are so many weird people these days. How could something like this...."
"Wouldn't it be better to contact your parents first?"

Seon Ahyun's parents repeated this conversation pattern several times as they must have been very surprised.

Hmm. After pondering for a moment, I just decided to tell the truth.
I've been receiving a lot of help and even getting food today, so the least I could do is answer sincerely.

"There was an accident in the past... so my parents are not here anymore."

As Seon Ahyun's father swallowed his breath, his mother quietly asked me.

"Do you have any other adults to contact?"
"No one in particular... comes to mind."

Since entering Park Moondae's body there would be people related to him that I wouldn't know about but there was no sign that Park Moondae had a guardian either.

'We're really similar in this way.'

It was kind of interesting now that I saw it. I wondered if, among the reasons why I entered Park Moondae's body, the similarity in our backgrounds was one of them.

However, the atmosphere on the table was sinking like a swamp, so I'll fix this first.

"It wasn't like this when I was very young. There were some things...but there are no particular problems with living alone now."

"Really?"

"Yes."

Seon Ahyun's mother smiled instead of making a fuss.

"Yeah. You must be busy with a lot of things when doing them alone but thank you for taking good care of our Ahyun."

"No, I also received a lot of help."

At this point, I thought Seon Ahyun would jump up to deny it, but he didn't say anything. When I turned around, Seon Ahyun was silently turning the meat over to cook it.

'Come to think of it, did he not know that I don't have parents?'

Thinking about it, I only talked to the production team, and since then I haven't mentioned it on TV.

Then he must have been quite surprised, but Seon Ahyun seemed to try not to express it as much as possible.

'I guess that's the kind of reaction he believes you would want.'

Now that I looked at it, I think that was the reason why Seon Ahyeon followed 'Park Moondae' around in the early stages of filming.

'Is it because I overlooked Seon Ahyun's stuttering symptoms and reacted accordingly in the first ranking evaluation?'

I might have guessed right.

'Well, the reasoning isn't important.'

I shrugged my shoulders and picked up some more meat. For now, there were no other choices, so I would spend today in that studio apartment, and try to go somewhere else tomorrow. However, after the meal I unexpectedly received help.

"A-are you going back there again?"
"They were caught, so at least they won't come today."
"B-but, still...."

Seon Ahyun and his family were shocked when they heard that I was going to go back to that apartment, and so I was able to stay in Seon Ahyun's house until the next filming.

"... ?"

I don't know what this was, but it was greatly benefiting me, so let's shut up and go along.

 

* * *

Around the time when Park Moondae was enjoying the unexpected pleasure of upgrading his residence, people on the internet were frantically releasing spoilers.

The program was so popular that, by this point, the ban on disclosure no longer worked.

It was Cha Yujin who received a lot of mentions as an individual, but as a team, the mentions of team <Moon Rabbit> was overwhelming.

- Why did you put them in the opening? I feel sorry for the next team.

- There's a reason why they ranked high! They were all so good.

- I bet the internet will flip when they go on stage lol

- Why swear at Seon AHyun? He was freaking good.

 

There were a lot of people who tried to suppress the atmosphere somehow, saying that the <Moon Rabbit> team member's fans were ignoring public opinion, but as the attendance certification came up one after another, they secretly left behind a swear word and disappeared.

And here, there was Park Moondae's named fan account manager, who had been engrossed all day because neither she nor her acquaintances could win the audience ticket.

"Was my network lacking?"'

As a survival participant who had not yet formed a fandom, she refrained from socializing as much as possible as a named account, but what came back was a defeat in the information war. She clicked on her current favorite post with her trembling hands.

 

==========================

[Went as the audience] (Picture included) (361)]

: It was the first time something like this had happened to me so I was really excited to go there. Just seeing Moondae's face was worth it ㅠㅠ

Moondae's team came out first, and they wore rabbit masks and a hanbok. It was like a fusion of fantasy historical drama characters. It was so cool that I couldn't stand it... so I took a little picture.

And the fact that the best performance on stage was so good that my heart is still pounding.

I don't know what the hell people are looking at when they say that he can't sing or dance well, when he is this good live.

I will write more details below!
... ...
==========================

 

She read the text one by one, and unable to resist the fact that a picture was taken, she scrolled down.
Below was a picture of Park Moondae's upper body wearing a rabbit mask obliquely and wearing a durumagi.

"Ah!"

The blonde Park Moondae in a navy blue robe with a starlit black background looked so handsome that it touched her heart.

'Should I... buy the data?'

She muttered, unable to overcome her grief of not being able to see him. However, data sellers usually sell them only after the show is aired because they are afraid of legal problems.
Her head started spinning the more she imagined that she could only see the trailer of episode 9 at the earliest and the 10th episode at the latest.

"...Advertisements, let's look at ads......."

She tried to pull herself together by putting together a new advertisement draft to be posted before the next broadcast.

'No, but if I use a picture from that time in this advertisement! That would be great!'

And then she waited again and logged on to social media.
Her routine of searching for audience reviews continued until the trailer for episode 9.

 

* * *

Living with Seon Ahyun in his house provided a different quality of life compared to living in a one-room apartment.

Of course, there were some problems with the landlord of the studio apartment and the compensation for the damaged door lock.

However, there was nothing to be offended about because it happened even before I entered Park Moondae's body.

The important thing was that I was sleeping in a mold-free room. The soundproofing was also good, so I was able to sleep without earplugs.

However, the pleasure of a noise-free environment was not an advantage I could enjoy today.

"I can't believe you guys were having fun by yourselves!"

It was because Keun Sejin came to hangout.

Keun Sejin, who was talking in the group chat room and said that we should watch episode nine together today, had rushed over after hearing that I was being taken care of at Seon Ahyun's house, and rushed to appear in the morning.

"Co-come in!"

Seon Ahyun looked happy. Because the owner of the house was feeling happy that meant I couldn't say anything about this.

Keun Sejin smiled and entered the living room and took out the board game he had brought along.

...It felt like he was really going to play in earnest.

Riiing.

"Park Moondae, isn't someone contacting you?"
"Oh, you're right."

I checked the smartphone ringing on the table.

[Kim Raebin: Hello hyung. Episode 9 is airing today. If you have time, can we watch it together?]

Well, we were on the same team anyway, so I thought it wouldn't matter if he joined here. It was fine since I couldn't watch quietly anyway when Keun Sejin was there.

"Raebin wants to see episode 9 together. Should I call him over?"

"Oh? Agree~"

"O-of course!"

It was a unanimous agreement.

Without much thought, I sent a text message to Kim Raebin explaining the situation.

Then, after a while, he replied.

[Kim Raebin: Um... Cha Yujin is here with me too, so is it okay for him to join?]

Hey, that would be a bit...

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