Debut or Die

“…I think I’ll remember this every time I record.”

“Haha!”

Cheongryeo waved his hand.

“You don’t have to worry. Actually, I just made it up. I modified the story of the ghost in the recording studio.”

“…Um, I see.”

“But you know that the story of the ghost in the recording studio is real, right?”

“…!”

Cheongryeo laughed a few times and started making up nonsense, then after saying that he would go wash up, he disappeared.

“…Sigh.”

It was over.

I tried my best not to look overwhelmed.

‘That guy definitely knows.’

A bastard who knew about this damn status window or regression had looked through me using the ghost story as a smoke screen.

‘How do you know?’

I wasn’t sure. It meant he didn’t check my status directly… In that case, does it mean he deduced it based on the circumstances while knowing the background knowledge?

…No, this was also uncertain.

‘There are too many uncertainties.’

Pretending to tidy up my hair, I wiped the cold sweat from my forehead. And decided on the next move.

Soon, Cheongryeo returned.

“I’m glad I brought a rechargeable electric kettle. Mix well with cold water.”

“Ah, thank you very much.”

I received the cylindrical device from Cheongryeo.

It was an electric kettle, not a thermos.

‘No wonder the Americano was boiling.’

Admiring the production crew who made sure only cold water come out and took care of it down to unnecessary details, I quietly did my part

‘Status window.’

First of all, I checked the status window.

Judging from the trend so far, there was usually a hint of the person’s personality in their characteristics and status abnormalities.

‘There’s no harm in checking it.’

But the moment it popped up.

An unexpected hint appeared.

[Name: Cheongryeo (Shin Jaehyun)]

This person is currently unidentifiable.

※Required condition: Check the second ‘truth’

“…!”

I immediately my head turned to the bathroom.

It was to hide my agitation.

Then I slowly moved to the bathroom and closed the door.

There were no cameras in the bathroom.

“Sigh…”

But the microphone was still on. I checked the status window again, keeping my mouth shut to avoid talking nonsense.

[※Required condition: Check the second ‘truth’]

I didn’t read it wrong.

It meant I had to take the reward ‘truth’ that I had been putting on hold to be able to check Cheongryeo’s status window.

‘Are you rushing me?’

Or maybe it was required because Cheongryeo was really connected to this situation.

‘It’s like watching game content with level restrictions.’

Either way was plausible, so I couldn’t be so sure.

‘…Restart the status abnormality with this uncertain hint?’

It was crazy. So I felt even more uncomfortable.

‘If it’s for the purpose of rushing me, It can use more extreme measures.’

What if the status window is shaking a carrot because that guy really has a clue?

Let’s decide.

‘In any case, I can’t continue living with the status abnormality.’

Strictly speaking, my speculation that status abnormality would disappear if I cleared it up like this was no different from a happy delusion.

Besides, no matter how much I delayed it, the time limit was 300 days. After that, I had to take the reward.

‘I’d rather get what I can get now.’

If I let this timing pass by, I didn’t know how Cheongryeo would turn up. I’d rather finish it when we were still investigating each other.

‘…Pop-up.’

[Successfully won first place!]

You won first place on the music show <Popular Music>!

!Time limit: Fulfilled (great success)

!Status abnormality: ‘Win first place or die’ removed!

: Check the truth ☜ Click!

I slowly raised my hand and touched‘Click!’.

And like last time, my vision went black.

* * *

On the rooftop of a building where the cold wind blew.

A man was smoking a cigarette. The smoke was blown away by the chilly winter wind.

He might cough in the cold air, but the man didn’t blink an eye.

He just looked down with sharp eyes. A brilliant night view passed by. There was an on the billboard across the street.

It was a brand he once filmed for.

His group, to be exact.

‘Where did it go wrong…’

The man looked at the colors of the flashy video and was suddenly lost in thought.

Going overseas at the wrong time? The concept that didn’t fit the trend? Members who lost their original resolution? Investors in the agency who only added useless obstacles?

And he came to a conclusion.

‘It was wrong from the beginning.’

In the first place, the composition of the members was wrong. There were too many useless members.

No, not useless, they were a hindrance.

‘If it was me, I wouldn’t have done it like that.’

He finally admitted. He’d lived a wrong life.

‘Emotions, tears. I have sold everything,’

When people stand, they want to sit, and when they sit down, they want to lie down. Personal circumstances, inevitable stories… It was just an excuse to speak and sell it at a low price.

He felt relieved after admitting it. The man chuckled and tossed the remaining burnt cigarette into the sky.

And just like that, it fell down the railing.

Rattle.

With the sound of the cigarette hitting the railing, the man fell down from the tall building into the road.

But when the man came to his senses.

“…!!”

He woke up in a small room at home.

“…What.”

The old cell phone screen he picked up reflected a boy’s face.

…It was himself before he became Cheongryeo.

* * *

“Gasp!”

I took a breath and came to my senses.

And I turned on the water right away.

Splash.

Cold water poured with a creaking sound. I immediately splashed my face with water.

It was the same as ‘Park Moondae’. This format that looked into a person’s past situation from a third-person point of view.

And… That guy was definitely Cheongryeo.

‘F*ck.’

This bastard also returned to the past.

If I were to roughly guess, it seemed he’d messed up his career but he came back and succeeded.

I laughed at the thought that it fit the plot of the web novel, but before that, I was angry.

‘That’s why I was blocked from checking his status window…!’

If I could check his status window, the ‘truth’ reward would have no meaning.

No, more importantly, why the hell is this a reward?

Park Moondae’s past was directly related to my situation, so it was understandable.

However, no matter what Cheongryeo did, what does it have to do with me that I have to get this ‘reward’?

‘Give me a hint about the status abnormality…!’

The rising anger only subsided after I soaked my head in cold water for quite some time. And I managed to draw a reasonable conclusion.

‘…It means I can get some hints.’

If I could get information from the person who had experienced this strange supernatural phenomenon, I would certainly understand how things worked.

In that sense, it seemed the status window gave me hints step by step as if I was playing a game.

Ring.

[‘Win an award or die’]

: If you don’t receive the Rookie of the Year award at the most prestigious domestic awards ceremony within the time limit, you will die

Remaining period: D-365

…When I saw it pulled this bullshit again, I felt like it just wanted me to suffer.

‘But it’s a little better this time.’

Unless something unusual happened, I could take care of the Rookie of the Year award.

Although that vague ‘prestigious’ standard bothered me, the candidate… Hmm, there were three. In terms of objective performance, there was no way we would lose.

It was hard to get popular these days; no matter which rookie debuted in the second half of the year, it was impossible to surpass <Idol Inc.>’s Testar.

‘Winning first place on a music show is harder.’

I calmed down and wiped the water off my face.

Then, I walked out of the bathroom holding the kettle I had received from Cheongryeo.

“I’ve used it well. Thank you very much.”

“You’re welcome, I’m glad you’ve used it well.”

I returned the kettle and sat across from Cheongryeo.

Then I took out the snacks from my backpack and handed them over.

“We’re going to stay up all night, so if you don’t mind, why don’t you eat something sweet?”

“Ah, thank you.”

Cheongryeo accepted it right away, but he just pretended to open it and didn’t eat it.

‘I don’t know if he’s monitoring or being vigilant.’

I pretended to rummage through my backpack and checked Cheongryeo’s status window again.

This time, it showed up properly.

[Name: Cheongryeo (Shin Jaehyun)]

Vocal: B+ (B+)

Dance: S+ (S+)

Visual: A+ (S-)

Talent: A (A+)

Characteristics: Judgment (A)

!Status abnormality: Remediation (inactive)

‘Are you crazy?’

What kind of high-level f*cking stat is this?

I was going to check his characteristics first, but my eyes naturally moved on their own. I almost bit my tongue.

‘But his potential isn’t infinite.’

My vague expectation that his stats would be limited to EX was wrong.

At any rate, I had to come back to my sense and see what I was originally going to check.

Let’s start with the characteristics.

[Judgment (A)]

: Valuable things are rare, and trash is everywhere.

– Human resource judgment +150%

‘He has similar talents to a businessman.’

If the ‘truth’ recollection I saw earlier was true, it might be a talent gained by recalling his life before death.

The only thing that bothered me was that he only had one characteristic.

‘He doesn’t have drawing characteristics?’

The difference between us was quite clear.

Anyway, let’s move on.

This time, it was the status abnormality.

[Remediation (inactive)]

: Let’s try again

– If you fail, you go back to the beginning.

…I got goosebumps.

And I just remembered the conversation.

– This time they tried hard to become a successful idol without controversy… But, what’s this? They kept dying in accidents and going back to the past!

‘The idol ghost story he was talking about earlier… Was it about him?’

Could it be that if he failed to remove ‘~if you die’ type of status abnormalities, he would go back to the time when the status window first appeared?

It was an eerie deduction.

However, this status abnormality was ‘inactive’.

That alone was a great harvest. Because it meant there was a way to disable it.

‘For now, I have sorted it all out.’

A further investigation followed next.

I put down my luggage and stared at Cheongryeo again.

“Are you done checking the snacks?”

“Yes. It’s nothing much.”

“Haha.”

You’re still confused, aren’t you?

As expected, this bastard didn’t know much about me. He was just figuring me out.

It meant I had the upper hand in terms of information, so this time it was my turn to ask.

Catch him off guard.

“Um… Sunbae-nim, is it okay if I ask for advice?”

“Of course. I don’t know if I can give you any advice, but… Do you have any concerns?”

“Yes, actually… Sunbae-nim, how did you start with other sunbae-nims in your group?”

“…Um, How did I start?”

I brought out my cold coffee and took a slow sip on purpose. And I continued slowly.

“Since our team’s formation process was unique… I think we definitely have a lot in common, but I wonder what the other groups are like.”

“…Is that so?”

“Yes. How did the VTIC sunbae-nims debut together?”

In the ‘truth’ recollection, this guy definitely picked ‘members’ as the fundamental cause of VTIC’s failure.

‘This bastard definitely changed the members in the middle.’

I didn’t know how a trainee did it, but this guess was almost certain.

Currently, VTIC was strong and living well as a top tier without major controversy.

“Um, that’s an interesting question.”

Cheongryeo smiled and picked up the snack I gave him.

Chomp. With that sound, the nuts were chewed and disappeared. I waited silently for an answer with a serious face.

Come on, get agitated.