Debut or Die

The penalty was stolen by VTIC.

“Then, the two of you, please come up to the stage!”

“Oh, too bad!”

“It’s a bit unfair~”

Instead of putting me out, one other guy and one VTIC member, who voluntarily stepped on the gold and went into the penalty, were hit with water balloons with unremarkable reactions.

Seeing his appearance that didn’t have any special features and would have passed by in a three-second-cut if he wasn’t a guy who sold 1.8 million albums in the first week, as Keun Sejin said, it seemed he really didn’t have much passion for entertainment.

‘…It meant he didn’t get eliminated on purpose to get enough footage.’

Then, does that proud face really come from a ‘caring heart for new idols’?

‘It was a real mistake, but isn’t it more convincing to say that he did it because he was embarrassed?’

My eyes met Keun Sejin’s. Smiling like a painting, he pointed his finger at himself.

It was frustrating but it couldn’t be helped, it seemed to mean that he would actively try to get a penalty next time.

“Now, for this team match~ Find ssanghwacha^[1]Ssanghwacha is a traditional herbal medicine that has been widely used for thousands of years, especially during the Joseon Dynasty, to treat infirmity, relieve fatigue, and facilitate recovery after an illness. !”

However, in the next team match, this strange and ridiculous situation continued.

“No egg yolks! The team of the first person to choose the ssanghwacha will lose~ Now, let’s dance to the music and choose!”

In short, it was a game with an ambiguous 90s vibe that combined chair stealing and randomness.

‘It’s all about luck.’

Thinking that I would pass this one, I chose it without thinking much about it. With the way things were going, it would be funnier if I got caught.

Of course, it was much more likely that I got the one with the egg yolk.

“Ah, Moondae-ssi! Pass!”

And it came true. The ssanghwacha I chose had yolk in it.

Then the VTIC guys clapped and started to make a fuss.

“Oh, that’s amazing!”

“Wow, how did you get it right like this?”

“…”

What’s wrong with you, bastards.

I gave a rough answer and moved on, but it was obvious that they weren’t trying to make fun of me, it was an ambiguous and unnatural warm-hearted kindness.

In the end, the MC, who couldn’t watch it, tried to make it funny by pointing it out.

“No, since a while ago, why are the two of you only showing great reactions to Moondae?”

“Ah, hyung-nim, you don’t know anything~ The popular ones are close to each other~!”

“Is that so~?”

The VTIC guys waved their hands.

“No, no~ We’re just good friends!”

“It was cool that he got it right without thinking much about it.”

Rather than supporting the claim, they just denied it, so the picture became ambiguous again. I guessed it was true that those two were bad at entertainment.

But why are you trolling me with that?

‘Are you trying to screw with me?’

I took a look at them just in case, but I didn’t feel any signs of provocation.

‘It’s driving me crazy.’

And this time, the punishment was taken by the MallangDalkom member.

“Look closely! …Isn’t it yolk? It’s a canned one, right?!”

“Argh!”

The penalty was gosamcha^[2]Gosamcha = one of Korean tea and apparently tastes very bitter. . Youngrin, who carried out the punishment together as the doppelganger, did a one-shot without changing her expression, eliciting reactions even from the staff.

‘I’m jealous.’

It would have been nice if I had drank the gosamcha and spit it out.

At this rate, I wouldn’t be able to get a penalty and ended up as a reaction folding screen and side footage for VTIC.

‘Should I be more active?’

While I was thinking about changing the route, the filming stopped for a while.

“Cut! I’ll go ahead and renew it~”

“Let’s check our microphones for a moment.”

“Yes!”

It was time for a short maintenance and a break.

“I’m going to the bathroom.”

“Yeah.”

Keun Sejin sneaked out following the MC, and I deliberately sipped my drink and waited for the timing.

Then the opponents moved first.

“Hello, hubae-nim~”

“We were in such a hurry that we couldn’t even say hello properly, right?”

The VTIC guys smiled and talked to me.

Although they were the ones who never introduced themselves, they couldn’t straighten their faces for social life.

“…Yes, it’s been a while, sunbae-nims.”

“Ah~ Sunbae-nim sounds so awkward. Just call us hyung!”

“That’s right. Don’t call us that, it’s like we’re too old.”

Rather than the impression that these guys with 8-years differences were saying something without conscience, I felt something that I had felt earlier.

‘Hmm?’

You guys… Why are you guys so awkward?

‘They look like they’re breaking into cold sweats.’

It seemed they tried to talk to me warmly and kindly in their own way, but there were limits.

The guys who used to do this… So, it wasn’t the kind of feeling that I was accustomed to with people of influence like Keun Sejin or Ryu Chungwoo.

It seemed they weren’t used to being a sociable older person.

‘What’s with them?’

Let’s give them a proper answer first.

“It’s not a matter of age, you are great seniors, how I can call you carelessly like that…”

“What do you mean with great senior~ Ugh!”

“Just call us comfortably!”

“…”

Wow, these guys are working hard.

This was more embarrassing than when the penalty was stolen earlier.

I was speechless. Perhaps thinking it was an implicit agreement, the two men exchanged glances.

Then, one of them opened his mouth with a dry cough.

“Hmm, variety shows are very difficult, right?”

“Yes? Yes…”

Without the two of you, the level of difficulty would have dropped by two levels.

But both of them had proud faces.

“Oh, don’t overdo it while filming… If you’re having a hard time, send me SOS. I’ll help you.”

“…??”

“Ah, don’t feel pressured! If you get a junior later, treat them well. Don’t mind us.”

And these two guys were exchanging expressions like ‘Oh, aren’t you good at talking?’.

It was amazing.

“…”

I put up with the headache and asked openly.

“…Then, the gold you stepped on earlier.”

“Haha! No~ Was it that obvious?”

“No, I think this hubae just has a good sense.”

“Right? Anyway… Don’t worry too much. It just happened to be~”

…Now, I knew for sure.

‘These guys, they did it completely out of goodwill.’

They said the road to hell is paved with good intentions, and it was exactly what happened.

In addition, their idea of helping was one-dimensional.

Even considering that they didn’t have much experience in entertainment shows, they didn’t seem to be the kind of people who knew how to roll their brains.

‘I think they’ll be robbed of a warranty or a business scam within five years.’

No matter how smoothly the VTIC grew, considering that they had been in this hellish K-pop society for eight years, they were pretty dull.

‘…Are they the ones that Cheongryeo added to change to the group?’

If he looked for people who wouldn’t get into accidents and were easy to deal with, it could be these kinds of people.

Anyway, they didn’t seem to have any complicated thoughts, so I could just cut them off in moderation.

“Thank you very much. But I’m going to try as hard as I can. You don’t have to be considerate like you did before.”

“Huh?”

The slightly flustered guys pondered for a while before opening their mouths again with embarrassed faces.

“Um, actually, I heard something from Cheongryeo hyung.”

“…??”

What is this again.

‘He wouldn’t have said anything useless.’

Right as the top of my head was about to cool down, the guy in front of me smiled.

“No, Moondae-ssi is really hardworking and a good junior, so please treat him well, he said something like that!”

“…!!”

“That’s right! But he’s the kind of person who doesn’t really say things like that.”

“Yeah. He had very few close friends… It was amazing that he got close to hubae-nim.”

We’re not close.

“He may look a little gloomy, but… Still, Jaehyun, I mean, Cheongryeo hyung is a lot better than you think.”

“That’s right. He donated half of his settlement to the stray dogs center.”

“Heol, he donated half of it?”

“Yeah, I was freaked out more than when hyung used a bank app.”

“He lives like a mountain spirit, but he really likes animals.”

The two of them talked and then got lost in a conversation among themselves. And when they came to their senses, they awkwardly fell out of it.

“No, why did the topic go this way? Anyway, this is also meant to be, so if you have any difficulties during today’s filming, tell me~ It’s something like that.”

“Are you having a hard time now?”

“…”

I heard so much nonsense that I suddenly got distracted.

I punched myself inside.

‘Who the f*ck cares? Get a grip.’

Whether Cheongryeo was the guardian of stray dogs or not, it was his business.

What mattered now was my goal. The current shooting.

I picked out the vocabulary and opened my mouth.

“Actually…”

After explaining the situation I was in, the two were horrified when I indirectly informed them that I was actually aiming for a penalty.

“Heol! Really?”

“Hey, I’m sorry!”

“Should I drive the penalty to you now?”

“Can you do this as a penalty?”

“…It’s fine.”

Instead, I made a light request, and the VTIC members readily agreed.

“Hey, Moondae~”

Right after that, Keun Sejin returned from the bathroom.

“Did you hear something good?”

“So so. You?”

“Hey, I went to the bathroom, so how could I hear anything good~?”

Seeing him smile while answering, it seemed he had achieved something, but his mouth said something else.

Sure enough, the loots soon popped out.

“Just… Somehow our paths ended up overlapping, so I had a conversation with MC Choi Hosoo. And we exchanged numbers.”

As expected.

“Looks like you had a fruitful conversation.”

“Well, we talked about the direction of the entertainment show.”

Keun Sejin grinned.

“I said the two of us would never get a penalty.”

“…!”

“So, I am going to try to get a reaction by giving you a penalty somehow.”

It was great.

* * *

The second half of the filming ended well with the cooperation of several cast members.

‘Looks like it came out better than planned.’

Now it was a matter of editing, but honestly, I wasn’t too worried.

I wouldn’t cut this out if I were the PD.

“Thank you for your hard work.~”

“Good job!”

“Yeah, it was great today!”

Anyway, I left the set after bowing my head just like when I first arrived.

And in the car on my way to the next schedule.

After the filming ended well, an unwelcome call suddenly came into the quiet and peaceful atmosphere.

[VTIC Cheongryeo sunbae-nim: I heard you met the kids at the filming today.]

[VTIC Cheongryeo sunbae-nim: How is it? I hope it was helpful ^^]

“…Sigh.”

Since the moment I met the VTIC guys, I thought it would be like this somehow.

It was ridiculous, but if you looked at it like this, the content of the message itself was somehow normal.

‘The problem with meeting him is that he’s crazy.’

After pressing my eyelids a few times, I replied.

[Yes, the sunbae-nims helped me. Thank you.]

And surprisingly, I got a reply after a while.

[VTIC Cheongryeo sunbae-nim: I’m glad they helped. Don’t you want to work with better team members again?]

‘F*ck.’

Whatever I do, are you going to tell me to quit and start all over again?

VTIC guys’ nonsense echoed in my mind.

– Jaehyun, I mean, Cheongryeo hyung is a lot better than you think. …A lot better… A lot better…

Like hell he was.

That meant all the decent people were freezing to death.

But the VTIC guys didn’t seem to lie about it. In other words, the example itself… seemed to be the truth.

‘…Just try it once.’

With superhuman patience, I tried to reply by assuming that the other person was normal for once.

[I don’t want to. And just hearing that kind of thing over and over again is very stressful. I’m almost at my limit just thinking about the mission.]

[I am really having a hard time, so please stop it.]

And there was no reply for a long time.

‘… Did I step on a landmine?’

However, even if my burial in a wild mountain had entered a countdown, I would never die alone.

‘I need to make this bastard socially dead, too.’

Leaning on my neck pillow, I began to polish the inside that I had thought of before.

Somehow… It was like a repetitive labor to calm the mind.

“Hmm.”

Then, again, a reply came back all of sudden.

[VTIC Cheongryeo sunbae-nim: Got it.]

“…!”

Several tens of seconds passed.

After that, the next text arrived.

[VTIC Cheongryeo sunbae-nim: I’m sorry.]

“…”

The text ended with that.

“…Phew.”

I turned off my smartphone and closed my eyes again.

People were so mysterious.

* * *

When Park Moondae was lost in thought in the car, articles were slowly popping up on the Internet.

[Choi Hosoo’s <Saturday Party>, a special lineup is coming… From VTIC to Testar]

[Testar’s variety show outing? Shooting <Saturday Party>, “Please look forward to it!”]

– Heol, Vtic, Testar

– I’m so glad that they appear on a variety show, not as co-hosts

└ㅋㅋㅋㅋI know, right

– Cheongryeo and Park Moondae were really funny… I want to see them again, are they going to come out?

And shortly afterward, it was also revealed which of Testar members would appear.

– Moondae and Keunsen

– Ah, it’s Moondae, I love itㅠㅠ

– Saturday party. Finally, the day has come for Mom to open up to Testar business!

└ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋCongratulations.

– Why Lee Se-jin; Shouldn’t Cha Eugene come out?

└I think it’s because he’s a member of the variety show?

└You’re talking as if he is. It’s funny that 6th place comes out first. He doesn’t know his place, but if you think about their recognition or popularity, shouldn’t first place or second place winner come out first?

└The momentum to risk one’s life on one variety show

└People will think it’s us who put them in

– Moondae fighting! ㅎㅎㅎ

And after examining all these reactions, there were also people who were relieved.

‘There’s almost no one cursing at Moondae!’

The graduate student was relieved and left the page she was reading. She was Park Moondae’s fan who browsed the Internet after being sunk by a wave of English comments on WeTube.

Recently, there was a favorable atmosphere toward Moondae, so she was excited.

Her homma friend seemed very uneasy, but it didn’t make much sense to her.

‘Isn’t it nice that everyone knows Moondae is kind and cute?’

Thinking back on the days when she was worried that Moondae would see malicious comments, she felt like a fairy now.

‘I’m looking forward to the variety show!’

The graduate student laughed and stomped her feet on the bed, but she couldn’t resist her fangirling heart and logged on to WeTube.

Then she clicked on a thumbnail that was still on the list of top video rankings

‘I should watch it one more time before I go to sleep.’

It was Testar’s new music video.

• 1. Ssanghwacha is a traditional herbal medicine that has been widely used for thousands of years, especially during the Joseon Dynasty, to treat infirmity, relieve fatigue, and facilitate recovery after an illness.
• 2. Gosamcha = one of Korean tea and apparently tastes very bitter.