Debut or Die

“Hmm…”

Before I knew it, the dorm’s living room became quiet.

We won first place, but since the alcohol was added, we became relaxed and most of the accumulated fatigue poured out, so now most of them were sleeping and stretched out.

The two minors also fell asleep. Lee Sejin had already entered the room in the midst of this, perhaps due to physical problems.

He was probably asleep, too.

So what was left of the living room…

“Moondae, are you okay?”

It was just me and Ryu Chungwoo.

Because the guy over there was a strong drinker, and I was still sober thanks to the characteristic ‘Bacchus 500’.

“Yes, I am fine.”

“Then I’m glad.”

Ryu Chungwoo smiled and drank the beer in his hand.

‘How many cans did he drink?’

It didn’t matter since he was hardly drunk anyway, but he must have drunk more than half a dozen cans.

It was clear that his drinking capacity was enormous.

“Um, how’s the activity?”

“Well, it’s worthwhile.”

“Haha, Moondae is always calm.”

Ryu Chungwoo put aside the can of beer that he had finished drinking. His face looked sad.

‘Why are you being like this again?’

We made it to first place, but his face didn’t look good as if there was something else he was worried about.

“I wish I had a calm personality like you.”

“…I think hyung is calm enough, though?”

Considering the attitude this guy took for the past two months after <Idol Inc>, it was an unexpected remark. However, Ryu Chungwoo shook his head.

“No, I think I have poor judgment at a critical moment. Like the fact that I couldn’t say how I felt when we won first place today… In general, that’s how it is.”

“…?”

This was even more random.

‘My thoughts on winning first place are already a mess, but what’s this.’

“Hyung, you’ve been a good leader since the audition. I don’t think you had such a problem.”

“I was a leader because I was the older one, not because I was good at it. I had never run a team properly… Yes, except for the second round that we did together.”

Honestly, it wasn’t Ryu Chungwoo’s fault.

‘You just didn’t have much luck with your team.’

I grudgingly opened another beer.

“During <Idol Inc.>, it was a short-term survival game, so there were very few teams that worked properly. Besides, I think Testar is doing well.”

“…We’re doing well but I am worried I will get us into trouble.”

Ryu Chungwoo smiled bitterly.

“Honestly, the only way I can contribute to this team is tby taking the leader’s position, so I assigned myself to it… I kind of hit my limit. I’m not the type to put up with anything like this..”

“Hmm.”

No wonder Ryu Chungwoo’s attitude had become more conservative and sensible since the formation of Testar, it seemed he had been holding it in.

‘Now that I think about it, in the second round, he originally had a more challenging and cheerful personality.’

The conflicts that he had experienced during Idol Inc must have had a strange learning effect.

Ryu Chungwoo continued to speak. He seemed quite upset.

“I thought about it during Idol Inc. I wondered if coming here was the right choice…”

“…”

Come to think of it, there was no reason to quit archery and appear in a failed audition program after winning the gold medal.

“How did you turn up there?”

“Oh, I don’t think anyone knows this. I have a relative among Idol Inc’s writers.”

“…!”

Wait.

“Is it Ryu Seorin?”

“That’s right. Did you know right away because we have the same last name?”

Ryu Chungwoo laughed, but I couldn’t laugh.

“Because noona kept asking me… I was starting a new career path anyway, so I showed up.”

I broke out in a cold sweat.

‘If this is found out now, wouldn’t it be a scandal…?’

It wouldn’t matter if the audition had failed, but now <Idol Inc.> season 3 had established itself as a wildly popular program.

One of the members who debuted was a relative of the writer?

‘Ryu Chungwoo only received friendly edits too.’

…It was a perfect scandal.

Perhaps noticing this, Ryu Chungwoo also added with a smile.

“It won’t harm you guys. She was a distant relative anyway, and I barely knew her. One day, I suddenly got a call… It was like a casting.”

It probably meant that in terms of format, his was no different from what Park Moondae had received.

However, when the article appeared, there was no way that it would be written kindly.

Titles like ‘A Testar member is actually a relative of the Idol Inc’s writer’, ‘A relative who was invited to debut… Idol Inc’s shadow’ would come out.

I barely managed to open my mouth.

“…Don’t tell anyone.”

“Um, don’t worry about that either. It’s the first time I’m talking about it.”

Apparently, as soon as the first episode aired and she saw the reaction, Writer Ryu Seorin called and asked for confirmation.

‘…We just need to get past this period.’

By the time the next season of <Idol Inc> came out, then… If it exploded in two or three years, it would go away without a hitch.

And if it hadn’t exploded throughout the broadcast and hadn’t exploded yet now, that meant nobody knew it yet.

I checked with Ryu Chungwoo once again just in case.

“How distant are you related to that writer?”

“Um…except that we are both from the Pungsan Ryu clan… I didn’t even know her. That’s about it.”

“…”

In that case, it was possible to make an excuse by saying that she wasn’t even a relative. They could just say that it was easy to cast him because they were from the same birth family.

I relaxed a little.

I didn’t know what the next status abnormality would be, but it seemed I would struggle even more since it certainly wouldn’t be good if bad news came to the team.

And I thought about other things.

‘Come to think of it, I am also from the Pungsan Ryu clan.’

I couldn’t be sure since my parents were dead and I didn’t care much about it, but perhaps I was.

In that case, Ryu Chungwoo’s generation name^[1]a syllable in the given name that is typically shared by siblings was similar. Ryu Gunwoo, Ryu Chungwoo.

Hmm.

‘It’s driving me crazy.’

Well, it didn’t matter. I shrugged my shoulders.

“Strangely enough, I ended up telling you… I don’t usually talk about things like this to my dongsaengs. Haha.”

“…”

Do you instinctively sense that I am older?

I changed the subject.

“Then… You joined the broadcast, so it means you were already preparing to be a singer.”

“Hn, I can’t continue archery.”

Ryu Chungwoo pretended to turn his shoulder slightly.

“I had a serious car accident when I was young… I didn’t know that something was wrong, and it wasn’t until I grew up that I suffered the side effects, my hands shake when I put in strength.”

“…”

“So I quit two years ago… What I’m good at, I’ve been exploring it in my new career path. Haha.”

It was the relaxed attitude of someone who had already overcome it.

‘That means it’s over.’

I just nodded, too.

Then, I heard someone moving next to my feet.

“…Sniff.”

“…??”

“I’m sorry, I heard…”

Cha Eugene, who had been sleeping on his stomach next to me, woke up with tears running down his face. And Kim Raebin, who was lying behind him, also sniffled and moved his body.

“I happened to come to my senses… I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop…”

“I didn’t mean to, sniff.”

“…”

The two guys who hadn’t drunk alcohol seemed to have quickly come to their senses at the noise.

Ryu Chungwoo looked embarrassed for a moment but soon laughed it off.

“It’s my fault for talking in the middle of the living room. Don’t worry about it and go to sleep.”

But the two guys hesitated and threw in more words.

“Hyung, I’ll do better…”

“Chungwoo hyung is cool. You’re doing great as an idol!”

“…Um.”

Ryu Chungwoo nodded with a complicated look. I chipped in.

“I think I can listen to you better now, but wouldn’t be nice to take it easy from now on? Leader.”

“…Don’t you want to do it?”

“Yes? Of course, I’ll give up halfway and fail.”

“…”

Me, the leader? I certainly would get mad and cut off one or two relationships.

Perhaps sensing my sincerity, Ryu Chungwoo turned speechless. His face looked ridiculous.

“…Phew.”

But he soon answered with a more relaxed attitude.

“…Right, I understand. I’ll continue as the leader.”

“Wow!”

“Instead, you guys stop me if I try to do something useless. Now I can’t just put on a brake.”

“Of course.”

Ryu Chungwoo muttered something like ‘Seriously’, then stretched out and went into his room. Perhaps because he had spoken his mind, his steps seemed lighter.

And in the living room… Only food waste and fallen men remained.

“…”

“…Shall we go in?”

“Yes.”

When they woke up, they would go in on their own. Let them be.

* * *

Shortly after Testar untangled the feelings and joy of winning first place.

Fans held back until the news of Testar winning first place for the first time hit the headline and became a real-time search term. Because they didn’t want to teamkill Testar’s good news.

– For now, let’s continue making inquiries

– If you know what’s going on, prepare yourself. Fans can contact each other via phone and email and quietly continue to request feedback.

However, in the end, they didn’t receive any feedback even after a few days had passed.

– Are these bastards out of their minds?

Public opinion, which had been bubbling under the surface, eventually exploded, and fans eventually issued a statement to the agency.

[Statement requesting support for artists’ activity]

[July 10, 202X, Testar’s fan association criticizes T1 Stars Entertainment’s irrational management and demands that the legitimate rights of artists and consumers (fans) be respected. Before debut…]

Because it wasn’t tied to any individual member, the scale grew like crazy as all members’ individual fan communities united.

Fortunately, to the fans who were preparing for fax and post-it protests as a next measure if they didn’t receive a statement, the agency gave a respond.

[Hello. This is T1 Stars Entertainment.]

[We are doing our best to support Testar’s activities, and the recent concerns of the fans will also be implemented in time…]

It was a declaration of surrender.

There were some fans who were annoyed by the slight nuance that ‘We were already preparing and you guys overreacted!’ but for now the atmosphere subsided when they said they would do something soon.

– As expected, do these losers even listen to words…

– Honestly, you’re saying that the fandom name would have come out with the 2nd album if we didn’t make a fuss, right?ㅋㅋ Actually, I think so tooㅇㅇ

– A lightstick is still a lightstick, but from now on, please don’t set up the kids’ comeback schedule like that. No matter how much you like the money, stop squeezing the kids.

– Just know that I’ll send you a protest truck next time there’s another crazy article about a comeback within a month

Afterward, the agency secretly tried to raise their luck with articles such as ‘Fandom name chosen by fans themselves’ as if they were going to do it Idol Inc-style, but it was sunk in by the fans’ attack,

– Please! Stop! Making us! Do that! We’re tired of voting stocks now, so just let Testar do itㅠㅠ

– Enough with the Idol Inc spirit…

– Why do you keep trying to get the fans to do it for the genius idols who can easily create a concept for the number 1 song? We’re just going to laugh and talk with the kids

– Yeah, we’re just going to spend money. Hurry up and take a picture of the goods

Fortunately, the agency didn’t look further and prepared the schedule diligently.

So that Friday.

[The national stock is here!]

[Testar’s first W Live]

[Testar talks about giving a name to the fans!]

[7/15 (SUN) 3 : 00 PM]

A jaw-dropping event banner popped up.

– Wow, finally

– ㅠㅠㅠㅠOur kids are doing dub live now, too!

– Holding out wins!

– Keun Sejin is speaking in crazy live aaaaaㅠㅠ

– Please, even if it turns out boring, I will still love it, so let’s go live for a long time

– Still, for a large company, T-One guys don’t know how to workㅠㅠ

Fans who had only barely seen Testar move in real-time on music shows were very excited.

Testar’s W app channel, which had yet to post a preview video, had already started to have an increased number of subscribers.

And at 3:00 pm on the day of the event.

[Aah!]

[Hello~]

Testar turned on W Live.

• 1. a syllable in the given name that is typically shared by siblings

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