Debut or Die
Debut or Die - Chapter 87

“What is this…”

Ryu Chungwoo muttered while checking the living room that looked like it had been hit by a balloon bomb, then stopped himself. Maybe because he could see the rotating lens between the balloons.

The familiar reality show camera was back.

‘The reshoot starts today.’

We hadn’t had much time sticking around the dorm lately, so the reality show camera used to be short and thick only when selecting content and then it was gone.

‘I was already too worried about activities and daily content, so I couldn’t make full use of it anymore.’

However, since it was the first time it showed up on full-scale, the members hesitated to enter the living room.

And I found a large note amidst the swaying balloons. The note was so big that it occupied a quarter of the wall in the living room.

[Special! Testar’s 1st Place Celebration Trip]

“Huh?”

“…A trip?”

“A trip!”

Cha Eugene immediately approached the wall, kicking the balloons. The colorful balloons, apparently derived from the three pantone numbers which were chosen as official colors, floated in the air.

“It’s going to tear apart! What’s inside!”

“Eugene, be careful!”

“Oh.”

Cha Eugene quietly put down the note with a slightly downcast face, probably remembering the scolding he had gotten last time.

“That’s right, let’s check together.”

“Yes…”

I didn’t know if it was necessary to do this, but we all tore off the note together for the broadcast pictures.

“One, two, three!”

Then, a huge roulette wheel appeared.

‘…Roulette.’

Just by hearing the word, it felt like flashbacks were going to burst out.

But the members were excited at the smell of full-fledged travel content.

“Wow! What’s this?”

“Gamble?”

“It says here travel gamble!”

Like Kim Raebin said, <Travel Gamble> was written in large text at the top. And the explanation continued in proper handwriting below.

“Hm~ ‘You spin this roulette together to decide the concept of this trip… Testar’s friendship trip for 2 days and 1 night’! Wow, it’s real?”

“I love it!”

“S-Should we quickly spin it…!?”

Even Seon Ahyeon who had been a little listless stuck to the roulette in excitement. The roulette had a total of 7 slots, each with a different theme written on it.

[Healing, Mukbang, Adventure, Extreme, Theme Park, History.]

“Oh~”

The keywords were quite distinctive.

‘Healing would be the best.’

Looking at it, it was a schedule to go to the mountains and live in the countryside. It seemed the most easygoing and didn’t use up any energy other than for housework.

“I want to do Adventure.”

“Healing is nice.”

“It seems they put in mukbang for Moondae’s sake?”

Those who had been expressing their tastes for a while, probably thinking of their portions, soon couldn’t resist and excitedly stuck to the roulette.

“Let’s hold it together and spin it at the same time!”

“Let’s do that. Moondae, hurry up and come here too!”

“…Yes.”

Thanks to this, the camera caught a strange scene of the six of us spinning the roulette together.

‘Please let it be something heartwarming.’

I mumbled my wish and touched the roulette at the same time as the members.

“Oooh~”

“It’s working!”

‘Of course, it is, then did you think it wouldn’t?’

Perhaps we had spun it with too much power, the roulette wheel spun for quite a long time before finally stopping.

“Theme Park…!”

Despite Kim Raebin’s desperate words, the disc went beyond the theme park’s purple slot… and went all the way to the red.

“Oooh!”

And in the red column, the subject was written in a futuristic font.

[Extreme Travel]

“…Extreme?”

“Ah, Extreme!”

Cha Eugene finally realized the meaning of the pronunciation and raised both of his hands with a smile.

‘Cha Eugene, you like it?’

It was so ominous.

And after a while, Ryu Chungwoo’s smartphone received a text message from the production team.

[The concept of Testar’s trip this time is extreme~]

[We’ll serve with you an exciting concept where you can enjoy extreme fun! *^^*]

[※No takeback!]

“N-No takeback…?”

“Huh… Uh…”

The members’ complexion began to change as if the instincts trained in survival were triggered

“…”

I approached the roulette.

“Moondae?”

And I spun the roulette again.

Round and round, the spinning roulette…

It stopped on the extreme travel again.

I spun it again.

Round and round… Thud.

…Extreme travel.

And the members realized the situation.

“…!!”

“…It’s a scam!”

…By the way, the production team we met the next day laughed, saying that they had to make a schedule first, so of course, they couldn’t let us take all seven of them.

‘You bastards…’

I felt their determination to somehow pull out the viewers’ ratings from the travel content.

…Really, I had a bad feeling.

* * *

[I checked late because of my schedule. Congratulations on winning first place on Music Core.]

[Thank you, sunbae-nim.]

It was getting ridiculous to reply to a text message as soon as I woke up in the morning.

The status message said he checked it late, but it kept coming.

For your information, the opponent was VTIC’s Cheongryeo.

‘This bastard is really exhausting.’

How could he have checked it late when he was also a candidate for first place?

Of course, any members could have told him on the same day. The triple crown had been stopped on public TV for three weeks in a row, there was no way they couldn’t have talked about it.

‘I think you’re contacting me on purpose to give in.’

Sure enough, a reply soon came.

[I hope to win first place sooner next time.]

It meant if we avoided and didn’t bother each other, each of us taking first place would be fine.

[Thank you. I hope you have a great day, sunbae-nim.]

‘I can’t ignore this f*ker.’

For now, I turned off the notification. I felt like sh*t every time I met the director, but these bastards were annoying too.

“Travel! Ready!”

“M-Moondae, you… g-get everything?”

“Yeah, wait a minute.”

As soon as I turned off my smartphone, a thumping noise began to ring out.

‘It’s the shooting for the leaving preparation…’

It was the beginning of the reality travel content.

“That’s it?”

“Yeah.”

“Will you be okay?”

“Of course.”

When I brought my backpack, people intervened, commenting that my luggage seemed too small.

‘Well, it’s two days and one night.’

It was a package tour to wherever the production team wanted us to go anyway. Clothes and toothbrushing tools would be enough, right?

“What about snacks?”

“What?”

“What about snacks?”

“…Snacks.”

“Yes!”

“Let’s go buy it.”

“Yes…”

It seemed I had become a snack supply in Cha Eugene’s eyes.

‘I feel like I’ve become a bread shuttle.’

I couldn’t wrap my head around the cool title that I’d never worn in high school.

“Well then… We are finally going on our first trip~”

“Wow!”

“I hope we can make a lot of good memories!”

Anyway, the opening was good in front of the production team’s camera. Even though they had been tricked, everyone said it was a trip, so the atmosphere of excitement was evident.

‘It had been a tight schedule.’

Since the preparation for the debut album, we had been working without a break for about two months.

However, I should have already guessed what was going to happen from the moment the production team smiled at the members.

After about three hours.

We arrived at a rural village under a mountain at the end of Gyeonggi-do.

“Congratulations to Testar who have arrived at today’s first destination!”

“Wow!”

“The view is really nice!”

It was a bit hot, but the weather was definitely nice. The PD shouted through a loudspeaker to the members who were in a bright mood as it had been a while since our last outdoor activity.

“Your first extreme activity is… Skydiving!”

“…!?”

The atmosphere froze.

“You see that light airplane up there?”

Whir…

A black flying object flitted across the blue sky.

“You’re going to get in there and jump off.”

“…!!”

And it became a mess.

“Aaaaah!”

“This is completely safe… I’m safe…”

“Hahahahahaha!”

“…Is it impossible to give up halfway?”

“Ei, Getting on the airplane costs a lot~ They already paid for this.”

“…”

Lee Sejin’s face turned pale at the instructor’s casual reply.

‘What a mess.’

Still, the production team dropped the last bombshell.

– If you can’t do it, you can just come down. Instead, the next course doubles!

‘I think the fans will get mad at them for this.’

If someone really cried that they couldn’t do it, the curses would come out saying, ‘Why do you make the idol reality show unnecessarily sadistic?’, and they had to announce an apology.

However, that seemed unlikely.

“Then, let’s jump one by one!”

“Uaaaah!”

This was because these guys were surprisingly tenacious.

Maybe it was only natural since they were the ones who had endured far worse in Idol Inc.

Anyway, from Kim Raebin, who muttered to himself in the corner, to Cha Eugene, who stamped his feet with excitement, everyone jumped off safely

Having an instructor in the back must have played a part in them gaining some courage.

“Then, let’s go!”

“Y-Yes…!!”

Seon Ahyeon also jumped down without any problems.

‘It’s my turn next.’

My turn came out last again. I recalled Idol Inc’s surprise VCR.

‘It’s not scary at all.’

It’s not like I’m going to die or get hurt, so what can I say? I just didn’t understand why we should be spending money on this.

“Then~ Let’s run together. Take a deep breath.”

“Yes.”

“Oh, this fellow has the strongest heart~ Let’s go!”

Whiff.

The wind pierced my face.

“…Ha!”

“It’s nice, right~?”

It was great.

…I didn’t even think about it.

The blue sky was everywhere.

Mountains and fields spread endlessly over the blue horizon.

The sun stung my eyes, but it wasn’t hot. The wind swirled.

“Then, the parachute~”

Thud, with a feeling of pressure, the body stopped slowly in the air and began to move with the wind.

I felt a great sense of freedom.

“Great ride! Grab this and… Let’s push like this!”

“…”

If I had lived as Ryu Gunwoo, would I have thought of doing this?

‘Never.’

I would have asked why I had to spend money to jump from the sky.

But I was doing it now.

And there were so many things like that.

Accomplishments, performances, fans, cheers… The feeling of living my life.

‘…It’s strange.’

Status abnormality or whatever, it was good.

Strangely, I liked that I was Park Moondae.

“Now, let’s land!”

The moment I landed on the ground, those who went down first laughed and waved.

“Moondae has arrived~”

…Well this extreme travel didn’t sound so bad. I stepped on the ground laughing.

* * *

Did I say it didn’t sound so bad?

“Then, today’s second extreme experience! It is~ ‘Invitation to the Haunted House’!”

“Aaah!”

I took it back. The production team suck.

“Do you see that building in front of you?”

“Yes…!”

“I can see it, but…!”

The members who were certified as scaredy-cats were already crying.

The PD excitedly talked through the loudspeaker.

“This time, it’s a horror experience set and operated by a professional team that makes a visit to Korea!”

“Uaaah…”

“They only open it this summer, so we can only do it now!”

This detailed explanation… It meant this was a PPL.

Lee Sejin muttered beside me with a gloomy face.

“I just have to endure it this summer…”

“…”

I know, right.

“Then, everyone, please divide into groups to join the ‘Invitation to the Haunted House’!”

“We…! We have bad memories of making groups…!”

“We will enter together!”

…But of course, it didn’t work, and Testar began to be divided into groups.