Debut or Die

Choi Wongil. In <Idol Inc.>, he caused a lot of conflict in every team match, and in the end, he was hit by the editing beam and fell apart.

It was a case where he wanted to act weak but it looked too obvious so he ended up ruined.

He even made Seon Ahyeon say, ‘He’s such a bad person’, so in a sense, he had always been an amazing guy.

‘Hmm, didn’t he drop out while escaping to the Gold 1 agency?’

That’s why the two of them were moving together. It wasn’t particularly surprising, but it was unexpected that the location was the broadcasting station where a year-end music program was being held.

‘They probably haven’t debuted yet.’

I had checked this year’s rookie trend because of the Rookie Award, and their agency was not in the lineup.

Meanwhile, Gold 1 was happily chatting with the members.

“Wow, nice to meet you! No, wait a minute, should I call you sunbae-nim? Sunbae-nims are really great~”

“That’s enough~”

“S-Speak comfortably, hyung…!”

“Hey, Ahyeon, you’re still such a nice kid!”

In the friendly atmosphere, I roughly checked Gold 1 and Choi Wongil’s appearances.

And I realized.

‘You’re here as dancers.’

A female soloist who was an idol at their agency recently had very good grades.

And it was not strange to use the debut group trainee as dancers for experience and press coverage since it was a situation that happened quite often.

Sure enough, Gold 1 introduced the people around him who were dressed in the same black clothes, pushing them forward.

“Right, they’re my dongsaengs who are practicing together with me!”

“Uh, hello!”

“Hello!”

The eyes of the people greeting us were shining with curiosity, envy, and longing. Perhaps this reaction was awkward, some of the members awkwardly greeted back.

And suddenly, my name was called.

“E-Excuse me, Park Moondae sunbae-nim!”

“Yes?”

“Just one handshake…! Can I please…!!”

He was frightened and suppressed by the people next to him.

“Hey, hey, don’t go crazy!”

“Hey, you bastard, in this place too!”

Just what are you guys doing?

I nodded, hiding my displeasure.

“…Sure.”

“…! T-Thank you!”

And, as if meeting the president of a company, a handshake was exchanged with the utmost politeness.

“Ah, great!”

Gold 1’s team members whispered over the happy handshake.

“Hey, I guess people must have courage too.”

“Indeed.”

…Anyone who saw it would think that he had met a legendary senior in the music industry.

It seemed their team had already been confirmed, and if they made their official debut early next year, it would be less than a year apart from Testar.

‘…Well, grades are everything.’

The gaze that looked up to us purely meant that there was a psychological gap toward ‘the rising group’.

And it looked like they weren’t the only ones feeling that.

Although it was in a slightly different direction.

“Wow, it’s not like I was being filmed but I was really nervous in the pre-recording.”

“No, aren’t you, who have hundreds of thousands of views on fancams, just exaggerating?”

“Hey, it’s different from that! Ruining your stage is scarier!”

“Hmm, I think it’s a difficult matter to decide.”

Behind Gold 1 and Testar members who were exchanging updates, Choi Wongil was lowering his head to avoid eye contact.

“…”

‘He’s overwhelmed.’

He looked like the type that would end it when the pecking order was completely sorted out.

Testar’s activities this year had gone so well that it seemed he couldn’t even think of saying anything.

Meanwhile, Gold 1 also finished greeting Bae Sejin. And with a slightly regretful expression, he threw a closing comment.

“Oh, I have a lot to talk about, but you’re busy, right? I’ll buy you a meal next time!”

It meant that we should go do our business now.

However, we happened to have one person who couldn’t understand empty words.

It was Kim Raebin.

“Oh, we have plenty of time until the next stage. If we move to the waiting room, we won’t have any trouble continuing the conversation.”

Gold 1 was flustered.

“Haha, I appreciate your suggestion, Raebin, but wouldn’t it be uncomfortable for those who don’t know me well~?”

But those people were Cha Eugene and Ryu Chungwoo.

“It’s not uncomfortable!”

“Ah, it’s all right. Make yourself comfortable.”

“I-Is that so?”

Gold 1 was flustered by the neat OK.

And Gold 1’s team members quickly fled when they noticed the situation.

“Hyung, have fun. We’ll go to our dorm!”

“Buy an ice cream when you come back!”

“Idol Inc participants are catching up, ah fighting~”

“These crazy bastards!”

The black-clad guys ran down the hall and disappeared.

However, Choi Wongil who failed to catch the timing remained in his seat.

“…”

It seemed he didn’t fit in very well because he had just joined this team, or maybe he had been left behind because he was from Idol Inc.

‘This situation is ambiguous.’

Fortunately, Gold 1 got Choi Wongil’s back.

“Ah, Wongil, it’s the first time we visit these guys’ waiting room, so shall we buy something to drink?”

“I’ll buy it.”

“Huh?”

And Choi Wongil ran before Gold 1 could say anything more.

‘I don’t think he’s going to come back.’

Gold 1 sighed.

“Sorry, it was a little uncomfortable, wasn’t it?”

“I-It’s fine!”

“I don’t think it’s fine… But Wongil got a lot better. I’m a little worried that he’s looking up too many responses on the internet… These days, he doesn’t talk much.”

Gold 1 sighed deeply. He seemed to have had quite a hard time.

Keun Sejin smiled and glanced at the spot where Choi Wongil had disappeared.

“Is he also in the debut group?”

“Yeah. Actually, he’s good at singing… He’s young. He’s well-known.”

It wasn’t like he debuted in Idol Inc, and since it was only a matter of broadcast image, they could dismiss it as a bad episode.

There was no big problem with putting him in the group.

‘Well, it has nothing to do with me.’

If that side had over 300,000 copies in the Initial Chodong next year, I would analyze them from then on.

“Huh, Moondae, where are you going?”

“The bathroom.”

I slipped out of the queue to the waiting room and walked down the hallway.

‘There are no people downstairs.’

I had plenty of time, so I thought of going in a direction where I wouldn’t meet people.

And before I could get to the bathroom, I ran into Choi Wongil.

Surprisingly, instead of the convenience store, he was sitting in the corner of the emergency stairs and chewing on his solitude.

“…”

“…”

Let’s just go to the bathroom.

I just nodded my head and passed Choi Wongil to head down the stairs.

Then Choi Wongil suddenly shouted.

“It must be nice, hyung.”

“…??”

“Everything goes well… Everyone likes you.”

Why are you sprouting lines from daily drama all of a sudden?

Whatever. Instead of being absurd, something like this… was very sad and embarrassing.

‘This is an emergency stairway, so it’s echoing.’

So my hands and feet shriveled even more.

I hoped no one was going up and down these remote stairs.

I didn’t want anyone to know that the person listening to that line was me.

“How does it feel to live like that? The whole world revolves around you.”

And I never dreamed that there would be a bastard who would bring these words out in reality.

Choi Wongil was now sniffling.

‘What happened to your sensitivity?’

Once again, I felt the gap that I sometimes felt from aspiring idols.

‘Let’s just leave.’

I slipped away, but I noticed a moving figure under the railing.

“…!”

Could they hear us?

It was quite a long distance. However, although the sound was muffled because of the echo, it seemed they could hear us sparsely.

If I let this guy keep talking, isn’t there going to be a strange rumor?

‘…Should I fix it and leave?’

I checked Choi Wongil.

“Everyone lives like that! As if I was the only one… Everyone was fighting over footage and cursing out. “

“…”

Now he was talking to himself. It seemed he couldn’t control himself now that it had exploded.

‘But why are you doing this to me?’

“H-Hyung took my part, too. A-Also… Sejin hyung was also annoyed, but I was the only one who came out looking meaner. I apologized to Heeseung, but it didn’t make the cut.”

Choi Wongil kept mumbling about the portions he had received in the middle and second half of Idol Inc.

‘Your mind hasn’t gotten out of Idol Inc yet.’

Well, that could happen.

A young self-conscious man was suddenly criticized for months by an unspecified number of people.

Testar had been through various crazy things over the past half year, so I quickly brushed off my feelings over my time at Idol Inc. But for this guy who only practiced, it must be a little different.

Perhaps the reason he did this to me was also because there was still a sense of containment and enthusiasm left from Idol Inc’s rating evaluation.

Those feelings burst out when he ran into me as an individual, not as one of Testar.

‘…Wouldn’t it be better for him to get counseling at least once?’

Of course, there was no need for me to talk about such things, I didn’t have any desire to. Let’s just clean up the situation to make sure there wouldn’t be any rumors and then leave quickly.

I held back my sigh and opened my mouth.

“Are you jealous of me? Why?”

“…Because everything worked out for you.”

“No, that’s not true.”

I stared at Choi Wongil.

“Would you do it if I told you to switch with me?”

“…We can’t switch…!”

“That means you do want to switch with me. Well…”

I rubbed the back of my neck.

“But honestly, you wouldn’t want to change your family.”

“…!”

Choi Wongil flinched as he crouched. Of course, this guy also knew Park Moondae’s family history.

I spoke slowly on purpose.

“The only thing I am jealous of you is… Right now, it’s just my professional status. And I don’t know how this will change in a few years.”

“…”

“Do you get along with your parents?”

“…Yes.”

“Right, I hope it will be like that in the future.”

“…”

Choi Wongil bowed his head.

‘This is enough.’

The unstoppable attack worked well.

‘You must have gotten rid of your useless sense of inferiority now.’

This is how you use the famous family history.

‘Let’s just say ‘cheer up’ and end it.’

But before I could open my mouth again, something surprising happened.

“…I’m sorry.”

“…!”

An apology came out of Choi Wongil’s mouth.

“From the beginning… I was just lucky, so I’m sorry.”

Um… Was it?

It was probably one of Choi Wongil’s sarcastic remarks during the evaluation practice.

‘Isn’t it the national rule that the person who originally spits it out can’t remember and only the person who heard it remembers?’

I didn’t know that he was the only one who still remembered.

Anyway, it was a good conversation to end the situation. It would have been better if someone was listening.

I nodded.

“Yes, I accept the apology. You should also prepare well for your debut.”

“…”

Choi Wongil nodded softly.

Actually, Choi Wongil was a bit mean, but he didn’t commit any great crimes. His mind wasn’t mature enough to be shrewd.

‘He doesn’t have the ability to ruin someone with politics.’

Even Gold 2, which he had openly ignored, did it better than him.

Overall, he was just an annoying troll.

‘I hope I don’t have to see you in the future.’

I walked down the stairs.

I checked again under the railing just in case, but the person I saw earlier was already gone.

* * *

“Happy New Year!!”

“Happy New Year~”

Testar celebrated the New Year by taking care of the countdown on MBS.

However, of course, there was no time to relax and enjoy the New Year’s sentiment.

Because a new award ceremony was waiting five days later.

<Golden Disc Awards>

Since it was one of the fairly famous and old awards ceremonies, it was also included in the nomination for the ‘most prestigious award ceremonies’ arbitrarily set up by Park Moondae.

It was held over two days, divided into digital and album sections, but there was still only one Rookie Award category.

In addition, the Rookie Award ceremony part was included in the cue sheet for the date of the album section that Testar attended.

Everyone thought inwardly.

‘Honestly, it will be weird if Testar doesn’t receive it.’

And as everyone expected, Testar won the Rookie of the Year award early, even before their stage sequence arrived.

“Congratulations! Testar!”

It was not a surprising result.

But perhaps because there were so many obstacles, both fans and Testar were overflowing with joy!

“Waaaaaagh!!”

Recalling what had happened on the Internet for the past two months, fans waved the lightsticks enthusiastically and cheered.

“Thank you!”

Testar came up to the stage and bowed.

However, upon receiving the bouquet and the trophy, they suddenly exchanged glances with sly smiles.

And they immediately handed the microphone over to Seon Ahyeon.

“…??”

In an instant, a slightly bewildered atmosphere passed through the audience.

Because anyone who had watched at least one episode of <idol Inc.> couldn’t help but know about Seon Ahyeon’s stuttering symptoms.

First of all, handing over the microphone to Seon Ahyeon was something that had never happened before. There was even a time when he became flustered and fell back.

However, Seon Ahyeon looked slightly nervous but accepted the microphone right away.

“…For the generous reward,…Thank you very much.”

“…!!”