Chapter 57
Debut or Die
âWaiting for what?â
I sighed.
Considering that he had said with determination not to drop out and wait, Seon Ahyeon looked like was about to cry at any moment
Anyone who saw it would know that I was dropping out.
Conversely, my brain was getting colder.
âThere is a common saying⦠It is not something that can be solved by standing around.â
If I were an idol who already debuted, I might have the option of waiting while doing a self-reflection.
However, it was an impossible approach for an audition participant with the final just right around the corner.
Seeing a guy who people thought didnât deserve to be successful at the audition was still holding on only added to the resentment.
It wasnât just an audition, it was more of a suicide in this program, which was cable but currently had over 10% viewer ratings and dominated real-time search terms.
âIf I am going to fall out of the final anyway, the next best thing is to resign quickly and figure out the situation.â
For now, letâs pretend I donât know anything with vague words like âhealth problemsâ.
That would have the least damage. If it was truly an unfair case as Park Moondae thought, explaining it would be easy.
And if I found out it was really this bastardâs fault⦠Go to the party involved and apologizeâ¦
Damn it, that girl even dropped out, there was no way she would let Park Moondae be active.
But there was no other way.
âIf there is no evidence that it is not Park Moondae, waiting will only make the situation worse.â
âB-But⦠S-Sejin, too.â
âAt that time, I found out it was photoshopped right away. I also had a smartphone.â
ââ¦â
It was rare to be so lucky.
Seon Ahyeon bowed his head.
A brief silence fell again at the dorm. It was then.
ââ¦Are you there?â
Once again, someone knocked on the door of the dorm.
ââ¦â
âYes.â
After hearing Keun Sejinâs short answer, the door opened. Kim Raebin came in.
And after that, Cha Eugene followed suit.
I didnât know why he followed to someone elseâs dorm, but if he came on purpose, he was a really tactless guy.
Kim Raebin immediately noticed that the atmosphere in the room was quite trashy.
ââ¦Personal practice, itâs now overâ¦â
ââ¦â
The two of them must have missed practice.
They didnât help much, but honestly⦠I was thankful.
I squeezed out my last patience.
âGo and practice.â
ââ¦! N-Noâ¦â
âThere are only a few days left, so donât regret it.â
ââ¦What about you?â
I answered calmly.
âI need to consult about dropping out.â
ââ¦!!â
âN-Noâ¦â
Lastly, I would check the public opinion one more time, and If it went as expected, I would have to make up a reason for dropping out.
âYes? Hyung, why all of a suddenâ¦.â
Kim Raebin was taken aback. It seemed this unsociable fellow still hadnât heard the rumor.
âIâm tired.â
I didnât want to talk about anything else. Theyâd heard it all by tomorrow anyway.
I just passed Kim Rabin and headed for the door. I was thinking of meeting the writer right away.
Then, my shoulders were grabbed from both sides.
âCome on, Moondae. Take a rest first then get up and think about it.â
âT-Thatâs right. F-First of all⦠R-Rest. Rest your head.â
As the two clung to me, I was momentarily pushed back in hand-to-hand combat.
Thanks to this, I was dragged back to bed like a dog being subdued. Are these bastards crazy?
âAre you crazy?â
âPull yourself together. It hasnât even been 30 minutes since I confirmed your outburst. Youâre going to throw away your months of hard work in 30 minutes?â
âThe longer I wait, the worse the situation getsâ¦â
âEven if you drop out now, the article wonât come out until tomorrow morning. It doesnât change even if youâre in bed.â
Keun Sejin and Seon Ahyeon drove me back to bed.
âYou have to decide everything with a clear mind so that you wonât regret it! Do you know that youâre losing it right now because youâre scared?â
âWhat?â
I tried to get myself out of bed and stopped. What kind of nonsense are you saying now?
âI am sane.â
âHn. No. Youâre flustered and frightened right now.â
Keun Sejin added a little.
ââ¦I was the same before.ân/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om
ââ¦â
âOr you would have known before I told you. Thereâs no difference whether you drop out now or tomorrow morning.â
ââ¦!â
Thatâ¦
Damn it. He was right. I couldnât refute it.
âIâm panicking.â
I sighed. I kept thinking I shouldnât have abandoned that damn Unmoving Heart.
First of all, I lay down on the bed as these guys pushed me.
I could clearly hear Seon Ahyeonâs relief.
âWhat on earth is going onâ¦â
âCome on, letâs get out.â
I heard Keun Sejin driving Kim Raebin and Cha Eugene out of the room. Seon Ahyeon followed him and said to me, swallowing his saliva.
âR-Rest.â
Screech.
And the door was closed very carefully.
ââ¦Even if they go out, their beds are here.â
Well, whether they came in awkwardly after three hours or slept in the practice room, they would take care of it themselves. I wasnât in a situation where I could afford to care that much.
I closed my eyes and crossed my arms.
And I tried to look at Park Moondaeâs case objectivelyâ¦how could I suddenly be able to do that? I would suffer sudden death and real social death.
âStatus window.â
When I called the unchanged status window, only one thing caught my eye.
[!Status abnormality: Debut or die]
âWhy are you doing this to me?â
Why me of all people?
Why Park Moondae?
It was grossly annoying that I knew nothing about the situation and had no way to find out.
Of course, I didnât think I would suddenly think of a good move until morning.
Things were not going to get better all of a sudden.
âItâs foolish to wish for good luck.â
Although astonishingly bad things could come into life without warning, the opposite was, of course, extremely rare.
Compare the odds of winning a lottery with the odds of getting into a car accident on the road. The latter was overwhelmingly more likely to happen.
Look at me. A supernatural miracle changed my whole life, but I had never expected that my life was already ruined.
ââ¦Huh.â
Damn it. It just made me more anxious. If I was going to do it anyway, I wanted to drop out right away.
ââ¦But letâs skip tonight.â
I couldnât expect anything.
I sighed and stretched out my arms, purely out of consideration for those guysâ sincerity.
My thoughts turned chaotic. The more I calculated what should be reasonable.
âThereâs no answer anywhereâ¦â
I fell asleep just like that.
* * *
Pop!
The noise brought me back to my sense.
ââ¦The sound of wood breaking?â
When I turned my eyes half awake, I saw Seon Ahyeon storming through the door.
âM-Moondae.â
Seon Ahyeonâs face was red.
âSomeone else has broken down.â
If someone other than me had broken down, I hoped I could hide away thanks to that.
Seon Ahyeon suddenly shoved something into my face.
It was a smartphone with a screen turned on.
âL-Look at thisâ¦!â
The light from the screen stung my eyes. I frowned and grabbed the smartphone.
âWhere did you get it?â
Holding an item that shouldnât be brought into the filming set, I read the screen reluctantly.
ââ¦!â
A miracle had happened.
[(2nd place!) Park Moondae, a cast member of Idol Inc who is recently involved in a controversy. (632)]
: Iâm still very afraid to write this in public. But I donât want to see innocent people suffer anymore, so I write.
It was true that I dropped out after my sanitary pad was stolen.
But it wasnât Park Moondae who stole the sanitary pad.
â¦
The article began to explain the situation at the time in great detail.
The writer had continuously been bullied by her bad classmates since the beginning of the semester for no special reason.
The bullying that started with gossip gradually escalated, and in the end, it got to the point where it became unbearable. However, due to family circumstances, she had no choice but to endure it even if it was difficult to cope.
Then her sanitary pad was stolen.
It seemed that they tried to double the fun by putting the blame on Park Moondae who had no close friends in the class.
[I didnât want to live]
It was not specifically mentioned between the lines, but it seemed that this ridicule was sexual harassment. The writer was completely mentally shattered under extreme stress and was absent without notice for 10 days.
And during this period, Park Moondae dropped out.
Although the writer herself was a victim, she tried to contact Park Moondae after dropping out because it bothered her that Park Moondae was falsely accused.
However, it was said that Park Moondaeâs answer to her apology text was this.
[âYou didnât do anything wrong, so of course, you donât have to apologize, and itâs fine because I was going to drop out anyway. But if youâre having a hard time and want to accuse the perpetrators who harassed you, Iâll help.â That was his long answer.]
The writer was taking antidepressants at the time and was unable to proceed with the accusation because just going near school made her hyperventilate.
So, she ended the conversation with Park Moondae, but It was said that even after she got away from the incident to some extent, she continued to care and tried to contact him.
However, it turned out his number didnât exist anymore.
ââ¦Park Moondae canceled his cell phone.â
[When I saw Moondae on the audition program, I couldnât recognize him because his style and impression had changed so much. It was only after this controversy that I realized this Park Moondae was my friend.
He was quiet when he was in school, but he wasnât strange or a nuisance. After dropping out, I realized that he was a thoughtful and kind friend.
I hope Moondae doesnât get hurt by this incident]
The writing was based on the recording of the main character in high school against the perpetrators and it ended with an exhilarating sentence that she would proceed with the lawsuit. There were several verification photos attached below.
In the latest comments, people who denied reality were either being beaten up, deleting their comments, or running away.
And switching opinions occupied top comments.
â Crazy, no wonder it felt weird, Moondae looks so clean thereâs no way he would do such a shady thingã ã
â Prepare the settlement money, the self-proclaimed alumni who spread rumors about Park Moondae and the writer without knowing the full story~ã ã
â Ahâ¦ã ã Thank you for writing this⦠Thank you so muchâ¦. Moondae, you worked hard
ââ¦â
I felt nauseous.
âIt wasnât Park Moondae.â
The person directly involved even showed up and proved it through verification.
A day after the incident at that.
ââ¦â
âN-Never mind!â
Seon Ahyeon started to talk about something, but it was hard to hear him properly.
Because my head was spinning.
âThis⦠Is it possible?â
I didnât do anything, but the situation suddenly got better?
Can this just be solved like this?
Rather than relief and joy, I felt strange.
It was strange that something like this could happen in life.
I thought I had learned from experience that if my life changed when I hadnât done anything, it usually wasnât a good thing.
I never thought Iâd come into someoneâs body and experience the opposite.
âHey!!â
The door was kicked open and a stampede of people rushed in. I saw the faces of the team members, starting with Keun Sejin.
âCome to think of it⦠I am the leader.â
We were not that close so I thought it was strange. Since the leader was in a state of Schrödingerâs resignation, they must have felt uncertain to change the practice.
It seemed these guys had been thinking a lot last night.
âHey! What did I say? I told you to wait, didnât I?â
Keun Sejin looked at Seon Ahyeon and grasped the situation, then shouted loudly. It seemed he already knew everything.
ââ¦Right.â
I meekly agreed.
âThank you.â
ââ¦!â
If it werenât for these guys, I would have already quit last night, taken out my luggage, and regretted it in the morning.
âThanks to you, I can continue with the broadcast.â
I laughed.
Seon Ahyeon was happy, repeating âNoâ and âI am gladâ. Keun Sejin grinned.
âIf youâre grateful, buy me a cow.â
ââ¦Letâs pretend this never happened.â
âHey!â
I didnât have money.
Only then I was relieved, listening to Keun Sejinâs grumbling and congratulatory words of the team members.
âNow I can practice quietly until the final.â
âThank you for bringing this. How did you get it?â
âI-I asked for it!â
Seon Ahyeon took his phone with a bright smile. Now I hope I didnât see anything until the finals.
But I didnât know things would start to turn out even stranger the moment I took my eyes off the smartphone.
The first flame was posted by Gold 1.