Debut or Die

A translucent hologram appeared next to Cha Eugene.

[Name: Cha Eugene]

Vocal: B- (B+)

(Rap: B+)

Dance: S- (S+)

Visual: A (S)

Talent: S (EX)

Characteristic: Black hole (S)

I almost cursed.

‘Is this bastard human?’

His dancing had improved again, so he got two S stats. As for his singing, his vocal part had increased recently so it eventually entered the B stat.

And the final nail in the coffin was… his characteristic.

[Black hole (S): Immersive stage that sucks everything, driving people’s hearts]

– Stage immersion +150%

As A stat became S, 150% became 180%. Characteristics would also evolve.

‘Is it because of that?’

I broke out in a cold sweat.

‘I think I am f*cked no matter what I do.’

I felt like I was reviving my senses from <Idol Inc.> survival for the first time in a long time… My survival senses.

‘Did I push forward too hastily just because the fans like it?’

No, let’s calm down.

I didn’t have to leave the group just because my stance was broken after doing a unit with this guy. I would just be a little embarrassed.

‘It’s not like I am trying to press down Cha Eugene, like Keun Sejin.’

Though, I could already see that the fans would struggle to push public opinion with ‘Both of them did a good job’ and Cha Eugene’s solo fans would sneer at me and say things like ‘Gommeo sucksㅋㅋ’.

And in the end, the image of Park Moondae being good on the stage would suffer…

‘I can’t stand that.’

I couldn’t. I’d double-check to make sure that such a situation didn’t occur.

“Eugene.”

“Yes!”

“Tell me all the devices you wanted to use on the unit stage.”

Cha Eugene, who was looking at his smartphone, jumped to his feet. His eyes were sparkling.

[Water! Fireworks! Lights and dancers! And a huge moving structure!]

In other words, he wanted to use everything he had.

“You know that it’s impossible to use all of that budget-wise.”

“I know! But I still really want to use a lot of them! They’re great!”

“Yeah.”

It was true.

The choreography draft and stage setting had already been confirmed. And a lot of the things Cha Eugene had mentioned were actually used on the stage.

I agreed with Cha Eugene’s claim only in secret, but I was actually aiming for those too.

I wanted the focus to spread throughout the stage thanks to the colorful peripherals.

But I could tell when I checked Cha Eugene’s stat. It was a little superficial.

‘Their focus won’t disperse.’

People would definitely focus on Cha Eugene. The stage setting would only help with it.

I needed a more enforced method to take away their focus.

The easiest method was… handling my stats.

‘Status window.’

Let’s check my status window this time.

[Name: Park Moondae (Ryu Gunwoo)]

Level: 18

Title: None

Vocal: S-

Dance: B+

Visual: A-

Talent: A-

Characteristics: Infinite potential, Now that I heard it, it’s true (A), Bacchus 500 (B), and Snatching ears (A)

!Status abnormality: Get the audience or die

Remaining points: 2

I thought my current status window was pretty decent, but after seeing Cha Eugene’s status window, that thought faded a bit.

‘First of all, there are no unique points.’

What’s worth looking at was… the one level-up. And the naturally-increased dance stat.

Perhaps it naturally went up because I kept learning and performing the improvised choreography during the tour schedule.

Then, naturally, what I would do was obvious.

‘I will raise the dance stat from B+ to A-.’

It was easy to think of it as an efficient way to change the stat grade and a way to catch up with Cha Eugene’s specialty, dance.

But… It felt iffy.

‘Even if I raise it like that, the grade is different from Cha Eugene’s.’

Cha Eugene’s dance stat was S. Since it was a unit stage, even if I mixed it in with an A- stat, we might end up barely matching.

Even if I invested all 2 points and set it to A, it would be the same. In talent and characteristics, I was way behind.

And this was true no matter where I invested.

‘…Turn the vocal into S+?’

It was a way to make the eyes focus on Cha Eugene, but the ears focus on Park Moondae. It was a bit desperate.

Let’s put it on hold and look at the remaining variables.

‘Hmm.’

I brought pop-ups accumulated through concerts and reality shows.

[Successful performance!]

You deeply impressed the majority of people!

There had been several pop-ups like this, including notifications of reputation renewal.

Most of them gave a moderate amount of characteristic draws, so there were about five draws accumulated.

And it had been proved every time that the characteristic that came out was always something that could be used in the near future, doubting it more would be embarrassing.

I was almost certain now.

‘Let’s spend all of it.’

Spit out something useful.

Let’s start with the low grade.

I ran all the draws that had ‘precious’ and ‘hero’ on them. They were the ones that came out with B–C grades.

The lever turned and the slot machine flashed.

Papapang!

[‘Soft and cute (B)’ Acquired!]

[‘Angelic Heart (C)’ Acquired!]

[‘Crocodile’s tears (A)’ Acquired!]

[‘Unmoving Heart (B)’ Acquired!]

They were unnecessary and didn’t fit the situation.

‘There’s nothing related to the stage.’

Only the characteristics related to external activities were pouring out.

‘Are you telling me to take care of my performance on my own?’

Is it implying that I won’t suffer much damage even if the unit stage is ruined this time?

I scanned the pop-up window with my head colled down. Then, all of a sudden, I remembered a rather unsettling prediction.

‘Or… Maybe it’s because the time has come.’

Naturally, the status abnormality would be over soon.

[Get the audience or die]

: If you fail to meet more than 200,000 spectators within the time limit, you will die

The number of people reached: 199,997 / 200,000

There were only three audiences left.

After the encore concert, no, even if it got canceled due to natural disasters, it didn’t matter. With just one stage filled with three spectators, this status abnormality was over.

‘And… I think there will be another s*hitty truth check.’

Considering the past cases, it wouldn’t be strange if it showed someone dying again this time.

…That meant it could stir me up.

So, in order to defend against attitude controversy, characteristics related to external activities appeared…

‘The fact it’s so convincing made this reasoning more unpleasant’

Don't give me a disease and medicine^[1]Give a disease and then medicine = it’s a proverb meaning ‘to give trouble and then pretend to help’. , just don’t show me useless sh*t.

I clicked my tongue, but I decided to act rationally for now.

In other words, my characteristic was replaced.

[Characteristic: Now that I heard it, it’s true (A) has been deleted!]

Instead, I added the ‘Unmoving Heart’ characteristic that could be useful. Although it had a lower grade, it was a characteristic that could be used in many ways.

…By the way, the ‘Crocodile’s tears’, which momentarily interested me because it was grade A, could arouse sympathy by crying pitifully… It was the upward compatibility version of the faucet characteristic.

In other words, it was trash.

‘Done.’

I cracked my neck.

Now, let’s clear out our brains.

There was only one left.

It was a draw lot with an unusual name.

[Draw Legendary Characteristics ☜ Click]

This was the last draw I received after the tour.

Whether in mass-produced sh*tty games or god games, it was the rule that having legendary attached to it meant it was something good.

In that case, the same should be true for this obscure game system.

‘I expect an A grade at least.’

Please let me add some stage enhancement features too!

The lever of the holographic slot machine was pulled, and the platinum-colored slots began to spin rapidly.

Brrr–

Amidst countless plausible characteristic names passing by.

Click.

The slots slowly… stopped.

It was a slot that had never been seen before, shining with a five-colored light.

Papapapapang!!

[Characteristic: ‘Time of Indulgence (S)’ Acquired!]

‘F*ck.’

An S grade appeared!

Before I knew it, I pounded the bed with my fist. Fortunately, Cha Eugene, who fell back into his smartphone, didn’t notice.

‘It’s crazy.’

Even if I wasn’t so hung up in this kind of drawing lots, it was thrilling to have such a high-grade stat.

Wait, let’s calm down.

First, I had to check what kind of characteristics it was.

‘Still, just looking at it, it seems to be a stage-related characteristic.’

I brought up the details of the characteristic.

[Characteristic: Time of Indulgence (S)]

– I feel alive up here.

: (Self) immersed in the stage +180%

‘It’s driving me crazy.’

Isn’t this basically Black hole but with a different name?

“Huft.”

I took a long breath and sat down on the bed.

‘Additional 180% stage immersion…’

At this rate, I could compete with Cha Eugene just by efficiently adjusting the point distribution and coordinating the practice…

No, wait a second.

Looking at it again, there was something attached.

(Self) immersed in the stage.

‘Self-immersed?’

So, it wasn’t the immersion of the entire audience… It meant that the performer was immersed in their own stage.

“…”

You bastard.

‘Are you telling me to get narcissistic on my stage?’

If this status window was a real game, I would have already asked for a refund and left a one-star review.

‘Where did you sell your business ethics?’

I gritted my teeth while looking at the status window, but soon cooled my head.

‘…Compare with the Unmoving Heart.’

Let’s calmly weigh the pros and cons.

First of all, the effect of this characteristic, which was an S rank, would be certain.

It would really make me immerse myself on stage.

Then, what about how I usually did it?

Have I not been fully immersed?

‘The stage… It’s fun.’

It was rewarding, and matching the concept with the atmosphere wasn’t embarrassing at all.

In other words, it was just ordinary.

Then, what’s good about being more immersed than I do now?

‘It’ll look more natural.’

If the performer was deeply immersed, the effect of making the viewer more immersed was also expected to some extent.

And in case of an emergency, even if various obstacles intruded, the performance could be carried out more easily without breaking the flow.

‘And… it might be more fun.’

…This shouldn’t be taken into account, so let’s skip it.

“Hmm.”

Anyway, in summary, it seemed to be quite useful even if not at the level of the ‘Black hole’ scam.

In particular, due to the nature of this group having a strong concept, it was also beneficial if I could perform with less sense of incompatibility. Because it seemed to affect the concept performance.

There would be fewer complaints like ‘It’s so embarrassing to see’.

‘It’s a little different from being good, but it means he can do it with boldness.’

The moment I thought that far.

“…!”

Suddenly, an extreme thought occurred to me.

‘But… I want to be able to use it.’

It was all or nothing anyway.

I’d already peeled off all the variables I had, and there were no other options.

‘Let’s just try it.’

I manipulated the pop-up right away.

[Characteristic: Unmoving Heart (B) has been deleted!]

In the empty spot where ‘Unmoving Heart’ had passed by, a new characteristic, ‘Time of Indulgence’ was inserted.

And I poured all the remaining points into talent.

Talent: A+

All right. Let’s proceed like this.

“Cha Eugene.”

“Yes??”

“Would you like to have more fun on the unit stage?”

Cha Eugene answered right away without asking a question.

“Yes!”

Yeah. I knew it.

With less than 15 days left until the encore concert, Cha Eugene and I made some changes to the unit stage composition.

And both of us were satisfied with the revised direction.

“Are you okay with this?”

“It’s really great!!”

“If you say so…”

Ryu Chungwoo asked several times, but Cha Eugene only raised his thumb.

It was worth it.

We would do what we were good at.

• 1. Give a disease and then medicine = it’s a proverb meaning ‘to give trouble and then pretend to help’.

Hello everyone, Tapas has picked up this novel so naturally, I have to stop here. Take the chapters I posted today as a farewell gift and thank you for all your love support, it has been a wonderful journey(◍•ᴗ•◍)❤