Debut or Die - Chapter 1
If you woke up and saw a strange ceiling above your head, wasn’t it supposed to be a different world?
That wasn’t the case for me. When I woke up I found myself in a moldy motel room.
“Ugh…”
It felt as if my head was about to break open. I clenched my forehead as I got up. The musty smelling blanket fell to my feet.
So… let’s see, after confirming that I had once again failed the civil service examination, I believe I had fallen asleep after drinking by myself.
Does that mean I somehow crawled from my studio into some sort of motel?
‘I must have lost my mind…’
I went towards the bathroom as I cursed myself. I thought I would let out some water and check out my appearance. Though I was sure I looked like a drunk college student without even having to look.
Then I looked at the mirror and suddenly fell down.
“Ugh! …F**k.”
I clenched my teeth as I sweared out of reflex at the unbelievable situation.
With trembling hands I brushed off my hair. And then I once again looked at the mirror.
The face in the mirror was still an unfamiliar one.
A good looking kid with a skinny body.
…Trying not to panic I held onto my breath. Suddenly I longed for the cigarettes that I had already quitted.
“…Huh.”
Only then did I realize that even my voice was strange.
I felt like I wanted to bite my tongue.
Just what the hell was going on here?
I managed to somehow pull myself together and lead this unfamiliar body to search around the motel room.
In the bed, I found a note that looked like a suicide note as well as an empty medicine box. This guy must have attempted suicide by overdosing on sleeping pills.
After roughly reading the contents of the suicide note, it was about how he was an orphan and dropped out of school because of how unfair and hopeless he felt.
I had a bitter taste in my mouth. Even after changing my body it seemed I was still an orphan.
On top of the cheap dressing table I found a wallet, when I searched inside I found several bills and the ID card that belonged to this body.
[Park Moondae 0X1215-3XXXXXX]
“The last row’s number is 3…”
They were young. With a deflated voice I looked at the photo on the ID Card. it looked better than the mess of a face I had seen earlier, but it still looked gloomy.
Still, despite his gloomy look he looked quite young. He should be around 23 years old right now. I thought he’d be younger.
“…”
No, this isn’t time to think about this.
I tried thinking calmly.
By having a rough understanding of my current situation, I slowly calmed myself down. I think I should find out about the whereabouts of my original body and come up with countermeasures. Maybe the guy who tried killing himself also ended up in my body.
I grabbed my wallet and opened the motel door.
Then I froze.
Ahead of me, snow was scattering from the window.
…Before I got drunk it was July.
“Oh my gosh.”
I swallowed my saliva. Then I hurried back into the motel room and lifted up the calendar on the desk.
[202x December]
…The calendar was from 3 years ago.
My vision started becoming dizzy.
It didn’t take too much time to calm myself down again. Because to me the fact that I changed my body was more shocking than being in the past.
I sat on the bed and sighed. I didn’t even remember the numbers for the lottery tickets.
Then I raised my head to a flash of nonsense.
…Maybe this wasn’t the past but a whole different world.
It was a crazy idea yet because I was overwhelmed by the crazy situation it sounded somehow convincing.
This seems to happen often in webtoons and web novels that I sometimes read. Was it something related to hunters…?
I muttered quietly in a dazed tone. Though I was sure it would be quite insufficient.
“Status window…?”
Of course, nothing happened.
Damn it.
Out of shame I hit the bed with my hand.
There is no way that would work, you idiot…
[Name: Park Moondae (Ryu Gunwoo)]
Level: 0
Title: None
Vocals: C
Dance: –
Visuals: C
Talent: –
Attribute: Infinite potential
It came up?
I fell out of the bed.
“Ugh!”
Even though I was groaning because of my backache, I thought to myself.
The contents of the status window is… it’s not what I expected.
***
“…”
Since even the status window showed up, I was able to calm myself as much as I wanted.
This situation ignored the laws of physics. I could tell that it was definitely no joke.
Currently, I was out of the motel room and in a nearby PC room. I wanted to find out if there were any other changes besides the fact that this world was from 3 years ago.
Just for reference, I asked the counter to call my original number but it didn’t exist.
I couldn’t log into the university account, and the SNS account I created for my assignments was gone.
In other words, there was no ‘me’ in this world.
I didn’t have much lingering feelings.
By the time I was in middle school my parents had died in an accident, and I had already lost contact with all my other relatives when I entered college.
I didn’t have any notable personal collections, and all my relationships were cut off as the time I spent studying for the civil service exam became longer
In addition, considering the years I had wasted trying to become a civil service officer, It wasn’t that strange that I had nothing to lose.
“The Ham Ramyun you ordered.”
“Oh, thank you.”
I calmly evaluated myself and received the tray. Then I put some ramyun in my mouth before looking at the search engine.
Well, three years ago was when I was desperate and became ‘fully dedicated’ to studying.
Because I had cancelled my smartphone and cut off the internet I wasn’t very familiar with these sites.
But there wasn’t a sense of incompatibility.
It felt exactly like 3 years ago. Things that were popular at that time stood out. Games, movies, songs… idols.
Speaking of idols.
“Hm.”
I put the chopsticks back on the finished bowl of ramyun and crossed my arms.
No matter how you looked at it, the contents of the status window was related to idols.
I wasn’t sure why I ended up on this body, but was it somehow related to the status window?
Did the original owner of this body ‘Park Moondae’ wish to become an aspiring idol?
…or was it because of my college track record?
I wasn’t sure. But I had to make use of what’s available.
“Status Window.”
As I murmured quietly almost as if it was the sound of my breathing, a translucent status window once again appeared in my sight.
Vocal was Rated C, and so were the visuals. The rest were blank.
Maybe because I had never tried them.
I suddenly thought of that but decided to postpone the idea. There is no way that I wanted to showcase my dance and talent in this situation.
So, let’s check the other contents of the status window.
I remembered the karaoke sign I saw while I was entering the PC room.
***
“Oh.”
First of all, after confirming the results, it seemed that C wasn’t that low of a grade.
I was able to sing well. First, he had a good voice and tone. And since the vocalization sounded clear, it felt like the basics were good. So I thought he was talented.
And what was even more surprising than that was, this window came up
[Accomplishment achieved! <first attempt>]
Level 0 -> 1
You have received a point!
“Accomplishment?”
I was just asking myself but another window popped up.
[Accomplishments in progress]
10 attempts (0/10)
100 attempts (0/100)
First experience (0/1)
10 experiences (0/10)
***
Underneath the scrollbar was endlessly going. …It was real hard work. Even the numbers that increased were getting ridiculous. In addition half of them were blank that was impossible to check.
I felt a little out of touch so I turned off the window.
But since I received a point, let’s try using it like in games.
I called out to the status window.
At the bottom I could see a new writing that said ‘Points remaining: 1’
“Distribute 1 point to vocals.”
Then, the contents of the status window changed.
[Name: Park Moondae (Ryu Gunwoo)]
Level: 1
Title: None
Vocals: C+
Dance: –
Visuals: C
Talent: –
Attribute: Infinite potential
The vocals became C+ right away.
Was this really reflected?
I immediately chose the same song that I had sung earlier. And I sang it the same way.
“…I did pretty well?”
There was definitely a difference. The voice became easier to listen to and sounded more refined. It felt like my voice had naturally acquired the way to sing that way.
And the ‘Attribute’ in the status window.
“The potential is infinite.”
For a normal person, their performance depended more on natural talent than their efforts. And there was a limit to trying. The maximum one could grow, a limit to their potential.
But now, the status window showed that the efficiency of effort was ridiculously high and that there was no limit to growing.
Andjust now I had confirmed that my skills were actually getting better.
I thought as I stroked my chin.
Idol….
Did it mean that I should follow the path of this new body?
And at that moment, a pop up showed up on the status window.
“…!”
[Outbreak!]
Status abnormality: ‘If you don’t debut, you’ll die!’
A line of text continued under the red writing.
[‘Debut or Die’]
If you don’t debut as an idol within the time limit given, you will die.
Time left until death: D-365
“What?”
The contents were ridiculous, but I had an ominous feeling.
Being in someone else’s body was already crazy, but there was no guarantee that something stranger wouldn’t happen.
As soon as I finished reading it the weird pop up disappeared.
And sure enough, a strange entry was added to the status window.
[Name: Park Moondae (Ryu Gunwoo)]
Level: 1
Title: None
Vocals: C+
Dance: –
Visuals: C
Talent: –
Attribute: Infinite potential
!Status abnormality: Debut or die
Is this real?
“Fuck…”
I spitted out curses and wrapped my hand around my forehead. I had cold sweat dripping down my face.
I had already confirmed that the status window was real. So the possibility of this shitty statement being real couldn’t be ignored.
Why the hell did this pop up? Because I was thinking of idols?
A burster of laughter came out as I was dumbfounded at the situation. But at the same time I had a thought.
‘…don’t tell me this is my punishment for selling the data of those idols.’
Yes, idols.
In fact, due to personal circumstances I was rather familiar with this field.
This is because when I was in college. I made decent living expenses by taking pictures of idols on behalf of others. In the process…I have also done some more work.
I had seen all sorts of things and heard all kinds of rumors.
Besides, the environment makes the person, so as I followed them to take pictures, I had unnecessarily gotten overly-enthusiastic over this field.
At that time, I had voluntarily searched for this and that, so this was a field I had a knowledge in.
I wiped off the cold sweat by rubbing my face. Then crossed my arms and glared at the status window.
I didn’t know what was what anymore. This situation was ridiculous and maddening.
But I had no intention of dying.
So let’s calm down.
Yeah, my life was a waste anyways, but now I was given a chance for a fresh start. The conditions were also favorable.
Besides, I wanted to track down the reason why I ended up on this body, I had to use this unrealistic status window more and check it out.
“Hm.”
My self-rationalization was completed. I grinned as if I was crazy.
…now that I think about it, at this time of year an idol survival program had become a big hit didn’t it?
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