Debut or Die-Chapter 442

I tapped the sofa’s armrest.

At the same time, my smartphone’s radio app blared a cheerful greeting.

“Hello! Take your star, TeSTAR~”

And a few seconds later.

“–That was just TeSTAR.”

“–??”

“–Turn on SBC Radio right now.”

“–Radio?”

“–Why is TeSTAR on the radio?”

My browser refreshed continuously.

I pressed my palm to my forehead.

If they had announced the radio appearance in advance, it would’ve drawn less attention. People usually watch YouTube—you don’t go out of your way to find a radio station.

‘At most, a few clips might get shared later.’

But the “surprise, unannounced” factor actually drove the chatter up.

It’s like how a randomly stumbled-upon movie on TV feels more thrilling than one you actively seek out on an OTT platform.

‘So that was the plan all along, damn it...’

Karma, I guess.

Whether my head hurt or not, the host barreled on from the greeting straight into catch-up talk. And my browser kept refreshing.

“TeSTAR~ You [N O V E L I G H T] must have some great plans for this year, being here with the Daesang winners.”

“Ha ha, thank you for inviting us—we’re more grateful and more nervous. And... yes. We’re working hard so you’ll see us more often this year.”

“That’s right! We’ll come back looking our best for our fans. And we came today just for that. We’ll do our best, DJ!”

“Oh my~”

Ryu Geon woo must be used to this kind of banter by now. Cha Yoo jin also knew how to shape his words when needed.

The mood was warm with laughter.

The problem was what came next.

‘...My turn in the script.’

“Ugh, thank you. Shall we start our segment? Ah, have any of you listened to our Late-Night Radio...?”

I decided to pop up a chat message just in case. I could say it myself.

“We....”

And at that moment my voice as Ryu Geon woo and Keundal’s voice in the app overlapped.

“...We drive a lot, so we naturally listen. Later we’d tune around and find it. We like it.”

A calm voice.

“Really?”

“Really~ We’re all listeners, so we requested to be on, DJ Song!”

“That’s right!”

“...Phew.”

I leaned back against the sofa.

Good. Passed.

Keundal actually imitated my tone pretty convincingly.

‘Which means—just how often has that thing been binge-watching TeSTAR content...?’

“Hyung! How was it??”

“You did well. It was identical. Keep going like this.”

“Yes!”

...Wait. But I had to be careful not to puff my chest out and draw attention!

“You....”

Just as Park Mundae was about to straighten his neck, someone threw an arm around his shoulders.

It was Keun Sejin. He pressed Park Mundae’s head down.

“.......”

Thanks.

‘Damn it.’

I pinched the bridge of my nose.

“There’s no need to stay glued to your spot, but if you move every time my pop-up shows it’ll look weird.”

“Y-Yes, you’re right!”

I understood. Suddenly having to follow the host’s words, the cameras, the script, and my pop-ups—it must be overwhelming.

It’s the same for me, juggling the app, the shared view, and the audience chat all at once.

‘But there’s no other way, so we have to do it.’

And if we’re doing it, we’ll do it right.

“–Is this a comeback signal?”

“–Feels too random to be just for fun.”

“–Full-group radio? LOL”

“–TeSTAR really can talk, huh?”

I quickly checked the audience’s friendly reactions, kept listening to the radio, and watched Park Mundae’s view to gauge the atmosphere.

Occasionally Keun Sejin gave Park Mundae a grin like his eye was twitching, but it was fine. I cut him some slack.

And finally they got to the main topic.

“Back to Monday. <Weekly... Lucky>!”

“Wow!”

“This is the corner where we hear unusual Monday stories that break up the routine.”

There are two things radio shows do often.

Reading listener stories. Sketch comedy.

Which one here? It’s simple.

Both.

“Today we have some friends from a high-school music club reading their story. Hey friends, say hello!”

“Yep~”

“Mom, I’m on the radio!”

...They were doing a sketch where TeSTAR pretends to be high-school students in the same club reading a listener’s story.

For the record, that line was Bae Sejin’s. His complexion didn’t change a bit.

Cringe? Sketches always get awkward when you think about them too much. Just bear with it.

“From Friday I haven’t slept three nights straight, working on a project nonstop, so I’m feeling really exhausted and burnt out... We can totally relate to you.”

“You’re in high school, yet you can relate because of your job?”

“Oh...”

“Ah—ah?”

“...Of course~ Sejin’s a high-school student! Dreamy teens have great imagination and empathy~”

“LOL”

“That dodge was divine.”

“Did the idol persona win, or the high-school persona?”

“Sketch persona wins.”

Nothing went wrong until the story came full circle. It was fine when the idol self slipped out amusingly now and then.

Most importantly, Park Mundae—played by Keundal—passed off his assigned story without a hitch.

‘Okay, draw it out with an interjection.’

“Um... Listener 9503 says a friend they’re not on good terms with transferred today, but none of us are transfer students...”

Keundal smoothly read my pop-up and navigated the unscripted stretch.

He didn’t stutter.

“...Phew.”

“You did well.”

“Yes!!”

I frowned.

Keundal seemed a bit less tense now that his field of vision had steadied.

‘Good.’

This nerve-wracking act was nearly over.

Soon the radio would give them their scheduled guest-promotion slot.

“The last story today is one our high-school friends brought themselves.”

“Waaah!”

“Yes! It’s an honor to share a weird incident we experienced up to today....”

Kim Rae bin’s tone was too precise for a high-school student, but he probably always spoke that way, so it wasn’t a continuity error.

Then TeSTAR began recounting a strange dorm incident.

Seon Ah hyun spoke calmly.

“I... last week I decided to throw away something left on my desk and started sorting it out....”

“Is that so? And then?”

“It kept coming back.”

“...Excuse me?”

“Back to my desk.”

“.......”

“Even today, on Monday, it kept coming back.”

Silence.

“????”

“Sudden horror story.”

“Ah-hyun?”

In short, the haunted aroma plaster doll that Seon Ah hyun kept discarding always returned.

“Hyung, is that real?”

“Yes.”

They’d reworked it into a high-school version. It had actually happened at the dorm recently.

“It’s true, everyone.”

“Yes. As Ah hyun’s roommate, I witnessed it myself.”

“Please call it a sketch.”

“Don’t up the realism in a comedy segment.”

“LOL the reactions, though.”

The creepy tale stirred a buzz. Of course, the biggest shock of the day would still be TeSTAR’s real-life story, but...

‘Who cares whose body is whose.’

No one would believe or might faint, so let’s move on.

Anyway, the pros kept the vibe going and the host smoothly steered it back to a radio-friendly mood.

“Listeners are sending in lots of questions. ‘Is it really a ghost?’, ‘What shape is the doll?’, ‘Where did it come from?’”

“It’s deer-shaped.”

But Kim Rae bin made an off-the-cuff remark.

“I saw Mundae hyung choosing it on tour... I mean school trip!”

“Is that so? Mundae, do you remember when?”

They suddenly turned to Park Mundae. Damn it!

‘Don’t panic.’

I tried to flash a pop-up.

But astonishingly, Park Mundae’s calm voice came through the app first.

“That’s right. Ah hyun bought it herself in Japan last year. At a second-hand prop shop with no sign....”

“...!”

The members and host went wild, and the audience chat exploded.

“How did you know that?”

...Because it was unerringly true.

My pop-up appeared proudly.

“Hee-hee-hoo-hoo-hoo... It was in last year’s tour behind-the-scenes video! You picked the straight antler rather than the split one!”

I don’t even remember that detail. What all has he watched?

“...Right. You did great, stayed calm. Better than I expected.”

“Really?! Heh heh, thank you....”

In any case Keundal regained confidence and his view stopped shaking. An unexpected point scored.

‘Not bad.’

I smirked and refocused on monitoring.

“So! When did Ah hyun first see the doll again?”

“It was at midnight that day.”

The spooky tone held perfectly, and they wrapped the sketch up on a comedic note.

“Yeah, basically everyone’s the culprit!”

“...?!”

Here’s what happened.

Each time someone—not the roommate—found the plaster doll in front of the dorm door, they kindly brought it back to the desk.

And without fear, Seon Ah hyun just thought, “Okay then.”

So poor Kim Rae bin, the roommate, suffered the most.

“I even checked the dorm’s construction year.”

The host burst out laughing.

“Why? To see if there was a story before it was built? Oh my!”

“So, how was it, Rae bin?”

“There lived a cow in a peaceful paddy field....”

“LOL”

“What did our rabbit ever do wrong?”

“Perfect for YouTube.”

They bantered enthusiastically until they steered into the truly important part.

“Don’t they say a recording studio where ghosts appear is supposed to bring success?”

“Right, it wasn’t a real ghost, but it was close enough...!”

“Yes. Although we’re still just a school club, we’ll take it as a sign we can do great music!”

At that, Bae Sejin—who knows why they chose that character for the sketch—answered in a lively voice.

And here came the real moment.

“Exactly! Oh, did you know? TeSTAR is making a comeback early this year.”

“???”

“Seriously?”

With that sudden announcement, the chat page went into overdrive again.

‘Right. TeSTAR comeback is coming soon.’

It was obvious. They hadn’t released an album in a while, and they’d been hinting at it on social media. Fans had guessed.

But a surprise, unannounced announcement on the radio beats hearing it in a news article.

I chuckled and gripped my phone tighter.

For the first time, Park Mundae’s view wavered in a new way—less from nerves, more like he was out of breath.

‘Surprised?’

Come to think of it, Keundal was hearing that for the first time too.

Anyway, Park Mundae had no lines here, so he could just relax and listen to the TeSTAR news. I stretched my legs.

“I heard something about stealing?”

“Wow~ A thief concept?”

And just as Ryu Geon woo—or rather, the fans—were about to steer it back with “It’s all about stealing hearts,” Park Mundae blurted out.

“Te-TeSTAR’s doing a thief concept this time!?”

...Keundal had gone off script.

Without warning.

“.......”

“.......”

There was a brief, suffocating silence.

Keundal clamped his hand over his mouth.

‘Don’t do it.’

That would be even weirder.

Kim Rae bin looked at Park Mundae as if he’d seen a ghost.

“Excuse me?”

I frowned.

‘We’re screwed.’

At that moment—

“Hmm. Mundae, you really like TeSTAR, huh.”

“...!!”

“Wh-what, are you a fan?”

Did Seon Ah hyun catch that?

‘How?’

But there was no time to dwell on it—I scanned the audience’s reactions first.

“–Is this part of the act? LOL”

“–Mundae’s acting was insane, why so good”

“–For a second I thought he really didn’t know”

“–Did Bae Sejin train him? LOL”

Surprisingly positive.

Because they’d already bought the ridiculous high-school setup as part of the sketch.

Then... wait.

“...!”

I tapped my chin.

Could this actually work to our advantage?

“See~ Mundae really likes TeSTAR! Hey, I know all your songs too~”

On the radio app, Keun Sejin was deftly smoothing things over. If he just played along, the show would naturally return to its planned flow.

‘But....’

Hmm.

“Hyung, I’m sorry, what do—”

“No.”

“Huh?”

I sat back on the sofa.

“Keep going as is. Just react naturally.”

“...?!”

And a moment later.

On the radio app’s display, Park Mundae spoke again with a serious face.

“That’s right. Actually, I’m a huge fan of TeSTAR.”

“...??”

“I really am your fan.”

Keun Sejin—over to you.