Debut or Die

This happened because the stage was narrower than expected.

‘…It was smaller than what they notified us.’

The stage set they prepared for the English-speaking talk show was too small for a lot of people to dance together, so we had to reduce the choreography movement accordingly.

‘It’s not that Kim Raebin’s movement stuck out .’

In other words, this guy’s feet were broken thanks to these bastards’ misinformation.

‘Fuck.’

No, let’s not assume that it was broken yet.

The bruise was bleeding, but the wound might be smaller than I thought.

“Raebin-ssi, can you move your feet?? Don’t move, just feel it!”

“…I can, but it hurts, it hurts…”

“I’ll stop the bleeding first!”

After receiving first aid, Kim Rabin was put in an ambulance and went to the hospital. And the rest of the members were able to simply organize the situation and then move to the hospital.

It wasn’t a situation where we could continue recording the stage anyway, because the first recording was semi-forced.

And immediately, the conclusion was briefed.

“Two weeks?”

“That’s the minimum. Of course, he shouldn’t dance, but only when he’s still wearing a protector.”

“…”

The company staff who came out of Kim Raebin’s hospital room explained through an interpreter.

The diagnosis was ligament damage. And cracked bones and torn skin.

‘…We avoid the worst.’

If he got a fracture, he would have been unable to stand on stage every few months.

Of course, this situation was still not good.

“Doing something as intense as the current choreography, I think we should wait for a month before talking about it again.”

Because it was confirmed that Kim Raebin wouldn’t be able to dance throughout this activity, he could only do it in between.

For a song that put the most emphasis on performance, it was the perfect bad news

‘What’s wrong with this damn America?’

It wasn’t funny that we had to take turns going to the hospital since the last time.

I kept my mouth shut, and Ryu Chungwoo carefully asked the person from the company.

“There’s isn’t any aftereffects?”

“Yes. he didn’t get hurt that bad.”

“…Huft.”

I could see Ryu Chungwoo sighing in relief. The other guys barely looked relieved. Even Cha Eugene was almost crying.

“W-Would it be okay to go inside and see Raebin now…?”

“Yes, yes. The doctor is out now.”

I followed him to the hospital, but it was funny to move right away without seeing his face.

We opened the door to the hospital room and entered.

“…Raebin?”

Kim Raebin was sitting on the hospital bed with a slightly dazed face. His injured foot was fixed and lifted up.

As soon as Kim Raebin turned his face this way, Keun Sejin quickly opened his mouth.

“Raebin, is your foot okay?”

“Yes, but the stage…”

“It’s fine, you don’t have to worry. We just talked about it, and they said you can perform if you endure it for two weeks. It’s not a big deal~”

However, despite what Keun Sejin said, Kim Raebin seemed to have noticed the solemnity of the situation.

This guy had no sense of interpersonal relationships, but that didn’t mean he didn’t know what was going on.

But I didn’t know he would be like this.

Kim Raebin cried and started to shed large drops of tears.

“I’m sorry… If you miss out two weeks…”

“Hey, what are you talking about? Two weeks will pass by soon! We already had our comeback performance. What are you worried about?”

“Sejin is right, Raebin. It’s not even your fault in the first place. Just focus on recovering your body, okay?”

“…Yes.”

Sniff. Kim Raebin sniffed and tried to hold back his tears. I held back my sigh and pulled out the tissue from the table and handed it over.

I didn’t feel good.

“Don’t think about anything else and take a rest!”

“Take a rest, you idiot!”

Kim Raebin decided to stay at the hospital for about two days so that he could receive care, rather than staying at the hotel alone during his U.S. schedule.

The members shouted loudly and closed the door to Kim Raebin’s hospital room and came out.

Then the topic returned to reality.

“We should split Raebin’s part, right?”

“We should.”

Ryu Chungwoo crossed his arms and smiled bitterly.

“I’ll have to learn the movement first.”

“I can’t sleep because of the jet lag anyway, so I’ll try it~”

“…”

Bae Sejin’s face seemed to turn white, but he didn’t say anything.

He must have felt sorry for complaining about the increased choreography for the guy that injured his foot. Compared to the time in <Idol Inc.>, it was a great development.

‘We’re all tired.’

Kim Raebin was mentally tired, and the rest looked physically tired.

To be honest, I want to tell the media, whether it was local or Korean, that this accident happened because of the talk show’s insincere communication.

It was disgusting.

‘But I can’t do that carelessly.’

This was the first time we appeared on an English-speaking talk show without being a part of a game collaboration. Avoiding bad rumors was the correct choice.

Still, I couldn’t help but get angry.

What kind of nonsense is this?

‘Should I spread it a little more?’

The problem was, I couldn’t figure out how much effort I should put into the boycott of foreign talk shows to make it work.

I sighed and cleared my thoughts.

‘Let’s just practice.’

I came all the way to a foreign country and fell into practice hell again.

* * *

When Testar was reorganizing their performance due to the injury issue.

In Korea, a new song by Ha Iljoon’s group, which was also called Golden Age and Park Moondae’s Gold 1, was secretly going viral among idol fans.

– My heart skipped a beat when I heard the chorus

– It shouldn’t be treated like a hidden masterpiece later on. Let’s goㅋㅋㅋ

– Can’t get it out of my head. Countdown to the song being banned for college entrance exams (Place: In my head)

Interestingly, these so-called KPOP listener netizens wanted to support Golden Age’s new song.

This was because Golden Age had yet to be established, and Choi Wongil and Gold 1 had the image of having suffered a lot.

Moreover, since their song was good, it was fun to raise the score as if it was some kind of realization of justice.

Of course, most of them were just talks based on interest, but Golden Age’s agency didn’t miss this timing and coordinated WeTube promotions and various SNS virals.

And this work to increase public exposure was carried out sensibly without making it look awkward, and they eventually succeeded.

[Golden Age Hi Goody Challenge]

On a platform that uploads short videos, a simple dance using the song took the flow.

Thanks to this, Golden Age’s music rapidly reversed the music charts.

– Crazy right now, 26th place

– That’s awesome

– Thrive more ㅊㅋㅊㅋ~

– After going viral everywhere, you succeeded in climbing up the charts. Congratulations

└They’re amazing

└You’re like that fan

In addition, Testar’s fandom, which would normally have kept this public opinion in check, was a bit of a mess.

– Raebin’s foot, what should I do? F*ck, the company that pushes forward without revising the choreography, please die

– It happened before the overseas performanceㅠㅠ I was so sad and worried, I spent the whole morning in a daze

– I’m worried that Raebin is still blaming himself. Don’t worry about us. Just take care of your feet to get better ㅠㅠ

#Raebin_getwellsoon

– Isn’t it funny that he didn’t get hurt, but his eyes alone hurt? Maybe he was distracted by dating? It’s a reasonable doubt

– Isn’t it enough for Cha Eugene to do Kim Raebin’s part alone? I don’t know why they even gave it out to Lee Sejin, who’s not even a rapper…

Because of the news of Kim Raebin’s injury.

Testar’s fans were busy worrying about injuries, regretting that they couldn’t see the full lineup for a while, and paying attention to some aggro swirling.

In fact, from their point of view, keeping Golden Age in check was not even necessary.

Golden Age was one step behind in the music charts because it failed to reach the top of the music charts due to its inherent limitations as a rookie male idol.

In addition, Testar’s new album, which featured a national undertone, was receiving great acclaim.

Testar’s fans were just annoyed that there were sometimes people who tried to provoke them with ‘Isn’t Golden Age’s song better?’

No matter how you looked at it, the difference in class was obvious to anyone.

However, this situation meant a lot to someone who had been inactive for two weeks and only looked at their smartphones in hospital rooms and hotels.

* * *

“Congratulations on being able to release the cast~”

“Raebin, you’ve had a hard time.”

“No, I’m sorry for the inconvenience.”

Kim Raebin, wearing a foot guard lighter than before, spoke bravely and bowed his head. He managed to get permission from the doctor to return to the non-dancing stage.

“Ah, it’s not an inconvenience~ I’m relieved to see you’re back!”

“T-That’s right!”

“Thank you.”

The members comforted Kim Raebin in moderation and dispersed to their hotel rooms. Because they had to sleep quickly and wake up early to revise the stage that included Kim Raebin’s movement.

I nodded my head.

“You’re in this room.”

“Yes!”

It was randomly divided while Kim Raebin went to the doctor.

‘We don’t stay for long anyway.’

We didn’t have a long schedule in Japan. I held the door until Kim Raebin came in, then I went inside to wash up.

“First, take a shower.”

“Yes!”

He’d been resting the past few days, so he’d become more disciplined. I shook my head and came out of the shower.

Then, I made eye contact with Kim Raebin, who was very nervous.

“…?”

He was on the verge of making some kind of bombshell remarks.

‘Could it be that the injury has gotten worse?’

I also kept quiet as I didn’t want to hear that his break from the choreography would be longer, and Kim Raebin finally opened his mouth with difficulty.

“That, hyung.”

“What is it?”

“From what hyung heard… Is this new song by Golden Age more popular than the song I have worked on?”

“…??”

What kind of nonsense is this all of a sudden?

I looked at him dumbfounded, then Kim Raebin closed his eyes and recited his words.

“I am currently in a situation where my contribution to the performance is extremely insufficient, but if my involvement in the music is a negative factor, I will refrain from composing and arranging from now on…”

“Wait, wait. What are you talking about?”

I cut him off because it was going in an absurd direction.

‘What kind of nonsense are you talking about when you’ve released such a good album?’

Of course, self-producing members were a double-edged sword. Because if you did well, it was synergistic, but if you didn’t, it became the subject of internal conflict.

It was easy to create a frame like ‘The reason why the music score this time is bad is because of the producing member’s stubbornness and incompetence’.

‘But Kim Raebin has never failed.’

Golden Age hadn’t come out as a candidate for first place, and Kim Raebin’s form hadn’t fallen either, so this was really out of the blue.

I asked as calmly as I could.

“Why did you suddenly think like that?”

“That… While monitoring the reaction to the music, I accidentally watched a video of Golden Age members’ new song due to the influence of the algorithm, but there were a lot of top comments…”

“Give it to me. Let me see.”

“Yes?”

I got the video address from Kim Raebin and checked it.

[Golden Age_Hi Goody_comments]

‘…It’s a comment reaction video.’

It was content that collected and showed the best comments related to the stage video.

In the first place, if public opinion on the song was favorable, only positive and funny comments were found and shown

.

Of course, it was full of praise for Golden Age’s song.

And in the process, wouldn’t there be a lot of comparisons with the current strongest team?

– I turned on music shows to watch Testar, but when I came back to my sense, I was already watching Hi Goody

– I don’t listen to loud and obnoxious male idol songs, but I listen to Hi Goody, the best song of the year

If you looked at the comments on this video, not the comments shown on the video, a more primary level of comparison came out.

Looking at this video, ‘Honestly, Golden Age’s song was catchier’ seemed to be a popular opinion.

“Hmm.”

I took my eyes off the smartphone screen. Kim Raebin murmured.

“…For that reason, I would like to ask for an objective and cold evaluation.”

Right.

‘Is it because you blame yourself?’

Kim Raebin was not the kind of person who could lose confidence in his ability.

Perhaps because he hurt his foot and couldn’t stand on stage, the pressure to do a great job on the other side seemed to have intensified.

That’s why he kept looking for the gossip that compared the songs of similar groups with the title track he made, and eventually, he would have that kind of thought.

“…”

I sat on the bed across from Kim Raebin.

And I chose my words.