If I Fail to Debut, I’ll Get a Killer Disease - Chapter 32

‘First, let’s quickly deal with what I have to do.’

To start, I grabbed Seon Ahyun, who was struggling with people’s questions and requests around the billboard.

“Give me your phone.”

“H-huh?”

“I am going to take a proof shot.”

“……!”

Seon Ahyun finally came to his senses and quietly headed towards the billboard with him on it. I turned on the camera of the smartphone that was handed to me.

People reacted immediately.

“Ah, pictures!”

“Let’s get out of the way~”

“Let’s take a picture of the kids!”

Surprisingly, the passionate crowd began to voluntarily distance themselves from us and retreat.

……Maybe it was because I saw a lot of people risking their lives to get a picture, but I was a little worried.

“Straighten your shoulders.”

“Uh-huh!”

“Ahyun-ah, you are so handsome!”

The last words were not spoken by me, but by someone who seemed to be a fan of Seon Ahyun.

Seon Ahyun’s face became red as if it was broken.

“N-N-No……”

After stuttering several times, Seon Ahyun creaked out.

Anyway, I took a picture by composing it mechanically, and the moment I put down the smartphone, Keun Sejin shouted next to me.

“Moondae! Me too, me too!”

I turned around as I held Seon Ahyun’s smartphone and took a photo of Keun Sejin.

Because he kept changing his pose, it was annoying to take pictures of Keun Sejin.

But people were filming the scene with their smartphones.

“Cute……”

“Do other poses too~”

‘……In this case, wouldn’t it be fine even if I didn’t take a proof shot?’

I would just have to go and download something that shows up on the internet.

“Moondae, you too!”

“Ah.”

It would be strange if I was the only one who didn’t take pictures, so I moved in front of my billboard.

When I saw the billboard fully exposed after all the people backed down, I felt a sense of intimidation due to its size.

The photo used for Park Moondae’s billboard was taken during the production presentation.

Fortunately, it wasn’t a picture with a cheek poke or a finger heart, but I was a bit embarrassed to see my face looking so big.

‘……Let’s not make eye contact.’

As I turned my head, I saw the text written in the background.

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[Park Moondae]

[A blue chip appears like a comet!]

At the bottom, it also said ‘Please buy a lot♡’.

“……”

That phrase was very impactful……I can’t deny that.

‘They must have worked hard.’

I silently took a proof photo. I had to show at least this much sincerity.

And as soon as I took the picture and got away from the billboard, people started pouring in again.

“Did you come to see the advertisement?”

“Ah, what should I do……”

“Did you have a good shot?”

“I’m voting!”

Slowly, the number of people around us started increasing enough to interfere with traffic. It was definitely worse than when I got off the bus by myself. All 3 of us coming together was a disadvantage.

If I do this wrong, would I be called a nuisance?

I wanted to do something and leave, but it looks like it will be difficult.

‘I should take advantage of all 3 of our strengths.’

I winked at the other two. Fortunately, they showed an expression that said they understood the signal.

We bowed our heads.

“Thank you!”

“I will do my best!”

Then we ran straight to the nearest exit.

When three tall men ran at once, the road naturally opened.

“We are going inside~ Thank you!”

Keun Sejin turned around, waved his hand and shouted. As I followed closely, I heard several voices answering.

“Huh? Guys!”

“Go home safely!”

“Fighting!!”

Fortunately, no one felt that it was rude, and their voices were bright.

It was my first time running while listening to so many cheers.

I felt very……It was odd.

I caught a taxi straight from the exit that popped out.

“Ah! It was really good!”

As soon as the taxi departed, Keun Sejin said with a smirk.

Seon Ahyun nodded his head, showing a very excited look.

‘Was it that good?’

Of course, I felt a sense of debt because I couldn’t properly thank them. But the fact that many people recognized me didn’t make me particularly moody.

Was it a matter of temperament? Or……

‘……It could be an age issue.’

They’re all 21 years old.

While I was thinking to myself, Keun Sejin suddenly took out his smartphone and exclaimed ‘Ah!’

And immediately my phone vibrated.

[(Photo) (Photo)]

It was a picture of me taken in front of Park Moondae’s billboard.

My face, which had been ruined from all the shaking, was floating on the billboard, which had all the colors flying out of the wrong exposure value.

“……”

This bastard couldn’t take any good pictures.

“Hey, doesn’t the shaking give a sense of realism?”

Yes, the picture was so realistic that you couldn’t recognise anything except for that sense of realism.

When I looked at him without saying a word, Keun Sejin laughed and spoke to Seon Ahyun, pretending not to notice.

“Haha……Right, Ahyun! Do you have my proof shot on your phone?”

“Yes! Come on, wait.”

Seon Ahyun turned on his smartphone, and posted the pictures in the group chat.

These were photos of Keun Sejin and Seon Ahyun that I took.

‘Why are you sending your picture?’

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Perhaps he was confused and uploaded it all at once.

“Oh, the picture Moondae took……”

Keun Sejin, who looked at the screen pretending to be happy, stopped talking as if he was speechless for a moment.

And with a slightly bewildered face, this time he began exclaiming honestly.

“Uh, ah………You are really good at taking pictures.”

That was only natural, I made a living from it for years.

I glanced at the screen too.

The horizontal composition was perfect, the body proportions weren’t awkward, and there were four or five photos per person that captured their expressions and poses well.

It seems my skills didn’t get rusty.

I was a little proud, Keun Sejin added with a shy tone.

“……Um, next time I’ll take better pictures too. I’m sorry.”

This also seemed sincere.

A Keun Sejin without a sense of business, I was seeing all kinds of things today. I just shrugged.

“Well…… A photo with a sense of realism is fine.”

“……!”

Keun Sejin had a shocked expression for a moment, then he quickly smiled and changed the topic.

“Right? Oh, come to think of it,  are all the restaurants Seon Ahyun recommended well known like this? That’s too bad.”

“I-It’s okay. N-Next time we can come together……”

“……Hmm.”

Yeah. I was talking about that too.

Going to the restaurants recommended by Seon Ahyun would be too much now.

He had only chosen restaurants that were popular on social media, If we ate at such a place other people would broadcast it on their social media.

In addition, it was possible that Seon Ahyun wasn’t good at looking up stuff, so the cost-effectiveness was not good due to it being a place that smelt like viral marketing.

After thinking for a while, I checked the navigation system while passing through the Ewha Womans University station.

“Sir, could you please turn us to Yeonhui-dong?”

“That would work~”

“Yes, then……”

I looked at the two in the back seat.

“There is a quiet house I know, would you like to go there?”

“Wow~ Of course I will agree!”

“T-That’s fine!”

That’s fine. I asked the driver for permission and changed the navigation to the restaurant’s location.

And only after the meal was over, I realized that I had voluntarily done something I didn’t need to do.

Oh god. We were getting closer!

***

“Hmmmm”

The woman who was looking at her phone’s screen continued to sound out her worries with a pained voice.

On her screen, it showed an option that left her in a swamp of anguish.

[Idol Joint-Stock Company stock discount package! ~80%]

Under the large banner, there were all kinds of services and stocks bundled with Tnet’s group companies, the channel where 〈IJC〉 was being aired.

For example, if you buy Tnet’s music site package here, you will also receive a 50% discount on 3-month streaming subscription and the right to purchase 20 stocks for 〈IJC〉.

In short, she could give 20 more votes to Moondae.

The broadcasting station sold all the stocks with packages like this, except for the monthly pack, which gave you one more vote every day!

The scary thing was that this package has a high discount rate, so it has a chance of creating a double effect where previous users buy those with a  discount but end up falling into 〈IJC〉.

‘It’s really horrendous……’

The woman sighed as she scrolled through the page, and saw the message that just popped up.

It was a message from her friend, who fed Park Moondae into her own mouth by applying to the audience

[Yeonju: Crazy Crazy ㅠㅠ Someone sighted Moondae! (Link)]

‘Huh.’

She quickly clicked the link that led to a social media post.

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============================

[Oh, I just went out to eat with my family and saw an IJC participant. They seem to be those kids who sang MallangDalkom? (Photo)]

============================

In the attached photo, Park Moondae, Seon Ahyun, and Keun Sejin were seen receiving a ttukbaegi* with samgyetang** at a table with sagging partitions.

(Ttukbaegi is a pot used to serve korean dishes, Samgyetang is ginseng chicken food)

A long response followed the photo.

– Look at his eyes on the Samgyetang, they are about to pop out hahaha

– After all, K-samgyetang is better than chicken feet. You know something.

└ Please stop discrimination against chicken.

– I agree with the three of them being friendly.

-Ah, they must have gone there to eat after seeing the billboard ㅠㅠ I love these cute guys ㅠㅠ

‘Billboard?’

The woman searched for ‘Park Moondae billboard’ just in case.

And immediately, she saw an article from a few hours ago that thousands of people had shared.

============================

Moondae went to take a proof shot at his billboard ㅠㅠ There were so many people so he couldn’t stay for a long time, but he was so cute and kind, that my heart smashed into pieces. He had a handsome face even when wearing a mask (short video)

============================

When she played the attached video, there was Park Moondae, wearing jeans, a black hood, and a black baseball cap in front of his billboard.

[You are handsome!]

[I will buy you lots of stocks Moondae-ya!]

[Um, thank you……]

Park Moondae responded with a bit of embarrassment to people’s pouring words.

And the video ended with him happily running with the other two participants and disappearing.

– So cute

– Doesn’t Moondae seem more sociable than I thought

-ㅠㅠ As expected, Moon Puppy is not a brain teaser, he is an official one ㅠㅠ What, Tibetan fox? Heresy!

– The PD who edited with a glance, please die, our kid was just being calm.

– Even if he wore a blonde hat it would match

‘Cute……! So cute!!’

As she stomped her feet, she suddenly realized that she was familiar with Park Moondae’s billboard picture. It was the picture her friend showed her after she had taken it!

She quickly wrote her a message.

[Minso: Wow, isn’t this yours? Congrats, Moondae saw it! (link)]

[Yeonju: I fainted after seeing that, but now I have come to my senses… I didn’t do it, it was done by the fan union, but I’m still so excited… so overwhelmed… ]

When she asked, ‘Why didn’t you tell me about this first?’, she replied, ‘I couldn’t type because my heart was shaking so much.’

The woman giggled and sent a congratulatory emoticon. And she thought.

‘I want to do something too.’

Park Moondae did well, so she wanted to see lots of great performances.

Eventually, she went back to her previous purchase page and purchased the music package.

After happily buying Moondae’s stock, she checked to see if there were any other details.

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– Please take down the picture. Stalking is a crime.

└ No, I just happened to see it by chance. What stalking;; Just an eyewitness account

└ Is an eyewitness account a man eating rice? Say something that makes sense with common sense.

└ Yeah I blocked them, good job

After this conversation, the reactions of the people who were on fire started awkwardly fading.

Because hearing stuff about Park Moondae was hard they got excited out of reflex, but realized that it could be an invasion of privacy.

The woman was also embarrassed and turned off the window. She had forgotten that Moondae hadn’t even debuted yet.

‘That’s… Because he was so good… !’

As she recalled her experience of listening to him just before her mind went blank even when she thought about it again, she suddenly remembered something she had forgotten.

“Ugh! 〈IJC〉 live!”

Yes. In the first place, she was using the waiting time to browse through the stock purchase page while waiting for Idol Joint-Stock Company to air.

She hurriedly turned on the channel, and luckily was able to see the logo of the show that was just starting out.

“Phew……”

It took her a while to get rid of the relief in her heart, and suddenly the MC’s meaningful face appeared on the air.

“…?”

[Everyone, do you remember 〈Idol Joint-Stock Company〉’s promise?]

As if speaking while sitting at the desk in the discussion room, the MC hit the desk seriously.

[We promised you that everything will go your way. So even now, numerous votes are being held on our website, such as the number of final debuts, evaluation selection, and more.]

For reference, there were people crying, saying ‘I voted for a small final number of debut members in the beginning’.

[And today, we are going to fulfill that promise one more time. Everyone. Have there been any participants you don’t want to see while watching?]

‘What…?’

As soon as the broadcast started, the production team threw a huge piece of shit in front of the viewers who were suddenly confused about what this was.

[Then sell that participant’s stock! With the newly introduced 〈Selling Stocks〉, shareholders can reduce the stocks of the participants they do not want to see in the future!]

“…?!?!”

[The ‘stock purchase right’ purchased by shareholders can also be used as a ‘stock sale right’ in the future. In other words! Instead of buying a specific participant’s stock, you can sell it to make it negative!]

It was the arrival of hell.*

(Basically people can now do negative votes for a participant, making them rank lower than they should have)