Debut or Die-Chapter 250
The steady, courageous voice from Kim Rae-bin’s camcorder recording suddenly dropped to a whisper.
[Cam: Hoo... it’s now 9:00 p.m.]
[Cam: Three hours ago...]
[Cam: All the villa’s lights went out.]
On screen, every light in the house snapped off at once.
[!!!!]
[Kim Rae-bin: Is everyone all right?]
[Cha Yoo-jin: Hyung!]
[Sudden blackout]
From that moment, the episode’s tone shifted completely.
[Ryu Cheong-woo: First, don’t move—let’s let our eyes adjust.]
[TeSTAR checking each other by smartphone flashlight]
[But then...]
[One person... is missing?]
[??? : Uhhhn!]
[Park Mundae: Hyung!]
What had been a rollicking adventure turned tense in an instant. Even cutaway interviews began popping up.
[Seon Ah-hyun: Suddenly, I heard Sejin hyung’s scream...]
[Park Mundae: I was startled. Everyone must have been.]
In that format, it felt like a horror film.
“-Sudden thriller moment, wow”
“-OMG that’s scary”
“-They even lost power? That’s extreme”
“-Is Sejin okay?”
The infrared camera whirred anxiously—and then panned to Bae Sejin, collapsed in a bizarre pose that looked as if he’d roll headlong any second.
[...??]
[Sejin... you’re okay?]
That bit of slapstick briefly lightened the mood, but not for long. The infrared camera crept closer.
[Ssssht]
[Ryu Cheong-woo: Yeah. There was a strange door behind the cabinet.]
[Park Mundae: But I didn’t think there was any space behind it...]
[Park Mundae: ...So, there’s no path—only the basement door.]
They cut to a chilling close-up of the hidden door they’d discovered.
“-Wow”
“-That’s terrifying”
“-Why would the villa owner hide something like that?”
“-Spooky lol”
“-Is it staged?”
TeSTAR recoiled from the door. More interviews cut in.
[Lee Sejin: It gave me the creeps. (wry smile)]
[Bae Sejin: Such a strange feeling...]
Then the point of view switched back to that night, with Cha Yoo-jin telling a ghost story.
[Cha Yoo-jin: Mundae hyung! In Korean, please!]
[Park Mundae: (help me...)]
[Cha Yoo-jin (English): ...So, in this house’s basement, a mad doctor performed lobotomies...]
[Park Mundae: Once upon a time in America, a doctor’s ghost haunted a house.]
[Lee Sejin: Mundae, your path is different, though?]
[Ryu Cheong-woo: Hmm.]
In the moment, it’d been warm and funny—but the edit gave it a different feel, as if foreshadowing something ominous.
Viewers were on edge.
“-What’s up with that basement door?”
“-Quick, barricade it again!”
“-Why aren’t they blocking it?”
“-Seriously, are they still in blackout?”
“-Where’s the healing show? Everyone’s overreacting”
That uneasy vibe carried into the next morning. Finally, we saw TeSTAR splitting into teams to hunt for the breaker panel.
[Q: Sejin hyung had the first idea?]
[Bae Sejin: (blushing) I only said “break the breaker box”...]
[Bae Sejin: I just felt we had to do something... it felt off.]
As his interview ended, the screen cut to Sejin’s tense face—then to the scene of them entering the basement where he made his remark.
[Bae Sejin: Why on earth would someone build a villa like this on an uninhabited island...?]
[The staircase falls silent]
“-Ahhhhㅠㅠ”
“-Stop, why are you like this?”
“-It’s just the producers messing with us, right? Tell me that!”
“-Sejin’s in on it, I swear”
The infrared camera slowly panned over the members’ grim faces. Then they reached the basement.
In the dim light of flashlights rather than infrared, the members saw—
[Lee Sejin: ...Isn’t that blood?]
[Blood?]
[!!!!]
The frozen frame writhed, zooming in and out while a creepy child’s laughter played in the background.
[AAAH!!]
TeSTAR recoiled in panic, spewing screams and shocked reactions. As viewers joined in the chorus of horror in the comments...
[Ding~]
[????]
The basement lights flicked back on.
In the deliberately filtered, milky glow of the cellar, all five members huddled together, trembling. Then one of them, confused by his surroundings, slowly pulled free of the group.
He trudged over to the freezer and opened it.
A cute “ding!” sound effect played.
[Pororong!]
[☆Meat party☆]
[What that blood really was↘]
A blunt arrow slid onscreen, draped in flamboyant rainbow CG.
[Park Mundae: ....]
A wistful BGM underscored the idols’ dumbfounded expressions... Then the merciless producers replayed each member’s reactions in close-up.
[Cha Yoo-jin: (flashy English)]
[Kim Rae-bin: (silent scream)]
[Bae Sejin: I told you it was weird!! Aaaah!!]
[Lee Sejin: Get up, get up right now...!]
[Park Mundae: (trips)]
[~List of fishermen who caught themselves baited~]
Interview clips showed the five members covering their faces in shame.
[Park Mundae: ...I was a bit embarrassed. Not really scared.]
[Laughter subtitles galore]
Finally, Park Mundae’s feigned-casual interview concluded with big “LOL” captions. Viewers laughed just as heartily.
“-LOL”
“-Only the scaredy-cats fell for it lol”
“-Mundae, stop pretending you’re not scared! Your interview’s worthless—”
“-They’d be scared—sudden blackout on an uninhabited island... but yeah, you’re all scaredy-cats”
└“LOL”
Even after two members came to reassure the stunned five, the edit milked every laugh.
[Seon Ah-hyun: I found the breaker panel...!]
Overlaid with a faint overlay, the screen flashed to Ryu Cheong-woo and Seon Ah-hyun high-fiving after flipping the switch.
[No more scary blackouts—your heroes have vanquished it!]
“-Only the non-scarecrow ones found it, unbelievable lol”
“-It’s the fault of the handprint that tore the team apart... Dedencee is the root of all evil”
└“LOL”
“-Should’ve shared the archer and Xsejin prince, tsk tsk (toothy grin)”
Then TeSTAR, initially embarrassed, spotted the meat and lit up. They grabbed the frozen chicken and nearly danced, which sent the laughter through the roof.
“-They’re so cute”
“-ㅋㅋㅋㅋ ahhahaha”
“-They really threw themselves into it lol”
As they climbed the stairs clutching meat, one of them quietly said—
[Bae Sejin: ...Thank goodness there were no cameras there.]
[↑ There were]
[PD: We’d planned a treasure hunt, but then...]
[TeSTAR ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ blessed by the variety-gods]
[Thank you for your dedication... ☆ from the stranded-and-failed-production crew]
A final reminder that nothing was staged. The show closed with a tidy wrap-up and courtesy notes.
[※The villa owner is an elderly couple with a dream of farm life※]
[※We thank the generous owners for kindly allowing this broadcast and these depictions※]
And with TeSTAR happily mukbang’ing chicken soup, the episode ended on a warm, refreshing note. Unsurprisingly, viewer reactions exploded immediately.
“-That was insane fun”
“-Haven’t laughed this hard in ages”
“-Can’t wait for TeSTAR’s island stranding—pure gold”
└“Thought it’d be about island life—when did it become this? lol”
“-They really have the variety-god with them—so funny lol”
The producers didn’t forget to push another teaser.
Since how TeSTAR would rescue the crew was still a mystery, they milked that suspense for next-episode ratings. And the teaser looked hilarious.
TeSTAR rescuing chicks, grabbing flashlights, gearing up in hiking boots and high-fiving.
[Ryu Cheong-woo: Wow, what is this even?]
[Lee Sejin: Never imagined a shoot like this! Haha!]
Survival, adventure, discovery—a bright, active teaser promising genre-defying fun. Because TeSTAR looked so lively, it offset any “too cruel” critiques.
[TeSTAR to the rescue?]
[How grand will the crew’s healing repay be?]
It also highlighted that a “healing part” still awaited after the stranding. Plus, enthusiastic SNS posts by TeSTAR surfaced.
Crying King → Scaredy-Cat Mundae (pic)
(laughing emoji)
└Stop it Lee Sejin
└Stop it Mundaemundae
Hello, lovey-dovey fans. This is Seon Ah-hyun.
(pic)
I made this scented candle. I almost packed it for the island trip but left it behind—saw it on today’s broadcast and felt a bit sad. Could it have comforted the members when they were scared?
└No way hyung, I wasn’t scared!
└Yujin, lie and you’ll grow horns on your butt
└(tiger emoji) I’m not appearing!
Fans, swept up in the variety-vibe, forgot all complaints or worries. The members looked genuinely happy. They excitedly speculated about the next episode.
“-Obviously Rae-bin ran out first to save the chicks—just from the edit”
“-Why do they need flashlights again? Something at night... another blackout?”
“-Maybe they’ll need hiking boots to rescue the crew”
└“Or maybe they actually went hiking lol”
└“ㅋㅋㅋㅋ crazy”
And, it turned out the last guess was right.
“It’s refreshing.”
“...Yeah.”
I tried not to pant as I sat on a rock. The morning air was nice, but it also felt good just to move and fill my lungs with it.
I turned to Ryu Cheong-woo. He murmured in admiration.
“The view’s amazing.”
Indeed—the villa, the coastline, the sea and land beyond looked stunning. Of course they would from the mountaintop.
‘Damn.’
I couldn’t believe we’d actually gone hiking. I recalled the activities we’d done after rescuing the crew—adventure linked to the disaster, since the sea was still too rough for boats.
‘That helicopter vegetable drop looked great on camera.’
But I never expected segueing into real hiking once we tried on our boots. I slightly regretted giving Kim Rae-bin that treasure-hunt clue.
‘I didn’t think the punishment would be something like this.’
Although, for that guy, it probably didn’t feel like punishment at all.
I glanced at Cheong-woo.
“....”
He looked genuinely at ease. The gloom that’d weighed him down since the accident seemed to have lifted, maybe thanks to the hike.
‘...He’s been through a lot too.’
I felt I should cut him more slack going forward. The worst was behind us—maybe I could reach out more and treat him better.
“Here, drink some water.”
“Ah, thanks.”
We quietly sipped warm scorched-rice water together. But just before we descended, I never expected him to broach this topic.
“So, Mundae. If it’s okay... for this Chuseok holiday, how about visiting each other’s homes instead of staying at a guesthouse? Oh, you’re welcome at my place, too.”
“What?”
