Debut or Die-Chapter 266
“Cha Yoo-jin was used to speaking in a language that wasn’t his mother tongue.
But that didn’t guarantee perfectly rich expression. Misunderstandings always cropped up.
So the words Cha Yoo-jin chose were always blunt.
“Those people only ask about the bad stuff.”
“The documentary crew?”
“Exactly!”
He nodded and took a bite of ice cream. Then he began grumbling quickly in English.
[What traces did the car accident leave? How hard is it to prepare for a concert? Any injuries or safety issues? Didn’t you ever feel doubtful about this whole thing? It’s like they’re interviewing a prison guard!]
Park Mundae clicked his fingers and answered, “So they kept asking if you were unhappy.”
“Yes!”
He understood exactly what Mundae meant. That was why he liked talking with him.
“Why do they have to do that? [I mean, we hardly have time to show our best, coolest side. And I’m happy!]”
He wanted to bring joy, not pain or negative energy.
Cha Yoo-jin had a philosophy about his job. He had no intention of selling his personal life for fame like some celebrities did.
So he crossed his arms.
Coincidentally, the person across from him had done the same.
“Anyway, I’m not apologizing.”
His triumphant declaration earned a snort from the pink-haired interviewer opposite him.
“...Se-jin’s comment must’ve stung, right?”
That was spot on.
[Of course it did!]
“Se-jin said it for your own good. If they only show you hitting the camera, it’s all on you. People will misunderstand.”
“I don’t care.”
“Then think about the team. We do care.”
“......”
Park Mundae’s ambiguous phrase meant both the harm to the team and concern for Cha Yoo-jin. But Yoo-jin only understood the latter and nodded readily.
‘He’s worried about me.’
A happy result of that linguistic misunderstanding.
“And the crew... they probably wanted to show that we endure unhappiness and hardship. We’ve already shown we’re successful and cool.”
Mundae slowly changed course.
“Everyone has pain, and seeing it makes us feel more human. It looks genuine.”
Cha Yoo-jin respected this clever teammate and listened intently. And Mundae respected Yoo-jin in return.
“But they can’t force you to show your pain.”
That was the right answer.
“Yeah.”
Yoo-jin growled.
[And [N O V E L I G H T] those liars are all going to fail.]
“Liars?”
[At the first interview, I said very clearly that I didn’t want questions about injuries, pain, or personal matters. I told them to talk to my company!]
“...! Um.”
[They nodded and said they’d be careful. But, you saw it too, right?]
“Yeah, I saw.”
Yoo-jin recalled how throughout the concert they tried every angle to film his pain and probe for his discomfort. Then the endless questions about the accident!
—I don’t want to do that.
—Oh, sorry. We’ll be careful.
He responded meekly. But they kept circling back with the same questions at every opportunity. That was no longer respectful.
“They asked over ten times!”
“......”
Worse, when he finally lost his temper, they switched targets. That was dirty.
—Yoo-jin, you regain your composure so fast... anything to do with the old accident?
They clearly intended to ask Mundae about the time he was in a coma!
‘Asking someone mid-concert about a period when he was unconscious—without permission?’
How dare they!
“That’s too rude. They were wrong. I stopped it.”
Cha Yoo-jin switched back to Korean to emphasize himself. Mundae fell into thought.
“......”
But he soon answered—the response Yoo-jin had been waiting for.
“You’re right.”
“...!”
Exactly!
“Okay. I understand.”
Mundae summarized succinctly.
“Let’s go get an apology. They were in the wrong.”
“Great!”
Yoo-jin raised his hand for a fist bump and handshake. Mundae thought, Really? but obliged without showing it.
‘This is the team’s joy!’
Yoo-jin shook his hand off and laughed refreshingly. Of course, there was one thing to finish first.
“I’m going to eat all this.”
“Sure. Eat up.”
Yoo-jin spent a relaxing morning at the beach with Mundae. It was a pretty satisfying holiday.
“Let’s get pizza! They have great pizza here!”
“Sure.”
By midday, Cha Yoo-jin had fully recovered. On the way back to the hotel, they ordered pizza for delivery.
‘Perfect.’
Just as expected, feeding Cha Yoo-jin something sweet loosened his tongue about everything that had happened.
‘No wonder he was pissed.’
Hearing his story, it was worse than Yoo-jin had told me. The documentary crew had pressed him again and again to provoke a reaction.
The reason was obvious.
‘They picked Yoo-jin because he’s the least filtered.’
Being the most genuine and honest among us, he was the easiest target for raw footage. They leaned in to get material for the documentary.
“So frustrating...”
I remembered a comment from a photography lecture I took in college.
‘With portrait photography, it’s better to shoot first and negotiate later than ask permission—photo opportunities vanish otherwise.’
It had sparked controversy online later. But if that attitude was widespread in the industry, our documentary crew had just been unlucky in their staffing.
I needed to warn them.
‘It’s time for a warning.’
Just then, Yoo-jin, pizza in hand, asked, “Hyung! About my questions—what should I say to them?”
“We don’t need to say anything.”
I said calmly, “The company will handle it. Just get your apology.”
We had plenty of leverage to turn the situation around.
“Go upstairs and eat. I’ll make a call.”
“Got it!”
As soon as I returned to the hotel, I contacted the company. After the recent deal, the management team had been completely overhauled and was more responsive, so we didn’t need to handle image control ourselves.
“Hello... Yes. You know where Mundae and Yoo-jin are, right?”
—Yes, yes! We have their location.
“Good. I have some things Yoo-jin told me that I want to relay.”
I relayed exactly what I’d heard at the beach, leading with one key point.
“...Isn’t that something the crew shouldn’t do?”
—Ah~
The manager’s tone shifted.
—I understand what you’re saying.
I sensed newfound confidence. Finally, a competent company. I’d wondered if Ryu Cheong-woo was even getting paid. This was welcome.
I ended the call and headed back to the hotel room. Just then, I went to Yoo-jin’s room to check on him and deliver the pizza.
“Mundae hyung!”
“Mundae, welcome~”
Hands holding pizza boxes waved from every corner. They’d clearly been waiting.
“Hyung, over here!”
Yoo-jin sat in the center with a grin—everything was smoothed over. With Seon Ah-hyun interpreting, they could manage.
“Here, Mundae, we saved this for you...!”
“Oh, thanks.”
I squeezed between them.
“Did it work out?”
“Of course~ Ai-yo, I was hurt that they told us to apologize without asking what was wrong first.”
“Yeah!!”
“They did it because they thought not apologizing would be a big issue. Of course I’m on your side, Yoo-jin!”
“I’m fine! I didn’t tell them either. I’m really sorry.”
“Alright, alright—let’s do better from now on!”
True to their promptness, reconciliation was swift. Bae Se-jin looked troubled, as if wondering, Do we really patch things up this fast? but soon gave up and dug into pizza. Kim Rae-bin still looked serious.
“Cha Yoo-jin, from now on always get in touch before you leave. Even on a holiday, we’re officially scheduled, so be careful moving around.”
“Okay, got it!”
“...! Uh.”
Rae-bin paused but then beamed. They really know how to have fun.
Ryu Cheong-woo, however, watched all this with a thoughtful expression.
‘Hmm.’
He looked relaxed, so it must be nothing serious. But the real fireworks were about to hit the documentary crew shortly.
‘I can’t wait.’
I ate pizza while imagining the scene.
And that evening. Before the group interview, I overheard the company and the crew talking next door.
“By our review, this is a clear breach of contract.”
“No, you’re misunderstanding.”
“It’s too clear a violation to be a misunderstanding. We told you everything from the start.”
“Tch, if you’re going to be that strict about filming...”
“No. The artist told you to talk to the company multiple times—are you going to deny that? We’re going to verify the recordings.”
“...!”
This was the crux. Yoo-jin had already invoked “the company” repeatedly when refusing to discuss sensitive matters. They’d ignored him and kept pushing? That was a contract breach. Because the contract included:
“If Party A requests not to film sensitive personal information, Party B shall negotiate anew before including such information.”
And breach carries liability. With T1 Stars Entertainment backing us, the studio producers had no choice once the company got tough. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖
A teammate who had been eavesdropping tapped my shoulder.
“Man, Mundae—you’re sharp.”
“Uh.”
I shrugged. We could threaten to cancel the documentary contract and demand deletion of the footage.
“Please proceed accordingly.”
And it seemed to work. Before filming resumed, the crew offered Yoo-jin a halfhearted apology.
“I’m really sorry if we made you uncomfortable.”
‘We didn’t intend malicious edits, we just wanted more authentic content,’ they said.
“...Okay~ but this is my content, so respect my opinion.”
Yoo-jin accepted coolly, and the situation de-escalated. The rest of the documentary shoot focused more on TeSTAR’s professionalism.
After the interviews, late at night, TeSTAR left their individual rooms and gathered in the huge hotel suite.
“This is huge!”
“Oh~ nice facilities. Are you buying, Cheong-woo hyung?”
“Um, just tonight.”
Ryu Cheong-woo, the mastermind behind this, closed the door and answered.
“I think the company will cover it from now on.”
“From now on...?”
“Yeah. I was thinking we could spend one day a week like this while on tour. What do you all think?”
He looked serious. Those who’d been living alone these past weeks stared at him.
“I think the recent Yoo-jin incident got complicated because we didn’t know each other’s thoughts. We had no time.”
He finished with a smile.
“I want us to talk and look out for each other. That’s my suggestion.”
His sincerity moved them instantly.
“Hyung......”
“Sniff, so touching!”
“I—I like it...!”
“Well, it’s not bad—just a day.”
Even Bae Se-jin agreed. The one who cheered for private rooms now joined in unanimity.
“Mundae?”
“...I think it’s good.”
A sound decision. It would prevent surprises. I nodded calmly, then reality hit me.
‘Wait, nicely put, but... it’s basically a weekly workshop.’
Gathering these guys to check they’re not slacking and to talk about albums, activities, and concerts...
No—this has already taken on a life of its own.
“Our teamwork is the best. I’m so moved.”
“Next time, we could bring a projector.”
“Shall we order room service? Let’s eat and play cards.”
“......”
Yeah, this was more than colleagues.
‘Like a club.’
I lay back on the sofa, admitting it. Even surrounded by so many people, I felt comfortable.
‘I can just focus on the tour for a while.’
...But I’d overlooked one thing. Yoo-jin’s sensitive footage was removed thanks to the company, but my own footage went out unchecked, with no objections.
The fallout of the “perfectionist idol doing his best despite aftereffects” narrative... was just around the corner.
