Debut or Die-Chapter 318
The voice on the other end of the line changed tone, then spoke softly.
“Hello. We know each other, don’t we?”
It was definitely Cheongryeo’s voice. It gave me goosebumps.
‘What the hell is this bastard doing here?’
And with a different phone number—what the fuck is going on? And “we know each other”? What the hell.
“I’m moving into the dorm room and you greeted me before. You’re Geonwoo, right?”
“...?”
“I found something you left behind in the room. I’m going to ship it to you—could you give me your address? The academy only gave me your phone number because of privacy rules.”
“......”
Is this voice phishing?
I was too stunned to speak for a moment, then wondered if there was some chance it really was someone else. Then I gave a precise answer.
“There’s no need to ship it. I’ll stop by today and pick it up. Thank you.”
“I see. Understood.”
He backed off surprisingly easily. Could it really be someone else who just sounds like him...?
“Since you have lectures during weekdays, shall we meet in front of the academy at 9 PM?”
No way.
I couldn’t hold it in any longer.
“Cut the shit.”
“What do you mean?”
“Cut the shit, Shin Jae-hyun.”
“...!”
I hadn’t used his stage name, keeping that last possibility in mind, but his reaction proved it was him.
There was a brief silence on the phone, then I heard laughter.
“So it is you, junior.”
“...!”
“Hm... judging by your reaction, you do know me. How are you using two bodies?”
He was too quick—annoying as hell. No matter what, can he really deduce such an absurd situation so fast? ...First, I asked.
“How did you get this number?”
“You came to VTIC’s fan signing, remember?”
“You must have done signing events thousands of times. Don’t give me ridiculous excuses.”
Even if it was an ad-model signing, it wasn’t once or twice. How could he possibly recognize someone who got a signature over a year ago and didn’t even say their name?
But his voice was calm.
“Well, it left quite an impression. And it’s rare for someone to change their name twice and use a nickname.”
“What?”
He explained the details so precisely I could almost reconstruct the scene in Geonwoo’s tone in my head:
‘Park Mundae... no, Ryu Geonwoo... I’m sorry. Please just call me Keundal!’
“I said both of your names—”
Isn’t it stranger not to know? When I described your appearance, I remembered right away.
“......”
“I thought you’d told me yourself... but you didn’t?”
Damn it....
I clenched my anger, holding back a torrent of curses. I knew there was no point insulting the clueless “Park Mundae.”
After all, fundamentally, he wasn’t in that body, so it circled back to the same question.
‘Where the hell did he go?’
Still, I had to say one thing.
“That wasn’t me.”
“You used the nickname Keundal too. That excuse is amusing.”
“I told you it wasn’t me.”
I rubbed my throbbing temple.
“That was the real Park Mundae. Not me.”
Cheongryeo paused on the other end before finally speaking.
“It seems we need a detailed conversation.”
An hour and a half later, I faced him in a suburban Seoul café that looked like a house, and he had a dog with him.
It was exactly the same place where I’d met him before, even down to the dog—an almost identical scenario.
‘Is he testing if it’s really me again?’
He was relentless. I sat across from him and said,
“You come here often, huh?”
“When I have time, sometimes.”
Cheongryeo shrugged while petting the ball his dog held. No sign of suspicion.
I restrained a sigh.
Meeting alone with this bastard again felt pointless... but his brain had at least experienced a special situation. Better than nothing.
He examined me, then nodded.
“How should I put this... your looks match your personality.”
It sounded like an insult, but I had neither time nor energy to get angry, so I let it go.
I nodded, and he changed the question.
“And it’s curious—are you swapping bodies to live? But whenever my junior was active, it was always my junior’s body, right?”
“I’d like to ask when you developed a hobby for voice phishing.”
“That’s harsh. Voice phishing... I’ve never lied.”
Cheongryeo placed something on the table.
“You left this behind.”
“......!”
It was a compact camera—brand-new, still unopened.
I remembered the advice I’d given “Park Mundae”:
“If you’re interested, you could buy a camera and take pictures. Of course, after this exam is over.”
‘He bought it for motivation.’
I sighed, unsure of what to say. Cheongryeo smiled faintly.
“I tracked you mainly by eyewitness accounts, and realized you were at the dorm cram school. No scam.”
“And you bothered to call directly?”
“Of course. I never let anyone else handle the decisive moments.”
He was cautious as hell.
Considering how I got here, my evaluation didn’t change.
The moment we agreed to meet, he’d said,
“Alright. Should I send a car to the officetel so you can ride here?”
I almost agreed mindlessly before realizing what he meant:
“You already knew the address, huh.”
“Ha ha. Procedures matter in relationships.”
True to someone who’d repeated the same time zone multiple times, he knew how to play his cards well.
So I wasn’t thrilled about revealing my hand... but given the situation, it was to my advantage.
I decided to raise my score a bit for his cooperation, similar to the Gold 2 incident.
“Listen.”
I leaned back.
“I could see the mission in writing.”
“For me, the word ‘status ailment’ appeared directly in front of me—like a game window.”
Silence followed.
Cheongryeo tilted his head, then replied casually.
“Is that so?”
He didn’t seem surprised. I clicked my tongue.
“Was it that obvious?”
“A bit, but considering the balance, it makes sense.”
“Balance?”
“Look. They let you restart, but you get a mission—a ‘status ailment.’ You gain one, but it comes with a penalty.”
Cheongryeo traced a line on the table with his finger.
“Your junior had both body and career changed, right? A big penalty. So giving a hint doesn’t feel out of place.”
“......”
He could view it that way, too.
Cheongryeo, looking genuinely curious, asked again.
“Hm... you came from a top university—wasn’t it a shame to give that up?”
“I was going for public service exams.”
“Ha ha.”
He asked softly, almost ominously.
“Did you infer that if you die, it’s all over from that hint too?”
“...Yes.”
“Hmm, that should count as a penalty too.”
At this rate, he’d strip me of my level-up system too. I stifled a sigh.
Since it was like this, before getting to the main point, I wanted to test something I’d been curious about.
“First... try it.”
“Hm?”
“...shout ‘Status window.’”
His expression, rare for him, went blank as he stared at me.
Then he burst out laughing.
“Ha ha ha ha!”
Don’t laugh, fucking.
Speaking it out loud to someone else made my tongue feel twisted. I removed my glasses and pinched the bridge of my nose.
“You have quite the imagination, junior.”
“Shut up.”
“No, I’ve tried it too.”
Cheongryeo leaned forward.
“I’ve tried every superstition and content—logout, coma... was that the ninth or tenth one?”
“.......”
“Do you think I tried those things multiple times? None worked.”
He chuckled.
“Nothing.”
“......”
“Still... shall we try shouting the status window again?”
“Enough.”
I closed my eyes. Then, hesitating, I finally spoke.
“You did well.”
“.......”
It had been pointless.
‘...Teaching “Park Mundae” felt like a habit now.’
With this bastard, I wouldn’t ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) be surprised if he said, “Could you give it in a song instead of words?”...
“...Thank you.”
“.......”
“Can I hear the explanation of my current status now?”
“Yes.”
Ignoring the dog at my feet, I finally got to the point.
I told him, in summary, how I’d received the mission myself once the status ailments ended and omitted what had transpired since.
His eyes narrowed slightly at “I received the mission myself,” but he still commented first.
“It’s weird.”
“What is?”
There were more than one weird thing—did he think that’d suffice?
Cheongryeo drummed his fingers on the table.
“Look. Whether it was you or me, when we restarted, the previous time was as if it never happened.”
“Right.”
“But this time, both of us existed together within one hour and influenced each other. It’s a totally different category.”
“What does that mean?”
“It implies another force was at work. A time paradox seems to have occurred. Hm, fascinating.”
Whether he found it fascinating or not wouldn’t produce any immediate conclusion. What mattered was the outcome of this situation.
“In any case, after the status ailment that ends with passing the exam, I woke up in this body and found ‘Park Mundae’ gone.”
“Oh, you occupied that body?”
“Yes.”
I needed even a hint of what the fuck was happening.
“I’d like to ask if anyone ever disappeared unexpectedly during a restart.”
“No. It was always the same.”
He answered as if there was nothing to consider, then added, puzzled.
“But... why is that so important?”
What?
“From what I gather, after today, you’ll return to your original body. Then won’t you go back on your own?”
“Maybe not.”
“It’d be more convenient if that’s the case. Oh, are you worried your original body will vanish?”
“Right now....”
What the hell was this madman babbling?
“You saved me from needless ethical dilemma. Think carefully. If... ‘Keundal,’ the one in your body, asks to get the original body back?”
“.......”
I downed the lukewarm coffee, then set the cup on the table.
“If I want it, I’ll consider it.”
“But there’s no way to do it, right?”
“There’s something to try.”
I had no intention of telling him what I’d planned, but at least I had the idea.
“The mission.”
I could receive another mission and set “body swap” as the reward.
“And Park Mundae, it’s his own body—he has the right.”
Whether I chose to do it or not aside, strictly speaking, the right belonged to him.
But the man sitting across from me... seemed indifferent.
“You’re mistaken about something.”
“...!”
“All of what Park Mundae possessed was achieved by you. Regardless of whose body it is, it’s your mind and your creation.”
“.......”
“So why make a plan to give it away? It’d be better to figure out a way not to get tangled up in it....”
“I’m not planning—just keeping the option open....”
“For what?”
“......”
“Listen. I’ll tell you all of your junior’s actions so far.”
Cheongryeo’s fingers resumed tapping the table.
“You brought back someone who didn’t exist, helped them study, planned their survival... Morally, you’ve done more than enough.”
“.......”
“I’m not saying kill them. I’m just saying... isn’t it fine to leave things as they are?”
Cheongryeo met my gaze.
“Isn’t it?”
I clenched my fist.
