Debut or Die-Chapter 421
Park Mundae received fervent attention for a week after Episode 4 aired—after a horrifying experience, he had disastrously over-rehearsed his preview.
Since it went exactly as he’d predicted, he boldly accepted his fate as the group’s designated laugh-trigger.
“I... wow.”
One fan even threw a ghost doll at him in concert.
“—Too intense, Sun!” (video)
After some controversy online, that kind of stunt disappeared, but it meant his variety-show persona was firmly established: the cowardly guy you just have to tease.
“–On the way back from Doll Island, the maknae bros patting Park Mundae’s head” (GIF)
“–Mundae froze like a pup stepping on a creepy doll—look at his shoes clamped together lol” (photo)
Of course, that only lasted a week.
“Obviously.”
He may have been grossed out by ghosts, but he wasn’t squeamish about any other thrills.
Next episode:
[Great White Cage Experience]
Inside a cage sunk to the ocean floor. The TeSTAR members, kitted out with snorkeling gear, screamed and pantomimed in terror—but Park Mundae just stood there. Anyone watching might think it was an empty set.
“–Whoa.”
“Right, this is totally Mundae’s style.”
He was utterly still, his hand propping his chin, expressing interest. Despite being trapped underwater in a cage facing a great white shark, he was calmly enjoying himself.
[↑He’s actually super into it.]
“Wow, Tibetan vibes.”
And just like that, Park Mundae regained his dignity in one fell swoop!
The funny thing was, he wasn’t the only one who found it fascinating.
A few minutes of collective hysteria passed, then:
[(Aaaah!)]
[Kim Rae-bin: (It’s surprisingly delicate in its features!)]
[Bae Sejin: (I don’t understand a word of that.)]
[Kim Rae-bin: (You don’t agree? That’s fine too!)]
[Bae Sejin: (Still clueless.)]
Surprisingly, the Great White Cage Experience earned praise from most members, despite its fearsome name. It was safe enough to be commercialized, and after the horror episode their fear thresholds were sky-high, so they took it as entertainment. Besides, it truly was a unique and intriguing experience.
The “Do What You Want” team’s course was nothing short of a healing success.
“Seriously, doing whatever you want on a show is the best lol.”
Although this team’s items had been chosen to push the extremes for TV, the leader knew that comment was spot-on.
[Cha Yoo-jin: My brother Mundae and I were in sync!]
In her interview cut, Cha Yoo-jin beamed.
...Although behind her you could briefly see Park Mundae catching everything she threw at him under the name “the two of us,” they were a team, at least.
[Cha Yoo-jin: Teamwork, best!]
Then Park Mundae snapped a two-shot with Seon Ah-hyun and the shark, soothing any lingering sense of betrayal.
[Seon Ah-hyun: (Like this?)]
[Park Mundae: (Good.)]
On the Jungle Speedboat that followed, he and Ryu Cheong-woo displayed incredible chemistry, finally clearing the air—at least for himself.
Finally, the cliffside zip-line.
[Cha Yoo-jin: Woo-hoo!!!]
It was wildly exciting, yet nobody bailed and everyone had fun, so it never tipped into pain. Kim Rae-bin’s full-course follow-up then satisfied fans who had been expecting healing all along.
“Maknae is the best.”
“Our bunny, ahhh, you’re such a good son, seriously 😭😭😭”
After a long string of thrills, viewers welcomed the sweet healing even more. Kim Rae-bin overtook Mung-ge and became the mascot of healing.
[Mung-ge: (I miss you! Hurry back to Korea, hyungs!)]
With an outdoor night-sky cut of waving at Mung-ge via video call back in Indonesia, the healing variety special wrapped up just as healing.
Eight episodes total. A short but impactful original.
“It was really great!”
“They ended on such a happy note, giving us exactly what we wanted—perfect 😭”
And fans in Chile scored an unexpected victory.
“TeSTAR enjoyed Chile’s beautiful scenery and traditional dishes! ‘True satisfaction.’”
“Only Chile won (smiley)”
They were a bit wistful, though.
“Healing” (shyly trekking the arduous four-day Torres del Paine course)
All of this was exactly what happened when TeSTAR fully embraced variety.
Happy viewers, fan reactions.
Park Mundae lay in bed and put down his smartphone. He’d already deleted the makeshift horror-preview account he’d created for the show.
Instead, the regularly rotated monitoring account name glowed at the top of his screen.
“Ah, this variety show was so good—it filled the tour hiatus so well... I’m amazed they never lose their spark for every content.”
“I really want to love TeSTAR forever—let’s keep going like this♡😭”
“......”
As if signaling that everything was returning to normal.
Seeing the flood of comments, Park Mundae finally felt it fully again: the certainty and reality that he was back.
“...Phew.”
He put down his phone.
At the tail end of the tour, he slept deeply without dreaming the nightmare of waking in that vague skeletal system space for the first time in ages.
It was a complete return to TeSTAR’s orbit.
And the next day, Park Mundae made a certain decision.
He agreed with the company and members who said, “Let’s prepare the album,” but something else had emerged that he wanted to do first.
“Geun-dal.”
[“Hey hyung! Are you free? What’s up?”]
“...There’s somewhere I want to go.”
“Huh?”
Ryu Geon-woo within Park Mundae closed his eyes and said, “...to see our parents.”
His re-entry into Korea was quite a spectacle. Between the tour and filming variety, scheduling domestic dates had been hard, so it was his first return in a while.
But after landing, he moved quietly. A few days spent on some private schedules, and today—
I packed my clothes, left the room.
“Going today?”
“Yeah.”
“Have a good trip.”
Thump. I didn’t push back when Big Sejin lightly tapped my back. Instead, I bumped my clenched fist knuckles-to-knuckles and kept walking.
I couldn’t involve any company staff in this, and public transit was out. And since I don’t have a license in Park Mundae’s body, I couldn’t drive myself. I enlisted someone else.
“We’re heading to the officetel first, right?”
“Right.”
That was Ryu Cheong-woo, who has a license and a car. His SUV, bought just before the tour, had proved handy even for camping.
“Thanks.”
“For what?”
Cheong-woo, who happily gave up his day off, took the wheel.
“Let’s go.”
After picking up Geun-dal at the officetel and spending quite a while on the road, we arrived at our destination.
“...Hello.”
It had been ages since I last visited the ancestral tomb hall. I approached the glass-fronted wall, and beyond one single pane, I saw the white ceramic urn.
The urn containing ashes. The simple display featured only a name and a few photos around it.
“...”
There hadn’t been money for a private memorial; I was a minor, so it all went straight to cremation and placement in this columbarium—and I hadn’t even chosen the spot, so it was mounted too high for my view... but now it felt fine.
I wiped the glass lightly.
“Hello.”
Geun-dal—now Ryu Geon-woo—bowed deeply toward the urn.
It felt meaningful. I raised a hand, opened the glass, and placed the bouquet I’d bought inside. The space was cramped; the flowers were nearly crushed.
“If it’s okay, I’d like to move it to a roomier spot.”
“...Yes?”
Right, I said that to him. I smiled faintly.
“The urn’s bracket... since I’m useless at this, please sign for it. I’ll cover the cost, of course.”
“...! Of course I will... no, you don’t have to pay.”
“No, I will.”
If I didn’t, it’d feel like I hadn’t done anything. And if I didn’t foot the bill, it wouldn’t feel real.
I pulled my cap low. It was a weekday, not a holiday—hardly anyone here, but if we got spotted it’d become a fuss.
“Three is too many.”
The thought that people might gossip about me coming to a friend’s parents’ columbarium felt... odd. But I didn’t care.
I looked up, took the flowers apart. They’d been preserved, so most blooms survived. I plucked a few stems, placed them in the niche, and closed the glass.
Clack.
It looked decent.
As I turned to tell Cheong-woo we could stay longer, I noticed—
“...!”
Did you... cry?
“Hyung.”
“Ah... sorry, it just...”
“...”
Right. He is family too, in a way—my parents were his as well.
I couldn’t help thinking, looking at the white urn...
“...It’s happened.”
I didn’t really expect my parents to be here, but seeing it made it real.
“Don’t worry—I’m living well. Sorry my body changed. I hope you’re doing well too.”
Whether from the inside or out, I hoped bringing back a healthy Ryu Geon-woo would count for something. I smiled faintly.
After wiping his tears, Cheong-woo seemed to stand composed again. Sunlight filled the hall as we stood silently in front of the niche for quite some time.
After moving the urn to a better spot, our return was quiet but not uncomfortable. Still, the topic had to come up.
“What about your parents?”
Geun-dal’s shoulders twitched.
“Oh... they’re at sea. They said long ago they wanted it that way...”
“...I see.”
Given his situation, I’d guessed they couldn’t afford a tomb, and it had been arranged by someone else, but I let it go.
“Whenever you have time, we should go together.”
“Ah...”
“Too far?”
“Well... it’s Ganghwa Island....”
I figured as much.
“Then you’re off on weekends.”
“Gah! No, it’s okay. You’ll get busy again...”
“How about we go today?”
“...!”
That wasn’t me speaking.
“Today’s free. Let’s go. I’ll drive.”
Cheong-woo from the driver’s seat said it. After a few persuading words, we set the plan.
“Thanks.”
“No, I’ll get to see the sea again {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} too.”
We swung by Ganghwa Island on the way.
Whoosh—
Late summer. The beach wasn’t deserted, but it was quiet enough. Geun-dal could sit on a bench as long as he wanted, gazing at the sea.
“...”
I sat on the bench beside him without a word, knowing there was no need to talk. Then Cheong-woo lowered his voice politely.
“I’ll grab us some ice cream.”
The driver goes to buy ice cream. Typical.
But he left without waiting for me and headed off the beach toward the shops.
“Man...”
Always the same, in every way. Then—
The sea breeze blew at him from behind. Somehow, this scene felt familiar.
And I realized.
“Oh.”
He’d come to Ganghwa for a variety show back in his Steer days. A fledgling prime-time variety that never really took off.
“Of course it’s so clear in my mind.”
The memories recovered after smashing the system settled in naturally, as if they’d always been there. It wasn’t bizarre on the surface, but sometimes associations just clicked like this.
“Thinking about it, it is pretty weird.”
Being on the same idol team I once stalked, and now relatives too. I’d lived as TeSTAR for so long I hadn’t registered it, but it felt strange.
Cheong-woo too, and the others.
“...”
I rested my head against the bench—and then—
“Park Mundae...?”
“...!”
“It really is Park Mundae.”
At last, the moment came. Two high-schoolers who’d run down to the beach, excited, pulled out their phones.
“Please take our photo!”
“Me too!”
“Sure, just a sec.”
I lowered my mask and alternated looking at both phone lenses. Park Mundae’s face appeared on the screens.
My parents and... well, no resemblance. Of course not.
“...”
“Thanks so much!”
“No, thank you.”
That was enough. Don’t get sentimental over a “long time no see.”
“That damn system’s useless.”
Because it mocked my parents as Antarctic researchers the other day, my head must be full of air.
“If they knew how much I’d made, they’d give me a thumbs-up from the urn whether I looked like them or not.”
I nodded inwardly and smiled on cue for the cameras.
“Take care!!”
“Sure.”
I bowed briefly to the students as they left, then clicked my tongue and looked away. Then—
[Sudden!]
Status effect: ‘If not ■■ then ■■’ occurred!
“...!!”
A hologram. What the—wait.
“Oh.”
When I looked back, the lingering hologram window had vanished. I inhaled sharply.
What is this?
“...Status window.”
Even opening the full status window changed nothing. There was no urgent popup or anything.
“...”
“Hyung?”
“No.”
As soon as the students departed, Geun-dal spoke from the bench beside me. I blurted out:
“Did you see that?”
“...?? You mean those kids earlier? The ones I took photos for?”
His face showed confusion and a hint of tension—no sign of lying. The truth.
I spoke slowly.
“Yeah. I took their pictures.”
“Right...?”
I relaxed my shoulders. The one who’d detect a weird status effect first didn’t notice anything, so why would it appear to me? I must be hallucinating from all the stress.
I clicked my tongue and straightened up.
“I got us ice cream—want one?”
“Ah, thank you!”
Before long, Cheong-woo returned, and I planned to cool my head with ice cream. Maybe I’d just overheated.
But the astounding news hadn’t finished.
“And just now the company called.”
“The company?”
“Yeah. They said there’s something important to discuss.”
Cheong-woo continued, puzzled:
“...They want to push back the album release?”
