Debut or Die!

데뷔 못 하면 죽는 병 걸림

After failing the Korean civil service exam yet again, 29-year-old Ryu Gunwoo blacked out from a night of heavy drinking. When he woke up, he discovered he had taken over the body of Park Moondae—a high school dropout who had attempted suicide on his 23rd birthday, three years before the last date Gunwoo remembered. Despite the shift in identity and time, Moondae is most disturbed by the game-like status window he can summon. It displays a list of performance skills and the ominous phrase "Debut or die," yet he has neither the talent nor the desire to become an idol. Nevertheless, driven by the shrinking 365-day deadline, he recalls a shortcut to debut quickly: the controversial and fiercely competitive survival audition show, Idol Incorporated. Reluctant but practical, Moondae quickly proves to be a remarkably inventive contestant, able to devise strategies for nearly every challenge thrown at him. As he rushes to improve the skills necessary to actually perform on stage—simply to avoid death—he may gradually uncover a passion for performing that makes his enduring life worth living.

Background

Debut or Die! began as a web novel on KakaoPage, where 644 web chapters were released from January 11, 2021, to May 5, 2023. It has been published in book format by KW Books under the Wishbooks imprint (위시북스) since December 8, 2022. The original web novel has been published digitally in English by Tapas Media since June 10, 2023.

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