Debut or Die

Chapter 54

While I was speechless at the number of ’27 stations’, the billboard confirmation expedition steadily increased.

“Are you going? Then I’ll go, too. There are a few overlapping places here!”

“There is a ban on team spoilers, so why don’t we go with someone from the other team?”

“Cha Eugene?”

“Yes.”

“I’m fine. What about Moondae?”

“Whatever.”

“Yes!”

At that point, it quietly and quickly came to an end.

What was surprising was that Seon Ahyeon stepped out of it with a face of regret.

“W-With my parents… I decided to go on a trip.”

“Okay?”

If that is the reason, isn’t it concerning that I will be alone at Seon Ahyeon’s house once he leaves?

“Ah, then should I stay somewhere else?”

“N-No! Stay!”

Seon Ahyeon was taken aback.

“I-I’ll give you the key.”

“Um, thank you.”

I didn’t know what you believed in me to make you lend the key. When I accepted the key, Seon Ahyeon suddenly confessed.

“O-Originally, I was going to ask you to come with me…”

“…”

I didn’t know why he wanted to include Park Moondae on his family trip.

Did your parents give you permission?

“…I’m grateful for your kindness.”

“Yes.”

If it happened like this, I’d rather have an tour with Kim Raebin. I almost went on a trip with someone else’s parents.

“See you on the day of the shoot~”

Under the guidance of Keun Sejin who waved his hand, I saw Seon Ahyeon off. And as soon as Seon Ahyeon disappeared in the car, Cha Eugene appeared.

“I’m so excited!”

Cha Eugene shook his backpack with his eyes shining. I felt tired already.

‘What a day.’

Let’s have a moment of silence for my ruined holiday.

* * *

First of all, the crazy proposal to travel by public transportation with this number of people was rejected. Because we already had a track record.

“We’ll have to run away before we can even get to the station.”

“You’re right.”

Cha Eugene was disappointed but recovered quickly.

It was also fun to travel by taxi. Though, I didn’t know why.

Anyway, the first hit was at Yeouido Station, the closest to the filming set.

“Are you taking pictures?”

This somehow ended well.

It was only me and Kim Raebin who got caught at Yeouido Station, so each of us quickly took a picture and left without saying anything.

There seemed to be one or two people who recognized me when I took off my mask, but it was a weekday morning at a station with a lot of office workers, so it went without a fuss.

“Good!”

As I got into a taxi with my excited companions as if we were carrying out a secret order, I suddenly wondered.

‘…Isn’t this meaningless?’

If there is no eyewitness account, how is it different from just looking at the billboards alone?

Even if it was for confirmation, I couldn’t just post pictures on the Internet.

‘Should I leak it by acting like a witness?’

But this worry was a useless notion.

Because it was a mess from the Express Terminal Station, the next destination.

“Oooh!”

“Cha Eugene! Hey, it’s Cha Eugene!”

“Is it them? Idol Inc.?”

“They must have come to see the billboard. Heol…”

I heard all these words spoken at the same time as soon as I approached within 3M in front of the billboard at the Express Terminal Station.

Of course, we were wearing our masks.

Learning from the previous failure, everyone was wearing hats and hoodies, but I couldn’t figure out how they found out. They couldn’t even see my hair.

And a huge crowd began to gather.

It was no joke, I could see people running from the underground shopping mall toward this way.

‘This… This is a nuisance.’

It was a perfect situation for an accident to happen.

‘Let’s run.’

After roughly exchanging glances, we quickly left the station. Of course, I couldn’t take a picture.

‘Covering our faces is useless now.’

We took a taxi and took a moment to breathe, but I confirmed that another taxi was following behind our taxi.

“Are they following us?”

“The person in the passenger seat is holding a camera.”

The taxi atmosphere became gloomy after Kim Raebin’s confirmation.

The taxi driver joked, ‘What kind of fun things are you guys doing~’ then kept his mouth shut at the serious atmosphere.

‘It’s ruined.’

That was how the billboard tour failed spectacularly from the beginning.

After barely getting rid of the car that was following us, everyone understood the current situation.

“…Let’s go separately.”

“Okay.”

“Yes…”

“Let’s wear a doll mask!”

“…??”

Breaking the quiet atmosphere of agreement, Cha Eugene suddenly made a sudden proposal.

“Doll mask?”

“Yes! It’s cute and people won’t know it’s us!”

Keun Sejin was the first to react.

“Wait… Oh, there’s a rental place in Gangnam.”

“Oh!”

“The price is good too! I think we can spend 50,000-60,000 won per person?”

50,000 won was not cheap.

But it was a good idea. I sighed and added.

“That’s a good idea but let’s go see the billboards separately.”

“Yes?”

“Why?!”

At Cha Eugene’s question, Kim Raebin answered gloomily.

“That’s right, if four people wearing doll masks are walking around, it’ll get more attention…”

“Ah.”

Everyone understood immediately.

“Then let’s rent it together. Is that okay?”

“Yes!”

“Okay. Driver! We’d like to go here…”

Keun Sejin immediately changed the destination of the taxi.

Less than 20 minutes later, we arrived at a party supplies rental shop located in the corner of a commercial building.

“This one!”

As soon as we arrived, Cha Eugene immediately grabbed a doll mask and excitedly headed to the checkout counter. It looked like something similar to White Tiger.

(TL note: White Tiger = Baekho = one of the Four Symbols of the Chinese constellations.)

“That was fast.”

“Shall we quickly choose as well?”

Then, an employee approached the remaining people in front of the doll masks and spoke with sparkling eyes.

“Hey, can I get your autograph?”

“…Sure.”

After asking them not to post it on the Internet today, we lined up and signed.

It was very awkward.

“I want this.”

After the signing was over, I went to pick out a doll mask accompanied by an employee. As Keun Sejin picked a huge bear doll mask, Kim Raebin picked a rabbit mask next to him.

They obviously picked it while being conscious of the fans’ public opinion.

‘In that case, then me too.’

I grudgingly grabbed a doll mask.

The first doll mask I tried after a part-time job five years ago was heavy.

‘This time is going to be hard, too.’

The thought of walking around wearing this made me feel distant.

First of all… Shall we start with a new route?

* * *

Following the encouragement to vote, Park Moondae’s fan sites placed billboards on each public transportation to attract voting during the final.

They caught all the s, including buses and movie theaters, but due to the short preparation period, only subway station s were currently executed.

Here, it was the same for the person who preoccupied the large electric billboard near the underground shopping center of Gangnam Station.

‘It turned out well!’

The woman, who pulled out Park Moondae’s cheek-poking pose at the production presentation, finally picked the billboard with that picture.

‘I’m glad I saved it.’

For reference, The photo of Park Moondae wearing a hero suit for the second team match was hung on the billboard at Jamsil Station. She was going to go see it next.

‘I wanted to do one more.’

Looking at Seon Ahyeon’s billboard on the opposite, she swallowed her disappointment.

She wanted that position.

In fact, she saw a post a few days ago that Seon Ahyeon’s fans almost rented the entire Ahyeon Station, so they installed billboards from the subway safety door to the exit.

‘If that’s the case, I’ll let Gangnam go.’

The fundraising was enough, so it was a waste because there was still money left for her to add.

Anyway, it’s done and the color came out well.’

She took a picture of the billboard with her camera once again.

Then, her friend, who went to buy coffee for a while, came up and called her with a voice full of laughter.

“Hey, look at that!”

“Huh?”

When she turned her head to the direction her friend was pointing at with her coffee straw, a person wearing a yellow puppy mask with pricked ears was waddling toward the billboard.

‘Welsh Corgi?’

Looking blankly at it, she saw a sketchbook in the Welsh Corgi’s hand.

[Park Moondae Debut]

“What’s with that!”

She burst into laughter and gave way to the Welsh Corgi. Some people around who were looking at the billboard were also laughing at the Welsh Corgi.

It seemed he came wearing a yellow dog mask to match Moondae’s nickname and his hair color.

The tall man waddling around with a doll mask looked pretty cute.

“Do you want me to take a picture of you?”

Her friend asked the Welsh Corgi, who was standing in front of the billboard. Welsh Corgi nodded and held out his phone.

‘Ah, there are so many interesting people.’

She spoke to the Welsh Corgi, unable to hide her laughter.

“Can I take a picture and upload it? It’s a good idea!”

The Welsh Corgi nodded eagerly. She quickly took a photo and uploaded it to her fan account.

[I came to check the commercial and met a fan wearing a doll mask! : D (Picture) (Picture)]

Because it was a subject that people would like, the number of shares and likes increased in an instant.

Meanwhile, the Welsh Corgi took a proof shot and got his phone back from her friend.

“Have a safe journey home~”

The Welsh Corgi nodded to her and her friend, then waddled off again.

She, too, giggled and moved to take subway line 2 with her friend. Because she was going to have lunch near Jamsil Station and check the billboard there.

She went to a nearby restaurant, ate, went to a cafe for the second time, and waited for the drink she ordered, then her friend smiled and showed her something.

“Look at this! I think it’s the Welsh Corgi fan that went to Jamsil earlier. Another photo came up.”

“Wow, that’s great. It must be hard to move around wearing that.”

She smiled and checked the photos on SNS, saying that it would be fun to see Mundae.

The Welsh Corgi diligently visited every station throughout the morning and lunch to take proof shots.

‘Did you come to Seoul to do this?’

Sometimes she saw this type of fans, so it wasn’t new to her. Although the doll mask was an interesting idea.

As she flipped through it, she saw the pictures she took earlier.

Then, she found something and her hand stopped.

The scene where her friend took a picture of the Welsh Corgi.

“…Huh?”

“What’s wrong?”

She asked her friend in a trembling voice.

“That… When you took a picture of the Welsh Corgi earlier.”

“Yes.”

“D-Did you check his phone?”

Her friend tilted her head.

“Well… It’s just a smartphone. A little old… and doesn’t have a case… Now, wait a minute.”

Her friend realized it while talking.

Without listening to her words, she checked Moondae’s PR video in a hurry.

‘This model.’

And then she checked the picture she took again.

The Welsh Corgi’s phone in her friend’s hand… It had the same shape as the one in the PR video.

She got goosebumps all over her back.

“Hey, heyheyhey, hey….”

“…Really? Really? Really?”

“No, this is, uh…….”

When she and her friend stuttered, unable to complete the sentence due to the unbelievable speculation, a new notification came in on the smartphone.

Crazy Crazy Crazy Yellow Puppy Moondae took off his mask just now aaah??? (Shaken photo) (Photo of Moondae unmasking)]

The article was accompanied by a picture of Park Moondae’s upper body, who was smiling and sweating while taking his mask off in front of the billboard at Sinchon Station.

The picture they saw in the morning was correct.

“…”

The two sat with their mouths open until the drinks came out.

Then Americano came out.

“Enjoy your meal.”

“…”

Only then she poured ice water down her throat and howled inwardly.

‘I should’ve shaken his hands!’

She was happy to be this lucky and she felt like she was going die from happiness because of Moondae’s kindness, but at the same time, she was so sad that she wanted to throw up.

“Let’s go to the fan signing event.”

“I’ll definitely go.”

Promising to go to the fan signing, the two quietly flared up.