Debut Or Die!
Who knew you had to be a K-pop star to stay alive?!
Well this is my current reading obsession! What exactly is Debut or Die! and why and I so obsessed with this? Well to be completely transparent I was skeptical about this story. I do have some familiarity with K-Pop, the fandom, and how that industry works.
I can’t really say with 100% certainty what made me want to read this series. Maybe I was just bored with the other tropes I’ve been reading lately. Or maybe I just got interested in BTS again. Whatever it was this a shot and I have been just reading chapters of the web novel. I’m even re-reading the manhwa!
The Basics
This title, like many of the stories I’ve written about in the publication, this was originally a web novel. Then later on it was adapted into a manhwa series. From what I can tell with my limited research, the web novel has also been published to print in South Korea. The author is listed by the name “DS.back.” For the manhwa, the adaptation from web novel to the manhwa was done by “jangjin” and the artwork is by “Soheun.”
As I write this, there are 66 chapters available on Tapas, which is where I read both the manhwa and web novel. The manhwa release 2 seasons and went to hiatus at the end of June 2024. It’s not clear when they will be releasing season 3.
For impatient readers like me, I started reading the web novel. I actually skipped ahead and figured out where Season 3 of the manhwa would start from and began reading from there. I should go back and read the earlier chapters as well. Tapas releases chapters 3 times a week (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday). As I write this, there are currently 285 chapters available to read! I’m actually in the 130’s though I’m going back to the beginning and reading the chapters I skipped.
The Premise
Ryu Gun-woo is an unemployed 29-year-old man enjoying beer one evening. He falls asleep. When he wakes up he discovers he isn’t in his apartment. The face he sees in the mirror isn’t his own. Investigating the room he’s in, he realizes he’s somehow in the body of a suicidal 23-year-old. It seems Park Moondae was successful given the amount of sleeping pills he apparently consumed.
Gun-woo tries to figure how he’s gotten into this strange situation. He idly thinks he’s like a the protagonist in a game of a manhwa (ha!) and says “status window.” It turns out he DOES have a status window. His stats basically tell him his potential as a K-pop idol and he gets an alert. The system alert warns him he has 365 days to debut as an idol or else he will die.
Given how infamously difficult it is to debut as an idol in K-Pop, how the hell is he suppose to do this? You’ll have to read to find out.
General Thoughts
As I said earlier I didn’t initially think I would like this series. However I found myself fascinated with the journey that Gun-woo/Moondae has to go through to stay alive. At a certain point in the narrative, Moondae (we should refer to the lead character as Moondae since that’s his new identity) isn’t doing thing merely because he’s trying to avoid death.
Eventually, Moondae tries to achieve things as an idol because he’s trying to make himself and his bandmates proud. He’s even thinking of doing things to make his fans happy. He is still conscious of the fate he’ll die if he doesn’t complete his missions. But it’s not just his fear of death anymore. He’s actually finding some enjoyment in being an idol.
I would genuinely love to see this get adapted into a series at some point. While I wouldn’t mind an anime, I personally think a K-drama works better. The performances would look amazing if they were filmed. Also real K-pop idols could play the roles and use their own skills to bring these young idols to life. If I find out this is going to get adapted in 2025 or 2026 even, I won’t be shocked.
Would you read this series? Have you read it? Leave a comment below!