Webtoon

The webnovel of Debut or Die is adapted into webtoon with the same title since August 1, 2022. The story adaptation is written by jangjin, while the drawing is done by SOHEUN. The webtoon title is often abbreviated into '웹못죽 (Webmotjuk)' by fans to distinguish it from the original novel title.

## Synopsis

**[Status abnormality: ‘Debut or death’ occurs!]**

One day, I opened my eyes to find an unfamiliar ceiling.
Well, at least the rule is to warp to another world... … It must be, but where on earth is this?

4th year civil service exam student, Ryu Gunwoo.
Possessed in an unfamiliar body, he returns to the past three years, but the only thing that greets him is a status window that threatens sudden death.

“Are you telling me to become an idol now?”

Ryu Gunwoo, no, Park Moondae, is in danger of death if he doesn't debut.
His survival success story as he took on the challenge of becoming an idol he didn't even know about!*(Manhwa Paperback)*

## Serialization

The series began on August 1, 2022 on Kakao Page. New episodes come out on Sundays with one-week-long breaks once every 4 weeks. Each episode covers approximately the same amount of content as one episode of the original novel series. However, since the original novel was completed in 644 chapters, it will take approximately 13 years to be completed if the webtoon maintained the pace so far.

 2

## Physical Release (Manhwa)

The webtoon of Debut or Die manhwa books, with its first volume being released on August 25, 2023. See more about Debut or Die manhwa **here**.

## Differences with Webnovel

*Chapter 5/Episode 4:* During Park Moondae and Lee Sejin's first meeting, when Park Moondae says that he thinks Lee Sejin did good as well, Lee Sejin's reply differs in the novel and the manhwa. In the novel, he replies with with a simple, "Oh yeah? Hahaha!" whereas the manhwa adaption additionally added "It was nothing compared to your dance though~!" after the original response to tease Park Moondae.

*Chapter 21/Episode 4:* In the novel when fans him "Moon Puppy", Park Moondae was a bit embarrassed, but at the same time, he was amazed and thankful that he was able to get further away from his sudden death thanks to it. However, the manhwa adaption changes his reaction is more negative with him saying, "This shith- similar how?" while throwing his phone aside. As a result, there was a controversy among fans of the original work, calling it out of character. The episode was later modified. The scene of throwing the cell phone was deleted altogether, and it instead moved on to the scene where he was surprised, saying, "I thought you knew the real Park Moondae." It ends with thanking, "Thanks to you, I am a step away from sudden death."

## Behind the Scenes

After uploading each episode, the behind-the-scenes story is posted on the twitter account of the artist Soheun @SOHEUN\_ .

	+ The lotion advertisement in the katalk chatroom was specifically designed to include the phrase "It's me"
	+ Lee Sejin's profile picture might have been taken by his younger sister who ripped him off with a payment of chicken.
	+ It is said that Kwon Heeseung asked his friend, who is a master painter, to "draw something cute and distorted" for his profile picture.
* Episode 18 @
	+ See above @ for pictures of Idol Inc uniform drafts
	+ Among Idol Inc practice clothes, the crop long-sleeved shirt is drawn slightly longer than the first draft, but the tall Sejin B still has that short feeling. Some trainees might have gotten it a size bigger because of the length.
	+ Heeseung and Seon Ahyeon, who are being swept away, were originally not official cuts, but rather scribbles drawn in the corner of the draft by Jang Jin, who is in charge of adaptation. It was so cute that the artist secretly put it in the manuscript while working on the picture.
* Episode 19 @
	+ The artist said they worked hard to draw and make the chicken feet and product packages.
	+ Among the SNS users that show up in the middle of the chapter, the profile pictures of Bank Account Beggar Determined Raebin Stan are the works of the adaptor, Jang Jin.
	+ Fans of Marshmallow, T-Holic, and VTIC are hidden in the live chat and could be told apart by their usernames.
	+ The Japanese and English comments are said to have been reviewed separately.
	+ In the case of gloves worn by Moondae Park in the PR video, it is said that it is the result of three revisions in the order of vinyl gloves > white latex > black latex. The artist also referred to many mukbang videos for composition and gestures.
	+ There were two candidates for Seon Ahyeon's expression when receiving the gold balls, and the final choice was to have him close his eyes tightly.
	+ There were several variations for the flower crown, Seon Ahyeon's item, including variations that did not include animal ears.
* Episode 20 @
	+ Since Park Moondae woke up at the motel, he hasn't had many opportunities to buy clothes so he often re-wears them by changing the combination.
	+ In this episode, the flower effect kept floating next to Seon Ahyeon, so the artist thought about whether to take it out or not, but decided to keep it in as it would have been a happy time for Seon Ahyeon.
	+ In the case of the chicken feet puppy, it was described in the original book as a "large black countryside dog that looks innocent because of its fur being pushed out”, but there is a difference from the original description as he tried to make a scene that resembles Park Moondae.
	+ The mint chocolate triangle kimbap is also a T1 food product. It will probably be discontinued soon.
		- Episode 27 BTS shows that the mint chocolate triangle kimbap made a comeback but was discontinued once again after being cursed at.

	+ In the scene where Seon Ahyeon drops the chicken, the artist says that a memorable moment was when the adaptor, Jang Jin, emphasized that the amount of chicken that was eaten should be equivalent to bird feed.
	+ It is cumbersome to work on episodes that require a lot of subtitle editing or group shots, but the artist feels proud when they see the finished version. They said that they had fun while drawing the choreography practice scenes because there were a lot of parts where characters are revealed.
	+ In the case of everyone's everyday outfits, the artist drew them according to the characters' personalities and backgrounds while modifying them according to the setting they would be appearing in.
	+ The snack that Lee Sejin A is eating is one of the snacks that Ha Iljoon and Kwon Heeseung bought for their team members to eat.
	+ It is said that the broadcast directing cuts have nuanced distortions from the actual filming.
		- The scene where Park Moondae was waving his hands no was stitched together with Lee Sejin's interview.
		- The scene where Park Moondae was portrayed as though he liked the song when his reaction actually came from liking his team members.
		- The scene where Seon Ahyeon was nervous and cooled his cheeks
	+ Lee Sejin A is struggling in choreography hell alone during the team practice.
	+ In the second half, the cooling patch Ha Iljoon put on his forehead was originally a pimple patch. It was changed because the artist said, "Isn't Cool Patch cuter?" But the scarf pattern...
	+ After Moondae got off the sofa, Lee Sejin, who was completely laying down, got up again to tease Tibetian Park Moondae. He sure is busy moving around.
* Episode 22 @
	+ There are times when Jang Jin, the writer of the adaptation, writes notes to liven up the feelings of the storyboard, and these notes are also included in this time's reaction video:
		- Review of a foreign YouTuber (a lot of tattoos... a messy house in the back...)
		- "I showed Idol Inc's 'To a New World' stage to a current ballerina who doesn't know K-POP!" <Same video feeling (studio shooting)
		- It feels like a K-pop fan is bringing a family member or friend and reviewing it (2 women). It looks like a background show.
	+ When the 22nd episode came, it was very thrilling to see the details of Sohyun, a member of Marshmallow, with "Sohyun's drama coming out soon."
	+ The meals eaten by Park Moon-dae are still mainly composed of convenience stores and instant foods, but \_\_\_ is glad that the artist always draws the insides well.
	+ Starting with the 22nd episode, it is said that the patterns of the internet reactions are slowly changing.
		- The viewers of the show will find more and more small things to find fault with, divide the good from the bad, and specific criticisms against individuals will begin. It is fun to write and create internet reactions, but it seems that such negative reactions are inevitably stressful even from a work standpoint. However, as there are so many affectionate, silly comments, and cheers for the participants, the artist is trying to include a lot of supportive reactions that give strength to the participants.
	+ The overall story of Idol Inc's "To a New World" is the story of a vampire pretending to be a human seducing the target when another vampire attacks the target and hunts it.
* Episode 23 @
* Episode 24 @
* Episode 25 @

* Episode 27 @
* Episode 28 @ & @
* Episode 29 @
* Episode 30 @

* Episode 33 @
* Episode 34 @
* Episode 35 @

* Episode 37 @
* Episode 38 @
* Episode 39 @
* Episode 40 @

* Episode 42 @
* Episode 43 @ & @
* Episode 44 @
* Episode 45 @

* Episode 47 @
* Episode 48 @
* Episode 49 @
* Episode 50 @

* Episode 52 @
* Episode 53 @
* Episode 54 @
* Episode 55 @
* Episode 56 @

## Records

* Fastest KakaoPage work (5 days) to achieve 1 million viewers (August 5, 2022)

## Controversies

* In Episode 5, a character with a speech impediment introduces himself while depicted as a moe chibi character and a crying deer. There were many opinions expressing that the adaptor and artist took the disability too lightly and shouldn't have exaggerated that character's cuteness at the time as they should have known that it was related to the serious topic of trauma caused by school bullying.

## Gallery

### Episode Preview

Prologue#1#2#3#4#5#6#7#8#9#10#11#12#13#14#15#16#17#18#19#20#21#22#23#24#25#26#27#28#29#30#31#32#33#34#35#36#37#38#39#40#41#42#43#44#45#46#47#48#49#50#51#52#53#54#55#56
### Behind The Scenes Special Illustration

#35#39#43#43 (Scenario)#47#54
### Stage Outfit Drafts

Idol Inc. training uniformIdol Inc. To A New WorldIdol Inc. Heroes AnthemIdol Inc. Moon Rabbit
## References

1. ↑ The Korean title is initially abbreviated to 데못죽 (Demotjuk) from **데**뷔 **못** 하면 **죽**는 병 걸림
2. ↑ Readers need to look past the narrative tricks of the original work to notice that Park Moondae's personality is not as it seems. Although he speaks coldly every time, he cherishes his fans who support him and like him. Real-life readers even point out that "Park Moondae is a unicorn-like idol who works without a fan-limited ego," which is the charm point of his work and character.
3. ↑ Even at the beginning of the series, there was a controversy over the main character's inappropriate tone compared to the original work, but as it happened again, the number of readers who commented that the adaptor and artist's interpretation of the work was regrettable increased.
4. ↑ Lee Sejin
5. ↑ See reply under the above @ for the draft + scene
6. ↑ The artist said that even if they don't know about anything else, they thought that it would be good to make a package of the boneless chicken feet.
7. ↑ In the case of the his everyday outfit at the end of the 20th episode, he wears the same:

Pants- early Episode 2

Pants / zip-up sweater / turtleneck- Episode 2

Button up- Episode 15 to 16

The knitwear worn during the chicken feet eating show was the same as the Episode 16, but some details were added while drawing.
8. ↑ In particular, the artist designated Kwon Heeseung's clothes thinking that he would have a gap between his personality and the style of clothes he likes.
9. ↑ Bae Sejin
10. ↑ Marshmallow is the original artist of POP☆CON, and since they appear on the first stage of the competition, detailed settings were made for them even if parts of it wouldn't appear in the story. It is said that it was the best mise-en-scène that could show that the four people steadily interact and are close even after such a long time.
11. ↑ Translator Note: It's not specified who the "blank" of this sentence is. It could be anybody who reviews the manhwa.
12. ↑ However, the official channel cropped the image out to promote the work.