Debut or Die!

Description

After a night of drinking, aspiring civil servant Ryu Geonwu passes out, only to awaken three years in the past in the body of a young man named Park Moondae. Before he can even assess the situation, he's given a mission: Debut or Die! Now, Moondae has one year to debut as an idol or face his doom. Luckily, he's able to snag a spot on the famous survival program "Idol Inc.," but with his skills so low and the competition so high, does Moondae stand a chance at becoming a shining star?

Idol Inc Twitter

Original Webtoon:
KakaoPage, Daum

Official Translations:
English, Japanese, T.Chinese, Thai, S.Chinese

Note:
•Idol Inc is the official Idol Program role play account in the story. Teng (텡) is the Illustrator for the novel the webtoon is based on.
•Some of the tags are base on the novel and are put before the manhwa reaches them to warn upcoming readers.

Type

Manhwa

Related Series

Debut or Die! (Novel) (Adapted From)

Associated Names

Debut or Death

Debut or Die

Debutar ou Morrer

If I Fail to Debut, I'll Get a Killer Disease

If You Don't Debut, You'll Die of Sickness

デビューできないと死ぬ病気にかかってしまいました

デビュ死

不出道就完蛋了

得了不出道就会死的病

患上不出道就會死的病

데못죽

데뷔 못 하면 죽는 병 걸림

Groups Scanlating

Latest Release(s)

c.86 by Utoon 1 week ago

c.78 by MMSCANS 2 weeks ago

c.85 by Utoon 3 weeks ago

Search for all releases of this series

Status in Country of Origin

83 Chapters + Prologue (Ongoing)

S1: 30 Chapters (1~30)
S2: 35 Chapters (31~65)
S3: 18 Chapters (Ongoing) 66~

Completely Scanlated?

Anime Start/End Chapter

N/A

User Reviews

N/A

Forum

0 topics, 0 posts

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User Rating

Average: 8.8 / 10.0 (120 votes)

Bayesian Average: 8.3 / 10.0

42%

21%

18%

13%

Last Updated

July 15th, 2025 3:18pm PDT - 1 month ago

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Genre

Drama Fantasy Mature Sci-fi Shoujo
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Categories

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Category Recommendations

Second Try Idol

Fanservice Paradox

My Comeback as the Youngest Member

The Broken Star

A Thousand Faces (Novel)

Recommendations

N/A

Author(s)

Artist(s)

Year

Original Publisher

Serialized In (magazine)

KakaoPage (Daon)

Licensed (in English)

Yes

English Publisher

Tapas

Activity Stats (vs. other series)

Weekly Pos #611

(-128)

Monthly Pos #1053

(-278)

3 Month Pos #1649

(-107)

6 Month Pos #1813

(+224)

Year Pos #1748

(+549)

List Stats

On 484 reading lists

On 147 wish lists

On 14 completed lists

On 10 unfinished lists

On 156 custom lists

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Forum Posts Click to view the forum

User Comments [ Order by usefulness ]

It's just... cool.

by Nanazzumi
4 months ago

Rating: N/A

Contrary to some comments I've seen from the community, it's not a masterpiece. The problems are solved too quickly and too easily. There are some interesting characters, but despite having their own aspects, they lack depth to make them likeable. Basically, they're treated very superficially. Maybe this will change in the future, but up until chapter 72, that's what was shown.

For me, the biggest problem is the protagonist. He has the stereotypical personality of a Kuudere, and at the specific moments when the author could show an emotional evolution, he doesn't and everything continues the same.

The story isn't bad, but it's not special either. For those who don't like dramas, it's a good read, as the problems are few.

Was this comment useful? Yes

pretty realistic

by naianvx
1 year ago

Rating: 7.2 / 10.0

one of the better series based on idol shows. having been chronically online during the days of produce 101, produce 48, and sixteen, the way the artist portrays public opinion during idol show broadcasting felt like reliving old memories. some series like to lean into the status windows and gamelike nature of a regressor idol, but this series focuses more on interpersonal and parasocial relationships, which I personally prefer. MC feels more like a vessel at this point (chapter 64) but that could just be because he lacks any strong convinctions, has a typical tragic backstory, and is trying to play as neutrally as possible. art is good and balanced enough to give at least most contestants in the survival program a unique face.

... Last updated 1 year ago

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Fluffy Healing MC with tibetan face

by rimeri
2 years ago

Rating: 10.0 / 10.0

the comedy, the drama, the tragedy are there the author was genius to pack them so perfectly
no conflict dragged for to long u can found the solution in 1 ch and u never be bored and your heart be fuwa fuwa sara sara (warm & cozy) after reading the chapter

Was this comment useful? Yes

Give it a try

by Piyoyo
3 years ago

Rating: 10.0 / 10.0

(at ch 25)
Ofcourse there's no doubt that the manhwa is not lacking in visuals but for me personally, what I liked the most is the MC's personality and circumstance. Usually in these type of stories the main character themselves are an idol but are not famous enough, gets into accident and are unable to be idol anymore and then they get a cheat or go back in time and fulfill their dreams. Basically it's their own motivation and goal to become an idol. Here on the other hand the MC had absolutely nothing to do with it nor did he have any interest in becoming one. The system literally forced him to become an idol with death as a simple threat 😂. Maybe that is why, but the MC always has a poker face and it's become a whole meme in the manhwa itself lmao. The characters and the fans are like, " ohh he is cute and talented but he always has this profound look on this face like he has no soul or something 🤣". Anyway it's totally hilarious and MC himself is aware of this but he just can't help it as of yet hahaha.

The other characters besides MC are also really fun, they mingle so well with MC and are overall so much fun to watch! Overall I enjoyed every episode and just can't recommend this manhwa enough 😆.

EDIT
(at ch 3)
So I was reading the novel today and I read this comment ->
"I like how cool the mc is about the entertainment industry and that he’s actually acting like an adult too"
I think this comment perfectly expresses what I like most abt this manhwa as well as novel. The MC doesn't show over enthusiasm, excitement or anything of the sort but he isn't completely bland either. He substitutes those with his rational and logical thinking skills, he also ends up unintentionally funny due to this. What I love the most is that for once there's a transmigrated character that actually acts his age (viz 29 mentally and 20 physically). Not that I am saying other transmigration manhwas don't have mature characters 😅, just that I have also read many where the story is ruined because the character doesnt act logically and acts annoyingly immature. It's always refreshing to see manhwas with logical and mature MC's like this.

... Last updated 3 years ago

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Super fun read

by buraburabura
3 years ago

Rating: 10.0 / 10.0

Protagonist has to debut or he'll die. It makes for pretty funny scenarios. I like protagonist (Moondae) and his lukewarm enthusiasm (after all, he's only doing this to stay alive, not because it's his dream or anything). I hope the scanlation team keeps this project, it's always a delightful read for me.

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all about the visuals

by CelicaSylphil
3 years ago

Rating: 6.0 / 10.0

dropped reading at chapter 11
basically just got bored of it
theres little compelling to watch when all of the plot boils down to 'look at this cute visual' or 'look how sweet and innocent this guy is'
the art is pretty good but its also very bland, the protag has this eternal pokerface. also all the characters look basically identical.
the plot isnt complex. hell, no one even suspects that the protag might be acting up for the reality show aspect, cause the fact its a reality show isn't even conveyed properly. the producers do things for the drama, allegedly, but you get zero glimpse of how the scene really is.

regardless tho, dropped, just not interesting

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