거나 죽다

…or die

"-거나" is "or" between verbs, with 죽다 "die" as one of the options. It lays out the two outcomes that matter: taken or killed, injured or killed, eat and live or die, do it or die — "I'm staking my life on it". The lines here are dramatic, ranging from risk commentary to a flat imperative, 지키거나 죽어라 "defend it or die". One line, 죽거나 죽거나, is a joke on the form itself: both options are death.

Register: dramatic