A Blank Slate Regression for the Idol That Lost His Original Mindset - Chapter 33

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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A Regression Guide for Idols Who Lost Their Initial Intentions Episode 33

Look, there’s nothing wrong with drinking with hyungs I know and coming home. But why is that damn brat looking at me like I committed some kind of sin?

Worried that people might recognize me, I took off the mask and cap that covered my face tightly, along with my glasses, and threw the flight jacket I was wearing onto the floor.

“Give me some water too.”

I staggered over and snatched the water bottle from Kim Dobin’s hand.

As I flapped my clothes in the cool air from the refrigerator while looking for a cup, Kim Dobin frowned and kept wrinkling his nose.

After looking around, Kim Dobin fixed his gaze on me and asked.

“Hyung, did you drink alcohol?”

“Yeah, though I couldn’t drink much because I was being careful.”

Being careful of the system, damn it.

Unable to find a cup in the end, I opened the water bottle and downed it in one shot without putting my lips to it.

I put the water bottle back in the refrigerator and was about to go to my room when Kim Dobin suddenly grabbed my arm and spoke with an unusually serious face and heavy voice.

“Hyung, let’s talk for a bit.”

“I’m dead tired right now. Can’t we talk tomorrow?”

As I rubbed my furrowed brow and tried to cut off the conversation and walk away, Kim Dobin blocked my path with determined eyes.

“No. Today, no, right now we absolutely have to talk. It’s really important.”

My body was tired from being overworked and I wanted to go into my room and lie down quickly, but this situation where my rest was being interrupted was very unpleasant.

“This better actually be important.”

Even though he flinched at my low voice, Kim Dobin didn’t move out of the way.

“It’s about… sponsorship…”

Sorry. It really was fucking important.

I immediately dragged Kim Dobin to the sofa.

There probably weren’t any members awake at this hour, but still, it felt wrong to have such an important conversation standing in front of the refrigerator.

Finally, this damn brat was going to trust me and spill everything, so I should listen seriously.

When I stared intently at him, a sound that could have been either a hiccup or crying burst from Kim Dobin’s mouth.

I spoke to the guy who was trembling and wouldn’t open his mouth in the gentlest voice possible.

“What. Keep talking.”

“Just a moment, let me prepare myself mentally… You really can’t get angry, hyung.”

Seeing Kim Dobin stammering with a voice trembling like a goat, I sighed deeply and patted his head soothingly.

“Doby, am I going to eat you alive?”

That comforting gesture seemed to give him the courage to finally speak, as Kim Dobin took a deep breath and asked with his eyes squeezed shut.

“Can’t you stop receiving sponsorships now?”

My brain, working slower than usual due to fatigue, took more time than normal to interpret what I just heard.

Wasn’t that guy supposed to have received a sponsorship offer? Why is he talking like I’m the one who received a sponsorship offer? No, what he just said sounds like I’m someone who just came back from doing sponsorship work…

Maybe I’m too tired and misheard “please don’t make me receive them” instead.

The longer the silence went on, the more violently Kim Dobin’s body trembled.

“What?”

“Yes?”

I spoke directly to Kim Dobin, who even cracked his voice while responding.

“You’re asking me not to receive sponsorships? Did the CEO offer you sponsorship work?”

“I’m still a minor! There’s no way I’d get such offers!”

“Ah, so I heard correctly.”

I laughed and nodded my head.

I grabbed the collar of the guy who was forcing his trembling lips into a smile and nodding along, then scolded him.

“Why would I be receiving sponsorships, you bastard!”

[Prohibited action detected.]

[Initial Intentions –1]

Feeling a stinging pain, I quickly released my grip on his collar.

“Gasp, it wasn’t? Then what about repaying the favor to the person who got you the featuring today and the perfume smell…?”

“You bastard, those are my connections! Hyungs I know! And the perfume smell is because the person sitting next to me doused themselves in noona’s perfume.”

I raised my voice while breathing heavily, then lowered it again when I realized it was dawn and everyone else was sleeping.

Kim Dobin, now properly disciplined, asked cautiously.

“Then when you said you were working your body hard and kept leaving the dormitory at dawn looking for a way to survive…”

“I was working on songs. . Did you think that could be completed in two days?”

Seeing Kim Dobin’s face show realization, I roughly swept my bangs up.

“Then when you lamented about how hard it was to please people…”

“I bought drinks and meals for hyungs to get feedback on songs. Do you know how much I suffered? Want to pay for half of it? Huh?”

Looking at the guy who was now practically putting exclamation marks all over his face, my eyes naturally filled with the feeling that he was pathetic.

“Then that conversation about bearing it together that day…”

“You kept flinching every time you heard the word sponsorship, so I thought you’d received a sponsorship offer and told you not to keep it bottled up inside and to talk about it, man! Who knew you were writing a whole makjang drama in your head with me as the protagonist?”

As I spoke, I got heated again and my voice naturally rose.

To cool down my anger, I ran my hands through my hair irritably, and Kim Dobin, who had been flinching every time my hands moved, muttered in a gloomy tone.

“I should have listened to Jaehee…”

“Why is Ryu Jaehee coming up now?”

“Jaehee said I should just ask you directly.”

“Don’t tell me you shared your shitty hypothesis with the youngest member too?”

Kim Dobin, who had been rolling his eyes around like a dog that caused trouble, slyly looked up at the ceiling to avoid my gaze.

Unlike Kim Dobin who was obviously avoiding me, judging by how our smart youngest member’s attitude toward me remained consistent, it seems he didn’t believe that damn hypothesis.

No, it’s not that Ryu Jaehee is smart, it’s that Kim Dobin, that damn bastard, is clueless, has an unnecessarily rich imagination, and is stupid.

But…

“Now that I think about it, I feel disgusted…?”

At my bleak muttering, Kim Dobin, who had been playing dumb, seemed to read the atmosphere and immediately bowed his head deeply and looked down.

“You were thinking of me as someone who runs around doing sponsorships, or whatever that was.”

“Nooooo? Absolutely not! I never thought of hyung that way, never!”

“Mouth.”

With one word, Kim Dobin, who had been rapid-firing denials, immediately shut his mouth tight.

“You dismissed the results of my back-breaking efforts as mere byproducts of sponsorship work.”

Right now I’ve come back seven years to avoid our group’s path to failure and I’m working my ass off to make us first-tier, but you thought I got all this just by using my body?

My eyes naturally became fierce.

Kim Dobin, who was lying flat on the floor, wailed loudly. Who’s the one who wants to cry here?

“Huhuheung, hyung I’m sorry! Please just don’t hit me!”

“I’m going crazy. When have I ever hit you?”

“Right now hyung’s eyes are, huuh, rolled back!”

When I crouched down in front of him and asked, Kim Dobin lifted his head with a face covered in tears and snot and pointed at me.

Looking at that face, I lost the motivation to say anything more.

“I’m really dying of curiosity, so let me ask one thing. How the hell did your thoughts jump to sponsorship work?”

“Well, on the day I started getting suspicious, what I happened to see was, kheung, an idol story where the protagonist’s rival group got exposed for receiving sponsorships and, keung, fell from grace.”

I grabbed a handful of the sniffling guy’s round head.

“Stop watching so much anime.”

“It wasn’t anime, kheung, it was a web novel…”

“Whether it’s anime or web novels, stop watching so much. Damn it, you’re turning someone who’s diligently taking care of the team into someone who does sponsorship work.”

I pressed down firmly with my fingers on top of his head.

This wasn’t violence, but a scalp massage for our fourth member whose head must have been heavy and complicated all this time.

I could hear sounds of relief as if his head felt refreshed.

The system must have felt my caring heart for the member, as it didn’t deduct any Initial Intentions points.

The door burst open and Gyeon Hajun poked his head out with a half-asleep face.

“Eden, why are you grabbing the kid in the middle of the night…”

“You heard that? Sorry. Go back to sleep quickly.”

“You should come in and sleep too…”

As Gyeon Hajun gestured to me and went back into his room, Kim Dobin had the expression of a puppy whose food bowl had just been taken away.

That expression was quite pitiful, so I let go of the hand that was gripping his scalp and gently patted his back.

“Go in and sleep quickly. You need to sleep if you want to practice choreography tomorrow.”

“By any chance, is tomorrow’s choreography practice my final choreography practice?”

“Should I really make it your final one?”

“N-no! Good night!”

I watched Kim Dobin’s back as he scurried into his room, then yawned and headed to my own room.

It’s fortunate the agency didn’t come barging in asking if I propositioned a minor for sponsorship. That damn enemy puppy.

* * *

“Doby! Water!”

“Doby is a free house elf!”

Kim Dobin immediately ran over at my shout and politely offered me a water cup filled with cold water.

“What, dude? You don’t want to do it?”

“It’s just a house elf exclusive line…”

Ryu Jaehee clicked his tongue watching Kim Dobin mumble dejectedly.

“That’s why I told you to ask earlier. I said it was ridiculous nonsense, hyung. If it was really sponsorship, Eden hyung would have caused a scene and left, and our group would be ruined, right?”

“Stop talking nonsense and go do the dishes, youngest. The dishes are piled up.”

“Isn’t it hyung’s turn to do dishes this week?”

“Who was it that got you Seraon’s signed album?”

At my crooked smile, Ryu Jaehee silently trudged toward the kitchen.

As I leaned back comfortably on the sofa and grinned, Gyeon Hajun picked up the empty cup from the floor and scolded me as he headed to the kitchen.

“Still, don’t forget to keep it moderate.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll only boss him around for about a week.”

At my response, Ryu Jaehee immediately protested from the kitchen.

“A week is too long!”

“Be grateful I’m not counting one day per album, Jaehee.”

If it was one day per album, you’d have to live as my lackey for 12 days, you bastard.

I spoke to Gyeon Hajun, who had given the cup to Ryu Jaehee to wash and sat back down next to me.

“Come to think of it, KICKS’ teaser came out.”

“How was it?”

“It turned out pretty decent? I’ll have to hear the full song to know for sure though.”

Seo Yehyeon, who was deliberately sitting on the floor using the sofa as a backrest instead of sitting on it, clicked his tongue.

“They’re making their comeback in the second week of November and we’re in the third week, so our activities will definitely overlap. Since both we and they are still rookies without much experience, we’ll probably share waiting rooms too.”

“Just thinking about having to listen to their annoying comments again makes me irritated.”

I lightly patted Seo Yehyeon’s shoulder as he scratched his head roughly.

“So let’s work our asses off not to lose in music source rankings and music show stages, even if we lose in other things. That’s the best way to shut them up.”

“What have we lost to them? The number of people with dirty personalities we have?”

“We’re losing right now though?”

I opened the voting results for the 20xx Awards Rookie Award category that was currently in progress and showed them.

1. KICKS 541,345 votes (43%) 2. Reve 337,985 votes (31%)

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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