A Blank Slate Regression for the Idol That Lost His Original Mindset - Chapter 350

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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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Regression Manual for Idols Who Lost Their Original Intent Chapter 350

Kim Dobin, who had supported me and safely gotten me to my car, tried to get comfortable in the back seat but deliberately pushed me into the passenger seat instead.

Hmm, this is a silent signal asking me to nag him relentlessly from the side, right? I smiled kindly and nodded at Kim Dobin, who winked and gave me a thumbs up.

I had given him Spartan driving training at least ten times from the dormitory to the company building, so today I trusted him enough to let me catch some sleep in the back seat, but if he wants it this way.

I nodded satisfactorily at Kim Dobin smoothly starting the car, but only for a moment.

“Hey, I told you! Don’t slow down on this curve! When the curve is gentle, you don’t need to reduce speed! It’s dawn now so there are no cars, but later when cars are lined up behind you, if you hit the brakes to slow down, the cars behind will get backed up too!”

“I remember that too, but whenever I see a curve, my foot unconsciously goes to the brake…”

“You need to practice and get a feel for how much each curve can handle! The car won’t flip over if you speed up on this level of curve!”

My voice naturally got louder at Kim Dobin’s driving habits that he wouldn’t fix no matter how many times I told him. This is why they say if you want to cut ties with someone, ask them to teach you how to drive.

“And did I tell you to control speed with the brakes? Stop the habit of controlling speed with brakes and control the accelerator instead! What did the car behind you do wrong to have their heart race from hitting the brakes while watching your brake lights constantly flashing!”

Kim Dobin gripped the steering wheel tightly and nodded frantically with a tearful expression. It was a face I’d seen hundreds of times while giving driving lessons.

“You said Doby was the best driver so it would be fine. No, if it was going to be like this, why did you tell me to bring Doby?”

Seo Yehyeon’s voice trembled as he gripped his seatbelt like a lifeline.

“This level makes him the best driver. Hyung got training from me, right? It didn’t end at this level.”

I told Seo Yehyeon the truth in a dry tone. Seo Yehyeon got worked up and retorted, though I’m not sure which part pressed his buttons.

“How do you know I don’t have amazing talent for driving?”

“Get your license first before saying that?”

“I will get it. I’m going to get it. I’ll definitely get it this year and make you call me hyung-nim.”

“Oh, there are 3 weeks left until next January, so hang in there. After we come back from vacation, it’ll be 2 weeks. You know we have to prepare for the year-end award ceremony stage right after vacation, right? Fighting.”

I had the DTB 4 concert too, but since Seo Yehyeon wasn’t participating in that, it didn’t count. I added with a good-natured laugh, feeling cheerful from the alcohol.

“Anyway, what’s certain is that I’ll never call hyung ‘hyung-nim’?”

“Just wait and see. I’ll definitely make you call me hyung-nim.”

I could hear the sound of Seo Yehyeon grinding his teeth from here.

“Oh, you two just raised flags at the same time. Eden Hyung will definitely make Yehyeon Hyung call him hyung-nim, and Yehyeon Hyung will absolutely never get called hyung-nim by Eden Hyung. I wonder whose flag will win.”

Kim Dobin made the topic of interest into conversation material and chattered away with a subtly faster and higher voice like a happy otaku, then giggled. I also smiled kindly and checked the car’s dashboard.

“Wow, Doby. You must have been driving for about 10 years without me knowing. You even have the nerve to pay attention to our conversation. You can just ignore speed limit signs at dawn, right? The speed limit here is 60, but what speed are you going right now?”

Kim Dobin’s corners of his mouth, which had been rising cheerfully, slowly went down.

“Every time I practice with hyung, I feel like I’m really someone who shouldn’t be driving.”

“What, man? I’m taking my precious time to give you free driving lessons, and what? You shouldn’t be driving?”

When I glared and scolded him, Kim Dobin whined about why I called him then if this was how it would be.

“Keep driving and listen to advice about those bad habits of yours to improve! Do you want to keep driving like that?”

“Hmm-.”

“Didn’t I tell you? I have that car Hyeongjin gave me. The car I received as a DTB victory prize. Just a few days after driving that around, a beginner driver rear-ended it and I had to send it to the auto repair shop. What kind of car is that to crash into, they were making a fuss about not agreeing to settle, I don’t know if they did.”

“Oh-.”

“If you keep driving like this, that beginner driver who caused the accident is your future, man! If you meet someone like Choi Hyeongjin, there’s no answer!”

“Ah-.”

“Don’t think of it as nagging and take it to heart. This is all advice that will become your flesh and blood.”

“Yes-.”

“Why do your responses lack sincerity?”

“Yesss-.”

While the front seats were noisy with nagging, a commotion was also happening in the back seats.

“Ugh… water…”

“Here, water. No, Hajun. You need to hold the water bottle and drink it yourself. This is driving me crazy, seriously. Just lift your head up a bit. Just how much did you drink? There’s no way Yoon Eden emptied five bottles by himself, so you drank about three bottles?”

“No, two and a half bottles…?”

“Then Yoon Eden emptied four and a half bottles by himself? What is he, some drinking hippo? Hajun, can’t you hold it and drink with your own hands now?”

While the car stopped in front of the crosswalk due to a red light, I spoke sourly toward Kim Dobin who was looking back at me and winking.

“Why do you keep acting cute toward me…? You know I won’t go easy on you for that, right? I’ve told you how many times that you need to stay completely focused when driving.”

Kim Dobin let out a sigh.

Finally arriving at the dormitory, Kim Dobin, who had supported me all the way to my room, pounded his chest and confronted me.

“Argh, so frustrating! I was thinking of hyung and specially put you in the passenger seat so you could be comfortable instead of taking care of Hajun hyung! You didn’t even understand that and just kept nagging!”

“Ah, so that’s why you did that. But still, you driving, huh?”

“You seem quite drunk, hyung. Please go to sleep quickly.”

Before I could properly unleash my second round of nagging, Kim Dobin covered me with the blanket up to the top of my head and quickly escaped.

* * *

Seo Yehyeon, who had struggled to carry Gyeon Hajun on his back and finally reached Gyeon Hajun’s room in the dormitory, threw Gyeon Hajun onto the bed without hesitation.

Since I chose this path by pushing Yoon Eden to Kim Dobin first, who could I blame?

However, remembering Yoon Eden who had walked perfectly fine to his room on his own feet while receiving Kim Dobin’s support that barely counted as support, he couldn’t help but feel bitter.

Gyeon Hajun, sprawled on the bed, muttered words of gratitude toward Seo Yehyeon who was wiping his sweat-drenched forehead in this cold December.

“Yehyeon hyung, thank you.”

“For what? For not leaving you at the practice room and coming to get you? For personally feeding you water and taking care of you? For enduring your drinking habits and bringing you to your room without abandoning you halfway? Or for creating a good opportunity to hit Yoon Eden?”

Since there were so many things Gyeon Hajun could be grateful for, Seo Yehyeon couldn’t quite grasp what the sudden thanks was about.

Gyeon Hajun himself had also been hit and even collapsed in front of the younger members, so that probably wasn’t something he’d be particularly grateful for…?

As for the fistfight, he was shocked because the participants were Yoon Eden, who ostracized the world except for his opponent, and ‘Gyeon Hajun’, but if it had been Ryu Jaehee and Kim Dobin throwing punches at each other, who would barely affect the dormitory atmosphere, Seo Yehyeon would have just brushed it off thinking ‘guys can be like that sometimes.’

Gyeon Hajun denied all the items Seo Yehyeon had listed by blinking his eyes a couple of times, then revealed the correct answer with a laugh mixed with alcohol.

“For pushing me to at least get angry at Eden.”

“Ah, that.”

Seo Yehyeon awkwardly ruffled his considerably grown hair at the back.

“He was listening to the behind-the-scenes story over the phone. So I thought if you two talked about that topic now, Yoon Eden wouldn’t make any remarks that would burst your patience.”

It was Seo Yehyeon who had sent Gyeon Hajun, who had gone into his room to cool his anger alone because Yoon Eden had agreed to give a song to Jung Iseo, to Yoon Eden.

He knew that Yoon Eden hadn’t intentionally pressed Gyeon Hajun’s triggers, and judged that now, when Yoon Eden knew the whole story, was the optimal timing.

“Today, ah, now it’s yesterday. If I had kept what happened at Sports University bottled up in my heart, I feel like it would have become a flashpoint someday…”

That was Gyeon Hajun’s intuition. In some cycles, it became not a flashpoint but a period and a reality.

“That’s a relief.”

“Why? Because there won’t be any Rev discord rumors now?”

“No, I was worried you might resent me for pushing you to talk with Yoon Eden for no reason, in case you heard him say to let go of your special friendship.”

Gyeon Hajun chuckled.

“I was shocked when I first heard it, but after talking with Eden and cooling my head to think about it, that seemed like the right choice.”

Even parents and children don’t completely understand each other, so how could two people who had lived completely different lives understand each other just through hints without conversation?

“I learned for certain from this incident that if we don’t communicate and just assume ‘you’re my closest friend, so you must understand this much,’ misunderstandings and resentment will only pile up. Actually, I was anxious too.”

Honestly, things had been particularly rocky from the slump period until after DTB ended. Seo Yehyeon scratched his cheek as he recalled that precarious situation that even outsiders could see was on thin ice.

Rather than letting it fester under the guise of some special friendship and explode later, it might have been better in the long run that it burst now.

“Since we’ve broken down the expectations and admiration we had for each other, we need to build it up again from scratch.”

Yoon Eden had now cleanly escaped from the trauma that if he burdened Gyeon Hajun, Hajun might eventually cut him off like before the regression, and Gyeon Hajun was now confident that Eden wouldn’t be disappointed in him even if he didn’t force himself to show only mature behavior in front of Eden.

Yoon Eden and Gyeon Hajun were still each other’s closest same-age friends.

Even though Yoon Eden and Gyeon Hajun had lowered their expectations of each other, the time and narrative they had built together until now couldn’t be easily replaced, so their starting point was much higher than others.

And Gyeon Hajun knew this fact very well too.

“If we do that, someday… the day will come when Eden tells me first too.”

Recalling Yoon Eden who had strangely avoided giving a precise answer to his last question, Gyeon Hajun slowly closed his eyes. It was still too early, but someday…

Seo Yehyeon, the Gyeongsang Province man who had witnessed Eden-style conflict resolution methods much more often in life even though it wasn’t his own way, unconsciously rubbed his goosebump-covered arms while listening to Hajun’s words.

“Couldn’t you say that to him directly instead of to me.”

It was words that wouldn’t reach Gyeon Hajun, who was already asleep.

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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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