A Blank Slate Regression for the Idol That Lost His Original Mindset - Chapter 385

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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 Original Intent Episode 385

[Words that incite discord among members have been detected.]

[Initial Heart Points –1]

It had been a while since my Initial Heart Points were deducted for inciting discord, but I had no regrets about saying those words to Ryu Jaehee.

The outline of that incident before regression was quite simple.

When moving dormitories, Ryu Jaehee had left the fan support items he received at his family home, and his first brother with questionable character, who wasn’t satisfied with just the allowance Ryu Jaehee gave him, secretly got his hands on those items and gradually sold them off on Joonggonara.

Then a fan somehow discovered that the list of items posted under one ID on Joonggonara matched exactly with what they had sent to Ryu Jaehee as fan support, and made it public, causing the issue to blow up.

Of course, Ryu Jaehee wasn’t at fault in this.

There’s no way Ryu Jaehee wouldn’t have told his brothers that these were items received from fans and shouldn’t be touched, and how could he have imagined that his brother, who was already receiving regular allowance from him, would think to sell off fan support items on Joonggonara for profit?

But fans had no way of knowing such circumstances, and the incident was dubbed the ‘Yuje Fan Support Joonggonara Incident,’ with Ryu Jaehee being cursed at for life as a fake fan-loving hypocrite.

Even Ryu Jaehee’s parents took his brother’s side, asking why he couldn’t even give his brother that much, treating Ryu Jaehee like he was making a fuss and being an incredibly selfish older brother.

I was able to learn the exact truth because Ryu Jaehee, whose mental state had completely collapsed, came to me seriously asking if he could sue his own brother for theft.

Determined to show him how scary and harsh the world could be, I asked my father, but unfortunately, theft charges fall under the family privilege system, so even if direct blood relatives file charges, the punishment is exempted, making any punishment impossible.

I couldn’t believe such a damn law existed.

But still wanting to show him the bitter taste of the world somehow, when I asked if Ryu Jaehee could transfer ownership of those items to me and I could file charges, this time he said the punishment would be very light since he’s a minor.

This fucking shitty world was incredibly kind and merciful to that minor petty thief criminal bastard who backstabbed his own older brother.

So I didn’t want to see that scene again.

The sight of Ryu Jaehee agonizing over choices where only the worst options existed – whether to expose his family situation or become someone who deceived fans, and eventually falling ill from worry.

The sight of his hurt face as he received harsh words not only from fans but even from his parents over something that clearly wasn’t his fault.

‘Rather than see him suffer like that again, it’s better for me to just be the bad guy.’

I frowned and rubbed my throbbing forehead as I recalled those memories.

Back then, we were second-tier idols who would have ended as one-hit wonders if not for being dragged along by Seo Yehyeon’s face grabbing attention, and Ryu Jaehee himself had almost no individual recognition.

But now, his individual recognition, our position, and what we’ve built up are all clearly different from back then, so the impact Ryu Jaehee would receive would definitely be multiplied accordingly.

Even if exposing his bad family situation could be managed in the short term, there would be no benefit in the long run.

The public image attached to Ryu Jaehee would become not about his skills or achievements, but ‘a celebrity with a terrible brother who sells fan gifts on Joonggonara’ or ‘a pitiful celebrity with a family desperate to leech off him.’

Didn’t I see it happen that way before regression?

That wouldn’t be good for Ryu Jaehee either. That’s the lesser evil that can only be chosen when the incident has already occurred.

So the first priority was to prevent that incident from happening at all this time. If I’ve gone back in time, this is exactly when I should use it.

Besides, the prevention method was simple too. There was no need to overthink it.

Ryu Jaehee just needed to not bring the fan support items to his family home.

I just had to become the trash who suspects a group member’s real brother of being a yellow-minded, sticky-fingered petty thief.

Most importantly, since it was true that his real brother was a yellow-minded, sticky-fingered petty thief, I didn’t feel particularly guilty about it. The problem was repairing my relationship with Ryu Jaehee, which had become distant.

[▶Relationship Improvement with Members

-Seo Yehyeon(100%)

-Gyeon Hajun(100%)

-Kim Dobin(100%)

-Ryu Jaehee(98%)]

All of this was supposed to raise it by 1%, but it dropped by another 1%. Unlike the advice from the fortune cookie the system had given me, my meddling didn’t seem to be particularly helpful.

Well, that’s just how the system works, I guess.

Seo Yehyeon, who had followed Ryu Jaehee into his room and came out a little later with a quite exhausted face, approached me.

“Apologize to the youngest member later. You’re an only child so you might not understand, but no matter how unreliable your siblings are, you can’t stand it when outsiders badmouth them.”

Seo Yehyeon sat down heavily next to me on the sofa and gave me serious advice.

I’m fully prepared to clap and actively agree if anyone badmouths Yoon Hyeonho, but I guess cousin brothers and real brothers are different after all.

But it’s not like I said that to Ryu Jaehee because I didn’t know better. I also know that putting down your own family in front of others deserves to be cursed at.

“Still, Jaehee understands to some extent why you said that. He’s also blaming himself for showing those kinds of behaviors for no reason. Everyone knows you speak without filtering, so Jaehee doesn’t think you had any malicious intent either.”

I’ve been so careful, thinking before speaking because my initial intentions keep dropping with every word I say about causing discord among members, but what’s this about?

But glaring at Seo Yehyeon here wouldn’t solve anything, so I let out a deep sigh and slowly closed and opened my eyes.

“…What do you do when you want to prevent the worst from happening? What if the youngest member feels relieved after I apologize? And then he ends up taking the fan support gifts to his family home after all?”

When I lowered my voice and muttered so Ryu Jaehee wouldn’t hear, Seo Yehyeon glanced back at Ryu Jaehee’s room and whispered back.

“Is that kid really that hopeless?”

Seo Yehyeon, who had never directly seen Ryu Jaehee’s brother, seemed curious about whether that guy was really that hopeless.

“Don’t even get me started. If he were my brother, I would have grabbed him and beaten him up long ago. That kid should know how lucky he is to have such a good older brother.”

I replied and clicked my tongue irritably.

The current Ryu Jaehee would also have to face his first brother’s true nature and his parents’ real feelings like before the regression, and give up his expectations about family.

But I also don’t want to just leave him to go through the same thing and get hurt again, this is really…

The door opened wide and Ryu Jaehee walked out carrying a box. After putting the box down near the entrance, Ryu Jaehee turned around to look at us sitting on the sofa, specifically at me, and spoke.

“Since hyung said all that, I’m going to leave the fan support gifts and only take the birthday presents you hyungs gave me to my family home. Oh, these are things I didn’t publicly reveal in front of fans anyway, so you don’t need to worry about that.”

Right, it’s much better for our birthday gifts that we can always buy again to get stolen rather than fan support getting sold on Joonggonara and becoming a public issue.

“Instead of just sitting there, hyungs should hurry up and pack your stuff in your rooms. We don’t have much time left. We still have to go to the practice room since the year-end award ceremonies aren’t over yet.”

Ryu Jaehee smiled brightly while spitting out pointed words, then went back into his room.

Seo Yehyeon, who had been glancing at me, lightly patted my back a couple of times and said.

“The youngest member is like that because he’s young. What’s obvious to us isn’t obvious to Jaehee. Or maybe he reacts so sensitively because he knows it better. People usually get angry when you hit the nail on the head.”

In the past, this guy would have just blindly taken the youngest member’s side, but I thought our understanding had really developed a lot.

“I know.”

I chuckled and leaned back comfortably against the sofa.

“He’s only twenty years old. He’s young.”

I added one more comment while looking at the door that slammed shut with a bang! as if he was going through a belated adolescence.

“I just want to clear away landmines that don’t need to be stepped on.”

* * *

Anyway, we had several occasions to appear in front of cameras in the coming days, and since Ryu Jaehee had substituted with the birthday gifts he received, the fan support issue was somehow resolved, so I cleanly offered an apology to Ryu Jaehee.

“Hyung was too thoughtless. Since hyung misspoke, don’t take it too much to heart. I’m sorry, youngest.”

“…I’m sorry too. No matter how angry I was, I shouldn’t have acted like that. I also knew that hyung said it without malice, thinking of me…”

Ryu Jaehee, who had his head deeply bowed, trailed off.

“I’ll earnestly ask Jaekyung and Jaeseon to absolutely not touch them.”

“Alright, I understand.”

I was curious too. Would Ryu Jaehee’s first brother still act exactly the same as before regression even now that his hyung’s position had changed, or would he be more careful?

But even after apologizing like this, the improvement level between Ryu Jaehee and me was still 98%. With less than a month left now, how was I supposed to raise that remaining 2%?

However, such worries felt like a luxury considering how busy I was without a moment to close my eyes – organizing moving boxes, practicing in the practice room so my body wouldn’t stiffen up for year-end stages.

“Gayo Big Match Part 2, 20xx New Year countdown begins!”

“5, 4, 3, 2, 1!”

“Happy New Year! Have a blessed new year!”

Standing right next to the MCs, I waved both hands at the camera. In the back corner seats you couldn’t be seen well and cameras rarely caught you, so I could yawn freely there, but here I couldn’t even show signs of being tired.

“Jun, have a blessed new year.”

“You too, have a blessed new year.”

“What about me?”

“Oh yeah, hyung, you have a blessed year too.”

“What about me?”

“Everyone have a blessed year! Damn it! I just said it to the person closest to me first, why is everyone going ‘me me’!”

“I thought it was some kind of non-Gyeon Hajun discrimination where you only wish blessings for Hajun hyung.”

Only after finishing Gayo Big Match, which started on the afternoon of December 31st and went until the New Year countdown on January 1st, could I finally catch my breath.

Though I was tired from the long wait and performances, I couldn’t spare another day since I had to pack moving boxes, so we just had New Year drinking sessions at the dormitory in the early morning of January 1st.

“Come on, let’s get through this year without any problems too and make this regular album a huge hit! Cheers!”

“Let’s become award-winning artists this year too!”

“Speaking of which, the regular album comeback date is in April. Since Cheongryuga hit in October, I guess our annual performance was disappointing.”

“So no grand prize this year either.”

We all raised our drink glasses, toasted together, and shared nostalgic stories about what happened this year, when I suddenly remembered and turned to look at Seo Yehyeon.

“Come to think of it, hyung, you still didn’t get your driver’s license this year? I knew that would happen. Hyung, at this rate you’ll never get it.”

Despite my sarcasm, seeing Seo Yehyeon with a smile spread across his face, I paused the drink glass I was bringing to my lips.

Why is he acting like that…?

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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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