A Blank Slate Regression for the Idol That Lost His Original Mindset - Chapter 478

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

A Regression Guide for Idols Who Lost Their Original Intent Episode 478

“I’m not curious about that bastard’s current situation.”

I frowned and immediately cut off his words. It had been over since Rev’s 10th anniversary concert ended and no reply came to the text I sent.

Hearing that name I had been desperately avoiding all this time, I realized why I could sit face-to-face like this with Seo Yehyeon, someone who had been worse than a stranger for so long.

Ironically, Seo Yehyeon, who had made me feel inferior and defeated, was the one who played a significant role in my obsession with music, and Yehyeon’s success gave my music driving force rather than bringing me into a slump.

Rather, it was Gyeon Hajun, who handled all my guide recordings and was my only support during Rev days, who was one of the causes that pushed me into this damn slump.

Seo Yehyeon, who was about to continue speaking, let out a self-deprecating sigh.

“Yeah, it’s not really something I should be saying after facing you now.”

Both Seo Yehyeon and I knew very well that it was impossible to fill the emotional gap that had accumulated from before debut until now with just this one meeting.

Even though we were continuing the conversation as if nothing was wrong, I couldn’t help but notice the awkwardness and distance we were trying hard to cover up, and the pity directed toward me.

What could I do when Seo Yehyeon was so terrible at acting that it all showed even when I didn’t want to know?

An awkward silence fell again. The longer the silence lasted, the more I found myself at a crossroads, wondering whether to pick up the cigarette pack and lighter on the table.

‘Why am I holding back? Since when did I show such consideration for Seo Yehyeon?’

Grabbing the cigarette pack and Seo Yehyeon opening his mouth again happened almost simultaneously.

“Back then, when that incident happened and you were getting heavily criticized…”

Though half-hidden by his long eyelashes, I could clearly read the guilt in his eyes. Fuck, really… I irritably put the cigarette pack back down on the table.

“Don’t apologize. I have no intention of apologizing to you either.”

I curtly cut off Seo Yehyeon’s words.

We weren’t even close enough to worry about each other, so what was he so sorry about that he was apologizing? The relationship between me and Seo Yehyeon was more distant than members of other groups.

So there was no reason for Seo Yehyeon to care about me, and no reason for him to feel guilty toward me for not caring back then.

If anything, he should have been applauding for not getting involved with that bastard whose reputation went to hell.

Why you and not Gyeon Hajun…

I immediately threw that fleeting thought into the trash. At least with Seo Yehyeon it was a mutual cutting of ties, but why should I care about someone who unilaterally cut me off?

“We were both too young. Later, the gap of years became too deep.”

Perhaps due to the alcohol, Seo Yehyeon’s pronunciation became slightly slurred. I newly realized that I didn’t even know the alcohol tolerance of someone who was once a member with me. Even though we lived together in the dormitory for years.

“But just, I suddenly had this thought. Still, since I’m the hyung, if I had treated you a bit more maturely back then… wouldn’t our group be in a better state than now?”

There was something adults always used to say when friends fought. The person who extended their hand for reconciliation first was the winner.

If that’s the case, then I lost to Seo Yehyeon once again.

But that defeat didn’t feel as shitty as it used to.

Before we knew it, the mulberries that had been piled high in the bowl were all gone. We both stared blankly at the empty bowl and stood up simultaneously without anyone going first.

“Do you have a car? Should I call you a designated driver?”

I didn’t want to see someone who was once a member with me appear in the society section for drunk driving, so I asked, and Seo Yehyeon waved his hand.

“I came by taxi. I’m a beginner driver.”

That was fortunate then.

“Take care.”

I leaned against the wall near the entrance and waved my hand lazily to see him off, then just before Seo Yehyeon left, I added very quietly and briefly.

“…Hyung.”

Seo Yehyeon, who somehow heard those words, turned around and smiled.

“Let’s meet again.”

With those final words, the door closed.

I roughly threw the bowl that had contained mulberries into the sink and returned to the bedroom, closing my eyes. I thought my heart had lightened a bit and I’d be able to sleep well today, but as always, insomnia interfered with my sleep.

Out of habit, I poured sleeping pills into my mouth and reached for the beer can placed on the shelf next to the bed.

And then, the end of memory.

It was a blackout.

* * *

Damn, is it because it’s a bug? The memory is fucking long.

Unlike before, when the memories were shown briefly as befitting the name “fragments,” this memory was quite long. ‘Condition’ must be the condition and ‘keyword’ must be the keyword.

The condition is drinking alcohol with Seo Yehyeon, and what’s the keyword? Is it mulberries after all?

When I previously achieved the ‘sincere conversation’ condition that triggered the hidden quest, I had a memory of drinking canned beer alone with Seo Yehyeon. Then this wasn’t a memory that would open with just this condition alone.

It seemed that when the condition and keyword were achieved simultaneously, a bug occurred and related memories opened.

This was definitely different from how the system had been opening memories for me until now.

Then what exactly is the keyword that can restore all memories like Cha Yeonho? While I was pondering this, my consciousness was thrust into the abyss again.

Another unfamiliar memory unfolded before my eyes.

* * *

Seo Yehyeon’s face, much younger than in the memory I just saw.

Red vision.

[Risk Level: 71]

Seo Yehyeon, with a tense face, held out sheet music to me, which I snatched away.

The melody of 【All Right or Night】, the song I had given to Navy, was drawn in crooked notes on the staff paper.

Seeing the messy sheet music with only melody and no chords or time signatures, I couldn’t help but let out a hollow laugh.

“You want me to compose our next song with this?”

“Isn’t the song pretty good…?”

[Please achieve your most desired goal of ‘success’]

[Risk Level: 80]

As if I had moved further from achieving the goal, the status window flashed and the risk level shot up.

I waved the trash sheet music in front of Seo Yehyeon’s nose sarcastically.

“Previously, Kim Dobin and Ryu Jaehee came with the same chords from my song asking me to try making this song. I could tell they had memories, so I wondered what they’d do, but that’s all they could think of. It was fucking disappointing.”

Seo Yehyeon’s face looking at me was dumbfounded.

Seeing that face that hadn’t expected this at all, I burst into laughter.

“How did both attempts turn out?”

Anyway, fuck. As if to prove that I failed to succeed, I returned to debut day a month after leaving.

A month after leaving? Didn’t Cha Yeonho say that the condition for turning back time was one month after the desired date?

“You guys proved very well that there’s no future with this group by doing this. You’re just baggage if I want to succeed.”

When I let go, the sheet music fluttered down to the floor. Seo Yehyeon, looking down at the sheet music that had settled at his feet, bit his lips tightly.

Just as I was about to let out a sneer at such Seo Yehyeon and turn around, my sleeve was suddenly grabbed.

“…Don’t you remember the mulberries?”

Those inexplicably desperate eyes made my stomach churn.

I could understand Ryu Jaehee and Kim Dobin, who were also in the shadows. But you’re going to succeed alone anyway, which is an unchanging future no matter how many times it repeats, so what exactly are you lacking?

“When we last met, you didn’t deny it then. You said you had lingering feelings.”

So mulberries were the keyword after all. The decisive medium through which I was caught still having lingering feelings.

“Were those lingering feelings not for the group but just for your success?”

I lightly shook off my sleeve to remove Seo Yehyeon’s hand holding me and replied dryly.

“That’s right. What were those lingering feelings for?”

A self-deprecating mutter that seemed quite tired flowed from my mouth.

“I don’t know anymore, now.”

Perhaps because time kept repeating, I lightly patted Seo Yehyeon’s head, who now seemed like a child, and left him with some advice.

“Don’t try so hard to change others. It’s a fucking arrogant thought and completely useless. I’m only saying this because of our last meeting, so listen carefully.”

“You should take your own advice! What’s so great about repeating things! Back then when you went out alone and succeeded, were you happy living alone in that Cheongdam-dong house that only the Youngest Member would occasionally visit? Now even Jaehee won’t come visit! Get your head straight and break free from that damn obsession with success!”

Seo Yehyeon, who had grabbed me by the collar, shouted desperately. In the midst of all that red vision, an oddly blue Status Window appeared before my eyes.

[■■ Would you like to patch the system?]

The Status Window’s color and font are exactly the same as our house system?

안 한다고, 씨발. 꺼져. 이렇게 설득해 봤자 내가——-

[This is not the correct approach.]

[Blocking the influence of the discovered residual corrupted system.]

[Forcibly terminating 5th round memories.]

5th round?

Snap-!

Along with a sound that pierced directly into my ears, I was thrown from the boundary of memory into reality as if being pulled out.

* * *

“Hey, Yoon Eden! Are you really sleeping?”

As soon as I opened my eyes, I saw Seo Yehyeon’s hand right in front of me, posed for a finger snap. The next thing that caught my eye was the label of that imported beer I had been drinking with Seo Yehyeon in my memory.

As I sat up with disheveled hair and a grimace on my face, Seo Yehyeon pulled his body back to avoid bumping into me and looked at me while clicking his tongue.

After seeing only Seo Yehyeon’s hazy, dreamy eyes in those Memory Fragments, seeing those clear eyes looking at me as if I were pathetic made me finally realize I had escaped from memory and returned to the reality I was living in.

Anyway, this means I did have that awkward reconciliation with Seo Yehyeon over canned beer and mulberries, right?

No wonder even after returning to debut days, seeing his face again felt less annoying. Who knew there was this kind of behind-the-scenes story.

“Hyung, sorry.”

“What are you sorry for?”

“For leaving you alone and accidentally falling asleep, making you eat half of those fattening fruits alone in the middle of the night. Now you should apologize to me too for eating half the mulberries alone.”

“What are you even saying, really.”

Seo Yehyeon snorted, then suddenly stopped and looked back at the mulberry bowl before screaming.

“Ahhhhh! Wait, you’re saying I ate half of this by myself in the middle of the night? In the middle of the night? This is crazy! You should also apologize for staying up drinking alone and making me face mulberries in the middle of the night!”

“Aww, sorry about that too-.”

Good, this time I won!

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