A Blank Slate Regression for the Idol That Lost His Original Mindset - Chapter 75

—————
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 Initial Intentions Episode 75

“The door won’t open.”

It was morning when the sun had risen, and these were the words Seo Yehyeon uttered as he tried to open the door, saying his body felt stiff and he wanted to go for a walk.

Seeing the door that wouldn’t open gave me a sense of déjà vu from when we were trapped in the dormitory.

I immediately ran to the window and looked down outside to see thick layers of snow piled up.

I couldn’t gauge how much had accumulated, so I decided to go out and check directly.

Although the window was low, fortunately the snow hadn’t piled up to the window level like when we were trapped in the dormitory, so I didn’t need to dig through snow.

“Youngest, bring hyung his padding!”

Hearing my shout, Ryu Jaehee came over with my padding that had been hanging on the sofa and handed it to me while asking.

“Are you going outside?”

“Yeah, I need to check how much snow has piled up.”

When I climbed out the window, my feet sank deep into the snow. The pouring snowstorm obstructed my vision.

“Wow, the snow comes up to about two-thirds of my shins? Can cars even get in?”

With this much accumulation, it made sense that the front door wouldn’t open.

I quickly brushed off the snow that had piled up on my head and shoulders and plopped down in front of the fireplace. Just then, the My Idol Observation Camera PD called.

“Huh, why isn’t the internet working?”

“Isn’t the Wi-Fi cut off? Use data.”

“Data isn’t working either?”

“Try turning your phone off and on, hyung. Oh, mine’s not working either? What’s wrong with this? Hajun hyung! The internet isn’t working!”

I escaped the noisy Youngest Line and went into the Shaman House Concept Room.

The room’s atmosphere was still eerie, but not as much as the phone call content I was receiving now.

“Yes, then I’ll relay that to the members as well. Yes.”

After ending the call with the PD, I sighed and went out of the room to call the members.

“Guys, gather around. I have good news and bad news – which do you want to hear first?”

“The bad news.”

Kim Dobin answered quickly. Don’t people usually say they want to hear the good news first?

“There’s too much snow for cars to get up here. Even now there’s so much snow falling that snow removal work won’t be possible until tomorrow.”

“What about us walking down?”

“Do you know the way?”

Kim Dobin, who had been fast asleep in the car when we came up to this pension, couldn’t possibly know the way. Plus the roads were buried under snow.

“What’s the good news?”

“The battery in that recorder making eerie sounds is almost dead and will turn off soon.”

“That’s it?”

“Yeah, that’s it.”

A solemn atmosphere settled over us.

“We have to stay one more day in this Ghost House…?”

Kim Dobin muttered while grabbing his head, trembling as he pointed at the Shaman House concept room.

“This is the curse of the mountain lodge! The curse of this Ghost Valley Lodge!”

“There he goes talking nonsense again.”

I clicked my tongue once and calmed down Kim Dobin, who seemed to be in a panic state.

“Hey, we went around the room once yesterday, so it’s not that scary today. And we’re not even sleeping in that room – we’re all sleeping together in the living room, so what’s there to be afraid of?”

“Yesterday Jaehee and Yehyeon hyung both had sleep paralysis at the same time. They both saw the same ghost. This is absolutely not a coincidence!”

Right, they did say they saw the same ghost. The same Long-Haired Ghost. How many long-haired ghosts are there? Huh?

“Then do you want to go outside and build an igloo out of snow to sleep in, Dobin?”

Even though I said it through gritted teeth, Kim Dobin seemed to take it seriously and nodded with earnest eyes.

“That’s not bad either. If we all build an igloo together, we could make it big enough for all five of us to fit in, right?”

I’m really going to lose my mind.

Just as I was contemplating how satisfying it would be to verbally beat up this guy who was spouting frustrating nonsense in an already maddening situation, the quick-witted Ryu Jaehee pulled Kim Dobin out of my sight.

“The probability is low, but just in case the electricity and gas get cut off, they told us to light a fire in the fireplace too.”

“There’s firewood in the storage room behind the pension. Should we get it now before the snowstorm gets worse?”

“Let’s go together.”

I stopped Seo Yehyeon, who was getting up to go outside alone, and went to Gyeon Hajun in the kitchen to ask.

“Jun, the electricity isn’t cut off yet, right?”

“Yeah, the induction cooktop is still working.”

“Then let’s prepare dishes that need fire in advance. If necessary, we can heat them up on the fireplace.”

I left the cooking to Gyeon Hajun and approached Seo Yehyeon, who was putting on his outerwear securely, and picked up my padding.

“Hyung, did you say yesterday there was a snow removal shovel behind the pension?”

“Yeah, they said it was leaning against the wall.”

“I think it would be better to dig through the snow and make a path to the storage room. For carrying firewood back and forth. We don’t know when we might need to replace the firewood again.”

I gestured for the Youngest Line, who were sitting around blankly with nothing to do, to follow us.

Since the front door still wouldn’t open, we climbed out through the window.

Four of us, excluding Gyeon Hajun who was preparing meals, headed toward the storage room while digging through snow with the snow removal shovel.

Since Ryu Jaehee was holding the camcorder and in charge of filming, it was really just three of us.

“Wow, but since we’ve done some digging before, everyone seems to have gotten a bit used to it?”

“I don’t want to get used to this kind of thing…”

Seo Yehyeon replied weakly while scooping snow with the shovel.

Still, with three of us digging together, the path to the storage room was roughly completed.

The storage room’s location wasn’t that far from the pension either.

When we opened the storage room door, a pile of firewood stacked in one corner was the first thing that caught our eye. Fortunately, we didn’t need to do any axe work.

Unlike Seo Yehyeon, who immediately approached the firewood pile and started gathering wood, Ryu Jaehee wandered around the storage room and appeared with a torch in one hand.

“Hyung, should we take the torch too?”

“We should. No one has a lighter.”

If this were back when I was smoking heavily, I would have had one, but I’ve quit now.

“There’s a portable burner too. In case the electricity gets cut off, let’s take this too. Along with the butane gas.”

We wandered around the storage room, gathered what seemed necessary, and returned to the pension.

After throwing the firewood through the window, since I had the shovel anyway, I completely cleared the snow in front of the front door too.

“Hyung, have you ever been stranded before? Why are you so used to this?”

“Because I can’t trust you guys.”

I replied while grabbing the front door handle and shaking it. When I pulled hard, the front door opened stiffly.

“Why won’t it catch fire and the wood just keeps getting roasted…?”

“If we keep holding it there, won’t it catch fire eventually?”

I placed the extra backup firewood we brought from the storage room just in case next to the fireplace, and watched the spectacular fire-lighting show by the two least reliable people, Seo Yehyeon and Kim Dobin.

After struggling with the torch and firewood for a while, somehow the fireplace caught fire.

“Let’s eat!”

At Gyeon Hajun’s call, I stopped watching and headed to the dining table. Ryu Jaehee had already finished setting the table.

Grilled spam and fried eggs, kimchi, instant rice heated in the microwave, canned tuna, golden-brown grilled shrimp dumplings.

“It was really fortunate that we bought instant rice in bundle sets. We almost had to eat without rice today.”

Originally, we were scheduled to stay at the pension for one day and leave in the morning, so we only bought enough groceries for one meal, but while hiding from Seo Yehyeon’s eyes and adding more things for late-night snacks, we unknowingly ended up with a day’s worth of food.

Yesterday’s unexpected Ghost House + everyone sleeping together in the living room double critical hit meant we couldn’t avoid Seo Yehyeon’s eyes and couldn’t eat late-night snacks, which was also a stroke of divine intervention.

If we had eaten the late-night snacks, today’s meals would have been woefully insufficient.

“When did you even buy spam?”

“Aw, Yehyeon hyung. Let’s overlook such minor details. It’s because I secretly added this that we can have a meal like this now.”

After finishing our late lunch, I sat on the sofa and tried turning on my phone’s data.

My phone’s internet was also completely dead.

If the internet doesn’t work…

‘I’m screwed.’

Completing the Weekly Quest becomes impossible. I already skipped the Weekly Quest yesterday because I was distracted by exploring the Ghost House, and if I skip today too, it’s straight to penalty.

And the Weekly Quest settlement just happens to be tomorrow at midnight.

Since I already used the Penalty Nullification Ticket I received before during the week I was busy with song production, I have exactly two paths left.

Either accept the penalty obediently, or use up all the Random Tickets and Item Selection Tickets I’ve been saving to try and draw a Penalty Exemption Ticket.

The latter option is over if I don’t get a Penalty Exemption Ticket.

‘But wait, this is an emergency situation caused by a natural disaster, so shouldn’t the system show some discretionary understanding?’

The system remained silent as always. I was so used to it now that I didn’t even get angry.

Whatever the penalty was, I just hoped it would spare me from coughing up blood. I can’t even get to the hospital emergency room right now.

As the sun set and it grew dark, the five of us wrapped ourselves in blankets and gathered around the fireplace.

“Hello, this is Doby back with Season 2 of the stranded special. We’re currently trapped in the Ghost House—no, Ghost Valley Lodge—due to heavy snow. This time it’s real stranding.”

I asked Kim Dobin, who was chattering away enthusiastically at the camcorder.

“Why didn’t you film this morning instead of now?”

“Hey, you’re supposed to film this kind of thing in the dark evening to set the mood and create a sense of crisis.”

Even after hearing his answer, I still didn’t understand. This guy really had a unique way of thinking.

“Doesn’t this feel just like we’re at a campfire?”

Seo Yehyeon giggled while warming his hands by the fire.

“I don’t know about campfires, but it does feel like a scene from a survival thriller or horror movie. Just sitting here like this, and then suddenly a ghost or killer appears at the mountain lodge—”

“You want to say that kind of thing in a place covered with ghost photos and talismans?”

“Ah, Kim Dobin, seriously!”

While scolding Kim Dobin for his unnecessary comments again, I turned to look at Ryu Jaehee who had let out a sharp cry.

“Jaehee, what’s wrong?”

While everyone looked at Ryu Jaehee with confused faces, Gyeon Hajun asked in a calm tone. Ryu Jaehee replied with a tearful expression.

“When I had sleep paralysis yesterday, the long-haired ghost that crawled out of that room was crawling all over us and then strangled my neck. Yehyeon Hyung said he had the exact same dream, so I’m scared to death, but then Doby Hyung starts talking about ghosts…!”

What Ryu Jaehee’s finger was pointing at was the room I had chosen. That room with the ghost mannequin that suddenly pops out from the wall closet.

“That was probably just a nightmare created by your spectacular and rich imagination.”

“Could it really be a coincidence that two people had sleep paralysis with the exact same content?”

“You’re the one creating fear here, dude.”

I made the youngest line guys apologize to each other before they could get upset and prepared to sleep.

I had barely slept yesterday and did hard physical labor today, so my fatigue was no joke.

The grandfather clock chimed midnight, and the merciless loan shark-like system began its settlement as always.

[☀Starting Weekly Quest settlement.]

[⚠Since fewer than three Weekly Quests were completed, a random penalty will be imposed.]

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