Grab the Regressor by the Collar and Debut - Chapter 119

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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119. The Reason for Action (6)
“There. All done.”
“Thank you, hyung.”
Si-woo carefully finished disinfecting and applying ointment to Ha-jin’s blood-stained hands, wrapped them in gauze, and tidied away the first-aid kit. When Ha-jin bowed his head in gratitude, Si-woo glanced at him once, then at the youngest members kneeling on the floor beside him, and let out a small sigh.
Then he offered Ha-jin some cynical advice.
“If you’re hurt, go to the hospital.”
“…What?”
“You did the same thing last time. The day Yoo Gun disappeared. I told you to take medicine and rest, but you went all the way to the convenience store in the next neighborhood and dragged him back.”
“No, I wasn’t even sick that day….”
“Why weren’t you sick? You had a fever. Your body was hot and your face was red. You think I told Eun-chan to take you away, give you medicine, and put you to bed for nothing?”
Jeong Si-u scolded Ha-jin with considerable firmness.
Ha-jin was shocked once by the realization that he really had been ill, and again by Si-woo’s stern rebuke.
Since this was the first time Si-woo had been angry with him like this, Ha-jin couldn’t even think of arguing back and closed his mouth. Looking at the list laid out before him, he had to admit he deserved the scolding.
“The company will be scheduling health checkups and psychological counseling soon, so I won’t mention this incident to the staff separately. But if you’re hurt, go to the hospital and get treatment. Don’t try to deceive yourself or others by saying you’re fine.”
“…Yes. I’m sorry for worrying you, hyung.”
Instinctively understanding he needed to be submissive, Ha-jin quickly lowered his head, and Si-woo let out a deep sigh.
Then he turned his head and said something to the youngest members, who were obediently waiting their turn.
“You lot should be sleeping if it’s late. How can you be playing games at this hour? You should be managing your own schedules by now.”
“…We’re sorry.”
“You’re lucky I’m the one who saw you. If you’d woken the others, what would you have done? …Given the circumstances, I won’t say more. But from now on, sleep when it’s time to sleep. Don’t doze off during practice tomorrow.”
“Yes….”
As the youngest members answered dejectedly, Ha-jin felt sorry that they were being scolded because of him.
Avoiding Si-woo’s gaze, he silently mouthed an apology to the youngest members with his lips and eyes, but Si-woo, with uncanny perception, spoke without even looking at Ha-jin.
“If you’re going to apologize, do it properly.”
“What?”
“You scared the kids because of you. They saw you covered in blood in the middle of the night—how frightened must they have been? You need to apologize properly and show them you’re fine, or they’ll have nightmares.”
Then he gestured to the youngest members, who had been kneeling and fidgeting with their hands and lips the whole time.
“Come here and see. I’m leaving.”
As Si-woo stood up, the youngest members rushed toward Ha-jin as if they’d been waiting.
“Hyung!!! You’re really okay, right!?”
“S-shouldn’t you go to the hospital right now!? It was really scary earlier!”
“Hey, hey! Quiet! You’ll startle Ha-jin!”
“Yuki was really scared too!”
“Hyung, what if this leaves a scar….”
Though I’d played with them whenever I had the chance, I never expected to receive such intense concern.
But my appearance earlier was frightening enough to haunt my own dreams. So Ha-jin felt a sense of responsibility toward his worried younger siblings and showed them his unharmed body.
“I got cut by something like a razor blade. It was dark, so I didn’t realize how much blood was coming out.”
The truth was I’d been so dizzy I hadn’t even felt the pain.
Still, since the wound wasn’t too deep, I thought it should be fine with gauze for a few days and careful application of medicine.
‘But I’m grateful they’re worried about me.’
At least there were no scheduled shoots for the time being—a small mercy, I thought.
I gently soothed the puppy-like younger members gathered around me, my mind wandering.
* * *
And then, the very next day, I found myself smacking my forehead at my own naiveté.
‘…Why did I have to plant such a flag yesterday?!’
I desperately wanted to retract yesterday’s comment about being grateful there were no Miro Maze shoots scheduled. There was no doubt about it—the keywords #foreshadowing #misunderstanding #cliché had firmly taken root in my life!
I turned to Ji Su-ho, who sat across from me with a beaming smile, and asked once more.
“We’re doing a special stage? On A-Countdown? With ‘Shout to You’? And the recording is tomorrow?”
“Yeah. One of the stages suddenly fell through, right? Anyway, ‘Shout to You’ has been getting good responses lately, so Ntv reached out to us with the offer.”
The news that Ji Su-ho, our Team Leader, had called the Sad Ending team in for this early morning was none other than word of our first music broadcast appearance.
“Since the stage was decided so suddenly, the schedule is pretty tight… But honestly, this will be great experience for you guys. The broadcasting station agreed to accommodate our conditions for everything except the timing.”
Ji Su-ho smiled leisurely and told us to think it over carefully, but truthfully, there wasn’t a single person here who needed time to deliberate.
“I’m in. But you’ll set aside separate practice time for us today, right?”
Tae-hyun jumped at the offer. Su-ho nodded as if it were obvious.
“Of course. This is our kids’ first music broadcast—I’m not sending you out without proper practice time. That’s why I called you all in at dawn. There’s a lot to prepare if we’re doing this.”
“Then I want to do it. What about the rest of you?”
Tae-hyun’s gaze fixed on me. His eyes gleamed with silent pressure—*say yes already*—so I discreetly hid my injured hand beneath the desk and answered.
“I’m in too. If you’re offering, we should do it. But will fans be able to attend?”
“No. The schedule’s too tight, and since we’re recording anyway, there won’t be a separate audience. It’d be better to show the fans, but that’s unfortunate.”
With Tae-hyun and then me agreeing, consensus was quickly reached.
Fortunately, except for me—who’d taken my school uniform home after the last competition—all the remaining team members were still in high school, so there were no issues with stage costumes.
“We’ll pick up Ha-jin’s uniform from home. Could you just give your parents a heads-up?”
“Oh, yes. I’ll let my mom know.”
“Good. I’ve already told them to keep Practice Room A free today, so practice there. I’ll personally handle your care tomorrow, so don’t be too nervous—just show them what you’ve been practicing.”
“Yes!”
“Well done, everyone. Remember, this is all a result of what you’ve created. Go grab breakfast before the restaurant closes. Eat well—this morning’s menu looked delicious.”
Ji Su-ho dismissed the Sad Ending team with a proud expression. At the mention of their first music broadcast, Ha-ru and Jae-young were already buzzing with excitement, giggling to themselves.
Just as the trainees were getting up to leave, Su-ho suddenly remembered something and opened his mouth urgently.
“Oh, Ha-jin and Tae-hyun—could you stay for a moment?”
“…? Yes.”
I’d already half-risen from my chair, ready to dash off at the mention of the delicious breakfast menu, but I quickly spun back and settled into my seat.
“Well. I actually thought about telling just Tae-hyun separately, but I think it’s better if you know too, Ha-jin.”
Once Su-ho confirmed that Jayden, Ha-ru, and Jae-young had left the office, he spoke carefully. Tae-hyun beside me seemed to have already caught on to what he was about to say, sitting quietly with his gaze lowered and a wry smile.
‘…What’s with this atmosphere?’
Why am I the only one left in the dark?
I quickly glanced between the two of them—I hated this kind of tension—and Su-ho cleared his throat briefly before getting to the point.
“I’ve been trying to adjust the schedule to avoid overlap as much as possible… but there’s a chance the B-liver recording might overlap with ours tomorrow.”
Ah.
The moment I heard that, I understood in an instant why Su-ho had called the two of us aside separately.
B-liver. That group was all too familiar to me…
“…I know it’s all in the past now, but I figured Tae-hyun should know about it anyway.”
It was a spin-off group formed by the debut lineup of Boy Heaven, the program where Seo Tae-hyun had been eliminated.
Because the contract period had been so short, I vaguely remembered that the original group that debuted under Boy Heaven, ‘B-light’, had disbanded sometime last year.
‘Was B-liver’s comeback around this time?’
‘B-liver’ was a group formed by three popular members from B-light who shared the same entertainment company, created after B-light disbanded.
They debuted right after the dissolution, so some fans grumbled that ‘those bastards were only aiming for B-light to disband’, but….
‘In the end, their results were decent.’
On the contrary, fans who preferred those three as a same-company combination showered the company with praise for making a good call.
Anyway, they seemed like they’d be uncomfortable for Tae-hyun in various ways.
‘This side couldn’t even debut for three years and rotted away at Miro, and we’re still in the middle of the survival program. At least it’s not that Rene bastard… no, wait.’
Ha-jin, who had been thinking it was fortunate that it wasn’t Cha Min-seok, quickly shook his head and tried to stop himself from thinking further.
It was a firm resolve never to plant another stupid flag like that again.
[System Alert: The life of an otaku who has mastered clichés….]
[System Alert: (shaking head)]
Thirteen appeared out of nowhere to call him out, but Ha-jin casually muted him.
[System Alert: I won’t fall for it twice, let alone three times!]
[System Alert: Ahahaha!!!]
Then, as if he’d somehow hacked the system functions, Thirteen reappeared, not backing down.
Even as Thirteen showed up proudly and teased him, Ha-jin didn’t blink and simply reduced his opacity further.
[System Alert: Ahhhhh! How am I supposed to deal with this!??]
Ha-jin brushed off Thirteen’s whining and looked at Tae-hyun.
“What about you? Will you be okay if you run into them?”
“…I already knew they were coming back. The articles came out, and they contacted me directly too.”
What was the relationship between those B-liver guys and Seo Tae-hyun? The fact that they contacted him directly suggested things weren’t bad between them.
Whether Ha-jin and Su-ho were scrutinizing Tae-hyun’s expression or not, Tae-hyun calmly laid out his thoughts.
“Still… I’d prefer it if we didn’t have to run into each other if possible. If we’re recording on the same day, there’s nothing we can do about that situation, but… I just don’t want any unnecessary talk to come up.”
“Got it. I’ll talk with the A-Countdown side at the company about that. And I’ll be going to the site myself tomorrow anyway…. But if a situation comes up where it’s hard to manage, I’d appreciate it if you two could look after the kids well. I’m counting on you.”
“Yes.”
“Yes. …Thank you for looking out for us, Team Leader.”
Tae-hyun nodded and expressed his gratitude to Su-ho. Then Su-ho laughed as if it was nothing new and patted Tae-hyun’s shoulder a couple of times.
“I’m the one who should be grateful for creating such a wonderful stage here at Miro. Now you two get going. Make sure you eat breakfast.”
As the heartwarming atmosphere ended, Ha-jin raised his hand.
“I have a question.”
“Yeah, what is it?”
“What’s for breakfast this morning?”
“I think it’s something like rice cake dumpling soup?”
At that answer, Ha-jin—whose thought process had been sluggish since morning because he was actually hungry—lit up. Then he grabbed Tae-hyun’s arm and jumped to his feet.
“Awesome. Then we’d better get going. Hey, Seo Tae-hyun, get up quick.”
“Wait, why me…. I don’t usually eat breakfast!”
“Then watch me eat in front of you. I hate eating alone. The other kids have probably already finished anyway.”
“…What kind of person is my real brother, seriously?”
“You’re a grandfather, you ungrateful grandson. Team Leader, we’ll be going now.”
“Oh, o-okay. Enjoy your meal.”
“Sigh, really…. I’ll head in, Team Leader. Hey! Take it slow!”
In the end, Tae-hyun sighed and bowed respectfully to Su-ho before being dragged away by Ha-jin’s grip on his arm. Even after leaving the office, the sound of the two bickering continued for quite some time. Su-ho listened to the commotion with a pleased smile and settled into his seat.
“…Was I worrying for nothing?”
Even as he said this, Su-ho found the A-Countdown Production Director’s number on his phone.
Since this would be the kids’ first music broadcast appearance, his determination to make it absolutely perfect surged forth.

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