Grab the Regressor by the Collar and Debut - Chapter 130

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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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130
. A Small Catalyst (2)
“Yeah, yeah. Let’s do this.”
Episode 6 had begun.
The trainees who had been chattering noisily fell silent in unison, as if by agreement.
But here.
Long before Episode 6 started, there was one man who had been unusually quiet.
“…Hey, did I do something wrong to Ha-jin hyung?”
“How should I know?”
“Or is Ha-jin hyung in a bad mood today?”
“No idea.”
“But why does he keep glaring at me…?”
“Beats me.”
“…You bastard!”
“Ow! Are you insane?”
The man who had just elbowed Yoo Gun in the ribs while he casually answered through mouthfuls of chicken was Kim Won-ho. Nineteen years old.
Kim Won-ho. Nineteen years old.
He’d asked Ha-jin for a slice of potato pizza ten minutes ago, and had been feeling an intense stare ever since!
‘He’s staring so hard I can’t even bring myself to ask why.’
Won-ho felt sweat trickling down his back.
He turned his head slightly to glance back at Ha-jin’s movements.
‘…?’
Ha-jin, who had been staring at me until just now, had already turned away and was giggling and joking around with Tae-hyun, who sat beside him on the sofa.
Along with the relief of escaping that blatant stare, Won-ho felt oddly embarrassed.
‘…Was I being too self-conscious?’
Well, what reason would that guy have to glare at me?
Won-ho scratched his neck awkwardly and picked up his chopsticks again with an embarrassed expression.
* * *
However, contrary to Won-ho’s hopes.
The moment Won-ho turned his head, Ha-jin’s eyes narrowed again as he stared at him.
Ha-jin had a valid reason to keep watching the back of Won-ho’s head.
‘Why is that? His response rate was over 90% back then, and we’re on pretty good terms now?’
In fact, I barely suspected Won-ho of being a Chosen Regressor candidate.
If you asked why, well.
It was just a gut feeling.
[System Notification: Now you’re just guessing which Chosen Regressors exist based on intuition?]
‘What’s wrong with that? I have good instincts.’
In any case, as long as I didn’t heavily suspect Won-ho, recruiting him as an ally wasn’t strictly necessary.
Recruiting allies in the first place was a means to find the Chosen Regressor through past timelines.
‘But still!’
I’m feeling a bit off about this!
Lee Do-ha still hasn’t even broken past that guy’s 70%!
So why! Kim Won-ho, who promoted recruitment just like I did!
Why has there been no word from him since then! Why!
Thinking back on the recruitment pattern up until now, it seemed like recruitment notifications appeared whenever Ha-jin felt like someone was worth getting “thoroughly entangled with.”
When mutual trust solidified into a complete “relationship.”
From that perspective, the fact that Kim Won-ho’s recruitment event hadn’t triggered was deeply frustrating for Ha-jin!
It was like when you think someone’s your best friend, but they deliberately avoid sitting next to you on the school trip bus.
[System Alert: What in the world is that…?]
[System Alert: The system is bewildered by such an unnecessarily detailed description…]
[System Alert: (๑•̌.•̑๑)ˀ̣]
‘There’s that kind of thing, you know.’
Ha-jin bit into the ice cream he’d brought for dessert with a crunch, his mind spinning.
Once the thought had taken root, a strange stubbornness bloomed—he absolutely had to recruit Won-ho as a companion.
‘Now that I think about it, recruitment seems to happen at these moments where it just feels like “now’s the time.”‘
You know those scenes in dramas or movies where touching music plays, then suddenly stops, and the protagonist breaks into a bright smile and delivers an iconic line?
In web novels, it’s like that poignant, emotionally charged final sentence right before the scene transition…
[System Alert: Stop it, you otaku bastard…]
‘Now it’s just dropping formalities entirely.’
Anyway, the conclusion is.
‘MOOD’ is what matters.
‘I’ll have to grab another meal with him soon.’
You think you can avoid being my companion?
Ha-jin’s eyes gleamed with determination as he eyed the back of Won-ho’s head.
* * *
While Ha-jin was scheming how to win over Won-ho, Miro Maze Episode 6 steadily unfolded.
Once the mission was confirmed and team assignments were made by randomly selecting rooms, the trainees grew noisy again with their reactions.
“But didn’t you guys feel a bit nervous doing that?”
“Yeah, I mean, you can’t even tell who went inside.”
“And the Wings Rank got all the hints, but Feather Class didn’t even get that, so it’s really just pure luck, completely.”
The trainees naturally continued their conversation, laughing without anyone taking the lead.
It was hard to believe these were the same people who, just months ago, had drawn lines between Special Class and General Class, engaging in constant power struggles.
Who was Wings and who was Feather.
Regardless of such distinctions, someone watched as the trainees naturally mixed together, chattering away.
No—the Chosen Regressor thought.
‘…So this was possible too.’
The harmony and reconciliation of the trainees that had seemed impossible.
And the countless timelines altered because of it.
‘…It was possible, this.’
At the end of the Chosen Regressor’s gaze stood the single person who had made all this change possible.
Kang Ha-jin.
A man who had repeated countless lives and effortlessly accomplished what he once deemed impossible.
A man who appeared suddenly one day, radiating a presence far greater than anyone else’s.
The Chosen Regressor gazed at Ha-jin for a moment, then found himself reflecting on his own circumstances.
‘It’s still manageable. …For now.’
With that self-reassurance, the Chosen Regressor’s consciousness slowly drifted into sleep.
Remaining awake for too long might place an unbearable strain on this body.
Having been separated from my primary personality for so long already, I no longer even felt a sense of ownership over this body.
But it didn’t matter.
“Hey Si-woo, how did you know about Harness anyway?”
“What’s more shocking is that he went in knowing that.”
By the time the Blue Flare Team’s truth game aired, the Chosen Regressor’s personality had completely fallen asleep and vanished.
“Is it really that shocking that I knew? Ha-ru knew too—what Harness is.”
“I saw it before on Boy’s Supremacy when Tae-hyun appeared!”
“Ha-ru, you knew what Harness was…?”
“Our main character got shocked again.”
“…I wasn’t shocked!”
“Grandfather, stop teasing Eun-chan.”
“This old man’s only source of joy….”
Starting with Si-woo’s words, the conversation continued in turn with Ha-ru, Eun-chan, Tae-hyun, and Ha-jin.
Someone who ‘had been’ the Chosen Regressor naturally blended into their midst.
As if nothing had ever happened.
“Oh, we’re doing the Stage now.”
“But they’re really showing all of the third round at once. I thought they’d split it over two weeks like the previous missions.”
“Voting ends the day after tomorrow, so that’s probably why.”
At the mention of voting ending, the bustling atmosphere grew noticeably somber.
The word ‘elimination’—which they’d managed to forget—came rushing back.
As the mood suddenly turned heavy, Ha-jin, sitting in the center, covered his eyes with his hand and spoke in a solemn voice.
“…Who just made ‘that statement’?”
“It was Gong Seok, Your Majesty.”
“Huh? Me, why me…?”
“Ha. For our eldest brother to make ‘that statement’—such melancholy. Immediately subject him to the chicken leg punishment.”
“Yes, sire.”
“…No, wait, why! Mmph!”
At Ha-jin’s command, Pa-rang and Jae-young grabbed Gong Seok’s arms. Then Won-ho shoved a sauce-covered chicken leg into Gong Seok’s mouth, saying, “I’m sorry, hyung. I didn’t want to do this either!”
Watching this unfold, Yoo Gun asked Tae-hyun in bewilderment.
“…What on earth are they doing?”
“Leave them be. They always play like this.”
“Isn’t a spicy chicken leg a reward, not a punishment?”
“High calories mean it’s a punishment for trainees who need to manage their weight, obviously.”
“I see.”
“…Why are you just accepting that explanation?”
When Yoo Gun nodded at Tae-hyun’s explanation, Tae-hyun gave him an exasperated look and asked back.
Then, suddenly remembering something, he asked Yoo Gun carefully.
“So… are you starting to feel like you want to debut now?”
“Out of nowhere?”
“No, I mean… can’t I ask a friend something like that?”
After glancing at Tae-hyun’s embarrassed face, Yoo Gun looked at their images on the TV screen again and paused to think.
During the last “dropout incident,” he’d come back for various reasons, including the thought that he should continue a bit longer with Ha-jin and the Blue Flare Team members….
“…Debut? Me?”
That still seemed like a distant prospect.
Feeling oddly uncertain, Yoo Gun shrugged and shook his head.
“I don’t know. I haven’t thought that far ahead yet.”
“Hey, what are you going to do if you actually debut?”
“Who knows. But with ten people getting eliminated from this group… I think I can afford to worry about such a fortunate problem after I actually make it through.”
Yoo Gun habitually organized the delivery food trash as he cut the conversation short.
For now, just for now.
At least until the results came out.
He wanted to close his eyes to this headache-inducing reality and live within a dream.
“…I see.”
Whether Tae-hyun understood Yoo Gun’s feelings or not.
He nodded with an enigmatic expression, his eyes sinking into a somewhat bitter light.
* * *
Miro Maze Episode 6, packed tightly with the third round of competitions, ended safely.
The trainees, facing the elimination announcement, began preparing themselves mentally in their own ways.
The Destiny fans also dreamed of a last-minute reversal, pouring all their efforts into voting for the trainees they supported.
Cherry Blossom
@ch_blossom
★Miro Maze
#Seo Tae-hyun
Voting EVENT★
After retweeting this post
Reply with your vote and
we’ll randomly select 3 winners to receive
chicken, perfume, and a film camera!
Participation period: Until 23:59 tomorrow
(Boy’s Supremacy Seo Tae-hyun unreleased high-quality photo)
(Seo Tae-hyun high-quality candid shot from “I’ll Tell You”)
(Chicken gift certificate photo with barcode and numbers completely obscured)
(Perfume and film camera photo)
[Which group did we decide to form an alliance with?]
I’m about to vote right now—who should I pick besides Ha-ru?
– Eun-chan!
– Pick Eun-chan and you’re good!
– Pick one of Eun-chan, Jae-young, or Tae-hyun! We all agreed to support each other
Reason Gun
@2uuu_gunn2
Starting the voting verification thread for today!
Yoo Gun’s voting verification
Please flood the mentions with proof~~
Whether it was because all the stages in the third competition had been executed flawlessly, or because there was now a genuine sense of danger that eliminations could actually happen—
The names of trainees who hadn’t received much mention before began appearing frequently across community forums and social media.
Park Jae-young, who had showcased the charm of an adorable younger man during his “I’ll Tell You” stage performance, was a prime example,
as was Gong Seok, who had earned praise for single-handedly carrying Silver Chain as their main vocalist.
And then.
Amid that fierce battle where Destiny fans fought desperately to save their own, there was one fandom that stood out distinctly.
– What the hell are those Kang-preu people doing?
It was Kang Ha-jin’s fanbase.
– Did they wake up after getting beaten…?
└ They have every right to
└ ?? Why? What happened?
└ ???? Did you not watch the broadcast yesterday?
The reason was simple.
– Kang Ha-jin cried, thanking them for letting him perform
It was because of tears—the most powerful weapon in this world—shed by one’s own beloved.

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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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