Grab the Regressor by the Collar and Debut - Chapter 14

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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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14. The Trainee Who Refuses to Debut (5)
“I… why am I already so exhausted…?”
“Because you were teasing Eun-chan hyung and wore yourself out.”
“…”
We didn’t begin our serious “bomb disposal” meeting until two hours after arriving home. Since our first meeting, I’d been so consumed with relentless practice that I hadn’t realized—but it seemed I got along surprisingly well with these kids who were ten years younger than me.
‘Is that a good thing?’
From the moment I first regressed until now, there had been few opportunities to laugh so freely and carelessly. Even though my mind insisted this wasn’t the time for it, my body was instinctively chasing that bright, joyful energy.
“Alright, let’s talk about the real issue now.”
“Yes.”
“First, we need criteria.”
“Criteria?”
“Right. Criteria. Who we start with and where we draw the line.”
At my blunt statement, Ju Eun-chan and Dan Ha-ru—who had been licking chicken off their fingers—fell silent as if they’d bitten their own tongues.
“What do you want? The Executive Director and the parachute hire removed, or a fair debut without the parachute hire?”
“…”
“It might not seem like much of a difference, but it is. The means and methods change depending on your objective, so think carefully before you answer.”
I watched the two of them contemplate my question. Of course, regardless of their answer, I intended to remove the Executive Director from this company. That was my Quest, after all.
‘But finding the parachute hire is a different matter entirely.’
So I needed to hear their opinion first. They were, in any case, now involved in my Executive Director removal project.
“I…”
Finally, someone broke the silence. It was Ju Eun-chan, who had been fidgeting with his cola glass the whole time.
“I just… I hope qualified people receive fair treatment.”
“If I can’t debut because I’m not skilled enough or not the talent the company is looking for, that’s fine.”
“But it’s not right for someone’s dream to be forcibly crushed for reasons other than that.”
Quite the idealistic sentiment. Yet Ju Eun-chan’s expression as he spoke was more sincere and serious than anyone else’s.
“And Tae-hyun hyung too… Tae-hyun hyung is like that. That guy really works hard.”
“Seo Tae-hyun?”
“Tae-hyun hyung’s nickname is Switch. He’s the one who turns the lights on and off in the Special Class Practice Room every day. But he’s always excluded from the Special Class benefits.”
“…”
“Just because the Executive Director dislikes him, he doesn’t get opportunities. That’s just ridiculous.”
Ha-jin once believed such things too. That good would vanquish evil, that justice would triumph, that karma would return. That values would change the world, that effort would be rewarded.
But the twenty-nine-year-old Kang Ha-jin knew that reality didn’t always work that way, which is why he couldn’t easily agree with Ju Eun-chan’s idealistic words. Ha-jin actually disliked such idealists. Those who dreamed without seeing reality sometimes frustrated and disappointed him.
And yet.
“I just… I hope people with the qualifications to debut actually debut. I want to be evaluated for my abilities alone.”
But the twenty-year-old Kang Ha-jin had dimly understood that such “ideals” were sometimes necessary for the world to turn right.
“…Alright. I understand your position.”
“…”
“So your own debut doesn’t necessarily have to be guaranteed?”
“Right. As long as the opportunity is fair, I’m confident.”
Having secured his confirmation, I finished my mental calculations and reached for more chicken. Perhaps because it was from an expensive neighborhood, it tasted good even when cold. Dan Ha-ru stared at me blankly, wondering why I was grabbing chicken wings in the middle of discussing something important, but honestly, that was all I had planned to cover today.
“…But what are you planning to do?”
“I’m still thinking it over. Once I’m more certain, I’ll tell you. For now, give me more information today.”
“Information?”
“Conflict is always about information warfare. In this fourth industrial revolution era, that’s the most important thing.”
“I see you have an innovative way of joking, hyung.”
He was asking me to spill some tea. I didn’t expect these two, who occupied an ambiguous position of subtle rivalry among the trainees, to know all the company gossip inside and out. Besides, there was specific tea I wanted to hear anyway.
“Why did Cha Min-seok go to Rene Entertainment?”
“Ah.”
For instance, the story about Cha Min-seok’s transfer that was publicly known as being due to an injury.
“You know we’re all in the same boat, right? You need to tell me everything you know. I need information to devise a strategy.”
“…It’s most reliable to hear the details from Seo Tae-hyun hyung. We only know what we’ve heard secondhand.”
Seo Tae-hyun? A person of interest had appeared again. A combination of Cha Min-seok and Seo Tae-hyun—I’d never heard of them together in my previous life.
“Seo Tae-hyun hyung came to Miro because of Cha Min-seok hyung in the first place. Min-seok hyung called him over.”
“Did they know each other from before?”
“I heard they trained together at the same academy for a long time. Then Seo Tae-hyun hyung left Boy’s Supremacy, and Cha Min-seok hyung joined Miro.”
But somehow, one of them went to Rene Entertainment and became the next center, while the other stayed at Miro and never even debuted.
“Cha Min-seok hyung was originally supposed to debut with Endway. But then he got a back injury and was pushed back to the next round…. That’s why he called Seo Tae-hyun hyung to debut together….”
“Then some parachute hire showed up, the debut lineup got reshuffled, and Cha Min-seok got shipped off to Rene Entertainment?”
“There’s talk that the Executive Director was the one who connected Cha Min-seok hyung to Rene Entertainment, but anyway, only Seo Tae-hyun hyung knows the details.”
“Dan Ha-ru, if you’re sleepy, go brush your teeth and come back.”
“Okay.”
I handed Dan Ha-ru a toothbrush as he nodded off beside me like a sick chicken. What is this, this drama is more interesting than I expected.
“After Boy’s Supremacy ended, Seo Tae-hyun hyung did all sorts of things. He went to events, performed on stages….”
“I’m sure he did.”
“But after Cha Min-seok hyung went to Rene Entertainment, he just practices. He’s in the Special Class but doesn’t get any benefits at all. It seems like something happened between him and the Executive Director, but he doesn’t really want to talk about it.”
Ju Eun-chan, who had been rubbing his eyes while giving me information, was gradually losing the battle against fatigue, and his words grew slower. Thinking of Seo Tae-hyun made him a little sad again, and his brows drooped.
“Hey, don’t cry. I don’t have the energy to comfort you. Go wash up quickly, you too.”
“…Seo Tae-hyun hyung was the one who took care of me the best since I first came to Miro.”
“Yeah, I get that you two have a special bond.”
“But after the concert incident last time, things feel awkward between us. He says he’s fine, but I feel so embarrassed and frustrated.”
“Yeah, I’m sure you do. Dan Ha-ru, once you’re done brushing, go lie down quickly. You go splash some cold water on your face.”
“Okay.”
After Dan Ha-ru finished brushing his teeth neatly, I pushed his forehead down onto the blanket spread in the living room, and I shoved Ju Eun-chan, who was burrowing in like a mole, up with my foot. Ju Eun-chan shot me a look that said I was being too harsh.
“What. What do you want me to do about it.”
“Do you really have no emotions, hyung?”
“He said he was fine.”
“But that’s….”
“Don’t apologize carelessly.”
“….”
“If you keep apologizing, Seo Tae-hyun can only say he’s fine.”
I hated that most of all. Keeping my thoughts locked behind my teeth, I pushed Ju Eun-chan away with my foot and laid Dan Ha-ru down. Hearing my words, Ju Eun-chan closed his mouth firmly and rose with a contemplative expression. Once he disappeared too, the vast living room—spacious enough to accommodate three men sprawled out—finally surrendered to silence.
“…hyung.”
“What.”
“…you’re really mature.”
Dan Ha-ru, whom I thought was already asleep buried under the blanket, murmured quietly like sleep-talk.
“Are you dissing me for being old?”
“I want to be like you, hyung.”
“Like me how.”
“…just, you seem so solid, hyung.”
Every time that young voice—one that hadn’t even finished breaking—called me hyung, I was reminded of all my past lives, and my conscience pricked a little.
‘Technically, this kid would be like my nephew. No, wait—I didn’t just get younger; I went back ten years, so more accurately, we’re the same age….’
I barely hit the brakes on that train of thought and reminded myself. Remember, Kang Ha-jin. You’re twenty, young enough to devour youth itself. Not twenty-nine, not twenty-nine-plus-something. Twenty, with blood still boiling hot.
“This is the first time I’ve told anyone… I’m glad I told you, hyung.”
“Stop sleep-talking and go to sleep.”
“Yes….”
When Ju Eun-chan returned, dressed in silk pajamas, the living room lights went out. I watched him choose to sleep in the living room rather than use his own bed, then closed my own eyes.
Whether from the exhausting practice or the unfamiliar space, sleep came in an instant.
* * *
‘These damn idiots….’
On a rainy afternoon, Son Hyung-gu, the Executive Director, swallowed a curse as he headed toward the smoking area.
Today’s planning meeting had included a session where ideas for the next debut group were submitted anonymously and given feedback. It was a method the representative had proposed for more horizontal and free-flowing brainstorming—everyone submitted their proposal in the same format, and by reviewing them together, they could receive more honest opinions.
And today, the Executive Director’s proposal received 13 votes of disapproval out of 15!
‘What do these guys know about idol planning? A&R this and that. None of them have the experience of pounding the pavement like me, actually making albums.’
Recently, nothing had gone Son Hyung-gu’s way, and he was growing dissatisfied with everything. By now, according to his original plan, he should already be running his own company under his own name, being called CEO. And yet this treatment!
‘I need to wrap everything up before seriously preparing for the next phase, damn it.’
The Executive Director, bristling with frustration at its peak, couldn’t hold back and stomped his foot with a bang. On days like this, he needed to grab someone and vent.
“…hello, Executive Director.”
For instance, a powerless trainee he happened to meet in the empty smoking area.
“Do you smoke?”
“…no, I came to throw away trash.”
“Tsk, never mind. Smoke if you want—it doesn’t matter anymore, right?”
Watching Seo Tae-hyun, with his rigid face, bite his lip without being able to retort, the Executive Director felt satisfied. He carelessly brushed back Tae-hyun’s sweat-dampened bangs with his finger and laughed viciously.
“As long as I’m at Miro, you’ll never debut. Got it?”
“….”
“That’s why you shouldn’t have done something so pointless. If you’d just listened to me, you wouldn’t have suffered.”
“…I’ll go now.”
“Cha Min-seok was smart enough to find his own way out, but you’re just stupid.”
The moment he mentioned Cha Min-seok, watching Seo Tae-hyun bristle, the Executive Director felt a subtle sense of victory. There had been a time when he’d used every means at his disposal to keep that guy in line. Seo Tae-hyun, who had rotted away at Miro for three years with no activities, was nothing more than a once-shining survival show star—nothing less, nothing more.
“Well, good luck then.”
He deliberately gave Seo Tae-hyun’s shoulder a hard pat, then walked toward his private smoking spot with slightly lighter steps. Only Tae-hyun remained, enduring all that humiliation, biting his lip until it nearly bled.
My mind automatically replayed the worst moments Seo Tae-hyun had endured, over and over again.
“Hey, Cha Min-seok. What are you?”
“…”
“I’m asking what you are. Are you really from Rene Entertainment?”
“Later. Let’s talk about it later.”
“Hey!”
There were memories that burned even brighter when I closed my eyes. Seo Tae-hyun forced them open stubbornly.
The first survival show from three years ago surfaced in my mind. The brilliant spotlight shining entirely on me, countless fans going wild for my performance on that stage. Every time I thought that might have been the last moment I ever truly shined, Seo Tae-hyun felt like I couldn’t bear it anymore.
“Ah, I need to head up to the Practice Room.”
I didn’t want to go in.
I didn’t want to go in.
…I wanted to run away.
In that moment, while biting my lip with those thoughts,
“Hey there.”
“?”
Startled by someone calling out to me, I lifted my head to find the new trainee I’d been introduced to by Ju Eun-chan last time, soaking wet from the rain, calling out to me. Before I could even wonder why he was here or if he’d overheard the entire conversation between me and the Executive Director,
“Do you happen to have any money?”
“Huh?”
Was I being shaken down for cash?

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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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