Grab the Regressor by the Collar and Debut - Chapter 145

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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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145
. Cheongchun Bulpae (4)
“Yes. I watched the Cheongchun Bulpae Team’s performance well. It truly seemed like the kind of stage that touched everyone’s hearts.”
Choi Yeon-woo skillfully wrapped up the moment with his closing remarks, tidying the atmosphere and those around him. Gong Seok and Jeong Si-u, who had been crying for quite some time, had only just managed to compose themselves.
“Personally, I went through a period of similar struggles, so the lyrics resonated even more deeply with me. Our Woong down in the audience is also weeping right now.”
The camera naturally panned to Park Woong, who sat in one section of the audience seating.
Park Woong, with his hat and hood both pulled down, his nose bright red, was pressing a wad of tissues that a nearby fan had handed him directly against his eyes.
Choi Yeon-woo continued the post-talk, asking the Cheongchun Bulpae Team about the behind-the-scenes moments of preparing their stage, and asking Seok and Si-woo about the burden they felt as the eldest members. Meanwhile, on stage, the process of clearing away and organizing instruments for the next performance continued.
Ha-jin, unwilling to let this emotion slip away, simply gazed silently at the audience members before him. The eyes of countless people were fixed upon us on stage, each pair brimming with their own feelings.
“Finally, trainee Ha-jin, would you share a few words as well?”
While Ha-jin was absorbing this beautiful sight into his eyes, it seemed everyone else had already shared their final thoughts. Ha-jin’s eyes briefly met those of Ha-ru, who was handing him the microphone. Ha-ru, whose eyes had reddened slightly—clearly moved as well—simply smiled and passed the microphone to me.
“….”
Ha-jin paused for a moment.
So many moments flashed before my eyes.
So, so many moments.
Soon, Ha-jin slowly lifted the microphone and opened his mouth.
“I’m truly grateful that I can sing like this in front of all of you. There was such a long stretch of time when I thought something like this would never happen.”
There had been stretches of emptiness that felt like an eternity.
“The process of accepting that I, who thought I was a star, might just be a stone—it was so painfully difficult.”
I had experienced such times as well.
“But I believe that without those times, I wouldn’t be able to sing this song with this heart, standing here right now.”
There are things you only see after they’ve passed.
Ha-jin could now see his own life with greater clarity.
“I learned through participating in Miro Maze that everything is merely a process until you place the final period. As I continue learning, one step at a time, I’ll strive to become someone who can share more stories with Destiny.”
Ha-jin spoke his closing remarks calmly, stripped of his usual cheerfulness and playfulness.
There was one more thing I wanted to say at the end, but Ha-jin hesitated. Whether I should say it, and what kind of ripples it might cause—many thoughts raced through my mind.
Soon, Ha-jin opened his mouth.
“I will become Kang Ha-jin, someone you won’t feel ashamed to love and support.”
Cheers erupted from among Destiny.
But Ha-jin’s words didn’t end there.
“So I ask that you also become people I can be proud of. Thank you.”
Ha-jin carefully delivered his final words, filtered and refined, and bowed respectfully toward the audience. The direction he looked as he finished was toward the group that had spoken unkindly to Won-ho earlier.
In a situation where the core fanbase was already being criticized as weak, this closing remark—which seemed to target his own fans—could potentially become a serious blow.
Yet Ha-jin harbored no regrets.
Even if his ranking plummeted because of these words.
“Yes. That was the Cheongchun Bulpae Team’s performance. Thank you for your hard work.”
Yeon-woo, sensing the subtle shift in atmosphere, quickly delivered his closing remarks. The Cheongchun Bulpae Team bowed ninety degrees to the audience before slowly descending from the stage. Evening had fully arrived.
As Ha-jin removed and returned his in-ear monitor, Seok, standing beside him, asked Ha-jin a question.
“Ha-jin.”
“Yes, hyung.”
“Really…. You’re just thinking of it as a process?”
“Pardon?”
“Oh, right—when you talked about your impressions earlier”
“Ah…. Yes. That’s what it feels like to me.”
And I hope you feel the same way, hyung.
I swallowed the final words that had risen all the way to my throat. I understood that Seok, too, had his own journey to experience fully—one that only he could walk.
Seok fell into quiet contemplation. I simply walked beside him in silence.
And so, the Cheongchun Bulpae Team’s stage came to an end.
* * *
The final team in Miro Maze’s guerrilla concert was the ‘Loving You Team,’ which included Lee Do-ha and Lee Yu-gun.
I’d thought it was just a rough mashup of “Loving you” and “Rap,” but surprisingly, it had meaning in Chinese characters.
“Come (來), lean on (憑), stay (留).”
“It means we’re inviting you to come to us anytime, lean on us, and stay with us.”
…For a hip-hop team, they’d gone surprisingly sentimental with the name, but since Destiny loved it anyway, I’d let it slide.
The Loving You Team consisted of leader Lee Do-ha, along with Lee Yu-gun, Shin Kyung-ho, and Jayden.
Except for Lee Yu-gun, who’d tried rapping for the first time in the Blue Flare Team, all of them were trainees who’d expressed interest in the rap position. So everyone had anticipated from the moment the team was formed that they’d be preparing a full-fledged rap stage.
“We’ll be betting the DJ desk and stage LED on our team mission.”
The Loving You Team had no choreography. Instead, to fill the empty stage, Jayden had personally brought in a DJ hyung he knew. The intent was to emphasize their rap performance by playing beats live on stage.
However, an unexpected disaster struck that no one had anticipated.
“Uh, uh…. How did this happen?”
“Loving You Team, you’ve failed your team mission! You cannot use the DJ desk and stage LED.”
The Loving You Team had failed their team mission, which had two items on the line.
However, the Loving You Team hadn’t performed their mission incorrectly.
“Ah, from my perspective, I thought this would pass. It seems Destiny’s standards are quite high.”
The Loving You Team’s mission was ‘Random Play Dance.’
It seemed like a mission selected because Lee Yu-gun, who danced well, and Lee Do-ha, who didn’t, had ended up on the same team.
All the songs that came up were either tracks from Miro Maze, or songs from Upia and Endway, Miro’s direct seniors.
There were three chances total.
On the first chance, Shin Kyung-ho forgot the choreography to ‘Daylight,’ Miro Maze’s title track, and they failed.
Destiny shouted “fail” in unison when Choi Yeon-woo asked for their judgment.
That was the spark.
-Yes, second attempt! What’s your judgment, Destiny?
-Fail!!!
-Ah, why? This is seriously unfair, really.
Destiny mercilessly called “fail” on the Loving You Team’s second attempt as well. Jayden had been a bit late finding his position once in the middle, but it was the kind of mistake that could reasonably be overlooked, yet they still failed him.
Yu-gun protested, pulling his scarf down past his shoulder as if aggrieved, but Destiny just laughed among themselves. As if to say: we’re not giving you guys a successful team mission.
There were several reasons the atmosphere had turned this way.
First, there simply weren’t many individual fans of the Loving You Team members present.
The core fanbase of Do-ha and Yu-gun, what little there was, consisted mostly of adults, making it difficult for them to attend this guerrilla concert held on a weekday afternoon in the Seoul suburbs.
Jayden had primarily risen this far through overseas fans’ picks rather than domestic ones, and Kyung-ho was currently losing fans as his dating rumors gradually spread.
On top of that, many of the fans here didn’t particularly care for Loving You.
There was no need to mention Shin Kyung-ho, who had already sparked dating rumors despite being a trainee.
Jayden, whom overseas fans constantly pestered with questions like “Why do you discriminate against him?”, also had poor public opinion among some fans. Even though Jayden hadn’t actually done anything wrong.
Lee Do-ha, who rapped well but couldn’t dance, gave off the vibe of “Not exactly my kid, but probably won’t debut anyway.”
And the evaluation of Yoo Gun, who at least had plenty of elements to stan, was rather polarized.
Because of this, when the first “Team Mission Failure” result came out, many Destinies found it entertaining.
No, that’s right. If my bias was on a team, I’d want them to somehow get all the items, but this team wasn’t like that.
From an entertainment perspective, how fun was it that the team mission failure meant they’d miss out on two items? And there was a certain charm in watching the trainees look flustered or wronged, desperately pleading with the Destinies to let them pass.
Finally, in the hearts of a few people who prided themselves on being stagnant water from staying on the stone platform so long, the thought “Surely they won’t actually deny us?” began to stir and raise its head.
Those who held a belief bordering on conviction that the survival program was all rigged and predetermined had baseless faith that even if they called failure this time, the production team would somehow make it work out.
And because all these reasons combined….
-Failure!
-No. We haven’t even danced properly yet, how is this a failure, seriously.
-Failure~~~
In the end, even the third attempt, which was their last chance, went down as a failure.
Since it was the final round, Choi Yeon-woo asked for the judgment to be reconsidered several times, and some Destinies even cautiously called out for success.
But when a vocal minority seized control of the atmosphere and began inciting the crowd, the masses were swept along with remarkable ease.
And so Loving You lost both the “Stage LED” and the “DJ Desk” in an instant.
When Choi Yeon-woo made the final announcement, the Destinies stirred as if they hadn’t expected it to end like this. Of course, it was a realization that came far too late.
“Still, the Destinies’ standards were quite high this time. At my discretion as MC, if you all pass the individual missions, I’ll make sure you can acquire the remaining two items as well. Destinies, that’s okay with you, right?”
“”Yes~!!””
“”No!””
“How can that be! Just do it without them!”
Choi Yeon-woo had created a reasonable way out with the “MC discretion” comment, but still, some people, intoxicated with the idea of “me directing this pleasant situation,” shouted at the top of their lungs.
Unable to watch any longer, the production team even paused recording for a moment to caution the audience about personal comments and such.
But it was getting to be evening.
Hundreds of people had gathered—far more than when they first started.
Controlling the mob mentality of so many people gathered in an open space was….
“Anyway, that doesn’t matter either way, your stage isn’t fun~”
…hopelessly, it wasn’t quite as simple as words made it sound.

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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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