Grab the Regressor by the Collar and Debut - Chapter 155

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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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155. One Week Before Finals
With merely three more gone, the dormitory felt wider than ever before—not just spacious, but desolate.
To avoid dwelling on those empty spaces, I decided to focus on what lay before me. In the Lounge, ten surviving trainees stood gathered with their luggage-filled suitcases. This morning, I’d received word from Ji Su-ho that we’d be relocating, so everyone had packed.
“Alright, everyone’s here? Even if you forget something, the managers will do a sweep anyway, so just let me know if you remember anything.”
“Yes.”
“Where we’re going is a temporary dormitory where you’ll stay until finals. You’ll be split into two houses—five of you plus one manager per house. It won’t be as spacious or well-equipped as here. Still, we’ve prepared it as comfortably as possible, so let’s keep doing our best during this remaining time.”
There was a legitimate reason for relocating before finals.
This place had originally been one floor of a building intended for Miro’s New Building, temporarily converted into dormitory space. Once finals ended and serious debut preparations began, the office relocation would proceed gradually, so now was the right time to vacate the rooms.
Moreover, though Ji Su-ho called it a temporary dormitory, that space would almost certainly become the permanent dormitory for the newly formed group determined by finals.
One week from now.
Some would remain in that dormitory, receive a new group name, and debut,
while others would pack their belongings once more and leave.
‘This really is a ruthless competitive world.’
I clicked my tongue at the harsh reality etching itself into my bones once again.
“Let’s move then.”
Still, I had to survive.
Because debut was merely the beginning.
With that resolve, several suitcases rolled forward with a rumbling sound.
* * *
Upon arriving at the new dormitory and being assigned a room, Kang Ha-jin realized I’d momentarily forgotten something very important.
‘When does this damn regression world ever end?’
[System Notification: The system suggests that by this point, you might as well enjoy it.]
How comforting.
With eyes as cold and stale as frozen pollack, I glared at Thirteen with a murderous intent sharper than his blue window. Startled for a moment, Thirteen quickly sensed the mood and, adjusting his transparency, gradually faded away….
“Ra” or “La”
I lost.
Come on…
“Ha-jin. Hun said people going to the Practice Room should come down by 10 minutes from now.”
“Got it.”
As if summoned by my thoughts, my new dormitory roommate number one—the strongest in this regression world—came bounding over. It was Dan Ha-ru, whose ranking had plummeted to eighth in this evaluation, dropping him out of debut contention.
Despite his ranking falling and being pushed outside the debut line, Ha-ru didn’t seem particularly discouraged, contrary to expectations.
Rather, he seemed at peace?
‘Like a baby rabbit warrior in a peaceful daily chapter after defeating the Demon King….’
So our baby rabbit warrior was a Chosen Regressor.
It was still shocking no matter how many times I thought about it, but warriors, knights, and princes appeared frequently in regression stories anyway, so I could brush it off as a genre characteristic.
I patted the seat beside me, gesturing for Ha-ru to sit. He quickly settled down next to me, and after observing him for a moment, I reached over and pinched those soft cheeks once more.
“Ha-ru.”
“Huh? (Yes?)”
“Are you okay?”
“Huh? (What do you mean?)”
“Your ranking dropped.”
“Ah.”
Ah? Ah~?
I’ve been on an emotional rollercoaster over your ranking, and that’s all the reaction I get?
Watching the Chosen Regressor (presumed) remain composed and oblivious to the Fixed Regressor’s turmoil, Ha-jin felt indignant and increased the pressure of his pinch on the cheek. Ha-ru’s initial “Ah~” quickly transformed into “Ah…!” in an instant.
“Ow! (It hurts!)”
“You’re giving me a headache.”
“Huh? (Why?)”
“Yeah, well….”
As Ha-jin released the pressure from his grip, Ha-ru’s youthful, plump cheeks flushed red for a moment before returning to normal. Since Ha-jin had deliberately controlled his strength, Ha-ru didn’t whine further and simply rubbed his cheek while looking up at Ha-jin.
“Ha-ru.”
“Yes?”
“Are your parents coming to the Finals this time?”
Ha-jin tried his best to ask in a casual tone. Unlike that time with Yoo Gun’s truth game where he’d stumbled upon the answer by chance, deliberately probing someone like this didn’t suit him at all.
Upon hearing Ha-jin’s question, Ha-ru blinked as if buffering for a moment, then shook his head.
“No, both of them are overseas, so it’ll be difficult for them to come.”
“What about your grandmother? You said she lives in the Provinces.”
“Grandmother isn’t in good health, and traveling back and forth to Seoul would be too hard for her, so she decided to watch on TV from home.”
In other words, no one was coming.
Watching Ha-ru deliver this news with an unbothered expression, merely shrugging his shoulders, Ha-jin felt his mood become complicated.
If this child’s entire life truly was constructed from lies, then those lies were probably woven from nothing but his earnest wishes and desperate longings.
Ha-jin gently stroked Ha-ru’s head and opened his mouth.
“…After the Finals, if you don’t have any plans, want to grab a meal with my family?”
“With your parents?”
“Yeah. Mom said she’d buy us ribs that day.”
“Wow, I’d really love that….”
As Ha-ru trailed off uncertainly, Ha-jin pinched his cheek once more and spoke.
“I’m not going to ask you to pay, so if you’re okay with it, come along.”
“Huh. Yes. Thank you so much.”
As Ha-jin released his cheek, Ha-ru rubbed it while breaking into a bright, genuine smile. That laughter belonged unmistakably to a pure-hearted seventeen-year-old boy, and Ha-jin’s heart grew increasingly troubled.
“Everyone. Those heading to the Practice Room need to head down now.”
Jeong Si-u, the second new dormitory roommate, emerged from the room carrying practice shoes and announced this.
Si-u, who had taken on the role of dormitory representative for the week due to being the oldest, checked what appeared to be a message from the manager and knocked on the door to notify the trainees inside.
Ha-ru, who had been sitting beside Ha-jin, immediately raised his hand in response upon hearing Si-u’s voice.
“Oh, I’m going! Ha-jin, you’re coming too, right?”
“No. I’m staying here to organize my things today. Go ahead.”
“Okay! Si-u, let’s go together!”
As Ha-jin shook his head, Ha-ru gathered his belongings and stood up. At the same moment, another door opened and Yoo Gun, Ha-jin’s third new roommate and another ticking time bomb, shuffled out. Si-u looked at him and asked.
“You’re heading to practice too?”
“…Yes.”
“Right. I’m heading down now. You don’t have anything to pack, do you?”
“No, I don’t.”
Since the Blue Flare Team incident, the sharp confrontation between the two had temporarily cooled, but that didn’t mean it had significantly improved their relationship either.
‘It’s not conflict or anything—they’re just not close.’
Jeong Si-u wasn’t the type to actively seek out friendships, and Lee Yu-gun wasn’t idle enough to approach someone who wouldn’t come to him on his own.
On top of that, with Lee Yu-gun’s recent consecutive high rankings, his mind seemed increasingly complicated.
[System Alert: Why is that…?]
[System Alert: The system is confused by Yu-gun’s psychology, which it cannot comprehend!]
[System Notification: The system is confused by Yoo Gun’s incomprehensible psychology!]
[System Alert: @◇@?]
‘Debuting sounds nice, but it’s really just unpaid freelance work.’
Miro had decent trainee benefits, but things changed once you debuted.
Of course, even after debuting, tuition support through high school graduation continued, but the living stipend that had been provided under the guise of “trainee dignity maintenance” would be cut off. Since the company covered basic necessities like housing, transportation, and meals anyway, it was only natural.
But Lee Yu-gun was currently the breadwinner of a household with two middle school-aged younger siblings, and losing that existing living stipend would inevitably deal a blow to his family finances. He couldn’t take on a part-time job since he needed to prepare for debut, and even after debuting, it would take time before actual profits—after investment costs were deducted—reached his account.
‘And on top of that, it’s uncertain how long it’ll take for those profits to materialize, or how much they’ll even be. From Yu-gun’s perspective, it’s enough to give anyone a headache.’
If I thought about it coldly, the right move would be to quit right now and find a way to make a living, but….
‘He’s probably got a lot on his mind too.’
…However, Ha-jin didn’t believe that was the ‘right’ approach.
Lee Yu-gun’s family circumstances weren’t his fault, and I knew all too well how much it hurt a person to sacrifice their youth and dreams right before their eyes for something that wasn’t their responsibility.
[System Alert: Did the Chosen Regressor experience something like that?]
‘Not me.’
[System Alert: Then…?]
‘…Yes. People who abandoned their own dreams because it was painful, and wanted their children to pursue whatever they wanted without worrying about money.’
As I recalled my parents’ faces—how they’d done everything in their limited means to support two consecutive children in the arts—I felt tears threatening to well up again.
I couldn’t presume to judge Yu-gun’s situation one way or another…. But at the very least, I didn’t want to condemn his current determination as irresponsible or greedy.
“Anyway…. Why are all my dormitory mates so suffocating?”
It would’ve been easier if Ju Eun-chan, Jayden, and Park Jae-young went wild while Lee Do-ha stood by and Seo Tae-hyun drained the energy from the neighboring dormitory.
Ha-jin sighed and headed to his assigned room to organize his luggage. The moment he opened the door, he remembered why he’d been clinging to the living room sofa instead of coming straight here when he first arrived at the dormitory.
“…Oh.”
“….”
“Were you… sleeping?”
“Oh, no. You can turn on the light.”
When I opened the door, my eyes met those of Won-ho (Kim Won-ho, New Dormitory Roommate #4, my biggest recent source of worry) lying on the lower bunk of the bunk bed.
As Ha-jin turned on the light, Won-ho squinted against the sudden brightness, then pulled the blanket over himself and rolled to face the wall.
‘…How did things end up like this between us?’
It wasn’t intentional, but somehow Won-ho and I hadn’t exchanged a single word since the guerrilla concert.
Neither Won-ho nor I were avoiding each other, and from what Tae-hyun had told me, Won-ho seemed to have resolved most of his inner concerns, yet the atmosphere felt awkward somehow.
‘He was always the type to approach me first, calling out “Ha-jin hyung.”‘
Truth be told, even now it wouldn’t be difficult for me to casually start a conversation with him. But given the timing, even the lightest comment felt delicate. I held no resentment toward Won-ho, but gauging his feelings was something I couldn’t easily determine.
Still, since we’d ended up sharing a room like this, I didn’t want to show obvious awkwardness, so I unzipped my carry-on and carefully opened my mouth toward Won-ho.
“Kim Won-ho, did you see yourself in the Round 3 behind-the-scenes footage that went up?”
“…Oh. No, not yet.”
“There was quite a bit of screen time. Watching it made me think back to our monthly evaluation, and it felt kind of strange.”
“Yeah? I should check it out.”
Won-ho answered my casual remarks dutifully, but I could definitely sense his energy was lower than before. Still, I tried not to dwell on his demeanor and continued the conversation as naturally as possible, straightening my clothes.
“We really had fun during that monthly eval.”
“Yeah. It was tough, but it was fun.”
“If someone had told you back then that you’d make it all the way to the Miro Maze Finals, would you have believed them?”
“…No. Never.”
At my playful question, Won-ho finally let out a soft laugh, shook his head, and turned his body toward me. Feeling oddly pleased by that, I impulsively shared the thought I’d been harboring all along.
“I hope we debut together like this and keep being roommates at the Dormitory. Don’t you?”
Hearing those words, Won-ho’s expression became subtly strange.
Not sad, not disappointed, and yet not appearing happy or proud either…. An odd expression.
Above Won-ho’s face, a translucent blue window appeared with its characteristically perfect timing.
“…Yeah. That would be nice.”
Even as Won-ho nodded and answered, I couldn’t bring myself to smile.
[System Alert: ‘Kim Won-ho’ is responding to you. (Response Rate: 37%)]
[System Alert: Response rate too low. Unable to recruit colleague.]
One week until the Finals.
I felt certain that this week would stretch out long and lonely.

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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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