Grab the Regressor by the Collar and Debut - Chapter 16

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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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16. The Most Effective Way to Defuse a Bomb (1)
“Yes, hyung. I’m sorry. I got startled when I saw the cat and came out without a chance to say anything. Yes. Yes, I’ll take good care of Tae-hyun and bring him along. Yes.”
The Animal Hospital turned out to be closer than I expected. While Seo Tae-hyun held the cat tightly and received treatment, the first thing I did was call the rookie development team manager, who was probably panicking over the sudden disappearance of two trainees at once.
No matter how rampant unauthorized absences were in this industry, I had absolutely no intention of becoming such an unreliable trainee.
‘Why did he follow me anyway?’
If I’d been alone, I would’ve told Ji Su-ho and figured out how to cover for it, but because of him, I had no choice. I thought he’d just call a taxi and leave, but he naturally got in with me.
-…? You’re not going to practice?
-How am I supposed to pay for the hospital bill?
-Ah.
-Let’s go together.
His expression looked exactly like a cat asking me to take him along, so I just came with him. Besides, I didn’t have a card to pay the hospital bill anyway.
“….”
“The manager hyung said to come in carefully.”
“…Yeah.”
Seo Tae-hyun and I formally introduced ourselves on the way here. We were only a year apart, but he kept using formal speech, which felt awkward, so somehow we ended up dropping it. (I hadn’t planned on this)
Seo Tae-hyun, whose nickname was “bright smile,” stared at the sleeping cat in the animal hospital cage with an expressionless, gray-like face. I recalled the conversation he’d had with the Executive Director earlier.
-As long as I’m at Miro, you’ll never debut. Got it?
-….
-Why did you do something so pointless? If you’d just listened to me, you wouldn’t have suffered.
-…I’ll head back first.
-Cha Min-seok was smart and found his own way out, but you’re just being stupid.
I had a hunch that I needed to open that Pandora’s box, but my lips wouldn’t move. I sat down next to Seo Tae-hyun and turned my gaze toward the cat.
“How’s the cat doing?”
“Ah, they got in touch with the owner. Looks like it had a microchip. It wasn’t an abandoned cat.”
“That’s a relief. …So, should we head back? Hyung said to return as quickly as possible.”
“…Yeah.”
At the word “return,” a shadow fell across his face. Since he was always smiling on TV, this expression felt strangely unfamiliar.
“Your reaction’s been off since earlier. Don’t you want to go?”
“Huh?”
“Then just say you’re sick and leave early. I already laid the groundwork with the manager hyung, saying you got soaked in the rain.”
So this was pure meddling. Impulsive meddling.
“But still…. What if I miss practice?”
“You followed me because you wanted to skip practice anyway, didn’t you?”
“….”
“There’s nothing in this world that’s truly impossible. People just don’t do it because they’re anxious.”
What’s your relationship with the Executive Director? What did you do to make him hate you so much? If he’s like that, no matter how hard you work, it won’t matter, right?
I folded away those unkind words, not yet ready to recklessly open Pandora’s box. The least comfort I could offer.
“Or we could just wait until the owner arrives.”
[System Alarm: Time Remaining: 00:05:16…. (Achievement Rate: 93.7%)]
By the time we got here, the time had already passed anyway, so there was no reason to rush back to the company. I couldn’t just suddenly volunteer to help someone at an animal hospital I’d never been to before. Well, I figured I’d be satisfied enough with saving one cute life.
“…Thank you.”
[System Alarm: Forty-fifth Help Achieved! (Completion Rate: 99.8%)]
Time Remaining: 00:04:58….
Will this work?
Along with Seo Tae-hyun’s barely audible whisper, the system window refreshed with a soft chime.
What? Giving me this much? He really hated going to the company that much? With a whopping 6% accumulated, I found myself receiving the highest-tier reward almost by accident, and I instinctively turned my gaze toward Seo Tae-hyun, the cause of this outcome.
“…He fell asleep already.”
Seo Tae-hyun was sleeping. His rain-soaked hat was pressed firmly onto his head, and he sat in the animal hospital chair with his neck bent uncomfortably.
Suddenly, I recalled the previous life of this guy that I remembered.
[Chat] What’s STH up to these days?
Didn’t he debut as a male idol somewhere? I thought he’d be the most successful among STH’s outputs, but after going on hiatus, there’s been no news.
– Didn’t he make a solo debut last year? The response was pretty lukewarm, I think?
└ The song was good though, I still listen to it
└ Wow, it’s been forever. I was the one obsessed with Cherry Boy back then
– His life really doesn’t seem to be working out; honestly, his talent is beyond even current active idols
└ That’s a bit much; you just came out swinging
What the hell is this cheap shot lolololol it’s facts
Boy Heaven’s Seo Tae-hyun. Cherry Boy’s Seo Tae-hyun. Seo Tae-hyun, who ultimately shone for that one moment before fading away. If someone wanted to change their life even through hundreds of regressions, I wondered if it would be someone like this—that was Seo Tae-hyun’s life.
‘Will you have a successful debut?’
Small things within fixed events.
It was the only law I had discovered through five regressions. Within events that inevitably occurred, people easily changed very small things through their own will.
Then was the ‘fixed’ thing happening to Seo Tae-hyun cycling through pre-debut teams, or was it ultimately disappearing from the entertainment industry?
I gazed at the rain pouring down fiercely. It was the end of an unknowable day.
* * *
[System Alarm: Sudden Quest!]
Content: Bonus Time for the Weary You☆ Explore your surroundings and provide as much help as possible!
Success Reward:
[Final 99.8% Achieved!]
[Success Reward: Heartwarming Anecdote After Debut (High)]
[Success Reward: Offset Sudden Event (Seo Tae-hyun’s Departure)]
[Success Reward: Unexpected Fortune (Cat’s Gratitude)]
All success rewards will be granted at once.
* * *
A weekend that came around after a while should naturally be spent in bed at home, but unfortunately, I found myself on the swing at the Playground again.
‘That annoying Kang Ha-won.’
I trudged through the sand, recalling my irritating younger sibling who had mercilessly chased me out, saying he had lots of homework. Once again, the crunching sand infiltrated between my slippers, dirtying only my feet.
‘Next time, I should wear sneakers. Really.’
It was a shame that the option of not coming didn’t exist, but what could I do? My entry into the warm and cozy Apartment where my room awaited, having escaped the semi-basement, was still a future prospect some distance away.
“Hmm, what should I start with.”
I activated the 【Memo Skill】 that I had obtained through a modest 30 cash purchase(?) last night.
Soon, a notification window without text appeared in the air. When I grabbed the edge and enlarged it, the system was taken aback.
[System Alert: The system is…, not a tablet PC…!]
So what. If I use it that way, that’s how it is.
Since it was a system that arose for some reason rather than being originally implemented, it seemed to have various loopholes, but in any case, I was using it well enough that I had no complaints.
“Alright, let’s organize the information first.”
Since I had no pen, I scribbled roughly with my finger, writing down all the information I’d gathered so far. For the parts that were too tedious to write, my thoughts automatically typed themselves out.
‘…This is better than I expected?’
Seeing the well-organized notes alongside the feeling of getting a tablet PC for free—something that didn’t exist even in my first life—filled me with satisfaction.
“So what should I do first?”
I already had a rough plan in my head, but I needed someone who could verify whether it was feasible and provide accurate information that Ju Eun-chan and Dan Ha-ru wouldn’t know.
And fortunately, I had just the right ‘colleague’ for that.
“System window.”
[System Alert: The system responds.]
“View colleague ‘Ji Su-ho’.”
[Ji Su-ho (Awakened)]
Descriptors: ‘Of Burning Passion’, ‘The Deepest Shadow’
Trait: Star Maker☆
-Recognizes the qualities of those destined to become stars. (Accuracy: 77%)
-Depending on a star’s qualities, different colored auras manifest.
Special: Affected by ‘past timelines’ through contact with the Chosen Regressor. (Déjà vu)
[Recruited colleagues’ current status and location can be identified, and they can be summoned if needed (10 Cache required).]
It seems various additional systems were added after the Cache system was created. I’ll make good use of it.
But how exactly does summoning work?
Curious, I spent 10 Cache and pressed the summon button.
“…Nothing’s happening?”
The system window displayed a message about summoning Ji Su-ho, as if showing a call connection screen, then quickly closed.
What. Did it just eat my 10 Cache?
Vrrrrr―.
“…?”
Just as I was contemplating how to make it cough up the Cache if this was truly a scam, Ji Su-ho suddenly called me.
But something felt… off.
“Hello?”
-Is this Kang Ha-jin?
“What is it?”
-Just now, a very sudden and overwhelming thought came to me that I absolutely had to contact you.
This is maddening.
“…It’s just a coincidence. I don’t have telepathy or anything.”
-But somehow, it feels like you might be capable of it, Ha-jin.
“No, I’m not.”
So this was what summoning meant. I desperately maintained my composure and got to the point.
—Well, then should we end the call…?
“No, I had things I wanted to discuss anyway, so let’s meet up.”
—Things to discuss? Sure. Then I’ll head over to Kang Ha-jin’s neighborhood.
But what’s this about? Did you find that person? Ji Su-ho asked in a serious tone, and I offered him an appropriately vague response as always.
“No. I’m planning a promotion project for Ji Su-ho.”
—Pardon?
“Let’s make you Executive Director, Ji Su-ho.”
It seemed I’d be removing the current Executive Director soon enough anyway.
* * *
Since joining Miro, Seo Tae-hyun had never missed a single weekend practice session. Today was no exception.
—Still… what if I skip practice?
—You didn’t follow me because you wanted to skip practice, did you?
—…
—Nothing’s truly impossible in this world. People just don’t do it because they’re anxious.
Tae-hyun shook out his sweat-dampened hair and irritably switched off the audio player. He could feel in his bones that his concentration had shattered, rendering the practice ineffective.
“What can I do about the anxiety?”
Tae-hyun had been anxious all along. It was true during his Boy Heaven days, even more so after being eliminated from it. And it had only intensified since joining Miro and his relationship with the Executive Director deteriorated.
A single dream he’d clung to for so long. Having already tasted its brilliance once, Tae-hyun could never surrender that sweetness.
“…Ah, that hyung really said something unnecessary.”
Tae-hyun, who had been lost in thought, finally sprang to his feet with irritation. No matter how he thought about it, today’s practice was a lost cause. This was all because of that Kang Ha-jin hyung. Tae-hyun rationalized it that way.
As he emerged from the shower, his phone rang as if it had been waiting. The caller ID read ♡Puppy Dan♡—a contact name Dan Ha-ru had saved himself. Tae-hyun answered with a smile.
“Yeah, Ha-ru.”
—Hyung. Please don’t hang up first.
“What are you talking about, all of a sudden?”
—I’m about to tempt you into skipping weekend practice to go have fun, and it’ll break my heart if you hang up.
A small laugh escaped him. Ha-ru always approached him like this—bright and cheerful.
“Want to go get some tteokbokki?”
—…Who is this? Our Tae-hyun hyung would never eat tteokbokki on a weekend!
“Fine, forget it then.”
—Hyung seems unaware because you only practice, but there’s divine punishment if you eat tteokbokki without Dan Ha-ru.
Delighted by my words, Ha-ru announced the meeting place and time in that characteristic clear voice of his, then hung up. Tae-hyun changed into his casual sneakers. Without realizing it, he had begun humming a melody.
The staff members watched with unfamiliar expressions as Tae-hyun walked out in comfortable canvas shoes instead of his practice sneakers. As he adjusted his bag and headed for the exit, the sky seemed particularly clear and blue today.
“Seo Tae-hyun?”
“Oh. Sung-woo hyung.”
“You’re stopping practice today? What’s the occasion?”
“Ah, yes. I’m going to meet Ha-ru.”
Sung-woo, whom he’d encountered in the hallway, spoke in a friendly tone. As Tae-hyun, who was neither comfortable nor close with him, offered a polite greeting and tried to pass by, Sung-woo suddenly seemed to remember something and stopped him.
“Right. I heard Cha Min-seok is debuting in the second half of the year. It’s confirmed. Did you get the call?”
“…Really? That’s great.”
“What, he didn’t contact you? Wow, that guy really went too far till the end.”
“It’s been a while since I switched companies and didn’t reach out.”
“Come on, you should’ve at least told me. In a way, you’re debuting because of me.”
And as always,
“Cha Min-seok, you took my spot and went to Rene Entertainment.”
“…What?”
“You sold me out and went to Rene Entertainment. They originally wanted you, not him. You really didn’t know?”
Cheap manipulation always had a way of surfacing at moments like these.

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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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