Grab the Regressor by the Collar and Debut - Chapter 175

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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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175. Penalty (6)
The Dan Ha-ru standing before me was decidedly not the Dan Ha-ru I knew.
It was as if the Dan Ha-ru I knew now had aged another decade, his entire being weathered by the tempests of time and the exhaustion of existence.
The impression he gave bore an uncanny resemblance to the Dan Ha-ru from the “original timeline” I’d witnessed before.
“Damn it. How the hell did my life end up with this fantasy hashtag attached to it….”
I’d been grateful it wasn’t a hunter novel just recently, but at least you could beat monsters to death. This was something else entirely—formless data fragments of zeros and ones playing human, and there was no way to smash it to pieces. Truly infuriating.
While I sat on the bed, clutching my head in frustration, The Returner wearing Dan Ha-ru’s skin moved slowly and perched on the desk. Then he smiled and spoke to me.
“Don’t worry. I’m just borrowing this form temporarily to talk with you.”
“You probably don’t realize this since you’re not human, but usually when someone kidnaps and confines another person before talking to them, that’s called coercion, not conversation.”
“Ah, but you wouldn’t listen even if I tried to coerce you.”
The Returner’s eyes gleamed crimson, accompanied by a chilling smile.
So this is what it takes to feel a chill looking at Dan Ha-ru’s face.
What disturbed me most was that even now, I could make such detached observations. The fact that I was gradually adapting to this genre irritated me.
“So, what conversation did you want to have? Let’s hear it.”
Since there was no way to escape this place immediately anyway, I asked The Returner out of curiosity about what nonsense he’d spout. Then he slowly opened his mouth.
“Ha-jin. Do you hate regression?”
“If you were in my position, working hard only to have your life rolled back and end up going to the military three times, would you like it?”
“Ha. Don’t lie. You weren’t working hard anyway.”
This bastard.
“I asked you last time, remember? Whether I should give it back to you? And you couldn’t answer then, could you?”
I was frustrated that I had no real counterargument to his irritating smile.
As my teeth ground together, The Returner continued.
“Ha-jin. You should be grateful to me.”
“…”
“Because of the regression, your pathetic life changed 180 degrees, didn’t it? Didn’t it?”
“…”
“I don’t understand why you ignore all the benefits you’ve gained from this and treat only me as the villain. I’m not your enemy. Not to Ha-ru, and not to you.”
I simply offer you choices.
The whispered voice sounded like that of a demon itself.
The Returner pointed to the single small, narrow bed I was sitting on.
“If it weren’t for me, if regression hadn’t happened. How could someone like you have debuted as an idol, loved by so many people?”
Unfortunately, my debut never happened—my life genre had already drifted into fantasy-horror before I could even try.
I marveled at The Returner’s talent for psychological manipulation, which he’d demonstrated since last time, and asked.
“…Did you gaslight Dan Ha-ru the same way?”
“Gaslight? We simply made a deal.”
“If taking Dan Ha-ru’s body is the price, then that’s human trafficking. Do you understand?”
“I gave Ha-ru a choice. Ha-ru made the decision, so I don’t understand why you’re making a fuss.”
The expression on The Returner’s face—wearing Dan Ha-ru’s features—turned ice-cold in an instant.
When those eyes that always sparkled lost all their light, an eerie sensation washed over me.
I forced my stiffening facial muscles to move and spoke.
“So what? What are you going to do to me? You’ve done nothing but run your mouth since last time. Unless you’re planning to possess Ha-ru and stab me with a knife, I’m not scared of you.”
“Hmm. Now that’s something to fear. I should consider that method too.”
“This bastard is openly threatening murder right in front of me now.”
Thirteen, please. What are you doing? Don’t show up at a time like this.
These Time Management Authority officials really don’t help my life as a fixed Chosen Regressor, I thought, bracing myself against Dol-ja. Dol-ja seemed to notice my fear, letting out a mocking laugh as he slowly approached me.
“You said the problem was constantly being regressed, right? Then how about this? I’ll erase every single timeline you’ve regressed through. And you’ll go back to being twenty-nine-year-old loser Kang Ha-jin.”
“….”
“No fans’ love, no amazing colleagues. In exchange, no more regressions, and you won’t have to meet me again either. How’s that? You don’t like it? You want the regressions to stop, but you can’t bear to give up Kairos Kang Ha-jin, can you?”
“….”
“If you don’t like that, I have another proposal.”
Dol-ja, who had come right up to my face and crouched down, made his offer with a bright smile.
“I’ll just let you go so I can complete my deal with Ha-ru safely.”
“….”
“I made a deal with the Chosen Regressor Ha-ru. When everything’s over, the Chosen Regressor Ha-ru’s personality will disappear, and I’ll take over Ha-ru’s body with only the base personality remaining. By your definition, that would be possession.”
“….”
“Then naturally, all the timelines entangled with the Chosen Regressor Ha-ru will vanish, so you won’t have to keep regressing along with Ha-ru either.”
You’ll live as Kairos Kang Ha-jin without having to fear regressions anymore.
“After all, what’s precious to you is Ha-ru, not the Chosen Regressor. You’ve never even met him, have you?”
“…That doesn’t make you any more precious either, though.”
“Even if I possess this body, all you’ll see is just Ha-ru. Nothing changes.”
“….”
“Don’t pretend to be virtuous, Ha-jin. Just think about your own gain.”
In that moment, his eyes—which had rarely lost their light like a dead fish’s gaze—shifted back to the form I knew.
Before me now was the Ha-ru I knew, smiling brilliantly as he looked at me.
“Ha-jin hyung. Choose me.”
Why should I care about some Chosen Regressor personality I don’t even know?
Just as I was starting to lose patience with how perfectly he mimicked that characteristic carefree tone of voice,
something glimmered behind the Ha-ru—no, Dol-ja—who was looking at me.
‘…What is that?’
Behind Dol-ja was the ordinary entrance door of our house. The dark blue iron door that our whole family had painted ourselves when we first moved in to save money.
Above that door, which I knew so well I sometimes even saw it in dreams, something distinctly out of place was faintly glowing.
【☆★EXIT☆★】
Why is something like that attached to our entrance door?
The moment I saw that jarring sign, I realized where I was trapped.
What the nature of this nausea was—the unsettling churning in my stomach, the sickly feeling rising up.
“…Right, I thought so. It was strange how composed I was in a situation like this.”
Dol-ja, who had been threatening me with various choices, froze at my words.
I flipped the middle finger at Dol-ja one more time, still wearing Ha-ru’s face as he tried so hard to tempt me.
“Fuck off. You idiot.”
With those words, I shoved Dol-ja hard and bolted straight toward the entrance door.
“Damn it! Please, just pick one genre and stick with it!”
Sensing my intention, the entrance door that had been right in front of me suddenly receded, and all manner of obstacles began materializing around me.
At the same time, I became certain that this was the Unconscious Space, and I sprinted toward the entrance, leaping over and dodging walls and barriers that erupted from the ground and shot in from the sides.
“You think my nickname is ‘Parkour Master’ for nothing, damn it!”
Now even a ball came rolling to trip me, but I escaped with superhuman reflexes, jumping clear. As I drew closer, the 【☆★EXIT☆★】 letters grew larger, and the blue light blazed with increasing intensity.
I was certain it was Thirteen’s trace, and I threw my entire body forward to grab the doorknob.
“I don’t understand. Why won’t you accept it? It’s a reasonable proposal.”
Behind me, the Returner’s voice crackled and warped unnaturally as it reached my ears.
I didn’t even glance back—I just wrenched the door open.
“Are people machines? Do you measure out grams on a scale and act accordingly?”
That’s why you’re nothing but zeros and ones, you bastard.
As I spoke those words and stepped through the doorway, a sensation of being sucked into somewhere enveloped my entire body.
When I opened my eyes again.
“….”
Ding—,
“Hyung, aren’t you coming in?”
Standing before me wasn’t that deranged psychopath, but the real Dan Ha-ru.
“…Ha-jin hyung?”
Watching Dan Ha-ru blink his round eyes in confusion, I felt oddly detached from reality.
I quickly glanced around, then pulled out my phone to check the time.
It felt like I’d wrestled with the Returner for an eternity in the Unconscious Space, yet only a few minutes seemed to have passed. After confirming the time and date were normal, I immediately called Kim Won-ho.
-…Hello?
“Kim Won-ho. When did we say we’d eat?”
-That’s the day after tomorrow. Why suddenly?
“Did I say I’d go near Lime Entertainment?”
-Yeah. I have a lesson that day, so you said you’d come over here. Why? Is something wrong?
“No, nothing. I just couldn’t remember. Hang up. See you the day after tomorrow.”
-Huh? Okay, sure…. See you then.
Just to be safe, I verified that Kim Won-ho’s timeline was intact before ending the call.
I was a bit worried about Park Sang-yul too, but I could check on him through his mother later….
For now, nothing had happened.
“Hyung, were you meeting with Won-ho hyung? Huh. Can’t I come too?”
After hanging up and letting out a relieved sigh, the very source of all this chaos—yet simultaneously someone who knew nothing of any of it—came fluttering toward me.
I stared down at the sparkling boy, whose presence was distinctly different from what I’d just been witnessing.
“…Ow! Why are you like this, seriously!!! (Why are you doing this, really!)”
And without hesitation, I pinched his soft cheek hard, causing Dan Ha-ru to flail and hop around trying to pry my arm away.
Mm. I’d definitely returned to reality.
Even as I confirmed that this was the sparkling boy I knew, I couldn’t hide my irritation, so I pinched his cheek with slightly more force than usual before letting go.
“Dan Ha-ru.”
“Huh?”
I wanted to demand what the hell he was doing making a deal with that scumbag, but Dan Ha-ru was looking up at me with eyes that screamed innocence. Seeing that face, all my fighting spirit evaporated, and I simply grabbed Dan Ha-ru by the shoulder and headed into the Convenience Store.
“…Never mind. What’s the point of telling you?”
“Ow… (It hurts….)”
“I’ll buy you ice cream.”
“I don’t want it—I just had some.”
“Then pick out some snacks.”
“Yes!”
I entered the Convenience Store with Dan Ha-ru, who was clutching his tingling cheeks and whimpering.
While Dan Ha-ru grabbed a toothbrush in three seconds and spent three minutes selecting snacks, my mind was churning with countless thoughts.
“Ha-jin! I’ve picked everything!”
“…If you eat all that, your teeth will really rot.”
“That’s why I bought the toothbrush!”
I gave Dan Ha-ru a casual nod as he bundled an armful of snacks together, and he hummed cheerfully toward the checkout counter.
As I pulled out my wallet to pay, I recalled the final words The Returner had left before I exited the Unconscious Space.
-Even if problems arise in your life, will you still be able to say that? Will you be able to reject my hand then too?
Leaving The Returner’s thought-provoking question behind, I exited the Convenience Store with Dan Ha-ru.
After that, contrary to my worries, nothing happened.
We were able to finish the one-night, two-day team-building event peacefully and enjoyably as planned,
and on the final day of my vacation, I met Kim Won-ho as promised, waiting outside Lime Entertainment after he finished practice. Somehow, that day’s promise had grown in scale, and it became a group gathering that included not just Kim Won-ho and me, but also Lee Do-ha, Gong Seok, Yun Tae-hee, Dan Ha-ru, and Ju Eun-chan.
And finally, on the first day after all my vacation ended, when I entered the Dormitory as a member of Kairos.
I was able to understand what The Returner’s final words meant.
[Penalty – Butterfly Effect has been activated.]
[My dreams and life were both trampled because of Kang Ha-jin. Kairos Kang Ha-jin Character Assassination Exposé Miro Maze]
“This really doesn’t give a person a moment to breathe.”
The time for karmic retribution had arrived.

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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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