Grab the Regressor by the Collar and Debut - Chapter 198

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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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198. THE HAPPINESS A BOY DESIRES (3)
I didn’t mince words—I threw a fastball straight at him.
“Seo Tae-hyun. You’ve seen the posts about Cha Min-seok circulating in the community, right?”
“…Yeah.”
The moment I brought up Cha Min-seok’s name, the atmosphere in the Dormitory grew noticeably colder. Since what had happened between Cha Min-seok and Seo Tae-hyun had naturally come up during the last Dormitory entrance party, it seemed like the others, including Lee Yu-gun, had already caught on to what I was getting at.
“…? Dan Ha-ru, why are you looking like that?”
“I hate that hyung.”
It was Seo Tae-hyun who’d gotten stabbed in the back by Cha Min-seok, but it was Dan Ha-ru sitting beside him who was stabbing his chicken breast salad with his fork over and over again, his eyes radiating a murderous intensity.
That look. That’s the same look I saw back when I ran into Han Sung-woo and Shin Kyung-ho. When we encountered those insufferable Believe guys.
[System Notification: The system detects ‘killing intent’ from Dan Ha-ru.]
‘…Cancel that whole ‘gentle soul’ assessment.’
Lee Do-ha quietly stopped Dan Ha-ru, who looked ready to atomize the chicken breast with his fork at any moment. Then Jeong Si-u, sitting nearby, raised his hand and took the floor.
“What’s being said about Cha Min-seok?”
“Photos got leaked showing him as a Rene trainee who’s debuting soon. I don’t know who leaked them, but the response has been good, so there’ll probably be more stories about him coming out soon.”
I showed the members the posts about Cha Min-seok that I’d been looking at on my phone earlier. While Lee Yu-gun silently read through the screenshots I’d taken, I looked at Seo Tae-hyun and spoke in a cautionary tone.
“Once this picks up steam, there’s no way people won’t find out you two were close. And once they do, don’t you think there’ll be plenty of people connecting the dots between you and Cha Min-seok, speculating about this and that?”
Unfortunately, on the surface, Cha Min-seok and Seo Tae-hyun had an incredibly rich and poignant narrative.
Same-aged friends who nurtured their dreams together at the same Academy.
Seo Tae-hyun, who ended up going to Boy’s Supremacy instead of Cha Min-seok, only to be eliminated in the finals.
Cha Min-seok, who joined Miro and even made it to the Endway debut lineup, but couldn’t debut due to injury.
Cha Min-seok had called Seo Tae-hyun to Miro, asking them to debut together, but ultimately only Seo Tae-hyun debuted from Miro while Cha Min-seok ended up going to Rene Entertainment.
‘And if you add the ending where they become debut peers in different groups the same year, it’s practically a drama.’
For fans who didn’t know the behind-the-scenes details, it was the perfect relationship to admire their friendship while slapping their foreheads. Reactions like “If only they’d debuted together…” were the least of it—whenever the two groups’ activities overlapped, fans would inevitably start wondering whether there was any interaction between the two of them.
“Yeah, well. Of course they were actually friends, so there’s no helping it if that gets revealed.”
I crossed my arms and pointed my chin at Lee Yu-gun, who was sitting across from me.
“But if you’re on bad terms with the only same-aged member in your group, can you imagine what kind of reaction the fans will have?”
Quick-witted Seo Tae-hyun seemed to understand what I was saying. He quietly closed his mouth and averted his gaze. I let Seo Tae-hyun have time to collect his thoughts, then shifted my target to Lee Yu-gun.
“Lee Yu-gun. Do you not want to do Kairos?”
“…What do you mean?”
“I’m asking if you don’t want to debut. You don’t want to be in the same group as Seo Tae-hyun? Then tell me now. Before we actually debut.”
I threw the words at him with deliberately sharp force, and Lee Yu-gun’s pupils wavered with anxiety.
As the atmosphere grew heavier, Jeong Si-u seemed to sense the conversation would drag on. He gave Dan Ha-ru and Ju Eun-chan a look suggesting they should head to their room.
Just as Ju Eun-chan, who’d been reading the room the whole time during this tense exchange, quietly stood up to leave with Dan Ha-ru, who’d been staring intensely at Lee Yu-gun—I asked Lee Yu-gun one more time.
“Answer me, Lee Yu-gun. You don’t want to debut with us?”
All eyes turned toward Lee Yu-gun.
Faced with my unyielding momentum, Lee Yu-gun’s lips trembled for a long moment before he finally surrendered.
“…I want to.”
“….”
“I want to debut. I’m not the kind of person who does something they don’t want to do without even getting paid for it.”
At those words, Seo Tae-hyun lifted his head and looked at Lee Yu-gun. Lee Yu-gun avoided Seo Tae-hyun’s gaze and poured out everything that remained in his heart.
“…I know my attitude hasn’t been great lately. It’s just…. I’ve just had a lot on my mind.”
“….”
“The living expenses I’d saved up are running out, and the tigers still have a long way to go before graduation. Grandfather says I can just open a shop when the time comes, but honestly, that makes me anxious too. I keep wondering if it’s really okay for me to be the only one living in such a nice place, eating well, and dancing without a care in the world.”
Yoo Gun scratched his head in frustration, his expression darkening.
“I’m…. Well, anyway, my mind’s just complicated because of all this. I wasn’t trying to act rude like I did during the Miro Maze days. …I didn’t have any intention of doing this with Tae-hyun either.”
As he said this, Yoo Gun instinctively glanced at Si-woo’s expression. It seemed the trauma from the Miro Maze days still lingered.
‘If he knew how Si-woo acted during his own infinite regression incident, he wouldn’t need to be so cautious.’
But I had no intention of telling him. Let him read the room a bit, the brat.
Do-ha, sitting beside him, finished speaking and tapped Yoo Gun’s back as he hung his head. It was a clumsy gesture of comfort, but that single tap was enough for Yoo Gun to carefully lift his head.
I spoke to Yoo Gun in a slightly softened tone.
“Then do what you can.”
“….”
“You don’t know there’s already talk going around that you’re not on good terms with the members? But you of all people should know better than anyone how fatal and annoying discord rumors are for idols who just debuted.”
Yoo Gun nodded. I’d said it to him, but now Si-woo, who had been quiet until then, seemed to have taken the hit instead—I could see him pressing his temples with a pained expression. He was probably remembering all the hate he’d drawn during the controversy with Yoo Gun.
I pretended not to notice Si-woo’s reaction and gently coaxed Tae-hyun and Yoo Gun, who seemed to have calmed down emotionally.
“I’m not asking you two to go live and act like you can’t live without each other. I’m not saying you need to make up right now and become best friends. It’s just a simple dance live broadcast. That’s all.”
“….”
“Don’t bring your personal feelings in front of the camera. At least don’t give fans a reason to speculate about why you two were fighting. It’s not like you hate each other so much you can’t even talk.”
“….”
“No answer? Do you two hate each other so much you can’t even speak?”
“That’s not it…!”
“…No, it’s not.”
There we go. This is definitely a couple’s fight.
When I asked if they hated each other that much, I watched the two of them immediately widen their eyes and shake their heads in denial, and I smiled with satisfaction and nodded.
“Good, then. The three of us will do a live broadcast together? I’ll prepare everything we need, so you two just show up—just show up.”
“…For some reason, that makes me uneasy.”
“Tsk. Listen to your old man and stocks will rise even while you sleep.”
“…Isn’t it supposed to be rice cakes falling from the sky?”
“Stocks rising feels a lot better. Let’s just move on.”
I ruffled Tae-hyun’s hair as he tilted his head doubtfully.
Having achieved the result I wanted and seemingly finished saying everything I needed to say, I leaned back, and Si-woo, who had kept his mouth shut and watched quietly the entire time I was speaking, interjected.
“So we’re telling the company about our unit live, and the first unit is confirmed to be Ha-jin, Tae-hyun, and Yoo Gun, right? If we’re going to tell them tomorrow, we should decide the rest of the units now. Eun-chan and Ha-ru, come back and sit down.”
With such a clean summary, Eun-chan and Ha-ru, who had been standing uncertainly, quickly rushed back and squeezed in between their hyungs. Watching the two youngest, who had each grabbed Yoo Gun and Tae-hyun on either side, I uncrossed my arms and draped one arm over the back of the sofa.
I was thinking about how to divide the remaining four and was about to ask for opinions when Eun-chan, sitting next to Tae-hyun and glancing at Yoo Gun, suddenly raised his hand.
“I have an opinion. …It’s not about the units, though.”
“…? Yeah, yeah. Go ahead if you have something to say, Chan.”
I nodded for him to speak, and Eun-chan looked at Yoo Gun with a solemn expression I’d seen before and declared:
“So, right now the thing Yoo Gun hyung is most worried about is the financial situation, right? That’s what’s causing problems with team practice.”
“…Hey, Chan.”
“Then please let me help this time.”
No, why is there another rich kid’s hallucinogenic gimmick here again…?
“I’m not talking about paying you hourly like last time! Si-woo said that wouldn’t work…”
Even as he spoke, Eun-chan glanced nervously at his older members before slowly laying out his thoughts.
“My hyung mentioned something before, and it just suddenly came to mind… Our parents run a company that operates a scholarship foundation.”
“…”
“It’s not like they just give it to everyone—you have to maintain certain grades and there are conditions—but anyway, my hyung said this before. If you’re interested, he could submit you for scholarship consideration. I think my hyung also saw something your younger sibling posted on the Internet.”
Eun-chan shook his head firmly, worried Yoo Gun might misunderstand.
“I’m not saying this because our family has money. And I’m definitely not pitying you.”
“Then…”
“I really want this group to succeed.”
Eun-chan’s clear eyes burned with unwavering conviction.
“I think we need Yoo Gun hyung. I believe that.”
“…”
“Honestly, Yoo Gun hyung is the best dancer among us. If someone in our group needs to take the main dancer position, it’s you.”
At Eun-chan’s honest assessment, Yoo Gun flinched and glanced back at me, but I just shrugged as if to say “why are you looking at me?” The other members were also nodding slightly in agreement with what Eun-chan said.
“If someone that talented gets distracted by other issues and ruins both practice and the team’s atmosphere, that’s a loss not just for you, but for me and our entire group. So this isn’t charity—it’s an investment.”
“…”
“If it really makes you uncomfortable, you can pay me back later with interest. I’m confident I’ll collect it all. So if you need it, I’ll contact my hyung tomorrow and tell him. Scholarship selection.”
“…”
“Please let me do this, Yoo Gun hyung.”
With Eun-chan’s words, silence settled over the Dormitory.
Yoo Gun, who seemed utterly unable to comprehend the proposal, rubbed his forehead and asked quietly.
“…Why.”
“…?”
“Why are you all doing this much… for me?”
Though his tone sounded almost confrontational, Yoo Gun’s eyes were bloodshot as if tears might spill at any moment.
I found myself understanding his feelings somewhat.
A guy whose parents abandoned him right after birth, who was never cared for, carrying only the weight of responsibility on his shoulders… Of course this warmth would feel strange to him. Now even Yoo Gun’s angular shoulders seemed pitiful to me.
And it was Tae-hyun, whose eyes held even more pain than Yoo Gun’s, who finally answered him as tears appeared.
“Why else, you idiot.”
“…”
“Because we’re on the same team.”
Our INFP Tae-hyun sniffled and spoke his sincere truth with characteristic shyness.
“Because I want to be on a team with you.”
Why the hell did these guys fight in the first place?
Just as I was about to feel somewhat deflated watching how they cherished each other so earnestly—like the married couple’s quarrel Si-u had mentioned—I noticed Ha-ru watching all of us.
“…”
With eyes infinitely tender and precious. Yet so careful, and relieved.
Ha-ru gazed at each of us with those eyes.
Perhaps you needed a place to belong.
When things got this difficult, did we need that warmth—someone to reach out and pull us forward when we stumbled?
Is that why I chose the path of an idol?
Letting countless emotions and thoughts wash over me without resistance, I simply pulled tissues from the box and handed them to Lee Yu-gun and Seo Tae-hyun, who had broken down crying in the dead of night.

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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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