Grab the Regressor by the Collar and Debut - Chapter 21

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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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21. The Most Effective Way to Defuse a Bomb (6)
“You can debut.”
“….”
“If you do well enough.”
“Who are you messing with right now?”
As I patted his shoulder while speaking, Seo Tae-hyun’s eyes narrowed into sharp slits. Despite his gentle appearance, his gaze had an edge to it—the kind of intensity that would photograph well on camera in a single shot.
“Haven’t you heard my nickname from the company people? I’m Miro’s Zhuge Liang.”
“Lucky you, having Zhuge Liang as a nickname.”
“That Zhuge Liang Ha-jin hyung does everything better than you, supposedly.”
I delivered the joke with a benevolent smile, and I could see Seo Tae-hyun’s eyes soften slightly. But this wasn’t nearly enough to recruit a colleague. The system window showed no significant fluctuation either.
So in moments like this, I had to drop something big.
“Tae-hyun. Want me to show you something?”
“…What.”
I pulled out a bundle of documents and a USB drive that I’d kept hidden deep in my bag since coming down from Gangwon Province. Despite my efforts to preserve them carefully, the edges had inevitably worn and frayed with time. Seo Tae-hyun recognized them instantly.
“How did you… where did you get this?”
“You were planning to send this to the Executive Director, weren’t you? A few years ago.”
“Did you get this from Cha Min-seok? That bastard had this the whole time?”
[System Alert: ‘Seo Tae-hyun’ is showing ‘reaction’ to you. (Reaction Rate -23%)]
Look at that reaction.
“Don’t ask questions. It’s a trade secret.”
He stopped biting his lip, but his shoulders trembled as his fists clenched tightly. As Seo Tae-hyun carefully examined the envelope with cautious hands, his breathing became irregular, his pupils visibly shaking even to the naked eye.
‘This is a problem if he’s already like this.’
I hadn’t even started with what I’d prepared to say.
“Forget about Cha Min-seok being a bastard or whatever—we can talk about that later. Tae-hyun.”
“….”
“I’m about to tell you something rather cruel.”
“….”
“I hate that this is reality too, but since it is reality, listen without misunderstanding.”
I wrapped my hand around Seo Tae-hyun’s fist, which gripped the worn bundle of documents as if he might cry at any moment, and spoke firmly.
“You can never expose this. Not then, not now.”
I pulled out more bundles of papers from my bag and laid them down in front of Seo Tae-hyun like I was throwing them down.
“Think about it carefully. Have you been the only one plotting to stab the Executive Director all this time?”
From the moment I first heard the story from Ju Eun-chan and Dan Ha-ru, until I met Ji Su-ho last time.
The first thing I did was investigate the whereabouts of trainees who had quit within the last two to three years. When I gathered those who had quit or been cut because of the Executive Director, the number was quite substantial.
-But… this really won’t work. I’ve sought legal counsel several times and looked into ways, but it didn’t work out in the end.
-Please don’t involve me further. Just thinking about what that man did to me back then makes my blood boil.
None of it ever reached the Executive Director’s ears, and they all got cut off.
“Inside Miro he’s just a back-room old man, but outside he’s a mid-level entertainment industry executive who gets treated like a director.”
“….”
“PDs, journalists, media companies—those people have eaten and drunk with industry folks over a hundred times more than you, who hasn’t even debuted.”
“So what? You’re telling me to stop wasting time and just live? You came all the way to Gangwon Province to say that?”
I watched Seo Tae-hyun for a moment, his anger born from helplessness in the face of reality.
Until recently, I honestly hadn’t cared much whether he debuted or not. In the life I remembered, Seo Tae-hyun either never debuted, was still a trainee, or had debuted only to fail and disappear.
“Tae-hyun.”
But things were different now.
“Trust your hyung just once.”
It seemed I would have to make your debut happen myself.
“You can debut. Really.”
Seo Tae-hyun still looked at me with doubt in his eyes.
To someone who’d been unable to debut for years and was ready to quit being a trainee, my words probably sounded like empty promises. But I wasn’t the type to say things without substance.
I added a condition with unwavering certainty.
“If you do your part.”
“Are you messing with me right now?”
“I couldn’t be more serious.”
“It’s hard to believe you this much.”
“Listen here, kid. I’m being serious with you.”
Your hyung is speaking earnestly, and you’re doubting him.
“There’s going to be a male idol survival show.”
I pulled out the next-generation male idol survival show proposal I’d brought along specifically to convince Seo Tae-hyun.
Just before coming down here, I’d already confirmed through Ji Su-ho that the proposal had been submitted to the company’s upper management and that preliminary negotiations with production companies and broadcast channels were underway.
By now, I suspected it had probably reached the Executive Director’s ears as well.
“I’ve heard that many survival shows have predetermined winners, but this time Team Leader Ji Su-ho and Senior Seo Tae-il are planning to participate directly from the planning stage to prevent that.”
The idea of bringing in Seo Tae-il from Upia was Ji Su-ho’s suggestion. It was because of Seo Tae-il’s position as an in-house director and his recent interest in developing new talent. Having someone of Seo Tae-il’s caliber involved would make the whole picture look better.
…Though I was somewhat apprehensive about facing that perverse directing style again.
“In a survival show, the judges’ opinions matter, but viewer reactions and voting can’t be ignored either.”
“….”
“This time you really can debut. If you do your part.”
In truth, the advantage of being “Boy Heaven’s Cherry Boy” was limited to an initial surge in popularity.
Once the other trainees were revealed, they’d gain their own fanbases too, and a fresh newcomer might actually generate more buzz than Seo Tae-hyun, whose image had already been consumed.
But this was ‘that’ Seo Tae-hyun.
The Seo Tae-hyun who’d grabbed older female fans by the collar with nothing but a fresh, bubbly cherry boy character and made it to the finals.
[Today’s Boy Heaven highest viewership moment.gif (cherry boy)]
[Youngest Boy Heaven participant whose expression changes 17 times in 5 seconds]
[Boy Heaven’s Seo Tae-hyun stage clip already hitting 30k retweets on BlueJay]
A man of such viral potential—who’d eaten trending status despite having only 3 seconds of footage eating dumplings in an entire episode due to editing that rivaled demonic cuts—would never fall behind in a survival show.
‘I’d be better off worrying about myself than worrying about him.’
“Most importantly, the Executive Director won’t be able to interfere with this survival show at all. That’s how I’m planning to make it.”
With that final statement driving the nail home, hope finally began to bloom on Seo Tae-hyun’s face. He finished reading through the proposal and looked up at me. Then he asked.
“Do you really think that? That I can debut?”
[System Alert: ‘Seo Tae-hyun’ is showing ‘interest’ in you. Whether you recruit him as an ally will be determined by Seo Tae-hyun’s ‘response rate’ in future conversations.]
[Recruiting Allies Progress 1/??]
“Why are you going this far for me? Honestly, we’re not even that close.”
This was a pivotal moment. With a single word from me, Seo Tae-hyun’s fate in this life would change.
And somehow, that felt heavier than when I’d revealed my true feelings to Ji Su-ho.
After a brief silence, I answered.
“I voted for you.”
“….”
“You’re talented. I envied you when I watched you perform.”
In my first life, I recalled his final stage—how brilliantly he’d shone. The moments I’d spent in the Practice Room studying his expressions and gestures remained vivid in my memory.
I mean, even I’m living my life over for the fourth time as a trainee. Maybe someone like him, who’s lived harder than me, could change something too.
“Come with me, Seo Tae-hyun.”
“….”
“You love performing.”
[System Alert: ‘Seo Tae-hyun’ is responding to you. (Response Rate: 89.7%)]
[‘Seo Tae-hyun’ can now be recruited.]
[Recruit? (Y/N)]
Seo Tae-hyun’s head dropped toward the floor. I waited silently for him as the proposal document he was holding grew damp and soggy from his tears.
* * *
“At least have a meal before you go.”
“The bus is leaving soon. I can eat once I get to Seoul. Thank you.”
“Tae-hyun, make sure you call your mother on the way.”
“…Okay. I’ll head out, Uncle.”
I wanted to accept Seo Tae-hyun’s uncle’s offer to eat, but unfortunately, tomorrow was a weekday.
Before Seo Tae-hyun entered the survival show, I had to report to work tomorrow to avoid getting cut from the trainee program for poor attendance. So both of us had no choice but to board the bus to Seoul with growling stomachs.
“….”
“….”
The ride was quiet.
I was exhausted, and he seemed a bit embarrassed about crying earlier. Since neither of us had the energy to argue anyway, it worked out.
“Hyung.”
“I’m sleeping.”
“If you’re going to pretend to sleep, at least close your eyes to show some effort.”
“I always sleep with my eyes open.”
I’d tried to brush it off, but Seo Tae-hyun’s piercing stare made me straighten up in my seat.
“What? Why. Do you have something to say?”
“…What would you have done if I said I wasn’t going to Seoul?”
“You weren’t planning to go?”
“I could’ve said I’m sick of survival shows.”
I wondered what he was suddenly talking about. His expression was quite serious.
The problem was, exhausted from hunger and fatigue, I found it bothersome to fully absorb his delicate sentiment.
“Cha Min-seok debuts in June, so do you want to hear ‘junior’ or would you rather stand alongside me as a Peer Soldier and ride his coattails?”
“….”
“…that’s what I was going to say.”
“Are you really a demon, hyung?”
“I go to church.”
Seo Tae-hyun fell silent. What. Why.
“Tae-hyun.”
“….”
“Never mind. Just give me those evidence materials I gave you earlier. I’ll figure out how to use them on the way up.”
“But you said you couldn’t expose it?”
“You can’t.”
“But you can?”
“I’ll think about it. Come on, hurry.”
At my urging, Seo Tae-hyun fumbled around and pulled out that bundle of evidence from earlier. He stared at it for a moment, then hesitated in a way that made him look exactly like a sparrow being cautious.
“What are you doing? Hand it over.”
“It’s… a bit wet….”
“Yeah, I know. Tear-soaked evidence will work just fine. Give it here.”
“But it’s all smudged…. Is that okay? What about legal validity later and all that….”
The kid looked soft, but he had an unexpectedly sharp side to him. How could someone like that be clutching precious evidence and crying his eyes out?
‘If I say that out loud, I’ll become a textbook example of someone who ruins themselves with their own mouth.’
I put on my social-life smile once more and spoke in a gentle tone.
“Of course it’s a scanned copy. How could I bring the original of something this valuable? What if I left it on the train?”
“Oh.”
“I just wanted to read through it temporarily on the way up, so don’t worry and give it here.”
At those words, Seo Tae-hyun sheepishly let go. The paper that had dried by then crackled.
‘Starting with contracts and everything… I’ve gathered quite a collection.’
“But really, how are you going to do this? You said it yourself earlier. There’s no way.”
“You can’t.”
“But you can?”
“I can’t either. What makes me different?”
“…What? Then what are you trying to do?”
At my cryptic words, Seo Tae-hyun voiced his confusion. I carefully gathered the materials I’d skimmed through and packed them deep into my bag, then looked at Seo Tae-hyun.
“Do you know what’s important when hunting a prey that’s much bigger than you?”
“Ugh, what are you talking about?”
“The first strike and numbers.”
“….”
“You can’t do it alone, and I can’t either. But when we become ‘we,’ the situation changes quite a lot.”
Thinking about destroying the Executive Director’s family, a smile naturally spread across my face. Seo Tae-hyun, belatedly understanding what I meant, watched his already large eyes gradually grow even wider.
The train heading to Seoul finally departed, and I gazed out the window with a refreshed spirit, thinking.
‘Alright. So how should I mess with him?’

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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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