Grab the Regressor by the Collar and Debut - Chapter 215

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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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215. Welcome. Your First Fan Sign, Huh? (3)
Jeong Si-u watched as seven men were crammed into the cramped room and spoke up.
“…Let’s go to the living room.”
“Yes.”
In the awkward silence, the members stood up one by one and filed out of the room. Seo Tae-hyun, who remained last, caught my eye and mouthed the question, “What do we do?”
“What do you mean, what do we do? We just talk about it together.”
“You want to talk about Eun-chan in front of Eun-chan?”
“But he’s already heard everything. We can’t exactly ask him to step into the room for a bit while we talk about you.”
“I suppose that’s true, but….”
I followed Jeong Si-u and studied Ju Eun-chan’s face as he sat upright on one side of the living room sofa.
He did look a bit more tired than usual, but….
“It’s fine. He’s not that fragile.”
After patting Seo Tae-hyun’s shoulder, we headed together to the living room where the members had gathered.
Lee Yu-gun, his eyes still half-closed from exhaustion, tapped the living room table with a toy mallet he’d brought from somewhere, going boing-boing.
“Meeting commencing.”
And so, the second emergency meeting of Kairos began.
* * *
“But what kind of meeting is this?”
Lee Do-ha, who had been quiet the whole time, raised his hand and asked. Lee Yu-gun, still holding the toy mallet, looked at us with curious eyes, clearly not having caught the details.
Then Jeong Si-u silently showed the problematic post from the community to the members. He then looked up and asked Ju Eun-chan.
“Eun-chan, what happened at the fan sign?”
“….”
“He said he didn’t notice anything strange at the fan sign venue itself, but after seeing this post, he’s been in a bad mood the whole car ride.”
Ju Eun-chan lowered his gaze slightly and pressed his lips firmly shut.
Normally, I would have waited patiently for him to compose himself and open up, but today we didn’t have time.
Even if I dove into bed right now and passed out, I’d barely get five hours of sleep.
I decided to use a slightly underhanded method to get Ju Eun-chan to speak.
“So Ju Eun-chan, you cried?”
“…!”
At my blunt provocation, Seo Tae-hyun and Lee Yu-gun simultaneously looked at me with expressions that screamed, “Is this guy insane?” It was the same look they’d given me when I’d dropped a bomb about them fighting at the last Kairos live. Lee Yu-gun looked ready to fold me up again, so I quickly ducked behind Lee Do-ha.
Even as I did, I threw one final punch at Ju Eun-chan, who was staring at me with bewilderment.
“You’re still just a kid. Crying over a single review.”
“…That’s not what this is about!”
“Then what is it?”
“I…!”
Okay, he took the bait.
Hiding behind Lee Do-ha with the most shameless expression I could muster, Ju Eun-chan quickly huffed and opened his mouth.
“I didn’t cry because of this post…! This person…. I’m sorry to say it this way, but I remember them because they made me uncomfortable during the fan sign.”
“Made you uncomfortable?”
At Ju Eun-chan’s words, the atmosphere in the living room grew heavy. Ju Eun-chan continued, glancing at his hyungs’ expressions.
“…They kept trying to touch my body, and when I asked how much I spent coming here, they got annoyed and said they’d just switch to a different idol instead. Honestly, I didn’t know how to respond properly, so that’s on me too.”
“….”
“About the wedding song request too…. I didn’t like how they were disrespecting our members while talking about it.”
“What did you say to them?”
“…I don’t want to talk about it. I don’t want to pass those words on to the hyungs or Ha-ru.”
Ju Eun-chan displayed a subtle stubbornness and clamped his mouth shut.
Since even this obtuse guy had felt uncomfortable, the likelihood that the other person had been genuinely rude was high, and all the members seemed to trust Ju Eun-chan’s judgment.
I tried to recall if there was anyone at today’s fan sign who showed signs of being that kind of malicious person, but I gave up.
‘They might have treated the other members fine but acted that way only toward him.’
Hadn’t I said it before?
Fans pour enormous amounts of money into one-on-one conversations with their favorites and expect to receive service equivalent to what they’ve consumed.
In my case, it was me wearing all sorts of princess costumes and making a fool of myself,
and what that fan wanted from Ju Eun-chan was simply to act like a boyfriend in a clingy way—ultimately, the nature of the behavior was the same.
‘Given the nature of being an idol, I suppose it’s impossible to live completely separate from that kind of fan service….’
There are always people who cross the line somewhere, and this seemed to be one of those cases.
Ju Eun-chan clenched his fists and continued.
“Because I’m an idol, I try to be kind to the fans who come, too. They came to see me after all. I want them to have enjoyed it, even a little….”
“….”
“I know these kinds of people are rare cases, and I know this person wouldn’t have been satisfied no matter what I did. I know that, but….”
Ju Eun-chan furrowed his brow and tilted his head at an angle.
It was a similar expression to when he’d been troubled by the duplicitous behavior of trainees who suddenly changed their attitudes at the Gamjatang Restaurant back then.
“I don’t have the confidence to smile and treat people like that in the future. Being rude is rude, and being unpleasant is unpleasant, right?”
“….”
“But what if all the other fans think the same way as this person? Did I really act too sensitively? …That’s what I’m thinking, so I feel a bit frustrated….”
The guy who’d been speaking confidently suddenly went back and his voice diminished. Then, toward the end, he became uncharacteristically timid, fidgeting with his fingers as he spoke.
“Honestly, I do tend to be shy around strangers and I’m not good at talking…. What if the fans find me boring? I’m a bit worried….”
Huh. This seems more serious than I thought?
The embodiment of confidence who’d remained composed even when subjected to unfair criticism was shrinking like this. It seemed the aftermath of this fan sign event had been quite significant.
‘How am I supposed to say something about this….’
Bonk―!!
While I was thinking for a moment, someone snatched the boing hammer from Yoo Gun’s hand and smacked Ju Eun-chan’s head with it.
“…!?”
“…Si-woo hyung?”
The one holding the boing hammer was Jeong Si-u, who’d been listening to the conversation in a languid posture with his legs crossed and chin resting on his hand.
Jeong Si-u, wearing glasses instead of contacts because it was night, folded his arms and spoke in a nonchalant voice.
“Ah, sorry. Listening to you, you were saying something so stupid. You know, when you need to stop thinking, a good shock works best. Eun-chan, it doesn’t hurt, right?”
“No, well, yes….”
Our Shin was definitely somewhat of a dull person.
That dull Shin spoke in a cold voice.
“I have a lot to say, but let me start with the most important thing—your fan signs can’t possibly be boring, Eun-chan.”
“…?”
“You’re handsome, you know. The most entertaining thing is being naturally good-looking.”
Everyone fell silent at Si-woo’s words.
The only one who agreed was Tae-hyun, crouching on the floor.
“Well, actually I think the same way. Fan sign events aren’t really a big deal anyway. Fans come to see us, not because they’re coming to a variety show concert or anything like that.”
“….”
“In this case, I think this fan did act inappropriately, and I’m sure other fans would agree. It’s just because the context was cut out…. And separate from that, Eun-chan, you don’t need to put so much pressure on yourself about fan sign events.”
At Tae-hyun’s gentle persuasion, Eun-chan’s expression softened a bit. Then he suddenly glanced at me, sitting behind Do-ha.
“But…. Ha-jin hyung’s side is so much fun. The fans laugh a lot, and the conversation flows well.”
“…Me?”
“I want to be like you hyungs too, but I’m not good at it…. The fan in front of me keeps looking over at your side when the laughter gets loud.”
Caught off guard by this unexpected comparison, Ha-ru suddenly lifted his head from where he’d been resting it on Yoo Gun’s shoulder and objected.
“That’s not a fair comparison! Ha-jin hyung looks like this and is wearing a fairy princess outfit—how could you not laugh? That’s a difference in physicality, Eun-chan hyung.”
Ha-ru, is that supposed to be a compliment?
Even as I felt slightly stung, I tapped Ha-ru and made a correction.
“Ha-ru. Not fairy princess—princess fairy.”
“Oh, right. Princess fairy. …Anyway, comparing Ha-jin hyung is unfair! If every member is that funny, what kind of idol fan sign event is that? It’d just be a comedian group. I’ve never had fans laughing hysterically with me at fan sign events either.”
For something that started as a jab, it was a surprisingly logical conclusion, and Do-ha agreed.
“I agree with Ha-ru on this. Meeting and interacting with fans is about conveying my sincerity and getting to know each other—that connection is what matters most. If you’re doing your best in your own way, Eun-chan, there’s no need to worry in advance about how fans will receive it.”
“….”
“However, separate from this incident, if you’re struggling with conversations at fan sign events, I think you should prepare something for that.”
Not all fans would be as extreme and obsessive as this person, so at minimum, Eun-chan needed to show better reactions to the ‘polite’ fans he mentioned.
After hearing Do-ha’s words, Eun-chan nodded as if he understood.
I opened my mouth just as I got down from the sofa and sat down.
“So, setting aside what happened today, the real problem is tomorrow’s fan sign event, right?”
“Well…. Is there really a problem?”
At Tae-hyun’s question, I pointed to the problematic post displayed on Si-woo’s phone.
“I looked into it—we’re the only ones who had a fan sign event today, and this person apparently wrote and deleted a similar post on their SNS. The fact that this is about Eun-chan means everyone who knows already knows.”
There would be plenty of people watching to see how Eun-chan’s attitude would be at tomorrow’s fan sign event.
“Of course, like you said, people who dislike you will dislike you no matter what you do. If you suddenly change your attitude at tomorrow’s fan sign event, they’ll dislike you for changing. If you act similar to today, they’ll dislike you for being cold.”
“….”
“So your behavior at tomorrow’s fan sign event matters. I don’t want to tell you to worry about every little thing, but there are so many people in the world who blow up these small posts and create labels out of them.”
“So what do you think I should do?”
Si-woo asked me back.
I shrugged lightly and patted Eun-chan’s knee with my hand.
“Just do what you’ve been doing. There’s nothing wrong with your attitude now. Push through.”
“…Is that really okay?”
“But let’s push through a bit more extremely. Someone else will help with that, not me.”
Someone else?
While everyone’s heads filled with question marks, I pointed to someone who was half-asleep, having lost his shoulder to Ha-ru despite the seriousness of this meeting.
“That guy.”
“…Yoo Gun hyung?”
“Let’s learn from him. Pseudo-exhilaration meta.”
Make way.
Our group’s greatest pseudo-king, Yoo Gun has 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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