Grab the Regressor by the Collar and Debut - Chapter 22

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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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22. The Most Effective Way to Defuse a Bomb (7)
Son Hyung-gu, the Executive Director, had caught wind of the strange atmosphere circulating through the company far too late.
It felt as though all information was deliberately skirting around me. That nagging sensation of missing something monumentally important.
‘Already frustrated enough as it is. What the hell is going on?’
Only recently did he notice that the investors surrounding Parachute’s father—who had been managing his funds—were avoiding his calls.
‘That unlucky Cherry bastard came back too…. Tsk, nothing ever goes smoothly.’
Yet the Executive Director, already entrenched in complacency, failed to recognize that these ominous signs were the harbingers of his complete downfall.
It began with Parachute.
“Investment withdrawal? What are you suddenly talking about?”
“How should I know? You kept asking for a debut but never actually gave it to me, just kept asking for money. Father got fed up with it, I guess.”
“Soon, you say? I’ll need supporting cast members for the debut, won’t I?”
“You think I gave you that money to promote supporting cast? You should have promoted me, not those other guys.”
….
“You can’t even properly handle Seo Tae-hyun, and yet—”
Parachute turned his back on him overnight.
Having lost his biggest investor, the Executive Director’s heart raced with urgency. But he had already made countless reckless moves without thinking ahead, all in preparation for launching his own separate company. To clean up that mess, this project absolutely had to proceed.
‘Damn it! If I hadn’t lost Upia, I could’ve at least scraped by for a while longer.’
Thinking of Upia, whom he’d lost control of last year, the Executive Director’s desperation intensified. He missed the days when he could leverage Upia recruitment as collateral, receiving money and meals and hospitality. Even embezzling company funds bit by bit was reaching its limits.
‘At this point, I absolutely have to secure Ju Eun-chan and Dan Ha-ru. Or failing that, at least that bastard Seo Tae-hyun….’
Just as the Executive Director finished preparing to coerce the trainees using ‘debut’ as leverage, his phone suddenly vibrated. While his attention had wavered, missed calls and messages had piled up like mountains. Instinctively, a chill ran down his spine—something was terribly wrong.
To find out what was happening, he clicked on the messenger from the most recent caller—someone he’d been using like an extension of himself to profit together.
【Hyung! We’ve got a big problem. Miro’s next generation article just dropped and investors are calling like crazy right now. Please contact us as soon as you see this…】
‘Miro’s next generation? An article dropped?’
Impossible. There’s no way I wouldn’t have known if Miro was announcing their next generation survival. Besides, the next generation was going to debut anyway, so there’s no reason it should cause such a commotion….
【Miro launches next-generation boy idol debut survival… targeting second-half debut】
【Boy Heaven’s Seo Tae-hyun enters Miro survival competition… will the second Cherry Boy boom begin?】
【Upia’s Seo Tae-il joins Miro’s next-generation survival as producer… “Lots of promising prospects” he remarks】
The more he read, the more red warning lights flashed in the Executive Director’s mind.
Then, the office phone—which had been quiet until now—rang.
“…Hello?”
—Come up.
It was the CEO. Something had gone very, very wrong.
* * *
How to deal with the Executive Director.
‘Media exposure is out of the question.’
Unless he were a celebrity whose reputation mattered, why would a media outlet bother exposing an ordinary person who isn’t even an entertainment company representative?
‘Fraud charges?’
There’s nothing to gain from entangling idol trainees in something so serious before they even debut. The best approach is to avoid even seeing it in related search suggestions, regardless of guilt or innocence.
‘…Should I just crack his skull open and call it even?’
It would certainly be thrilling, but breaking someone’s skull isn’t exactly easy, and it wouldn’t solve the fundamental problem anyway. Rejected.
So how exactly could I deal with him? The answer was simple.
‘Just don’t do anything myself.’
A storm of blood swept through Miro.
I had strategically scattered all the evidence I’d accumulated, and the first target was Ji Su-ho. Thanks to him taking the evidence I provided straight to the representative, the CEO was foaming at the mouth and dancing with fury.
Once the trainee smuggling scheme came to light, along with how the Executive Director had been embezzling company funds under the guise of entertainment expenses, he was immediately sued by the company for financial fraud.
Next came the media.
First, I hyped up Miro’s upcoming survival show in grand fashion.
I made good use of Seo Tae-il from Upia and Seo Tae-hyun from Boy Heaven, who would serve as the face of the project. In the process, I leaked information about Miro’s trainees appropriately, and showed a picture where the Executive Director was completely excluded—so quick-footed investors naturally spread the information among themselves.
‘I heard Son Hyung-gu, the Executive Director of Miro, is now a kite with a broken string.’
At the right timing, I also distributed some materials to media outlets specializing in social exposés. The subject was 【Is it really okay for entertainment companies to abuse their power over trainees?】
The anonymous tips had their subjects cleverly obscured, but there were hints that anyone in the industry would recognize—hints pointing to who the real culprit was.
In this process, I stumbled upon unexpected good fortune.
【Ato from Project W: “I was also a victim” Reveals damages】
【”We must prevent a second Project W incident”… Ato finally speaks】
The “real victim”—who had been forced through various events and overseas schedules only to be disbanded after debuting through the Executive Director’s connections—stepped forward to take the fall for us.
‘Well, it seems they were already preparing a lawsuit anyway, and the timing just happened to align.’
Had Ato sued the Executive Director in my previous life too? I couldn’t quite remember.
Once I lit the spark, the fire spread on its own. The Executive Director, expelled from Miro, became a massive debtor overnight. Days spent under investigation for embezzlement, nights spent taking calls from debt collectors.
‘It’s so fascinating that I won’t have time to worry about anyone debuting or returning for a while.’
Several company employees were also let go. Though entertainment companies were always desperate for staff, the representative seemed determined given the severity of the situation. Thanks to that, Ji Su-ho was scrambling to find replacements for the upcoming survival show and fill personnel gaps—he looked like twenty-four hours a day wasn’t enough. But that’s just part of being an office worker.
“But seriously, where the hell did Seo Tae-hyun go?”
He was supposed to be practicing in his personal practice room. Just to be safe, I poked around near Room A, which the special class trainees used exclusively. I didn’t even have time to wander around more since my next class was starting soon!
“Ah—”
“Oh, I’m sorry…?”
While searching for Seo Tae-hyun, I didn’t notice someone approaching from the practice room direction and collided with him.
Usually when you bump into someone like that, they go flying, so I reflexively apologized first—but instead, I was the one who bounced back.
‘…What is this guy, a bear?’
It had been a long time since middle school that I’d had an experience like this, and when I looked up in bewilderment, a man slightly taller than me—and I wasn’t exactly short—bowed his head to me with an embarrassed expression.
“…My apologies.”
“Oh… No, I didn’t see you either.”
After we both brushed it off and I hinted that we should go our separate ways, the man looked at me for a moment, then gave a light nod of acknowledgment and passed by my side. Since I’d never seen him before, he was probably one of the special class trainees.
If all the special class trainees I haven’t met yet are at that level, then maybe I was never cut out for debut in the first place?
“Hey.”
“…?”
While I was marveling to myself, the guy standing in front of the practice room suddenly called out to me.
“Are you Kang Ha-jin?”
“…? Yes, I’m Kang Ha-jin.”
“Ah.”
“Do you know me?”
What? Why does he know me?
“Seo Tae-hyun is probably at the Rooftop Garden. He said he’d take a quick break earlier.”
“Ah. Thank you. But how do I find Seo Tae-hyun…?”
“If a scary-looking guy with black hair comes looking for you, just let him know….”
Seo Tae-hyun, this bastard really.
“Anyway, thank you. Keep up the hard work with practice.”
I quickened my pace, already imagining myself going up there and giving Seo Tae-hyun a good flick on the forehead.
It wasn’t until much later that I learned the bear of a guy had continued watching me long after I’d left.
* * *
At that moment, Seo Tae-hyun sat alone on the Rooftop Garden, drowning in sentimentality.
“What is life, really.”
His entire life had flipped upside down overnight. He couldn’t believe all of this had happened in just a week.
It felt entirely good, yet not entirely good at the same time.
“What are you doing.”
“….”
“You’re breathing so heavily you’ll sink the ground. Breathe louder, man.”
Tae-hyun didn’t bother turning his head. He could tell it was Ha-jin without even seeing his face.
“I should be telling you not to sigh, not to breathe louder. What am I supposed to do now?”
“Why not? Sighing is good for the body. There are articles saying the deeper you breathe, the better for your health.”
“Hyung, you’re really strange.”
“Thanks. I’ll take it as a compliment.”
Ha-jin sat down beside him with an easy grin, and Tae-hyun shifted slightly to make room. Then a thought struck him anew.
‘We’ve only known each other for a week.’
Ha-jin had a gift for making people comfortable, as if they’d known each other for years. Strangely, in front of Ha-jin, unfiltered words tumbled out without hesitation or restraint.
Just like now.
“What, did you come to catch me? Worried I’d run away again?”
At that, Ha-jin looked at me with an expression of utter disapproval, as if saying, ‘Are you seriously saying that right now?’ written all over his face. Tae-hyun was actually a little (very slightly) intimidated.
“Tae-hyun.”
“….”
“If you’re going to run, stay within the Seoul Metropolitan Area.”
“…I’ll try.”
“Gangwon Province is killing me, seriously.”
Just the train tickets alone—how much did those cost? Ha-jin clenched his teeth at the harrowing memory of Gangwon Province. (Of course, Ju Eun-chan had paid for the tickets.)
Anyway, Ha-jin had come to find Tae-hyun for a different reason.
[System Alert: Colleague ‘Seo Tae-hyun’s’ current status is… “Quite melancholic”]
That red warning has been blinking in my alerts since this morning!
‘But why is he quite melancholic in the first place?’
I handled the Executive Director, got the idol trainee back to practice, even got headline articles blasted out so he’s trending in communities these days. So why is he depressed? And more importantly, why is his depression triggering a red alert? People get sad sometimes when they’re living!
After that chain of thoughts, Ha-jin made a decision. He’d just ask the person directly!
“So what’s going on.”
“What, what do you mean.”
“Why do you look so down?”
“Do you actually have time for this, hyung?”
At the blunt question, Seo Tae-hyun looked up at me with something close to shock. But I simply sat down in the seat he’d prepared beside him without much of a response, leaning back against the backrest with an expression that said go ahead and spill.
And Seo Tae-hyun found that my ‘what’s the big deal’ attitude rather comforting. It felt as though the weight of his emotions lightened by exactly that much.
“It’s just… you know.”
“Just get to the point.”
“Cha Min-seok. It’s because of Cha Min-seok.”
“That crazy bastard—what about him?”
“…I’m wondering if I should apologize.”
Seo Tae-hyun spoke with an uncomfortable expression and lowered his head. It was something he’d been thinking about the entire way back up to Seoul.
“I actually left Boy Heaven because of him. He was originally planning to leave, but his parents opposed it.”
“But.”
“I just… I knew about it all. How much he was struggling because of his parents, how anxious he was about missing the Endway debut lineup, how stressed he was about his back injury. All of it.”
“…”
“Last time when I went to find him and caused a scene—that was my fault too. So I’m wondering if I should apologize, or whatever.”
His voice grew quieter toward the end, purely because he didn’t want to do it. Having to face Min-seok again now was already uncomfortable, and actually saying the words of apology himself was even worse.
Yet as someone who’d entered the entertainment industry relatively early, Seo Tae-hyun kept thinking that for the sake of future social relationships and various other advantages, it would be better to smooth things over with Min-seok.
“What kind of bullshit is that?”
“Huh?”
“What do you have to apologize to that crazy bastard for? Are you going to say you regret that he went crazy so gracefully?”
“No, but still. He let it slide when I caused trouble…”
“If we’re keeping score like that, you should apologize to me more than him. I went all the way to Gangwon Province to convince you.”
“Ah, yeah, that’s true.”
“Then thank me instead.”
“Huh? Oh, thanks.”
“Good. Do better from now on, you punk.”
“Yeah, yeah…”
Wait. Something feels off. Seo Tae-hyun blinked his wide eyes.

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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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