Grab the Regressor by the Collar and Debut - Chapter 243

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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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243. WHY YOU’RE COMING OUT OF THERE (1)
To be honest, Yoon Jae-hee harbored a faint glimmer of hope.
‘What if the Upia Concert guest turns out to be the Kairos kids?’
Endway, being under the same agency, had already appeared as guests multiple times (she’d dipped her toes in and found out), and Miro was the kind of place that emphasized “we’re one family,” so objectively, the possibility was high.
The reason she hadn’t broached the subject directly in front of her friend from Idea was that, depending on the circumstances, it could become a rather delicate point of contention.
‘There were quite a few people who subtly resented the last first-place win and the encore substitute too…. Honestly, being a guest is just luck of the draw.’
This was less a matter of people than a matter of position.
The Upia Concert guest slot wasn’t a stage just anyone could stand on.
Yupia held three days of performances and invited a different artist as a guest each day, and that lineup was famous for being particularly glamorous and impressive.
The Idea members had even given it the nickname “bonus time,” updating the every time a concert ended.
‘Even without my rose-tinted glasses, our kids do perform well…. But honestly, if they weren’t from the same agency, they still wouldn’t be in a position to hand out their business cards to this lineup….’
Her direct junior had already been used up with Endway.
Yoon Jae-hee thought it might actually be better to just sit in a sweet second-floor seat with an invitation and not watch the performance, just scroll on her phone, rather than have her kids compared to other days’ guests and get absolutely trashed.
After all, there’s no way our kids wouldn’t properly watch the senior’s performance.
‘Still, if, just if they do end up as a guest….’
Yoon Jae-hee, keeping that slim possibility in mind, urgently pressed her palms together. Then, recalling every spiritual entity she knew in this world, she prayed with desperate fervor.
‘Please, if our kids stand as guests, make it the final day…. The final day, really the final day, please.’
There’s no despair quite like being a fan unable to attend (a fan unable to attend the same place, same time, different date), please.
Her tightly clasped hands trembled with such urgency.
* * *
The Upia Concert spanned three days.
Among them, Yoon Jae-hee and her friend ended up with seats in the middle row of the first-floor floor on the final day.
The fact that she’d secured the final-day floor was already surprising, but connected seats on top of that?
Yoon Jae-hee couldn’t hide her astonishment as she checked the ticket she’d received through the online app.
“You really got it yourself? Without using macros or a proxy?”
“I was amazed after I got it. I was number 7 in the waiting list.”
“So single-digit waiting numbers actually exist…. I thought it automatically started from the thousands.”
“Thousands? I saw ten thousand when I got my mom tickets for Shin Tae-pal’s concert.”
“Ah, Shin Tae-pal, that bastard…. Is your mom doing okay?”
“We banned spicy ramen at our house. Mom curses Shin Tae-pal just seeing the character for ‘spicy’….”
Yoon Jae-hee sighed and nodded, recalling her friend’s mother’s former favorite—a trot singer who’d been doing quite well until one day he achieved a grand slam of social page scandals before disappearing into prison. Honestly, there was nothing worse than people who made you ashamed of having been their fan.
“Wow, the seats are closer than I thought? The view is insane.”
Yoon Jae-hee said, surveying the concert hall.
The enormous LED screens and the protruding stage that cut through the audience seating, along with the carefully constructed stage set, were impressive.
“I’m jealous. When will our kids get to perform in a place like this?”
“They haven’t even been debuted for a year yet. What concert?”
“Right. They’ve got a long way to go, a long way. How did I end up grabbing these newborn babies….”
The Upia Concert’s floor wasn’t completely standing—there were seats, making it a hybrid standing arrangement.
Since it was famous for being a jumping-around kind of concert, even with the hybrid setup, the spacing between and around seats was quite generous. On every seat lay event slogans prepared by the official fan cafe and a reverse-gifting set prepared by Yupia.
Yoon Jae-hee deliberated for a moment, then handed her friend the gift set containing member photo cards, handwritten letters, and premium chocolate vouchers, keeping only the snack bundle for herself.
“If you know anyone around you who’d want these, give them to them. The snacks might go bad, so I’ll just eat them today.”
“Really? You can just take them.”
“No way. I prepared these for Idea, so there’s no point in me keeping them.”
“Then I should give them to the friend who was supposed to come to the concert with me. Thanks. Oh, can I get a slogan?”
“Sure, give me one. I’ll unfold it when the others arrive later.”
As I sat in my seat chatting away, people gradually began filling in the rows to my left and right, and in front and behind me.
In what felt like an instant, the vast concert hall’s audience seating was completely filled with the glowing light of Yupia’s lightsticks—a sight that was nothing short of breathtaking. I was beginning to understand why idols would never forget this view for the rest of their lives.
Soon, a countdown announcing the start of the concert appeared on the massive display screen above.
“Here we go, here we go.”
The instrumental version of Yupia’s debut song “Blue,” arranged with a grand orchestral sound, blared powerfully through the venue.
As the music played, lights began turning on one by one across the darkened stage.
When the countdown finally reached zero, an enormous roar erupted as the lights spun in circles and the center LED gates opened like fortress doors. As the Yupia members in military-concept outfits stepped onto the main stage under the spotlight, the crowd’s cheers grew even louder.
Can’t you see it?
Chung Han-sol, the fourth main vocalist whom Seo Tae-il adored, cut through the deafening roar with his solid, powerful voice, striking the audience seating. Right on cue, fireworks burst with a bang as the backing track for “Blue” came in, and the audience erupted with chants of the members’ names and coordinated cheers.
“Is Idea ready―!?”
At Nam Da-down’s call as the concert’s response coordinator, the starlike glimmer of the lightsticks swayed ceaselessly. Seo Tae-il, wearing leather gloves, took center position as the curtain rose on the final day of Yupia’s 12th anniversary commemorative encore concert.
* * *
The first part of the concert flew by in what felt like the blink of an eye.
Starting with their debut song “Blue,” the setlist consisted mainly of songs from their early years when they had carefully prepared performances, so there was definitely plenty to enjoy. When Yoon Ji-nu removed his top in the middle of a dance break, I’m not exaggerating when I say I thought the roof was going to blow off the venue.
“Man, Yupia is insane, seriously…. Legends really do have their reasons….”
“Crazy, crazy, crazy, oh, seriously crazy…!”
My friend had already lost their composure.
Unable to contain their excitement, they grabbed my hands and shook them, and I could understand exactly how they felt.
“Is it time for that? The guest?”
“Yeah. Bonus time. No spoilers leaked at all. This lineup was amazing too.”
At the first concert, it was a rapper who won a hip-hop survival show with a song produced by Yoon Ji-nu, and yesterday’s middle concert featured Sarin, who had recently announced a comeback with a new album. Since both had massive hit songs that everyone knew, reviews had been pouring in about how the audience enjoyed group singing almost like it was a university festival.
“Hey, your guys aren’t actually coming, right?”
“Nah, no way…. Tae-hyun came to yesterday’s live, but he didn’t seem like he was up to anything…. Wait, but can I even trust Tae-hyun’s reaction…? Ah, Ha-ru should’ve come….”
Whether Yoon Jae-hee regretted that Ha-ru, the spoiler-bombing legend, hadn’t come or not, a video announcing the guest segment began playing in the concert hall.
With a lively BGM, it was a video where the Yupia members gave clues introducing today’s guests. The first turn was naturally Seo Tae-il’s.
【Seo Tae-il: Hmm…. These people, well, I personally requested them to appear.】
【Nam Da-down: Ah, hyung. Disqualified. You basically recruit almost every guest anyway. Something else.】
【Seo Tae-il: I would say they are both very close and very distant from me.】
【Nam Da-down: That’s way too vague, disqualified.】
【Seo Tae-il: If I meet them on holidays, I might have to receive pocket money from them.】
【Nam Da-down: That’s too shameless! Asking kids for pocket money! Disqualified!】
【Yoon Ji-nu: Down, you just enjoy saying disqualified, don’t you?】
【Kwon Sang-rok: You just gave away a huge hint by saying kids.】
【Chung Han-sol: But the family tree is a bit weird. Doesn’t hyung have a son there too?】
【Seo Tae-il: And an uncle too.】
Nam Da-down: “Ah, you’ve eliminated everyone! If you say it like that, everyone already knows! Are you really going to make it this boring!?”
Seo Tae-il: “But Da-down. When did we start introducing guests like this, as if they were riddles?”
At the mention of Seo Tae-il’s son and his uncle, the Idea members instantly recognized the guest’s identity.
Fortunately, delighted cheers erupted from the audience seating. Yoon Jae-hee, who had been worried about performing as a guest, immediately grabbed her friend’s hand and shook it excitedly the moment it became certain they were Kairos.
“Insane! Insane…! It really is Kairos!”
“Yoon Jae-hee, you really owe me dinner. You got into this lottery because of me, seriously.”
As the video continued, my heart pounded as if it might burst.
I’d been so busy after the final stage that I couldn’t go to music broadcasts, couldn’t attend events, and couldn’t do fan sign sessions…!
To see our kids perform at a concert I came to with a friend…!
Though I was worried about the aftermath that would follow after this guest stage ended, for now, the fact that I could see our kids’ performance with my own eyes was what mattered most.
I hurriedly checked my phone battery and turned on the camera to adjust the settings. That’s when I heard people behind me talking.
“What, who? Who did they say?”
“Kairos. The ones who debuted from Miro this time.”
“Ah… Oh, I don’t know any of their songs.”
“Their debut song was written and composed by Tae-il. The song’s pretty good, worth listening to.”
“No, well… um….”
It was clearly a voice tinged with regret, but I understood that reaction too.
Most of the Idea members sent enthusiastic applause and cheers, but it seemed like they were planning to treat this as a casual break time—people began pulling out their phones here and there.
‘No. Still, the kids perform well, so when they actually come out on stage, there will be people who appreciate them.’
Comforting myself that way, I looked toward the stage with my friend.
The video briefly introducing Kairos ended, and their debut song “Over the Night” played alongside their profile photos. I quietly chanted the official fan chant by myself and applauded enthusiastically as Kairos took the stage.
“Hey, your kids look really pretty today, huh?”
I covered my mouth and gazed at my ultimate bias, Ha-jin, who had appeared on stage.
His natural black hair hung loosely with minimal styling, and yellow and blue paint was drawn across his cheeks like face painting. His overall outfit was the group varsity jacket they’d already worn on music broadcasts, but Ha-jin wore a white baseball cap backwards, a white short-sleeved shirt, and ripped jeans.
The moment I saw the black Converse sneakers that reached up to his ankles, the first line of the “Physical Education Major Ha-jin Possession Fic” that had been causing a stir among Destiny members for a while automatically played as TTS in my head.
“Senior Idea members, hello! We’d like to greet you. Two, three!”
“KICK US OFF! Hello, we are Kairos! Thank you for having us!”
At Ha-jin’s count, the members straightened up and bowed at a ninety-degree angle.
From the start, with the bold demeanor of a rookie idol calling out “senior,” some Idea members even laughed. Unlike before when they seemed uninterested, whenever Si-woo or Eun-chan appeared on the screen, I heard remarks like “Who are these guys? They’re so handsome.”
While I felt secretly proud, Ha-jin picked up the microphone on stage and began his proper remarks.
“We’re truly honored and nervous to be performing as the final bonus act at the concert of our admired senior Yupia today. Especially, I heard that the seniors’ family members are also here.”
The Idea members murmured in confusion at Ha-jin’s sudden mention of the members’ families. Regardless, Ha-jin turned his body toward the family seating area where Tae-il had informed him the members’ families were sitting.
“Unofficial grandson, I’d like to offer a formal greeting today.”
And then he suddenly gave a deep bow toward the audience seating…!
“Our Ha-jin is doing crazy things again….”
For some reason, I had to quietly lower my head in embarrassment.

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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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