Grab the Regressor by the Collar and Debut - Chapter 244

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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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244. Why Are You Coming Out From There (2)
Seo Tae-hyun blinked, his lips twitching as he watched his group’s leader suddenly bow deeply to the senior elder before them.
‘I should have realized something was off when he told me to just trust him….’
Days earlier, when Tae-hyun had suggested they go over their talking points in advance and perhaps coordinate a script, Ha-jin had responded this way.
-Don’t worry, don’t worry. I’ve got this handled. I’ve already thought it all through.
-But still, shouldn’t we at least discuss how we’re going to proceed once we’re up there? You’re really going to handle everything yourself?
-What, you don’t trust your leader? Come on, just trust me this once as your special MC. Rather than clumsily putting together a script and obviously showing our nervousness, it’ll be much cleaner if I take the lead and guide us through it, right? Just trust me once.
He should have pushed back harder, insisting they prepare something at least. But Ha-jin’s reassuring, trustworthy smile and the way he patted his shoulder had made him think, ‘I guess so…?’ and let it slide—a critical mistake!
Feeling the need to do damage control, Tae-hyun quietly approached Ha-jin’s side, only to watch Ha-jin smoothly get to his feet.
Then, without warning, Ha-jin grabbed Tae-hyun’s arm, placed a hand on his shoulder, and introduced him.
“Wait, what—!”
“You might not have met him before, but I’d like to introduce a distant relative friend as well. I hear he’s of the same generation as Father….”
“Ah, ah… well—! Oh, hello…! I’m Seo Tae-hyun….”
“Oh wait. Since I’m Senior Seo Tae-il’s adopted son, wouldn’t that make you my grandfather too? But then wouldn’t that make our family tree incredibly complicated….”
Despite Ha-jin’s reckless ad-lib, Tae-hyun instinctively bowed respectfully. From the corner of his eye, he could see the other members also offering a polite greeting as Jeong Si-u gave them a subtle signal.
At that moment, Seo Tae-il’s father, caught on the large screen, waved his hand broadly with a resonant voice calling out, “Nice to see you~!”
Laughter erupted from the audience seating, and the flustered Tae-hyun, as if malfunctioning, bowed repeatedly in succession. He could confidently say this was the first time in his life he’d been this flustered on stage.
“Well then. Since we’ve already greeted the family elders, let me now introduce each of us to the Idea senior members.”
With just a few words, Ha-jin—the very one who had so easily broken Tae-hyun—naturally guided him back into formation. Then, as if he hadn’t just been joking around, he smoothly delivered his remarks in a composed voice.
His words flowed like water, and the audience erupted in enthusiastic cheers. The level of engagement was noticeably different from when Kairos first appeared.
“Hello. I’m Kang Ha-jin, the leader of Kairos, a rookie group under Miro who debuted in September. We’ve prepared diligently so that today’s performance can truly be a bonus stage for our senior members, and we’d be grateful for your kind support.”
Starting with Ha-jin’s eloquent greeting, the members took turns introducing themselves one by one.
As Tae-hyun finished his own introduction, he suddenly recalled something Ha-jin had emphasized when they were preparing for this bonus time.
-Remember this well.
-We’re becoming jesters.
-There’s no showcasing our stage, our talents, or anything like that. We’re just coming out to perform tricks and entertain.
-With our absolute best effort.
Tae-hyun was someone who fundamentally believed that idols were entertainers meant to bring joy to people.
Above all, he thought the job was about delivering the catharsis that the public and audience desired, but Ha-jin’s insistence on abandoning “my stage” didn’t sit right with him at first.
-We don’t need any pride or ego on this stage.
Was a stage like that even meaningful?
He’d hesitated briefly, but the members had followed Ha-jin’s lead. Ha-jin was incredibly firm about it, and the sudden opportunity for such a major stage felt overwhelming anyway.
Yet Tae-hyun still harbored doubts. Part of that uncertainty stemmed from the setlist they were about to perform.
The moment they’d first decided on the setlist replayed in his mind.
-Do-ha and I spent the whole night going through every Upia Concert setlist and DVD, thinking about which songs to pick. What does everyone think?
-…Are you serious?
-Dead serious. I already told Yu Gun in advance. I asked him to think about adjusting the choreography.
-Hyung, but still….
As Do-ha, standing at the end, finished his introduction, Tae-hyun’s brief recollection came to an end.
Ha-jin picked up the microphone again.
“Well then, I’d like to show you the stage we’ve prepared for the bonus time proper. To be honest, I get the feeling that many of the lovely ladies here might not be very familiar with our songs. After all, we’re… still newcomers….”
“We’ll do our best―!”
At my bittersweet remark, the members all shouted their fighting spirit in unison. This was a skit we’d arranged beforehand.
The blunt honesty drew laughter tinged with embarrassment from the audience. While some voices called out “No way~! We know~!”, they were decidedly in the minority.
“Anyway, you see, a bonus time without group singing would be like red bean buns without red beans, or ramen without noodles, wouldn’t it? So we’ve selected something a bit special for our first stage. I’m sure once you hear the intro, the lyrics will just tumble out of your mouths.”
Idea responded with cheers brimming with anticipation, as if to dispel the earlier awkwardness.
I smiled again and prepared the announcement to begin the performance. It was a symbolic line I’d been told beforehand was essential when starting the bonus time.
“Then, today’s bonus time. Kairos, we begin.”
Tae-hyun took a short breath to compose himself.
-Still… do you think it’ll be okay? Performing Upia’s seniors’ song instead of our own….
-I’ve really thought hard about this and I’m telling you straight. It’s a gamble, but I think it’s worth trying.
When I spoke with such sincerity, none of the members found it easy to voice opposition. It wasn’t because they feared me, but because they knew just how much time I spent agonizing over the ‘best’ choices for them, until my head nearly split.
‘Yeah, well… anyway, we just have to do well, right?’
Tae-hyun finally smiled.
To turn my carefully prepared best strategy into results, now it was their turn to give their absolute best.
* * *
The concert hall went dark as thunderous applause erupted.
As we gathered in the prepared formation, I lightly tapped each member’s shoulder.
“Let’s do this well. Let’s have fun.”
In the darkness, our eyes briefly met.
Si-woo chuckled and extended his hand to the center, and Ha-ru, catching his intent, quickly placed his hand on top. The other members gathered their hands as well, each carrying their own tension and excitement.
As I placed my hand on top last and called out a short “Two, three,” the members silently brought their hands down in unison, sealing our fighting spirit. Then we quickly took our positions.
♬♩—, ♬♩♫♩♪―,
The intro to a song unfamiliar to most of us flowed through the venue as bright lighting flooded the concert hall.
At the same moment, Ha-ru, standing at the very front of our line, turned around and slowly lowered his arms in a circular motion. Following the beat, the members behind him spread out to the sides and repeated the same movement.
A cheerful tempo and refreshing accompaniment, like a winter carol.
It was completely opposite to the songs Upia had showcased throughout the first half, and even considering Upia now, it was a musical style far removed from their image. Yet Idea reacted faster than anyone.
“Aaaaaaah!”
The roar was incomparable to when Kairos first debuted.
As the members moved with motions closer to dancing than choreography, flaunting the freshness of newcomers, it wasn’t long before glow sticks sparkled in the audience and Idea’s voices erupted.
“Tae-il! Ji-nu! Da-down! Han-sol! Sang-rok! Dea! Our paradise! Upia! Fighting!”
The title: 【Picnic】.
This track from Upia’s third mini album hadn’t received much attention at release, but it shone when it was unexpectedly included in Upia’s first concert setlist.
With its bright, cheerful rhythm and refreshingly crisp melody, it was far from Upia’s musical style back then too, but it was created by Seo Tae-il under Nam Da-down’s coercive insistence of “Come on, we were rookies once too, let’s do something like this!”
Let’s go on a picnic
Dan Ha-ru, with his clear, beautiful voice and soft tone, delivered the opening verse that had once made Idea realize their wish was finally coming true, generating sixty million reaction images in the process.
Though it was a different opening than the voice they’d always heard, Idea gladly let out delighted exclamations at the familiar melody they were hearing again after so long.
A pleasant breeze is blowing
Along with Ha-ru’s singing, the members standing in a line paired up, linked arms, and spun around gently.
The original choreography was supposed to be a gentle, swaying rotation, but perhaps excited by the massive cheers, Si-u and Eun-chan’s pair was bouncing so enthusiastically they nearly shook the floor.
Next, Tae-hyun in an adorable white fur hat shaped like a bear and Yu Gun-i with tousled hair stepped lightly onto the stage.
Should we grab the camera? (Click!)
Tell me, your Wish list (Check!)
To where the waves crash and white snow piles up (Let’s go!)
Within the part where they exchanged glances lightly, the Idea members responded with their signature cheer, the words etched deeper in their hearts than in their minds.
The fervent response wasn’t simply because this song had been popular at Upia Concert Venue in the first place.
-‘Picnic’ is a song that Upia’s members retired from their official concert setlist after announcing their seven-year contract renewal. They have so many other songs to perform, after all. Honestly, it’s more impressive that they performed songs from their third mini album all the way until their eighth mini album.
The day it was decided that during 【Bonus Time】 they would showcase Upia’s songs instead of their own.
Ha-jin had shown them several candidate songs that he had selected after analyzing all of Upia’s past concert DVDs and setlists.
There were three criteria.
【The song had to be one Upia had performed on stage.】
【It had to be popular enough with fans that Idea members would recognize it immediately.】
【It had to be a song Upia hadn’t performed in the last three years.】
Among them, ‘Picnic’ was the song decided upon unanimously.
A song that satisfied all three conditions above, belonged to a genre that wouldn’t be directly compared to Upia’s stage performed just before, and could properly showcase their strength—the ‘charm of newcomers’.
‘And most importantly….’
Ha-jin adjusted the in-ear monitor hooked over his ear once more with his hand as he stepped forward to the front of the stage.
It was the timing when Si-u, who had heard an enormous roar just from his face appearing on the large screen, was just finishing the chorus and turning around.
Ha-jin lifted the corners of his mouth refreshingly and gestured toward the audience seating.
“You all know this, right―!?”
With a practiced lead comment, Ha-jin dashed to the very front of the main stage and handed the microphone to the audience seating.
The voices of Idea members echoed throughout the vast concert hall.
Oh, oh, oh, oh―,
Us! Both of us! Let’s go! Far away!
‘The fact that group singing is possible is what’s most thrilling.’
So that when this 【Bonus Time】 ended, no one could say their stage wasn’t fun.
“Sisters, we can’t hear you! Louder!”
Over ten thousand people all raised their voices in unison following Ha-jin’s lead.
And that feeling was even more exhilarating than what Ha-jin had imagined long ago.

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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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