Grab the Regressor by the Collar and Debut - Chapter 246

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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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246. WHY YOU’RE COMING OUT OF THERE (4)
As the members moved to the main stage—a space they could now navigate with their eyes closed—I sensed an unprecedented resolve emanating from them.
A prelude that began with a low, menacing bass, followed by a triumphant anthem that swept across the venue.
During the hiatus, Si-woo had let his hair grow out slightly, and as it fell across his face, he brushed it aside casually with a gentle hand, squinting one eye as he launched into the opening verse.
His voice soared—One, Two, Three!!
After powering through two consecutive songs, my condition was slightly depleted compared to usual, but even so, the sharp, husky high notes were more than enough to ignite the atmosphere of the concert hall to new heights.
Kairos’s mini first album track, “Kick Off,” written and composed by Lee Do-ha, resonated before an audience of over fourteen thousand.
‘Our song, but damn, it’s incredible.’
Choosing “Kick Off” instead of the title track “Over the Night” as the final song was pure audacity on my part.
‘I may have resigned myself to being a shameless performer, but filling the entire stage with Seo Tae-il’s songs? That stings my pride.’
To be honest, Yupia’s songs… once I prepared them for the stage, I couldn’t help but acknowledge it.
The songs were damn good.
But still.
Don’t be afraid
Take my hand
A New Wave unfolds
Just enjoy it
Even so, this was the song I loved most.
We could get it all!
At the explosive chorus, the sea of light sticks filling the concert hall swayed in unison.
Gazing at that panorama, I felt something stir within me—those childish emotions I thought I’d forgotten as I grew older began to ripple through my heart.
‘…Someday, we too…’
Under our own name, with our own songs, standing alongside fans who cheer for us.
I want to showcase our stage.
“Let’s go—!!”
As I stepped onto the extended stage just before the dance break, that exhilarating feeling rose all the way to my throat, and I found myself shouting at the top of my lungs without thinking.
A few members seemed momentarily startled, but most shared my sentiment, breaking into genuine smiles and adding synchronized shouts with each movement, just as we did in the practice room. The unified energy we released only amplified the excitement further.
The dance break we’d rehearsed countless times felt more intense and overwhelming than ever today.
“…?”
As I returned to the main stage and was offering light greetings to the fans in the audience seating.
My eyes met someone’s in the first-floor section. There was something vaguely familiar about them, but with all the people I’d met during our activities, I couldn’t quite place them clearly.
I smiled and waved, and I saw them hastily hold up a tablet toward me. It was written in black marker, hastily scrawled in fluorescent pen.
【Kang Ha-jin, my pride. You’re amazing. You’re the best. I’m so proud of you.】
【Came with a friend. Destiny fan.】
‘Destiny…?’
At that welcome word, my hand rose instinctively. When I waved back warmly, though the lighting obscured their face, I could see them shaking the tablet frantically.
‘…There really is everything in this world.’
Whether what they wrote was true or not, I couldn’t know…
We could take it all!
The fact that even a single person in this vast concert hall was our fan made my heart feel like it might burst.
* * *
“Did you see it? You saw it, right?”
“Of course I saw it. You were laughing the whole time I was watching!”
Kairos’s 【Bonus Time】 had ended, and the Part 2 opening VCR was beginning to play.
As Jae-hee erased the hastily written cheering message she’d borrowed her friend’s tablet to scribble, her face had already taken on the appearance of someone about to cry.
“Hey, Eun-seo. I’m seriously buying us late-night snacks tonight. I’ll cover the hotel too. I’m telling you, I have zero regrets… I’ve been so busy I haven’t made it to a single one of their off-days…”
“Stop, stop. I only got into Upia because of you anyway. Let’s just call it even. But wait, that was Ha-jin earlier, right? Your ultimate bias? Wow… I can see why you’d stan him.”
At her friend’s acknowledgment, Jae-hee couldn’t help but feel a subtle sense of pride.
She’d anticipated they might appear as guests, and she’d worried that if they did, the atmosphere wouldn’t be entirely positive…
Jae-hee’s thoughts were half right and half wrong.
Whatever reactions might emerge online, at least anyone who’d witnessed Kairos’s stage in person today wouldn’t be able to easily criticize their performance.
‘See? My eye for talent was spot on, wasn’t it?’
For Jae-hee, who remembered the moment Ha-jin had walked into the Rene audition hall, this moment felt like a dream. She genuinely believed that securing the position of Fan #1 back then had been the best decision of her entire fandom life.
Of course, that didn’t mean she wanted to become someone special to Ha-jin, and there was no guarantee he’d remember her after all this time…
Still, simply being able to witness the growth of someone she supported, day by day, made each of Jae-hee’s days feel a little more meaningful and joyful than usual.
“Hey, but why didn’t you write that you were Fan #1? He might have recognized you then.”
“I haven’t made it to a single off-day event since then—would he even remember me? And even if he did, that’s like being some idol’s Instagram girlfriend. No thanks. I just wanted the members to know they have fans here.”
Jae-hee shook her head firmly at her friend’s words.
Working in the entertainment industry had taught her painfully that excessive fan obsession and parasocial delusions ultimately consumed both the fan and the object of their affection simultaneously.
A fan should remain just a fan. Reminding herself of her own fandom philosophy, Jae-hee picked up Upia’s slogan banner again. Part 2 seemed about to begin.
“And…”
“Hm?”
“That’s something we should save for our own members’ concert. Using it at someone else’s event would be tacky.”
“You’re always so particular… Oh, hey. They’re coming out! They’re coming out!”
Someday, in this very concert hall.
She looked forward to the day when, as a Destiny fan of Kairos, she would wave her slogan banner and light stick.
Jae-hee cheered with all her might for Upia, grateful for this precious moment they’d created.
* * *
“Alright! Let’s give it up for all our Upia members and staff, and our guest performers who made this Bonus Time so memorable! Everyone did great! All together now! Wanna be?”
“Let it be―!!”
In the cheerful atmosphere, several glasses clinked together in the air simultaneously.
Upia’s post-concert after-party was being held at a two-story meat restaurant they’d rented out entirely, starting at 11 PM.
The concert had started at 4 PM, but these crazy people had performed for two hours in Part 1, two hours in Part 2, and then dragged out the encore for another two hours.
‘Are they all on some kind of drugs? There’s no way people in their thirties would have this much stamina to go non-stop for six hours otherwise…’
The problem was that after 【Bonus Time】 ended, someone had suggested they stay to watch the entire concert through to the end since they were already here.
He’d stayed because he figured there would be plenty to learn from people who’d maintained their position at the top of the industry for thirteen years—their stage presence, various techniques, and so on.
But this was unexpected.
He’d ended up standing for four straight hours and was now trapped at an after-party on top of it all.
Even though there were minors in the group who kept saying they needed to leave early, the emotionally intoxicated bastard wouldn’t let them go easily.
“Ha-ru. Eat slowly, take your time.”
“Hyung, this meat is seriously delicious.”
“Yeah. Finish eating first, then talk. I’m not going to steal it.”
“I’ve never had meat this tasty before.”
Seo Tae-hyun barely managed to stop Dan Ha-ru from stuffing his mouth completely full of lettuce wraps. I silently pulled out a tissue and handed it to him. Dan Ha-ru bowed his head with a grateful murmur, making a sound like “thank you so much.”
“Dan Ha-ru.”
“Yeah?”
“Is it good?”
“Yeah!”
“Eat plenty. It’s not our money anyway.”
“Yeah!!”
I was starting to think I’d need to have it out with this bright-eyed fool soon enough.
To be honest, ever since I’d spoken with the Entity last time, I’d been consciously keeping my thoughts about Dol-ja and Seon-gwi at a distance.
‘I still don’t have a clear sense of what I should do about it.’
Procrastinating without a proper plan until some method came to mind was one of my bad habits.
Since I was going to win the Rookie Award anyway, maybe something would come to me once I actually won it.
With that thought, I decided to just use the system to search for reactions to today’s concert.
The moment I thought about it, the system window popped open with search results filtered and sorted by relevance—it was efficient, I had to admit.
Convenient as it was, I found myself missing Thirteen, who was clumsy enough to actually be fun to use.
Tuwol
@u_top_world
Came to the concert and spilling the tea about becoming my nephew’s wife through my junior idols
#Upia #EurekaFinalConcert
#Kairos #BonusTime
(Video of Kairos talking about their family tree)
Shares 7,001 Retweets 352 Likes 10K
leritbi
@iluvupia0331
The juniors came out during Eureka’s final concert bonus time
I’m seriously dying laughing, the talk was insane
The girls in our section were going absolutely wild
Now I get why Ha-jin’s friend said Tae-il looks like his son
And they performed so well on stage
Seriously so good, even as rookies their live vocals were insane
I’m totally hyped on the Miro family energy right now
#EurekaFinalConcertReview
[Today’s Eureka was seriously great lol final concert hype]
Part 1 was amazing but Part 2 was genuinely hilarious
The bonus time juniors honestly I didn’t expect much (they’re rookies and I was so satisfied with Sarin’s performance the day before) but they were so much funnier than expected lol they were seriously so cute
Hearing Picnic and Emergency after so long got me so hyped I was screaming along with everyone around me lol and the final song was their song and it was really good too!
On the way home I was curious so I listened to the audio version too and the live version was so energetic lol the studio version felt kind of boring in comparison
And part 2 is really… As soon as the kids came out, people screamed a lotㅠㅠㅠㅠㅜㅜㅠ
Downy was openly jealous, saying the juniors’ stage was too good, and it was genuinely hilarious… A 13-year veteran getting jealous of a 3-month junior, what kind of guys are they…
Hansol was just inspired and said he had to do better, and I thought he was really crazy today… Isn’t he a crazy person with a 7-speed high pitch in a coup d’etat, really? I feel sorry for not taking good care of my neck these days haha.
Anyway, I really really really loved today’s final concert. I’ve been to all the concerts, but today was the most fun
Me too!!! Junior friends? Cousins? Uncle? Son? I saw their reviews about the concert and noticed they watched from the end of the 3rd floor until the very end, and that made me like them even more lolol Let’s see each other often from now on~^^
└ I was in section 36 on the third floor, and it’s true. They even looked up the cheering method and sang along with us. I was in the seat behind them, and I got nice gifts from the fans on both sides, thanks.
Damn, that’s hilarious lol
‘As expected… the response is good.’
If I searched intentionally, there would be no end to the Upia Concert reviews, but it seemed the system had automatically filtered to show only fan reactions related to us. I could see some negative comments here and there, but not enough to be concerned about.
This time, I searched for our fans’ reactions to this news.
[Oh my god Lee Do-ha’s abs at the SBN concert!!!!!!!!!!!]
(Phone camera photo of Do-ha with his abs exposed as he wipes sweat from his forehead in a short-sleeved shirt)
Do-ha!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Us too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What about us!?!??!?????????
– C… calm down…
– Kang Ha-jin too…(preview photo of Ha-jin’s back view, completely drenched in sweat after removing his vest)
– The kids did so well, which is great, but I’m getting jealous of the Idea seniors… is that normal?
└ Beep beep. That’s normal.
[Ha-jin definitely seems to be doing well in the leader role]
From the way he gave remarks and guided the crowd’s response at the senior’s concert today…
I went to watch the full version someone uploaded from Bluebird
When Ha-jin said “Let’s go!” first during the kickoff dance break
Seeing all the members put in their fighting spirit together really made my heart ache…
Will the day come when we also cheer with cheering methods at the gym?
Will the day come when we see the kids putting in their fighting spirit like that and performing intensely on stage…?
Jjini seems really good at handling live situations like that, directing, stuff like that. He’s got great presence and good verbal skills lol, so for things that need some structure like a broadcast variety show, Tae-hyun’s the right fit, but for things that need to be done spontaneously like this, Ha-jin seems like the right one.
– Ha-jin was really impressive and reassuring
[I… I’m already looking forward to the kids’ year-end stage…]
Seeing them perform properly at such a huge concert hall like that… *cries*
I’m so so so excited for this year-end, what do I do?
If they remixed Order and Kickoff and pulled off an amazing performance…
Lolol turns out it’s a perfect concert venue for the kids lololol I’m looking forward to the year-end show too!!!!
– If I can’t go to the venue, it’s basically death…
– The kids bring an amazing year-end stage and let’s give them a rookie award, fighting everyone gather votes right?
“…Ah. The year-end stage.”
Now that I think about it, it’s time to start preparing.
I closed the system window and thought while eating well-cooked meat with kimchi wraps.
‘What should I do…?’
There’s a damn lot to do…

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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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