Grab the Regressor by the Collar and Debut - Chapter 265

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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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265. The Day of Reckoning (3)
“…Seriously?”
Yu Gun-i, bundled in an oversized gray hoodie over his school uniform, a black padded jacket, and an old navy backpack slung across one shoulder, let the toast he’d been holding drop from his mouth with a soft thud. His younger brother Yoo-rang, who had followed him out, started to say something upon witnessing the sight, but the unfamiliar scene unfolding before his eyes left him speechless, mirroring his older brother’s reaction.
The passenger window of an unfamiliar white Morning sedan parked in the alley in front of their home rolled down with a mechanical whirring sound.
“Hey.”
Ha-jin, striking an unnecessarily stylish pose from the driver’s seat while looking thoroughly disheveled, flicked his fingers in greeting. Tae-hyun sat in the passenger seat with an expression of resigned acceptance, offering a soulless smile as he waved and said, “Hi, Yoo-rang.” It was Yoo-rang’s first time seeing his brother’s coworker since the live broadcast, and he hesitantly lowered his head in greeting.
Yu Gun-i picked up the toast he’d dropped earlier and handed it to Yoo-rang, then examined the Morning—which was considerably smaller than his own height—with undisguised bewilderment.
“…Did our company go bankrupt or something?”
“Why? If it went bankrupt, would I be running away?”
“I’ll do my best on the college entrance exam today. I’m someone with a family to support now….”
“Fortunately, it didn’t go bankrupt. Get in.”
At Ha-jin’s urging nod, Yu Gun-i cast one more doubtful glance at the Morning before climbing into the back seat. After folding his long legs this way and that to finally find a comfortable position, he fastened his seatbelt, and Ha-jin started the car while setting up navigation on his phone.
Watching Ha-jin drive for the first time, Yu Gun-i unconsciously gripped his seatbelt tightly and looked around the car’s interior. “By the way, what exactly is this car?”
“What exactly is this car?”
“My mom’s car. Oh, there’s your lunch box in that shopping bag. Take it with you later.”
“Did you make it?”
“No way. It’s my mom’s lunch box.”
“I see.”
Contrary to Yu Gun-i’s concerns, the Morning Ha-jin drove navigated smoothly and skillfully out of the neighborhood and onto the main road. The ride quality felt as though the tires were barely touching the ground, but setting that aside, it was actually quite a respectable driving experience.
The old Morning carrying three sturdy men wound its way deftly through Seoul’s roads, which weren’t particularly empty despite it being the morning of the college entrance exam. Ha-jin checked the arrival time displayed on his phone and roughly organized his subsequent schedule in his head before opening his mouth with an “ah.”
“And after you two finish the exam, someone other than me will pick you up.”
“Someone else? Who? Kwon Wook?”
“No. He’ll be busy taking Eun-chan and Ha-ru straight to the broadcasting station right after. You’ll find out when you come out. Since you’re both pressed for time after the exam, don’t wander off—just wait at the school gate holding hands.”
With a casual tone, Ha-jin smoothly changed lanes and merged into traffic. The school where the two would take their exam was just ahead, but no matter how he thought about it, the image of them getting out of a Morning didn’t sit right with him, so he planned to turn a corner and drop them off somewhere out of public view.
“Why is traffic so backed up here?”
“There must be an accident up ahead. It’s chaos.”
“We won’t be late, right?”
“We’re almost there—how could we be late? Just wait. I’ll take a detour and drop you off. There are so many reporters over there.”
The traffic light was red, and ahead, cars were backed up as if there had been an accident. Reporters were clearly stationed in front of the school gate, visible even from a distance. Ha-jin habitually tapped his fingers on the steering wheel while carefully gnawing on the knuckle of his other hand to avoid hurting it, when someone approached and tapped on the driver’s side window.
“…?”
“Are you test-takers?”
Ha-jin initially thought some lunatic was tapping on a stranger’s car window on a main road, but the person speaking was a traffic police officer in a fluorescent vest. It seemed he was managing traffic and controlling vehicles due to an accident in front of the exam site.
When Ha-jin rolled down the driver’s side window, the traffic police officer, upon seeing the appearance of Tae-hyun and Yu Gun-i in the passenger and back seats, suddenly broke into a benevolent smile and put a whistle to his lips.
“Where are you taking the exam? Seo-an High School here?”
“Huh? Oh, yes, that’s right, but….”
“I’ll clear the way for you. Follow me.”
“Huh↗? No, no, no! No! No, that’s really not necessary!”
“It’s fine. You’re facing one of the most important exams of your lives, and on a day like today, you deserve this kind of consideration.”
“No, that’s not it. I mean, over there…!”
For whatever reason, the traffic police officer, having fully charged his humanitarian spirit of his own volition, straightened up with a sniff of his nose. Before Ha-jin could stop him, the officer blew his whistle and swung his baton to direct traffic.
And just like Moses parting the sea, the congested traffic lane suddenly opened, creating just enough space for a single compact car to slip through.
“I’m going to lose my mind, seriously.”
“Sorry, but this is embarrassing—could you please hurry up and get us out of here, hyung?”
“Before someone recognizes us and starts some controversy about ‘Kairos getting special treatment for the college entrance exam,’ let’s just go, hyung. Please, seriously please.”
The old car with its poorly tinted windows couldn’t hide the warm smiles the other drivers were giving us—I could see every single one of them.
Yoo Gun, whose body could barely fold anymore, practically lay down below the window to hide, and Tae-hyun quietly held up his school bag to cover his face, but I, gripping the steering wheel, had nowhere to escape.
I reluctantly put on some random glasses I’d grabbed that morning and squeezed through the gaps between cars at maximum speed.
Since I needed to make a left turn back there to drop them off at a corner, I was now stuck pulling up in front of the main gate where journalists had set up camp.
I flashed a business smile at the school security guard waving me over from the distance, then muttered in a tone of resignation.
“So we’re really extracting every possible piece of content from the college entrance exam day….”
Imagining the entertainment news headlines that would go up on portals in an hour, I laughed hollowly—ha ha ha.
* * *
“Dad, where’s Mom?”
“I don’t know. She went to help your brother with something and stopped by your grandmother’s place.”
Ha-won, who wasn’t taking the college entrance exam today thanks to early admission, had slept in for the first time in a while.
I glanced at Father, who was playing baduk on his computer in his room on his day off, then settled into the chair next to him and turned on my phone.
“What’s hyung helping with?”
“Your dad didn’t hear the details either. Apparently a few kids from there are taking the exam today. It’s related to that, I think?”
“Oh, right.”
I nodded lightly and habitually searched “Kairos” on the internet portal. With hyung being busier these days, this was faster than calling him.
Sure enough, newly updated articles caught my eye, different from before.
“…?”
【[PHOTO] Kairos Kang Ha-jin, ‘Ever Seen Such a Cool Morning Driver?’】
【Kairos Ha-jin ‘Idol★Star Appears at College Entrance Exam Site’】
【”Seeing Off the Members”…Kairos Ha-jin, Stylish Parent Look】
Morning?
What morning.
Good morning?
My eyes doubled in size at the sight of that familiar white morning car visible in the article photo.
‘Did hyung do something crazy again?’
With a bad premonition, I clicked the article and saw a photo of Ha-jin, dressed in a black long coat despite the harsh cold, stepping out of a morning car that was about half his size.
Black jeans and black walker boots wrapping around long legs, black turtleneck, black coat, black scarf, and black sunglasses.
Ha-jin, completely armed in all black, created a bizarre cognitive dissonance against the pure white morning car captured in the background. I scrolled to the next article.
【Kairos Ha-jin ‘Yu Gun, Don’t Forget Your lunch box’ [PHOTOHD]】
In Ha-jin’s fully dressed hands hung a shopping bag with an especially vibrant pink hue, and in the photo, Yu Gun, covering his face with one hand, was receiving that shopping bag from Ha-jin.
Whether I understood the situation or not, I couldn’t make sense of it either way. I blinked and copied one of the news photos, then opened the messenger window with hyung.
【(Photo)】
【Hyung, why are you taking our family car and posing like that?】
Unexpectedly, the reply came back quickly.
【Our hyung ∥ Looks good on me, doesn’t it】
Our brother might actually be getting morning advertisement deals at this rate.
He could probably handle morning bread commercials.
Our brother ∥ lol
Who even uses “lol” anymore?
Our brother ∥ middle finger emoji
hahahahaha
He sure knows how to have fun.
After confirming his brother’s safe day once again, Ha-won chuckled and turned off his phone.
Between his appearance on Touch High last time and everything else, it was hitting him anew that his brother had actually become a celebrity.
‘…Will he stay busy through the end of the year?’
Finding it slightly odd that his brother was looking after someone else’s college entrance exam instead of his own, Ha-won turned off his phone with a faintly wistful feeling.
It was time to freely enjoy a rare weekday off.
* * *
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‘Yeah, things went crazy.’
My plan to throw Seo Tae-hyun and Lee Yu-gun in front of the reporters and quickly escape to the broadcast station fell apart when Lee Yu-gun left his lunch box in the back seat.
Of course, I’d prepared for this possibility beforehand…!
If I was going to be photographed anyway, I wanted to look good, so I’d put effort into styling my hair from morning…!
Even with Mother’s comment about the cold making my mouth turn, I’d put on this uncomfortable long coat and even walker boots, but still…!
‘At least the photos turned out well.’
With that mental victory, I parked near the salon and got out. When I drove the van, fans lurking around the area would recognize me and chase after me, but a morning appearance in the middle of Cheongdam-dong was such a fresh approach that it didn’t cause as much commotion as I’d expected.
“Oh, Ha-jin’s here? The Executive Director called. Come on in.”
“Manager, hello.”
After dropping off those high school seniors at the exam site, I’d stopped by the salon before heading to the broadcast station. Now I had to get my hair and makeup done here, change clothes, and then drive back to the broadcast station alone.
‘I miss Kwon Wook….’
I never realized how comfortable that life had been—sitting in the back seat, closing my eyes for a moment, and waking up already at the next schedule location.
Stepping into the salon with fresh gratitude, I was greeted by air that was incomparably warm and cozy compared to the outside chill.
For that too, I was grateful.
It was a beautiful morning.
“By the way, Ha-jin, your ears are really red. Is it that cold outside?”
“…The car’s heater isn’t working well….”
“Huh?”
“Ah. It’s freezing out there, seriously.”
That small, precious morning car of ours—hot in summer, cold in winter—was an inconvenience I’d never known back then either.
As a kid, I rode in nothing but that, so I never realized how inconvenient it was. When I first switched to a family car at twenty-nine, and even in this timeline, I’d been getting rides in such nice cars everywhere that my standards kept rising.
‘If I keep getting used to this comfortable, warm life like this, it’s a bit scary….’
With the thought that I was beginning to truly understand that saying about how too much happiness brings anxiety, I hung my scarf and coat on the rack and moved inside.
Someone else was already getting styled inside, and I could feel the bustling noise.
‘Is it the Storm Header kids?’
I think I heard they moved their salon here after that Touch High thing last time….
Anyway, if it was someone I knew, I glanced sideways to greet them, but my eyes met with someone completely unexpected.
“Oh? Ha-jin.”
“Ah. Manager….”
It was Jang Seo-yun, the Manager from Rene who first introduced me to Miro.
‘The fact that she’s here means….’
I had a rough idea of who was getting styled in that room, and an awkward smile formed on its own.
And true to my expectations, an unnecessarily familiar, irritating voice came from behind me.
“Hello, senior.”
….
Turning around slowly, I saw Cha Min-seok—the original sculpture who, after proper management, had a shinier complexion than when I’d seen him before debut.
Without thinking, I almost let a bitter expression show, but I quickly maintained my poker face.
I was trying to acknowledge him politely and escape, but Cha Min-seok spoke to me first.
“How is Seo Tae-hyun doing?”
Is this guy insane?
Today too, the rival of the handsome and irritating Seo Tae-hyun challenged me to a duel on this narrow wooden bridge.

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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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