Grab the Regressor by the Collar and Debut - Chapter 270

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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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270. The Snowball of Fortune (3)
Kairos’s first number-one encore stage was nothing short of complete chaos.
Four of them couldn’t sing because they were crying, two couldn’t sing because they were too nervous, and one couldn’t sing because they were too excited.
As a result, half of the first encore of “This Isn’t a Carol” was sung by Desty instead.
“Thank you for your hard work!”
“You guys, you did great~”
The atmosphere in the waiting room when we finally came down wasn’t much different from what had happened on stage.
Most of the staff members had been watching the members since their trainee days or even back during the Miro Maze era, so many of them were celebrating and moved as if they themselves had won first place.
“Blow out the candles, blow them out!”
“Congratulations on first place!”
“Kairos is going to be huge!!”
The moment we heard the news about being first-place contenders, Kwon Wook, our manager, had rushed to grab a cake from a cafe near the broadcast station, and a single candle was stuck on top of it.
With tears still glistening in my eyes, I gathered the members who were reveling in the joy of first place. The members, today’s stars, gathered in a circle around the white cream cake.
I cleared my throat softly and spoke on behalf of everyone.
“Um… today really had its ups and downs, and I’m sure everyone’s hearts were racing… but I’m so grateful that we were rewarded like this…”
With emotions still welling up inside, my voice trailed off, and after taking a short breath, I broke into a bright smile and shouted loudly.
“We promise to keep running forward as Kairos! Thank you so much for being with us!”
Applause erupted at my bold declaration. The members, who had been watching each other’s reactions, counted down and blew out the candles in unison.
As the situation settled somewhat in the warm atmosphere, Ha-ru, who had been watching his hyungs carefully the whole time, opened his mouth with a determined expression.
“Hyungs. I have a wish!”
“What is it?”
“Tell us, tell us.”
“With the mood we’re in right now, we can probably do anything except give you money or a guarantee.”
As always, but especially generous today, my hyungs’ expressions made Ha-ru’s eyes light up. With firm resolve, he pulled out a wet wipe and cleaned his hands thoroughly.
Then he reached out and generously scooped up some of the whipped cream that was beautifully piled on top of the cake.
“…What, what are you doing?”
“Please let me smear this on each of your faces just once.”
“…Is that really a wish?”
“In movies, this kind of thing always looks so heartwarming!”
Then Si-woo, who hadn’t said a word since the encore stage ended, walked over to the cake with a soft gait.
Si-woo, with eyes wet with tears that unnecessarily stirred up a sense of purity—not like an orchid kissed by morning dew—quietly looked back and forth between Ha-ru and the cake, then smiled softly and took Ha-ru’s hand, pressing the whipped cream against his own face.
“…!?”
“It’s not a guarantee or anything, and if it’s the maknae’s wish, this much is nothing.”
At that radiant smile, I gasped.
“Hyung, if you keep doing this, the genre is going to change and that’s going to be a problem.”
“Genre?”
“That kind of thing exists, anyway.”
Muttering to myself, I naturally caught Do-ha’s eye and linked my arm through Tae-hyun’s arm right next to me.
“Do-ha, grab him.”
“Got it.”
“What, what is it? Why are you doing this? Why are you grabbing me?”
Tae-hyun’s pupils trembled violently as he was pinned by the arm by Two, one of Kairos’s members, with no way to escape.
Ha-jin, who had brought Tae-hyun before Ha-ru, calmly pointed at Tae-hyun with a tilt of his chin and spoke.
“Ha-ru. I’ll offer Seo Tae-hyun as a sacrifice, so spare your hyung.”
“What!? Hey! This hyung is really…!”
“Whoa whoa! Hyungs, the cake…!”
To protect the cake from the thrashing Tae-hyun, Eun-chan hurriedly moved the cake box aside, but collided with Yu Gun behind him. As a result, half of the cake smashed directly onto the cheek of Kairos member Number Three, who had been bending down to pull out his phone.
“Gasp….”
“…Sigh.”
At Yu Gun’s sigh, his face now half-transformed into a whipped cream cake, silence fell over the waiting room that had been in complete chaos.
Eun-chan, who had caused a major accident despite having no intention to, pressed his lips shut and carefully set down the cake he was holding.
Yu Gun, who had tossed his phone back onto the sofa, slowly wiped the cake smeared on his face with his fingers in a deliberate motion, his eyes widening with an eerie gleam as he spoke.
“…Ju Eun-chan, you’re done for.”
“…Hyung. I absolutely didn’t mean to….”
“You’re finished.”
And in an instant, the waiting room transformed into a war zone.
Watching the chase unfold as members scattered and were caught, Ji Su-ho, who stood in the corner with his arms crossed, shook his head in disapproval.
“When will our kids ever manage to stay warm and fuzzy for more than five minutes….”
Manager Kwon Wook, hearing the wistful tone, laughed as he blew his nose into a tissue.
“I hope these kids never grow up.”
Even if the day comes when trophies bearing their names become inevitable,
or rather, when it becomes natural to stop expecting first-place trophies altogether,
I hope they’ll always laugh happily like this, together.
At Kwon Wook’s words, which carried such sentiment, Su-ho also nodded in agreement and shrugged his shoulders.
* * *
“Ah, these reckless kids really….”
Tae-hyun, who had fallen gloriously in the whipped cream war, sighed as he headed toward the restroom at the broadcasting station.
Because he happened to be the physically weakest among the members, Tae-hyun’s face and even his bangs were smeared with glossy, oily whipped cream.
“Since they’re having so much fun, what can I even say, really.”
Even as he wiped his face with the wet wipes that Coordinator Noona had provided, Tae-hyun’s mood wasn’t actually that bad.
It was a shame about the cake, but they had carefully trimmed the undamaged portions and eaten them among the members,
and while the whipped cream felt a bit uncomfortable, since his skin wasn’t particularly sensitive, all he needed to do was be more thorough with his skincare before bed tonight.
In fact, Tae-hyun’s mood today was such that he could forgive everything except his parents’ enemies, making him all the more magnanimous.
“…Huh.”
“….”
As if testing Tae-hyun’s magnanimity, a familiar face appeared in the restroom he entered in such a mess. It was Cha Min-seok, who was removing his eye makeup at the sink.
Tae-hyun, who had encountered not his parents’ enemy but his own enemy, locked eyes with Min-seok in the mirror.
“….”
It was Tae-hyun who looked away first.
It was only natural. There was no reason to keep looking.
Tae-hyun approached a sink a bit away from Min-seok and gently washed away the whipped cream using a foam cleanser. The warmth of the water and the sensation of his sticky face becoming clean bit by bit felt satisfying.
After meticulously washing even his bangs and drying off the water with a towel he’d brought beforehand, Tae-hyun turned to head back to the waiting room.
“…Hey.”
At that call, Tae-hyun turned around. Still dripping water from his face, Min-seok gripped the sink and met Tae-hyun’s eyes through the mirror once more.
As if something bothered him, the area beneath one of Min-seok’s eyes twitched. Tae-hyun knew this was the expression Min-seok made when he had a lot on his mind. Though three years had passed between them, Min-seok still looked no different from back then.
“Must be nice? Getting first place and doing so well.”
Min-seok’s tone seemed to imply something like ‘Now that things are going well for you, I don’t owe you anything, right?’ It was as if he was waiting for Tae-hyun to get angry and lash out at him right then and there.
Tae-hyun blinked slowly and finished drying his hands with the towel. Then he slowly approached Min-seok and placed the towel beside him.
To Min-seok, who looked at him as if asking what this was, Tae-hyun calmly gave his response.
“Yes. I’m happy.”
“….”
“Thank you for congratulating me. Please use the towel and dispose of it as you see fit. You can take it with you or throw it away.”
Tae-hyun bowed his head briefly with a faint smile, treating Min-seok as if they were meeting for the first time. As Tae-hyun turned and left the restroom without hesitation, Min-seok couldn’t say anything.
Min-seok’s gaze fell on the dark blue towel left beside him.
The moment he thought that the damp, soggy towel was just like himself, Min-seok’s mood soured unbearably. He ground his teeth and shoved the towel into the trash bin.
“….”
Despite it being his joyful debut day, Min-seok felt no joy.
Not even understanding where this displeasure stemmed from, Min-seok had no choice but to stand there blankly until his manager came looking for him.
* * *
I’d made a decision.
‘I need to get first place again next week.’
If I’d never known, that would be one thing, but having tasted it once, I couldn’t give it up.
Should I just treat this as a good experience and reminisce about this moment?
That kind of youth manga moral lesson didn’t apply in this timeline, at least.
In any case, I absolutely had to secure first place next week too.
‘Looking at the momentum, our chances of winning this week are definitely high….’
Since the fans had already seen us hit first place once, they’d likely pour even more effort into other votes.
The problem was next week’s situation. Since Lanion’s performance would begin to be properly reflected, the probability of us clashing with those guys seemed quite high.
“Getting first place right after debut, no conscience at all….”
“Huh? Hyung, what did you say?”
“…No, nothing. Just saying I’m so happy we got first place.”
“Oh. Me too.”
After patting Ju Eun-chan’s head as he nodded contentedly, I turned on my phone and habitually accessed SNS. Checking what had popped up whenever I had a moment had become my recent habit.
Upia OneStagram Backup Account
@UPIA_ONESTA
2X1118 Seo Tae-il OneStagram Story
Lol, this guy’s crying again hahahahahaha
Congrats on first place, babies~
(Photo of Ha-jin on TV crying while giving his acceptance speech)
“Ah, this senior….”
Aren’t you busy, hyung?
Why do you monitor everything we do all the time?
Is being a producer all there is to it?
‘…Well, being a producer kind of is everything….’
I scrolled down, and the next post was even more ridiculous.
RealFanatic
@heatherland
Eeeeee~
Kang Ha-jin made a mistake~~~
He messed up~~~
Everyone found out~~~~
(Screenshot of Ha-jin’s movement mistake)
(Screenshot of Ha-jin the Ending Fairy in shock)
‘I need to turn off my phone today.’
Have you ever witnessed a miracle where a terrible habit of checking your phone every ten minutes at its worst gets completely cured in just one minute?
That was happening to me right now.
I ruthlessly powered off my phone and glanced out the window, just in time to see the car pulling into the Company Underground Parking Lot.
Even though today was a joyful day after finishing the college entrance exam and ranking first, practice couldn’t be canceled, so we were fated to change into our practice clothes the moment we arrived at the company and train through the night. The year-end stage was right around the corner, so there was no helping it.
“Everyone, get out, wash up, change clothes, and warm up. Do-shim is on the way now.”
“Yes~”
The members, exhausted and worn out, spilled out of the car like zombies.
I was in the front seat, so I got out first and watched the members stumbling in with their eyes half-closed, ready to head into the company. The moment Seo Tae-hyun and Lee Yu-gun stepped out, I pounced on them like a cat snatching fish, grabbing both of them by the scruff of their necks.
“Ugh…!”
“Ah, why are you doing this again…?”
“My beloved third-year students. You two, stop for a moment.”
Your hyung is being serious right now.
For the sake of our steady rise in music rankings and cementing our trendsetter image, there was nothing I wouldn’t do.
“Let’s do just one thing with me before we head in.”
“What else….”
“Hyung, you’ve already used up today’s shameless quota. Do it next time.”
“Then I’ll cram tomorrow’s in.”
“You’ve already used up a whole month’s worth.”
“Ah, then I’ll borrow next year’s.”
As I shook Lee Yu-gun by the scruff while he kept chattering, both of them gave up entirely and stared at me with eyes asking what on earth I was doing.
“Easy, easy. Since you’re already wearing your school uniforms, let’s just film one challenge and go.”
“A challenge? What kind of challenge?”
“Ours. ‘This Isn’t a Carol.'”
“There’s no separate challenge for that, is there?”
“No, there is. I just made it up.”
“Huh…?”
No matter how I thought about it, the easiest, most cost-effective marketing with the fastest viral spread and best mass appeal was nothing but short-form challenge content.
I’d already used this method several times before, but it offered the best return on investment, so there was no helping it. And to maximize that return even further, I absolutely needed the “youth” of these two high school seniors.
Besides, this time I had some grounds for confidence.
[System Alert: Sudden Quest!]
Details: ☆Kairos Debut Commemoration☆
The Bonus Time returns once more!☺
Successfully complete music broadcast schedules
and raise awareness!
Deadline: During 【Over The Night】 music broadcast activities
[Success Reward: ★Lucky Snowball!★ Will you accept?]
“Let’s bring the youth story to its perfect ending tonight.”
What a perfect night for capturing a coming-of-age tale.
The dark night sky had never looked more beautiful.

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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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