Grab the Regressor by the Collar and Debut - Chapter 283

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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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283. Ask Any K-pop Boy Group Fan About Fresh Cuteness (2)
Cafe Owner A returned home late in the evening, having finished all her work for the day.
After washing up and lying in bed, letting her exhausted body and mind go limp, she suddenly thought it would be a waste to fall asleep just yet, so she reached into the bag beside her bed and pulled out a tablet.
“I’ve watched all the dramas I wanted to see… Is there a movie worth watching?”
As she scrolled through her streaming subscriptions, a banner for “QBS Music Festival Live Broadcast” caught her eye.
Now that she thought about it, it was already year-end.
Living days so busy she could barely keep track of the calendar, Cafe Owner A felt an inexplicable pull and clicked on the live broadcast.
“I wonder if they’re performing? Kairos?”
That click was partly driven by thoughts of the Kairos members, who had recently become like timely rain—a pleasant soundtrack—in her otherwise monotonous daily life.
The Music Festival had already been running for a while, so it started playing a scene of a pretty, young girl group whose name she didn’t know performing with elaborate fans.
“Wow, these days I really… I don’t understand any of it, not a single thing.”
Back in my day, each artist had their own color identity. These days there are so many idols that you’d need to pull out a color code chart just to assign official colors. We could get by with just the basic rainbow spectrum.
With these newfound thoughts, Cafe Owner A turned up the tablet’s volume.
It was clear that everyone was working hard to leave behind some kind of legendary stage in this flood of idol competition, trying all sorts of things. While she didn’t recognize the faces of the singers performing, when she actually listened to the songs, many of them were ones she’d heard before—on the street, in cafes, somewhere.
-Yes, Hwan-young. Do you happen to know what our slogan is for this QBS Music Festival?
-Ah, Sia. What do you take me for? Of course I know. “New Road!” It’s a slogan that carries the meaning of us opening wide the new path we must walk forward on, by our own hands!
-That’s right. Like the old saying “Learn the old to understand the new”—to know new things, we must first understand what came before. So this year’s Music Festival has prepared a special stage where we can look back on the path the K-pop industry has traveled?
-Yes! A cover stage where junior artists convey their respect and sincerity to their seniors! The “Back to the Future” stage is ready for you. From B-liver, who made a comeback riding a typhoon of popularity, to Lanion, who has emerged as a rising star in the K-pop industry! Cover stages from many junior idols. Let’s meet them right now.
A VCR played as the MCs, dressed like princes and princesses from a fairy tale, introduced the segment.
A typical VCR showing a quick overview of K-pop history from the 70s-80s generation to today’s idols, followed by junior idols coming out one by one on a stage decorated like spotlights to be interviewed.
As expected, Cafe Owner A, who had no interest in the K-pop industry, recognized none of the unfamiliar, young faces.
-I think I used to wish I could perform on a stage like that.
She had been listening to the broadcast with just her ears while her eyes scrolled through a delivery app on her phone, but she turned her attention back to the tablet when she heard a familiar voice and manner of speech.
Ha-jin, wearing a comfortable expression in an oversized gray hoodie and black-framed glasses, sat with his legs crossed, his hands resting lightly on his knees as he gave the interview.
-These days…
Ha-jin let out a small laugh like a sigh, then pushed his glasses up with his unusually long, delicate fingers. As he tilted his head at an angle, the ear cuffs and earrings dangling from one ear jingled in a strangely captivating way.
-These days, I often feel that “to catch up with that, I’d really need an enormous amount of time and effort.” I feel it even more acutely now that I’ve debuted.
-I’m continuously searching for answers to “So what should I do?” And while preparing this senior cover stage, I think I was able to reflect more deeply on those kinds of things. The preparation process was really enjoyable.
Having just gotten home and not being someone who typically sought out entertainment news, Cafe Owner A had no prior information about which song Kairos would be covering.
“From the tone of the interview, it seems like they definitely prepared some legendary song…”
Since Cafe Owner A had already searched out quite a few of Kairos’s past stages starting with “This Isn’t a Carol” and “Touch High!”, the news that they might have covered a song she knew well sounded quite welcome.
As she was thinking about what song it might be, the VCR ended. When the camera returned to the stage, blue lighting rippled like an ocean. A title caption appeared at the bottom of the screen introducing the artist and song name.
【B-liver – Trouble Boy (Original: Wish Boys)】
It was a combination of an unfamiliar artist and a well-known song.
The moment three men in matching red suits lifted their heads on stage, the audience erupted in quite enthusiastic cheers, so they must have been famous.
“Wow, that song is already 15 years old…? Please tell me you’re joking.”
I wonder what Wish Boys is doing now…
Cafe Owner A enjoyed the stage, lost in nostalgia for a moment. Since it was a cover stage, they couldn’t perform the entire song, so it seemed they cut out about a verse, which left an inevitable sense of incompleteness. The familiar melody with an unfamiliar voice felt both new and strange.
“These kids do perform well these days.”
Because it was an edited recording, the performance flew by in an instant.
The stage performance was conducted through lip-sync rather than live singing, and as a result, most teams appeared to focus on facial expressions and performance. Some teams had even refined their arrangements to suit their own style, perhaps thinking the original song’s image was too intense.
However, if there was one flaw, it was that their youthful, baby-faced appearances inevitably revealed they were still rookies.
Their stage manner wasn’t bad, and their singing ability through the lip-sync was decent, but the songs themselves were far too intense compared to how the performers carried the stage.
“There’s no helping the experience that comes with years in the industry.”
After all, Cafe Owner A was from a generation that knew the original idol songs being performed better than anyone. Most of these were songs that had become massive hits when senior idols hit their peak around their third or fourth year, so having watched those legendary performances in real-time, Cafe Owner A couldn’t help but find these cover stages endearingly cute—like high school dance club kids performing at a school festival—regardless of their actual skill level.
If this had been a live performance, the way they gritted their teeth and powered through such a difficult song might have been a plus factor. But compared to the difficulty of the song reaching his ears, the performers’ expressions were far too serene, making the gap even more pronounced.
The only stage that felt reasonably good was Lanion’s “Coup d’État” performance.
“Oh, a seventh-octave high note.”
From their gleaming uniforms to the massive scale of the velvet flags with gold tassels that the backup dancers carried, it was clear money had been invested in this cover stage. Even through the lip-sync audio, you could tell they sang quite well, so there was no strain in listening.
“They’re pretty good too.”
Moreover, they had the most celebrity-like visuals of any rookie idols that had appeared so far. Judging by the loud cheers, they seemed to be the most popular team in the lineup so far.
If they managed to pull off a performance by Yupia, who was famous as a skilled idol group, to this degree, wouldn’t that be sufficiently successful?
Just as I was beginning to take some interest in Lanion, thoughts of Kairos suddenly hooked me from behind.
“So what song is Kairos going to perform?”
It seemed like practically every male idol from that era had been summoned?
Kairos had decent physicality, and thinking about their “Kick Off” stage, they seemed like they’d handle the intense, hard-hitting songs of older generation idols pretty well, so I grew increasingly curious.
And finally, when the stage transitioned and the name I’d been waiting for appeared at the bottom of the screen.
【K:RUS – More More (Original: Chungwol Girls)】
“…?”
The camera filled with pink and yellow lighting and a set so kitschy it bordered on childish—completely different from moments before.
Thunderous cheers came vividly through the screen, and Cafe Owner A also recognized the familiar, nostalgic intro that he’d prepared for a talent show with his college friends during an MT trip. As the bright, cheerful sound began, the center of the stage lit up and seven men, who had been looking down, gently lifted their heads.
KIRUS!
At the timing when they should have been shouting “Blue Moon,” Chungwol Girls’ signature sound, a different team name burst out instead.
With the bright intro, the first to appear at center was Kairos’s one and only fresh-faced member, Seo Tae-hyun. He had dyed his hair pink—the color that had created his peak during his Boy’s Supremacy days—and wore a pale pink blouse matching his hair color with a black ribbon around his neck.
“No….”
Just as Seo Tae-hyun, who was handling the “Seo Tae-hyun” role in “we also have a Seo Tae-hyun,” flashed his trademark fresh smile and swayed past, Dan Ha-ru in a reversed white baseball cap and blonde hair bounced in energetically, wearing a pale pink hoodie and white shorts.
Up to this point, adaptation was relatively easy.
This was something I saw often.
“Ugh….”
Cafe Owner A lost his words when the first verse of the song began.
As the members’ formation changed, the first performer waiting in the back emerged at center.
It was Kang Ha-jin, wearing a white angora beret on his head and a pale pink shirt with a white ribbon!
Tell me honestly
A soft, low voice produced a coy melody.
As if determined to enjoy the lip-sync at 500%, Kang Ha-jin didn’t even pretend to sing live and deliberately moved his features dramatically.
What exactly are we to each other?
Ha-jin, resting his arm on Yoo Gun’s back and tapping his face with his hand, looked directly at the camera with a deliberately sulky expression and pouted his lips.
As he slowly lifted his body, Si-woo in a pale pink blazer and Do-ha in a pale pink angora knit sweater swayed their shoulders alongside Ha-jin, shaking their hips fluidly.
“What is this…?”
Though it was clearly a fluid dance movement, perhaps because they all had good physicality, the dance lines came across as excessively spirited.
As Ha-jin walked forward, I caught a glimpse of him struggling to suppress a genuine laugh that threatened to break through—a moment where immersion wavered. With a slightly embarrassed expression, his lips quirked upward in that characteristic way that epitomized the very essence of a rookie idol.
Don’t just say we’re friends.
You felt it too, didn’t you? That thrill between us was real.
Gathering his courage anew, Ha-jin lifted his chin and wrinkled his nose sharply at the camera, crossing his arms. Then, with a series of exaggerated shoulder shrugs, he gazed at the camera with the most disarmingly innocent expression imaginable….
“…?”
Confronted by that shocking display on multiple levels, Cafe Owner A found himself utterly speechless.

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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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