Grab the Regressor by the Collar and Debut - Chapter 295

—————

This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

—————

295. The Necessary and Sufficient Condition for Happiness (3)
“That’s why I need your help.”
[My help, sir?]
“Yeah.”
[…Very well. What would you have me assist with?]
At Thirteen’s ready agreement, I ceased the motion of rubbing my cold hands.
“First, I want to review the past timelines of everyone I’ve recruited as colleagues so far.”
[All of them? That would be quite extensive, wouldn’t it?]
“Even a rough overview is fine. The Returner will definitely manipulate those timelines. I want to know in advance what kinds of events could occur.”
[Understood. Rapid summarization and accurate information delivery are fundamental to my system.]
[(ゝω´･)b⌒☆]
“And….”
I trailed off for a moment, then began tapping my fingers lightly against the table.
One didn’t need to ask to sense the countless thoughts and calculations moving rapidly through my mind.
“…I want to recruit the other members as colleagues too. And I want to understand exactly what this colleague system is.”
[The colleague system is, quite literally, a system designed to assist the Fixed Returner’s Quest progression. It allows you to temporarily recruit them under your management.]
“You’re saying I can manage their timelines?”
[Well, it’s a loophole, so to speak. Since you, Kang Ha-jin, are human and cannot arbitrarily interfere with others’ timelines, the ‘colleague’ system allows us to quietly place them under your Time Management Authority.]
“What are the recruitment criteria? Among the members so far, the ones without recruitment notifications are Jeong Si-u, Lee Yu-gun, and Dan Ha-ru—three people.”
Dan Ha-ru I understand, but shouldn’t Jeong Si-u and Lee Yu-gun have triggered it?
At my repeated question, Thirteen answered calmly.
[There are two conditions necessary for colleague recruitment, as follows:]
【1. Timeline Fluctuation 2. Resonance with the Manager】
[First. Timeline fluctuation means that your timeline has been affected by Kang Ha-jin, resulting in a completely different flow from the past timeline.]
[Seo Tae-hyun and Kim Won-ho fall into this category.]
“What about the second?”
[Second, resonance with the manager simply means how much you trust or accept that person, Kang Ha-jin.]
[Ji Su-ho, whom you chose as your first assistant for Quest progression, and Lee Do-ha, whom you recognized as a musical colleague, fall into this category.]
[For reference, Ju Eun-chan meets both conditions. His timeline changed, and you genuinely came to hold him close.]
So my earlier thought—that the colleague recruitment Quest appears when you desperately want to become entangled with someone—was half right and half wrong.
It wasn’t that the other person desperately wanted to become entangled with me; rather, it was when I myself became desperately entangled with them.
I recalled the moments when the colleague recruitment Quest had appeared and nodded to myself.
“Then what about Lee Yu-gun and Jeong Si-u? Even setting Dan Ha-ru aside, shouldn’t those two have triggered it during the infinite regression or the stable incident?”
[The colleague recruitment system operates entirely based on Kang Ha-jin’s timeline and unconscious mind.]
[If the colleague recruitment system hasn’t appeared for those two, it’s because they haven’t met either of those two conditions.]
[For example… you might be unconsciously refusing to interfere with their timelines, or perhaps your timelines aren’t affecting each other at all.]
At those words, I fell into deep thought.
Though it was true that the two incidents mentioned above had brought me closer to those two than before, it was also true that if I had to name the members with whom I felt the most distance, it would be those two.
Regarding Si-woo and Yu-gun’s unfortunate family circumstances, I honestly didn’t have the confidence to delve deeper yet.
‘So in the end, it was all my problem.’
Ha-jin let out a small sigh, then something seemed to occur to him as he turned to Thirteen with a question.
“Oh, hey. So what about that thing? The one that’s always flashing red and bothering people. The one that says Seo Tae-hyun’s mood is really bad or whatever. Why does it only ever show up for Seo Tae-hyun? Every once in a while it shows up for Lee Do-ha?”
[It’s simple. It appears because you care about that colleague’s emotions, Kang Ha-jin.]
“Me?”
[Because your subconscious perceives Seo Tae-hyun as someone with a delicate and sensitive temperament, his emotional state updates in real-time. Conversely, since you don’t worry as much about Ju Eun-chan, no notifications appear for his state.]
[Understanding the Colleague System is really easy, isn’t it~? ☆～（ゝ。∂）]
“…Yeah, really easy, you’re saying the same thing again.”
So all that red-light hell up until now was entirely my own doing.
Now that I knew the answer, everything made sense. Ha-jin let out a deep sigh at all the situations that had occurred, then stretched out long across the sofa.
“This meddlesome nature of mine is really….”
[Are there any other questions?]
[Then I’ll go create a summary of the past timeline….]
“No, no, stop. Hey, stop! There’s one more thing.”
[The workload intensity right after arriving is really… -3- (Please tell me anything!)]
Thirteen, who had been about to disappear, suddenly hit the brakes and reappeared with a sparkle.
At this point, Thirteen didn’t even seem to bother hiding that the speech bubble had changed. Ha-jin laughed in bewilderment and raised an eyebrow.
“Hey, you know all the humanization stuff you can do now, right? The moment you show up in human form in front of me, you’re getting a hundred knuckle strikes.”
[No, that’s not it. I stopped humanizing. I reset back to the Time Management Authority system properly.]
“You’re lying. I clearly told the Headquarters guy to leave your body as is because I have a use for it.”
[Ugh, I really hate you, Kang Ha-jin. This is Time Management Authority abuse.]
“Do your job properly before I report you first for negligence. I saved you from being erased, so be grateful.”
[-3-]
“What?”
At Thirteen’s persistent complaining and shameless behavior, Ha-jin stood up abruptly, exasperated.
Thirteen quickly shifted tactics, scattering all sorts of sparkling effects while displaying a helpful message.
[What! What is it! What are you going to do!]
“Just because you decorate the system window nicely doesn’t make everything sound pretty….”
[Tell me quickly. If you stay here this long, it’s not good for Kang Ha-jin either. You haven’t developed immunity to side effects yet.]
Watching Thirteen grumble while subtly worrying about me, Ha-jin straightened his posture and clasped his hands together again. Since I had to wake up early tomorrow morning and head out on a trip, coughing up blood from early morning and getting caught by the members wasn’t something I wanted either.
Ha-jin quietly turned his gaze, observing the vast, beautifully decorated Unconscious Space he had created.
An infinite space.
As long as one didn’t realize it was a dream, it felt real enough to believe it was reality.
“Let’s remodel this place. Make it pretty.”
Ha-jin intended to make proper use of this infinite, intangible space.
* * *
“Everyone, you got everything you need? Nothing left behind?”
Early morning on the first day of Kairos’s first official vacation.
As Manager Kwon Wook loaded luggage into the car trunk, Ji Su-ho asked the members.
Given the circumstances, they had decided to depart quickly in the early morning, so several members could be seen leaning against each other, their eyes still not fully open.
Just as Yoo Gun, who had been resting his head on Do-ha’s shoulder as the latter stood rigidly like a statue while dozing, was about to stumble and fall, a hand suddenly appeared from behind and caught him at just the right moment.
It was Ha-jin, loading luggage alongside Kwon Wook. After waking Yu Gun and sending him to the car, he turned back and answered Ji Su-ho.
“It’s not like we’re emigrating overseas or anything. If we need something, we’ll just buy it.”
“Oh really? So you got your settlement and now you’ve got some money, huh?”
“No, Eun-seok hyung gave me a card.”
Ha-jin pulled a card from behind his phone and slipped it coolly between his fingers, raising his eyebrows.
“He gave it to me yesterday when Eun-chan came to pick me up. Said to use it for travel expenses. Thanks to him, we’re planning to have a great time eating and enjoying ourselves.”
“You really… you don’t hesitate about things like this, do you?”
“Isn’t it rude to refuse when an adult gives you something?”
Despite Ha-jin’s cheeky response, Su-ho couldn’t bring himself to laugh.
Ha-jin these days was certainly much softer than when they first talked at the convenience store in front of his home. But from experience, Su-ho knew that the more stress Ha-jin faced or the more cautious a situation demanded, the more he let his guard down completely. That knowledge wouldn’t let the unease fade.
Meanwhile, Kwon Wook finished loading all the luggage and getting the members into the car, then approached Su-ho and Ha-jin to report the situation.
“Executive Director, we’ve loaded everything. Eun-chan said the person who’s becoming his hyung tomorrow will pick him up directly, and for Tae-hyun, I’ll drop the kids off first, then come back to Seoul to pick him up. It’ll probably be late by the time I drop off Tae-hyun and return to the company.”
“No, you’re on vacation anyway—why would you come back? Just take care of Tae-hyun and then head home with the car. If anything comes up, I’ll contact you then.”
“Yes, thank you.”
Originally, the seven members had planned to handle everything themselves—driving, shopping, everything. But given Kairos’s recent skyrocketing popularity and recognition, the company decided that wasn’t feasible.
In the end, Manager Kwon Wook would drive the members to the villa, and when their vacation ended, he’d go back to the villa to pick them up. This was the final agreement reached between the company and the members.
Ji Su-ho looked at Ha-jin with obvious anxiety.
“Really… I’m trusting you guys with this. Please don’t get caught up in any weird accidents or anything.”
“The place has a caretaker and security—it’s Eun-chan’s private property. Even if fans wanted to get in, they couldn’t, right?”
Ha-jin’s playful expression turned noticeably serious once Kwon Wook headed toward the driver’s seat and only the two of them remained outside the car.
Dressed in a black and green training set that had arrived as a birthday gift, Ha-jin stood with his hands casually in his pants pockets, turned to face Su-ho, and spoke in a heavy voice.
“Hyung.”
“…What? Why are you scaring me?”
“You trust me, right?”
In Ha-jin’s eyes as he spoke, instead of the usual certainty, there was a hint of tension and fear. Seeing that unfamiliar gaze for the first time, Su-ho grabbed Ha-jin’s arm.
“What is it? Why are you making me so anxious?”
“Just answer me. Do you trust me or not?”
“…I trust you, damn it. Would I let you guys go on a trip together during such a critical time if I didn’t?”
After hearing that answer, Ha-jin nodded with a small smile. Su-ho, growing even more anxious at that reaction, tightened his grip on Ha-jin’s arm.
“What is it? You need to tell me so I can help. You….”
“I don’t know either. I can’t get a sense of what’s going to happen or how.”
…
“Anyway, I have a feeling something’s going to happen. This time, it might not be like before—just me knowing, just me feeling it.”
“…What?”
“If something happens, I’ll contact you right away. So no matter what happens, trust me and just wait and hold on.”
Ha-jin gently pulled his arm free from Su-ho’s grip and patted his shoulder with a reluctant smile. Then, with great care, he hesitated for a long moment before finally speaking.
“…And be careful while driving.”
“What are you talking about now, really?”
“If possible, don’t drive yourself. Have someone else do it. Take a taxi. Or just stay at the company. Why does someone who’s supposed to be an Executive Director keep going out to the field like this?”
“Hey, Kang Ha-jin…!”
“I’m heading out. Let’s see each other in three days.”
Before Su-ho could ask anything in return, Ha-jin was already using his long legs to swiftly climb into the car.
As the car pulled away, Su-ho stood rooted to the spot, watching the members wave at Ha-jin through the window like an idiot, unable to bring himself to move.
“Why…?”
Why was their light black?
A color he’d never seen before made Su-ho clench his fists with all his might.

—————

This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

—————