Grab the Regressor by the Collar and Debut - Chapter 307

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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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307. Phantom Pain (6)
Parachute placement.
‘Such an unpleasant word.’
In South Korea’s competitive society that ranked people from birth, was there any phrase more grating to the eye?
‘And a golden spoon at that? How utterly distasteful.’
The public overwhelmingly empathized more generously with those they could pity.
The suspicion that a tall, handsome young man with a solid family background and broadcasting connections had deceived ambitious young boys and ascended to the seat of the newly minted aristocracy of idols—this narrative was catastrophically unfavorable to us.
‘Han Sung-woo must have tried to dump the parachute placement image onto Ju Eun-chan early on precisely because of these side effects.’
However, I planned to weaponize even that disadvantage.
Sometimes disadvantage itself becomes a weapon.
-Hello? …Ha-jin? Is the youngest awake?
The first thing I did was make a single phone call to Joo Eun-seok.
And I delivered just one phrase.
-Hyung.
-…?
-Are you going to stay still?
At that single phrase, delivered without hiding the slightest discomfort, Joo Eun-seok fell silent for a moment. But I didn’t say another word and waited for his response. He would certainly understand what my words meant.
The answer came about a minute later.
-…Ha ha.
This time too, Joo Eun-seok answered with a laugh that suggested bewilderment.
-That can’t be.
And the next day.
News articles confirming that Ju Eun-chan was the youngest son of JDZ’s CEO and the younger brother of Director Joo Eun-seok were published. Followed by official statements from JDZ’s Legal Team, Miro’s announcements, and news of Eun-chan’s accident were released in succession.
【JDZ Director Joo Eun-seok Issues Statement… “No Leniency. All Involved Parties Will Face Severe Punishment”】
【[Miro Ent] Kairos Eun-chan Health Status and Future Activity Guidance】
【[Miro Ent] Legal Measures and Warning for K:ROS (Kairos) Protection】
Though the wording differed, the overall message from Miro and JDZ was clear: they deeply regretted this ‘incident’ and would now respond as corporations rather than individuals to all defamation and rumor-spreading related to it—a declaration of war.
After the official statement was released, we contacted certain media outlets uninvolved in the accident and released all information and news about the incident. By simply not having tailed Eun-chan, we’d granted them exclusive reporting rights.
【[Breaking News] Kairos ‘Eun-chan’ Currently in ‘Unconscious State’ from Traffic Accident】
【It Wasn’t an Accident, It Was a Crime… Kairos ‘Eun-chan’ Traffic Accident, Cause: ‘Gutter Press’?】
【[Ha Young-seo’s Media View] Blinded by the Scoop, Faulty Brakes! Senior, How Shameful!】
People were shocked by news of the rising idol’s traffic accident and unconscious state.
In reality, Eun-chan wasn’t unconscious but merely in deep sleep after receiving sedatives from the severe shock, yet Miro deliberately didn’t correct the misinformation.
After all, accident news became more sensational the more severely the victim was injured.
– The reporter deliberately caused the accident???? Are they actually insane?????????
– I hope all these gutter press bastards get sued and rot in prison this time
I heard from a friend who’s involved in related work… apparently it’s not just one or two media outlets involved right now. The story is that reporters were tailing each other, acting crazy, and caused an accident. The Manager who got into the accident with them is in really bad shape too. And word is that the entertainment company side is sharpening their knives properly.
That insider connection story about that guy really does pop up like a vengeful spirit wherever you go, huh.
I knew journalists viewing celebrities as their meal tickets was bad, but isn’t this really crossing the line…? Post an apology and shut down the Entertainment Company, damn it.
– Eunchan, you were so cute and charming every time Tamra appeared. I hope you recover well without any major aftereffects ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅜㅜㅠ
The outraged public, upon receiving the news, soon shifted their stance in our favor.
– Why would a rich kid’s son pour money into his agency and go on a survival show? Is he going to get sued for employment fraud? Are there really idiots who believe this?
└ Journalists already believed it and followed Dol around, which is why we’re in this mess. Our country’s journalists are hopeless…
– This definitely won’t blow over quietly; to protect their stock price, they’ll have to hunt down and crush every last piece of tabloid gossip. Otherwise the company goes under
Those damn reporters are losing their nerve these days, and now they’ve actually gone after direct family members lolol crazy bastards
Lol, they actually touched the precious young master who shouldn’t have been touched.
└ JDZ is doing well overseas these days and it’s such a critical time for him right now, so I don’t think they’re gonna let that slide lolol
Look at it this way—MRL is also in a fight they absolutely can’t back down from right now. All the senior Dols have been settled into stable positions, and these are the kids they’re just starting to develop.
“lol they never cared about the media’s opinion in the first place anyway lolol”
– This is so entertaining, go ahead and settle this like a chicken run, hyungs
People began to find satisfaction in this incident.
At this point, we’d already half-won.
‘Public opinion warfare is ultimately a battle of framing.’
The moment I wove this incident into the existing frame of ‘silver spoon VS dirt spoon,’ the silver spoons that Ju Eun-chan and Joo Eun-seok possessed transformed from household luxuries into an alloy weapon for beating down the perpetrators—the ‘forces of evil.’
Heroes are better when they’re strong, and enemies are more satisfying to defeat when they’re not weak.
The public was already sick and tired of the ‘gutter press’s’ atrocities, and because of that, JDZ and Miro—who could now legally crush those ‘gutter press’ outlets—became far more reliable allies than Batman at this very moment.
The public wants to be on the side of someone they can admire with very high probability.
[No, I’m really embarrassed hahahaha give me haha]
If the Silver Kick family was so powerful that they could manipulate the Broadcasting Station, Production Company, and Entertainment Agency anyway, why would they have even done the Survival Program in the first place, you idiots? They would’ve just picked kids to their liking and had them debut directly at a comfortable company lol.
Oh, are the kids who really believe this crazy? At one point, people said that Seo EH-hyun debuted as a broadcaster, lol.
Seriously, Seo Tae-hyun’s parents just run a pension in Gangwon Province. Unless he’s some Gangwon Province land baron who can sell off a few pensions to fund advertisements, how the hell would he have connections at a broadcasting station, you morons? Please;;;;;;;;;
Leave it, those guys don’t make any sense to begin with lol
– Exactly!!!!! Whenever you listen to them talk, they make it sound like they can manipulate the broadcasting station and agency however they want. What, is Miro or NTV some neighborhood convenience store~~!
– People who believe conspiracy theories are hopeless. They actually believe it’s real, which is even scarier
I don’t know about Ju Eun-chan, but the Seo Tae-hyun rigging conspiracy is real lolol the main PD was clearly trying to push him out as the show went on, every Korean knows that lololol
In truth, this wasn’t so much me manipulating public opinion as it was normal people’s normal judgment finally gaining a voice. As they said, if you thought about it even slightly deeper, you could see how absurd the parachute theory about Seo Tae-hyun and Ju Eun-chan really was.
I had merely created an atmosphere that could suppress the momentum of ridiculous conspiracy theories. At this rate, it seemed like the rumors about the two of them would soon be dismissed as typical troll repertoire and fade into history.
And of course, I had no intention of stopping here.
-…Hello?
-PD, hello. This is Kang Ha-jin from Kairos. How have you been?
-Ha-jin! Oh, absolutely. I just heard the news. Are Eun-chan and the Executive Director both okay? We were so shocked….
-Well…. They’re doing better than the articles make it sound. Thank you for worrying.
After Joo Eun-seok, the next person I called was Kwon Myung-eun, the Main PD of Miro Maze and currently spearheading Kairos’s own content, Today’s Kairos.
She, who had been my superior in my previous timeline, seemed to already know why I was calling, just as I remembered her.
-Um…. You’re calling because of that controversy, right? About Tae-hyun and Eun-chan….
-….
-Actually, we knew those rumors were circulating on our end too. But since it’s not true, and we thought responding would only make it a bigger issue, we decided to wait and see. Plus, the Executive Director who usually communicated with us had an accident, so that position is vacant right now, which makes it harder to move forward….
-….
-I understand your heart is complicated and difficult right now, Ha-jin, but that’s just how this industry is. Sometimes you have to observe these procedures and positions, so it’s delicate.
In truth, once things got tangled like this, I knew there would come a day when Kwon PD and I would have a confrontation where we revealed our true intentions. And when that day came, I was confident I would win.
Kwon Myung-eun doesn’t know me now, but I knew exactly what kind of person you were.
‘But this is happening too fast.’
To Kwon PD, who had already survived for years among cunning broadcasters, I was nothing more than a greenhorn who’d only been in the industry for two years since my debut.
Right now, with Ji Su-ho unable to open his eyes, the best strategy to move Kwon PD wasn’t clumsy maneuvering—it was laying all my cards on the table and inducing her to voluntarily participate in this game.
-Producer.
-Yes, go ahead.
-There was manipulation on our show.
-…What?
The card I threw at Kwon PD was myself.
The ‘real’ misconduct from back then that I’d turned a blind eye to.
-My votes. You looked the other way when they went to Han Sung-woo. In exchange, you used that as evidence to cut out Yoon CP, and you got more work from NTV.
-….
-Are you really okay with that? Even if I speak first?
Didn’t I say it?
That disadvantage sometimes becomes a weapon.
I was planning to use that day’s misconduct—the very thing that had put me at a disadvantage—as a weapon to coerce… no, persuade Kwon Myung-eun.
-Ha-jin, what you’re saying now….
-Besides, Han Sung-woo isn’t even with Miro anymore. We can just claim it was a ‘failed manipulation’ incident—a production company getting caught taking bribes and quietly covering it up.
-….
-Will you still wait?
-That matter was clearly ordered by the Executive Director―!
-Unfortunately, that Executive Director is lying in a hospital bed right now and hasn’t woken up yet.
-…!
-Do you have evidence that the Executive Director ordered it?
Whether she was stunned by the fact that she’d been outmaneuvered by someone so much younger, or whether my attitude itself was simply shocking, Kwon PD couldn’t hide her bewilderment throughout my words, sighing repeatedly as if exasperated.
-…Ha-jin, are you threatening me right now?
-Does it sound that way?
-Or what else could it be? It’s a bit unsettling, honestly. Makes me wonder if you’re planning never to see me again….
-Then you’re hearing it wrong.
-….
-I’m begging you for help right now, Producer.
-….
-Please help us, Producer.
Help us.
At those final words spoken with sincerity, Kwon PD remained silent for a long time. I hung up without waiting for her answer.
Because I already knew what decision she would make.
【”Miro Maze Manipulation? Simply absurd,” Studio A, Miro Maze Production Company, Steps Forward with Rebuttal】
【’Miro Maze’ Kwon Myung-eun, “Manipulation? I’d Like to Show You the Voting Scores Down to the Ninth Decimal Place”】
【Typical ‘Rookie Killer’?… Kairos, Three Instances of ‘Forced Controversy’ That Plagued Them】
True to her intelligence, Kwon PD naturally redirected the manipulation allegations toward ‘anti-Kairos users spreading rumors to check a rising star.’ In the process, the previous controversy surrounding my former agency resurfaced, and criticism began mounting against one-sided speculative articles and sensationalist rumors.
Moreover, as all the controversies we were currently facing were being lumped together as part of “taking down Rising,” an image was subtly being planted that we were the largest-scale and most talked-about rookie idol group actively promoting recently.
“…Ah. A frightening person.”
This was exactly why I didn’t want to get involved in this timeline.
Still, I expressed my silent gratitude to Kwon PD for supporting me, and took a refreshing sip of the Daunggul tea sitting on the conference room table. Soon, I watched Kwon Wook, who had stepped outside, finish his call and re-enter the conference room.
“Sorry for the wait? The PD should be coming up now.”
“No, it’s fine. We just showed up out of nowhere anyway.”
It had already been two days since the accident.
After I properly escalated the situation with Kwon Wook’s help, all public opinion and media coverage had completely shifted toward Kairos.
And today, I had barged into the NTV Entertainment Department office on impulse to meet the person who would flip my final card.
“…Ah, my apologies. You’ve been waiting long, haven’t you? I just finished the preview screening and came up….”
The conference room door opened again, and a man with a warm, familiar impression stepped in—someone who always resembled a large bear plush toy, and who looked more exhausted than ever, as if he’d been through emotional turmoil these past few days.
Of course, I paid no mind to his condition and simply smiled as I extended my hand for a handshake.
“Hello, Choi Producer. How have you been?”
“…I haven’t been well, but seeing you, Ha-jin, gives me strength again.”
Choi Producer—the former A-Countdown PD and current production staff of Boyhood 2—grasped my hand with a bitter smile, ready to reveal to me the truth about Seo Tae-hyun’s Boy Heaven corruption allegations.

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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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