Grab the Regressor by the Collar and Debut - Chapter 309

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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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309. So That Spring May Come (1)
“Why are you all hanging around here instead of staying in your comfortable homes?”
The members responded to my bewildered question as if they’d been waiting for it.
“It’s more comfortable than the dormitory. No stalkers, no reporters.”
“It kind of feels like Eun-chan’s old studio apartment back in the day.”
“Yu Gun and Ha-ru said they were coming, so I tagged along as a guardian.”
“When someone’s sick, you’re supposed to be by their side.”
As the members listed their various reasons, Ju Eun-chan—who didn’t look it but possessed quite the F-type sensibility—added his words shyly, his expression touched.
“Well… I like it when my hyungs are around.”
Right. In a world gone mad, the fact that he was glad to have them here was genuinely good news to hear.
Though I was somewhat surprised by the unexpected sight, the members being here didn’t split the already chaotic world in two.
Following Lee Yu-gun’s logic, I quickly came to understand the situation—the dormitory where stalkers and reporters had been camping out lately was far more unsettling than this place.
After neatly arranging the juice I’d bought on the way in the refrigerator, I found an empty spot and sat on the single-seater sofa next to Jeong Si-u, who—still sporting that inexplicable apple-head hairstyle—casually pushed a stack of comic books toward me.
“Want to read some? Do-ha brought these thinking Eun-chan might get bored, and they’re pretty fun.”
“I’ve already read all of these… But seriously, what did you do to your bangs?”
“They were too long and bothering me. Ha-ru did it for me. Looks good, right?”
How could he say something so self-absorbed without batting an eye, spouting it so shamelessly?
But since Jeong Si-u’s face was indeed handsome when he said it, I couldn’t bring myself to argue—which meant I was already a lost cause.
“I bet you’ll be like this even when you’re forty.”
“If I’m still handsome at forty, then I probably will be, won’t I?”
“Yeah. Let’s stop talking.”
Giving up on further conversation and turning around, I spotted the troublemaking trio still struggling with Lego blocks on the bed, and the bear-like guardian still buried in the instruction manual beside them.
At first, I wondered if the Lego Lee Do-ha was looking at matched the one Gunjodan was assembling, but when I got closer, I realized Do-ha was reading the instruction manual for the very Lego that Gunjodan was putting together.
“…?”
If he’s looking at that, what are they looking at while assembling?
Realizing the discrepancy, I quickly checked the Lego blocks Gunjodan was assembling, and sure enough, a bizarre shape was forming that had nothing to do with the completed model drawn on the back of the manual.
“What are you guys even assembling without looking at the instructions?”
“Lego is about creativity, hyung!”
“We’re just trying to make something by feel.”
“Well, that’s a commendable idea, but…”
At that point, isn’t it just block play rather than Lego?
But my thoughts were quietly buried down my throat by Lee Yu-gun’s piercing gaze telling me to let the kids do what they wanted.
I left Dan Ha-ru behind, who was arbitrarily making something like a tank out of a light aircraft Lego set, and approached Ju Eun-chan, who was earnestly building what looked like a light aircraft terminal beside him. As I drew near, Eun-chan—his eyes glued to the Lego—looked up at me and proudly handed over one side of the terminal bridge he’d made.
“How is it? Pretty close, right, hyung?”
“…Yeah, it is. You did well. Where did you get this Lego from?”
“I received it as a gift. At a fan sign event before, from Desty.”
His expression when mentioning receiving a gift from Desty was calmer than expected. In fact, the way he spoke her name seemed almost pleased, which actually surprised me a bit.
Sensing something from my momentary silence, Eun-chan smiled brightly despite his face being covered in gauze—the kind of boyish smile the fans adored.
“When I mentioned I liked assembling things like this by hand, she gave me so many gifts at the fan sign event, but I hadn’t had time to work on them because I was busy. Today, when Si-u hyung said he’d bring something from the dormitory, this came to mind first.”
“Why would a sick kid want to do something that requires so much mental effort right after waking up? Just rest properly.”
“It doesn’t hurt that much. The doctor gave me permission anyway. I get some muscle soreness occasionally, but… I experienced a lot of that when we were preparing for the year-end stage, so this doesn’t really feel painful to me.”
“…That’s just bragging, man.”
Seeing Ju Eun-chan looking better than expected, I felt somewhat reassured.
‘I was worried the panic disorder or social anxiety he’d experienced before might return… but it seems that didn’t happen.’
It was clear that reducing the scope of the timeline that the Returner could manipulate was having a real effect. Perhaps the upcoming Quests would proceed in this manner—gradually dismantling the walls of the timeline that the Returner had constructed, stabilizing this timeline properly, and eliminating his influence altogether?
“Hyung, I’m really okay.”
As I ran through various calculations in my head, Ju Eun-chan, perhaps misunderstanding my silence, stated his position once more with careful emphasis. I simply nodded in acknowledgment, looking down at him, and he continued speaking with a bright expression as he fitted another Lego piece into place.
“Sometimes, you can get hurt even when it’s not your fault, right? Just like how it can be hard even when you understand the reason.”
-Even knowing the reason, it was hard.
-Even knowing it was my fault, it was that difficult.
-So it’s natural that you feel wronged and hurt.
“And besides, the hyungs already got all the apologies for me anyway…”
-Should I make them apologize? Get the apologies for you? I’m just saying the words.
Over his cheerful voice, the words I’d once spoken to Ju Eun-chan at the Gamjatang Restaurant overlapped perfectly. And at that same moment, a new System notification appeared.
[System Alert: Colleague ‘Ju Eun-chan’s’ response rate is high. (Response Rate 94%)]
[System Alert: ‘A Community to Rely On’ is having a positive influence on colleague ‘Ju Eun-chan’.]
[System Alert: Colleague ‘Ju Eun-chan’s’ Appeal Point (On My Own) is activated.]
[System Alert: Colleague ‘Ju Eun-chan’s’ condition stabilizes.]
‘Appeal Point…?’
Hastily syncing Ju Eun-chan’s stat window at the word I’d momentarily forgotten, his stat window appeared beside him—something I hadn’t seen in a long time.
[Ju Eun-chan (Affiliation: Kairos)]
Vocal: B+
Rap: B+(
▲
)
Dance: B+
Expression: A-(
▲
)
Charm: A+
Special: ※This stat has not yet been manifested※
Appeal Point:
‘On My Own’
-Self-confidence, determination, performance accuracy
Ju Eun-chan’s Appeal Point was ‘On My Own’—representing self-confidence and determination.
In the previous timeline, Ju Eun-chan had collapsed without revealing such strengths of his own, forced to remain trapped in a dark, lonely room. But in this timeline, he wielded that strength as a weapon to protect himself.
And the reason he could do that was…
“It’s what you said before, hyung. It left such an impression that I still remember it.”
Me.
And it was me from a time when I was deeply ashamed.
“…You’re embarrassing me, remembering all that stuff like it’s nothing, man.”
“You don’t look embarrassed at all, though.”
“Sorry, but I’ve always been like this when I’m shy.”
My throat suddenly felt tight, so I pretended to cough and walked back to the kitchen, shoving an entire bottle of juice down my throat in one go.
Behind me, I could still hear the younger members chattering away, and Si-woo’s voice laughing, “Is Ha-jin crying?” I wanted to turn around and snap back at them, but these inexplicable emotions were churning inside me like waves, making it impossible to face them.
What was this feeling?
After struggling to name the emotion for a long time, I finally settled on one: relief.
‘I’m protecting them.’
Still, without losing anything.
I was protecting us.
The moment I confirmed that fact, I found myself desperately fighting back tears that threatened to spill over, my grip tightening around the innocent juice bottle.
‘Hold it together, Kang Ha-jin. If you cry here, you’re really becoming the group’s biggest crybaby.’
I’d already stopped denying that I’d become the representative crybaby of the group, but that didn’t mean I needed to create a new embarrassing incident on top of that, did it?
If I cried right now at this moment, it was painfully obvious that the next comeback schedule would turn this into “Kang Ha-jin Cries Again” and the episode would spread across every broadcast like wildfire. Desperate to prevent that, I held back my emotions and turned around.
And then.
“…?”
“…Uh… uh….”
Why are you all staring at me like that…?
“What? Are you really crying?”
Yu Gun asked me in a cocky tone that didn’t match his flustered expression at all.
I quickly shook my head and opened my mouth to play innocent, saying “Me? No? I’m not crying,” but what came out of my mouth was something entirely different.
“…Ugh… hic….”
“Uh? Uh? Are you really, really crying?”
“Oh, Eun-chan, why…! Why did you make Ha-jin cry!?”
“Me? Did… did I make him cry?”
“Do-ha, grab some tissues and give them to Ha-jin. Looks like he’s going to be crying for a while.”
“Ah… okay.”
God, please don’t let this happen.
What was more shocking than my own tears breaking free at twenty years old was how naturally my members reacted to this.
Had I really cried this much all this time?
“Ha-jin, here.”
“Huh… hic… sob… this is driving me crazy… huh… hic….”
This damn twenty-year-old self of mine. Always crying at the drop of a hat.
At this point, I just gave up on stopping the tears.
All the tension and stress that had accumulated until now seemed to burst out at once, and my legs were trembling so badly that it felt like my body was completely beyond my control anymore.
‘To think I’ve become this weak. What a waste of my military service, Kang Ha-jin.’
…Of course, that didn’t mean I had even a 0.0000001% desire to willingly go through military service three more times.
“Yesterday it was Kwon Wook hyung, today it’s Ha-jin. Should we tell Tae-hyun to come by tomorrow so he can cry too?”
“At least this is a VIP room. If it were a regular ward, someone would’ve already taken a photo of him crying and caused a whole mess.”
Si-woo and Yu Gun exchanged cynical jokes, but I found none of it funny.
From the moment I merged with Dan Ha-ru’s personality to Ji Su-ho’s accident, I thought I had everything under control. But it seemed I’d been bearing far more internal pressure than I realized. As my tears showed no sign of stopping, even Dan Ha-ru came over to comfort me when the hospital room door suddenly swung open.
“Patient Ju Eun-chan, I’ll change your gauze for you….”
A nurse with a gentle voice stepped into the room, then stopped short as our eyes met. Without needing to look, she took in the sight of me surrounded by Lee Do-ha and Dan Ha-ru, my eyes undoubtedly red and swollen as they consoled me. Something seemed to dawn on her, and she nodded knowingly with a sympathetic gaze.
“Oh my… I’ll come back later~”
“No, wait! That’s not—! Please, ma’am! Ma’am!?”
Sensing the impending disaster, I desperately called after her, but the nurse had already closed the door and disappeared down the hallway. As she left, the door didn’t quite shut completely, and her voice drifted back from the corridor: “He’s just crying his eyes out…. Let’s come back in a bit.” She was chatting away with her colleagues like it was the most natural thing in the world.
Then Jeong Si-u, who had been casually flipping through the next volume of his manga and tearing open a snack bag, spoke up cheerfully.
“That’s definitely going to spread.”
“It would be disappointing if it didn’t, considering how hard you were wailing.”
“…I’m sorry, but could everyone please leave? I’d like to be alone.”
“This is my hospital room, hyung.”
My tears, which had seemed endless, suddenly dried up completely. I could already picture the rumors spreading online: “Kang Ha-jin was sobbing in Ju Eun-chan’s hospital room,” which would inevitably evolve into “The Theory That Kang Ha-jin Is a Crybaby” dominating fan communities. The thought made my head throb with pain.
‘I really want to log out of Earth.’
Why do I always get caught whenever I cry!?
Thinking of my already-ruined image in this life, I felt fresh tears threatening to spill again.

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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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