Grab the Regressor by the Collar and Debut - Chapter 325
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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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325. When the Cherry Blossoms Fall
“It’s a miracle.”
The stern-faced Doctor pushed his glasses up as he spoke.
Despite his appearance—the kind of man who looked ready to proclaim that “science alone is the only truth composing this world”—he gazed at Ji Su-ho with an expression of wonder that was surprisingly sentimental.
“This is my first time seeing a case like this, so it’s difficult to explain. It’s a miracle. As for his vision, well, the surgery went well so the results follow naturally from that… but this recovery rate? I honestly don’t know how we’re supposed to accept it.”
Of course you can’t explain it.
Because from that point on, we’re in the realm of fantasy.
‘If you want to understand that, your life’s genre is going to change a bit from now on—would that be okay?’
I managed to suppress those words through superhuman restraint. The fact that Lee Yu-gun beside me squeezed my forearm hard, silently pleading with me to keep my mouth shut, certainly helped. Not that I lacked the mental discipline to avoid spouting nonsense to some clueless muggle, but I suddenly found myself overthinking what kind of image I must have in Lee Yu-gun’s eyes.
It was Ji Su-ho, sitting half-reclined against the bed, who finally cut off the Doctor’s rambling explanation of just how extraordinary and incredible this recovery was.
“Ha, I suppose I’ve accumulated quite a bit of good fortune. I’m grateful.”
“No, no. This is something far too remarkable to explain away as mere ‘fortune.’ If you’re comfortable with it, I’d genuinely like to conduct some research on this….”
It was amusing how he’d just glossed over it as a miracle moments ago, then jumped in surprise at the word “fortune” and revealed his true intentions.
Though medical jargon and complex terminology flew around, the bottom line was simple: Ji Su-ho was perfectly normal. The Doctor mentioned he’d need some rehabilitation for his organs and muscles after weeks in a coma, but his actual recovery speed was far more remarkable than anyone had anticipated.
It had been three days since Ji Su-ho regained consciousness.
He was reclaiming his everyday life at a pace that even we found hard to believe.
“Ah, I’ve talked too long. Take good care of yourself, and focus on rehabilitation for now. We’ll decide on discharge after observing you for about a week. There could be aftereffects, after all.”
“Yes. Thank you, Professor.”
“I’ve said this, but even if you seem fine, absolutely no overexertion for a while. You understand? I know the entertainment industry runs twenty-four seven… but there’s nothing more precious than your life.”
“I’ve already requested a leave of absence from the company. I’m planning to rest thoroughly during this time.”
“Good. Then I’ll take my leave. Rest well.”
The Doctor, who’d been employing every rhetorical tactic to make Ji Su-ho’s case his research subject, finally left the hospital room with his medical team. I caught myself thinking something rather materialistic—that Joo Eun-seok’s connections really were the best, given how unusually kind and detailed the explanations had been.
Even though I’d thought I’d come well-disguised, I could feel a few people glancing at me and Lee Yu-gun, recognizing us. It was a gaze I’d grown tired of experiencing during my frequent visits to this hospital, so I simply pretended not to notice, offered a polite greeting, and closed the hospital room door.
“Well, at least you’re in one piece. That’s a relief.”
“Yeah, I’m fine, so why do you keep coming here? Don’t you have work? No schedules?”
As I shrugged, Ji Su-ho laughed with an exasperated expression and asked. I glanced at the flower basket with its large banner reading “Wishing you a speedy recovery. We’ll visit soon lol” and smirked.
“I need to leave soon anyway. I came today to help with Ju Eun-chan’s discharge preparations and to report on everything that’s happened. Who sent this?”
“Oh, Eun-chan’s being discharged tomorrow? That one’s from Tae-il. He’s in Europe right now. He must have heard the news that I’d woken up and sent it.”
“What about the Endway seniors? They didn’t send anything?”
“They did send something. Look.”
Following Ji Su-ho’s gesture, I turned to see a substantial basket filled with various fruits sitting on top of the refrigerator. Along with it was a message card printed with a group photo of the Endway members.
【I will absolutely protect my brotherㅠㅠ Eat a lot and get well quickly!】
“These guys too… their personalities really don’t match their visuals.”
Who would ever associate the Endway members—famous for “not attending school”—with something like this?
With that thought, I pulled over an auxiliary chair and sat down at a distance from Ji Su-ho’s bed.
Regardless of how the two senior groups’ images were, I had a different purpose for being here today.
“…? What’s wrong? Why are you sitting so far away? Come closer. There’s plenty of room here.”
“This distance is just right. The Executive Director can’t reach me even if he stretches his arm, and if something gets thrown, I have space to dodge.”
“What…? Lee Yu-gun, am I the only one who doesn’t understand what he’s saying?”
“You’ve never understood that hyung anyway. Just listen.”
What on earth am I to Yu Gun?
Yu Gun spoke those hurtful words without hesitation and calmly arranged Ji Su-ho’s bedding, stirring something peculiar within me—but I held back for now. After all, there had to be a reason for bringing that guy here today.
The time had come to properly collect the installment payments for the pork belly rice bowls I’d been paying off bit by bit.
“What’s this? What are you trying to do, making people anxious?”
“Actually, once the Executive Director is discharged, he’ll naturally find out everything anyway, so I thought about just letting it slide… but it seems like now is the right timing. When things are like this—when he’s weak and has no energy—I need to strike fast and get out.”
“Are you cursing right now…?”
At my increasingly incomprehensible words, Ji Su-ho looked bewildered and turned his gaze to Yu Gun as if searching for a translator. But Yu Gun simply continued installing the bed rail without saying much.
Once I confirmed that Yu Gun had positioned himself to keep Ji Su-ho firmly in bed, I took a deep breath and timidly confessed the purpose of my visit today.
“I caused trouble, hyung.”
“What…?”
“…No, this crazy hyung again…!”
Both Ji Su-ho and Yu Gun gasped at my bombshell opening.
But I didn’t stop, unleashing my prepared words like machine-gun fire.
“Dan Ha-ru’s personality is currently mixed with Sun-gwi’s, and because of that, I died once and was resurrected at the Namhae Villa. In that process, Yu Gun and Lee Do-ha became aware that they’re living through N-th cycles of their lives, and Si-woo hyung also awakened, but he’s going to be so shocked by the cascade of memories about Father’s death that I’ve suppressed them for now. Though I suspect there’ll be several more incidents like this in the future…”
“…”
“Oh, and I just revealed that Ju Eun-chan is the youngest of JDZ. Since we needed to clarify the Seo Tae-hyun incident, I did something close to blackmailing Kwon PD and Ntv’s Choi Producer, but I think we can just brush past that. Ah, right. And there’s this one reporter whose relationship with me got pretty destroyed, but it seems Kwon Wook hyung handled that well on his own.”
“…”
“What else is there? Oh, I ended up doing a day job at the Gangwon Province Pension? But… anyway, Lee Do-ha became a card sharp and I became the snack bar sell-out king. Pretty cool, right? Seo Tae-hyun was annoyed at first, but apparently he watched the music video I edited myself and cried his eyes out, so he seems to have cooled off now. He’s pretty simple too.”
“…”
“And… since I had time off anyway, I decided to run a nationwide busking project with JDZ and Studio A. I went to an all-girls high school and gave some English mock exam explanation lectures, and Kwon PD said the view count is going to explode…”
I figured if I pushed through fast enough, they’d just half-listen and think “I see,” so I spoke at a pace nearly rivaling a rapper. But the more I talked, the more entertaining it became, and my voice grew increasingly animated as I spilled the stories. It was almost like my words were spawning more words.
What stopped my waterfall of words was when I suddenly felt the hospital room’s temperature drop.
“…?”
I carefully lifted my head and checked Ji Su-ho’s expression.
Then I quietly prepared to bolt.
“What… are… you…?”
“…”
“Died and resurrected…?”
“…No, listen. There was a reason for all of it.”
“Card sharp~? Completely sold out~? Blackmailing a PD and reporter and destroying relationships~?”
“…So that’s all just… a rational judgment under the circumstances…”
As if my rambling excuses weren’t even reaching his ears, Ji Su-ho’s eyes blazed open and he squeezed out strength from nowhere. I instinctively lifted my rear from the chair.
“…What in the world have you been doing in just two months, again!?!??!!!!”
“Aaaah! Yu Gun!!! Hold the Executive Director tight!!!!”
At Ji Su-ho’s roar like a night demon, I bolted out of the hospital room with my feet on fire. I could see Yu Gun barely restraining Ji Su-ho from leaping up and chasing after me.
Despite being a patient, where was all this strength coming from? The sight of Ji Su-ho shaking even Yu Gun was like something from a horror film.
‘If I get caught, I’m dead.’
Once Ju Eun-chan is discharged tomorrow, I won’t be showing my face near this hospital for a while.
The touching reunion of days past was all for nothing.
* * *
Time flowed swiftly.
As Ji Su-ho returned to his everyday life, the idol group Kairos’ time continued to flow without pause. With a comeback announced six months after the November release of “This Isn’t a Carol,” Destiny fans couldn’t hide their anticipation as they replenished their personal reserves of money and energy.
[What do you think the concept will be this time?????]
They said it’s the Youth trilogy, so I’m guessing it’ll have a school setting again…
I wish they had a sports club. Sports club, sports club, sports club, sports club ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅜㅜㅜ
Please stop with the crazy baseball team boys just onceㅠㅠㅜㅜㅜㅜㅜㅜㅜㅜㅜㅜㅜㅜㅠ
Wow, the athletic club sounds good? I like basketball or ice hockey too lolol But since it’s May, hockey might be a bit much
I really wanted to pull the school concept fully, so I wanted to check out battle royale or horror stuff too, but since the timing is May… haha, it doesn’t seem like it’ll work out.
└ Battle royale would be so good though
Me too lol, the year-end order or mad love version was seriously my favorite
Ha-rang
@dohajin_luv
Wow the kids’ Youth Sniper just dropped
It’s at Haedaeng Girls’ High School in South Jeolla wow wow wow
The group in suits is insane????
(Kairos spotted at Haedaeng Girls’ High School.jpg)
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Rossy Day
@rossy_1017
The reason our May comeback seems
to be continuously connected with Over the Night’s universe
If you look at the hideout scene in the Over the Night MV teaser
On the bookshelf behind the cello
There are exactly 3 books with “Youth” as the title
Details in the thread
(“Over the Night” MV teaser screenshot.jpg)
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[Kairos Universe Lore Compilation for New Destiny Fans (Warning: Long Post)]
Actually, Kairos’ universe hasn’t been clearly interpreted yet
So I’ve organized it mainly based on what the brilliant Destiny fans theorized after watching the debut song Over the Night and This Isn’t a Carol MVs
-Biggest universe OR setting: Parallel worlds, multiverse (some think it’s time travel)
-Ha-ru: A traveler who is aware of
crossing between these parallel worlds or time traveling
(At the end of the Over the Night MV, Ha-ru ends by reading a book with “Over the Night” written on it, and in the teaser he’s writing in a diary (recording the ever-changing world))
▶ Ha-ru in the real version (the student at the end of the Over the Night MV = Ha-ru from the band club in the This Isn’t a Carol universe) learns about or travels through events happening in parallel universes through stories in books this way (but there’s also a theory that he still thinks it’s just a story in a book!)
-Ha-jin: The initiator of this journey who awakens members in parallel universes and gathers them with some purpose
together
▶ Opinions still vary about Ha-jin’s role. But for now, it’s almost confirmed that he travels across universes for some purpose and awakens the members to this universe.
>>> You can see in the This Isn’t a Carol MV too—Ha-jin is the one who first gathers the members and later leads the rebellion in the auditorium.
-Eun-chan: The first to question the universe because of Ha-jin
Awakened One 2
….
Since so much still hasn’t been revealed, I’ll need to see what else comes out to know for sure
but for now
the core concept is that Kairos members existing across parallel universes OR multiple worldviews come together to write their story
That’s what you should think of it as.
So even though there are bleak settings like the ruins worldview in Order, you also get bright and cheerful high school AUs like this one, and again, there’s also the idol Kairos that exists like spring!
And this year they’ve announced three comebacks including a May comeback as part of the Youth Trilogy
In Order, there’s a Youth Trilogy book on the bookshelf next to Ha-ru, so I’m guessing the concept will be related to that.
I’ve organized this because I sometimes see STIs getting confused when they’re hanging out in the solo room!!
– Wow you put so much effort into this, thanks STI, sending kisses
– Wow wow wow wow I was really curious ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅜㅜㅜThank you so muchㅠㅠㅠ I read it thoroughly
– To you who worked hard, I grant you three free passes to prevent falling
– Now that I see it, there were so many breadcrumbs, Miro really is a pervert
Destiny began carefully gathering their strength, revisiting past breadcrumbs and analyzing new ones. With the comeback being perfectly timed—so much so that the company, members, fans, and even the general public all thought “if it’s now…”—the real question was what concept they would use to maintain this upward momentum.
Amid everyone’s attention and anticipation.
On an April afternoon when even the cherry blossoms that had bloomed brightly had all fallen due to consecutive rain.
-It dropped
Finally, new breadcrumbs for Kairos’s second mini album were uploaded.
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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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