Grab the Regressor by the Collar and Debut - Chapter 330

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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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330. Our Child Has Changed (1)
Four people gathered in a studio with an impressive, subdued wood-tone interior.
“….”
A. Lee Do-ha, shocked beyond words by the youngest member’s sudden change in personality, simply kept downing ice americanos one after another in silence.
“…I woke him up this morning to eat breakfast, and he started cursing at me the moment he saw my face. I thought I was screwed—I mean, I thought everything was ruined, so I brought him here right away. There are two sharp-eyed people at the Dormitory, and I didn’t want to run into them and make things worse.”
B. Lee Yu-gun, who had been trying to prepare breakfast for the youngest member as usual when he suddenly got cursed at.
“…Why? Why did he change? Why? Why now? Suddenly now? What’s the reason for now? Why suddenly? Did you change your mind? Do you want to go back in time? Is that why you popped out? Wait, didn’t you say the personalities were merging? Why? What’s going on? There’s no Quest notification either? So where did eighteen-year-old Dan Ha-ru go? Damn it….”
C. I couldn’t tell if this was Dol-ja’s prank, the System’s prank, or just eighteen-year-old Dan Ha-ru doing his best. So I was tearing my hair out in despair.
And―.
“I’ll explain, so shut up for a second. My head’s killing me too.”
D. Dan Ha-ru, speaking in crude language that didn’t match his appearance at all, furrowed his brow irritably and pressed his temples repeatedly.
So, here’s the question.
Who is the most baffled and wronged person in this situation?
“How am I supposed to shut up!? The comeback is the day after tomorrow!!?”
The answer is C.
I’d been pulling all-nighters with Lee Do-ha for over three days preparing for the comeback, barely sleeping, and now not only was the fandom tearing itself apart in fan wars, but after I risked my life merging that bastard Seon-gwi’s personality, I was the one facing this godforsaken situation where he came back to life right along with me!
But this ungrateful, corrupted rabbit warrior bastard didn’t even blink at my fury. Instead, with those dead fish eyes, he leaned his body back and casually asked Lee Yu-gun like this.
“Got any cigarettes?”
“Do you really want to die?”
He didn’t seem to have any awareness that he was currently in a minor’s body. If I left him alone, he’d probably suggest cracking open a bottle of soju next.
I needed to assess the situation before something worse happened. I barely regained my composure and opened my mouth. My voice came out hoarse and cracked, probably from lack of sleep.
“You’re not drinking a single drop of water until you explain exactly what happened.”
“Wow, that’s discrimination. I’m still Dan Ha-ru too.”
“You’re the one who tried to trap that Dan Ha-ru inside an hourglass in the first place. I won’t trust you until I confirm you had nothing to do with this situation.”
“I’ve been curious about this for a while—why do you care so much whether I preserve my own body or not? Why do you always stick your nose in?”
“Why wouldn’t I care? Because of your stupid antics, I’ve had to take the college entrance exam three times, enlist three times, and apply for jobs three times!”
When I snapped back at his brazen response, Dan Ha-ru seemed to have nothing to say and closed his mouth with a tired expression.
‘Who’s the one who actually got tired now, and how dare he react like that?’
As my frustration grew, I was about to pinch those chubby cheeks to squeeze out an answer, but Dan Ha-ru let out a short sigh and spilled what he knew about the truth of the incident.
“…I don’t know exactly either. All I know is that Ha-ru wanted to have another conversation with me, and something went wrong in the process.”
“What went wrong? And more importantly, can you even summon the other personality? Then you could just call him back now, right?”
“If I could do that, would I be sitting here like this?”
Dan Ha-ru gave me a look that said ‘Are you stupid?’ With our soft, gentle rhinoceros Dan Ha-ru’s face making that expression, the impact was tripled somehow.
It would’ve been less noticeable if it were Lee Yu-gun or Lee Do-ha. But our youngest had to be such a sunshine character. Feeling helpless, I quietly closed my mouth and pulled up a System window above Dan Ha-ru’s head.
[System Notification: Dan Ha-ru’s current personality merge progress is at 18%.]
“How is it only eighteen percent….”
But something felt off.
‘18%? The last time I checked, it seemed to be over 20%.’
Even if my memory was wrong, considering that more than a month had already passed since we started the personality merge, this number was far too low. As I frowned at the incomprehensibly low figure, the System immediately pulled up a new notification as if to answer my question.
[System Notification: If the primary personality changes while the merge rate is below 50%, the personality merge will restart from the beginning.]
[System Alert: ※Warning. Primary personality fluctuation detected due to system error.※]
[System Alert: To prevent errors and ensure system security, primary personality changes are temporarily disabled. (Estimated recovery period: minimum 3 months)]
‘A system error….’
The moment I saw those words, it became painfully obvious who was orchestrating this insane Jekyll-and-Hyde situation.
“…That bastard Dol-ja again….”
That relentless amoeba of a creature…!
Just when things seemed to settle down, he pulls off something like this.
As I grasped my throbbing head, confronted with this massive crisis right before our comeback, Lee Do-ha firmly stopped my hand. Then he spoke quietly.
“You’ll go bald doing that.”
At his words, I immediately released my grip on my hair.
Right. That wouldn’t do. My precious scalp was already damaged from bleaching and dyeing—I gently patted it with my own hands. Just then, Lee Yu-gun, who had been sitting at the desk looking completely lost this whole time, interjected with obvious frustration.
“So what exactly is going on here? I don’t understand any of this situation right now.”
“…You’re not supposed to understand. Especially not someone like you.”
“W-what?”
“To put it simply, the Dan Ha-ru you know is B, and that one is A. Originally, A was slowly merging into B, but something went wrong and now B is merging into A instead. Since they haven’t merged much yet, the personalities are at complete extremes.”
“That’s not simple at all.”
“Yeah, I think so too. That’s why I’m feeling pretty helpless right now, honestly….”
I couldn’t even get Lee Yu-gun to understand—how was I supposed to make the public accept this?
Never mind the public; how was I supposed to explain this to the members at home tomorrow?
Starting tomorrow, we had a mountain of schedules piling up. I was already doubtful whether that troublemaking rabbit would follow through with such a packed schedule without complaint, and even if he did, that would be its own problem.
As I squeezed my eyes shut from the headache, Lee Do-ha, who had been quietly organizing the situation in his sketch notebook, opened his mouth.
“…So basically, you’re still Ha-ru, right? Ha-ru from before the time loops. And right now, you’re merging with the youngest Ha-ru personality we all know….”
“….”
Dan Ha-ru didn’t answer Lee Do-ha’s words, just gave a small nod. Whether it was because the personality merger was incomplete, or because some defense mechanism still lingered in his mind—the original Dan Ha-ru seemed to still have some resistance to being called ‘Dan Ha-ru.’
Watching Dan Ha-ru like that, Lee Do-ha continued in a calm voice.
“There were times before when Ha-ru seemed oddly cold sometimes. So that was you all along, wasn’t it?”
“…Probably.”
“What about singing skills or dancing? Do you remember the choreography for our new song?”
“I don’t know what you think of me, but I share the same senses as Ha-ru. Most of what Ha-ru knows, I know and remember too.”
Whether Lee Do-ha was interrogating or provoking, Dan Ha-ru bristled and answered. Lee Do-ha seemed quite unfamiliar with this defiant side of Dan Ha-ru, yet he showed no particular concern, simply lost in thought.
Several minutes passed like that. Lee Do-ha, who had been tapping his pen against the notebook, turned to me and spoke.
“Then isn’t it fine?”
“…What?”
“Whether they merge this way or that way. Either way, he’s still Ha-ru. You said there’s no problem with singing and dancing for the comeback right now. The personality change is a risk, but…. I think we can just pass it off as typical teenage angst.”
“What teenager goes through puberty this suddenly and drastically…?”
“Fans won’t see us for three months anyway. Ha-ru will have grown taller and his voice will have changed some in that time. Even if his personality suddenly becomes more reserved, they’ll just think that’s how it is. Honestly, I think convincing the members is harder than convincing the fans.”
Lee Yu-gun protested as if it were absurd, but Lee Do-ha’s words weren’t entirely wrong.
Since we couldn’t just bring back the bright personality we knew, we had to find a realistic solution. I straightened up, forcing myself to regain composure.
“The fastest solution is to raise the personality merger rate as quickly as possible. So this Dan Ha-ru and that Dan Ha-ru can truly become one. From my experience, once we pass 50%, they stabilize into a single personality. The problem is, once we pass 50%, we can’t change the primary personality anymore.”
“Not being able to change the primary personality means….”
“So you’re saying the main personality won’t be the B Ha-ru that we know and the fans know, but will be fixed as the A Ha-ru right in front of us.”
Then Dan Ha-ru, who had been sitting quietly the whole time, suddenly lifted his head and spoke firmly.
“That’s not happening.”
“What? Why not? Aren’t you and him the same Dan Ha-ru anyway?”
“…Either way, that’s not happening. This body is Ha-ru’s. I won’t compromise on that, not for anything. And honestly, wouldn’t it be easier for you guys to have the Ha-ru you know rather than me?”
Yeah, I knew you’d say that.
Lee Yu-gun, who had been questioning Dan Ha-ru about why it couldn’t happen, shook his head in disbelief at Dan Ha-ru’s attitude, which showed absolutely no intention of backing down. It seemed like his brain was about to overload from further processing, so he actually got up and went to sprawl out on the plush sofa tucked in the corner of the studio.
‘Yeah, go lie there. It’s too intense a world for a Muggle to understand….’
I pushed my chair into the space Lee Yu-gun had vacated, narrowing the circle between the remaining three of us. Lee Do-ha spoke to the stubborn-faced Dan Ha-ru in a sharp tone.
“Simply saying it won’t work isn’t convincing. Explain it in a way we can understand.”
“…All the abilities of Dan Ha-ru that you’ve seen so far belong to ‘that’ Dan Ha-ru. I can’t guarantee that everything will remain the same if I become the primary personality.”
“But isn’t that the case right now too?”
“It’s different. Right now, Ha-ru’s personality and my personality still exist simultaneously—I’m just occupying Ha-ru’s body. Ha-ru’s accumulated skills and abilities are still there. But if I become the primary personality and the personality merger completes, all of Ha-ru’s things will be absorbed into me, and they won’t even function at half capacity.”
“….”
“You don’t want that, do you?”
Dan Ha-ru articulated his position clearly, as if he understood exactly what Lee Do-ha wanted and what he would regret. Lee Do-ha himself seemed to hesitate at the mention that all of Ha-ru’s abilities as the group’s main vocalist might disappear.
As the strange standoff between Lee Do-ha and Dan Ha-ru continued, I suddenly interjected between them.
“Listen to my idea first. There’s a second method too.”
“…What is it?”
“From what I can see, it’ll take at least three months before the function to switch the primary personality back to normal. Three months is enough time to cover not just this comeback but also the next album cycle.”
“….”
“I’ll figure out a way to normalize this function as quickly as possible. In the meantime, Dan Ha-ru, you cooperate with our activities as much as you can.”
“Cooperate…?”
“It means don’t let anyone find out that your personality has changed, no matter what.”
“You’re asking me to act like Ha-ru?”
“It’s not that grand. You’re Dan Ha-ru and Dan Ha-ru is you anyway.”
What other option is there?
Looking at Dan Ha-ru with that expression, he too seemed to have no alternative, so I watched his lips press together quietly. Lee Do-ha and I silently waited for Dan Ha-ru’s decision. Of course, if he refused, I was prepared to keep him locked in this studio until he agreed.
And soon, Dan Ha-ru nodded.
“…Fine. I’ll cooperate. But I have a condition too.”
“What is it?”
“Stop the personality merger until Ha-ru comes back. If it goes over 50% during these three months, we’ll have a serious problem.”
“…You really don’t have any desire to live as this body at all, do you?”
I knew it, but damn, this guy’s got a ruthless streak. How can someone have absolutely no attachment to their own life like that?
For someone like me who would rather live as myself even if I died tomorrow, it was incomprehensible, but I also understood that it was natural for me not to understand, since I could never truly know the time Dan Ha-ru had lived through.
I exchanged a quick glance with Lee Do-ha, and he seemed to have made his decision too, nodding slightly.
“Deal. Thanks for your cooperation, Sparkle.”
Once my thoughts were settled, there was nothing left to do. As I stood up from my chair and offered my hand for a handshake, Dan Ha-ru, still looking at me with that rude expression, quietly stared at my hand. Then, from his seated position, he grasped my hand and spoke.
“One more condition. Call me that one more time and I’ll kill you.”
“…Understood.”
…Is this really going to be okay?
And so, the deal with the corrupted baby rabbit warrior was sealed.

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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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