Grab the Regressor by the Collar and Debut - Chapter 340

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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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340. KIDS DAY! (2)
Today’s outfit for the “Kids” concept was the stage costume for the couple song “Spring Again,” which was being broadcast live. Originally, I’d wanted to wear the outfit from the title track “No Spring,” but the Manager shut that down without mercy.
‘What a shame. It would’ve been hilarious if I’d insisted on dressing like a kindergartener and watched everything fall apart.’
If only Ji Su-ho hadn’t stopped me, I could’ve done it.
He said he’d be monitoring my condition while rehabilitating at the hospital for a while, so I thought I’d go wild with whatever I wanted during that gap. I never expected him to bring a laptop to the hospital room and handle work remotely.
‘Such a meticulous person….’
I sincerely wish for your swift recovery and prompt return to work.
I silently sent the most modest yet certain curse befitting an office worker, then put on the in-ear pack. Even these overalls—the kind I’d never wear again even if I lived five more lives—were starting to feel natural.
While checking the remaining boxes of in-ear packs with my eyes, a thick, pale white hand suddenly jutted out from beside me.
“…What are you looking at?”
It was Lee Yu-gun, who had finally surrendered to my logical and well-organized persuasion.
Today’s rosy cheek touch and yellow beret on his head created an odd discord with his indifferent features that showed zero enthusiasm. His lifeless, blank stare looked as fierce as Ju Eun-chan’s stern expression, but the yellow hat and yellow cape surrounding Lee Yu-gun served as an unexpected neutralizer.
‘Kind of…. Like Yellow Team Season 2 without the chick….’
But if I’d said this observation out loud, Lee Yu-gun might actually want to experiment with how far a human body could fold. So I pulled the overalls I was wearing with my hand, struck the most harmless pose I could manage, and spoke with a composed face.
“Hehe. Isn’t my overalls cute?”
I deliberately blinked my eyes cutely a couple of times to provoke him, and in an instant, Lee Yu-gun’s vacant eyes armed themselves with murderous intent as he glared at me with an expression that was less troublesome than downright menacing.
“Hyung, you really…. You should be grateful that you’re older than me, seriously….”
“….”
Yeah. I’ve always been deeply grateful that my birth order with Kang Ha-won hasn’t been reversed.
Before he could actually turn me into origami, I quietly returned to the waiting room without another word. Not before grabbing Dan Ha-ru’s in-ear pack from the box on my way out.
“Hey, rebel.”
“…?”
“In-ear pack.”
Dan Ha-ru, with his fluffy permed hair, white sun cap, cute hair pins, and clothes resembling kindergarten gym uniforms, peeked up at my call.
While most of the members had recreated their outfits from their own publicly revealed childhood photos, Dan Ha-ru—who had no past photos to reference—was equipped with a purely “conceptual kids” costume created entirely by Coordinator Noona.
From the stickers on both cheeks to the “You did great!” stamp on the back of his hand.
I handed the in-ear pack to Dan Ha-ru, who was covered head to toe in details brimming with the stylists’ personal tastes. He accepted the pack with a listless hand, having half-given up on his poker face.
I glanced around the bustling waiting room and spoke quietly to Dan Ha-ru. Just to be safe, I’d activated the system function that filtered our conversation to sound like ordinary talk to everyone else. It was a function that automatically appeared during the AI system era, and it turned out to be surprisingly useful.
“Still, you adapted pretty quickly? I thought you’d definitely throw a fit and refuse.”
“…I said I’d make sure there were no problems until Ha-ru comes back.”
It was a cynical answer, but it was exactly what he meant, so I didn’t feel like picking a fight. In fact, since the day his personality changed, Dan Ha-ru had been almost perfectly impersonating Sparkly Dan Ha-ru.
In spaces like this waiting room where cameras weren’t rolling, he often displayed a cool attitude like now, but the members, the company, and the staff had been given such thorough groundwork that “the maknae seems to be going through puberty” that everyone seemed to be tactfully letting it slide.
The reason I rated Dan Ha-ru’s acting as “almost” perfect was because his meticulous performance wasn’t properly applying to just one person.
“Really? But why are you like that with Eun-chan?”
“What am I doing?”
“Ever since that day, you’ve been giving Eun-chan the cold shoulder, haven’t you?”
“…I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Come on, at least wet your lips before you lie like that. Don’t you see that kid over there who’s been watching you this whole time?”
I gestured with my chin toward Ju Eun-chan, who had been glancing over here while practicing dance with Lee Do-ha. Dan Ha-ru, apparently already aware of that gaze, simply lowered his head and focused on untying the in-ear pack cord without a word.
Ever since the day I’d announced Dan Ha-ru’s “puberty” to the members, he’d been subtly avoiding Ju Eun-chan. It wasn’t so obvious that he was openly running away where others would notice, but once you caught on, you’d think, “Oh, now that you mention it…?”
I made sure not to create situations where we’d be left alone together, and even when we were in a group, I never initiated conversations with Ju Eun-chan. I went along with all his jokes and remarks, but that was where it ended.
It wasn’t that I ignored him so obviously that our relationship looked bad, but precisely because the two of us had been so close before, the distance between us now stood out all the more.
“That’s why I’m saying I don’t understand. Didn’t you see me slip a note into his mailbox during the last shoot?”
Dan Ha-ru, still expressionless as he clutched at the tangled earphone cord, played dumb without a second thought. I let out a scoff at his pathetic deflection and fired back immediately.
“You only put one in after you saw Lee Do-ha put one in his mailbox first. Since it’s first come, first served, you knew you wouldn’t be paired with him anyway.”
“I don’t get it. Why would I bother doing something so annoying? If I really wanted to avoid it, I just wouldn’t put anything in his mailbox at all.”
“Why? You knew. If you were Sparkle, you would’ve definitely put one in Eun-chan’s mailbox first.”
“….”
“You needed to act, but you didn’t want to be left alone with him. So you deliberately put yours in after Lee Do-ha’s, didn’t you?”
“Ugh, annoying.”
Dan Ha-ru, listening to my relentless interrogation, dropped the hopelessly tangled earphone cord onto his lap with an audible thud, his voice taking on a menacing edge. The yellow earphone line that fans had sent as a comeback gift was twisted into a pathetic tangle like a ball of yarn.
“…Want me to untangle it for you?”
Just then, Ju Eun-chan approached Dan Ha-ru’s side with careful steps—I wasn’t sure when he’d arrived—and asked cautiously while extending his hand. Despite looking the most cat-like himself, he was visibly tense, waiting anxiously for Dan Ha-ru’s response like someone feeding a stray cat for the first time.
With Dan Ha-ru specifically, his perceptiveness rivaled Seo Tae-hyun’s, so he couldn’t possibly not notice that Dan Ha-ru was subtly avoiding him. Yet he didn’t complain once—something that made him seem both admirable and pitiful.
“I use wired earphones, so I’m really good at untangling cords.”
“Ah….”
When Dan Ha-ru didn’t answer readily, Ju Eun-chan appealed to his skills once more. I could see Dan Ha-ru hesitate slightly, then glance back at me. But I had absolutely no intention of helping this cornered dark rabbit warrior, so I simply shrugged with an air of “do whatever you want” and pretended not to notice. Even I had to admit I was a terrible mentor.
Then Dan Ha-ru quietly bit the inside of his cheek and suddenly shoved the earphone case into my hands.
“…No, Ha-jin hyung will untangle it for me.”
This little brat…. He’s really passing the buck like that?
Because of Dan Ha-ru’s whirlwind decision—the one option I liked the least out of all the choices—my right eyebrow twitched involuntarily. The moment Dan Ha-ru handed the earphone case to me, disappointment flooded across Ju Eun-chan’s face.
After confirming Ju Eun-chan’s expression, I gave a small nod and stood up.
“Oh, I was planning to anyway. Now that I think about it, I promised the Winter Tail hyungs I’d film a challenge with them today. Eun-chan, you untangle this and help Ha-ru put his earphones on. He couldn’t get them on by himself yesterday.”
Then I quickly tossed Dan Ha-ru’s earphone case back to Ju Eun-chan.
Dan Ha-ru’s face went rigid in an instant. I gently tapped my cheek with my finger to signal him to manage his expression better, then smiled kindly. After that, I gave Ju Eun-chan’s right shoulder a gentle squeeze as he took the earphone case from me.
“How’s your body feeling, Eun-chan? You doing okay?”
“Oh, yes. I’m feeling much better. Even when I performed yesterday, there wasn’t much pain, so I think I can do the choreography using both arms today.”
“Good, that’s a relief. But don’t overdo it. We have a fan signing later, so manage your stamina well. You know? The schedule is just getting started.”
Ju Eun-chan nodded instead of answering. The disappointment that had filled his face moments ago quickly gave way to joy, his lips and cheeks lifting with excitement.
“I’m most looking forward to the fan signing. It’s been so long since I’ve seen the fans…. I really want to do the fan signing soon.”
“Ju Eun-chan, you’re not getting shy again because you’re seeing Destiny after so long, right? I’d be in trouble if the robotic Ju Eun-chan from the first fan signing comes back.”
“I’m not like that anymore.”
“You never know. Even yesterday on the way to work, when fans called your name, you got all stiff, and the photos came out really funny….”
“Ah! Hyung, go quickly. Go film the challenge.”
“Hey, honestly, because it’s your face, it came out that well. If it weren’t, that photo would’ve been used as a humiliating meme forever….”
“Eeeek…! Go quickly, hyung!”
“Alright, alright. I’m going, I’m going.”
After teasing him relentlessly about yesterday’s article photo, Ju Eun-chan’s face turned bright red as if he’d never been sulky at all, and he pushed at my back. It’s not like I kept poking at him because his reactions were funny—I was genuinely trying to cheer him up.
Of course, the moment I saw that hilarious article photo of Ju Eun-chan all tense with his facial features scattered in every direction, I saved it and set it as my phone’s wallpaper, but anyway, that wasn’t the point.
“Then I’m leaving Eun-chan in your hands~ Take good care of the maknae.”
“Yes, just go already.”
“Ugh, if you keep pushing Eun-chan away like that, won’t he feel hurt?”
“Leave right now.”
“Tch, cold-hearted brat.”
Even as he grumbled, Ha-jin turned to leave with a pleased expression. That’s when I caught Dan Ha-ru glaring at me the moment Ju Eun-chan wasn’t looking. I couldn’t resist—I stuck my tongue out and made a face right back at him while Ju Eun-chan wasn’t paying attention.
‘So what if you’re glaring at me?’
I reminded myself again: I was a hopelessly incompetent, lazy, and unreliable mentor.
The sight of Dan Ha-ru’s frustrated expression, his cheeks puffed out as he chewed the inside of his mouth, was rather amusing.

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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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