Grab the Regressor by the Collar and Debut - Chapter 343

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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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343. Longing and Salvation (2)
“Hey, take it easy.”
In the end, it fell to me to cut things off before the situation spiraled any further.
Honestly, I wanted to tell them to go ahead and fight it out, but with so many eyes watching, I didn’t want rumors of discord within Kairos spreading around. Besides, we only had about ten minutes left before the scheduled fan sign event.
“If you’re going to fight, go home and do it there. You two are getting paid to work right now—did you forget? Dan Ha-ru, you were trembling like a leaf just moments ago worried Ju Eun-chan might die. Where do you get off acting tough now?”
At my blunt provocation, Dan Ha-ru looked at me with those delinquent eyes as if to say he’d never done any such thing. But I’d already grown accustomed to that sullen teenage gaze that seemed to resent everything in the world, so it was no different to me than a tiny chick chirping away.
Lightly brushing past Dan Ha-ru, I simply relayed my thoughts to Kwon Wook.
“Let’s just do the fan sign.”
“…Are you sure?”
“If the members are okay with it, we should. If we were going to cancel, we should’ve done it earlier. Making them wait an hour and then canceling now doesn’t sit right with me. Those fans out there saw us all walk in perfectly fine.”
At that, Seo Tae-hyun, who had been resting quietly beside me, nodded in agreement despite his still-pallid complexion.
“…I want to do it too.”
“You too, Tae-hyun…?”
“If I go home with these negative feelings, I’ll just feel unsettled. I’d rather see the fans, talk about good things, hear good words, and forget it all. There are probably fans who came to celebrate Eun-chan’s birthday… I don’t want to end Eun-chan’s birthday with a bad memory.”
Seo Tae-hyun’s words were sentimental but made a certain sense, and Kwon Wook seemed somewhat persuaded. The other members didn’t say anything in particular, but the atmosphere suggested they all agreed. Only Dan Ha-ru wore an expression like he was chewing sand, unable to understand his bandmates’ reasoning.
“…Ha-jin, I don’t know. Fine, but if I see anything strange with you guys in the middle of it, I’m stopping it immediately. Even if it doesn’t seem like much, psychological shock can linger for a long time.”
“Yes. As leader, I’ll take responsibility and monitor the members’ condition.”
“And we’ll announce that Eun-chan got hurt—truthfully. Leave out the part about the gift incident, and just say he had an accident while in the waiting room. That’s why the fan sign was delayed too. That way, fans won’t start speculating and blaming you guys.”
“Is that okay? If we don’t mention the gift incident, the company will take all the heat for poor artist management…”
Perhaps because I’d once worked on the staff side, I immediately began worrying about the company’s position upon hearing Kwon Wook’s words. But he simply waved his hand dismissively with a snort.
“What difference does it make if we reveal the gift incident? And it’s true we didn’t manage security properly—we have nothing to say about that. Let them criticize. That’s what the company pays me for—to tank the blame. That’s why we split the profits with you guys.”
“But the company is one thing—you’re just a salaried employee. You’ll be the one actually taking the heat.”
“This kid, poking at my sore spots… If you feel so bad for me, go make a lot of money and throw some nice bonuses my way, you brat. Anyway, if you’re really doing the fan sign, you need to start preparing now. We don’t have time, do we?”
Kwon Wook raised his voice as if trying to lift the heavy atmosphere, clapping his hands together. Then, giving a signal with his eyes, I saw the road manager who’d been driving the younger members’ van hurriedly leave the waiting room. He was probably going to call the styling team, whom we’d sent outside as soon as we confirmed the accident.
I also got up to get some warm water in my tumbler to soothe my parched throat, when I felt someone suddenly grab me.
“…?”
“Hyung.”
“Yeah, what’s up, Chan?”
It was Ju Eun-chan, though he seemed to have cooled down somewhat. Unlike his sharp demeanor from moments ago, he looked up at me with those gentle cat-like eyes (his appearance wasn’t particularly soft, but the light in his eyes was) and hesitated.
“This… what do I do about my clothes?”
“Your clothes?”
When I lowered my gaze, I saw the colorful sleeves of Ju Eun-chan’s jeogori stained with blood. It looked like the marks from when he first cut his hand. The dark red color was clearly visible even among the bright, vibrant hues, and for some reason, it made my stomach churn.
“…Wait a second. I’ll take care of it. First, take that off. You have something underneath, right?”
“…Yes.”
Wondering what must be going through Ju Eun-chan’s mind as he stared at those bloodstains, I squeezed his hand firmly without showing any sign of disturbance. Ju Eun-chan hesitated for a moment at my gesture, then grasped my hand back.
With that, I looked around the waiting room. All the extra clothes the styling team had brought were returned as soon as the broadcast ended, and dressing him in casual clothes would mean sending Ju Eun-chan to his own birthday party looking like a beggar.
Fortunately, since fan sign events were held here frequently, there were various props and costumes available for unpublicized shoots and events. As I carefully examined the clothing rack positioned in one corner of the waiting room, I spotted an appropriate costume.
“Chan, get up. Let’s go change your clothes.”
“Into what?”
“Something similar to what you’re wearing now. It’s nothing special. Come on, hurry.”
“Ugh…”
I dragged Ju Eun-chan toward the clothing rack, walking briskly, and pulled out the outfit I’d set aside, handing it to him. His expression shifted subtly.
“You want me to wear… this?”
“Yeah. Why not? It’s perfect for the concept.”
“Is it…?”
I nodded with absolute confidence, and Ju Eun-chan—who had zero social awareness outside of Dan Ha-ru—accepted the clothes with a hesitant “I guess so?” And the moment I saw him like that, an idea flashed through my mind.
A cute event that would lift the gloomy mood of the members and make the fans who’d waited so long smile, even if just for a moment.
“Hey, you Lee brothers. Come here for a sec.”
“…Us?”
“Yeah, you two.”
Lee Yu-gun and Lee Do-ha, suddenly called over, approached me with confused expressions. Ju Eun-chan, changing clothes beside us, looked at me as if asking why.
I placed both hands on the Lee brothers’ shoulders and flashed a reassuring smile.
“Your shoulders are sturdy, right?”
“What?”
“Let’s put in some effort for our birthday boy today.”
“…What?”
Event is coming soon.
At my cryptic remark, question marks appeared all over the faces of the Lee brothers and the birthday person himself.
* * *
A short while later.
Kairos’s fan sign event began in the late evening, delayed by an hour from the originally scheduled time, as previously announced. Some fans voiced complaints about the sudden delay, but when the Entertainment Agency posted a notice about Eun-chan’s injury, most were too worried about him to care.
Downtown (locked)
@sinae04
Is it Eun-chan again?
Does this bastard deliberately hurt himself
just to get attention?????
Who does he think he is, making me wait because of his hand
I skipped meals for three days and bought albums just to see their faces
Of course, unfortunately, among them were those whose twisted nature had warped into nothing but selfish exposure—people who didn’t treat Kairos’s members as human beings, but merely as dolls to vicariously fulfill their own emotional voids.
Kang Ha-jin mercilessly filtered out such comments whenever they appeared in his monitoring system, sweeping them away from sight. He didn’t want to misunderstand the ten people who genuinely worried about and cared for them because of one or two like that.
“Kairos is entering~”
At the staff member’s announcement, murmurs erupted throughout the venue along with the sound of camera shutters. Despite having waited for a full hour and being exhausted, the Destiny fans couldn’t hide their anticipation at the members’ appearance.
♩♪♫♫♩―
In that moment, a grand and profound traditional Korean music-style BGM filled the entire venue.
“…?”
“Happy↘ birth~day↘ to↗you↗~↗ Happy↘ birth↗day↘ to↗you↗~↗”
The identity of the traditional Korean music-style BGM that seemed to demand a fan dance was a birthday song. Despite using formal language, the melody somehow sounded frivolous, and laughter erupted from all around.
But the real event came next.
“Our beloved Ju Eun-chan, Your Highness―”
Kang Ha-jin, Lee Do-ha, and Lee Yu-gun slowly carried the chair Ju Eun-chan sat in like a flower palanquin as they entered the fan sign event venue.
Right in front, Jeong Si-u was sprinkling flower petal confetti on Ju Eun-chan from a flower basket that seemed to materialize out of nowhere, while Seo Tae-hyun and Dan Ha-ru deliberately ignored the chaos and slowly made their way into the venue.
“Happy birthday― we offer our blessings―.”
The real spectacle, however, was the birthday boy himself, Ju Eun-chan.
Eun-chan was dressed in a crimson dragon robe embroidered with golden dragons, wearing a Western-style crown on his head, and holding a toy sword in one hand—a combination that defied all logic. Despite his usual composure, his face had turned beet red all the way to his ears.
“I really hate you guys….”
With no chance to hide the cast on his left hand, Eun-chan was desperately covering his face with both hands. His unnaturally tall hyungs had the strength to match, and they were holding the chair he sat in high above the ground—so unless they put it down, he had nowhere to hide or escape to.
The laughter and camera shutters echoing from all around only deepened his embarrassment. He hadn’t even had time to process that he’d just been the victim of a gift ambush.
“Everyone, thank you for waiting so patiently. I apologize for the delay, but let’s finally begin the birthday celebration for our Prince Eun-chan.”
With Ha-jin’s smooth commentary, Eun-chan’s chair finally touched the ground.
This was the moment the complete Kairos fan sign event—commemorating their comeback with Eun-chan’s full participation—finally began.
* * *
“Eun-chan, your hand is really okay, right? We were all so worried earlier….”
“Yes, I’m fine. I made a mistake… Thank you for waiting so long.”
“No, no. The most important thing to us is that you’re not hurt.”
Thanks to the spirited opening, the fan sign event proceeded in a warm and friendly atmosphere. The members showered the fans who had waited late with all the affection they could muster, and the fans reciprocated with all the sincerity they could offer to members who had come despite the injury.
Eun-chan thanked the fans who came from far away to celebrate his birthday, pressing gifts into his arms. As he faced the voices and expressions of the fans’ deep affection for him, his previously erratic heartbeat seemed to gradually stabilize.
‘I’m glad we decided to do this after all.’
Eun-chan thought this as he finished signing. He wanted to wear the cat ear headband the fan had given him, but the cast made it difficult to put on properly with one hand. The fan manager who usually helped with these things seemed too busy organizing all the gifts that had poured in.
“Um….”
Looking around at the members on either side for help, Eun-chan’s expression grew troubled.
Tae-hyun on his left was busy conversing with the fan who had just passed, and on his right was Ha-ru, with whom he’d had a minor argument in the waiting room earlier. Previously, Ha-ru would at least respond when he reached out, but now it felt like even that wouldn’t happen.
‘…How did things get like this?’
Eun-chan felt genuinely hurt. If only he knew the reason, he could fix it, but Ha-ru, whose attitude had changed overnight, simply refused to talk, dismissing it as adolescence. With no other choice, Eun-chan gripped the cat ear headband in his hand and wore a dejected expression.
“…Give it here.”
“…What?”
Then someone snatched the headband from Eun-chan’s hand. It was Ha-ru, who had been silently tapping the table with his pen while waiting for the next fan. Dan Ha-ru, his expression still somewhat stiff, carefully placed the headband on Eun-chan’s head while avoiding his gaze.
In those clumsy hands lay a tenderness—a carefulness to ensure that Eun-chan’s hair or ears wouldn’t get caught.
“Done.”
“…Yeah. Thanks, Ha-ru.”
“…You’re being stupid.”
Despite Ha-ru only putting on a headband, Eun-chan’s mood brightened instantly. It seemed Ha-ru had decided to openly sulk in front of him now—so much so that even being called stupid brought a smile to his face.
Eun-chan didn’t know why Ha-ru was upset enough to be uncomfortable around him, but as long as he wasn’t hated, that was enough.
“Why are you smiling like that, it’s funny….”
Dan Ha-ru, watching Eun-chan, muttered with an aggrieved expression before quickly turning his head away. I’m not the Ha-ru you like, yet you pour endless affection on me simply because I share the same face. It felt burdensome and uncomfortable.
And besides, I….
‘…I’m the one who created your misfortune.’
In that world that has now disappeared, you turned your back on the entire world because of me and withered away.
Because of the happiness I tried to grasp, you crumbled terribly, so utterly alone.
“….”
Knowing all of this, could you still smile at me?
No, could I really dare to hope for your smile?
The question—one whose answer I feared to hear—sank deep into Dan Ha-ru’s heart.

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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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