Grab the Regressor by the Collar and Debut - Chapter 357

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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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357. Coming Soon! (5)
-The capsule has opened.
-You now have 3 minutes to freely board the capsule and verify your partner matching.
-However, if verification fails and a red light appears, boarding will be restricted for 1 minute.
-The next capsule opening time is 3 minutes before the turn ends.
Here stood two men before the capsule, shrouded in an atmosphere that could only be described as solemn—or rather, awkward.
-….
-….
-…Um, you first, hyung….
-Yeah, should we?
Let me correct that.
It was a dynamic where one side was overwhelmingly uncomfortable—two men whose tension was painfully one-sided.
‘Even with all the editing we did, it’s still this obvious? What on earth does the uncut version look like?’
Watching Yoo Gun and Si-woo on the screen, I found myself furrowing one eyebrow and resting my chin in my palm.
‘No, but in our day-to-day interactions, it’s not usually this bad…. Maybe it just looks worse on broadcast for some reason.’
At least I could take some comfort in the fact that if this were me and Do-ha, we’d be getting torn apart by every troll with “discord rumors,” but with those two, it probably wouldn’t be as bad.
Just looking at the comments alone….
– If those two are partners, won’t Yoo Gun pass out lmaooo
– Feels like they’re using partner matching as an excuse to get closer
– Yoo Gun really does consistently act shy around Si-woo, and it’s already been 2 years since debut
└ There’s even a leader who consistently avoids Si-woo’s face 2 years into debut, so what…
For some reason, the “awkward” dynamic between Si-woo and Yoo Gun had become something like content among Destiny fans. The Si-woo fandoms and Yoo Gun fandoms, who had fiercely battled during Miro Maze when they saw each other as rivals, seemed to have found this as a reasonable compromise once they debuted in the same group.
‘But why is it that two guys who are obviously not close become content, while me and Do-ha, who are actually close, get hit with discord rumors every single day?’
A wave of indignation surged up inside me, but I didn’t let it spill out of my mouth.
Because someone else had already spoken first.
“Hyung, are you still not on good terms with Yoo Gun?”
“Cough….”
At Do-ha’s blunt fastball—delivered while he’d already demolished an entire box of chicken solo—Tae-hyun, who’d been dipping his side salad in dressing, swallowed what was in his mouth whole and started coughing. But Si-woo, the actual subject of the question, simply remained composed, spearing a chicken leg onto his fork as he answered.
“Not particularly?”
-….
“We were never on good terms to begin with.”
“Pfft….”
Si-woo’s uppercut left Tae-hyun reeling, and he glanced over at me with those pitiful rabbit eyes. But there was nothing I could do for him, no matter how he looked at me. These extreme T-types clearly had no awareness that such callous conversation would deal critical damage to our F-leaning Tae-hyun.
But if I sat here quietly and let their conversation play out, with my own 51% F inclination, our poor INFP Tae-hyun would lose sleep every single night from this point forward.
So I opened my mouth to save this pitiful INFP soul, redirecting my question toward Si-woo.
“But you don’t have any actual grievance against Yoo Gun either, right? The tension between you two during Miro Maze was just a brief thing, and it’s all water under the bridge now.”
“Well…. If I’m being honest, since Yoo Gun finds me uncomfortable, I’m just not going out of my way to approach him either. What’s the point of holding grudges or not? We’re members who’ll be seeing each other for a long time to come.”
At this slightly gentler response, Tae-hyun finally looked somewhat relieved. And as if he’d become Yoo Gun’s guardian or something, he added a comment in an embarrassed voice.
“Yoo Gun, he’s just not great at expressing himself…. He’s still a bit intimidated by you, hyung, but he’s not actually uncomfortable or deliberately keeping his distance.”
And in that moment, the three of us—everyone except Tae-hyun—felt the words ‘But he definitely is uncomfortable…’ materialize above our heads. We all instinctively knew we were thinking the same thing, but we couldn’t possibly say it outright in front of this INFP boy who was genuinely concerned about his peer’s friendship.
In truth, Lee Do-ha seemed about to blurt out something thoughtless again, but I quickly grabbed his arm and silenced him with a look. If he’d said that, our Cherry would be up all night searching the Internet for “Kairos Discord Theory.”
It was Jeong Si-u—the very person at the center of the discord—who ultimately clarified the situation, currently climbing aboard a capsule alongside Yoo Gun in the “Four Heavenly Kings of Terror” worldview segment on screen.
“Yeah, well. We’ll get closer with time. We’ve got plenty of it.”
Watching Jeong Si-u nod with a smile, Seo Tae-hyun’s expression softened with relief. In that same moment, our attention shifted back to Yoo Gun and Jeong Si-u on the screen.
The two men, perched atop a capsule that wasn’t particularly spacious for two adult males, had already completed their identity verification and were now awaiting the capsule’s judgment.
【The Partner Matching Result for Both of You….】
After spinning for a while, the monitor atop the capsule finally illuminated.
-Huh…?
-Is that a yellow light?
It was a yellow light—indicating that either the partner or the capsule’s assessment was incorrect.
* * *
In the partner matching with Yoo Gun, Jeong Si-u’s deduction of his own name and role was as follows.
-Name: Lee Do-ha. Role is….
-…Role is, Rank 0.
【Red Magnolia, who predicted himself as “Lee Do-ha” and Rank 0】
【Did he accurately deduce his own identity?】
For the information revealed so far, it was a somewhat unexpected name and role selection.
The moment the result confirmed his deduction was correct, the Production Team immediately inserted Jeong Si-u’s interview and flashback with exciting sound effects, connecting the scenes.
【Q. What was your reasoning for deducing your identity as “Rank 0”?】
-Well…. Based on various circumstances, I had a feeling I wasn’t the male lead. If I were, the sync rate with the protagonist’s lines during worldview verification would’ve been 100%.
-At first, I was going to just guess sub-male lead…. But then I remembered something Ha-jin mentioned in passing before. In novels like this, sometimes there’s a role of the female lead’s first love and a senior the male lead respects.
-It felt like there was a high probability I was that character. Yoo Gun’s already Rank 2, and Rank 1 seemed like it would be the male protagonist. So I just guessed Rank 0, and it turned out to be right?
Jeong Si-u shrugged his shoulders with a gesture suggesting he was surprised himself. Moments later, upon seeing the yellow light on the capsule, he appeared momentarily startled before breaking into a satisfied grin as the camera zoomed in.
【Q. Then…. How did you arrive at the name “Lee Do-ha”?】
-Ah, that.
When the Production Team, bewildered by the somewhat bland answer, pressed further, Jeong Si-u responded this time with an even more carefree attitude.
-I guessed.
【!!! (Production Team all flustered)】
-Out of the remaining names besides me, Ha-jin, Yoo Gun, and Eun-chan, Do-ha was the only one that really fit Rank 0?
– A miraculous process of elimination strategy
That’s basically an image game at this point.
– WHY??? WHY???? “Rank 0 Dan Ha-ru” << Isn't that EXACTLY the vibe from back then?
└ Usually pretty names with such unique surnames are the male lead
Ah. Got it.
– Rank 0 Lee Do-ha, the female lead's first love and the male lead's role model? Just hearing the name makes it sound like there's a whole story
└ Cool vibes minus loyalty equals a corpse, and he probably died protecting the male lead while keeping that loyalty (those roles tend to be short-lived)
└ So he'd be a trauma trigger for the male lead and the biggest obstacle between him and the female lead (her first love died because of the male lead)
└ You guys keep subtly flexing your novel knowledge in the comments lol it's hilarious fr…
Once Jeong Si-u and Yoo Gun's true identities were revealed, events unfolded even more rapidly.
Having grasped the general flow through the first turn, the Group Members scattered across the Set, focused on hunting for hints. The "items" the Production Team had announced in advance were also gradually unveiled.
-What is this? Where did this necklace come from…?
【Memory Necklace: A necklace that feels strangely familiar despite seeing it for the first time. When worn, vivid memories buried in the haze might flash before your eyes like lightning?】
【※(Realistic acting required as forgotten memories resurface)※】
-…Ah, ahhhhh…! What is this, what is…? What memory is this!? I have no idea!
From the silver pendant necklace that supposedly always appeared in the protagonist's past―,
-Hey, Do-ha! Come here.
-Why?
-This is supposedly a bonk hammer. If you get hit with this, you get short-term memory loss and can keep using the capsule without penalties.
To the terrifying bonk hammer that the male lead supposedly got smashed with if he was a delinquent or school tyrant.
With a feast of various items and hint missions, Kairos's chaotic protagonist world was gradually taking shape.
-Alright, let's organize what we've discovered so far.
Do-ha stood before the whiteboard again, and this time I could see him methodically organizing all the facts we'd uncovered into a neat table alongside Ha-jin.
【Kang Ha-jin▶??? / First Love / Without Glasses (Presumed)】
【Jeong Si-u▶??? / Sub Male Lead / ???】
【Lee Do-ha▶Jeong Si-u / Rank 0 / One of the Four Terrors.】
【Seo Tae-hyun▶??? / ??? / ???】
【Lee Yu-gun▶Lee Do-ha / Male Protagonist / Without Glasses (Presumed)】
【Ju Eun-chan▶Lee Yu-gun / Rank 2 / Pristine Hospital Ceiling (Presumed)】
【Dan Ha-ru▶??? / Female Protagonist (Presumed) / Pristine Hospital Ceiling (Presumed)】
I stared quietly at the table Do-ha had organized before speaking first.
-So right now, Seo Tae-hyun is the only one with nothing revealed?
-Yeah. I got all the hints Tae-hyun received, but none of them were actually related to him.
-…Really?
-Tae-hyun seemed kind of resigned about it.
Seeing Tae-hyun's unfortunate situation where he couldn't even get close to the truth compared to Yu-gun, a complete muggle, I offered a sympathetic expression and spoke.
-Well, you just went to Jeju Island and came back alone. Our cherry, fighting.
【A leader who raises his younger members very strongly】
Before people could even laugh at the sporadic T-moment that emerged from thinking too hard, the two of us began deducing using our accumulated knowledge to fill in the remaining question marks.
-I don't think Lee Yu-gun, who plays Ju Eun-chan, is in the 'Pristine Hospital Ceiling' world. Earlier when Si-u and I tried that capsule together, a red light came on.
-Really? Then is this one 'Without Glasses'?
-Probably? Anyway, they went to verify the world right now with a world validation mission.
-Ha-jin, what about you? Which role do you think you got among these?
-From the current feeling, I think I might have switched with Seo Tae-hyun… Anyway, I have this sense that, you… Ah, so like, you who took Yu-gun's role are the male lead in the Four Terrors world, and I switched with Tae-hyun and Tae-hyun switched with Dan Ha-ru and something like that, right? Ah, my head's about to explode.
Overwhelmed by the barrage of information and mysteries, I pulled out the chocolate snack the production team had set up, feeling my energy crash, and swallowed it whole.
Knowing that snack was this episode's PPL, I deliberately spread out the wrapper and snack name so the camera would catch them clearly, then placed them on the desk.
-If I wasn't pure gold, I wouldn't be thinking this hard…
-I just genuinely want to solve this puzzle so badly now.
The two self-proclaimed brains of Kairos, same age, briefly appeared discussing with serious expressions before the whiteboard.
♫♪♫♩♬♬―,
That's when it happened.
There was still time left before the turn ended when a sudden announcement suddenly blared through the speakers. Ha-jin and Do-ha, who had been crunching through their third chocolate cracker, snapped their attention toward the broadcast with startled expressions.
-Ah, yes. We have an announcement for you.
-The first pair to successfully match has been born!
-Today's prize money goes to the first pair.
-All that remains now is the Jeju Island penalty…. Everyone, hang in there. You've got this!
At last, news that a team had successfully matched as a pair!
The moment they heard that announcement, Do-ha and Ha-jin dropped the markers they were holding and rushed toward the capsule. Even in their haste, they made sure to stuff the precious chocolate crackers into their pockets.
– Wow, who could it be lol
– It's gotta be one of Yu Gun or Si-woo, honestly both of them just need to find the right pair to succeed
– I'm betting on the third-years, I have a feeling Tae-hyun switched names with Ha-jin and paired up with Yu Gun lol
So who was the first champion to successfully match?
Just as everyone's speculation reached its peak, the camera caught Ha-jin rushing to the capsule and making a bewildered expression as he confirmed the identity of the pair.
【The first pair finally revealed—who are they?】
【Ha-jin: …?】
【Ha-jin: What are you two…?】
【???: Ah, well….】
Along with a confused voice that seemed to say they had no idea why they'd succeeded despite matching as a pair, the identity of the winners was slowly revealed through soft focus.
【Eun-chan: …We just did it, and it worked.】
【Ha-ru: (wearing a bewildered expression as if they couldn't believe it themselves)】
It was Ju Eun-chan, the puzzle fanatic, and Dan Ha-ru, the moody teenager—the two who had shown absolutely no interest in this battle of wits until just moments ago.

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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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