Grab the Regressor by the Collar and Debut - Chapter 36

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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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36. Those Who Reach for the Sun (2)
As we ascended rapidly to the top floor, what awaited us was, predictably, a dark teal hedge wall and two doors.
“Doors?”
“Looks like we’re supposed to choose one and go through.”
Sure enough, light flickered across the monitor mounted in the center.
〜〚Choose YOUR way〛〜
The first threshold leading to your destiny!
Trust your instincts!
Left? VS Right?
Was it luck of the draw from the start? Without knowing the full format, I couldn’t react naturally or strategize which path would be advantageous.
‘Since there’s no audio, they’re probably just getting the visuals.’
It’s easier to keep things simple in situations like this.
“Which way should we go? I’m thinking right.”
I made my decision concisely and turned to Lee Do-ha, who had been furrowing his brow in thought before asking a question.
“Do we have to go through different doors?”
“I don’t know. There weren’t any specific instructions, so it should be fine either way.”
“Then I’ll go right too. Seems safer to stick together at the beginning.”
I was about to ask if this was some kind of survival show, but I stopped myself. Right, we were in the middle of a survival show.
Even so, they wouldn’t actually shoot people on broadcast, right? I held back the joke and we opened the right door.
And we were shocked.
“Oh my goodness.”
“….”
【Choose your own path and escape the Maze within the time limit! Benefits will be awarded in order of fastest escape times. Good luck!】
These crazy bastards actually built a real maze?
* * *
“Hello, PD.”
“Oh, hello, Team Leader.”
“You’ve been working since dawn. Please have something to drink.”
“Oh my, thank you. You shouldn’t have.”
Meanwhile, at Maze 5th Floor (behind that hedge wall Kang Ha-jin and Lee Do-ha had seen earlier), where everything was being monitored.
Ji Su-ho, who had entered Production Headquarters, opened vitamin drinks he’d brought with Yoon Deputy and surveyed the atmosphere of the production office.
On the monitors that displayed multiple camera feeds like CCTV, trainees were visible struggling their way through the actual maze (not the company name, but a real maze!).
‘They must have been shocked, but they’re adapting well.’
When I heard they’d start filming without prior notice to the trainees, I was genuinely worried. It couldn’t be helped. Since this was their first broadcast exposure, we had to be careful.
Yet this insane format only got approved thanks to the full efforts of the two people standing right in front of me.
“First escape team heading out. Get ready. Once they leave, mic them all up and give them pre-shoot briefing.”
“Kwon PD, I’ll head up to do the MC script reading then.”
“Yes, yes. The MC needs to be on standby until 30 minutes. The kids are coming out faster than expected.”
“I’ll have them ready by 20 minutes. Tae-il’s a pro anyway.”
Kwon PD and Go Writer.
They were the main PD and main writer pairing for this broadcast. Among all the production companies he’d met to create the Miro Survival show, this was the team he trusted most.
‘They were at the very end of the recommendation list Kang Ha-jin had written.’
At first, he’d been skeptical since the production company was still new, but it turned out the PD who’d left after years at the network’s entertainment division had founded it, so the infrastructure was better than expected. Their portfolio built up so far was solid too.
‘But why didn’t I know about a place like this?’
With this much potential, they should be able to grow significantly, yet Ji Su-ho had never felt any aura from these two people since the first time he’d met them. Not even once.
‘Stars aren’t exclusive to entertainers, after all.’
Ji Su-ho could sense the presence of future ‘stars’—those destined to become famous—in people, whether they were entertainers or not. By building connections early with those who would become star PDs and buying them coffee and drinks countless times during their rookie days, he’d greatly contributed to creating what he was now: ‘Miro’s Guardian.’
‘The investors too… I’m glad things worked out.’
Thinking of the maximum sponsor whose existence made this enormous scale possible, Ji Su-ho gazed at the monitors with a sigh. Several trainee boys were struggling and finding answers in their own ways. Suddenly, he recalled the single condition the investor had imposed and offered a bitter smile.
‘I should discuss that more with Ha-jin later.’
Despite being over ten years younger, Ji Su-ho found it difficult to speak casually to Ha-jin. In front of others, he had to call him Kang Ha-jin, but still. Muttering such nonsense to himself, Ji Su-ho dragged over the remaining chair and sat down to begin monitoring in earnest.
“How does it look so far? Our kids haven’t had any broadcast exposure before.”
“It’s entertaining so far. Honestly, it’s not really a section that needs to be polished for broadcast—I was just being a bit ambitious with the opening. But it seems like it’ll turn out better than expected?”
Kwon PD shifted slightly to give Ji Su-ho a better view of the monitors. Inside the multiple screens, trainee boys attempting to escape the Miro Garden—produced with an enormous budget—were being filmed from various angles.
“These guys are in first place.”
-First place!!!!!!!!!!!
The moment they saw the flashy neon sign engraved with ☆EXIT☆, Dan Ha-ru and Ju Eun-chan sprinted past in a blur. Behind them, Seo Tae-hyun calculated every camera angle the follow-cam would catch, flawlessly appearing in every nearby camera while flaunting his broadcast experience.
Of course, broadcast or not, there came angry roars directed at the two younger brothers who were just running at full speed.
-Stop running!!!!!!!
Seo Tae-hyun’s thunderous shout came through clearly even over the headphones.
Wait, how is that even audible without a microphone? At the production staff’s amazement, Ji Su-ho felt slightly embarrassed.
“This group seems to be struggling a bit… though there’s nothing particularly difficult about it.”
In the different angle Kwon PD pointed to, quite a few trainees had reached dead ends and were having difficulty.
Was the opening too intense from the start? Just as Kwon PD was scratching his forehead with his pen, Ji Su-ho spat out the coffee he’d been drinking and stared intently at one section of the monitor.
“…? Team Leader Ji, what’s wro—?”
Seeing Ji Su-ho cough after choking and wipe his mouth with a tissue, Kwon PD widened his eyes in bewilderment.
And at that very moment, a radio transmission came through from one of the assistant directors stationed at each spot to preview the trainees’ movements.
-S… Senior. This is A2 spot. A… trainee is climbing the wall.
“Huh?”
-They’re climbing the Miro wall… Should we let this slide? Do we need to intervene…?
Kwon PD, uncertain of what was being said (or rather, wondering if his suspicion was correct), checked the monitor again. He didn’t need to count which spot A2 was—he could tell immediately. The shaking angle of the hidden camera operator said it all.
-Hey, can you see Kim Won-ho?
-Can’t see him from here. Can you see Do-ha hyung?
-I didn’t even climb up in the first place.
“What are these lunatics doing again?”
On screen, three men were climbing a green wall that towered well above their height, precariously maintaining their balance as they searched for an escape route.
As the camera struggled to find the people who’d vanished from view in an instant, the lunatic in front—Ha-jin—precisely located the camera, gazed at it, and offered a slight smile.
-To reach the sun, you have to climb high first.
Then, with a whoosh, he leaped toward the next wall and disappeared from the camera’s view once more. Normally, a situation like this would be treated as a broadcast accident, edited out entirely, or something…
“Why are you intervening? Hey, grab the ENG camera and follow them. Are you setting up on the ceiling?”
-Yes! We’re rolling.
“Since the others probably won’t escape anyway, it looks like we’ll need another ten minutes. Let’s add one more ENGineering shot.”
-Roger!
“Go Writer, make sure you get a good read on them. We absolutely need to interview them later. Right now, this moment.”
“Yes, I’ll pass it along to the interview writer.”
Kwon PD’s eyes sparkled as if he’d discovered something entertaining, and he tapped the intercom. Camera directors, writers, and PDs all took their positions in unison. Su-ho watched from another camera angle as Ha-jin’s head suddenly popped up above the green brick wall, and he could only blink stupidly.
‘What in the world… is all of this?’
So here’s how this all came to be.
* * *
Thirty minutes earlier.
Do-ha and I entered Miro and immediately sensed the gravity of the situation, so we decided to move together. After all, in a format like this, staying alone would obviously mean getting no screen time, and with two heads, we figured we could think twice as hard about everything.
“Oh, Ha-jin hyung?”
In the midst of all this, we ran into someone who would have “obviously gotten no screen time from being alone.” It was Kim Won-ho, his hair bleached blonde and striking during the break.
“What are you doing?”
“Well, they told me to reveal my honest secrets, so I did, but the door won’t open. I gave everything I had.”
“That sounds weird.”
With the face of someone who’d been betrayed, Kim Won-ho complained in an uncharacteristic way while glaring at the door. Then Do-ha, who’d been surveying the maze with its square walls blocking all sides, quietly pressed a red button hidden in the brush.
Zzzzzzzt—
“I revealed five of my shameful and embarrassing secrets, and you’re telling me this is a deception? Huh?”
“Isn’t the real problem that you have five of those in the first place?”
“It says to press the button.”
Within three seconds of appearing, Do-ha had opened the door, and Kim Won-ho cried out with even more betrayal written across his face. Wow, this is absolutely ridiculous. Muttering and complaining, Kim Won-ho naturally joined our group.
‘Oh, now that I think about it.’
As I watched Kim Won-ho and Do-ha walking ahead through the maze, I remembered something I’d forgotten.
‘Reward confirmation.’
That Quest reward I’d tried to check earlier but lost the chance to because of Do-ha.
Thinking this time I absolutely had to check it, I opened the system window, and a notification panel marked in red at the very top—flagged as important—unfurled before me.
[Single Quest 03.]
[‘Do you want to become special?’
Content: The trainers still show little interest in you, a mere rookie trainee. Achieve excellent results in the month-end evaluation, stand out, and enter the Special Class!]
[Quest completed.]
[Success Reward: Clue for Regression Tracking & Ally Recruitment]
[Will you receive your reward? (Select reward to receive)
1. Clue for Regression Tracking
2. Ally Recruitment]
If I chose option 1, I’d end up alone in this dark maze getting attacked by eye-poking assaults, so I skipped it for now and pressed 2. Then that problematic notification panel unfolded again.
[System Alert: ‘Lee Do-ha’ (Response Rate 68.9%) and ‘Kim Won-ho’ (Response Rate 92.3%) have ‘responded’ to you. Depending on your choice, you can recruit one person as an ally.
※The response rate of the person you don’t choose will accumulate, but the timing of ally recruitment is not guaranteed※]
[Ally Recruitment Status 2/??]
I had no idea when they’d started responding like this. A binary choice—what a blessed dilemma.
I saw two people standing before me.
“Oh, found it. Isn’t this what you were looking for, Do-ha?”
“That’s just an insect.”
“Ugh! You should’ve told me that earlier!”
Kim Won-ho and Lee Do-ha.
This was truly a moment when I needed to trust my instincts.

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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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