Grab the Regressor by the Collar and Debut - Chapter 383

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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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383. Idol Weight Class Clash (2)
And so began Eun-chan’s 【Making Friends for the Youngest Member】 project.
The first step was―.
“….”
“….”
“….”
“…uh!”
“…!!”
“Y-your…! Your name…! How, do I…?”
“A…! Ah, I, I am! Well, my name is… wait, what was it!?”
“…He’s eighteen this year, and his name is Gu Han-gyeol. However, he performs under the stage name Han-gyeol without the surname, so fans often mistake it for a single-character name—they call him Habi, Hap, Habin, and such.”
“Ah, yes, Han-gyeol. I’m Eun-chan. And this is Ha-ru.”
“Y-yes! Ah, ah, ah-r, no, I know…!”
It was a self-introduction where three minutes of silence followed every single person introduced.
“He looks like he’s about to pass out. Is that okay?”
“Why, it’s cute. Leave him be. I’m enjoying this.”
“Besides, they’re wearing name tags the size of their own faces on their chests—why are you even asking?”
“Aw, it’s all about the atmosphere, the vibe~ Why do adults exchange business cards for nothing? That’s how everyone gets close.”
“Hah, seriously. This won’t do. It seems the god of icebreakers, the authority on recreation, the one person under heaven that everyone knows—I, Kang Ha-jin, must lend a hand….”
“Please stop fooling around and sit down.”
“Ugh―!”
Not some chick gathering, but our two youngest members and three of Kim Won-ho’s group members were sitting in a circle by themselves in the corner of the gymnasium like they were doing some kind of ground ceremony.
While their appearance was endearing, from a spectator’s perspective it was frustratingly awkward. I was about to stand up to rescue these chicks who were hopeless at making friends, when Seo Tae-hyun slapped my forearm like he was swatting a fly and pushed me back down.
“Everyone else got a word in—why are you hitting only me!”
“Everyone else just talked, but you were the only one trying to act on it.”
“I’m naturally more of a doer than a talker!”
“Exactly, which is why I hit you to stop that action. Just stay seated. And stop looking over there at the kids—they’re getting more nervous because we’re watching.”
“Ugh, seriously Seo Tae-hyun. You only hate me….”
“If you go over, the kids will only look at you. You’re good at making people feel comfortable.”
“….”
“Eun-chan took courage too, so in situations like this, the kids need to try it themselves—someone with your abilities needs to step back to balance it out. If you’re involved, it’s like using a cheat code.”
“…Hmm.”
I was about to furrow my brows in resentment at being singled out, but stopped myself.
It absolutely wasn’t because Seo Tae-hyun’s words made my cheeks rise involuntarily. I just didn’t know when or where some fancam might be capturing me, and I didn’t want to make a controversial expression and create some facial expression controversy.
“There it is.”
“This guy’s pretty simple too.”
“Isn’t it convenient because he’s easy to read?”
“Ha-jin’s outer and inner self being the same is an advantage.”
…Though everyone except Seo Tae-hyun added another comment while looking at me, that really wasn’t it. Even if sunscreen got all over my hands from pressing my cheeks because they hurt so much, it still wasn’t that.
“But why is Won-ho’s youngest member over here instead of over there?”
The best way to clear the air is to change the subject.
Before I knew it, I’d moved past the point where the trainees were revealing their practice tenure to each other—those “fried eggs” (Kim Won-ho’s team uniforms were white, so from a distance they looked exactly like fried eggs)—and I turned to speak with Kim Won-ho beside me. At that moment, Phase’s youngest member, who had been glued to Kim Won-ho’s side the whole time, widened his eyes in nervous surprise and looked up at me.
‘Wow, from a distance, our group must look pretty intimidating.’
Without Seo Tae-hyun, we’d honestly look like a bunch of yellow thugs bullying innocent lambs.
Sensing the crisis, I urgently pushed Seo Tae-hyun and Jeong Si-u forward to position them in front of me. It was what we called a “face attack”—a tactic we mainly used when we wanted to lower our offensive power and boost our defense.
“Wow….”
“Hm? Won-ho, your youngest member seems off too.”
“Oh, it’s fine. He’s just startled by your face. He’s been admiring how handsome you are since earlier.”
“Yeah? He can get a closer look if he wants.”
“Gasp…!”
“He reacts right away, doesn’t he?”
…Or maybe I just wanted to blow their minds with my devastating visuals.
It wasn’t intentional, but the result seems similar enough anyway, so let’s just move on.
“Kang Yeol-i is the shyest of the kids. He says he feels like he’ll throw up if you’re around, so I’m just keeping him with me.”
“Wow, I still can’t get used to Kim Won-ho’s oldest member moments.”
“You’ll have to get used to it. I’m the boss in Phase.”
When he wasn’t promoting new recruits—which drove me crazy—Kim Won-ho, now looking after his group’s youngest member and flashing me a V-sign, seemed far more natural and at ease than before.
He looked so much better here than when he was with us, which stung a little, but at the same time, I felt reassured knowing he was finding his place in a good environment.
‘His confidence has recovered a lot too….’
Seok-i was like that, Kim Won-ho was like that. Even Yun Tae-hee, who had been part of the same hopeless trio, was now posting the best grades among the trainees these days. It made me reflect on just how variable human potential could be.
I realized how narrow-minded I had been, initially dismissing them as “hopeless cases,” and at the same time, I felt a sense of pride watching them prove that life truly has no single right answer.
“When you think about it that way, the nickname ‘hopeless trio’ was really well-chosen….”
“What?”
“Nothing, just talking to myself.”
When I shook my head dismissively at Kim Won-ho’s question, he tilted his head in confusion but quickly turned back to continue talking with the other members. Actually, I hadn’t been that close with Jeong Si-u or Seo Tae-hyun even during the Miro Maze days, but it seemed like none of us felt awkward meeting again after so long.
After we’d been swapping debut stories for a while, Kim Won-ho suddenly looked around and opened his mouth with a slightly worried expression.
“But aren’t we just talking among ourselves? If you’re doing this for our sake, you don’t have to. We already talked about it before coming here—we said we’d just quietly hang out together.”
Kim Won-ho seemed genuinely concerned. Unlike Phase, who were fresh rookies, Kairos had been active for two years already and knew plenty of other groups, so he seemed worried that we might be holding them back.
It was Seo Tae-hyun who firmly shook his head and flatly denied it.
“No, we don’t have many close groups either. We’re actually here because our goal is to spend the day quietly and smoothly. We’re just glad to have you guys, at least.”
“Really…? Seo Tae-hyun, didn’t you work with a lot of people from Boy’s Supremacy? Believer came earlier too. And there’s Cha Min-seok’s Lanion.”
“Yeah, those guys are the most awkward.”
“R, really?”
“Yeah, they’re awake.”
“…?”
The moment Seo Tae-hyun heard the names Believer and Cha Min-seok, the light that usually sparkled in his eyes dimmed halfway, and Lee Do-ha, who had been observing our “fried eggs” the whole time, caught the strange shift and suddenly perked up his head.
At Lee Do-ha’s signal, we all turned our attention as well. Then, the fried eggs who had been huddled together with their heads close as if plotting something suddenly began to fidget and stand up from their seats.
I held my breath, wondering what they were up to, when suddenly Dan Ha-ru, who had been in the corner, let out a long sigh and walked forward through the group. Then….
“Oh, here we go.”
“What’s with that serious atmosphere?”
“Where are you going to have a one-on-one fight?”
“Then shouldn’t we stop him?”
“It’s fine. Our Ha-ru will win.”
“But Ha-ru really is strong.”
“Does Ache High have wrestling? If they do, our Sparkle would be first place.”
“They do. And Ha-ru’s competing in wrestling.”
“Oh, really? Okay. The gold medal is ours.”
“What am I supposed to do with these ridiculous elementary school brats….”
He suddenly started walking somewhere!
Even as we exchanged words almost in a stream of consciousness, our eyes remained fixed on the fried eggs.
Dan Ha-ru, who had somehow become the leader due to his mental age of twenty-six, marched forward without hesitation. As Ju Eun-chan and the other kids trailed behind him, the crowd parted like the Red Sea wherever they went.
And finally, where Dan Ha-ru’s footsteps came to a halt, a familiar face stood frozen in shock as if they’d seen a ghost.
“Uh… who is that guy again?”
“He’s the one, Ha-ru’s top candidate for a friend.”
“Oh, Storm Header Maknae?”
“Oh, he’s talking to them, he’s talking to them.”
“These big guys are hiding behind Ha-ru…. Gu Han-gyeol, Kim Si-young, reflect on yourselves, seriously.”
“….”
As if tired of tackling every single thing, Seo Tae-hyun listened to our endless giggling conversation with half his soul gone, shaking his head in defeat. Meanwhile, the fried egg combination led by Dan Ha-ru was gathering courage and saying something to Storm Header’s Maknae (what was his name again?).
“But why are they standing so far off in the corner?”
“They don’t have seniors and juniors from an agency like we do—it’s just them. Since they don’t know any other groups, they’re probably being cautious, right?”
“That could be it….”
Or it could be that they’re being cautious because they unknowingly earned the resentment of multiple fandoms during the cover song competition at the end of last year.
Whatever the reason, one thing was certain—Storm Header was surprised by Dan Ha-ru’s approach. Looking at how all the remaining members besides the Maknae had turned into confused idiots….
In any case, we all held our breath and began to savor this historic moment. It seemed Dan Ha-ru had proposed that they play together, and Storm Header’s Maknae appeared to be contemplating his answer while gauging the reactions of his older members and the people around him.
“Ah, I should’ve brought my phone. I should be filming this.”
<
I was disappointed in myself for not preparing a banner like that in advance. The competition content would be shoddy anyway, so I should’ve focused on this kind of documentary content.
While I was lamenting this, Storm Header’s Maknae, Hui-an (I remembered!), finally made his decision.
“…Whoa, he nodded!”
He nodded at Dan Ha-ru’s proposal and hesitantly got to his feet!
Hui-an from Storm Header, dressed in a red team uniform, had joined the fried egg combination. Our proud golden yolk Maknaes had finally acquired their ketchup.
Along with that, Ju Eun-chan, who was next to Dan Ha-ru, seemed to be saying something to the other Storm Header members as well. Since they were far away, I couldn’t hear what he was saying, but from the way he was pointing in our direction, it looked like he was inviting them to come over and join us.
“…Should we really let this happen? At this rate, Eun-chan looks like he’s about to talk to every idol around his age here today.”
Seo Tae-hyun, who had been quietly hiding behind me like Kim Won-ho’s Maknae, his energy completely drained despite doing nothing, slowly got up and spoke. It seemed like he was keeping in mind the ‘be careful about socializing’ that we’d discussed beforehand, and while I understood his concern, I waved my hand and replied.
“Now that we’re here, we can’t completely avoid mixing with other groups. Phase and Storm Header are the kinds we already anticipated anyway. It’s a hundred times better than staying among ourselves and running into Lanion or B-liver kids.”
Seo Tae-hyun seemed to accept my point that if we had to get involved with other groups anyway, it was a hundred times better to socialize within a controllable range. He nodded and quietly closed his mouth again.
To truly settle Seo Tae-hyun’s nerves, I added one more reassurance.
“It’s fine. It’s only two groups anyway. Once we start filming, everyone will scatter again soon enough.”
“I suppose so….”
“Trust me.”
* * *
But thirty minutes later.
“Tae-ha loves! Random! Games! What! Game! Game! Start!”
“Aaah, wait, wait. …Oh, this is fun! Oh, it’s exciting! Game of Death!”
“Ahhh! What, what!? What is this!? Yeon-woo, shoot quickly!”
“Me? Um…. Bang!”
“What, me? Ugh, bang…!”
“Whoa, whoa!?”
I had a sinking feeling that something had gone wrong again.
The filming hadn’t even started yet, and Seo Tae-hyun—already stripped bare to the bone—stared blankly at the chaotic spectacle unfolding before us while I grabbed my own ear in despair.
“Ow, ow! Hey, hey, Tae-hyun, that hurts, that hurts…!”
“What, if we just stayed quiet among ourselves and left…? Bonding is the fastest path to ruin…?”
“How was I supposed to know the situation would balloon like this….”
“We’re the loudest ones bonding right now, aren’t we!?”
So I didn’t see this coming either….
“This is all because of you, hyung!?”
Sigh….

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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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