Grab the Regressor by the Collar and Debut - Chapter 392

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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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392. Idol Weight Class Clash (11)
Standing at the starting line, Seo Tae-hyun found himself lost in thought.
-No, I really can’t run! You know that!
-It’s fine, it’s fine. Nobody’s expecting you to be Usain Bolt anyway.
-What if I wore something like a cape and did a runway walk instead? I was actually pretty good at fashion show runways.
-With a rose between your teeth?
-What rose! You think I want to get branded as an attention-seeker at the Idol Athletic Games?
-You ARE an attention-seeker though—ow! That hurts! Why are you only hitting me!?
When Tae-hyun stepped in to run the 400M relay in Do-ha’s place, the members waved their hands dismissively while pondering, “How can we best showcase Seo Tae-hyun’s beauty?”
Initially, the prevailing opinion was to simply have him do some stylish model walking and call it a day, but Tae-hyun absolutely refused to accept that.
-I hate it. Everyone else is giving their all, and you want me to just strut around looking cool? People will think it’s weird, won’t they? …And besides, that’s deception. It’s disrespectful to the athletes who are actually trying.
Tae-hyun agreed with Ha-jin’s assessment that he should preserve his body for their comeback rather than risk injury at the Idol Athletic Games, but that didn’t mean he’d phone in his performance and make light of other competitors.
His all-out effort in archery earlier stemmed from the same principle. Once you step in front of the camera, you owe it to your professionalism to give your best.
-Though I’ll admit, when I was competing against the Endway seniors, I got in my own head and made a lot of mistakes…-
In any case, for Seo Tae-hyun, phoning in a broadcast was simply unthinkable.
His complete agreement with Ha-jin’s opinion stemmed from the judgment that it was better to play it safe and lose a medal than to push too hard and get injured—but it absolutely did not mean he’d approach the broadcast half-heartedly.
“Ready!”
With the signal, I watched the runners lined up ahead of me settle into their positions.
I took a deep breath the way Ha-jin had taught me, then exhaled and drew every muscle taut, ready to explode forward at any moment.
-The first runner absolutely can’t step off the track…-
Kairos was on the fourth lane, which meant the innermost corner and the furthest back starting position. It might have been better to have Ha-jin, with his explosive start, in this position to maximize that advantage, but Ha-jin had firmly shaken his head and assigned me the lead leg.
-You’re delicate, and you’re smaller than the other athletes. It’s safer for you to be first—that way you won’t get knocked down during the corner jostling.
-But still… I really can’t run, hyung. You know that.
-It’s fine.
-…?
Until that moment, I’d expected Ha-jin to launch into something like, “After all, it’s not your running ability we’re counting on,” and tell me not to worry and just show off my looks while running slowly.
But Ha-jin’s answer was different.
-Just do your absolute best, the way you see it.
-…
-Full-speed running isn’t about velocity—it’s about giving everything you’ve got.
“GO!”
With a bang, all the runners took off simultaneously. In that brief instant, my mind—wired much like Ha-jin’s—flooded with countless thoughts.
Should I run? Or not?
What if I try hard and still come in last?
What if I’m so slow everyone laughs? The Believer hyungs are here too—I don’t want to look ridiculous.
I’m not a good runner anyway. Should I just pace myself enough to keep my composure intact?
But the fans are watching—shouldn’t I at least show that I tried hard?
No, but what if I trip? What if I actually get hurt?
“Ah, screw it!”
What does it matter? What am I even worried about!
Too many thoughts had made the poor INFP volatile. Tae-hyun shook off the distractions and gripped the baton firmly. Following Ha-jin’s instructions, he held the end securely so the next runner could receive it easily, swung his arms in the widest arc possible, and sprinted with the longest stride he could manage.
“Ugh, I’m dying!”
Even running like that, I was still in last place. It was painfully obvious.
No matter how hard I ran, I didn’t think I could catch up to those people.
“Si-woo, here it comes!”
Still, Tae-hyun ran. He ran with everything he had.
The fastest he’d ever run in his entire life.
Even if it was just a fast-moving tortoise….
‘Ah, whatever!’
-Ah! B-liver! B-liver! The baton’s about to drop!
-Be careful! If the next runner grabs the baton, it’s a disqualification, right? The previous runner must hand it off!
-Oh, at that moment, the Cheongwol boy in the lead! At the corner, at the corner! He’s falling! He falls! Winter Tail moves into first place!
-Kairos! Completed the final baton handoff, and Jeong Si-u is off! Currently in third place!
Didn’t some tortoise beat the hare?
Tae-hyun, having successfully handed the baton to Si-woo, collapsed to the side of the track and shouted.
“Beat anyone! Whichever side wins is our side!!!!!”
I don’t care, I did my best.
With that thought, Tae-hyun’s eyes quickly tracked the next runners.
* * *
My best.
Kang Ha-jin reflected on what that “best” meant.
-Winter Tail! Winter Tail is pulling ahead!!
-Winter Tail currently has an overwhelming lead, with B-liver and Kairos locked in fierce competition behind them!
-Actually, I thought Kairos would fall far behind, you know? But Seo Tae-hyun didn’t open up as large a gap as expected in the early stages.
-Combined with mistakes from other teams, and Jeong Si-u cleverly targeting the inside lane, he’s now competing with B-liver’s Seok for second and third place. Still, it doesn’t look easy to close the gap with Winter Tail.
-You mustn’t lose focus until the end, Winter Tail! One moment of carelessness and they’ll catch up.
My best. And someone else’s best.
Should I win, or should I let them win?
Should I yield the opportunity, or seize it ruthlessly?
Ha-jin’s gaze turned to Jeong Si-u, who stretched his long legs across the track without any sign of breathlessness. He seemed to approach the task with neither fierce competitive spirit nor combative drive—simply performing his duty—narrowing and widening the distance with B-liver as he headed toward the next runner, Lee Yu-gun.
Ha-jin recalled the conversation they’d had earlier.
The first key that had led him to an answer.
-So, you’re troubled about whether to win or let them win?
-It’s not so much that I should let them win…. I don’t know. Either way, if I seize it, it becomes someone else’s lost opportunity.
-Hmm. That’s quite a meager magnanimity.
-What?
Jeong Si-u, answering cynically, smiled faintly and spoke.
-Then should I have yielded to Seok-i? When we did Miro Maze?
But that answer was enough.
Ha-jin, about to counter that ‘this is different,’ closed his mouth instead. Deep down, he already knew that nothing was different at all.
Jeong Si-u didn’t stop there and continued speaking.
-Seok-i felt inferior to me, and in every way—same age, same position, same character—he lost out completely. Should I have shown him consideration and stepped back?
-How? By giving up my debut? There are plenty of places that would debut me elsewhere, aren’t there?
Yoo Gun, the next runner, took off.
Winter Tail still held first place, and the gap had widened considerably. Yoo Gun chased after them at a decent pace—this was real-world sprinting, the kind he’d done back when he’d caught troublemakers fleeing the scene.
-How would I know whether I could debut elsewhere or not?
-If I yielded? If I debuted? Was there any guarantee I’d do better than Seok-i after debuting?
-Was there any guarantee Seok-i would do well in this group? Was there any certainty that this future would be such a crucial crossroads in our lives?
The questions Jeong Si-u threw flew straight at Ha-jin, creating yet another question mark.
-Win? Lose? Do you have the ability to choose something like that? How many years in are we now, like ten?
-Is there any guarantee Winter Tail won’t do better than us in the next album? Is there any guarantee we won’t have some massive scandal blow up tomorrow and fall apart?
“Ugh….”
Park Tae-ha, standing beside him, bounced in place with trembling hands, unable to stop shaking.
Winter Tail’s third runner was about to come over and hand off the baton. Yoo Gun maintained second place and appeared to be widening the distance from B-liver.
-I don’t have a problem with your strategy of ‘quietly getting through the Idol Athletic Games.’ After all, we have plenty of opportunities available to us, and even without this, there are plenty of chances to show our faces to the fans. We’re coming back soon anyway. If we get careless and get injured here, that’d be a disaster, right?
-But that doesn’t mean we’ve reached a position where we can arrogantly overlook or favor others, does it?
-We’re just us. We do what’s ours. That’s all there is to it.
One’s best effort.
1. The most good and excellent. Or such a deed.
2. All sincerity and strength.
Then, what is our best effort?
“Hyung!”
From far away, Yoo Gun approached quickly with the baton in hand. Ha-jin positioned himself so as not to obstruct the other runners’ paths, finding a spot where he could smoothly exchange the baton with Yoo Gun, and stretched his hand backward.
If this had been a neighborhood sports day, he would have started first and matched his speed with Yoo Gun’s, but since this was being broadcast, there were all sorts of rules to follow.
-Kang Ha-jin, taking off! Can he secure second place?
The commentator had already decided Winter Tail was in first and seemed focused on the battle for second between B-liver and Kairos, who were hot on their heels.
Kang Ha-jin gripped the baton handed to him by Yoo Gun and began sprinting. His physique and stamina, incomparably better than his athlete days, along with the muscle he’d built up in the meantime, supported his speed.
-Wow, Kang Ha-jin! So fast! Really fast!
The final runner in the 400-meter relay had to cover about 20 meters more than usual to reach the finish line. In that distance, there were a total of two corners.
If Ha-jin could overtake, those corners were his only opportunity.
-Oh, Kang Ha-jin! At this rate, reclaiming first might be possible! Can he pull off the reversal!?
-However, Park Tae-ha is also running incredibly fast, so we can’t be certain!
-Park Tae-ha needs to stay composed! Stay composed! The moment he stumbles or gets pushed, he’s handing over the chance for a reversal!
Kang Ha-jin ran carrying countless thoughts.
The gap between him and B-liver and Cheongwol, already behind, had widened considerably.
If he maintained this pace and finished in second place, the inner image Ha-jin painted would be the most beautiful picture.
Winter Tail would claim the gold medal, secure another one-shot interview, and earn the right to participate in the relay again next year, while Kairos would get their screen time as a rookie who swept silver in their first appearance.
‘But is that truly my best effort?’
Ha-jin’s gaze turned toward Park Tae-ha’s back, running about ten steps ahead of him.
And he pulled up another memory.
-…Hey, Ha-jin.
-Wait… Can we talk for a moment? Just a quick one.
It was a conversation with Shin Yi-sae, who had become my second key.

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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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