Grab the Regressor by the Collar and Debut - Chapter 40

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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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40. Special Mission! Shine Brightly (1)
“Then, I’ll explain the team selection method from here on out.”
There was no particular reason why I’d chosen Han Sung-woo as my battle opponent.
‘He’s the easiest target, that’s all.’
Plus, he was somewhat annoying. The moment the Special Class and General Class merged, he’d positioned himself at the forefront, playing politics. The younger trainees had mindlessly followed his lead, and word was the Practice Room atmosphere had been completely destroyed because of it.
‘I’ve already thought about how to make the narrative look good.’
He was someone people said was decent at what he did, so I was a bit nervous, but winning was all that mattered, right? As long as I got placed on the right team, there’d be no problem.
‘The title track team selection will probably start with the Wings Rank members, one by one in order.’
The system where the first-place trainee gets to choose their desired team first. Being tenth out of eighteen was honestly lower-ranked, but I was certain the selection would eventually reach me.
‘Kim Won-ho will try his best not to be paired with Lee Yu-gun. Ju Eun-chan and Seo Tae-hyun—based on what they said earlier—have zero probability of choosing the same team as Han Sung-woo.’
If just a few of the top-ranked members chose different teams, I’d have a real shot. Since this was the first stage being shown to the public, I needed to benefit from the halo effect by standing among the skilled ones. If I just followed Seo Tae-hyun and Ju Eun-chan’s lead, it should work out….
“The teams for the first title track have already been divided based on last month’s evaluation scores.”
…What?
“Trainees ranked first, Jeong Si-u, through ninth, Kim Won-ho, will form one team—Team A, that is.”
Wait, hold on.
“Trainees ranked tenth, Kang Ha-jin, through eighteenth, Park Jae-young, will form one team, which will be Team B for this mission.”
The faces of the team members Seo Tae-il had just described appeared in the large boxes for Team A and Team B on the display board. Among them, the top seven members had wing designs attached to their name tags, labeled as Wings Rank—a petty attention to detail.
“As a note, in this mission, the trainee with the highest rank from each team will automatically be assigned the leader role. So, trainee Jeong Si-u and trainee Kang Ha-jin, please come forward and receive the materials needed for practice.”
When I came to my senses, I was already holding lyric sheets and pens for part distribution, and a tablet PC for choreography practice, surrounded by lower-ranked trainees I had no close connection with—or rather, had never even coordinated with before.
Beyond the swarm of members crowding around me asking to see the parts, Han Sung-woo, standing among a lineup that looked ready to debut immediately, gazed at me with that irritating smile on his face.
I thought to myself.
‘…Our friend Seon-gwi, I think it’s about time he’d want to regress. Or maybe not? Personally, I want to. Come on, regress.’
This is messed up, seriously.
* * *
To be honest, if someone asked me what I hated most since coming to Miro.
Constant regression threats? Han Sung-woo’s petty territorial behavior? Executive Director’s absurd antics?
Beating out all those strong contenders, I’d answer like this.
‘This wretched sense of defeat.’
The despair that we could never beat the skilled ones, that the ones debuting were already predetermined. The resignation and helplessness that even though I’d return to the Dormitory or my home at night, sleep a solid ten hours, and come back, my skills would never improve beyond this point.
That ‘sense of defeat’ was the default setting for General Class trainees.
Just like right now.
“Ugh, but honestly, isn’t this way too unfair? I mean, Team A is literally all kids who were originally in the Special Class. They’ve learned different things up until now—how are we supposed to win?”
“Don’t you know these things are always predetermined? Did you see how only those three from the production team showed up today?”
“Seo Tae-hyun and Si-u already have some fandoms… we just can’t win. As long as we don’t embarrass ourselves, that’s a win.”
During the first practice session after the teams were finalized.
I’d stepped away briefly as team leader to relay some things to the production staff, and when I returned to find the members sitting around chatting instead of practicing, I couldn’t help but sigh.
I absolutely hated people who blamed others indiscriminately. Even more so, people who spouted baseless claims thoughtlessly and tried to diminish others’ efforts.
‘I don’t have time to clean up after kids who do nothing but blame others.’
Deciding there was nothing more worth listening to, I deliberately opened the door loudly.
“I told you to learn the choreography—what are you all doing?”
Still, I wasn’t so devoid of social grace that I’d let my emotions show on my face and poison the atmosphere when dealing with kids nearly ten years younger than me. So I approached them with an appropriately pleasant smile.
“Ah….”
“You’ve all warmed up, right? I gave the parts distribution to the PD, and they said there’s a mid-check tomorrow, so let’s start learning the choreography today.”
“….”
“What are you doing? Not getting up? You’re not practicing?”
“…Ugh, seriously. Quit showing off.”
For a moment, I doubted my own ears.
‘Did he just tell me to quit showing off?’
[System Alert: The system suspects your hearing might be defective.]
Unfortunately, my hearing was fine. The kid who’d just cursed me out for showing off rose from his seat with irritated movements, looking up at me with eyes full of resentment.
“Hyung. Are you excited because you got to be leader two times in a row? Like you’re something special now?”
“….”
“You’ve been hanging around with guys like Seo Tae-hyun and Ju Eun-chan lately, so I guess you forgot—you’ve only been a trainee for a month, hyung.”
“….”
“Your ranking this time only went up because of your teammates carrying you, and now you’re suddenly acting like a leader, pretending to lead us… honestly, we’re not really comfortable with it.”
[System Alert: That disrespectful little punk… wait, stop!]
I simply stared down at this paragon of honesty’s expression.
‘What is this… this bundle of audacious inferiority complex.’
Then I asked the fundamental question I’d been pondering the entire time.
“So what? Are you saying we shouldn’t broadcast?”
“Hyung, why did you pick Han Sung-woo?”
“What?”
“I know he’s been putting up with your cocky attitude all along, but isn’t this too much? You didn’t pick Ju Eun-chan and his friends because you’re close with them—that’s just cowardly. And now you’re trying to act like a leader to us?”
“….”
“After all that, you’re going to play leader?”
Only then did I remember who this kid was. The one who always clung to Han Sung-woo’s side, playing the yes-man. So this spineless bastard was throwing a fit because I’d challenged Han Sung-woo?
[System Alert: The system requests that the (Fixed) Returner immediately establish order with the fist of wrath!]
[System Alert: The system is bewildered by the (Fixed) Returner’s non-response!]
“….”
I shelved the system window, which was blaring with alarms more furious than I was. I looked with contempt at the kid glaring up at me with hostility, and at the others lurking behind him—watching nervously but not one of them stepping forward to say anything.
‘At least Gong Seok isn’t here.’
If the eldest of those hopeless triplets had been part of this group again, I might’ve actually lost my faith in humanity. But these guys were never worth expecting anything from anyway, so the blow wasn’t that heavy. The few remaining Special Class members who were still around all had the same expression—probably because they were all close with Han Sung-woo.
“Hey, you all feel the same way?”
“….”
“Do you all think like that? Do you agree with what he said?”
Even when I asked as a final chance, they all just watched nervously without answering. Seeing their faces, I reached a simple conclusion.
“…Fine then. For this mission, everyone fends for themselves.”
[System Alert: Input Error]
[System Alert: Input Error]
[System Alert: Error detected in (Fixed) Returner’s response!]
[System Alert: Why aren’t you executing proper discipline right now?]
Why should I?
Leaving those bastards behind, I turned and walked out of the Practice Room. The system window, still furious, kept throwing Quest windows and rewards at me, demanding I teach them a lesson, but instead I felt my blood run cold from head to toe.
‘Why the hell should I rehabilitate those assholes?’
The battle with Han Sung-woo would be decided by individual scores anyway. I could write off the team match and just focus on crushing the individual rankings. Besides, these guys didn’t even have the desperate desire to improve like the Hopeless Trio did.
“Hey.”
[System Alert: ….]
“How about we make a separate deal?”
As I walked toward the Rooftop with a smile, the system trembled and shrieked. Brace yourself—whatever cash I have in my account, I’m draining every last bit of it today.
* * *
“Huh? Where’s Ha-jin?”
“Oh, he went out somewhere.”
“Kang Ha-jin? I don’t know. Maybe he went to the Restroom.”
“Damn it, crazy bastard.”
Gong Seok, who had stepped out of the Practice Room to contact his parents, found that Ha-jin still hadn’t returned when he came back. And as he observed the other trainees emanating a strange atmosphere, he felt an inexplicable sense of hostility. What was this vibe?
“Where did Ha-jin go? Aren’t we practicing?”
“We’re just doing individual practice. We’ll only gather tomorrow during filming to run through it.”
“What?”
“That guy’s barely been a trainee and he’s acting like a leader—I said something about how annoying it was to watch, and he got upset and left.”
‘Here we go again.’
At the gossip bursting forth, Gong Seok’s brow furrowed slightly. This had happened often before—the group ganging up on a trainee they didn’t like, showing territorial behavior and inferiority complex.
‘It was Ju Eun-chan before Ha-jin….’
Truth be told, until recently I was mixed in with that group too, driven by various anxieties and growing inferiority. It was comfortable being inside that circle. When I couldn’t see tomorrow, when I felt lost about myself, blaming everyone else inside that group made me feel okay.
But not anymore.
“You don’t know where Ha-jin went, right?”
“No idea. He left a while ago….”
“Why are you like that? You’ve been weird since earlier.”
As if he had no further business with them, Gong Seok left the Practice Room. The moment he stepped out, he pulled out his phone and sent Ha-jin a message. (He didn’t have the courage to call.)
【Ha-jin, where are you right now? I heard the guys were disrespectful to you. Let’s talk.】
There was something he really wanted to tell Ha-jin.
* * *
And back to the present moment. At that time, Ha-jin was.
“Hand it over.”
[System Alert: No way!]
“This guy’s really good at disappointing people, huh?”
[System Alert: The system protests that it should have been the one doing the strong-arming to those guys earlier, not the other way around!]
“Strong-arming? Come on. I’m talking about a deal. A deal.”
I was in the middle of a deal (disguised as extortion and coercion) while pushing the thoroughly exhausted system window around.
“I mean, when you read web novels, they’re always adding points to appearance stats, body stats, and all that—why can’t you do that? Did I raise you to be like this?”
[System Alert: X YOU ARE NOT MY FATHER X]
“Listen here, you punk. Back then, I was like, ‘I can’t live like this anymore,’ and that’s when you came to me, right? So that makes me your second parent—a child born from my heart.”
[System Alert: The system does not accept the logic of a (fixed) regressor’s sophistry.]
That won’t work. Tch.

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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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