Grab the Regressor by the Collar and Debut - Chapter 404

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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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404. Throwing the Tiger Off the Cliff (3)
Lee Yu-gun and Kim Won-ho, who once shared the dubious title of “giant delinquent chick” thanks to their exceptional physiques crammed into ill-fitting yellow athletic wear, sat squeezed onto the emergency staircase with a slight gap between them.
They’d initially tried to sit side by side, but when Won-ho complained that their shoulders kept bumping, he’d moved up a couple of steps—the result of that compromise.
“I….”
Looking down at the back of Won-ho’s head rather than his face—they hadn’t seen each other since the Idol Athletic Games—Yu-gun began cautiously, finding it easier to bare his thoughts without making eye contact.
“I know. I know the other members and I started from different places.”
Lee Yu-gun confessed that he understood.
He understood his lack of skill, his lack of passion, his lack of romance—he understood it all.
“Being an idol was never really my dream, and honestly, I’m not crazy about this job or anything. I just happened to debut somehow, and since I needed to make money anyway, I’m just doing it. Truth is, compared to other work, it’s way easier and more fun.”
What was everyone else’s “dream” was merely Yu-gun’s “job.”
He understood that distinction perfectly.
Rather, he couldn’t help but understand it.
He saw it every day in the guys he ate and slept alongside—what it meant to live obsessed with the stage, with music, with singing, what it meant to carry pride and satisfaction in this work.
“It’s not just about filling in for Do-ha’s part…. How do I even say this, I just….”
“….”
“Ugh, forget it. I don’t know. This kind of overthinking really isn’t me.”
“…What, you asked for counseling but you’re not even putting in the effort?”
“I didn’t ask for it.”
“Do it anyway. Let me hear your story so I can look cool too.”
At Won-ho’s shameless request, Yu-gun let out an involuntary snort and turned to look back. Despite summer being long over, Won-ho sat there in a crisp sailor uniform, arms crossed with an arrogant expression that didn’t suit him at all, looking down at Yu-gun.
Won-ho nodded kindly as if urging him to spill it, and Yu-gun deflated with a sigh, turning his head forward again. After a moment of thought, he opened his mouth despite his reluctance.
“Look, what I’m saying is…. First of all, I have eyes and a conscience too. I see what people say on the Internet.”
“Yeah, and?”
“Even if people say whatever they want, it’s the truth anyway so it doesn’t really hurt me…. But it still bothers me, you know? After all, I make my living because of those people, so I should at least do my part for what I’m being paid.”
“Yeah, true.”
“Honestly, I think it’d be way more efficient if Kang Ha-jin or Ju Eun-chan took Do-ha’s part instead of me. But anyway, that hyung told me to do it…. I don’t necessarily trust him, but I know he’s not thoughtless. You know what kind of person he is, right?”
“Yeah, I do.”
“So like, I just can’t quite get my head straight about this…. Anyway, what I’m trying to say is, I know I’m not cut out for this, but since I’ve been given the job, at least I don’t want to be a burden….”
“Hey, hey, Lee Yu-gun.”
“…?”
Won-ho cut off what was probably the most Yu-gun had ever said in such a short span of time. With a light gesture, he tapped Yu-gun’s shoulder and let out a small laugh.
Yu-gun, unable to grasp the meaning of that laugh, turned his head back in confusion. Then Won-ho, sporting a relaxed smile, responded as if asking what the problem was.
“Why are you taking so long to say you want to live up to expectations?”
To live up to expectations.
With those words, Yu-gun felt his complicated heart suddenly organize itself perfectly. All those thoughts crammed in like graffiti finally found their proper places.
Won-ho continued speaking with a smile, leaving Yu-gun momentarily dazed with his newfound clarity.
As if he already understood every feeling Yu-gun was experiencing.
“You want to run away, you feel sick from the pressure, you wonder why the world’s doing this to you, you wonder how you ended up like this, you think there are plenty of people who could do better so why does it have to be you…. But then.”
“….”
“But then, you still want to try again. Isn’t that something? How strange the human heart is?”
“…Do you have any regrets?”
“I know that feeling all too well.”
Won-ho rested his chin in his hand with a wistful expression, articulating Yu-gun’s inner turmoil as if he’d memorized it. The way his eyebrows twitched and his lips curled held a certain cathartic quality. Yet he shook his head as though thoroughly fed up with it all.
“Kang Ha-jin—that hyung is genuinely terrifying. I didn’t even realize I was falling behind, but when I came to my senses, I was already teetering on a cliff’s edge. You think he’s offering you his hand to help, but the moment you grab it, he pushes you from behind instead. That’s the kind of person he is.”
“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”
“It’s just how things are. You’ll figure it out soon enough.”
Kim Won-ho, who claimed he’d come to offer counsel, merely spouted cryptic remarks while grinning to himself. When Yu-gun furrowed his brow, wondering who exactly was being mocked, Won-ho patted his shoulder encouragingly and rose to his feet.
“I came because Seo Tae-hyun told me about it and I was worried. But looking at you now, you seem fine enough.”
“Who are you mocking? Fine? Nothing’s been resolved.”
“I was actually thinking of offering some help as someone who’s suffered through emotional turmoil before. But then I reconsidered—do you have any idea how much you stressed me out during the Miro Maze days? You should go through some hardship too, you talented bastard.”
“What…? What did I―. No, why are you suddenly starting a fight with me? Hey, get out of here. Go back to your team.”
“I was already planning to leave since rehearsal time’s almost up anyway, you punk.”
After mustering the courage to bare his honest feelings, Won-ho was about to leave having only wound Yu-gun up, and Yu-gun let out a bewildered laugh. Won-ho extended his hand to Yu-gun as if to say get up. Yu-gun grumbled but grasped that hand without hesitation and rose to his feet.
Won-ho was actually slightly taller than himself, but now that he’d descended a step or two, Yu-gun found himself looking down at him—a sensation that felt oddly novel.
There was once a time when gazing at that back was simply inevitable.
There was once a time when merely chasing after those footsteps felt overwhelming,
There was once a time when standing on equal ground seemed impossible.
Yet now, Won-ho stood facing Yu-gun and smiling. Even if only because of the stairs, their eye level had shifted slightly higher.
As the world I inhabited changed, so too did the standards by which I judged myself, and as my perspective on the world transformed, so did the values and gaze with which I viewed myself and others.
And Won-ho understood well that all of this was thanks to someone who had endlessly pushed his back up stairs far higher than he’d ever imagined possible.
In that moment when even breathing felt agonizing and he gasped for air, the simple comfort offered by this friend—who had once been the very staircase itself—became a gentle slope that opened his airways once more.
‘No matter what I say now, it won’t reach his ears anyway.’
Confronting Yu-gun now with ‘How much I envied you, yet here you are spouting such privileged nonsense?’ would only weigh down his ankles like sandbags.
Moreover, Kim Won-ho had once felt such bitter inferiority while simultaneously yearning to be just like Yu-gun—he was fond of him to that degree—so he had no desire to deliver such cold-hearted criticism.
So Won-ho paused to choose his words carefully before speaking. If there was one thing he absolutely had to tell Yu-gun right now, it was this alone.
“If you can’t trust yourself, then trust Kang Ha-jin hyung.”
“….”
“He doesn’t bet on things that won’t work out.”
—I don’t bet on things that won’t work out.
Returning the very words Ha-jin had once spoken to him, Won-ho ascended the remaining stairs and slipped out through the emergency exit. His quiet parting words lingered long within that stairwell.
“Acting cool and leaving me like that—what am I supposed to do now….”
Yu-gun gazed up at the stairs Won-ho had just climbed.
To reach the stage, he too would have to walk these stairs and pass through the door. Today, these few steps seemed impossibly high, and Won-ho’s receding silhouette appeared endlessly towering.
* * *
“Don’t get confused about the changed stage movements, and don’t forget that during the Do-ha part in ‘Kick Off,’ everyone except Yu-gun and the dancers sit out.”
“Yes!”
Following his usual pre-stage routine, Ha-jin conveyed today’s key points in a clear, measured voice. Given the scale of the event, the size of the audience, the fact that it was an overseas performance, and the multiple songs they’d be performing, everyone needed to stay sharp.
Ha-jin quickly relayed to the members the details he’d checked during and after rehearsal monitoring.
“Seo Che-ri, Japanese greeting after the first song. Eun-chan, don’t forget the announcement the production team gave you before the final song. And during ‘No Spring,’ your stride was too wide. I understand you’re trying to compensate for the spacing without Do-ha, but one wrong move and we’ll have an accident, so don’t overdo it.”
“Yes.”
“Sparkle, your throat isn’t in great shape today, is it? If you don’t think you can ad-lib, don’t push yourself. Si-woo, make sure you time the mic handoff well after the ‘Kick Off’ dance break.”
After addressing each member one by one, only Yu Gun remained.
Even in that moment, Yu Gun was mentally reciting Do-ha’s lyrics when he felt Ha-jin’s gaze and lifted his head with a start. Ha-jin, who usually threw jokes around with a playful smile, wore an unusually flat expression today—neither excited nor heavy—as he delivered his words matter-of-factly.
“Lee Yu-gun.”
“…Yes.”
“Do well. I believe in you.”
That was all.
The moment those words reached his ears, something surged up from deep within his chest, but Yu Gun—someone with absolutely no talent when it came to emotional matters, though he could rattle off franchise part-time job tips all day—simply attributed it to nervousness and managed only a stiff nod.
“Alright then, we’re counting on everyone today. Two, three—, Kairos!”
“Let’s go!”
Ha-jin’s chant was followed by a powerful cheer that filled the waiting room. The members, fitted with in-ear monitors and microphones, moved to the staging area beneath the stage under the guidance of the production staff.
‘It’s fine, you can do this, it’s nothing….’
Still chanting reassurances to himself like an incantation, Yu Gun stepped onto the lift. Under normal circumstances, he’d be exchanging silly banter with the other members, wondering what to grab for a late-night snack afterward, but today was different.
The members didn’t speak to him, and he found no moment to turn his attention toward them. It was a testament to how utterly unprepared he felt.
“Kairos is going up. Three, two, one….”
With the staff member’s signal, the lift began its slow ascent. The arranged MR of “Kick Off” came through the in-ear monitor, and an even louder roar from the audience poured through beyond it.
Raise your voice, One, Two, Three!
Accompanied by Jeong Si-u’s impressive high-note intro—something that never failed to impress—the members descended from the lift toward the stage.
Since they had to fit all the songs within the allotted time, many were edited versions lasting only one or two minutes rather than full tracks. Kairos was supposedly at a level where they rarely got their songs cut, but sure enough, QBS had apparently forced a difficulty adjustment, citing seniority. That behind-the-scenes detail flickered through his mind.
Let’s Burn this town
I’m about to start, our emergency
Warning, Warning
Wingbeats that won’t fade away so easily
Ha-jin’s and Eun-chan’s voices intertwined, followed by Tae-hyun’s sweet falsetto. After just one more chorus, it would be time for Yu Gun and Do-ha’s consecutive rap parts in the second verse.
Yu Gun steadied his breathing as he moved into position. Do-ha’s lyrics, which he’d memorized countless times, continued to replay in his mind, and he vividly recalled every gesture, intonation, habit, and quirk Do-ha displayed while delivering those lines.
Let’s kick off!
Ha-ru’s crisp final phrase of the chorus rang out, and from behind, Yu Gun mechanically turned and burst toward center stage. The moment he lifted his head to face the countless audience members.
“Uh….”
What was the first line of my part again?
His mind went completely blank.

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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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