Grab the Regressor by the Collar and Debut - Chapter 414

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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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414. In Praise of Youth (6)
To be honest, I’d anticipated that this album would become another career high for us.
Why?
“Because you’ve practically swept up nearly all the new listeners this past year.”
Ji Su-ho stood with both hands pressed against the conference room table, his eyes—marked by deep dark circles—gleaming with pride as he spoke. Since he’d always looked somewhat exhausted, the addition of those dark circles made him look exactly like an entertainment industry executive worn down by grueling projects and late nights. I almost felt a pang of sympathy for him.
“From the beginning, we’ve been watching your growth trajectory as an upward graph. I know you’ve been exhausted and struggled immensely, but because you never stopped pushing forward, these results became possible. Thanks to that, your current treatment within the industry ranks among the highest for your career level and recognition tier.”
The highest treatment relative to our peers.
In simpler terms, it meant we’d emerged like a comet in this barren male idol landscape—the trend of trends.
‘Well… honestly, it’s not so much that we did everything right, but the fact that the other groups collapsed on their own helped a lot too.’
B-liver, those Green Apple Villains who’d received top-tier rising artist treatment before Kairos, had accumulated layers of negative sentiment and fan-anti history that reached their peak at the Idol Athletic Games, ultimately resulting in their fanbase imploding.
And Lanion, who’d been doing nearly as well as us, inexplicably abandoned the debut album concept that had worked so well as accessible easy-listening music, suddenly bringing out a niche concept aimed at overseas markets—causing quite a bit of turbulence in their trajectory.
Phase, with Kim Won-ho as leader, was receiving attention for their debut track being praised as “a refreshing summer song that’s easy on the ears after a long time,” but they were still far from catching up to us….
‘Still, I never expected the fanbase loyalty to be this strong.’
“A Very Bad Story” wasn’t a song deliberately aimed at the general public like “This Isn’t a Carol.” We’d tried to find the right balance when creating the song, making sure not to go too niche, but that didn’t mean it was easy-listening music that anyone could comfortably enjoy.
I lowered my gaze and checked my phone again.
Zittor
@zittor
Kairos music chart rankings summary
Top 100
-A Very Bad Story (6th)
-This Isn’t a Carol (3rd)
-Black Paradise (18th)
-No Spring (24th)
-Spring Again (49th)
-Over the Night (51st)
Hot 100
-A Very Bad Story (1st)
-This Isn’t a Carol (2nd)
-Black Paradise (3rd)
….
4,139 Shares 1,311 Quotes 10K Likes
Kang Dae-jang
@strongjin
Hey, move over a bit with that carol
Our Black Paradise is getting overshadowed
Zittor
@zittor
Kairos music chart rankings summary
Top 100
-A Very Bad Story (6th)
…
1,014 shares 3,552 likes
VeryRabbit
@Very_Very
So “A Very Bad Story” really did blow up overseas too
The MV already has 5 million views;;;;;
Foreign language comments are starting to show up…
(“A Very Bad Story” MV view count screenshot.jpg)
1,598 shares 31 quotes 3,667 likes
In truth, this was something accomplished purely through the fans’ effort and passion.
To Su-ho and my promise to create a song that wouldn’t grow stale even if one person listened to it a million times, the fans responded with genuine streaming labor—literally listening to the song a million times over.
“Album sales are climbing at a much steeper rate than last time. If we can maintain this momentum, preparing for next year’s full-length album and concert will be much smoother. You all did great work. Really.”
Ji Su-ho clasped his hands together and continued speaking to the members, who were still staring at the music charts in a daze.
I’d wondered why he’d insisted on squeezing this meeting into our schedule when we could barely sleep and were constantly running from one commitment to the next, but it seemed he wanted to give the members proper motivation and a sense of reality. Plus, it gave us a chance to rest a bit.
And true to Ji Su-ho’s intention, the members’ eyes—which had been glazed over with exhaustion or nodding off the moment they sat down in the conference room—were gradually shifting from that lifeless state back to something more alert.
Even Yoo Gun, the one among us least interested in such metrics, was murmuring something to Seo Tae-hyun beside him with a look of mild surprise.
“But why did ‘This Isn’t a Carol’ go up in the rankings? That’s last year’s song. And why is it even ranking higher than Black Paradise?”
“‘This Isn’t a Carol’ had solid performance even before our comeback. Since it’s a muggle-pick song, the fans deliberately streamed it, so it got an even bigger buff.”
“Ah… But what’s a muggle anyway? Buff… I’ve seen that enough in games to kind of understand it.”
“You.”
“Huh?”
“People like you.”
Seo Tae-hyun looked at Yoo Gun with an expression that was, in a way, admiring, and spoke kindly.
With a comment like that, most people would either feel a bit offended or get curious enough to search up “muggle” on the internet.
But our muggle Yoo Gun simply nodded vaguely at Seo Tae-hyun’s teasing, as if to say, “Is that so?”
“Anyway, anyway.”
Ji Su-ho clapped his hands a couple of times as a signal to refocus.
Once everyone’s attention converged on him, Ji Su-ho opened his mouth in a somewhat more solemn tone.
“You know you have to be even more careful at times like this. At airports and during schedule moves, way more fans will show up than before. Thanks to ‘A Very Bad Story’ blowing up overseas, international fans have increased massively, and since you guys are profitable now, there’ll be plenty of merchants trying to capitalize on that. Always watch your words, watch your bodies, watch your health, and prioritize safety. Got it?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And starting next week, we’re adding another manager to your team. You’ll be splitting into two cars. This decision is based on safety and security concerns, so keep that in mind. Still, Kwon Wook will remain your primary management authority, so Ha-jin, you’ll consolidate any issues and discuss them with him.”
“Got it.”
At Ji Su-ho’s words—treatment that was quite generous for a rookie in their second year—I found myself wearing a genuinely surprised expression.
During the unstable rookie phase, it would normally be more efficient to manage discipline, control, and finances with just one car and one manager. This was a bolder investment than I’d expected.
‘Is Han Se-won really pushing us that hard?’
I was about to brush it off with a casual “nice, this is sweet” kind of thought when I suddenly made eye contact with Ji Su-ho, who was looking at us with quite an affectionate expression.
And the moment I saw that look, I immediately understood what the price of this generous treatment was.
“And…”
Sure enough, Ji Su-ho, whose eyes had met mine, smiled slightly as if to confirm my suspicions and began speaking.
“Starting today, I’m going to step back from being your dedicated manager. Originally, I was planning to hand things over once Kwon Wook had more experience, probably sometime next year, but there are internal company circumstances… and besides, you’ve all reached a level where you won’t be disrespected anywhere without me.”
At Ji Su-ho’s words, the conference room’s festive atmosphere grew heavy and oppressive. The fact that Ji Su-ho—who had been dedicated to us since before our debut, walking alongside us through everything—was stepping back seemed like shocking news to the members.
I’d been thinking it would happen eventually, but not like this.
Lately, I’d noticed Ji Su-ho gradually handing over authority to Kwon Wook, and his presence at our schedules had become increasingly sparse.
But that was to prevent people from saying the Executive Director was constantly trailing behind rookie idols—I never imagined he’d step back entirely like this.
And certainly not this soon. Especially without giving me even a heads-up.
“When I say I’m stepping back, I just mean I won’t be exclusively managing you anymore. I’m not going to another company or taking on other artists—if you need to talk to me or want to say something, feel free to contact me anytime.”
….
“The new manager we’re bringing in has been carefully selected, so try to build good chemistry with them.”
So this gathering was essentially a farewell party.
Day after day of interviews, shoots, recordings, performances….
I’d wondered why he suddenly called us all to the company when our heads were pounding from exhaustion, but all those words congratulating our victories until just moments ago were nothing but farewell letters.
My heart dropped like a stone.
It wasn’t like Ji Su-ho was quitting or changing jobs, as he’d said.
Yet somehow, I couldn’t find the words to say anything.
Without Thirteen, and now without Ji Su-ho too….
My fists clenched without my realizing it.
This wasn’t disappointment, and it wasn’t betrayal either….
It was an emotion I couldn’t quite put into words.
“I was thinking we’d set up a proper dinner after our activities wrap up and talk over some good food. But starting next week, I’ll be following Endway’s overseas schedule, so it’ll be difficult for me to come back to Korea for a while.”
….
“Before it gets too late, I wanted to at least say goodbye to you all, so I arranged this meeting.”
Whether Ji Su-ho knew about my feelings or not, he continued throwing out casual goodbye remarks.
I avoided his gaze, feeling like our eyes shouldn’t meet, but Ji Su-ho persistently checked on me and added one more thing.
“And Ha-jin, stay behind for a moment. I have something to tell you.”
….
Unable to control my expression, I simply nodded without even trying to manage it.
I could see the members across from me noticing my face and exchanging cautious glances, but honestly, I was too blindsided to process anything.
“Come on, you should’ve told us earlier. We would’ve at least prepared a rolling paper for the farewell party.”
It was Seo Tae-hyun who ultimately shifted the mood.
Seo Tae-hyun expressed genuine regret about parting ways like this, and Ji Su-ho responded with an awkward smile, saying he felt the same way.
“Anyway, the reason I called this meeting was to discuss all this, and once Manager Kwon Wook arrives, we’ll just organize your remaining schedules….”
“Executive Director!”
Just as Ji Su-ho was wrapping up his remarks, the door burst open and Kwon Wook rushed in, breathing heavily. His serious demeanor was evident at a glance, and Ji Su-ho quickly regained his composed expression.
“What’s wrong? What happened?”
“An article. You need to see this. Another article just dropped.”
“What article?”
“A reverse viral about Ha-jin. That fake breakup rumor.”
“What?”
At those words, all the members’ eyes turned to the tablet Kwon Wook was holding. Ji Su-ho’s face crumpled as he snatched the tablet.
“We blocked all related articles back then. What article is this? Did that BJ Ju Ppo-a say something else?”
“No, that’s not it….”
Kwon Wook shook his head. Then he spoke in a voice tinged with both melancholy and anger.
“This time it’s a man. That unknown actor Kang Ha-jin.”

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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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