Grab the Regressor by the Collar and Debut - Chapter 415

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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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415. If You Can’t Avoid It, Enjoy It (1)
[Kang Ha-jin Opens Up About Breakup… “I Apologize to Those Who Were Hurt”]
Actor Kang Ha-jin has issued a statement regarding the sudden breakup scandal.
(…)
He stated, “I also wish to apologize to those who became entangled in this situation due to sharing the same name as me,” expressing his determination to prove his worth through quality work going forward…
(…)
– Wait, I thought it was Kairos’s Kang Ha-jin
└ 22
└ 3 Me too lol so it’s not even a dating rumor, where’d this breakup thing come from?
└ 4444
└ 5 Get the headline right ugh
└ 6666
– These trash journalists really came in swinging, what a mess
– Can you at least label him correctly as an idol, please
– Honestly, I don’t even care if they broke up
– Does he have to use that name alone, seriously;
– This viral campaign is so dirty, what did the quiet Kang Ha-jin ever do to deserve this??
└ Just search Kang Ha-jin’s name and breakup and his ex’s name already pop up in related searches… I’m so mad
Look at this disrespectful headline. The couple’s making an absolute spectacle, causing chaos left and right.
“These bastards really have no sense….”
“Well, they’re basically saying ‘tear it all down.’ We’d prefer to ignore it, but since Ha-jin has pretty high public recognition, the article views are high and….”
“Still, we should go with no response for now. If we start acknowledging every little thing like this, there’s no end to it.”
After all the members left for their next schedule, only I, Kwon Wook, and Ji Su-ho remained in the conference room. I watched Ji Su-ho and Kwon Wook having a serious conversation with a bored expression.
No matter how trashy the reverse viral was or how messy my related search terms had become, what mattered to me right now was something else entirely.
“Then I’ll go meet with Kim the lawyer and get their opinion. Even if we’re officially not responding, we can’t just let them keep dragging our kid’s name through the mud forever.”
“Alright then. Ha-jin, I’ll wrap things up and take you to the studio.”
“Got it. Ha-jin, see you later.”
“Yes, hyung. Bye bye.”
I waved both hands cheerfully at Kwon Wook as he left the conference room with a thoroughly irritated expression.
Though this situation was annoying and frustrating, I hoped I wouldn’t stress about it too much.
Seeing Kwon Wook leave with his trapezius muscles tensed and his ears bright red as he searched for the company’s legal counsel’s number, I felt reassured—it seemed like he’d at least pursue a lawsuit or something resembling a threat.
“Well then….”
As Kwon Wook left and Ji Su-ho continued to sit with his chin propped up in annoyance, he suddenly scratched the back of his head as if his feet had fallen asleep, then sat across from me. When I raised my eyebrows as if to say “go ahead and explain,” Ji Su-ho confidently pulled out a shopping bag he’d set beside him and handed it to me.
“…? What is this?”
“Dubai chocolate. Yeon-woo said to give it to you.”
“I didn’t know hyung was like that—he’s a pro at regifting….”
Those Dubai chocolates that Jeong Si-u hadn’t even touched himself and dumped at the dormitory, which the members had been eating for days until they got sick of them?
Those same Dubai chocolates that Seo Tae-hyun had made me exercise off every time I ate them, asking if I knew how many calories they had, burning more calories than I consumed?
“I’ll just accept the sentiment. Please share them with the office staff.”
I was grateful for the senior’s thoughtfulness, but if I brought this poison back to the dormitory again, the members’ calorie intake and blood sugar levels would be completely destroyed.
Still, it wouldn’t be right to refuse something he’d thoughtfully prepared for me, so I’d need to contact Choi Yeon-woo separately and explain things properly….
“Really? Yeon-woo said if you wouldn’t take it, it’d be because of Si-u, so he told me to share it with the company people instead. So you two have something going on?”
…I guess I don’t need to explain after all. Right.
So what this meant was that Choi Yeon-woo had mobilized the Executive Director and even the company’s junior leader just to get Jeong Si-u to try those Dubai chocolates once. And yet, despite all that persistence and effort, Jeong Si-u hadn’t even put them in his mouth.
And what scared me most was that neither of them probably had any special reason for doing it. It seemed like their sole purpose was simply to make sure the other person couldn’t get their way.
‘If people like that got reincarnated into another world, they’d probably start a universal-scale war just to play pranks on each other.’
I thanked my lucky stars once more that my life’s hashtag wasn’t #HunterStory or #SciFi or #RomanceFantasy or anything like that, but rather the ordinary #SystemIdol, and I tapped the desk repeatedly at Ji Su-ho, who was putting the shopping bags away.
“No, that’s not the important part right now. What are you going to do about this?”
“Do about what?”
“You said to trust you. Trust you? And now you’re just leaving after calling someone who said no and making them sit here? Is that how you do things?”
So I was angry right now, is what I’m saying.
Disappointed, upset, hurt, and lost—yes, that’s what I mean!
Actor Kang Ha-jin and VJ whoever-it-is don’t matter right now!
Whether Choi Yeon-woo brought Dubai chocolates or Dubai itself doesn’t matter!
As I kept tapping the desk with all that frustration bottled up inside, Ji Su-ho, who’d neatly organized the shopping bags to one side, let out a soft laugh.
“You’re laughing? You’re laughing right now? You find this funny? You could’ve at least given me a heads-up. Of course, I wasn’t planning to demand that you only manage our team exclusively, but still—still, we’re only in our second year, we’re rookies. We haven’t even had a concert yet, and we haven’t finished all our album activities, and you’re just doing this all of a sudden….”
“Ha-jin.”
“….”
“I’m not going anywhere to die.”
Despite my childish outburst, Ji Su-ho delivered his response to me with a calm and composed demeanor.
“First, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. I thought about it for quite a while before deciding just recently, and when I made the decision, I didn’t have time to tell you separately.”
“…You could’ve at least given me a hint.”
“I thought I should, so I looked for opportunities many times, but it just didn’t work out.”
“I’m not someone who can’t understand these things. If you’d told me, I could’ve at least mentally prepared myself. Like Seo Tae-hyun said, I could’ve organized a farewell party with a rolling paper….”
“Yeah, yeah. But since it doesn’t seem like things will change much from now compared to a grand farewell, I’m talking about it lightly like this. Actually, after my accident, Manager Kwon Wook has been handling most of your group’s affairs anyway, right?”
Even to my stubborn insistence, Ji Su-ho nodded along obediently and added further explanation.
In reality, it’s not like some huge problem arises when an Executive Director of an entertainment company steps back from exclusive management, and it’s even less of a situation that requires confirmation from a second-year rookie group leader.
But I still felt hurt.
There’s Thirteen, who said he’d be back soon but still hasn’t returned, and there’s Ji Su-ho, who asked me to trust him but is ultimately returning to his own position. It feels like everyone keeps leaving me here and disappearing somewhere else.
And it makes me even more anxious because things related to the Returner aren’t completely finished yet.
“…What’s the real reason?”
“Huh?”
“It’s not the right time to seriously develop the next generation yet, and while we’re stable, there’s still a long road ahead until our first concert. So why are you stepping back at this moment? There must be a reason since you made this decision.”
“….”
“I should be allowed to ask this much, right? …We were kind of partners, after all…”
The last part came out a bit timidly even to my own ears, and I cringed slightly.
Either we’re partners or we’re colleagues, but what does “kind of partners” even mean?
Even I thought it sounded pathetic, so I just kept tapping the desk with my fingers, but after hearing my words, Ji Su-ho made a strange expression before bursting out laughing loudly again.
“So you’re laughing now, seriously? I’m dying of anxiety here.”
“Haha, ah, sorry, sorry. I’ve never seen you talk so timidly before, so I couldn’t quite adjust to it.”
Ji Su-ho wiped away the tears that had gathered at the corners of his eyes, laughing so hard he could barely contain himself, and answered brightly.
“Why would you say something so obvious? Do you think I’d have asked you to stay here for no reason? And what do you mean by ‘something like a partner’? Weren’t we pretty decent business partners?”
“…I thought so too, but I wasn’t sure what you were thinking, going off to follow Endway’s overseas tour and leaving us behind.”
“Of course I think the same way. Even if we set aside all the fantasy genre stuff about regression and whatnot, I think we made a pretty good manager and artist pair. Don’t you?”
“If we matched so well, why are you leaving this artist to go to another one?”
His sweet words didn’t easily soften my heart, so I pouted with an exaggerated sullen expression and pointed at the Dubai chocolate. At that, Ji Su-ho’s smile faded from his lips in an instant, and he clasped his own hands together, wondering how to explain this.
“Well, to be honest.”
“Yes.”
“Since the accident, I think I’ve been going through a bit of a slump. Me.”
And the ‘answer’ Ji Su-ho gave me was something I could never have imagined.
“To be precise… I’m feeling helpless about my own incompetence.”
“Helpless about incompetence? You’re talking about yourself right now, aren’t you?”
Ji Su-ho, incompetence, helplessness.
At this combination of words that wouldn’t even be linked by a chain search engine, I stared at Ji Su-ho with an expression like I’d been hit in the back of the head, endlessly questioning him. Then Ji Su-ho gave a small nod, raised his hand to cover his eyes, and opened his mouth.
“This disappeared.”
“This…? …Ah.”
“I thought it wouldn’t be a big deal since an ability that didn’t exist originally just disappeared again. But… the void it left behind was bigger than I expected.”
Ji Su-ho rubbed the area around his eyes with a bitter expression. Faint surgical scars from the past accident and traces of the accident that even surgery couldn’t completely erase remained on his left eye.
The ability that Ji Su-ho, who officially maintained perfect health with no aftereffects since that accident, had to surrender as the price for that ‘health’ came to mind belatedly.
[Ji Su-ho
(Awakened One)
]
Modifiers: ‘Of Burning Passion’, ‘The Deepest Shadow’
Trait: Star Maker☆
-You ‘fated’ recognize the qualities of those destined to become stars. (Accuracy: 77%)
-Depending on the star’s qualities, auras of different colors appear.
Special: Affected by ‘past timelines’ through contact with the Chosen Regressor. (Déjà vu)
[System Notification: Ji Su-ho’s past incident (blindness) will be replaced by characteristic deletion (Star Maker).]
[System Notification: ‘Ji Su-ho’ is no longer affected by the ‘past timeline’.]
Ji Su-ho no longer received the influence of past timelines.
What he remembered was merely the vaguest and most indirect fact of ‘there were lives like that too.’ That meant Ji Su-ho could no longer know who struck it big in the past timeline, who fell flat, who shined, and who faded.
“So, Ha-jin, what I’m saying is….”
Ji Su-ho, who had been gently kneading his clasped hands, removed his glasses with a tired expression and rubbed his eyes. I waited quietly for him, watching as he organized his thoughts dozens of times in his mind.
Soon, Ji Su-ho spoke to me with a pained expression, as if he didn’t want to admit it.
“Ha-jin, I… I’m not sure if I’m the kind of person you need right now.”
Faced with Ji Su-ho’s helplessness, which I’d never seen before in my life, I couldn’t even muster the courage to refute him and had to keep my mouth shut.

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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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