Grab the Regressor by the Collar and Debut - Chapter 43

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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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43. Special Mission! Shine Brightly (4)
“That is, well….”
Seok furrowed his brow deeply, his hands trembling as Ha-jin approached him with long strides.
In truth, Ha-jin had merely furrowed his brow to see Seok’s expression clearly after removing his contacts from washing up, but Seok, unaware of this, only grew more misunderstood.
“If it’s not something important, I’ll head in, hyung.”
“That, well….”
-A second chance doesn’t come as easily as you’d think.
-So when the moment comes to say what you need to say, it’s best to say it. That’s what my grandmother always told me.
But I gathered my courage.
“I’m, I’m sorry!”
“….”
“I heard what the others did to you. I don’t think of you that way at all. I want to practice well with you and create something amazing on stage together!”
Seok’s courageous voice echoed through the hallway. Haru, who had been watching nervously between the two, quietly slipped away, sensing this wasn’t a place for her.
Now only Ha-jin and Seok remained in the hallway.
Ha-jin sighed and turned away from Seok, who still stared at the ground, consumed by shame and regret as an older brother.
“That’s enough. Why are you apologizing, hyung? You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“…I’ll try to convince the others. They’re just scared. All they know how to do is complain and blame others because they don’t know what else to do…. I was like that too.”
“….”
“But practicing with you made me think a lot. I was so ashamed. I realized I could have done more, and now I’m getting ambitious. I really want to do well in this survival show.”
Though his words were limited, Seok did his best to convey his sincerity. He was embarrassed, but he couldn’t express how much relief he felt knowing Ha-jin was on his team and was the leader. Yet he couldn’t let the first mission collapse so absurdly!
As Seok looked at Ha-jin with desperate eyes, Ha-jin sighed as if troubled, scratched his head, then nodded and opened his mouth.
“…I understand, so you don’t need to say anymore, hyung. I wasn’t planning to quit anyway.”
“So, we’re practicing together then?”
“Yeah, of course.”
“Great! Then I’ll call the others and talk to them! After all, I’m your hyung, so if I say something…!”
“No, no. That’s not necessary.”
At those words, Seok broke into a bright smile and repeatedly exclaimed his relief. What else was there to be relieved about? Ha-jin, muttering quietly, stopped Seok, who was turning to go call the others right away.
“That’s not necessary. Hyung, you have their numbers, right?”
“Huh? Yeah, I, I do.”
“Just contact them one by one as I tell you. Not all at once, but separately, one person at a time.”
“Huh?”
Seok blinked. Not all together, but one by one? As confusion crossed Seok’s face, Ha-jin merely pressed the water from his hair with a towel, his expression indifferent, muttering to himself.
“At least that reduces the number of people I need to threaten.”
“Huh? Th, threaten?”
“Yes? Oh, persuade. Persuade.”
Wait, he definitely just said threaten…. No, he said persuade. So who should we call first? At Ha-jin’s gentle smile as he smoothly changed the subject, Seok’s pupils trembled without restraint.
* * *
Here stands Park Jae-young (18 years old), a trainee who ended Miro Maze’s fresh start with the embarrassing ranking of 18th place—dead last.
He was thinking.
‘Is this really okay?’
The older trainees had all put on airs like gangsters, and I’d gotten swept up in this “Kang Ha-jin boycott” without thinking. But truthfully, I never understood what he’d done wrong in the first place.
‘Even if he made a mistake, shouldn’t we focus on doing well in the mission first?’
Besides, I’d originally ranked 19th—I wouldn’t even have had the chance to participate in this survival show if it weren’t for Yun Tae-hee, who’d voluntarily dropped out during those three days of vacation. Without him, I wouldn’t be here.
‘What on earth are all these guys thinking?’
In this group chat created without Ha-jin, there’d been a long discussion about what time they’d gather tomorrow to practice. But even that couldn’t reach a consensus, fizzling out multiple times, and some members had stopped participating in the conversation altogether.
Park Jae-young genuinely agonized over it. Was this really okay?
He recalled the last words Yun Tae-hee—someone he’d been close with since they were the same age—had left behind.
“I really thought I did well at this month-end evaluation. But I was 18th. Honestly, it hit me pretty hard.”
“Watching the other guys, I realized that’s the kind of people who debut. So I decided to quit.”
“You should keep doing your best till the end. I’ll cheer you on when the broadcast starts. Oh, and this is just something personal, but….”
He’d seemed to say something else important, but as Park Jae-young tried to recall it, a message arrived.
【Gong Seok ‖ Jae-young, sorry, but can you come to the Lounge for a sec? There’s something I need to give you for the survival show, but I haven’t given it to you yet.】
“Something to give me?”
What was this? Without suspicion, Park Jae-young followed Seok’s message and headed to the Lounge wearing only a fleece jacket. Had he paused for even a moment to reconsider why Gong Seok—not even the leader—would be distributing something, doubt might have crossed his mind. But this eighteen-year-old boy, making his broadcast debut for the first time in his life, simply walked toward the lit sofa with innocent brightness.
“Seok, I’m here… huh?”
“Hey, Jae-young.”
And there, tilting his head at an angle while leaning back against the sofa, was Ha-jin.
“Wh-why are you here, hyung….”
“Oh, I had something to tell you, so I asked Seok to help. Come on, sit for a bit.”
Though initially wary, this Lounge held only the two of us—no one else to pressure him. At Ha-jin’s gentle voice as he gestured to the seat beside him, Park Jae-young sat down as if entranced. Before he could even lean back into the plush sofa, Ha-jin spoke.
“Jae-young, I’m going to practice the title track at Practice Room A tomorrow at 10 AM.”
“…Why are you telling me this? We decided to practice separately.”
“Yeah, you will. But I’m human too—practicing alone feels lonely. So I invited someone.”
Ha-jin opened a chat window on his phone and held it out to Park Jae-young. Wondering why he was being told this, Park Jae-young’s eyes widened in shock as he read the messenger contents.

【Miro Maze_PD Hwang ‖ Hello haha】
【Miro Maze_PD Hwang ‖ Okay, we’ll adjust our schedule accordingly.】
<Miro Maze_Writer Yoon ‖ Tomorrow we're just doing a sketch shoot, so while you're practicing,
【Miro Maze_Writer Yoon ‖ we'll come by without disturbing you and just take photos~】
【Understood. I'll let the trainees know as well.】
【Thank you! Have a good evening.】
"The production team asked the leaders earlier to set the first practice schedule before the mid-point evaluation and inform them."
"Th-this is…."
"But now you guys won't be practicing with me. So tomorrow, I'll be filming alone. Ugh, if I go on broadcast as an irresponsible trainee who skipped the first practice, I'll get a lot of hate."
"…No, wait, hyung. This—who decided that tomorrow's filming—"
"Are you prepared for the hate you'll get, our Jae-young?"
Park Jae-young, suddenly faced with the prospect of being broadcast nationwide as an insincere, frivolous trainee, stammered in shock.
"Sigh, well. Since you all said you wouldn't practice with me anyway."
Ha-jin's expression as he retrieved his phone again was filled with genuine regret. These days, malicious comments were terrifying, and yet here he was.
And watching Ha-jin's shameless expression, Park Jae-young suddenly recalled the last words Yun Tae-hee had left behind.
-Oh, and this is just personal, but….
-If you end up on the same team as Kang Ha-jin, try not to cross him if you can help it. That guy's seriously scary.
Park Jae-young unconsciously held his breath. Something was going terribly, terribly wrong!
* * *
Ha-jin, watching the trembling Park Jae-young with a composed expression, thought to himself.
'Time to sweeten the deal.'
Observing the young lamb before him—Park Jae-young—whose pupils quivered forty times per second, Ha-jin quietly slipped his phone into his hoodie pocket.
And for Park Jae-young, caught between conflict over his cursed future and his imminent reputation as a traitor, he opened one sweet escape route.
"By the way, the other four, including Seok-i, agreed to come to practice tomorrow."
"…!"
He'd created an accomplice.
'Betraying alone is scary, but courage blooms when there's a group.'
That's just how human nature works. I hadn't even done anything seriously wrong to these guys. It was obvious that a few close to Han Sung-woo had set the tone, and the rest just got swept up without being able to resist—there's no such thing as loyalty in that situation.
"By the way, I'm planning to tell interviewers that the friends who don't show up tomorrow were very, very uncooperative during practice. In survival shows like this, they usually ask team leaders a lot about character, right?"
"…."
"You guys were talking about practicing around 2 PM tomorrow, weren't you? The mid-evaluation is at 7, so we'll start filming prep at 5, and once filming starts, you won't even be able to go wash up…. So you'll manage about an hour of practice?"
So if I call them in one by one and gently remind them which side has the cliff,
"Wow, so you're saying you'll practice for an hour and get evaluated by Seo Tae-il? You guys really have some guts―,"
"W-wait, hyung!"
"Yeah, Jae-young?"
"I, I'll come to practice tomorrow. I'll show up at 9:30 and warm up."
'People naturally scramble to find their own way out.'
Watching Park Jae-young stare at him with a pale face, Ha-jin smiled brightly.
"Yeah? You will?"
"Yes, yes. Honestly, I didn't want to do this anyway. I'm ranked 18th, you know. I have to do well."
Park Jae-young nodded, appealing to his own desperation and earnestness without prompting.
"Alright then. See you tomorrow."
"Yes!"
"Get some rest now, you must be tired today. Sleeping late will make your face puffy."
"Okay!"
With a kindly pat on the shoulder and a gesture to go, the guy with suddenly tightened discipline hurriedly left the Lounge.
[System Alert: The system feels disillusioned by humanity's weakness!]
[System Alert: You're all so terrible!]
The system, quite indignant watching these guys flip their stance like a coin, muttered away. Ha-jin savored the hot chocolate he'd prepared earlier and replied.
"Leave it be, they're just kids."
He pulled out his phone again, messaged Gong Seok to call the next one, then closed his tired eyes for a moment. Honestly, at first he'd thought he'd just let them all fail and film alone.
-…I'll try to convince the kids, they're just scared. All they know how to do is complain and blame others…. I was like that too.
"But practicing with you made me think a lot. I felt so ashamed. Once I realized I could do more… I started wanting to push myself harder. The others can change too."
I recalled the conversation I'd had with Seok earlier. The memory stirred up complicated emotions within me.
"…This meddling bastard, seriously."
I drained the last of my hot chocolate in one gulp. Footsteps echoed from somewhere down the Hallway.
"Fine, whatever. Who's next?"
Success would be just five people showing up. This time, I'd be generous with my threats. With that odd resolution, I clasped my hands together.
* * *
And the next day.
The trainees of Team B found themselves in an awkward situation.
"…Huh, hyung?"
"Ah, ahem."
"You too?"
At 9:30 AM, Park Jae-young carefully entered the Practice Room right on time for his appointment with me, and he was astounded.
"What is this? Why did so many people come?"
Team B's first practice.
"Everyone showed up except one?"
Full attendance minus one!

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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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