Grab the Regressor by the Collar and Debut - Chapter 431

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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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431. A Horror Experience
Let’s Go on a
Trip! (8)
Sanchez Park, South Korea’s representative entertainment icon.
Though he was admittedly one of the entertainment industry’s most notorious scaredy-cats, he was simultaneously renowned as a professional who possessed an exceptional talent for capturing compelling on-screen moments.
Particularly in narrative-driven variety shows like today’s, his intense immersion and split-second judgment consistently extracted legendary scenes, earning him praise for transforming entertainment into something akin to drama or cinema.
Thus, after learning all the facts, when the final question for escape was posed, Sanchez answered without hesitation.
“There’s no spy! If there were one… it’d be you! Shim Yak-hae! You, right there!”
He twisted the premise of ‘there is a spy’ into ‘there is no spy’ with conviction, then twisted it once more—revealing that the villain was precisely who appeared before their eyes: Shim Yak-hae himself.
Given that today’s theme was a team-building retreat and words like ‘unity’ and ‘teamwork’ had echoed repeatedly since morning, no better answer could have existed.
“You wanted to make us distrust each other with talk of a spy, to sow division among us. But that won’t happen. We’re all one team!”
“Right, exactly.”
“Let’s really trust each other. Please, let’s genuinely trust one another this time.”
“No, I think it’s right. Looking at everyone now, there’s no one suspicious.”
Having synchronized their efforts for over five years, the Touch High members were confident they knew each other better than anyone else. Those who ordinarily traded betrayals and pranks, constantly doubting one another, now held each other’s hands firmly as if something felt different today.
[Think carefully. I’m giving you an opportunity right now.]
[A chance to identify the traitor who’s driven you into this suffering.]
[If there really is a spy, you’ll end up trapped in this building forever—are you truly comfortable answering this way?]
Shim Yak-hae in the monitor asked again with apparent concern, yet Sanchez and the members’ answer remained unchanged.
“No, our answer is the same. There’s no spy among us! Want to know why?”
Sanchez, speaking with confidence, held up the small plastic card he’d been carrying toward the camera. The card was Shim Yak-hae’s student ID, discovered in Shim Yak-hae’s club room on the first floor—where the first member had been trapped.
“Your birthday is right here. You were born August 2nd, in summer. That matches the spy hint about being born in the height of summer.”
But that wasn’t all.
Numerous hints describing the spy’s age, height, and characteristics aligned significantly with the information about Shim Yak-hae they’d discovered. Their certainty that no spy existed among the members stemmed from this overwhelming evidence.
“Now give up and release us. We’ll make sure the world knows about the injustice you suffered.”
“That’s right, we’re the Mystery Investigation Club. We have an AiTube channel too. We’ll create a video that gets tons of views.”
“Yeah, Jung Hyun-joo, whom you cared for, is still grieving your death like this—how can you keep doing such terrible things?”
True to their status as professionals who’d maintained prime-time national broadcast variety shows for five years, the members, deeply immersed in the current situation, began persuading Shim Yak-hae based on the clues they’d gathered and the settings they’d been briefed on beforehand.
Then, the third sensor light, which had been silent, suddenly flickered on.
[Fine.]
[You got it right. I’ll let you go as promised.]
Creak, clang.
With an aged sound, the locked door creaked open.
[I wish….]
[I wish I’d had friends like you.]
With those final words, the connection seemed to sever, and the monitor’s power cut out. Only a ‘No Signal’ message drifted across the black screen.
The members finally erupted in joy at their escape and the satisfaction of achieving this result through mutual trust, stomping and shouting with exhilaration.
“I seriously would’ve quit if there actually was a spy among us….”
“Ah, this is nice. There’s something educational about it. It has real depth, you know?”
“Exactly. We had to trust each other. If we’d actually locked Jung-hyuk hyung in that prison like we originally planned, we never would’ve gotten this result.”
“But I feel so bad for Shim Yak-hae. He came to the retreat because he wanted to get closer to his club friends, but they betrayed him and tormented him, so he got scared and ran away and died.”
“His friends were wrong. They immediately believed the lie that Shim Yak-hae stole someone’s belongings and took someone’s girlfriend without ever properly listening to his side of the story….”
“Still, even if he felt wronged, he shouldn’t have hurt others like this.”
“That’s true, but…. I hope Shim Yak-hae went to a good place.”
The group members exited the building with mixed feelings, exchanging their thoughts on what had transpired.
Perhaps due to budget constraints, the production team had been creating rather timid and modest content lately, but this was a large-scale project they had prepared with genuine effort after a long time. As if experiencing the format from their golden era once more, the somewhat excited members couldn’t help but rattle off their achievements and episodes even as they stepped outside.
“But did the Kairos team escape? I heard screaming from the building next door.”
“Right? I heard it too. That screaming actually scared me even more, you know? It wasn’t an auditory hallucination, right?”
“Yeah, no, no. I was standing by the window and it sounded completely real.”
“The door’s still locked, so it looks like they haven’t gotten out yet.”
“There’s not much time left. What if they can’t get out?”
Only after stepping outside and standing before the production staff did the Touch High members belatedly remember Kairos, casting worried glances at the opposite building where Kairos had entered. Yet they instinctively didn’t forget to line up in a single row for the opening shot in front of the center camera where the Main PD was seated.
“Well, everyone.”
“…?”
The members, who had been waiting and praying for Kairos’s successful escape until exactly noon, turned their attention back to the PD as he spoke. The Main PD’s expression remained calm and serene as he continued.
“Congratulations on achieving the normal ending for ‘Touch High: Horror Mystery Special. What Happened at the Retreat.'”
At those words, the bewildered members stared at the PD.
“‘Normal ending’?”
So there were other endings?
Sanchez, who had prided himself as something of a variety show expert, blinked his eyes in surprise at this unexpected conclusion.
The Main PD and the Writer, wearing meaningful smiles, kept their gazes fixed on the building where Kairos remained trapped.
* * *
[You’re refusing to answer?]
[You’re giving up your chance to escape?]
The moment I saw the text on the monitor asking me once again to confirm my intention, I felt relieved.
‘Thank goodness. It’s not some bland response like “that can’t happen.”‘
Moreover, the response was quick.
A quick response meant they knew how to handle this, and knowing that meant this situation was within the writers’ scenario.
I continued speaking, confident that this decision was the right one.
“Whether there’s a spy among us or not doesn’t matter. We’re already in the same boat, and even if something went wrong, it’s fine. Even if you’re hiding among us, I don’t care.”
[You want to say there’s no spy?]
“No, I’m saying whether there is one or not, I won’t look for them.”
[Even if I tell you that you’ll never escape this building?]
Don’t try to scare me, you bastard.
You’re just text on a monitor possessed by the Junior Writer’s possessed typing skills, after all.
If this were a real situation, I might have been a bit nervous, but now it would just amount to some “Mission Failed” caption appearing or a blast of air from a toy gun. I glanced sideways at the members standing behind me, then nodded firmly once more.
“Yeah. I won’t look.”
[What if I’m not actually your member but someone disguised as them?]
“Doesn’t matter. I still won’t look for you. Just come out with us.”
[This is your chance. A chance to find the traitor hiding among you.]
[Are you really going to throw away that opportunity?]
“Yeah. I’m throwing it away. Stop asking now.”
No comment is itself a form of comment.
I’d been slightly worried that the repeated questions might be some kind of signal from the Junior Writer—”Ha-jin, that’s not it!!!”—but now that anxiety had completely shriveled into a tiny scrap of paper.
‘Should I change my stance right now and push forward with the “there is no spy” route?’
I always think about it, but broadcasting is a medium where even if you film perfectly from start to ninety-nine, if you can’t capture that final hundredth moment, you have to scrap everything.
If all the incredible performances and content we’d accumulated throughout today became awkward because of this one question I asked, resulting in an ending where we could do nothing right or wrong, there would be no greater loss.
The monitor stopped displaying text. I could feel the members standing behind me gradually edging closer, curious about the result.
“Is this right? Is this correct?”
“You weren’t planning to choose anyone anyway, so let’s just trust it.”
“Still, wouldn’t the ‘the spy was Shim Yak-hae’ option have been safer?”
“There are too many variables with that one, so honestly, this answer he gave seems a bit more definitive….”
“If we’re wrong, we just all get trapped here anyway. I’m actually kind of disappointed I didn’t see Floors 1 through 4, so this could be fun.”
“Are you serious, hyung?”
While the members beside me exchanged comments with each other, the monitor still showed no response. The Touch High panel must have already escaped successfully—I could hear people chattering noisily beyond the opaque exit entrance.
[Alright.]
Text began appearing on the monitor again around the time that cheerful noise had died down somewhat.
[A choice like that….]
[You could make a choice like that.]
Crackle crackle crackle…!
“Whoa! What! What is it again!”
“Sorry! We messed up!! Please don’t do this!!!!”
“Ugh, Lee Yu-gun, Kang Ha-jin, you’re heavy!!!!”
“Do-ha hyung, my hand! My hand! It really hurts!?”
“Si-woo hyung, are you okay?”
“Yeah, but are we really trapped now?”
In that instant, electricity suddenly erupted from the ceiling. It was clearly a special effect, but it was terrifying. On top of that, strange sounds began blaring through the speakers!
“What! What! What!?”
Is this a bad ending? Is that what this is!?
But the Junior Writer’s final line definitely had a gimmicky feel to it…!?
“Huh? It went out!”
When I turned my attention to Ju Eun-chan’s voice, the monitor was completely dark. Our panic was reflected perfectly in the empty black screen displaying nothing.
“Ahhh, guys, I love you! Destiny, I miss you!”
“Destiny’s probably watching us safely from the front row of the master bedroom.”
“Well, thank goodness!! Ahhhhh!!!!!”
“Do-ha hyung, is that a joke right now!?”
“I’m serious.”
While nonsense erupted, the strange noise and spark effects that seemed to reverberate throughout the entire building suddenly ceased.
‘Is the ending here? Will the Assistant Director open the door soon and say “Kairos, thank you for your hard work”?’
Amid all this confusion, I felt relieved that with an ending like this, there wouldn’t be much awkward editing in the broadcast—but would that make me sound like someone completely obsessed with television?
As I was thinking that, there was a loud click, and the fluorescent lights in the First Floor Lobby flickered to life.
“Huh…?”
Click, click, click, click…!
And from that moment on, lights began illuminating throughout the First Floor hallway and every room. Seeing the lights turn on in the stairwell visible in the distance suggested that all floors, not just the first, were being lit up similarly.
“What’s happening?”
“Is filming over?”
“Can we just… leave?”
“No, but the door still isn’t open, not yet….”
“Hey, Ha-ru…!”
While we whispered and tried to figure out what was going on, Dan Ha-ru—the fearless one among us—shook off Seo Tae-hyun’s protective arms and strode purposefully toward the Exit Entrance.
Even as Seo Tae-hyun called out to Dan Ha-ru, insisting on keeping the youngest member safe in his embrace, Dan Ha-ru paid no attention and stood before the door, pushing it open with his arm.
“Huh…?”
“It’s open.”
“You didn’t break it, did you, Ha-ru?”
“…No, I didn’t.”
“Ha-ru, are you breaking doors now?”
“…I did break something similar today, but not this. It’s just open.”
The door that had been locked by the sensor until moments ago swung open easily under Dan Ha-ru’s push.
Examining the door briefly, it seemed the sensor that had been locking it had powered down once electricity was restored to the building.
“So… should we leave? Can we go?”
“Let’s go. Regardless, it seems like it’s over?”
“Oh, the Main PD is waving us over there. I think we’re supposed to go.”
Even after confirming the door was open, we hesitated until we spotted the Main PD gesturing to us from outside in the distance, finally allowing us to cautiously step out of the building.
The moment we emerged, a crisp mountain breeze—cold enough to make us shiver—greeted us. The Touch High members, who must have escaped before us, were lined up in front of the cameras, applauding us for our efforts.
“Great work, great work.”
“Wow, that was impressive.”
“What? How did you manage that?”
“Huh? Well, it was just… that….”
Still bewildered about what had actually happened, we stood before the cameras in a daze. Looking back, I could see the Touch High building still dark and silent, contrasting sharply with our building, which was now fully illuminated.
‘Did we succeed?’
As I tilted my head in confusion, the Main PD, beaming at us, delivered the final announcement of today’s shoot.
“Well then, Kairos members.”
“Yes!”
“Through your decision not to identify the spy until the very end in ‘Touch High’s Horror Mystery Special: What Happened on the Company Trip,’ you’ve discovered a hidden meaning of teamwork.”
I mean, it wasn’t really such a grand plan on our part.
Regardless, the members’ eyes widened at the Main PD’s words, which seemed to carry genuine weight this time, and they focused intently on what came next.
“Because of your silence, the spirit of Shim Yak-hae, who had been trapped in this building, was also able to escape along with you. From now on, no more unexplained accidents will occur in this dormitory or building.”
“Oh, so that means….”
As the Main PD’s words unfolded with unexpected profundity, I naturally exchanged meaningful glances with the members. I’d thought we might have completely failed, but it seemed a far better ending was waiting for us than I’d anticipated.
The Main PD delivered his final verdict with a satisfied smile, as if impressed by our performance.
“Kairos Team. Congratulations on discovering the hidden ending of this ‘Incident During the MT’!”

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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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