Grab the Regressor by the Collar and Debut - Chapter 441

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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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441. Your Well-Being (3)
When was the last time I accessed the Unconscious Space?
‘I can barely remember anymore.’
Ever since I captured the Returner, the fantastical hues that had colored my life had certainly faded considerably.
I’d grown reluctant to access it since I rarely witnessed anything pleasant there, yet when it came time to deliberately excavate this fantasy realm, there was no hideout quite like this one.
‘And above all else, the sofa is wonderfully plush.’
If only a sofa with that exact design and cushioning existed in reality, I would absolutely acquire one for my Room in this lifetime.
As I opened my eyes again with such determination….
“…What?!”
I couldn’t help but let out a cry of near-horror.
“My sofa!!!”
The expansive Studio with its grand floor-to-ceiling windows, the beautiful sunset and sea visible beyond them, every single detail arranged to my taste—my spacious and cozy sanctuary….
“Where did it all go?!”
…had vanished.
Not merely vanished, but completely and utterly disappeared. Like that time when I first had a direct conversation with Thirteen, I now stood alone in an infinite expanse of pitch-black emptiness.
Wondering if the connection had failed to fully load, I was about to wave my hand around or check for a loading bar above my head when a blue window suddenly appeared before my eyes with a soft chime.
[※The security clearance level of the Unconscious Space has been temporarily elevated.※]
[Your administrator rank is lower than the security clearance level, so access is restricted.※]
[For details, please contact the responsible Time Management Authority (No.13).※]
“Are you serious right now?”
I accessed the Unconscious Space to find a way to contact Thirteen, but to enter the Unconscious Space, I need to contact Thirteen? This was like forgetting my email password, trying to reset it, and having the verification code sent to that same email—utterly absurd.
Flabbergasted, I could only stare daggers at the system window, but nothing changed.
“If I’m supposed to contact the responsible administrator, shouldn’t they at least provide contact information, you incompetent bureaucrats? Kim Thirteen, despite being a fantasy genre system, constantly takes personal days, half days, and monthly leave before disappearing. Headquarters hands out Quest subcontracts, but the moment the objective is achieved, they cut off communication entirely…. After all the grueling work I’ve done, shouldn’t I at least receive some compensation…or…something…?”
Resigned to leaving empty-handed, I began grumbling out all the grievances I’d harbored, when I noticed something—beneath this cerulean system window, there was a small line of white text floating at approximately 70% opacity.
Since it was barely visible to the naked eye, I had to widen my eyes and bend at the waist to painstakingly decipher the tiny characters.
[▶ Would you like to access Administrator Settings?]
[※ Due to your lower administrator rank, access to some categories may be restricted. ※]
Administrator Settings?
That’s a rather intriguing phrase.
More than anything, my first instinct was suspicion: ‘Why would they deliberately hide such a setting in such small, barely visible text?’ Thinking in terms of genre tropes, anything that appeared half-hidden like this and tempted you to click it was either a trap or a cheat code.
[A message has arrived.]
[Would you like to view it?]
“Ugh, startled me.”
Should I click it or not?
While I deliberated, a new notification window appeared. It was a System Message notification, and while I’d received system alerts before, this was the first time a message had come from the System itself, which made me slightly wary.
My wariness eased the moment I clicked the message and checked the sender.
[Opening the System Message left by ‘Time Management Authority No.13’.]
The sender was Kim Thirteen, who had been so silent I worried whether he was even eating properly.
…Though, to be fair, Thirteen wasn’t exactly a biological entity, so worrying about whether he was eating was somewhat inappropriate.
[Hello, Kang Ha-jin.]
[The fact that Kang Ha-jin is reading this message means… I probably haven’t returned to the System yet, and Kang Ha-jin accessed the Unconscious Space to do something despite that state, then discovered this ‘Administrator Settings’ mode, correct?]
In any case, the message Thirteen left behind was far from a simple letter of inquiry.
I slowly traced my eyes across the considerable length of that message and read through it.
[Before I stepped away to apprehend ‘The One Who Returns’ and handle the aftermath, I took the precaution of strengthening overall security levels just in case. After all, the ‘Unconscious Space’ was what ‘The One Who Returns’ used most frequently to attack people.]
[However, there are still personality issues with Dan Ha-ru, and… given that various unstable factors still exist, I decided to prepare for the possibility that Kang Ha-jin might need administrator abilities in situations where I’m absent.]
So this ‘Administrator Settings’ mode is that contingency?
But why hide something like this as a secret message instead of telling me beforehand?
“…This Administrator Settings mode is like a first-aid kit left behind to prepare for unavoidable emergencies. I’d prefer you didn’t use it and waited for my return, but given that Kang Ha-jin has an extremely impatient personality, there’s no way that would happen, so I’m leaving it here just in case…?”
This bastard…?
Somehow, the subtly expressed frustrations in those sentences made my eyebrows twitch involuntarily, but I held back. Getting angry here would be admitting I was the kind of person with an extremely impatient personality who digs through the System first and asks questions later.
[Regarding current Quests and such, I’ve temporarily opened permissions for settings that seem necessary or might become necessary. Please think carefully and use your authority only for things that absolutely must be resolved right now.]
Below that were brief explanations of the System permissions I could access.
I quickly scanned through the contents with my eyes, then immediately directed my finger toward the System window.
[▶ Regarding the Fusion and Disappearance of Personalities]
The System was organized intuitively for my understanding.
Like a smartphone’s settings mode, the categories were organized for easy viewing. I clicked on the item I needed now, and when I opened Dan Ha-ru’s profile file from within, massive screens unfurled across the space that had been nothing but darkness.
[Dan Ha-ru (Chosen Regressor)]
Modifiers: ‘Within Infinitely Blooming Eternity’, ‘Of a Very Ancient Today’
Trait: Chosen Regression
-Adjusts the timeline (Deleted)
-Remembers ‘past timelines’
-Experience from ‘past timelines’ accumulates
Anomaly: ‘Timeline Orbit’ Deviation
The timeline orbit has become unstable due to repeated timeline shifts.
21% remains until stabilization. (Currently 79%)
The first thing that caught my eye was Dan Ha-ru’s trait window.
It was similar to my own trait window that I’d seen sometime ago, yet mostly different. What stood out particularly was the anomaly section—that ‘Timeline Orbit Deviation’ seemed to be related to the ‘Timeline Fixation’ that Headquarters had mentioned before.
[As I mentioned before, your timeline and Dan Ha-ru’s are separating. Probably from now on, there will be more regressions you don’t feel than ones you do.]
[The more Dan Ha-ru’s regressions repeat, the more false and abandoned timelines accumulate, the greater the influence of ‘The One Who Returns’ becomes, and the more isolated Dan Ha-ru’s timeline grows.]
[Dan Ha-ru’s timeline needs events that become intensely intertwined with as many people’s timelines as possible.]
[It’s like driving a nail through tangled threads. Even if someone pulls on one thread, it won’t come loose because it’s tangled with others.]
[So Dan Ha-ru’s timeline won’t deviate from its orbit and become isolated.]
‘That’s what I heard back when we did our first Aibus live broadcast after the leader selection content last year….’
I recalled all the countless things we’d done under the name Kairos since then. From small incidents in the idol industry to large-scale incidents involving the entire nation (even just today), I felt absolute confidence that there was nothing to worry about regarding Dan Ha-ru’s timeline fixation.
I pushed the screen aside like sliding it and checked the next content in the System window.
What came into view after Dan Ha-ru’s trait window was Dan Ha-ru’s stat window, filled with question marks.
[Dan Ha-ru (Affiliation: Kairos)]
-Precise measurement is impossible due to unknown causes.
Vocal: ??
Dance: ??
Expressiveness: ??
Charm: ??
Special: ??
Appeal Points: ??
The cause of this question mark bomb was probably….
The ‘false settings’ that had been composing Dan Ha-ru all this time.
From the way he spoke, it seemed even Dan Ha-ru himself couldn’t distinguish between what he originally possessed and the experience points accumulated through falsehood.
I’d heard he challenged becoming an idol because he already knew how to sing and dance to some degree….
‘If, by any chance, Sparkle Dan Ha-ru’s abilities fell far short of his current level….’
If the guy who usually pulled his weight suddenly saw his skills plummet, we could buy time with excuses like voice changes or shifts in vocal technique.
But the current Dan Ha-ru possessed main vocal-level singing ability that rivaled Jeong Si-u himself, and with his remarkable vocal range, he was also the harmony machine that handled all the harmonies in our group’s songs.
In the unlikely event that Dan Ha-ru’s ‘original abilities’ fell short of that standard, it seemed I needed to prepare some countermeasures for it.
“And, next is….”
As I finished scrolling through the slides while thinking that some time would be needed for Dan Ha-ru’s personality to disappear in order to prepare countermeasures, the category I truly needed finally appeared.
[Chosen Regressor ‘Dan Ha-ru’ currently has 2 personality profiles registered.]
[You can manage personality information through the settings below.]
I checked Dan Ha-ru’s personality information with a tense heart.
Calling it a ‘personality’ felt a bit grandiose and somewhat frightening, but seeing how it was registered in the system, it was organized as simply as member information on an internet website.
I silently gazed at the personality card of the twenty-six-year-old-faced Dan Ha-ru and the eighteen-year-old-faced Dan Ha-ru I currently knew.
[SAVE OR DELETE]
[If you need inquiries about personality merging and deletion, please say ‘inquiry’.]
“Inquiry.”
[The manager’s ‘inquiry’ has been received.]
[What assistance do you need?]
“…I want to delete Dan Ha-ru’s Chosen Regressor personality and restore the basic personality as the primary one. Not immediately, but gradually over some time.”
[Reviewing your inquiry….]
This system was impressive overall, but this voice recognition system was the most impressive.
If Thirteen had been here, we could have discussed and found a more humane approach, but given the circumstances, I had to settle for this mechanical response.
It felt like submitting a 1:1 inquiry to a chatbot on a real website. Except the content was so sad and difficult that no mechanical chatbot could possibly understand it.
[I will provide you with an answer to your inquiry.]
Soon, a response came back from our system’s GPT.
[We will delete ‘Dan Ha-ru’s Chosen Regressor personality and restore the basic personality as the primary one.]
[To prevent user confusion, you can set a deadline for the personality deletion.]
[When a deadline is set, the primary personality will undergo changes during that period, and final deletion will occur on the last day of the set deadline.]
[Would you like to set a deadline? (Default setting: 0 days, maximum 3 months available)]
Three months.
An appropriate amount of time for an adolescent boy to mature.
Without hesitation, I extended the deadline slider all the way to the maximum of three months.
-That would make for a welcome birthday.
What stopped that motion was Dan Ha-ru’s voice suddenly coming to mind.
“….”
I fell silent for a moment, then raised my hand again to change the deadline.
[Set personality change deadline? (December 31st, XX year 11:59PM)]
“…Wow, I did this myself, but that’s a genuinely otaku-level perverted date choice.”
I should have noticed something was wrong from the moment the name became so insistently unsettling.
With a hollow laugh, I pressed the completion button. The System window, which had been loading frantically, soon displayed a massive progress bar that would fill steadily until December 31st. The bar’s color resembled the hue of a crimson sunset.
“What a welcome… birthday this will be.”
I wondered what it would feel like to receive a new life as a birthday gift.
Staring at the consequences of that choice—one I could never undo now—I couldn’t suppress the bitter smile tugging at my lips.

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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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