Grab the Regressor by the Collar and Debut - Chapter 442

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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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442. Your Well-Being (4)
Right up until the final moment of leaving the Unconscious Space, I thoroughly extracted every last bit of the manager settings that Kim Thirteen had left behind (calling it that made it feel oddly like an inheritance, which was strange).
Unlike Thirteen, the System GPT simply output whatever values were inputted, whether I asked a hundred questions or a thousand, so at least there was no nagging—that part was somewhat convenient.
“Inquiry.”
[Your 42nd inquiry has been received. How may I assist you?]
“What exactly is personality annihilation? How is it different from personality fusion? Explain it specifically but in a way that’s easy to understand.”
[Reviewing your inquiry….]
This was my final inquiry for the day.
Since I’d already decided on Dan Ha-ru’s personality annihilation, there was no going back or undoing it. Still, just in case, I felt I should know the precise details.
After a moment, the System—which seemed like an upgraded version of ChatGPT—displayed a lengthy yet readable response.
[Providing an answer to your inquiry.]
[Personality fusion is the process of helping two or more personalities that have arisen for various reasons to be absorbed into a single primary personality.]
[Personality annihilation refers to completely deleting one personality from the system while preserving the primary personality among two or more personalities that have arisen for various reasons.]
[In this case, the personality designated for deletion gradually separates from the timeline for the duration specified by the administrator, and annihilation occurs immediately upon completion of separation.]
“…So the personality being deleted—does it know it’s going to disappear?”
[An additional inquiry has been received.]
[(….)]
[Since simultaneous return to the primary personality occurs during personality deletion, the target of personality annihilation does not perceive the disappearance.]
“Alright, that’s all I need.”
When he came to, he’d simply be Sparkle.
Just as I had once shed the roughness of twenty-nine and become the composed twenty-year-old Kang Ha-jin.
“…Inquiry.”
[An inquiry has been received. How may I assist you?]
“….”
Twenty years old—or rather, twenty-one now.
And soon to be twenty-two, Kang Ha-jin.
What do you think of me now?
I was curious about that, yet somehow I lacked the courage to face that version of myself.
Because I was so ambitious, I overflowed with confidence, and I believed in my own potential and a bright future more than anyone else—I couldn’t quite remember what that Kang Ha-jin had been like. Even though he was my past and my future.
‘I….’
It was something I’d told Ji Su-ho countless times, but I had no desire whatsoever to return to those days.
Twenty-nine-year-old Kang Ha-jin was arrogant, conceited, riddled with mistakes, and a lazy fool who believed only in his own talent and squandered his abilities.
A failure who faced thirty without preparing for reality, intoxicated by fantasy and dreams.
I didn’t want to disparage my own life, but that’s genuinely what it was back then.
And that’s precisely why, after the regression, I tried all the harder not to become that again.
“…Dan Ha-ru wants the personalities to talk to each other. Last time we borrowed Thirteen’s temporary body, but it doesn’t seem like that’ll work this time. Look into other methods and handle it.”
[Your inquiry has been received.]
[A ‘conversation between personalities’ event will occur within the designated timeframe.]
[The event will proceed utilizing the target’s Unconscious Space.]
In the end, I closed the inquiry with only Dan Ha-ru’s personality conversation settings configured.
The habit of setting aside problems that had no clear answer in my mind seemed difficult to break, even after years of living.
“I’m leaving now. Wake me up.”
[※Emergency Escape Service※ has been requested.]
[The service will execute within seconds.]
Emergency Escape Service?
I’d heard the System had raised security clearance across the board because of the Returner, so apparently I couldn’t leave through normal means either. The name “Emergency Escape” made it sound ominously dramatic. It would be so much easier to just come and go through the door like usual, but because of that bastard, everything’s become such a mess. That son of a bitch is the root of all evil.
That son of a bitch is the root of all evil.
[※Emergency Escape Service※ is now executing.]
Standing with my arms crossed at an angle, a cheerful chime sounded and a notification appeared stating that the emergency escape was beginning. Simultaneously, the space that had been nothing but darkness began to vibrate violently.
“Wow, this feels way too real….”
It looked exactly like some terrifying disaster evacuation simulation….
With no safety equipment and nothing to grab onto, all I could do was suppress the nausea rising in my stomach and wait for this vibration to finally end.
The vibrations grew stronger and stronger, and as if the space itself were shattering from the tremors, small cracks began to form throughout. As an unidentifiable light seeped through the gaps like a building’s walls crumbling, this time the brightness became unbearable to my eyes.
“No, seriously, isn’t there a more comfortable and clean way to do this!?”
What had started as thin beams of light filtering through small cracks merged with other gaps and grew progressively larger, eventually reaching almost the intensity of direct sunlight.
Facing that brightness, I felt like my eyes would actually go blind, so I raised my arm to shield my vision and prayed for all of this to end quickly.
As the space filled with light instead of darkness, I felt my body floating weightlessly as if defying gravity.
[※…general…caution…※]
“…?”
Just as I was about to take a breath thinking it was finally over, one more system window appeared before my eyes at the last moment.
Seeing the caution symbol, it looked like bad news, so I tried to read it quickly, but the brightness of these rays made my eyes hurt too much to read the text properly!
“Ugh, please, just…!”
Still, it was better to read it now even if it meant my eyes would water profusely, rather than face trouble later for not reading it.
“Caution…. ”
Somehow creating shade with my hand and squinting with barely-open eyes, I read the system window while vividly feeling my body awakening from the Unconscious Space.
[※Caution! Administrator Setting Mode requires significantly more temporal energy than standard Unconscious Space access.※]
[※Caution! Your body is unsuitable for accessing Administrator Setting Mode.※]
[※Caution! Temporary side effects may occur to your body.※]
[※Caution! More severe side effects may occur compared to standard Unconscious Space access, but they are harmless to the human body.※]
What the hell, you bastards…?
‘You should’ve told me before doing it, before doing it!!’
At this inconsiderate side effect notification, I wanted to crumple the system window right then and there, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it.
My eyes were already half-opening.
“Ah, damn it… X….”
The moment I opened my eyes, I saw the ceiling wallpaper spinning dizzily, and at that moment I prayed desperately.
Please let this be the dark early morning hours when everyone is asleep, and let Mother, Father, Jeong Si-u, and Dan Ha-ru all be peacefully sleeping in their own rooms…!
* * *
“Wow, I’m really dying….”
As it turned out, my prayer was only half-answered.
When I opened my eyes, it was already morning with the sun high in the sky and birds chirping loudly, and everyone except me had already woken up.
Nothing matched up at all, so why are you saying half of it did?
【MyWon ‖ Mom suggested a morning walk, so we all went to the Back Mountain Park】
【MyWon ‖ Dad’s off today too, so he said let’s just eat brunch outside】
【MyWon ‖ Call your brother when he wakes up】
Thanks to Mother, who loved wandering around everywhere, dragging the entire family (plus two members) out for a morning hike to the Back Mountain without me, nobody witnessed this pathetic state.
The moment I opened my eyes, I lost my balance and tumbled out of bed, and as if I’d contracted vertigo, my vision spun wildly. By the time I reached the Restroom, I started coughing up blood as if phlegm were lodged in my throat.
“If anyone sees me like this, I’m definitely heading to the Emergency Room at a major hospital today….”
What was even more infuriating was that the more blood my body expelled, the clearer and sharper my mind became!
The headaches I’d been plagued with from lack of proper sleep lately were disappearing, and the fact that the Headquarters bastard’s claim about opening acupoints throughout the body to aid recovery seemed to be true only made me angrier.
“I’m really going to figure out the cause of this side effect next time, I swear. Just you wait, Headquarters bastards.”
But wait.
If my body is improving, is it even accurate to call it a side effect?
Around the time I was thinking such things, I felt my vision gradually returning to normal as the side effect’s runtime wound down. Having experienced this a couple of times already, I was growing accustomed to it and had even picked up some tricks.
“Phew, fine. At least it’s not putting strain on my heart like last time.”
Once my vision returned to normal, I slowly got up from where I sat, careful not to get dizzy.
Heading to the sink to rinse out my mouth filled with the taste of iron, I wiped it clean with tissue, but dark red bloodstains still lingered faintly around my mouth. Since this kind of thing stains the skin and doesn’t come off easily if not washed quickly, I hurriedly scrubbed around my mouth before any bigger commotion could arise.
Just like last time, I was cautious—and then some—to avoid blood getting anywhere and creating unnecessary misunderstandings. I didn’t miss even the few drops that had fallen on my clothes.
“…This won’t last much longer anyway.”
As I wiped the bloodstains from my clothes, it suddenly hit me that once Dan Ha-ru’s personality completely disappears, the time will truly come to say goodbye to this fantasy, and the realization felt fresh.
I still hadn’t unraveled the mystery of how I got entangled with Dan Ha-ru’s regression in the first place. But regardless, it was also true that thanks to Dan Ha-ru, I was experiencing something I’d never be able to do again in my lifetime.
‘Would it be a hit if I wrote this as a novel? Should I try entering a web novel contest? It’s a vivid firsthand account from the regression subject themselves. Wait, but then would this be fiction or autobiography…?’
I used to be the pride of the humanities, sweeping essay contests back in the day.
As nostalgic memories naturally surfaced, laughter leaked out in quiet chuckles.
“I should enjoy myself thoroughly while time remains.”
That way, when I write a novel or memoir in my later years, I can convey the information more vividly.
Satisfied with this unexpectedly discovered retirement plan, I checked my reflection in the mirror once more.
Confirmed no bloodstains,
Dizziness? Gone now,
Not wildly sad or wildly happy, so it seems emotional excess is gone too,
And my heart was beating perfectly fine.
“Let’s go, Ha-jin. You have plenty to do today.”
I muttered quietly and opened the Restroom door.
This time, I really felt like I could perfectly conceal the side effects….
Thud….
“…?”
Huh?
Thud?
“Brother…?”
At the ominous premonition crawling up the back of my neck, I lifted my head at a pace slower than a tortoise.
“….”
“….”
There stood Kang Ha-won, his pale expression at odds with the colorful athletic wear he was dressed in, staring directly at me.
“…Son?”
And behind him were Mother and Father, each carrying shopping baskets and boxes brimming with groceries as if they’d just returned from the market, and….
“…Kang Ha-jin.”
“No, hyung. Whatever you’re thinking—it’s not that. It’s not, it’s a misunderstanding.”
Jeong Si-u stood there with the expression of someone who’d just seen a ghost, while behind him Dan Ha-ru covered his eyes with his hand, looking utterly defeated.

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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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