Grab the Regressor by the Collar and Debut - Chapter 445

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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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445. The Truth (2)
Kang Ha-jin, twenty-one years old. (Soon to be twenty-two, maximum lifespan twenty-nine, dream of living a long and healthy life)
As everyone knew, I was a devoted enthusiast who consumed virtually every genre of culture and the arts without discrimination.
My fandoms spanned from the three-dimensional realms of theater, musicals, and concerts, to the two-dimensional domains of literature, film, television, games, anime, and manga, and in recent times, I’d delved deeply into the media of webtoons and web novels.
It was fair to say I’d read nearly every human story (and occasionally inhuman ones) that existed in South Korea.
And the most recent thing I’d taken up was precisely web novels tagged with #fantasy—specifically, the kind where regression had become so commonplace that reincarnation trucks had become official worldbuilding elements within the narratives themselves.
There was one scene that inevitably appeared whenever I read web novels or webtoons with such keywords.
“Tell me… what exactly are you hiding from me?”
She asks in a trembling voice.
This was the moment when a heavy truth and an old secret had to be revealed.
He parted his lips with difficulty.
“The truth is….”
….
“The Flame Knight, who was said to have died a hundred years ago.”
“…why are you suddenly talking about that person….”
“That’s… me.”
!!
“I lost consciousness in the final battle, and when I opened my eyes, I was here. I wanted to tell you the truth, but I was afraid you wouldn’t believe me….”
His face, always so confident, was now colored with anguish.
She instinctively recognized that he wasn’t lying.
More than that—if he truly was the Flame Knight, then all the facts that had never made sense until now suddenly fell into place.
“…I knew it.”
Surprised by her unexpected response, he lifted his head.
He’d expected her to slap him for deceiving her all this time, but instead she gazed at him with the saddest smile in the world.
“I knew it was true.”
….
“That’s what it was.”
“You… believe me?”
“Of course.”
She nodded with an unwavering smile of absolute certainty.
“Because it’s you.”
….
“Just because a hundred years have passed doesn’t mean I wouldn’t recognize you. My knight.”
….
The protagonist of a regression—whether by choice or circumstance—revealing their true identity to allies and others!
Given the nature of this genre, the scene where the protagonist’s identity is revealed constitutes a significant climax within the work.
Because of this, it’s typically used to deliver satisfying comeuppance when the protagonist defeats a villain who’d been dismissing them, or serves as a deus ex machina element that makes everyone understand everything when a narrative reaches its peak.
Those who learn the protagonist’s identity deny it, distrust it, or sometimes dismiss it as absurd, but ultimately they come to believe it anyway.
Why?
Because they’re the protagonist!
If they don’t believe, the story won’t progress!
In a ‘hidden identity’ narrative, if the identity doesn’t get revealed, it’s the same as a father being absent from a romance fantasy parenting story!!
Sometimes the cliché gets twisted—there are stories where the protagonist’s identity remains unbelieved until the end, or where side characters never find out, with the ‘saved the world but nobody knows it was me’ trope. And lately, with regression and possession becoming so normalized, some stories just gloss over it with ‘well, that’s how it was’….
Anyway, back to the main point.
“…You’re in pain?”
“Yes.”
At Jeong Si-u’s question, I nodded without hesitation.
If I hesitated for even a moment here, it was over. Immediate reaction was the only way to survive.
I lifted my head confidently and met Jeong Si-u’s gaze directly.
If this were a hunter fantasy novel with monsters and dungeons, Jeong Si-u would likely accept within days that what I’d just said was truth, not lies.
In an era where monsters suddenly roll through Seoul’s streets and people awaken, divided into S-rank through F-rank, regression, possession, or reincarnation wouldn’t be all that surprising.
“You remember how I stumbled and got dizzy a few times before, right? It kept happening, so I got it checked out.”
“…And?”
“They diagnosed it as simple benign paroxysmal positional vertigo. Fortunately, it wasn’t hearing loss or anything….”
The problem starts here.
Unfortunately(?), my life genre tag isn’t #hunter-fantasy but #idol-industry—an extremely reality-based genre.
And Jeong Si-u, who needs to accept this truth, is a complete muggle who doesn’t even enjoy web novels, let alone sci-fi movies, and has never even fantasized about things like ‘what if Earth ended tonight.’ He’s an MBTI S 87% person.
In fact, he only took this MBTI test recently during a pictorial interview shoot. The result was ESTJ. (Everyone was shocked that E came up instead of I!)
“But since it happens so frequently, the doctor said there might be an immunity issue or something weak with my ears… so I’ve been managing it lately. They said it could be related to rhinitis too, so I’ve been taking medicine consistently….”
“Why…. It’s nothing serious, so why didn’t you tell me?”
“At first, they said I might need surgery. They really scared me, saying there seemed to be something wrong with my eardrum…. But that was when you were already struggling with frequent hospital visits because of Eun-chan, so I thought if I added my problems too, you’d worry even more….”
So for twenty-three-year-old pure muggle Jeong Si-u, rather than a movie synopsis like ‘Kang Ha-jin and Dan Ha-ru are regressors who cross timelines,’
‘Kang Ha-jin’s immunity has been compromised lately and his body’s weakened, and while he wanted to tell you, he was worried a huge crack would form in your already fragile mental state, so he kept quiet. He’s recovered a lot now and should be fine soon.’
…this rambling explanation was far more credible.
“If you still don’t believe me, I can get a medical certificate and show you? Among the managers, only the Executive Director knows. If you want, I can even have them call to confirm….”
“…No, it’s fine. I said I believe you.”
….
“…Thanks for being considerate.”
See, he believes me completely.
Looking at Jeong Si-u, who seemed to accept the lies I’d spouted as naturally as breathing, I felt a twinge of conscience.
But there was nothing I could do.
I’d already told him the truth once before, but he hadn’t believed me then.
And honestly, that was the normal reaction.
‘Lee Do-ha was just a really unusual case….’
It’s natural for ordinary people not to believe.
Without the mental care program, I would’ve thought I’d gone crazy long ago. If anything, it was stranger that everyone had believed the truth so readily until now.
‘How did Lee Do-ha believe it all at once?’
Or maybe Lee Do-ha didn’t believe it 100% from the start either.
Ji Su-ho had no choice but to accept it since he’d experienced it himself, but Lee Do-ha hadn’t.
And seeing Jeong Si-u dismiss the truth so easily, treating it as a joke, I realized anew just how remarkable Lee Do-ha’s trust had been.
“I’m sorry, hyung. But everyone’s doing better now, so it feels a bit odd to say I’m sick, and….”
“…Right now? You’re okay right now?”
“I’ve improved a lot. I’ve been sleeping well lately, and you know I haven’t been struggling, right?”
But that didn’t mean I resented Jeong Si-u for not believing the truth.
If I myself had noticed something odd about a younger sibling I cared for (probably… honestly, aren’t we at that point now? Really?) and asked if they were hiding something, only to hear “Actually, I’m a time traveler,” I would’ve felt hurt too, thinking “Are you messing with me? Don’t you trust me?”
“…Alright, that’s good then.”
Besides, I wasn’t petty enough to hold a grudge against my hyung for making that expression.
It wasn’t like I’d gone deaf, or developed a tumor requiring surgery—it was just benign paroxysmal positional vertigo at worst. And even that was getting better.
“…If you’re okay, then that’s all that matters.”
Yet Jeong Si-u wore the face of a crown prince who’d just heard that his right-hand general, whom he’d thought dead, had miraculously returned to life.
Even though that general had said he would never return to his side again, as long as he was alive, nothing else mattered.
In that moment, I sensed something.
“Ha-ru, did you… know about this?”
“Ah. Yes, well…. It just happened somehow…. I wasn’t trying to hide it, but I’m sorry.”
“No, hearing about it now, you didn’t need to say anything. I was being oversensitive. Sorry for making things awkward.”
“…No, I’m more sorry for worrying you.”
If someday Jeong Si-u truly learned all the facts,
he wouldn’t feel betrayed by me or the other members.
“What are you apologizing for? If it’s nothing serious, that’s what matters.”
Even then, he would say “that’s good enough.”
Grateful that I wasn’t actually sick.
As if it didn’t matter that we’d lied to him and hidden the truth.
“If anything, I’m sorry. As the oldest… it’s hard for me to take these health matters lightly.”
Jeong Si-u’s sensitivity to others’ health stemmed from Father.
The guilt over Father’s passing while he slept still knotted his heart.
“….”
And likely—no, with high probability—Dan Ha-ru’s countless regressions had played a role in turning that guilt into a sharp thorn embedded in his chest.
Just as Seo Tae-hyun had gradually lost confidence in himself through a ruined life, and Lee Yu-gun had steadily hardened his resolve to quit during the infinite regression crisis,
Jeong Si-u too, having experienced Father’s death over ten thousand times, had wound himself tighter and tighter.
“…No, hyung.”
I watched Dan Ha-ru struggle to find his words.
Now I was beginning to understand what he habitually called “guilt over the time that’s passed”—what that truly meant.
“It’s not like that.”
Does your annihilation include atonement for these scars as well?
If you atone through your annihilation, how should I, as one left behind, embrace their wounds?
How will the radiant Dan Ha-ru who remains face all of this and live on?
In that brief moment, countless questions swirled through my mind.
Dan Ha-ru, determined to perfectly play the role of the cute, bright youngest member, hesitated for a moment before clumsily crawling toward his oldest hyung and embracing him awkwardly. Jeong Si-u, as if accustomed to it, wrapped his arms around his youngest member, patting him gently while taking a shallow breath.
“I’m sorry, Si-u hyung.”
“It’s fine. I guess I was the one who set the mood. Youngest, were you scared?”
Jeong Si-u, who was generally affectionate toward his younger members, patted Dan Ha-ru on the back with a generous smile.
Under normal circumstances, Ha-jin would have reached for his phone, saying fans would love to see a moment like this, but right now, in this very instant, he found himself doing nothing but staring blankly at the scene unfolding before him.
What must be the heart of someone who owes an apology for every single life they have lived?
“From now on… there won’t be anything like this anymore.”
Two months from now.
In two months, the Chosen Regressor Dan Ha-ru will cease to exist.
Will that become a new tomorrow for us, or merely another scar?
To a question with no answer, a bittersweet smile settled upon Ha-jin’s lips.
* * *
Neither night nor day,
a void of nothingness where even today and yesterday cannot be distinguished.
In a place that neither exists nor does not exist, an entity that cannot even determine if it dreams or does not dream quietly opened its eyes.
[…hahahaha.]
It was both god and not god,
[hahahahahaha…!]
both transcendent and not transcendent,
both the mark of ages and the very rejection of all time,
both a friend of life and yet a lifeless existence that never truly was,
[Yes, I see now.]
Once, it had been called by the name Time Manager No. 12.
[You have indeed….]
Darkness descends.
No—the sun grows bright.
[You have indeed… chosen to flee and survive in such a manner.]
The chilling laughter of the one who opened its eyes filled the space, then vanished.
[…I cannot possibly allow this.]
An entity that became nothing was beginning to prepare its return.

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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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