Grab the Regressor by the Collar and Debut - Chapter 468

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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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468. A Certain Resolution (4)
“Alright, let’s play the track and run through it―! Everyone, get into position!”
Inside the Practice Room, thick with heat and energy.
The members’ clothes were already drenched in sweat as they moved to their starting positions at the Choreography Director’s command.
After more than three hours of repeatedly refining and perfecting the choreography details, they should have been exhausted.
Yet on the faces of members who knew all too well that any work left undone today would double tomorrow, there was no trace of fatigue—only a sharpening focus that grew more intense by the moment.
“Let’s try to nail it in one take if we can!”
At the Choreography Director’s shout, the members responded in unison with a spirited “Yes!”
The Director’s mouse clicked, and a powerful drum beat—*boom, boom-boom*—erupted from the high-quality speakers installed in the Practice Room, filling the space. It was the interlude version of “Over the Night,” specially arranged by Ha-jin and Do-ha for the NMA.
“Alright, lift up…. Three, four, and hit!”
Following the Director’s cue, the member performing the opening solo for the NMA stage walked slowly toward center.
Crouched to one side, I watched intently through the mirror, my gaze sharp and unwavering as I tracked every movement.
In that moment, as if refusing to miss a single beat or blink, my eyes burned with twice their usual intensity and focus.
“Wait for the beat, wait for it… now, GO!”
As the grand drum sound finished setting the atmosphere, the member at center pushed off with one foot and lightly somersaulted over the practice vault placed in front of the Practice Room.
The landing seemed somewhat unstable at first, but with characteristic sense and balance, he quickly regained his center and flowed seamlessly into the next movement. A series of somewhat clumsy acrobatic moves unfolded one after another, yet as the member’s body grew more fluid, a hint of professionalism began to emerge.
Still unsatisfied, the Director clapped his hands irritably and raised his voice as if to say this wasn’t it.
“Yoo Gun! Focus! You keep making the same mistake from before! Don’t let the tempo drag!”
An opening sequence requiring nearly forty seconds of solo performance.
Yoo Gun, executing this crucial beginning, finished his final move with a pained expression, clearly aware of his own mistakes.
With a dissatisfied look, Yoo Gun steadied his breathing, and his gaze shifted to Ha-jin and Do-ha reflected in the mirror. Coincidentally, the two of them—entering from the right and left respectively—stood in perfect symmetry centered on Yoo Gun as they waited.
“…and count, members enter!”
When it came time for the members to appear on the Main Stage after Yoo Gun’s solo, Do-ha and Ha-jin’s eyes moved simultaneously.
In that moment when everyone rushed to their positions, only Yoo Gun, watching his two seniors from center through the mirror, could clearly catch their movements.
Do-ha moved first, rising without hesitation when the beat came.
And Ha-jin, who seemed lost in thought while watching Yoo Gun through the mirror, unconsciously let his gaze drift toward Do-ha, causing him to recognize his entrance cue just slightly too late.
Even after taking his position on the Main Stage, Yoo Gun couldn’t help but notice Ha-jin’s gaze occasionally shifting toward himself and Do-ha, and he quietly thought to himself.
‘…Why did you object in the first place if you’re going to act like this?’
With only about three weeks left until NMA.
The first conflict between his two older brothers of the same generation showed no signs of resolving as easily as expected.
Alongside thoughts of who would be the first to surrender in this clash of opinions where right and wrong couldn’t be determined, Yoo Gun withdrew his gaze from his seniors.
* * *
That day, at the emergency meeting first held in the Practice Room.
Despite repeated persuasion from Yoo Gun and Eun-chan, Ha-jin ultimately refused to budge on his position.
It was more than simply, ‘I can’t entrust such a major stage to Do-ha when his skills are insufficient’—the reason was far more complicated.
-If I had just three more months, or even two more months, I wouldn’t oppose it this much. But now we have barely a month left.
-Between selecting the concept, arranging the song, and choreographing the routine, everything’s taking longer than usual, so we’re only now starting practice. And we’re not just preparing for this one stage. Lee Do-ha, have you finished all the concert version choreography? What about the other year-end performances?
-And what? Acrobatics? Are you out of your mind? You stopped activities because of an injury just a few months ago. If you reinjure your back practicing that, what about the concert? What about the other award shows?
-NMA is obviously important. Lee Yu-gun’s right. Honestly, I think you’d suit that stage concept well. But we’re not going to retire from our singing careers after doing just that one stage.
At that moment, Ha-jin looked genuinely angry.
But that frustration wasn’t directed so much at Do Ha-na, Yoo Gun, and Eun-chan for attempting such a bold challenge, but rather at this situation where I had no choice but to offer harsh criticism to a friend’s ambition, and at myself for being unable to do otherwise.
Yet as the leader of a group,
and as a producer responsible for overseeing the overall performance of Kairos,
I refused to back down from my position.
-If you want to show more development in your dancing, let’s find areas to refine during our concert stage this time instead. There’s no need to rush.
-It’s not like you and I are playing some kind of chicken game. We could revive the choreography that killed during our ‘Mirage’ unit stage, or find other ways. There are plenty of options.
-Besides, improvements in skill will naturally spread by word of mouth anyway, and since you’ve barely shown what you can do with dancing yet, even small progress will feel much more significant and rapid. I’ll help you too—let’s do a second hellish boot camp, why not. …I’d like to wrap up this conversation here.
The way I spoke made me seem utterly cold-blooded, devoid of any warmth or compassion.
I was always the one who encouraged the members’ growth and challenges first, believing in us exactly as we were.
Yet drawing such a firm line against Do-ha, who had always believed in me and seemed to be the one I trusted most, felt almost like a betrayal.
-Hyung, but…!
It was such a big show of courage for Do-ha hyung.
Eun-chan found it heartless how I crushed that resolve in one go. But just as he was about to say something, a hand quietly stopped him from behind.
It was Si-woo, the eldest member, who had been listening to the entire conversation with an amused expression on his face.
-…?
-Don’t do that between yourselves. When opinions differ, settle it by majority vote. Let’s make it fair with Kwon Wook hyung, this PD, and the Choreography Director hyung included too. If you guys just huddle together on group matters and end it there, what are we supposed to do?
Even though Jeong Si-u looked like a dopamine-addicted pleasure seeker, he was unmistakably Kairos’s eldest member and ‘Jeong Si-u’ himself.
With that cynical remark, the momentum that had seemed ready to escalate into a physical confrontation between me and Yoo Gun subsided somewhat.
In the end, after obtaining everyone’s consent, a public vote was held to decide for or against Do-ha’s challenge.
Following Eun-chan’s insistence that such matters should be fair, Tae-hyun, who was filming Boy’s World Season 2, also participated via video call during his break after hearing the situation.
-Well then, the result is….
The result was 4:5.
My vote, Si-woo’s, Ha-ru’s, the Choreography Director’s, and Kwon Wook’s.
With five votes against, the NMA solo dance was decided to continue being performed by Yoo Gun as it had been.
-Then….
-Yes.
-….
-I accept the result. I haven’t shown the members anything yet that would convince them. I’ll follow the principle of majority rule.
After the result was announced, everyone watched Do-ha’s reaction, but the person in question simply accepted the outcome calmly.
Without a single word of complaint or disappointment, he merely nodded once and that was all.
After that, Do-ha returned to his ordinary routine as if nothing had happened.
Since I had said I would seriously consider composition work, he resumed that as well, and he diligently continued his usual exercise and practice regimen. Throughout this process, he showed no emotional fluctuations or any dissatisfaction toward me.
“Everyone loaded up? Ready to go?”
“Uh, Do-ha hyung and Yoo Gun hyung haven’t gotten in yet…?”
“…Ah, those two are doing extra practice again today.”
Kwon Wook, settling into the driver’s seat, let out a bitter laugh as he started the engine.
It was already dawn, and we had just finished grueling choreography practice, yet hearing that they were doing extra practice again made my expression darken rapidly. Everyone in the car was acutely aware of my reaction.
Do-ha, who had accepted the result without complaint, had returned to his routine without any apparent concern, just as described.
There were only two things different from before.
One was that he continued the extra choreography practice with Yoo Gun, just as he had done during his composition strike, and the other was that, just as during that strike, he was no longer having any meaningful private conversations with me.
On the surface, the reason was the same as before—”we’re both too busy”—but….
In reality, ever since that incident, I had been feeling an inexplicable sense of guilt toward Do-ha, and Do-ha, using busyness as an excuse, deliberately avoided meeting my gaze first. All the members knew this.
To be fair, Do-ha did genuinely appear busy and frazzled on the surface, so some members wondered if my guilt was merely self-imposed….
Whether it was self-imposed guilt or reality, one thing remained unchanged: I was the one being overly cautious.
“…Wait, this is my fault!?”
“Ah, seriously, you startled me…!”
Finally, unable to contain myself any longer, I burst out with my true feelings as I sat in the car.
Tae-hyun, who had been monitoring while listening to music in the seat next to me, jumped in surprise at my outburst, clutching his chest and shooting me a look.
Si-woo, who had been reading a book under the reading light in front of me, let out a small laugh as if to say something had finally snapped. Then, with perfect composure, he turned another page and replied.
“Why, feeling guilty? Then it must be your fault.”
“You opposed it too, but you’re pushing the responsibility onto me? I didn’t think you were like that, really. Sometimes you’re incredibly cunning.”
“Exactly. We all opposed it together and made the decision, so why do you keep making yourself uncomfortable about it? Because you’re uncomfortable around Do-ha, the kids keep watching you two during practice.”
Si-woo, seemingly unbothered by being called cunning at this point, didn’t even bother pointing out my disrespectful tone. Instead, he turned another page and delivered a cutting remark that struck right at the heart of the matter.
I had no way to refute his words. Despite my face being full of complaints, I could only grumble without offering any real response.
“…But wait! Does it look like I’m not being cautious? Ever since that day, he’s been practicing the rest of the routine so deliberately in front of me? That bear did the same thing back when we were preparing for the debut song blind test.”
“Do-ha promised to show something with his dancing at the concert anyway. To do that, he needs to start preparing now. Plus, he still needs to get more of the other year-end stage performances down. He seems to be working hard according to his own decision, so what’s the problem?”
“…No, that’s not what I meant, and you know it.”
“I don’t know?”
Si-woo played dumb despite knowing full well, and I clenched my teeth, swallowing back all the things I really wanted to say.
Then Ha-ru, who had been tucking a blanket over Eun-chan sleeping soundly in the back, looked at the back of my head with an indifferent expression and added a comment in his characteristically dry tone.
“But Do-ha hyung doesn’t seem that different from usual. Aren’t you just digging yourself deeper because you’re worried Do-ha hyung is upset with you?”
This time, he’d hit the mark again.
At this point, it was like getting an IV with a knitting needle instead of a regular needle.
Beaten down relentlessly by facts from both my eldest and youngest members, I sat there with a hollow expression, my legs trembling. My eyes had been shaking badly for quite some time.
My long, straight hands came together as if in prayer. My voice came out uncharacteristically lacking in confidence.
“You’re actually right….”
I began to resent my own callousness and unnecessary objectivity—how I had failed to support my friend’s first challenge, the friend who had always believed in me unconditionally and without expecting anything in return, and instead had completely trampled on it.
What made it worse was that despite all this, I still couldn’t muster even the slightest bit of willingness to wholeheartedly support my friend’s challenge.
Even if a knife were at my throat, I couldn’t agree to it. And yet I was worried about the hurt and disappointment my opposition might have caused my friend, but I didn’t have the courage to go talk to him directly or ask him about it.
Watching their leader, who sometimes seemed skilled at relationships and sometimes seemed hopeless at them, Tae-hyun finally put his earbuds away in his bag and asked with a genuinely confused expression.
“If you’re going to worry this much, why did you oppose it in the first place?”
“….”
“Just let Do-ha hyung do it now, honestly. When I see him practicing hard these days, I think he deserves a chance. Or you could lower the difficulty of the NMA solo performance.”
Then, shifting from despair to a different kind of despair, I poured out my true feelings in detail.
“No, if that happens, then…! Am I supposed to just let my friend walk down a path that could become a dark stain on his history? Just watch? If he gets greedy over this one thing and messes up on stage, all those antis who were already chanting that Lee Do-ha is clumsy will have a field day. They’ll screenshot every frame, criticize it to death, spam it everywhere…!?”
“No, that….”
“The concert is different. At least there, it’s mostly just fans who are rooting for us, and everyone will be riding high on the pride of our first concert. Besides, officially, leaks are illegal anyway, right? Even if Do-ha’s performance isn’t perfectly polished, Desty will know what to brag about and what not to. They’ll filter it themselves, right? Of course, Do-ha will do well, and once you teach him properly, he’s capable of mastering it again, so he’ll manage somehow…! But still, what if! There’s such a thing as absolute limits to human ability, right!? As an idol, as a friend, as a leader, I can’t just ignore that, can I!?”
“…Okay, okay, I get it.”
Tae-hyun, who had just been hit with my rapid-fire stream of consciousness at full volume from right next to him, slowly closed and opened his eyes as if his ears were ringing.
Since my position wasn’t entirely unreasonable, the other members and Kwon Wook simply watched me with sympathetic eyes without offering any real counterargument.
After pouring out everything in my heart, I felt a sense of relief. Exhaling deeply, I crossed my arms with newfound resolve and turned my gaze sharply toward the window.
“Ugh, forget it, forget it! I’ll just act like nothing happened, just like Lee Do-ha does. It’s not like I did anything wrong anyway. Lee Do-ha himself admitted with his own mouth that he has no regrets, right? Forget it, me too. Let’s just see how far this goes, shall we? How long could it possibly last? A few weeks? For now, I’m just… I’m just going to leave it alone.”
“Yeah, just put your mind at ease.”
“You could’ve just apologized first. How childish.”
“What? Childish? Dan Ha-ru, what did you just say?”
“Ugh, seriously, just sit still, you fool…!”
I had been needlessly picking a fight with Ha-ru, who kept saying things that were right (in more ways than one), shifting my body restlessly, when Tae-hyun easily subdued me.
Sitting back down properly, I checked the chat window with Do-ha, where not a single conversation had passed since that discussion days ago, and let out a deep sigh.
‘…Whatever. There’s no way this lasts more than two weeks.’
At the very least, we had to make up before the year-end stage—or rather, before Seo Tae-hyun’s Boy’s World 2 finale live broadcast.
This was the first time either of us had experienced something like this, so we were both left with a bit of disappointment in each other. But there was no way Lee Do-ha didn’t understand my true feelings hidden beneath all of this.
With that thought, I gazed at the dark early morning road home, my eyes betraying the hurt I felt inside.
* * *
‘…Damn it.’
However, two weeks later.
I found myself clutching my forehead once again, faced with a development that was completely different from what I had anticipated….
“Wow, Ha-jin. Thank you so much, really. I never thought you’d come like this. And with the members too….”
“Ha ha, no, not at all. You invited us, so we had to come. Thank you for having us.”
The outdoor wedding venue overflowed with love and hope, pristine white and blue.
After briefly meeting the groom and bride in the bride’s waiting room to offer our congratulations before the performance, I barely managed to suppress the awkwardness written all over my face as I introduced the people who came with me to them.
“As you know, these are our members, and we came together to sing a congratulatory song today. This is our eldest member and main vocalist, Jeong Si-u….”
“Hello, we watched the game footage. It was so moving.”
“Ah, yes yes. No, we’re the ones honored.”
“And this is….”
My palm turned toward another person.
“…This is Lee Do-ha, who composed the congratulatory song we’ll be singing today.”
One of my most precious same-aged friends I’ve met in this timeline….
“Hello, I’m Lee Do-ha.”
Lee Do-ha, that emotionally reserved(?) friend who hadn’t exchanged even a single personal greeting beyond work-related conversation for nearly two weeks, extended his hand for a handshake with his usual ‘professional’ face, his expression utterly blank toward me.
His gaze still didn’t meet mine, not even for a fleeting moment!

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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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