Grab the Regressor by the Collar and Debut - Chapter 470

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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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470. Self-Strength Reaching Heaven?
“Now, we will have the bride and groom read their marriage vows.”
The officiant’s bright and cheerful voice rang out clearly through the wedding hall.
The Groom and Bride, who had already shed tears once during the ceremony, accepted the marriage vows from the staff with reddened noses and flushed cheeks.
Everyone watched warmly as the Bride held the microphone for the Groom, who had lost one arm due to disability, while the Groom gazed at her with loving eyes and gently brushed back her fallen strands of hair with his other arm.
“Si-woo, Kwon Wook mentioned that it would be nice if you two could skip the meal after the congratulatory song and just stop by the reception for a few greetings…?”
Ha-jin, relaying what he’d received from Kwon Wook to Si-u sitting beside him, trailed off with a bewildered expression.
Jeong Si-u, who thought he was watching the wedding, was letting Ha-jin’s words go in one ear and out the other, his gaze unfocused.
Ha-jin had never seen him so lost in thought, even during his worst bouts of insomnia when he was particularly on edge, so he gently nudged Si-u’s arm with a puzzled look.
“…Ah, huh? Uh, what? What did you say?”
“After the ceremony ends, there are people we need to greet. Just so you know… Are you okay?”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. Just thinking about something…”
To Ha-jin, who was concerned about him, Jeong Si-u offered a small smile and assured him he was alright.
In truth, it wasn’t just thinking—he was racking his brain, turning the situation over and over, trying to make sense of what was happening!
Never mind the wedding and all that; he was so caught up in this fascinating, utterly entertaining, all-seeing observer’s perspective on someone else’s drama that he kept stifling inappropriate laughter…!
‘What on earth is going on here?’
After confirming that Ha-jin had settled back in his seat, Si-u calmly tried to piece together the situation.
Kang Ha-jin was suffering emotionally because Lee Do-ha was angry, but apparently Lee Do-ha wasn’t actually angry.
More precisely, it seemed he didn’t even realize he was in a cold war with Kang Ha-jin.
Then who had Kang Ha-jin been fighting with all this time?
What were all those currents of coldness that Kang Ha-jin had been feeling?
Why hadn’t Lee Do-ha spoken a single word to Kang Ha-jin for over two weeks?
Did that guy have no sense at all!?
“…I will support, respect, and admire each other.”
“I will always love, be grateful, care for, and understand.”
“I solemnly pledge all of this before all the witnesses gathered here. Groom, Kang Ha-jin.”
“Bride, Kim Eun-hye.”
“For this lovely newlywed couple, we ask for your heartfelt applause!”
A thunderous round of applause filled the hall at the beautiful young couple’s greeting.
Si-u reflexively clapped along while subtly shifting his gaze to steal a sideways glance at Lee Do-ha, who sat across from his table. Lee Do-ha maintained an upright posture and composed demeanor, clapping his hands gently, but his face revealed no emotion whatsoever.
“Ugh, wait, why am I making a fool of myself here, hmm, ahem, um…!”
“…”
Meanwhile, Kang Ha-jin, sitting right beside him, was displaying at least four to five complex emotions all at once.
He cried even though it wasn’t his own family getting married, then laughed, then was bewildered at himself for crying, then embarrassed at himself for laughing, and on top of it all, he was worried and anxious that his voice might give out and ruin the congratulatory song.
Lee Do-ha quietly observed such a Kang Ha-jin, then silently slid the tissue box from his side of the table toward Ha-jin.
Ha-jin, busy wiping his eyes with his sleeve and sniffling, belatedly noticed the tissues and glanced back and forth between Kwon Wook and Lee Do-ha sitting beside him.
“Why? Should I get you some water?”
“…No, thank you.”
Lee Do-ha, having done his part, had already shifted his gaze back to the bride and groom, and Kwon Wook, the manager, quickly responded to the artist’s needs.
After a brief moment of deduction, Ha-jin became certain that it was Kwon Wook who had handed him the tissues and offered him a grateful bow. But in that glance back, there was a hint of disappointment toward Lee Do-ha, who remained completely oblivious to his presence.
At that moment, a single proposition crystallized in Si-woo’s mind to make sense of the situation.
‘Lee Do-ha was angry at Kang Ha-jin for not trusting him.’
No, that wasn’t it.
‘Kang Ha-jin was preemptively anxious, fearing that Lee Do-ha would be angry at him for not being trusted.’
▶ In fact, there had been plenty of clues if I thought back on it.
Si-woo recalled the puzzle pieces he’d glossed over all this time, one after another.
-But hyung, Do-ha seems pretty much the same as usual. Aren’t you just digging yourself into a hole worrying that Do-ha is upset with you alone?
-Ugh, even when I asked Yoo Gun about it, he just said it wasn’t like that…
So this was all just shadow boxing from the genius at self-sabotage, Kang Ha-jin?
“…Hmm.”
Si-woo’s clear, round eyes took in Do-ha and Ha-jin—the same age, yet different from head to toe in every conceivable way. His unusually pale, long fingers had settled demurely atop his knees.
A pleased humming escaped from between his firmly pressed lips.
‘I’m glad I became an idol.’
Jeong Si-u, having finished assessing the situation, broke into a smile brimming with satisfaction.
“…? What’s wrong all of a sudden?”
Kang Ha-jin, the party at the center of this incident, pulled his body back warily as if frightened, watching Si-woo carefully.
Si-woo briefly imagined what would happen if he quietly told Ha-jin right now that ‘Do-ha actually isn’t angry at all.’
Given how dramatic his younger brother’s reactions were, the way he’d express his bewilderment and exasperation would surely be anything but ordinary.
“No, I mean….”
And of course.
Jeong Si-u had absolutely no intention of telling Kang Ha-jin the truth.
Why?
“Because I’m a little excited about singing a congratulatory song for such an adorable groom and bride?”
Because this way was far more entertaining!
With a smile more devilish than any devil’s (yet simultaneously sacred), Jeong Si-u’s lips sealed shut with those words.
* * *
“Next, we have a congratulatory stage with a rather special connection. The members of idol group Kairos have prepared a special tribute song for our bride and groom!”
“As you all know, our groom shares the same name as the leader of this remarkable group, doesn’t he? Given that it’s a connection forged by that very name, today’s stage will be all the more special for our groom.”
“Then let’s give a big round of applause to welcome Kairos’s tribute performance!”
With the emcee’s practiced introduction, three people holding microphones appeared at the front of the wedding hall, their long, slender legs on full display.
Half the crowd applauded; the other half held up cameras with mouths agape.
Ha-jin, receiving their gazes with an awkward smile, took hold of the microphone. The tension and looseness from moments before had vanished entirely, replaced by the soft, composed voice he reserved for public appearances, which now resonated through the wedding hall via the microphone.
“Hello, I’m Kang Ha-jin from Kairos.”
“He’s so handsome…!”
With barely a greeting given, murmurs rippled through the hall, and personal remarks directed at Ha-jin flew his way.
“Yes, I’m aware.”
When Ha-jin responded naturally to the remark that came through loud and clear, laughter erupted throughout the hall. As the focused atmosphere crumbled in an instant, a natural smile bloomed on the faces of the nervous bride and groom.
Confirming that the boisterous atmosphere had settled somewhat, Ha-jin raised the microphone again.
“As the emcee explained, we formed a connection through an AiTube content series where I search for people who share my name. And since meeting our groom here, Kang Ha-jin, I’ve come to feel tremendous pride in bearing the name Kang Ha-jin.”
“As the host explained, we met through an AiTube content series where I search for people who share my name. And after meeting the groom, Kang Ha-jin, here today, I’ve come to feel great pride in having the name Kang Ha-jin.”
My sincere, weighty voice transformed the playful atmosphere of the hall into something profound in an instant.
As the Groom, Bride, and their parents gazed at me with warm eyes, I smiled gently and continued, looking toward the Groom.
“I’ve agonized over how to properly celebrate this union—truly, the world is filled with beautiful songs, but none felt adequate to contain my genuine feelings. So we decided to compose something ourselves, yet even that felt insufficient.”
I recalled the moments spent crafting the lyrics for this piece, speaking with a touch of levity.
At the mention of composing the song themselves, murmurs and cheers rippled through the hall, but my words were far from finished.
“No matter what lyrics we write, as outsiders, we could never fully bless the depths of your hearts for one another.”
The Groom and Bride exchanged smiles, gazing at each other.
Watching the two of them as if they already knew what was coming, I continued with a playful glint in my expression.
“So I asked you both to write letters to each other in secret, under the guise of a surprise for one another.”
“…What?”
At my words, the Groom and Bride’s faces—which had been ready to tease each other with “surprised you, didn’t I?”—flushed with delighted bewilderment.
Regardless of the tensions within the Group, regardless of the year-end stages and concerts.
Setting all of it aside, I shrugged my shoulders in this moment with nothing but genuine blessing in my heart for these two.
“Now, we shall sing the serenade of love that you both have written, in your stead.”
A beautiful melody poured forth, one that seemed to lift the spirits of all who heard it.
The first wedding song Do-ha and I had ever composed—created in this world for these two alone.

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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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