Grab the Regressor by the Collar and Debut - Chapter 473

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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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473. Facing (2)
‘Wait, am I sick?’
My first moment of awareness came when I accepted the Bride’s business card.
Truth be told, after finishing the congratulatory song well, I’d felt a slight chill, but given that I was wearing thin clothes and the weather was cold, I figured it was nothing unusual.
I truly sensed something was wrong when the Bride’s words about contacting her anytime if I needed anything started becoming muffled and unclear.
‘Ah… I think I’m getting sick.’
Once I began making the rounds at the Reception Hall in earnest, I realized my body was definitely not in normal condition.
My body trembled intermittently, chills ran through me, and my vision occasionally blurred dizzily.
If Lee Do-ha hadn’t been carefully watching for the step in the floor earlier, I would have stumbled right over it.
‘Is it a cold?’
I knew my own constitution well—I caught body aches and colds like clockwork every summer and winter.
It wasn’t that I had a weak constitution overall, but somehow I always caught whatever flu was going around. By the time summer or winter rolled around, I’d already be thinking, ‘When will I get sick this year?’ and preparing myself accordingly.
‘But not now, it’s too early to be getting sick.’
Yet timing couldn’t have been worse.
While outwardly conversing politely and warmly with my seniors in the entertainment industry, the truth was I couldn’t remember more than half of what I was saying. The smooth flow of conversation was purely thanks to my social instincts.
‘…Ah, that cold water.’
As I searched for the cause of my strange condition, a memory surfaced from a few days ago on the set of Boyhood 2.
That day when I’d unexpectedly been drenched in cold water, unable to properly dry my hair and clothes, sitting in the night breeze for nearly hours.
‘That must be it.’
Even if it wasn’t, there was nothing else that stood out right now.
Since that day, between rehearsals, the cold war with Lee Do-ha, and preparing for the song.
I’d been pushing myself while worrying about various things and hadn’t noticed my condition deteriorating, but now that I’d finished the congratulatory song, all the symptoms seemed to come crashing down at once.
‘I’ll just finish greeting everyone quickly… and ask Kwon Wook to stop by a hospital on the way out.’
In any case, I had no intention of hiding this condition or pretending I was fine.
Besides, with the perceptive Jeong Si-u around, there was no way to hide it anyway, and it wasn’t the kind of condition worth hiding. Just looking at Lee Do-ha beside me—hadn’t he noticed something was off when he saw me stumble earlier?
The only reason he hadn’t made a fuss about it was because he didn’t want to cause a scene at someone else’s wedding. It was probably just a fever from a cold, and I didn’t want to create unnecessary talk in a place with so many eyes watching.
“If you want to get some wedding cake, you should impress this person here, not me. Everyone know who CEO Choi is? Huh?”
So this situation right now was.
For Kang Ha-jin, a completely unexpected variable—something I’d never imagined in my wildest dreams.
“Say hello, say hello. This is CEO Choi Yun-hyung, the representative of Effect Culture.”
Unusually pale skin, and eyes that were oddly large and round enough to seem almost grotesque.
Thick, burdensome lips with cherry-colored lip balm applied so heavily it was almost garish.
-Ah, seriously.
-Still can’t understand, still. It’s frustrating, really.
The moment I faced him—unchanged from how I remembered him, yet somehow far younger and fresher than before―.
“All the trending festivals these days are his works, right? What was it, what? Ah, what was it, CEO Choi? I can’t remember the name again.”
“OnGreen MT Festa?”
“Right, right, that one. All the hot new talents appear in that, don’t they? They say his recruitment skills are better than most writer noona’s, CEO Choi?”
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
My heart pounded violently, erratically.
My mind was already fractured, unable to fully process that something was deeply wrong. All I could manage was to barely contain the breath that twisted in real-time, gasping through it.
[Warning! (Fixed) The One Who Returns’ psychological state is unstable.]
[Warning! (Fixed) The One Who Returns’ psychological state is unstable.]
[Warning! (Fixed) The One Who Returns’ psychological state is unstable.]
[Warning! (Fixed) The One Who Returns’ psychological state is unstable.]
[Warning! (Fixed) The One Who Returns’ psychological state is unstable.]
The System window, which hadn’t appeared in so long, now blazed with crimson alarms, flooding my vision.
For a moment, thinking it was the work of The One Who Returns, I widened my eyes in terror—only then realizing it was merely a System warning notification, and finally I could exhale.
Or so I thought I had exhaled.
“I’m really fine. Your congratulatory song was wonderful today.”
-Why can’t you do it? Every time you open your mouth saying you can’t, it won’t work. Or is it just a problem with your abilities?
“If we have the chance, I’d love to invite you to our festival next time.”
-Ah, please stop pretending to be so good. I’m sick of it. That’s not doing your job well. It’s just your self-satisfaction. That’s all your deficiency too, isn’t it?
Behind the voice that spoke so kindly and gently, blade-sharp words that had bound and strangled me overlapped.
[Fixed The One Who Returns’ connection from a past timeline has been detected.]
[Fixed The One Who Returns has been classified as a dangerous person who may trigger ‘trauma (burnout)’.]
-Hey, you should moderate too.
-Don’t you see how the company atmosphere is ruined because of you?
-I’m exhausted, really.
Perhaps the nightmare I had been slowly forgetting over a very long time―.
All at once crashed down upon me like a collapsing dam.
[Warning! The Mental Care System’s grade is insufficient.]
[Warning! The Mental Care System’s grade is insufficient.]
[Warning! The Mental Care System’s grade is insufficient.]
[Warning! The Mental Care System’s grade is insufficient.]
[Fixed The One Who Returns’ intervention regarding 【Memory】 is impossible.]
-I mean, what exactly is so hard for you?
-If you can’t do what the company CEO tells you to do, shouldn’t you just quit the company?
-Frankly, you can’t even be grateful that we brought in someone with nothing. Is it right for you to speak like that now?
Once resurrected, the memories poured in endlessly.
The words that had slowly, so gradually dragged me into the abyss became shards of glass that pierced my heart.
“…Kang Ha-jin?”
From that point on, I couldn’t remember anything—what I had done or how I had done it.
Only―.
[Warning! (Fixed) The One Who Returns’ state is extremely unstable. Rest is recommended.]
[Warning! The One Who Returns’ condition is extremely unstable. Rest is recommended.]
[Warning! The One Who Returns’ condition is extremely unstable. Rest is recommended.]
[Warning! The One Who Returns’ condition is extremely unstable. Rest is recommended.]
[Warning! The One Who Returns’ condition is extremely unstable. Rest is recommended.]
[Warning! The One Who Returns’ condition is extremely unstable. Rest is recommended.]
[Warning! The One Who Returns’ condition is extremely unstable. Rest is recommended.]
[Warning! The One Who Returns’ condition is extremely unstable. Rest is recommended.]
[Warning! The One Who Returns’ condition is extremely unstable. Rest is recommended.]
“Kang Ha-jin―!”
“Ha-jin!”
[Warning! The One Who Returns’ breathing is irregular. Rest is recommended.]
[Warning! The One Who Returns’ breathing is extremely irregular. Rest is recommended.]
[Warning! The One Who Returns’ breathing is extremely unstable. Immediate rest is recommended.]
[Warning! The One Who Returns’ breathing has temporarily ceased. Immediate rest is strongly recommended now.]
I had simply realized far too late that I hadn’t been breathing properly for an extraordinarily long time.
‘So people really do die when they can’t breathe.’
By the time such an obvious and hollow thought crossed my mind, my body had already collapsed like a puppet with its strings severed.
* * *
[The One Who Returns’ abnormal physical condition has been detected.]
[Mental Care System is now active.]
[(Processing….)]
[(Processing….)]
[(Processing….)]
[Warning! Mental Care System’s grade is insufficient.]
[Intervention regarding The One Who Returns’ 【Memory】 is impossible.]
[(Processing….)]
[(Processing….)]
[(Processing….)]
[Temporarily restricting The One Who Returns’ 【Memory Overflow】.]
[Temporarily restricting The One Who Returns’ 【Memory Overflow】.]
[Restriction of The One Who Returns’ 【Memory Overflow】 has failed.]
[Temporarily restricting The One Who Returns’ 【Memory Overflow】.]
[Temporarily restricting The One Who Returns’ 【Memory Overflow】.]
[Restriction of The One Who Returns’ 【Memory Overflow】 has failed.]
[(Processing….)]
[(Processing….)]
[(Processing….)]
[(Processing….)]
[Mental Care System is now active.]
[Adjusting the severity level of The One Who Returns’ 【Memory Overflow】.]
[Adjusting the stage of 【Memory Flood】 for the Fixed Returner.]
[Failed to adjust the stage of 【Memory Flood】 for the Fixed Returner.]
[The Fixed Returner is affected by .]
[【Memory Flood】 begins for the Fixed Returner.]
[Depending on circumstances, may influence .]
[Caution is required.]
[Caution is required.]
[Caution is required.]
[Caution is required.]
* * *
….
What’s going on?
What happened?
I was certain I’d been at the Wedding Venue just moments ago, but when I opened my eyes, I found myself in a space as pristine and white as a prison cell.
A hospital? But what kind of hospital is this white?
I remember thinking I should stop by the hospital on the way back to the Dormitory since I wasn’t feeling well, but….
Did I collapse?
Opening my eyes to an unfamiliar ceiling again? Really?
….
….
…?
Wait, wasn’t I just speaking in a strange way?
I thought I was speaking aloud, but somehow I couldn’t feel my vocal cords vibrating….
It felt peculiar—as if I were speaking yet not speaking at all.
More importantly, I couldn’t feel any physical sensation of sitting or standing anywhere.
This is insane.
Did I actually die?
Why does it feel like narration without quotation marks, and it’s terrifying.
Now that I think about it, I do remember something before this—I couldn’t breathe properly.
My God.
Did I really die? So pathetically?
Without even seeing my amazing wedding song go viral on OneStart Reels, hitting fifty million views and winning the copyright lottery?
“Ha-jin.”
Damn, you scared me…!
Before I could delve deeper into whether this place was heaven or hell if I were truly dead, a voice called out my name from somewhere.
I wanted to turn my body toward the voice in shock, but since I couldn’t feel the sensation of a ‘body’—truly dead, it seemed—I could only register the terror.
But who on earth is calling me?
No matter how hard I racked my brain, there was no one nearby who would have arrived first in heaven or hell to call me with such tenderness.
…Wait, I’m moving.
Whether fortunate or unfortunate.
Everything that had been pure white began to take shape, as if film were developing frame by frame at the sound of that voice. I had to float within that space like an observational camera capturing a single frame, slowly witnessing the birth of reality itself.
“Ha-jin.”
Ah, that voice again.
In the moment I realized how familiar that voice calling my name had become.
Everything completed itself, and suddenly I stood at the center of that space.
“Ha-jin.”
A modest office,
The cacophony of bustling voices,
The rapid clatter of keyboards and filming props scattered haphazardly about.
I turned my gaze toward the one calling my name without tiring.
Or rather, to be precise….
“Good grief….”
…I was looking at ‘myself’—staring back at the one calling my name.
“So now you just don’t answer even when called?”
My former supervisor from the Entertainment Company, where I’d worked briefly to earn living expenses during university, let out an exasperated chuckle directed at ‘me’.
I—standing before him with my hands clasped behind my back, my eyes pitifully helpless—slowly lifted my head.
And I already knew well what words would spill from that mouth.
“….”
This is my nightmare.
No.
“I’m sorry. It’s all my fault.”
It was a memory I’d desperately wanted to avoid.

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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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