Grab the Regressor by the Collar and Debut - Chapter 486

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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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486. Boy’s Supremacy 2 (5)
The lengthy survival program concluded with a harmonious group photograph.
Once the audience had filed out, the participants were busy reuniting with their families who had come to cheer them on. The production crew and staff members were somewhat frazzled as they packed up and withdrew, yet their expressions appeared refreshed—as though they had finally crossed the finish line of a marathon they had wrestled with for so long.
“Teacher, would you take a photo with us?”
“That’s right, let’s take a picture together, teacher!”
The backstage area was rather chaotic. The successful candidates were busy wrapping up their own journeys, as were those who had been eliminated.
Seo Tae-hyun stood at the very center of that tumult.
He smiled warmly at each participant who approached him, offering kind words of encouragement and advice that the real journey was only beginning—that they should steel themselves for what lay ahead.
“I’m sorry, but I have a schedule right after this, so I won’t have time for photos. You all worked hard. Thank you.”
“Oh, teacher, aren’t you coming to the dinner?”
What Tae-hyun said was half truth and half lie.
There was indeed a practice session scheduled afterward, but it was in the early morning hours, and he did have time for photos and the leisure to attend the dinner.
“…Well, yes. It’s unfortunate, but let’s meet again next time.”
Yet Tae-hyun quietly shook his head.
Fortunately, Ha-ru and Si-woo, who had come to watch today, had already returned to the dormitory first, which gave him this excuse. The young men seemed only disappointed by his absence, not suspicious or insistent—after all, everyone knew that Kairos was currently one of the busiest male idol groups in South Korea.
“Tae-hyun, thank you for your hard work!”
“Yes, Writer, you worked hard as well. Take care.”
The courteous Seo Tae-hyun greeted everyone he passed with kindness as he made his way toward the innermost part of the hallway where his waiting room was located. Only his increasingly quickening pace betrayed his true state of mind.
As he turned the corner, he glimpsed someone in uniform slipping quietly out the back exit with an elderly man.
Unlike the others who, regardless of their results, either celebrated having made it this far or openly grieved their disappointment, the departing figure held nothing in their hands but a single, humble bouquet of flowers.
“….”
The moment Tae-hyun saw that retreating figure, he stopped in his tracks.
No—he squeezed his eyes shut.
No—he spun around and fled into the restroom as though escaping.
Without even checking if anyone was inside, Seo Tae-hyun rushed into a stall and, gripping the toilet, expelled everything from within.
The emotions he had suppressed since the live broadcast began finally spilled from his lips. Having eaten nothing but water and fruit all day in preparation for any unforeseen circumstances during the broadcast, each heave burned his throat—yet it mattered little.
For Tae-hyun, reality itself was far more agonizing than any physical pain.
“….”
By the time he had somewhat composed himself, what felt like ten minutes had passed.
The cacophony from outside grew increasingly distant. Seo Tae-hyun slowly rose and walked out, not forgetting to rinse his reddened eyes and soiled mouth clean with water.
When he stood before the door to his waiting room, Seo Tae-hyun appeared perfectly as he always did.
Conscious of the staff members who would be organizing luggage inside, Tae-hyun affixed a refreshed smile to his face and opened the door.
“…?”
Yet contrary to his expectations, the waiting room was already immaculately cleaned, and the staff members were nowhere to be seen.
In the waiting room, restored to its pristine initial state, the only thing greeting him was….
“…Hyung?”
“You came.”
Only Ha-jin.
At the unexpected visitor’s appearance, Tae-hyun’s pupils trembled. The hastily constructed poker face threatened to crumble at any moment.
Ha-jin, who had been ill for several days and had grown noticeably gaunt, exuded an air far more sardonic than usual. With eyes that seemed anything but welcoming for a surprise visit, Ha-jin turned his body slightly toward where Tae-hyun stood.
His long outer coat, extending down to his legs, fluttered in sync with Ha-jin’s gesture.
“Seo Tae-hyun.”
The moment I heard Ha-jin call my name, I instinctively sensed it.
“Go ahead and cry.”
“….”
“I cleared everyone out for this reason.”
He knows everything.
I don’t know how he found out, but he knows it all.
“…I’m sorry.”
I don’t even know what that apology means.
The moment I heard those words, I hung my head and had to pour out all the emotions I’d been holding back.
Tears of indefinable emotion streamed from my eyes as I habitually swallowed the sounds in my throat.
* * *
-Tae-hyun knows?
Watching Seo Tae-hyun cry like a child with his face buried in his hands, the anger I’d barely suppressed came surging back to the top of my head.
Seeing him unable to cry properly for fear the sound might leak outside the waiting room made my chest feel like it would burst. I turned on some random song at maximum volume on my phone and carelessly placed it on the desk, then grabbed a tissue box and strode toward Seo Tae-hyun.
-…Before the live broadcast earlier, during rehearsal. I overheard you having it out with Kim Hak-seung.
-You fought with him?
-I only found out recently myself. Kwon Myung-eun contacted me through the PD the day after you collapsed, I think. Once I understood the situation properly, it seemed like these bastards were using Tae-hyun as a hostage to pull this off, so honestly, I came here planning to have him withdraw right now.
As Ji Su-ho said this, anger boiled up, and he eventually stood from his seat, pressing his temples repeatedly. I couldn’t find words to respond to the fact that Seo Tae-hyun had found out everything.
-…So, he knows all of this right now and is out there calmly hosting as MC?
-I didn’t care how much penalty I had to pay—I was planning to pull him out even then. Let them find a replacement MC themselves. Honestly, I did have feelings of concern for Tae-hyun, but either way, getting tangled up in something like this isn’t good for anyone.
-….
-…But Tae-hyun said he’d just do it. Not from the beginning, but now, three hours before the live broadcast, if he backed out, the participants would be too confused.
-….
-I couldn’t stop him. And we don’t have evidence to report it right now anyway.
I had discovered that the survival program I once appeared on had been rigged.
Moreover, because of that manipulation, I never debuted, and even now, years later, someone else’s dream is being exploited in the same way, yet there’s nothing I can do.
“Hyung, I….”
Seo Tae-hyun had been enduring that helplessness and emptiness on his shoulders all day long.
At just twenty years old, bearing all those emotions that had trapped me—twenty-nine—in a cramped bed.
“I just… I just wanted to be an idol….”
At Seo Tae-hyun’s words, now so drenched in tears that tissues couldn’t dry them, I unconsciously bit my lip.
“Honestly, right now, even multiple times… I wanted to grab the microphone and speak, I really wanted to… I really did want to….”
“…I know.”
“But I can’t. Because if I just blow it all open like that, those people won’t easily face punishment, and… if I’m not careful, if I’m not careful, the ones who suffer will be the kids, only the kids, not me.”
“….”
“That’s why I couldn’t say anything. I couldn’t do anything, hyung. I really, really didn’t want to do that, but this might be the first and last chance for the kids, so… I couldn’t bring myself to stand up and say I wanted to fight.”
“…It’s okay. It’s okay, Seo Tae-hyun. None of that is your fault,”
Seo Tae-hyun, who had once prepared an internal whistleblowing only to fail, had to rot away in the practice room for three years. After even that evidence was stolen by a friend’s betrayal, he was marked by the Executive Director and had to endure a desolation worse than being ostracized within the company.
The beautiful and righteous concept of “virtue rewarded and vice punished” had never existed in Seo Tae-hyun’s life.
‘…Even I said the same thing back then.’
To the guy who had once fled to Gangwon Province, abandoning his trainee career, I was the one who said that even with evidence, it would be difficult to take down the Former Executive Director.
I had always been grateful that my life’s genre wasn’t a hunter story, but in this very moment, I couldn’t be more furious at this gritty urban fantasy reality.
‘If only I could beat him so badly he couldn’t move at all, at least my heart would feel some relief….’
As I pulled Seo Tae-hyun—now sobbing so hard his body swayed—into my embrace and patted his back, he clung to my shirt like a lifeline and wailed even louder, no longer having the strength to muffle his cries.
From beyond the firmly closed waiting room door came three deliberate knocks—a signal from Kwon Wook, who had been keeping watch outside to ensure no one passed by, that it was time for me to emerge.
“Tae-hyun.”
“…?”
After finishing my conversation with Ji Su-ho and waiting for Seo Tae-hyun to return to this place.
I had wrestled with countless thoughts, only to set them aside again and again.
Should I expose the manipulation?
If I do, do I have the justification and evidence to ensure they face proper punishment?
If I don’t, should I simply turn a blind eye and let it pass?
If I don’t let it pass, how can I fight?
If I do let it pass, what can I possibly do for those who have been hurt and damaged?
Kim Hak-seung held a position near the very apex of power within Ntv itself.
What would it take to bring him down?
More importantly, did I even possess the strength to bring him down?
Beyond the pursuit of justice, what else would we gain from this fight?
“You trust your hyung, right?”
“…What?”
“…I know you think I’m pretty worthless, but just trust me one more time.”
As I traced that question mark in my mind, a sudden realization struck me.
‘If we flee from a fight for justice by calculating gains and losses against reality, what are we even supposed to struggle for?’
One aching youth compromising with the world and retreating into silence and bed was enough.
I couldn’t stand by and watch Seo Tae-hyun, Yoon Ga-ram, and countless others after them follow the same path and crumble.
“I’m making you a promise.”
“….”
“Whether it takes years or decades. I’ll make sure those people pay the price for their crimes.”
“….”
“Honestly, it might not be possible right now. If I strike at them unprepared, only Choi Producer, who confessed his conscience, will take the fall, and it’ll all end there. The kids who debuted today, the ones who couldn’t debut—they might all disappear without being able to properly promote because of this manipulation scandal.”
“…Ugh, hic, ugh, ah….”
I still don’t know the method.
I haven’t even formulated a plan yet.
And yet, I made a sincere vow.
“Still, still…. Whenever it comes, I’ll make sure your hyung makes those people face punishment.”
To do that, I needed to grow stronger.
I needed to become a better person.
Strong enough that even waves could crash against me without breaking me, resilient enough that even if rocks collided and shattered my body, I could endure.
“…I will. Without fail.”
I need to become far more famous.
So famous that sending even a single Main PD to ruin becomes as effortless as breathing.
When the Broadcast Station weighs me and that Main PD against each other, the scales tip naturally, inevitably toward me.
So the public continues to support me with unwavering interest, even when I speak uncomfortable truths and voice inconvenient realities.
So I can willingly share my light with the friends crumbling as victims in the wake of that conflict.
“I will make it happen. I promise you.”
On the very day someone’s brilliant dream was trampled into the mud.
Ironically, I discovered my own dream.
And I prayed desperately, so desperately, that the day it would come true was not far away.

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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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