Grab the Regressor by the Collar and Debut - Chapter 491

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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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491. I’m Not That Kind of Person (3)
Lee Do-ha, who claimed he had something important to “show” me—not “tell”—led me to the Underground Practice Room of the Entertainment Company.
“Oh, the facilities are nice?”
Since moving to the New Building, this was my first time visiting the Underground Practice Room, and it was far more spacious and comfortable than I’d expected.
The artists had their own dedicated practice spaces on the upper floors, while this place was primarily used by trainees and the Choreography Team.
‘But why here…?’
I mean, look.
I knew that when he suddenly said he had something important to show me, it wouldn’t be anything suspicious like a secret base or a legendary sword or whatever… but at this point, it was almost impossible not to guess what it was. What else could you possibly show someone in a dance practice room besides dance?
“Just head inside. I’ll go change clothes real quick and be right back.”
“Yeah, okay.”
Lee Do-ha positioned me in front of the largest practice room door in the Underground Practice Room, then disappeared into the Changing Room to switch into his practice clothes.
Wait. He wasn’t carrying anything in his hands?
‘Does he keep practice clothes here all the time?’
So all those intensive dance training sessions with Lee Yu-gun were happening here? Why? When we have our own dedicated practice space?
The questions kept piling up, but I’d find out what was going on soon enough anyway.
I changed into indoor shoes and entered the large practice room, which already had its lights on.
“Oh, Senior! You’re here?”
“Hey, Senior. Long time no see. You guys, come on—greet him.”
“Hello, Senior―!”
“…?”
But the practice room, which I’d naturally assumed would be empty, was crowded with a bunch of kids.
Blinking in confusion, I recognized some familiar faces rushing toward me. It didn’t take long to identify them as Park Jae-young and Yun Tae-hee, trainees at our Entertainment Company.
“…Oh, yeah, nice to see you. But what’s this? Why are you guys here?”
“Oh, Lee Yu-gun asked us to help with something.”
“Help with what?”
“Setting that up. The Seniors usually do it, but they said they’d be late today….”
“Setting… that up…?”
As I took a proper look around the practice room at Park Jae-young’s words, I noticed mysterious black fabrics and acrobatic blocks set up throughout the space. Red masking tape was scattered across the clean floor, centered around the middle of the room.
I watched as the trainees finished their setup and stashed the remaining props in the storage room, narrowing my eyes as I surveyed the scene.
There were a few different elements that made me pause for a moment, but I could definitely figure out what this was.
This was the stage setup for our NMA solo performance.
“Senior.”
“…?”
At the sound of my name, I turned to see Lee Yu-gun rushing in with his schedule finished, his makeup still fresh on his face as he changed into indoor shoes.
Lee Yu-gun politely thanked the trainees who were bowing ninety degrees to him, then handed over several bags he was holding. Based on the famous dumpling restaurant label from near the Entertainment Company, it seemed to be a token of gratitude for their help with the setup.
“Oh, Senior. Hello!”
“Lee Yu-gun, hello.”
“Hey, hi. Thanks for helping. You guys go to the next room and eat with the others. I already told Young-eun Team Leader to prepare food for you too.”
“Whoa, jackpot. Thanks, Senior!”
“Wow, that’s awesome! Thanks, bro!”
“Ah, the kimchi dumplings are mine!”
“…?”
Before Lee Yu-gun could even finish speaking, Park Jae-young and Yun Tae-hee bolted toward the other trainees who were excitedly chattering away.
There was so much I didn’t understand and so many questions swirling in my head, but the first thing that tumbled out of my mouth was this.
“Why are you so close with those guys…?”
Wasn’t this the same Lee Yu-gun who had no friends at Miro except for Seo Tae-hyun before debut?
And during the Miro Maze days, Park Jae-young was so intimidated by him that he couldn’t even approach him, yet now he’s throwing around words like “total win” to Lee Yu-gun!?
And I’m naturally mixing words with trainees I’m meeting for the first time today!?
As I stared at Lee Yu-gun with an expression like the sky was falling, he brought over a chair, unfolded it, and let out an incredulous laugh before responding.
“You’re curious about that right now? Not about why we set all this up in the first place?”
“Well, it seems Lee Do-ha has been secretly putting in serious work on his NMA solo practice. You helped him with that. I didn’t expect it, but it wasn’t entirely surprising. …I just didn’t think it would be this elaborate.”
Since he attributes his failure to be selected to his own skill level, he’d naturally choose to prove his worth through his own abilities as well.
The problem is why this NMA solo practice specifically, and why now of all times.
Lee Yu-gun let out a short sigh and gestured with his eyes toward the chair. It seemed like he was telling me to sit, so I dutifully took a seat, but I couldn’t help but voice a harsh reality.
“You know we absolutely can’t change the solo stage at this point, right?”
“…Who’s asking to change it? Don’t get ahead of yourself, hyung. Do-ha isn’t at that level yet.”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying—that’s why I’m saying this. I just don’t understand why you’re all so fixated on the NMA solo. Why not take Si-woo’s suggestion and come up with ideas for a concert solo stage instead?”
I couldn’t have helped but harbor some faint hope.
While I’d been running around busy, could Lee Do-ha have suddenly awakened and made a dramatic leap in his dancing ability?
Just like Lee Yu-gun’s stats jumped several grades with a single stage performance, couldn’t similar miraculous moments happen to Lee Do-ha as well?
But when I checked Lee Do-ha’s stats before entering the changing room earlier, they hadn’t changed.
[Dancing: C+ (66%)]
A skill level that was neither good enough to praise nor poor enough to criticize—somewhere between an amateur and a trainee.
Of course, I already knew from several past incidents that the stat window wasn’t everything, but that didn’t mean I could just ignore what was right in front of my eyes.
‘Even if we push that percentage way up, there’s no guarantee that the C+ grade will upgrade to B before NMA…. Wait, does the percentage actually increase the grade when filled?’
To reiterate, I still had limited understanding of this skill.
Just a few months ago, I witnessed Lee Yu-gun’s special skill jump from merely B-grade five seconds prior to S-grade after a single stage performance.
But rather than Lee Yu-gun achieving a sudden awakening in ability, it seemed more reasonable to attribute it to the mental limit he’d unknowingly been imposing on himself being released.
Either way, it wasn’t easy to expect similar developments from Lee Do-ha, who had the strongest mental fortitude among us. Moreover, Lee Do-ha’s dancing deficiency wasn’t due to hitting a mental wall—it was purely a matter of experience and natural talent.
“You don’t know, hyung.”
“…?”
I expected Lee Yu-gun to respond with sharp words to my cynical remarks, but instead he answered matter-of-factly and brushed past me. He naturally walked over to the audio player and tinkered with something for a moment, then finished the setup and turned back to face me.
Leaning casually against the mirror wall, he flashed me a confident smile and spoke.
“It’s strange—I suddenly got greedy. This is my first time feeling something like this.”
“….”
“You’ll see.”
With those words, Lee Yu-gun gave a short wave toward the practice room entrance. When I turned my head, I saw Lee Do-ha, now changed into training clothes, setting his bag down on the floor and returning Lee Yu-gun’s greeting.
Lee Yu-gun adjusted the heater temperature in the practice room with the remote and called out to Lee Do-ha.
“Hyung, you’re going to warm up first, right? Should I grab the foam roller?”
“No, it’s fine.”
“…? Hey, stop. When did you two start speaking informally to each other?”
Watching Yu Gun speak so naturally to Do-ha without honorifics, a sense of betrayal far greater than what I’d felt witnessing him bond with the trainees earlier surged through my entire body.
However, Yu Gun simply raised his eyebrows as if it were nothing and shrugged his shoulders. His attitude screamed that he couldn’t be bothered.
“I don’t know? I just naturally started at some point?”
“Me! What about me!?”
“You speak informally to your hyung now too, don’t you?”
“I went all the way to Jeju Island and spent money on seawater, kalguksu, black pork, tangerine ade, and even those citrus chocolates that cost twenty-six thousand won for twelve pieces, and this is what I get!?”
“What, is my casual speech some kind of product? Why are you being so petty about it?”
Petty? P-petty!?
I wanted to grab the back of my neck in response to this ungrateful grandson’s rebellion, but Yu Gun seemed hardly interested in my dramatic reaction.
As I stared at him with an exaggerated expression of shock, scrunching up my entire face to show how hurt I was, Do-ha finished stretching in one corner of the practice room and slowly walked to the center, standing properly.
“Can I start?”
His demeanor was so respectful that I felt genuinely childish for having just been sulking about the informal speech.
I withdrew my glare from Yu Gun and hardened my expression, crossing my arms firmly to convey that I would watch coldly.
“Before that, let me make one thing clear. What’s your intention in practicing the NMA solo dance that I specifically opposed and showing it to me? Is it a protest against me? Or just proof of your skills?”
“Neither. Like I keep saying, I’m not opposed to your opinion enough to stage a protest, and I’m not skilled enough yet to prove myself. There are still far more scenes I haven’t successfully executed.”
“Then?”
“I don’t know.”
“…What?”
What am I supposed to do if you answer that you don’t know?
My defensive wall, which had been standing confidently with arms crossed and a stern expression, crumbled pathetically. Though I couldn’t see my reflection since my back was to the mirror, I could feel just how foolish my expression must have looked.
Do-ha, who had delivered that brazen answer of “I don’t know,” continued speaking with the same straightforward gaze as always.
“I just wanted to show you.”
“Show me what, then. You successfully completing the NMA solo dance perfectly?”
“No. That I might have this kind of potential too.”
“….”
“It’s the first choreography where I felt like I was actually having fun while practicing it.”
With those words, Do-ha quietly nodded toward Yu Gun.
Receiving the signal, Yu Gun changed the practice room’s lighting to stage setting and pressed the button on the audio player to start the music.
In the practice room surrounded by red LED lights on all four walls, a light ticking sound echoed through the space.
Hide, hide well
Don’t let your hair show
Ominous, like a melody straight from a horror film.
In the quiet atmosphere, the chorus of “Hide and Seek” hummed by a child’s voice flowed out.
Following that song, Do-ha’s first movement began.
Hide, hide well, oh?
I can see your hesitation
Do-ha’s solid, large body moved like a black cat—agile and smooth, rolling, spinning, and flipping between the blocks. As he glided between the spaces, his movements were so light that you wouldn’t even hear his footsteps. It was a movement only possible because his core muscles were so well-developed.
“…?”
That was when I first sensed something different.
Unfamiliar movements I had never seen before flowed in succession. Unlike the existing choreography that demanded advanced technique, this was original choreography that was far simpler and more crude, yet could fully utilize Do-ha’s instinctive physicality and solid core.
I immediately shifted my gaze to Yu-gun, who was still sitting pressed against the corner. Feeling my eyes on him, Yu-gun glanced at me once, then turned his attention back to Do-ha and quietly formed a V-shape with his hand.
—So you’re saying you’re oddly greedy about it?
—You’ll understand when you see it.
So that’s what he meant.
I felt a good kind of betrayal and let out a hollow laugh.
Even so, Do-ha’s clumsy movements, completely immersed in the song, continued. The choreography, which didn’t conform to “Kairos” but focused entirely on “Do-ha” himself, looked almost like action rather than dance.
“….”
This was a Do-ha I didn’t know.
And that piqued my interest considerably.
* * *
“….”
“….”
After the song ended, Do-ha and Yu-gun watched Ha-jin’s expression in unison.
The performance demonstration had ended, and the fluorescent lights had long since replaced the stage lighting in the practice room, yet Ha-jin, sitting in his chair, remained motionless and lost in thought.
Finally, Yu-gun rose from the corner and cautiously approached Do-ha, scratching his cheek awkwardly.
“Why is he being so scary and not saying anything? He’s freaking me out.”
“I don’t know either. …Did I mess up a lot?”
“No, well… Those were parts that didn’t work during practice anyway, so that’s unavoidable.”
Do-ha had messed up quite a bit.
There were movements he hadn’t even attempted, and quite a few he had failed at. He had even blanked out in the middle and stood there dazed for a moment, so proving his skill in any way was impossible.
“….”
Yet for some reason, Do-ha wanted to show Ha-jin this practice scene.
It wasn’t that he coveted the NMA solo spot, and it wasn’t that he had any intention of switching now.
He simply hoped that his friend and leader, who always charged forward without hesitation regarding the group’s direction, would discover his new potential.
“…haha.”
“…?”
Finally opening his mouth for the first time, Ha-jin laughed.
Once the laughter started, it kept coming—he burst into a hearty laugh as if bewildered, even splashing his face with dry water a couple of times.
Not understanding what that could possibly mean, Do-ha and Yu-gun simultaneously looked at each other, growing slightly tense.
“Ha, I’m really, seriously, these bastards really….”
Whether he was contemplating, hesitating, or something else entirely.
Ha-jin shook his head repeatedly while alternating his gaze between Do-ha and Yu-gun, then quietly uncrossed his arms. He then interlaced his fingers, raised his eyebrows, and made a sharp clicking sound with his tongue.
The Lee Brothers, who knew well from two years of living together what that sequence of actions meant, looked at each other with bewildered expressions.
Crooked eyebrows, feet bouncing with excitement, a smile so refreshing it was pleasant just to see.
“…Are these guys making me want to do something crazy again?”
That was entirely the signal Ha-jin showed before he was about to do something monumentally insane.
That crazy bastard was definitely about to cause some kind of incident!

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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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