Grab the Regressor by the Collar and Debut - Chapter 511

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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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511. How to Awaken from a Butterfly’s Dream (5)
Thirteen was resolute.
[System Alert: Not this time. Absolutely not.]
[System Alert: Unlike before when the Chosen Regressor was entangled and required human assistance, this is strictly my battle with The One Who Returns. This is my fight alone.]
[System Alert: I cannot burden Kang Ha-jin with this as well.]
For someone who’d never been serious a day in their life, watching them suddenly draw territorial lines and insist I step aside was almost amusing.
In the end, I could only nod reluctantly in agreement.
After spending over three years trapped in this cramped room with my mind deteriorating, now that I finally understood everything, there was nothing I could do.
All that remained in my heart was a hollow sense of emptiness and unease.
[System Alert: Then shall we proceed with memory erasure immediately…?]
“Aaah! Hey, hey, wait! Why so fast!?”
[System Alert: 「(°ヘ°) ?]
[System Alert: The System wonders if you’d prefer to draw a number and wait in line instead.]
“You’ve really gotten cold all of a sudden. I don’t even recognize you anymore.”
Faced with Thirteen’s overwhelming momentum to erase my memories and send me back to that September 15th, I instinctively grabbed my head and retreated. Since I was already sitting on the sofa with nowhere left to go, I actually vaulted over the back of it, using the backrest as cover.
[System Alert: What are you doing?]
[System Alert: The System is bewildered by the Chosen Regressor’s excessive reaction.]
“N-not right away like this. I’m only just now starting to feel human again…”
[System Alert: But you won’t remember any of this anyway, will you?]
[System Alert: The moment you close and open your eyes, you’ll be back in that car on January 1st. What’s the problem?]
[System Alert: 「( ° ヘ ° ) ??]
They seemed so full of humanity most of the time, yet moments like this revealed their otherworldly nature.
From a Time Management Authority’s perspective, whether billions of years or light-years passed would feel like an instant, but humans experienced time differently—something they should understand.
I slowly peeled myself away from the sofa back I’d been awkwardly clinging to and hastily extended one finger.
“One week.”
[System Alert: (｡・ω・｡)??]
“Give me exactly one week. I want to see my parents, go eat chicken feet and cartilage with Ha-won, mooch a meal off Tae-il, and check in on how the members are doing.”
[System Alert: You cannot accomplish all of that in a week.]
“Well, anyway… I’ll figure that out myself, so just one week. Huh? …Wait. Don’t tell me everyone else is trapped in September 15th forever too? Is that it?”
[System Alert: Hmm… that’s complicated to explain, so I’ll skip that part.]
[System Alert: In any case, you’re asking for time to flow normally for just one week, correct?]
“Exactly. After that, like you said, whether it’s memory loss or erasure, I’ll accept it.”
So this was similar to that infamous internet thought experiment: “Press the button and live for 500 million years, then receive 50 billion won.”
Press the button and you’re trapped in a void of nothingness for 500 million years. But after those 500 million years pass, you return to the exact moment you pressed the button, with all memories of those 500 million years erased and 50 billion won in your hand—an insane balancing act of a game.
‘People debated for a long time whether, if you lived 500 million years but couldn’t remember it, the “you” of those 500 million years and the current “you” were the same person or not.’
As for my position on this?
I’m the type who wouldn’t press the button. Generally, nothing in this world is free.
Someone offers you 50 billion won just for pressing a button? There’s no such thing as luck greater than winning the lottery in this world.
If anyone says otherwise, arrest them. They’re a con artist.
“Well… I’ll trust your competence in handling this.”
And I am a foolish sucker, an idiot who willingly fell for that con artist’s lies.
I have no idea how many centuries, how many millennia this timeline restoration will take, yet here I am—trapped in September 15th for nearly three years already—making a promise to gladly wait those thousands of years more.
“Just handle it quickly. Not by Time Management Authority standards, but by Earth standards—based on an average human lifespan of eighty years.”
It’s not that I’ve lost my mind. The situation was genuinely unusual.
There’s nothing I can do in this situation anyway, so what else can I do?
Besides, even if I were “Kairos Kang Ha-jin,” right now I was just a failed idol wannabe with no real accomplishments to my name.
‘I’m already thirty years old. It’s too late to play idol games again.’
Most importantly, the fact that this was a “fake” timeline heavily influenced my decision.
Fake meant that everything I lived for here would eventually disappear—just temporary cache—so from my perspective, it was far wiser to choose the absurdly sweet route of “close my eyes and open them back in my original world” rather than exhaust myself in a battle of wits against a transcendent being.
After living so hard, it was about time I got a free ride on the bus.
[System Alert: Well, fine then.]
[System Alert: To move time forward by about a week in the current timeline, I’ll need some temporal energy…. But I’ll manage to procure that somehow!]
“Do you need something? Is it a hassle?”
[System Alert: Not exactly….]
[System Alert: It’s just that this is a “fake” timeline, you see. To make an artificially created fake move like the real thing, you need fuel one way or another.]
I wanted to ask more about this complex concept, but Thirteen seemed unwilling to explain further and immediately moved on to the next task.
The words “Loading…” appeared several times, and when I heard a cheerful chime indicating completion, I felt a bright flash of light from behind me accompanied by a sharp creaking sound.
Turning around, the exit entrance I always used to leave this space was now sparkling with colorful light.
[System Alert: Then….]
[System Alert: I’ll see you in a week!]
[System Alert: ദ്ദി(•̀ ᗜ • )]
Golden double-thumbs-up effects brilliantly decorated the system window.
Thirteen had been goofing around with effects for ages now, but for some reason, it felt like he was overdoing it more than usual to reassure me, which gave me an odd feeling.
‘…A week from now.’
I’m finally escaping that dreary September 15th.
And after a week passes, I’ll open my eyes again as Kairos Kang Ha-jin on January 1st.
“Why a week from now?”
[System Alert: Huh? (｡・ω・｡)?]
“Not a week from now—we should meet again on January 1st. You’re going to erase all my memories anyway.”
[System Alert: Oh!]
[System Alert: You’re right about that.]
[System Alert: Then I’ll see you on January 1st!]
[System Alert: ♥♡★☆ ｡*✧∘*☆SEE U SOON!｡*✧∘* ☆★♡♥]
“This kid’s only getting better at decorating message bubbles. Why….”
I can go back again.
Now that hope was visible, everything else seemed irrelevant.
[System Alert: I hope you have a pleasant week!]
[System Alert: (*ˊᵕˋ*)ﾉ]
I nodded and turned around.
Then I slowly walked toward that exit entrance, step by step, from which bright light was pouring forth.
It was time to awaken from the dream.
* * *
When I opened my eyes again.
“…!”
I was back on that narrow, cramped bed.
The cool sea breeze of Busan Haeundae—my last memory—was nowhere to be felt. Just as my breath caught involuntarily at the familiar situation―.
♪Somewhere, over the rainbow…♪
“…Ah.”
A phone rang.
A ringtone that had never sounded even once until now.
“….”
The phone was face-down, so I couldn’t yet see who was calling. I desperately wanted to answer, but my right hand refused to obey my will.
Fearing the call would disconnect while I hesitated, I quickly shook out my right hand several times and picked up the phone.
【Mother】
“….”
I hadn’t done anything wrong, yet pressing the answer button felt impossibly difficult. Still, with trembling fingers, I tapped the call button, and immediately a voice I’d desperately longed to hear came through the phone.
-Son, were you sleeping?
-Your father and I just finished dropping off Grandmother and we’re heading home now.
Mother.
It’s really Mother.
-Hey, son! We’re going to stop by the Cheonan Rest Stop on the way up. Should we get you some walnut pastries? Or maybe roasted chestnuts?
Father’s voice came through as well—the car was connected via Bluetooth. Not a recording, but the real voices of my parents.
-Ha-won will be home early today too. Have lunch together with him. The weather’s so nice, it’d be perfect for going out somewhere.
‘The weather?’
At the mention of weather, my head turned instinctively toward the window. Through the large window without curtains….
“…Ah.”
Sunlight was streaming in.
The relentless sound of rain was gone.
-Son? Are you listening? Are you still sleeping~?
Beep, beep, beep-beep, beep.
Before I could even respond to Mother, a mechanical sound echoed from outside the room.
Mother and Father had only just left, so there was only one person who could open the entrance door lock.
I forgot I was even on the phone, and with the device still in hand, I stumbled frantically out of the room. I was so excited that I bumped my leg on the desk in my rush, but I felt no pain.
Bursting out with a loud clatter, the person who had just closed the entrance door and stepped inside looked startled to see me.
“What? You were home? But why didn’t you check your messages? I suddenly wanted pizza on the way back, so I got a box. Want to eat… Ugh! What’s wrong with you?”
Short, neatly maintained natural hair—the kind he’d kept since graduating university.
Casual clothes that hadn’t changed much from his college days, thanks to the relaxed dress code of the Media Company.
Yet the employee ID hanging around his neck unmistakably proclaimed his new status as a working adult.
“Ah, let go! I haven’t even taken off my shoes yet.”
“I missed you so much, Younger Sibling! Your older brother really, truly, truly missed you!”
“What are you—we see each other every day. Okay, okay, get off me. You’re heavy. Oh no, the pizza’s falling!”
“Here we are, brothers reunited in such an emotional moment, and you’re worried about pizza? Come on, I’ll order ten more boxes for you!”
“You don’t even have money, hyung. Seriously, at least take off your shoes before coming in!”
There stood Kang Ha-won, twenty-eight years old, utterly unchanged from childhood.

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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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