Grab the Regressor by the Collar and Debut - Chapter 517

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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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517. Searching for Spring (1)
[System Alert: That won’t work! Absolutely not!]
“I haven’t even said anything yet?”
Before I could even broach the subject, Thirteen unleashed a barrage of ‘X’ marks in vehement opposition, causing me to blink in bewilderment.
Yet Thirteen, as if already knowing what I was about to request, shook the system window violently and stated their position with unwavering firmness.
[System Alert: Whatever you’re planning won’t happen. It absolutely will not!]
[System Alert: I will never agree to this!]
“So how do you even know what I’m about to ask…?”
The apartment rooftop on a weekday morning—when no one would think to venture up—was eerily desolate.
I checked the time on my wristwatch and flashed Thirteen a wry smile, crossing my arms. Not wanting to cause a commotion if someone happened to spot us from below, I made sure to shift toward the less visible corner of the rooftop.
“Fine, then.”
The moment Kang Ha-jin spoke in that languid tone, Thirteen’s system window trembled violently.
I slowly rolled my head side to side, loosening my neck muscles, then raised my left hand and extended three fingers.
“I’m going to ask you exactly three questions, and I want you to answer ‘yes’ to each one. If you do, I won’t cause any trouble.”
[System Alert: ….]
“But no lies. That said, I can’t see your face or hear your voice, so this rests entirely on your conscience. If you deliberately deceive me, then I’ll simply accept the deception.”
[System Alert: ….]
“Question one.”
One of my fingers folded down.
“Only I have been caught in this ‘false’ timeline, and as a result, neither my family nor my group members—nor anyone else—has suffered any harm.”
Thirteen did not answer.
But it seemed I hadn’t expected an answer anyway.
“Question two. Even if other people were caught in this timeline, the probability of them achieving ‘awareness’ like I have is virtually zero, and even if they did, a cosmic genius system like you could swiftly resolve it.”
My tone was playful, but my expression held no trace of amusement.
Nor was it one of anger—rather, it resembled the composed demeanor of someone who already knew all the answers and was simply pressing for the truth.
“Question three.”
My final finger folded down.
“Tracking The Returner and resolving this timeline are proceeding smoothly, everything will be resolved in the near future, and there is virtually nothing I can do about it—about as much as a rebellious Dan Ha-ru would contribute.”
[System Alert: ….]
“Answer me.”
The system window, usually so verbose and chattering, remained eerily silent.
But I waited. Quietly.
As if I would not move an inch until you spoke the truth.
[System Alert: Why….]
In the end, it was my friend who surrendered first.
[System Alert: Why go this far?]
[System Alert: You could just pretend not to know. You already did that last time we met—even when something seemed off, you just glossed over it and moved on.]
[System Alert: So why are you suddenly doing this?]
[System Alert: Why?]
The kid had developed quite a bit of vocabulary and insight in the time we’d been apart.
It seemed Thirteen had also realized that Ha-jin, exhausted in body and spirit from countless regressions, was deliberately turning a blind eye to the suspicious details that nagged at him.
While Ha-jin worried internally, thinking “No matter how I think about it, that guy’s going to end up disappearing again or something…,” Thirteen continued speaking as if pouring out everything he’d been holding back all this time.
[System Notification: Anyway, Kang Ha-jin won’t remember anything, right?]
[System Notification: Fine, even if the other Group Members figure it out, I’ll erase their memories too. Nothing will have happened. Isn’t that enough?]
[System Notification: Please just….]
[System Notification: Just pretend you don’t know.]
[System Notification: Don’t get involved in this anymore. Kang Ha-jin’s mission was originally ‘to find the Chosen Regressor and prevent the regression,’ and that’s already finished.]
[System Notification: I absolutely don’t want to drag Kang Ha-jin into this again.]
Thirteen was resolute. Ha-jin was inwardly moved by how that firmness was meant to protect himself.
Ha-jin sat perched on a small structure on the Rooftop, regarding Thirteen with warm eyes. It struck him that even living this long, you could come to care for a bright blue System window like this.
“Thirteen.”
[System Notification: …Don’t call me that.]
“My right hand isn’t moving well.”
[System Notification: …?]
So I’d been trying not to use such a childish emotional appeal strategy, but since my friend was being so stubborn, what choice did I have?
Kang Ha-jin rationalized it that way and held up his right hand. Then, as he repeatedly clenched and unclenched his fist, a sharp tingling pain shot through it, and his fingers began visibly trembling.
“I got this working as a Main PD, and since I used my right hand so much during work, it’s like an occupational injury, you know? Like that tendonitis Fine Arts Department students always have.”
[System Notification: ….]
“But strangely, it got worse after I quit Effect Culture. After I quit, I barely went near a computer. When I went to the Hospital and asked about it, the doctor said there might be some psychological factors involved too.”
Ha-jin gazed down at his right hand, still wearing a faint smile on his face. Even with the simple motion of clenching his fist tightly and slowly releasing it, he could feel the arm muscles tensing rigidly.
“If I don’t stretch it regularly, the arm muscles get stiff like this and my right wrist aches. Sometimes it doesn’t move well either.”
[System Notification: ….]
“But it wasn’t this severe originally, you know?”
Ha-jin shook out his right wrist and lifted his head.
Back when he was twenty-nine, Ha-jin had suffered somewhat from this lingering aftereffect, but not to the point of showing symptoms at random times like this.
The pain had only become noticeably pronounced enough to interfere with daily life after he’d become aware that he was trapped on September 15th, caught in an infinite loop.
Ha-jin scratched his temple with that trembling right hand, his expression troubled.
“I tried to just accept it the way you said it was a ‘fake’ Timeline…. But thinking about it, all those times you called ‘abandoned Timelines’ have been affecting us right now too.”
Ha-jin remembered every word of the explanation Thirteen had given him last time, without a single error.
That this place was the ‘worst Timeline’ for everyone.
“Even if others don’t know, I know.”
Kang Ha-jin understood.
His family. The Group Members.
What kind of ‘worst times’ his precious people had each lived through.
How they’d endured and endured those times, only to eventually collapse.
“I know what kind of nightmare they were living in.”
[System Notification: It’ll all disappear anyway once I erase it.]
“Thirteen.”
[System Notification: Don’t call me that.]
“Just help me once.”
Even knowing their nightmares, Kang Ha-jin could never blind himself to the world and lose himself in butterfly dreams alone.
“I’m not a movie protagonist, not a hero, and sure, I’m not—but even an extra can pack a lunch box next to the lead, right?”
Ha-jin spoke with uncharacteristic uncertainty.
Honestly, he was saying this because he felt he had to do something, but the truth was he still had no real confidence in what he could actually accomplish.
“I can’t leave our kids trapped in that nightmare.”
Yet despite everything, Ha-jin couldn’t simply sit idle.
“I’ll be careful. I won’t ignore you if you tell me something’s dangerous. Even if that bastard Dol-ja pulls some scheme and creates a dangerous situation, I swear I won’t hurt myself like I used to. I’ll protect both my body and mind, keep myself healthy and whole. So….”
[System Notification: ….]
“So help me help our kids, will you? Huh?”
Instead of the cynical threats he usually made, a gentle plea followed.
Ha-jin gazed at Thirteen with eyes full of sincerity. From the System window—nothing but a hollow rectangular box devoid of emotion—there seemed to emanate an indescribable sadness.
[System Notification: …Why.]
After a long pause, Thirteen’s response came back as it always did: “Why.”
[System Notification: Why is Kang Ha-jin an extra?]
“Huh?”
But what followed was completely different from what Ha-jin had expected.
[System Notification: How can Kang Ha-jin be an extra? Don’t you know that these days the genre where extras become protagonists is all the rage? How can you call yourself an otaku and ignore such trends!]
“Hey, why are you focusing on that of all things right now…?”
[System Notification: Why…!]
“…?”
[System Notification: Why are you speaking with so little confidence!]
At Thirteen’s words, Ha-jin’s mouth opened and closed like a goldfish before snapping shut.
[System Notification: You should threaten me like you always do! Say you’ll devour that bastard Dol-ja in one bite, boast about it! That way I can rationalize that the only way to keep this troublemaker Regressor in check is to lock him away on September 15th! Why, why…!]
“….”
[System Notification: Why won’t you even give me an excuse, really….]
There were no emoticons to make Thirteen’s tone playful as usual.
Yet in that moment, Ha-jin thought that if Thirteen were human, he would surely be crying his eyes out right now, burying his face in his own arms.
Of course, the Time Management Authority had said that they could never take the form of a living being, so Ha-jin would probably never witness Thirteen weeping like that….
“…Thanks, buddy.”
Still, Kang Ha-jin felt a little warmth knowing he had a Time Management Authority friend who cared and worried about him this much.
And he believed without a shadow of doubt that his friend would grant his request this time as well.

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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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