Grab the Regressor by the Collar and Debut - Chapter 519

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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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519. Searching for Spring (3)
After pondering for a long time, the answer had already been decided.
“I’ll do it.”
The timeline was already shattered into fragments anyway. Losing a few days from it didn’t seem like it would kill me.
“I’ll do it that way. What happens when I sacrifice the timeline?”
[System Alert: Literally, all events that occurred during that time will disappear.]
[System Alert: For example, if you exchange the 2 years of military service, you’ll secure 2 years of time in this place going forward, but in exchange, Kang Ha-jin’s military service will be erased as if it never happened.]
“You… even when giving examples, why do you have to pick something so horrifying…?”
[System Alert: However, those 2 years won’t completely disappear. That time will be appropriately reconstructed in a way that doesn’t damage Kang Ha-jin’s overall timeline.]
[System Alert: Also, everything I’m telling you now is limited only to the ‘current timeline,’ so it won’t have any impact on ‘reality.’]
That final explanation—that it wouldn’t affect the real timeline—was at least some consolation.
These were times I had genuinely wanted to erase completely and start over, filled with nothing but failure, yet when I actually had to delete part of them, my lips wouldn’t move.
[System Alert: The maximum period I can allow is 1 year. Nothing more than that.]
[System Alert: Also, even within the same timeline, not all periods are full of energy.]
[System Alert: Only the time periods from the past 10 years that had significant impact on Kang Ha-jin can be exchanged 1:1 with temporal energy.]
[System Alert: What will you do?]
[System Alert: Will you exchange?]
Ha-jin thought.
One year.
If I had to erase one year from my past ten years.
“….”
Countless candidates flashed through my mind.
First, I couldn’t exchange the time from age nineteen to twenty-one when I was active in Kairos. I had to revive ‘that’ Kairos in the future.
‘Ages twenty-two to twenty-four are also out.’
In the current timeline, Kang Ha-jin was ‘processed’ as having enlisted in the military after the group disbanded at age twenty-one. If the military service fact disappeared again this time, the moment I gained one year of time, I would first receive an enlistment notice.
I couldn’t suffer through the military even here!
Besides, going to the military as an unemployed twenty-nine-year-old? Just kill me.
‘So what’s left is… when I worked at Studio A and Effect Culture…’
Soon, Ha-jin made a decision.
“Alright. I’ve decided.”
[System Alert: Which time period will you exchange?]
“From twenty-eight to twenty-nine, the 1 year when I quit Studio A and worked at Effect Culture.”
[System Alert: …Are you sure about this?]
“If I’m going to return to Kairos, it’s better to have no connection to that kind of manipulation program. Between Kwon Myung and that bastard Choi CEO, I’d choose Kwon Myung anyway.”
[System Alert: ….]
“It’s fine. I’ve made my peace with it.”
Ha-jin nodded as if he truly meant it.
Thirteen, who had been hesitating for a moment, seemed to realize he could no longer stop Ha-jin, and ultimately accepted his choice.
[System Alert: Very well. Then I’ll process it that way.]
[System Alert: I look forward to working with you going forward!]
[System Notification: ✧⁺⸜( •⌄• )⸝⁺✧]
“Alright.”
[System Notification: I suppose you’d prefer to proceed in a familiar manner, yes?]
“…?”
As if the contract had finally been sealed, Thirteen scattered the Sparkle effect around and greeted me warmly.
At that familiar enthusiasm, Ha-jin smiled, and Thirteen seemed to be plotting something before creating a new window with a *pop* sound.
[Basic Quest: ‘Emergency! Kairos★’ has been registered. (New!)]
[Single Quest: ‘Find the Lost Comrades’ has been registered. (New!)]
[Will you accept the Quest? (YES / NO)]
At that Quest window, which I hadn’t seen in ages, Ha-jin laughed loudly and rare for him, nodding his head with a “haha!”
“Why ask?”
I’d accept even if it killed me.
Ha-jin’s right hand, having long forgotten its trembling, rapidly clicked the Quest acceptance button.
* * *
That evening.
Ha-jin took his family home from work and went to a real galbi restaurant near his house.
“Eat, eat. It’s on me today!”
“No, what kind of meat costs 60,000 won per serving….”
“Tsk, don’t look at the menu and just enjoy it. I have money.”
“But where did this money even come from?”
“Besides, I can’t put back the savings I already broke. Ah, forget it. Just eat what your brother is treating you to.”
“…I’m eating, what.”
Ha-won, who was learning for the first time that at expensive meat restaurants the staff grill and cut the meat themselves, seemed unfamiliar with this atmosphere and looked around awkwardly several times.
Ha-jin pushed a side dish bowl toward Ha-won and smiled softly.
“Tasty, right? The grain is a bit different from pork belly, isn’t it?”
“Well… it’s worth the price.”
He’d like it, of course.
Even in the twenty-first timeline, Kang Ha-won quite enjoyed beef. The reason was that it was much cleaner than pork, which produced a lot of fat and sometimes left him feeling indigested and bloated after eating.
‘The little guy has expensive taste.’
His parents, who had glanced at the table bill several times, eventually realized that constantly worrying prevented them from eating properly, which was actually rude to their son. From some point on, they began to offer their own taste assessments and looked around the restaurant, regaining their composure.
Ha-jin gazed at them with warmth.
“….”
Perhaps if that version of myself had escaped that small bed just a little earlier.
Thinking that maybe that version of me could have had a tomorrow like this, I felt somehow a little….
“…Mom, Dad.”
Ha-jin cleared his throat with a hum and barely opened his mouth. For a moment, heat rushed to his eyes, but when he rubbed them a few times as if the smoke from grilling the meat was irritating his eyes, his family didn’t seem to notice.
At the sound of their eldest son calling them in a serious voice while eating deliciously, his parents seemed a bit tense.
Ha-jin smiled warmly at the two of them and continued.
“There’s something I’d like to tell you.”
“Yeah, what is it?”
“….”
Ha-jin paused, carefully choosing my words.
I never imagined I’d say this again in this lifetime.
If dreams were this vivid, they’d be incurable.
“I’m… thinking about challenging the idol industry again.”
“….”
“I know I’m older and honestly, I know it’s almost impossible… but recently, Seo Tae-il offered me something like that. He said he wanted to write a song for me.”
The moment I finished my conversation with Thirteen, I immediately contacted Seo Tae-il.
It was unlikely, but if Seo Tae-il had changed his mind in the meantime and said something different, it would have been quite problematic.
-Hello?
-Hello, senior. This is Kang Ha-jin from Kairos, the one you met before. That fate in front of Haeundae Beach.
-Ha ha, of course I knew who was calling. Why are you being so formal on the phone? You’re making me feel bad. What’s the matter?
Fortunately, Seo Tae-il didn’t ignore my call.
But I couldn’t let my guard down yet. I was about to commit an enormous rudeness to Seo Tae-il.
-Is that offer you made to me back then still valid?
-…The one about writing a song?
-Yes.
In this timeline, since I was neither Little Seo Tae-il nor Seo Tae-il’s honorary son, if he took offense at my words, everything would end in that instant.
Seo Tae-il, who seemed to be pondering for a moment, soon answered cheerfully.
-Yes. It’s still valid.
At the answer I’d hoped for, I swallowed hard.
-Senior, please listen to what I’m about to say without misunderstanding.
-…? Yes, well. Go ahead and tell me.
-Is there perhaps some condition that the song you’re giving me must be sung by me alone…?
Ugh, I’d been too roundabout.
In trying to be careful with my words, I’d ended up speaking like I was posing a riddle, and I squeezed my eyes shut.
Should I have just been honest from the start?
But the words had already left my mouth.
-…Ha ha ha!
-…?
-Or what? Who are you planning to sing it with?
From that hearty laugh, it was clear that Seo Tae-il had already figured out what I wanted to do.
At this point, I had nothing to lose. I gripped my phone respectfully with both hands and boldly laid out my true intention.
-Senior.
-Yes.
-Isn’t it a waste to settle your comeback work as merely a solo song by some nameless junior?
-A waste?
-What if we expanded the scale a bit more?
-….
-A story like this: Kairos, who debuted with a song made by the great genius producer Seo Tae-il but ultimately failed, and the great producer Seo Tae-il returning after a long absence to give these juniors a second chance…
Kang Ha-jin was somewhat tense.
For Kairos, which was virtually unknown, to successfully take its first step into the K-pop industry, the backing of Seo Tae-il was absolutely necessary.
If Seo Tae-il rejected this proposal, then from that point on, an already difficult path would become even more treacherous.
-….
Seo Tae-il remained silent for quite some time.
Whether he was mentally calculating something or trying to peer into the mind of this audacious junior was unclear.
In any case, Ha-jin felt hope simply because he hadn’t hung up the phone immediately.
-Hyung.
-Yes?
After a long silence, the response that came back was a rather unexpected form of address.
When Ha-jin, being suddenly called “hyung” by Seo Tae-il, nervously adjusted his grip on the phone with sweat beading on his forehead, Seo Tae-il soon delivered his answer with a pleased laugh.
-From now on, call me hyung. If I’m going to play the role of a benevolent senior helping his beloved juniors make a comeback, I need to look like we have that kind of rapport.
-…! Yes, hyung! Thank you so much!!
The first button had snapped into place successfully.
Ha-jin, recalling the exhilarating phone call with Tae-il, held up three fingers to his family members who were staring at him with bewildered expressions.
“Three months. If I can convince the members and bring them together within three months, the senior said he’d personally create a comeback opportunity for us. Whether it’s a project or whatever, I just want to do it one more time with the guys.”
“…What if you can’t gather the members within three months? You haven’t contacted them once since you quit anyway. Do you even have their contact information?”
“If I can’t gather the members within three months, we agreed to call the whole thing off. There’s no point in me doing this alone anyway.”
“….”
“Can I try, Mom?”
Ha-jin’s gaze turned toward his mother.
He wondered if she resented what this entertainment industry was, that her son had spent nearly thirty years unable to escape from that world even once.
Perhaps this time she would finally ask him to quit and find a proper way to make a living, taking his hand in hers?
All sorts of family opposition scenes from dramas came to mind, but somehow Ha-jin’s heart remained calm.
“…Alright.”
Perhaps he already knew his parents’ answer.
“Do everything you can. Without regrets.”
“Yeah. No regrets.”
Ha-jin nodded firmly. With that, the two of them resumed their meal as if that settled it. Ha-won also watched Ha-jin from beside him, but didn’t add anything in particular.
‘So I’ve got the family’s permission….’
Watching his family continue their meal in harmony, Ha-jin quietly pulled out his phone.
He’d cleared the biggest hurdle, but there were still several more foundation stones he needed to lay for Kairos’s successful comeback.
“….”
Among the numerous contacts remaining in his phone, Ha-jin’s gaze fixed on one in particular.
A profile of someone who would be just as crucial a foundation stone as Seo Tae-il filled his phone screen.
-I’m sorry, Ha-jin.
-At my age, to be burning with a sense of justice… this world is too…. unfair.
【Studio A_Kwon Myung-eun Senior】
Kwon Myung-eun.
In this timeline, Kang Ha-jin was determined to extract proper help from her.

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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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