Grab the Regressor by the Collar and Debut - Chapter 52

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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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52. I Want to Go Back (2)
Everyone stared at Kang Ha-jin in surprise at the unexpected result, but he himself wore a composed expression, silently applauding his battle opponent Sung-woo. Following Kang Ha-jin’s lead, the other trainees slowly clapped as well, though their tilted heads and darting glances between the two made it clear they still didn’t understand what had just happened.
“Well then, now.”
Despite the shocking outcome, the recording continued. Seo Tae-il, who had regained control of the atmosphere, shouted at the trainees with solemn determination.
“We’re now revealing the new Wings Rank, calculated by combining the trainees’ existing scores and bonuses!”
〜〚WINGS OF MIRO MAZE〛〜
Jeong Si-u, Han Sung-woo, Lee Yu-gun
Gong Seok, Kang Ha-jin, Seo Tae-hyun, Yuki
The Wings Rank had shifted. For results from the first mission, it was quite a significant change, and the trainees stirred with excitement. Even amid the commotion, Kang Ha-jin kept his gaze fixed on his name on the scoreboard. Very still. Very quiet.
“Congratulations to all the trainees newly entering the Wings Rank, and to those who have maintained their positions within it.”
This was the moment when applause should have erupted, but everyone remained silent. Then the lighting changed.
“The trainees newly entering the Wings Rank will receive the brooch that proves your rank….”
After drawing out the moment, Seo Tae-il exhaled his next words like a sigh.
“Directly from the trainees eliminated from the Wings Rank—Ju Eun-chan, Dan Ha-ru, and Lee Do-ha. Please go and retrieve them.”
Wow, these demonic forced resignations.
I silently marveled at the setup, shaking my head. Won-ho beside me was spouting something about being relieved he didn’t make the Wings Rank. The shifted lighting illuminated where Gong Seok stood.
“Gong Seok, please approach the trainee of your choice.”
Even though it was just retrieving a brooch, Gong Seok couldn’t decide easily and shuffled his feet nervously. After deliberating for a while, he hesitantly walked toward Lee Do-ha, thinking they’d grown somewhat closer through the recent monthly evaluation.
“Do, Do-ha. I’m sorry!”
“But you won, hyung?”
With a face that genuinely couldn’t fathom the reason, Lee Do-ha calmly detached his brooch and handed it to Gong Seok. As Gong Seok hurried back to his spot like he’d been caught committing a crime, the lighting shifted once more.
This time, it was my turn.
“Kang Ha-jin. Please approach.”
I paused briefly before moving forward.
‘No matter who I choose, I’m going to get criticized.’
Tae-il watched the direction of my steps, swallowing a small worry. Having this much narrative from the first recording was good in many ways, but….
‘Whichever one I take, the optics won’t look good.’
Moreover, I was the one who lost in the battle. I couldn’t accept this score, but that’s how the results came out. At least the team won, so it’s fortunate—if we’d lost the team battle too, I would’ve been torn apart by all sorts of criticism unless the main PD deliberately stepped in to save me.
‘It’s not easy from the start.’
Tae-il, who secretly hoped I would debut, unconsciously let out a worried sigh. But he quickly remembered they were still recording and tensed his facial muscles again.
Whether I knew of Tae-il’s concern or not, I slowly came to a stop.
“Here.”
With Eun-chan and Ha-ru on either side, I stood in the middle. Both of them looked at me with slightly tense expressions. After a brief pause, I flashed my characteristic bright smile and spoke.
“A precious younger sibling who will sincerely celebrate my advancement to the Wings Rank.”
Then I spread both arms wide.
“First come, first served.”
“…!”
“…!!”
Eun-chan and Ha-ru, who had been wondering what I was thinking, suddenly had their eyes light up. “First come, first served”—it somehow felt like a title where losing meant actually losing.
“Me! Me! I’ll give you mine!”
“I just don’t feel like losing anymore.”
A rare spectacle unfolded as the two of them rushed to insist that I take their brooch, bickering back and forth. Contrary to what the production team had intended, both of them started arguing that I should have theirs, and laughter erupted across the frozen set.
“…Fine, you do it.”
“Yes! Thank you!”
Just as an impromptu dance battle between the two was about to materialize to decide who would give me the brooch, Eun-chan ultimately conceded, unable to resist Ha-ru’s adorable gaze—he was a year younger, after all—and the winner was decided.
“Seriously. I was worried for nothing.”
Seo Tae-il shrugged his shoulders in disbelief, watching the three of them. Beyond them, the atmosphere among the staff observing the recording wasn’t bad either. Was this what they called innate sense? Tae-il quietly marveled at Ha-jin, who had become the center of attention in an instant.
“….”
Ha-ru, who had finally obtained the opportunity(?) to hand over the brooch to Ha-jin, stood before him. Ha-ru looked at the wing brooch in his hands once, then at Ha-jin standing before him once more.
“…Hyung.”
“What.”
“You really seem amazing, Hyung.”
As if contemplating something, and then as if realizing it, Ha-ru smiled brightly and handed his brooch to Ha-jin. Congratulations on your Wings Rank. With sincerity in his voice, Ha-jin nodded in return.
“Yeah, watch and learn a lot.”
A silver wing brooch was fastened to Ha-jin’s chest. Unlike the silence that had lingered before, natural applause and cheers erupted.
“Cut.”
And, outside the camera’s frame, watching it all unfold, there was one more person clapping louder than anyone else.
“The protagonist for episodes 1 and 2 has appeared.”
Kwon PD’s eyes, watching Ha-jin’s face on the monitor, gleamed like those of a predator that had found its prey.
* * *
After recording ended, the trainees were still waiting for their individual interviews and hadn’t returned to the Dormitory yet. Confirming that my turn was still quite far off, I double-checked that the audio pack on my microphone was off and moved to a different spot.
“Seo Tae-hyun, call me if anyone asks for me.”
“Hyung, where are you going?”
“I need some time alone.”
“…Sometimes I don’t understand you, Hyung.”
Leaving Seo Tae-hyun with his bewildered expression full of question marks behind, I headed to the practice room on the 5th Floor. It was the only place where being alone wouldn’t seem strange, where the soundproofing was excellent, where it wasn’t cold, and where there were no cameras.
The moment I closed the door and stepped inside, as if the system knew what I was about to do, a system window appeared before my eyes.
[System Notification: Information accessible to the ‘Fixed Regressor’ is limited.]
“Then how much can you explain?”
[System Notification: ….]
“Just try. Do your best. I need to know something now.”
The true nature of all these bizarre phenomena.
At my words, spoken while I crossed my arms and glared, the system window loaded for a moment, then displayed a familiar popup.
[Single Quest 03.]
[‘Do you want to become special?’]
Content: The trainers still show little interest in you, a mere novice trainee. Achieve excellent results in the end-of-month evaluation, stand out, and enter the Special Class!]
[Quest completed.]
[Success Reward: Clue for Regression Tracking & Ally Recruitment]
[Will you claim your reward? (Select reward to claim)]
1. Clue for Regression Tracking
2. Recruiting Colleagues]
It was the reward from a Quest I hadn’t been able to claim before. Ha-jin stared quietly at the system window, nodded as if grasping the intent, and pressed the claim button for the first reward.
Fwoooosh—
“Seriously, can’t this be patched somehow?”
Please, before my eyes pop out of their sockets.
Whether I complained or not, once again a light as brilliant as the sun engulfed the space.
‘What on earth is it trying to show me?’
Filled with countless questions, another person’s memory unfolded before me.
* * *
The One had always been unfortunate.
An orphan who didn’t even know who their parents were. Two adoptions and two returns. In the end, it was the Orphanage Director—who took pity on The One—who took them in.
Among immature children, being ‘different’ was sometimes being ‘wrong’.
Hair and eyes that were naturally pale in color.
Skin that was unusually fair and flushed.
The absence of parents.
The One’s difference became a reason for ostracism.
-Nothing happened at School today?
-No, it was fine.
Still, The One was generally always fine.
-Are you really sure about not going to university? Even now, if you….
-No, it’s okay. Running the Orphanage is already overwhelming for you. I’m grateful just for being raised by you.
Though I couldn’t attend School properly and had to survive by working various part-time jobs every day, I was still generally always fine.
-If you just live through today, someday there will come a time when tomorrow becomes something to look forward to. For you too.
Believing in the words the Orphanage Director had given me, I simply lived day by day, looking forward to that anticipated tomorrow.
-Hey, I said let go!
-Sir, if you continue like this here….
-Hey! Who do you think you are, acting so cocky!?
That day was an exhausting one.
At the Bar job that ended late into the night, I took the full brunt of a drunk customer causing trouble, thoroughly intoxicated. While escorting him outside the shop and getting into a physical struggle, my only pair of shoes caught on something and the sole tore off.
-Oh, suddenly it’s raining….
By the time I was leaving work, it suddenly started raining. The umbrella I hastily grabbed from the shop happened to be broken, so I became a little depressed.
-Hello?
-Yeah, it was raining outside. Did you bring an umbrella?
-Yes. I grabbed one from the shop.
-It’s dawn, so it must be dangerous. Should I come pick you up?
-How old am I to need picking up? Just go back to sleep.
To the call from the Orphanage Director, I didn’t have the emotional capacity to respond warmly as I usually did. The rain continued to fall, and I still had to walk another ten minutes to get home. I was also bothered by my old secondhand phone continuing to get soaked in the rain.
-Still, it’s the middle of the night, and if something goes wrong… why don’t you just take a taxi?
-I’m almost there already, what taxi? I’m really fine, so just go to sleep, please. I’m fine.
I hung up the phone with an irritated voice. It had been an exhausting day in every way. I suddenly found myself thinking.
‘Ah. Maybe I should just die.’
If this was all life had to offer, would it matter if there was no tomorrow? That’s when the Orphanage Director called again.
-Just get some sleep, I’m really fine…!
-Forgive me, but what is your relationship to the phone’s owner?
And that night, the Orphanage Director passed away.
-I’m sorry…. I’m so sorry….
A hit-and-run drunk driving accident, they said. The accident occurred in a dark, treacherous alley—the very same alley The One passed through every evening on the way home from work.
-….
-Are you okay?
-…No.
The One was in agony. Everything was agony. For the first time in my life, everything had become unbearable. I no longer wondered about tomorrow. All of my time had frozen in an unfixable ‘yesterday’.
[Then, would you like to go back? To a moment when you were happy.]
It was in that moment that The One heard the voice that would change my destiny.

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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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