Grab the Regressor by the Collar and Debut - Chapter 531

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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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531. Entering the Eye of the Typhoon (3)
I found the Group Members.
At the welcome yet trembling news, I found myself closing my mouth, and Ju Eun-chan leaned forward excitedly as he spoke.
“The information you gave us was a huge help. There are still some people we haven’t found yet… but I don’t think it’ll take that much longer. And….”
“…?”
The guy who’d been cheerfully reporting on the progress suddenly stopped mid-sentence. Wondering what was wrong, I lifted my head and saw Ju Eun-chan hesitating in an uncharacteristic way.
“You told me absolutely not to meet first, so I asked them to investigate as discreetly as possible….”
“…asked them to?”
“Well, I mean, that’s….”
Ju Eun-chan, who rarely stumbled over his words, trailed off awkwardly. I couldn’t pretend not to understand what that reaction meant, so I rested my chin on one hand and asked directly.
“You got caught?”
“Yes.”
“And you couldn’t deny it?”
“…Yes.”
“Good, your honesty is exactly like you. I like it.”
Those broad-shouldered guys would’ve done the investigating anyway, and he could’ve made up some excuse about being a reporter or something.
Our Ju Eun-chan, whose name means “pure” and whose character means “upright,” had unfortunately blurted out the truth in its entirety.
Since I hadn’t told him not to meet first for any particular reason, there wasn’t really a problem, but….
“So?”
“…Yes?”
“Your reaction was terrible, so you’re looking like death warmed over right now because someone caught you, right? Who found out, and how badly did they tear into you?”
“Well, that’s….”
Hit right on the mark, the guy just kept folding tissues like origami, and eventually he grabbed the cold water I’d emptied and refilled earlier and chugged it. By the time Ju Eun-chan had drained half the water bottle before even one menu item had arrived, he was pouring out his grievances to me with a thoroughly miserable expression.
“Si-woo and Yoo Gun found out first!”
“Oh my.”
“Both of them said they never want to get involved again, so they told me absolutely not to come find them!”
“Goodness….”
“You’re making fun of me right now, aren’t you!?”
“Heh, so by the time you hit twenty-seven, you’re already picking up on that kind of thing? I’ll have to keep that in mind.”
“I’m being serious right now…!”
I’m sorry, Eun-chan.
Let me say it again—how grateful I am to the heavens that even in this serious situation, I can tease you. Your older brother is truly thankful.
Watching Ju Eun-chan’s face, which looked like a wronged dumpling, I chuckled, and he huffed indignantly before finishing off the remaining half bottle of water. I handed him the menu and pressed the call button.
“Come on, don’t start getting a headache already. Just pick something from the menu. Your older brother has been starving since earlier—I thought I was going to die. I was about to starve to death before getting back to the original timeline.”
“…The special A course here is the most delicious, so I pre-ordered that. Since you don’t like lamb, I changed the meat to beef ribeye, and I asked them to remove the tomatoes and eggplant. Since neither of us drinks alcohol, I also asked them to prepare non-alcoholic beverages instead of wine.”
“….”
“What is it again?”
“Every time something like this happens, it freshly hits me that you’re a rich kid.”
“Now you’re saying that?”
Ju Eun-chan looked at me with genuine incomprehension, but I was sincere.
Mother. I think I really ended up with a silver-spoon younger sibling. Just wait a moment. I’ll become a dragon rising from the stream with this golden network. These days even water spirits ascend through school ties, regional connections, and blood relations. This ruthless world.
Making a vow that sounded like nonsense but was surprisingly sincere, I offered Ju Eun-chan a few words of comfort as he continued to pout.
“It’s fine. The reason I told you not to meet them first was because we didn’t know what situation they were in, and I was worried you might panic if something unexpected happened. Those two you mentioned—I would’ve gotten the same reaction even if I’d met them first.”
“…Really? I was just worried that maybe the situation got worse because I investigated them….”
“No, what. Even if you’d gone looking for them through back channels, the reaction wouldn’t have been different, would it? Think about the current situation and those two’s usual personalities.”
Jeong Si-u, who was merciless to outsiders even on normal days—no different from the King of Hell himself—or Yoo Gun, who ignored everything in the world until he properly set his goals as an idol.
Since he’d gotten caught by those two, whose instincts were terrifyingly sharp and whose ability to cut ties was faster than light, whatever Ju Eun-chan heard from them was a music video waiting to happen.
“Is that so…?”
See? He’s convinced now too.
I chuckled softly watching Ju Eun-chan, who easily fell for it again and rolled his eyes around. Just then, the door opened and staff members carefully entered the room carrying today’s meal.
‘Anyway, Jeong Si-u is one thing, but if Yoo Gun had that stance too, then that guy probably hasn’t awakened yet either….’
Unlike Jeong Si-u, whose awakening probability was low and wouldn’t be helpful even if he did awaken, if Yoo Gun still hadn’t awakened, that would be quite problematic.
In this idol group world, Yoo Gun was the only member with whom I had official discord rumors, and at this point, he had no lingering attachment as an idol either.
For that guy to cooperate willingly with the ‘Kairos Revival Operation,’ he absolutely had to awaken first.
‘Kim Thirteen. Is there no way for me to artificially awaken the kids?’
[System Alert: Hmm…. There might be! The problem is it won’t be easy….]
[System Alert: First, let me look into the methods!]
[System Alert: (･`◡´･)ゝ]
Alright, I’ll leave that with Kim Thirteen for now.
While I was thinking, the staff member finished serving and withdrew. They said it was some kind of course meal, so it seemed they’d bring out appetizers one by one. On this spacious, luxurious table, there was only this meager salad-like dish.
“….”
“….”
“…Eun-chan.”
“Yes, yes?”
Ju Eun-chan seemed to have similar thoughts as me, and he looked at me sheepishly as if he understood why I’d called him so meaningfully. I smiled at Ju Eun-chan and made a suggestion.
“How about we just get gamja-tang next time? We can relive some memories too.”
“Ah, I was originally planning to do that too…! It’s just that there aren’t any gamja-tang restaurants with good security and a quiet atmosphere, so I couldn’t convince hyung….”
“Right. In these ten years, hyungnim has become quite the excellent younger sibling… no, a younger sibling fool.”
“I still find it difficult being in places with many unfamiliar people….”
“…I should be considerate. I should be careful. Fine dining is great, the best. So private and refined and charming. Not a single line of my privacy leaks out, just like that. Look, the lettuce is just flowing down, melting.”
“That’s jellyfish, hyung.”
Yeah, that’s right.
Caught off guard by the unexpected blunder, I found my rambling amusing, and Ju Eun-chan finally burst into laughter with an “Ahahaha!” sound. He looked much better than he had been sulking all this time.
After laughing for a while, he opened his mouth again as if remembering something, just as I was inhaling all of that jellyfish salad that looked like lettuce.
“Oh, right. Hyung.”
“Hmm?”
“I contacted another hyung besides Si-woo hyung and Yoo Gun hyung.”
“…Who?”
“Do-ha hyung.”
“Lee Do-ha?”
At the mention of my dear same-aged friend’s name, my voice unconsciously rose by a pitch. Truth be told, even I couldn’t track where Do-ha was or what he was doing, so I’d had no information to share—which made hearing about him all the more welcome.
‘Whether Do-ha’s worst was when he quit athletics, or when he quit music, or some other timeline I don’t know about… I need to figure that out.’
In any case, if Do-ha joined us in this situation, it would be like gaining heavenly reinforcements.
For one, music production would become possible as Kairos, and that guy’s calm and bold mentality would be a tremendous asset to us in any situation. Besides, Do-ha had the highest likelihood of cooperating with us whether he’d awakened or not.
“So? Where is Do-ha right now and what’s he doing?”
“Well, that’s….”
“Hey, did he already sell off all his music equipment? Ah, he shouldn’t have sold that. Wait, no—since Eun-chan has plenty of money now, can you get the equipment again? Ah, I just treated your money like it was mine, didn’t I? Sorry, man.”
“No, hyung. That’s….”
“So, how did he react? Did he awaken? Should he have awakened or not? No, never mind. Even if he didn’t awaken, I can just convince him again―.”
“Hyung! Let me speak!”
Overwhelmed by my excited rambling, Ju Eun-chan extended both hands to calm me down. As I blinked and pressed my lips shut, Eun-chan gestured as if asking permission to speak now.
I nodded, and after exhaling softly, Eun-chan opened his mouth.
“First, Do-ha hyung has awakened. From what I heard, it seems he awakened even before I did.”
“…Really?”
“Yes. He saw the busking video you did in Busan and has been watching the articles keep coming out. He hasn’t figured out the exact details, but he’s already noticed that this timeline is one where something went wrong related to Ha-ru.”
“What?”
Bear had been aware of the entire situation from start to finish.
I was about to nod slightly at this surprising yet reassuring news when I suddenly noticed something odd and set my fork down on the table.
“Wait. …But then why didn’t he contact me first?”
Given that he knew all of this, the fact that Do-ha hadn’t reached out to me before Eun-chan found him was definitely strange. If he hadn’t awakened, that would be one thing, but if he had awakened, shouldn’t he have sought out either me or Ha-ru first, just like Eun-chan did?
Just as I was about to worry whether something had happened to Do-ha in this timeline that I didn’t know about, Eun-chan handed me the tablet he’d been keeping beside him the whole time.
“What’s this?”
“It’s a document with Do-ha hyung’s and the other members’ current locations. Please read it yourself, hyung.”
“…?”
Did he go abroad for some kind of escape study abroad program?
Bewildered, I checked the tablet screen. As my eyes quickly scanned the members’ addresses, I caught sight of two addresses listed side by side.
【Seo Tae-hyun ‖ Goseong County, Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province….】
【Lee Do-ha ‖ Cheorwon County, Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province….】
“Gangwon Province…? Cheorwon…?”
Seo Tae-hyun’s location was naturally expected, so it wasn’t particularly surprising, but Do-ha…?
‘Could it be…?’
With a foolish expression, I looked at Eun-chan, and he quietly nodded with a face that said ‘That’s exactly what you’re thinking.’
“Do-ha hyung is currently serving his military service.”
“….”
“Republic of Korea Army. And at the front lines, no less. He’s almost a sergeant now.”
“….”
Right.
Generally speaking, if you ask a healthy South Korean man when his worst period was, it would be that time….
‘…Hang in there, buddy.’
For my friend’s ordeal that I couldn’t help with, I offered a quiet moment of silence.

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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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