Grab the Regressor by the Collar and Debut - Chapter 566

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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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566. The Worst Timeline (1)
After finishing filming for 【In the Chaos】, I spent a solid three days sprawled across my bed.
And I mean that literally—the bed and I had become one entity. My mother got so fed up that she even turned to Ha-won with mock tears, saying, “Your older brother was always so kind and diligent, but look at him now—he’s turned into a mattress. What a shame.”
[System Notification: Your mother is quite ⓜⓩ, isn’t she?]
‘As if you’re any better?’
What kind of system in this world was so genuinely committed to self-expression?
Kim Thirteen, shocked by my rebuttal, kept flashing emoticons (Σ(； ･`д･´) and the like across my vision, so I casually shoved the system window to the corner of my sight and locked its position. Only then did it stop moving and start squeaking pitifully, unable to budge.
[System Notification: Don’t treat the system like a smartphone widget! ٩(´Д` ;)۶:.*]
Yeah, I can’t see you.
Pleased with my victory once again, I raised my eyebrows and turned my head.
Through the window stretched a vast autumn sky, and somehow my heart felt completely unburdened. When I cracked the window open, a sharp, biting wind pricked my face.
As I breathed in the refreshing outside air, my true feelings leaked out without my realizing it.
“I’m back here again… Good Lord…”
After three days of near-hibernation, several more weeks had passed.
And here I was, arriving somewhere once more.
The moment I thought about where this place was, a wave of despair washed over me, leaving my heart in complete turmoil.
As I gazed at the clear sky and sighed heavily, my traveling companion for today—Companion #1—turned to look at me from across the way.
“Are you sure you’re okay, hyung? You don’t look well at all…”
Ju Eun-chan, my Companion #1, had worry filling his dark eyes.
Black hair, black eyes, black clothes too.
Behind this fellow who looked even more like a black cat than usual, my other traveling companion—Companion #2—sat beside me and shrugged lightly with an easy answer.
“Leave him be. This hyung’s just hungry. Feed him something and he’ll be fine.”
“Yu Gun, you have a tendency to treat me like either a child or a dog sometimes.”
“So you’re not eating?”
Lee Yu-gun, my Companion #2, held up a gift box he’d set beside him and shook it temptingly in front of me.
The carefully wrapped box had a light blue memo note attached that read “Thank you –Yoo-rang & Yoo-ho”. Inside were various snacks from Jeju Island, neatly arranged.
Instead of the tangerine tart that Lee Yu-gun was dangling temptingly in front of my face, I picked up that memo note.
“Wait, so the Tigers are already twenty-three now? That doesn’t make sense.”
“Why doesn’t it make sense? Ju Eun-chan is already twenty-seven.”
“I haven’t even been to Yoo-ho’s middle school graduation ceremony or taken pictures. I didn’t even get to send a congratulatory video for Yoo-rang’s high school festival. Twenty-three? A college senior? This is ridiculous.”
“Yoo-ho’s still in the military and hasn’t graduated yet… But more importantly, why would you go to their graduation ceremonies? And what do you mean by a congratulatory video?”
Lee Yu-gun, who had been sharing snacks with Ju Eun-chan sitting in front, sensed something odd and turned to look at me. With a bewildered expression, he watched as I carefully held the memo note so it wouldn’t crease, pleading earnestly.
“Can’t I? I never got to do those things because Ha-won and I are the same age.”
“That’s just because Ha-won hyung dislikes that sort of thing.”
Ju Eun-chan, quietly munching on the peanut chocolate pie that Lee Yu-gun had given him, delivered a dry statement of fact. The way he chewed with his mouth full, completely free of malice, made it hurt all the more.
I pulled out a delicious-looking tart from the box and muttered to myself.
“No… I mean, even if not Yoo-ho, Yoo-rang might actually like that sort of thing, right? You guys don’t know, but Yoo-rang really likes me. When you all moved houses back then and I helped, Yoo-rang even said directly that I was his favorite…”
“Hyung.”
“Hm?”
“You keep forgetting—what kind of relationship did you and I have here?”
“….”
Yu Gun bit into a peanut butter sandwich with a dry expression, then fixed me with an equally parched gaze. After taking a measured sip of coffee, he added quietly.
“The day my brother posted a photo of us together on social media, Yu-rang called me ten times. Asking if my brother was okay.”
“….”
“Yu-ho left his studies at the dormitory and came straight to where I work. Then he threw a fit, demanding to know why he’d suddenly shown up like that….”
“Right, we’ve been trapped in a world where everyone’s against us. I forgot for a moment, my bad.”
Ah, my favorability points, scattered to the winds….
In the original timeline, I’d painstakingly built up affection with Yu Gun by secretly sending him allowance and buying him snacks—all of it rendered worthless now. This timeline really was The Returner’s reckless gambit.
I slumped my shoulders pathetically and opened my mouth with timid hesitation.
“So if we go back to normal… I can still attend the graduation ceremony…?”
“…Ask the kids directly.”
“Yes!”
The eldest son of the Lee household had (effectively) given his approval.
With that settled, I needed to return to reality soon—if only to dress up and attend the Tigers’ graduation ceremony in style. And there was also the Festival video.
I pulled the System window back from the corner where I’d pushed it aside. Opening the Quest tab, my current quests displayed themselves in neat, organized rows.
[Basic Quest S2 01.]
‘Emergency: Kairos★’
Objective: Successfully revive Kairos.
Reward: Return to the real world (Young, Rich, Tall, and Handsome)
[Single Quest S2 01.]
‘Finding Lost Comrades’
Objective: A thousand-mile journey begins with a single step! Let’s gather our scattered comrades once more. Perhaps an unexpected encounter awaits?
Success Reward:
-Unexpected Fortune
-Time Energy Generated for Reality Return
Additional Reward: When recruiting members whose recruitment hasn’t been activated, additional time energy is generated.
[Until Reality Return…]
[■■■□□□□□□ 37%]
37 percent.
Thinking back to when I first received this quest—it was only in the teens—it seemed I was making steady, decent progress.
While I was pondering how to collect it faster, Yu Gun set his coffee down on the table and exhaled like a sigh.
“But we need to go back first before we can ask anything. Is there really nothing we can help with? Is it okay to just wait like this?”
Yu Gun, who had been confused for a while after regaining his memories, eventually began mixing formal and casual speech appropriately.
I wasn’t sure what his criteria were, but what mattered was that Yu Gun had opened his heart to me, so I didn’t mind much.
I munched on another sandwich cookie and shrugged.
“Well, that’s the thing… If you’d brought the Executive Director back from Jeju Island, things would’ve moved faster.”
“…What am I supposed to do if he’s not there? I searched everywhere trying to bring him back, but he’d already emptied his house and disappeared somewhere. What could I do?”
“I’m just messing with you.”
“I’m sorry. I really wanted to bring him back somehow….”
Unfortunately, Ji Su-ho, whose last location had been confirmed in Jeju Island, had vanished without a trace once again.
One morning, Lee Yu-gun used the excuse of suddenly striking it rich to quit his part-time job and flew off to Jeju Island, becoming someone who’d taken a trip there entirely on someone else’s dime. Of course, Ju Eun-chan, who’d funded the entire vacation, was actually delighted about it, saying his heart felt proud.
“…Well, he’s probably doing fine somewhere. The fact that he’s hiding this much suggests there’s a reason for it.”
Meeting aside, it would be nice if I could at least confirm his eyesight was intact.
My heart was burning with anxiety because of Ji Su-ho, from whom I couldn’t get any news. But no matter how much I thought about it, if this was the worst timeline for Ji Su-ho, there was nothing that could surpass it.
Unlike the original timeline where he’d been a successful Executive Director at Miro Entertainment, in this one he’d been kicked out of Miro and then the mid-sized company he’d moved to had completely collapsed.
‘Has he not awakened yet? If he had, he would have definitely come to find me first.’
In any case, there was still some time before a proper return to the entertainment industry.
Since In the Chaos was scheduled to air sometime in January or February next year, if I could just find Ji Su-ho and awaken him before then, everything that followed would be much smoother.
“I want to meet everyone soon….”
At Ju Eun-chan’s murmur while eating a Choco Pie, the air around us settled down a notch.
Everyone seemed lost in their own thoughts, and silence stretched on for a moment.
Creak―.
“…?”
That’s when the door opened.
The three of us lifted our heads in unison, and someone who’d opened the door walked toward us. But the direction of his cheerful expression and energetic steps wasn’t toward us—it was toward the table next to ours.
A young man whose youth and vitality sparkled called out energetically to the family waiting for him.
“Corporal First Class Seo Ki-chan, reporting! Mother, Father, have you both been well?”
“Oh my, our son’s been through so much! Sit down quickly, quickly!”
In that moment, the door opened once more.
A massive silhouette slowly entered the Break Room. Despite wearing the same uniform as everyone else, someone’s distinctive bearing was evident—sharp eyes slowly surveyed the space.
“Huh…!”
And soon, the man headed toward us.
Even though there was considerable distance from the entrance to where we were sitting, it took him less than a minute to reach us.
“Loyalty.”
A familiar tone, a familiar angle, a familiar greeting.
A crisp green military uniform and beret so perfectly pressed it was suffocating just to look at.
From all the exercise he’d done in the military, his torso and arm muscles had bulked up so much they were incomparable to the Ntv year-end stage where he’d been working out before.
“…It’s been a while.”
The reason I’d ended up in this dreary Gangwon Province again.
Lee Do-ha, Kairos’s main rapper who’d truly become a bear, smiled at us.

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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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