Grab the Regressor by the Collar and Debut - Chapter 584

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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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584. Doing It Myself Out of Frustration (5)
To transcend a typhoon and become a tempest, there was one thing I must never forget.
‘At most, one year.’
November had already crept upon us, which meant, to be precise, just over nine months remained.
The timeline in this place held exactly that much value.
If I were to sell time to Thirteen the way one sells their soul to the devil, well… I could probably scrape by a few more months, but Kim Thirteen would never permit such a thing, so it was essentially a moot premise.
[System Notification: I think I’d actually allow that…?]
[System Notification: (ʘ言ʘ╬)]
Yeah, I know, I know.
‘Just the slightest hesitation and he’ll forcibly lock me into September 15th.’
Anyway, back to the matter at hand.
The reason I started AiTube in this timeline wasn’t to gather a million subscribers, and it certainly wasn’t to make a living off it.
‘Likes, subscriptions, comments, notifications—screw ’em all.’
Just three months.
Only while In the Chaos was airing.
Only until I gathered the members again and resurrected the group called Kairos in this place.
This AiTube was nothing more than a communication channel that could endlessly supply bait about me and Kairos until that moment.
The sole window to expose myself infinitely to the masses.
‘Then I’d better use it properly.’
Nothing more, nothing less—simply on the newly created AiTube channel named Kang Ha-jin, over five videos were uploaded overnight.
【Monitoring for the First Time in 8 Years ‖ In the Chaos Episode 0 Review ‖ Kairos·Kang Ha-jin·Seo Tae-hyun·Lee Yu-gun】
Starting with an In the Chaos reaction video featuring me and Lee Yu-gun nearly fainting at the sight of zombie hordes, with Seo Tae-hyun suffering between us as the thumbnail,
【Want to Work Together? It’s Unfair If Only I Do It ‧ 2 hour ‧ work with me 】
Donning the horn-rimmed glasses and black hoodie that had been my other trademark in the original timeline, I uploaded a “Work with Me” video capturing my full figure editing footage for AiTube, along with various dance reels I’d filmed when I met Lee Yu-gun last time.
The reels were simple cut edits anyway, and the “Work with Me” video only needed time-lapse footage of the monitor screens showing the editing process and myself, so it required less effort than I’d anticipated.
‘The most headache-inducing part was definitely this.’
As I scrolled down with the mouse, the title of the most recently uploaded video came into view.
【Not Drunk Talk, Just a Normal Summit ‧ I Just Wanted to Keep It】
This was barely a title—it was almost like a diary entry.
The video was a full six hours long. I hadn’t edited it separately, and there wasn’t a single subtitle. This was less a video and more an archived live broadcast.
I quietly checked the video’s thumbnail.
【But Why Did We Fight Again?】
The location was Ju Eun-chan’s old officetel (the upper unit) where Seo Tae-hyun was currently staying.
In the living room of that apartment, with delicious food spread out before us, Ju Eun-chan, Lee Yu-gun, Seo Tae-hyun, and I sat side by side, facing each other, while clean-font text explaining the video’s nature in a single line was overlaid across our images.
I recalled the day I’d filmed that video.
That evening when we’d watched In the Chaos Episode 0 together in the Miro Conference Room.
-Then I’ll contact you once the work preparations are ready. I look forward to working with you, Tae-hyun.
-Ah, yes… I should be the one looking forward to it.
-Then we’ll be on our way.
-Yes, please come in.
I’d already monitored Episode 0, and now I’d secured a place to stay.
The moment 【In the Chaos】 Episode 0 finished airing, Seo Tae-hyun and I left the Miro Entertainment Building immediately. We weren’t official employees yet, so lingering felt awkward, and I didn’t want to invite any misunderstandings.
-Okay, we’re here.
-Thanks for driving.
After leaving Miro, we headed straight to Joo Eun-chan’s Officetel, where Seo Tae-hyun would be staying.
Seo Tae-hyun’s belongings would arrive by courier from Gangwon Province soon, and we’d already picked up the essentials we needed on the way. Seo Tae-hyun, who’d awkwardly thanked me, hesitantly stepped out of the car clutching the shopping bags.
-…What?
-…? What what.
-Why are you and him getting out too?
And we got out as well.
Naturally, I parked flawlessly and turned off the engine decisively.
To the bewildered Seo Tae-hyun, I responded with an exaggerated gesture suggesting I was even more baffled than he was.
-Why get out? We’re going up.
-Up? Where.
-To Joo Eun-chan’s place. Where you live.
-Why are you and Yoo Gun going there?
-What, you got a job referral and now you’re trying to wash your hands clean with just one reaction video?
-…!
This guy had gotten a lot more shameless while I wasn’t looking.
Yoo Gun and I exchanged a glance, then immediately moved to Seo Tae-hyun’s sides and each hooked an arm through his, escorting him along. To the flustered Seo Tae-hyun, I added a few words to reassure him.
-If we just casually upload the reaction video like nothing happened, what do you think Destiny will think?
I didn’t want to use Destiny as a hostage, not for anything else.
But honestly, fans were the only thing that could convincingly persuade Seo Tae-hyun, so there was no helping it.
If Seo Tae-hyun had awakened, I could’ve moved him with just the name Kairos alone, without needing any of this process….
-You and Yoo Gun, me and Yoo Gun, you and me, me and Joo Eun-chan…. We all fought bitterly with each other and had messy relationships—which of our fans back then didn’t know about that?
-….
-You disbanded the group, did some solo activities, then suddenly disappeared. Your personal fans are probably anxious about you right now. They’re just waiting for any news about you, so what do you think will happen if we show them you with us without proper explanation?
Unfortunately, Seo Tae-hyun, who hadn’t awakened even in the original timeline, had a very low probability of awakening in this timeline either.
So to persuade Seo Tae-hyun, neither I nor the other members would work.
The only ones who could pull him out of his shell were the fans who’d supported him then and supported him now.
-Honestly, your fans went through a lot back then too. I’m saying this now, but…. You and your fans suffered a lot because of us.
-…So? What does that have to do with you and Yoo Gun going upstairs?
As expected, Seo Tae-hyun flinched.
It was a curt response, but that thoughtful INFP had a clumsy habit of getting prickly the more his heart wavered.
Confident I was hitting the right nerve, I grabbed Yoo Gun’s shoulder beside me. Startled, Yoo Gun went along with it obediently, becoming my arm candy.
-Just, let’s have some genuine time together. Pretend to be close for a bit.
-….
-Not trying to exploit it sensationally or make money. I just want to tell the fans the truth.
-….
-That we were too young back then, too clumsy to consider each other’s circumstances. But now it feels like we understand each other a little better than we did.
-….
-Even if you couldn’t do it then, there are things you can do now, aren’t there?
At my persuasion, Seo Tae-hyun deliberated for quite a while.
When I nudged Yoo Gun, who had been standing blankly beside me, the guy glanced up at me with an indifferent expression—but then he caught the look in my eyes and smacked his lips. He seemed to be thinking of what to say.
Watching him, I was suddenly reminded of that time during the Miro Maze sports festival recording.
‘Back then, I asked Seo Tae-hyun for help to get closer to Yoo Gun.’
And now here I was, borrowing Yoo Gun’s strength to persuade Seo Tae-hyun instead.
Just as I was thinking that, Yoo Gun opened his mouth.
-Seo Tae-hyun.
-….
-You scared?
-Huh?
-What?
I held back what I wanted to say—that he was supposed to be coaxing the kid, not provoking him. Was he a fighting cock or something?
I swallowed those words.
‘Though now that I think about it, he’s always been like this. It seems Seo Tae-hyun barely managed to get him to put on his idol persona, just barely holding back his natural bluntness.’
Turning these turbulent teenage selves into a twenty-eight-year-old overnight had left me struggling to adapt. At a timing where it was awkward to stop him anyway, I furrowed my brows, and Yoo Gun tossed out words in his characteristic flat tone.
-Whether you do it or not, I’m doing it.
-Is that so.
-But if you don’t, I’m telling everyone you hit me. Really beat me up. That’s why things got bad between us.
-….
-Yesterday, you threw the first punch?
If you want the last news fans hear about you to be an assault case involving a former coworker, be my guest.
At this utterly reckless threat, Seo Tae-hyun’s face was already flushing red and purple. I could practically feel in real-time all the profanities and improper thoughts cycling through that small INFP head of his.
-…Fine. Do. It.
And the effect was tremendous!
Accepting the provocation, Seo Tae-hyun answered with three clipped syllables, then moved forward with a huff as if telling us to follow.
Well, getting permission was good, but watching him walk like he had no tomorrow made me glance at Yoo Gun, and he seemed uncomfortable with what he’d just said, his lips twisted shut.
Yoo Gun, who had been watching Seo Tae-hyun’s back as if glaring at it, muttered quietly.
-I figured it out when we fought the other day.
-What, that you have a talent for trash talk beyond what I expected?
-That to him right now, I’m no different from me or Cha Min-seok.
-….
-…Let’s head up too.
With a somewhat rotten expression, Yoo Gun slowly slipped from my arm and headed toward the officetel entrance.
I watched the two of them disappear, then pulled out my phone and called someone.
-Hello?
-Yeah, it’s me.
To Ju Eun-chan, our resident fool, who should be enjoying an amazing vacation in Gangwon Province right about now.
-You need to come to Seoul.
-…What?
With the group dynamics in shambles, let’s bring out our soft-hearted youngest member to fix things!
Without Ha-ru, our sunshine vitamin, only the baby king cat Eun-chan could shoulder this historic responsibility.
‘Hmm… but isn’t he a bit too big for something soft?’
Well, if the king’s big, the effect should be king-sized too.
I shrugged my shoulders and skipped along merrily.
* * *
And so we filmed the long-awaited content: “Clearing Up the Eight-Year-Old Discord Rumor, Current Status Talk, and Other Mukbang Chatter.”
Since you need a full stomach to have the energy to fight, the table in Eun-chan’s Officetel living room was laden with food piled so high the table legs nearly buckled. The bill went on Eun-chan’s card. (I was going to pay, but Eun-chan insisted on using his own card. What a guy.)
-Who wants some cider?
-Oh, me.
-I’m good.
There wasn’t a single bottle of soju or can of beer on the table.
Not only were we not the type to clink glasses together, but uploading drinking content at such a critical moment risked a slip of the tongue that could cause real damage.
Of course, that was the surface reason. The real reason was that except for Tae-hyun, none of us had ever actually drunk alcohol.
‘I never drank in the first place, Yu-gun’s been too busy since turning twenty to really think about it, and Eun-chan was a minor….’
Here, I was twenty-seven or twenty-eight, but mentally I was twenty and nineteen.
Tae-hyun didn’t seem particularly interested in drinking either, so our spread of side dishes became quite the lavish feast instead.
-Do-ha went to the military?
-Yeah. He’s a sergeant now, apparently.
-He’s gotten really big. They say he worked out a lot.
-Ah….
In the early part of the video, we were simply busy filling our stomachs without any particular topic.
Eun-chan, excited to see Tae-hyun after so long, chattered away about recent happenings, or we shared thoughts about Episode 0 of In the Chaos that we’d watched together earlier.
I opened my mouth around the moment I realized that Tae-hyun, who had seemed lost in thought, was naturally blending into the conversation.
-So, that’s why….
-?
I opened my mouth, but Eun-chan, Tae-hyun, Yu-gun—they all just kept eating without any particular concern. They clearly thought this was just the opening to some casual gossip.
And my first question was this.
-Why did you guys fight the other day?
-…Huh?
-Why did you fight? You two were hitting and throwing punches at each other.
A familiar question, a similar situation, a different position.
Just like back then, before debut, when I deliberately asked a question on the live broadcast to put an end to the discord rumors between Yu-gun and Tae-hyun.
-….
Not in front of fans, not in a live broadcast being streamed in real time.
Tae-hyun’s eyes wavered without hesitation.

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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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