Grab the Regressor by the Collar and Debut - Chapter 71

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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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71. Guess Who? (2)
Ji Su-ho, known as Miro’s guardian deity, stepped into a restaurant in Seoul.
“Welcome. Do you have a reservation?”
“Yes, under Ji Su-ho.”
“I’ll show you to your private room.”
This restaurant was favored not only for its refined cuisine but also because all seating was arranged in private rooms, making it ideal for important meetings and confidential discussions.
While today’s meeting wasn’t strictly a business matter, the conversation they would have required security measures more stringent than any ordinary meeting, so he’d chosen this venue.
“I arrived a bit early.”
Checking the time, he had roughly thirty minutes before their appointment.
Unable to waste even those precious few minutes, he retrieved the tablet from his bag to monitor viewer reactions and voting rates for the Miro Maze performance video that had been uploaded last evening.
Upon accessing AiTube, Team A’s Miro Maze performance video from last night automatically began playing.
Concerned the audio might be too loud, Ji Su-ho paused the video and quickly scanned the view count and comments.
MIRO MAZE ∥ Daylight (Prod. Seo Tae-il) – Team A Performance Video
Views: 498,125
Comments: 2,965 (Most Popular)
– Saving this for when I want to see Seo Tae-hyun
0:03 His hair flowing is pure bliss
0:21 Nostalgic Tae-hyun
His falsetto is insane lol
…More
– Seo Tae-il really knows how to produce songs
– ♥Jeong Si-u, the sculpture who sings from Gaon Arts University, debut already♥
– I’m ready to stake my life on this man’s future
– Tae-hyun, you’re amazing
– Eun-chan, you don’t know me, but
from this very moment when I first see you,
I’ve decided to dedicate my entire bank account and all my remaining time
to supporting your debut
…More
For a single day’s achievement, the results were remarkable.
The PR team had even sent him screenshots, mentioning that related posts were appearing across various SNS platforms and online communities.
HOT! ║ [Just Dropped: Miro’s Next Male Idol Survival Performance Video]
Team A
https://itu.be/eHdmsrj
Team B
https://itu.be/tjDMghkdwl
+Seo Tae-il from Upia did all the lyrics, composition, and arrangement
+First broadcast 5/3 at 9 PM
+Voting has started >> Voting Link
– ? The view count trajectory is crazy
– Team A’s visual troika is insane lol
– Who’s your pick? Team A VS Team B
└ I’m Team A…looks and skills are unmatched
└ 2
└ 333
└ Huh, I think Team B is better!
└ 22 Team B looks more polished
– Does Seo Tae-hyun not age?? Is he not aging????
└ Shut up, I’ve eaten all those years for him
└ Stop eating, you’ll get indigestion
– Guys, please, who is singing the first verse of team B? Let me know if it’s worth saving someone’s life
└ Kang Ha-jin 182cm Vocalist + Team B Leader (black hoodie oppa is right)
└ Eva that cat??
└ What did he do to his profile picture
“└ How does that guy have that face and be a dance center????”
└ He’s not main vocal…main vocal is Gong Seok apparently
– Are Seo Tae-il and Seo Tae-hyun family?
└ That rumor’s been around since Boy’s Supremacy but nothing was ever confirmed right?
└ No no they mentioned it in an interview this time, said they’re distant relatives because they share the same clan name
“Oh really? Haha”
But they’re so distantly related that they’re basically strangers… and since Seo Tae-hyun is higher in the generational hierarchy, once they both found out about it, things got awkward between them, so apparently they don’t even greet each other properly when they run into each other these days lol
Lol that’s hilarious hahahahahahahahahahahaha
└ Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
– Seo Tae-il, has he decided to just produce now… Looks like he won’t be doing any activities with Upia. But honestly, he probably makes more money through producing haha ​​than Nottangpia…
└ Yeah they announced a 12th anniversary concert last week~?
└ I don’t know, go back to where you came from and don’t cause trouble at someone else’s celebration
‘Was the first teaser… coming this Wednesday?’
Thinking of the first broadcast schedule with barely three weeks left, Ji Su-ho jotted down feedback to pass to the publicity team on his tablet notes.
Whether it had truly become a hot topic, even in that short span, calls were coming in real-time from reporters and related personnel.
No matter how much the industry claims to have no weekends or holidays, moments like this made me think it was truly a grueling place.
“I can check the urgent calls later and call them back….”
At least, before starting Miro Maze, I’d handed over Endway, which I’d originally been managing, to a junior, and even so it was this hectic.
Truth be told, if Ha-jin hadn’t brought that survival program proposal and knocked out Executive Director Son Hyung-gu, I’d probably still be working as a dedicated manager for Endway by now.
Looking back, so much had changed in just three months since meeting Ha-jin.
‘Sometimes I think it’s a shame. He probably would’ve been quite competent working as an entertainment company employee.’
After observing him for about three months, I’d learned that Ha-jin loved ‘work’ far more than he himself realized.
How to put it—when Ha-jin was working, his eyes sparkled. The vitality and energy radiating from him was visible even from beside him.
‘It really feels like he genuinely loves this kind of work?’
There’s no way he could pull all-nighters practicing every single day and still manage to check on and look after his fellow trainees’ conditions otherwise.
Su-ho recalled the evaluations from the staff members who had been monitoring Ha-jin’s team during the two missions.
—Where Ha-jin is, things are genuinely lively.
—Other teams have their own dynamics—they’re cautious of each other, and even close friends have their separate circles, so there’s a certain heaviness to the atmosphere. But with Ha-jin around, none of that exists.
—I noticed he takes care of everyone so no one feels left out. If someone’s quiet, he talks to them. If someone’s eating alone, he joins them. If someone’s struggling with the choreography, he teaches them separately.
—His interpersonal skills are incredible! He even memorized all the camera directors’ names, you know? You can tell he’s had plenty of experience with communal living.
Among the staff, whispers had already begun circulating that Ha-jin would likely become the leader of the next debut group.
—Ha-jin really doesn’t seem like he’s twenty.
Of course he doesn’t.
He’s no ordinary twenty-year-old.
‘He said he came back from the future…’
As trust gradually built between Ha-jin and me, I naturally came to learn another of his secrets.
Ha-jin occasionally spoke to me about his “past life”—or regression, as he called it—though truthfully, I still hadn’t fully grasped everything.
‘If I hadn’t developed this ability, I never would have believed any of it.’
I checked the time on our appointment—about ten minutes left—and took a sip of water.
“Kang Ha-jin….”
I was curious about Ha-jin. It was a manager’s instinct.
Why hadn’t he debuted in the past?
Why did he deny loving this work?
Why couldn’t he believe in himself?
What had happened in his past?
Did those past events shape who he is now?
….
On the tablet screen, which had returned to AiTube, a recommended video of Team B’s performance appeared automatically beside Team A’s performance video.
I casually clicked on that video.
The thumbnail featured Ha-jin gazing at the camera with a captivating smile, waving a greeting.
“…He’s this good.”
Kang Ha-jin—why did he seem to be holding himself back from all of this?
Various questions swirled through my mind.
Click—
And then the door opened.
“Hello, Team Leader.”
“…Ah, yes. Please, have a seat, Ha-jin.”
What kind of person are you?
I swallowed that curiosity and answered his greeting.
* * *
‘Damn Seoul-centric republic.’
Ha-jin, who had skipped breakfast and left home for a lunch appointment, was currently feeling an intense animosity toward this country’s infrastructure, which revolved entirely around Seoul.
It was a thoroughly mundane complaint of a Gyeonggi Province resident—getting to Seoul took a minimum of an hour, a bit further and it was two hours, and a round trip consumed five hours, boasting a truly insane efficiency. There was no need to worry too much about it.
But seeing Ha-jin’s expression so visibly strained, I couldn’t just pretend not to notice, so I asked awkwardly.
“Was the commute very difficult? I suppose I should have suggested meeting near your place instead.”
“Oh, no. I had other business in Seoul anyway, and an hour and a half isn’t far at all.”
“…So it’s not that far away.”
“That’s how Gyeonggi Province is. You can get anywhere in two hours. The problem is everything takes two hours no matter where you go.”
Ji Su-ho, whose ancestors had lived in Seoul for generations, possessed a sense of time I simply couldn’t comprehend.
Rather than awkwardly consoling me over this predicament, Ji Su-ho chose instead to quickly fill my empty stomach. He pressed the bell, and the server promptly opened the door again.
“Please prepare two of our A courses for us.”
“Yes, two A courses coming right up.”
While Ji Su-ho placed the order with practiced ease, I drained the cold water that had been poured for me beforehand.
The restaurant Ji Su-ho had reserved truly seemed like the epitome of privacy. Given the nature of what we needed to discuss today, maximum discretion was essential.
“But Team Leader, how much longer are you going to speak formally to me? Last time you dropped the formality.”
“Ah, right. I keep doing it without realizing, haha.”
“If you keep that up in front of the others, it’ll be a problem. Just start speaking casually now. I’m actually much younger than you anyway.”
Ji Su-ho’s expression grew complicated. This seemed like the perfect moment to ask about my past, something he’d been curious about.
“…Since we’re on the subject, you said you came back from the past, right?”
At Ji Su-ho’s question, I set down my cup and looked up. Ji Su-ho continued, unable to shake a certain nervousness.
“So exactly how old are you? From what I’ve heard about your previous life, you definitely seemed to be an adult.”
“….”
“I mean, well. We’re in this together now anyway, so if I understand you better, I can support you more effectively….”
Despite having done nothing wrong, his words just kept tumbling out.
I watched Ji Su-ho in silence for a long moment. The longer I stared, the more he seemed to break out in a cold sweat.
After observing him for quite some time, I finally opened my mouth slowly, just as he ran out of excuses and grew flustered.
“Did you really believe that?”
“Pardon?”
“I’m asking if you truly believed what I said. That I came back from the future.”
Yes. I did believe it.
At my unexpected words, Ji Su-ho blinked blankly.

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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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