Grab the Regressor by the Collar and Debut - Chapter 94

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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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94. Bomb? (5)
The third mission was a “freestyle” theme.
As long as we used only the provided items and special effects, everything else—from song selection to the team name itself—was entirely up to us.
“Well then, for the team name….”
“Jeong Si-u and the Kids.”
“Ah, wait.”
“How about Kang Ha-jin and the Boys?”
Si-u let out a small sigh at Ha-jin’s playful jab. Then he relayed the team name they’d discussed earlier to the junior writer.
“Blue Flare.”
“Got it. Oh, have you decided on a leader?”
“Me.”
“Ha-jin will be doing it.”
“Understood.”
The cameras prepared to withdraw, leaving only minimal fixed cameras behind. The Production Director checked the time and made an announcement to the scattered members of the Blue Flare team.
“You all know how to use the self-cameras, right? We’ll film the song selection and concept planning separately tomorrow, but if you happen to have meetings or practice today, just turn on the self-cameras and record.”
“Wait, so should we act like everything’s already decided? Or should we pretend we’re deciding for the first time?”
Ha-jin had been sprawled on the practice room floor, arm-wrestling Eun-chan and toying with him, but at that question, he sprang up and asked the Production Director.
Before he could stand, his arm bent in an instant and Eun-chan was K.O.’d, his expression turning hollow. The Production Director, hearing Ha-jin’s question, looked equally bewildered as he responded.
“Ha-jin, you didn’t just come from a broadcast, did you? You’re saying everything I was about to say.”
“…Ha ha. I just love broadcasts. I watch a lot of them. A true viewer of our times.”
“Anyway, this team’s already got so much backstory built up that meetings and such will probably be quick. So why don’t you all decide things among yourselves today, and tomorrow we’ll just film you acting it out naturally. Can you do that?”
“Absolutely. You just saw how talented our team is at acting, right?”
The Production Director had unconsciously used broadcast jargon, but Ha-jin understood the conversation without hesitation and deflected with a joke. Eun-chan, still sprawled on the floor reeling from Ha-jin’s takedown, looked up at him with curiosity.
“What do you mean the backstory’s already done?”
“Oh? …Ah, you know how there’s a VCR that plays before the stage? It means we’ve already shown enough of that structure, something like that.”
Ha-jin explained the jargon so naturally that the production staff’s suspicions deepened.
“…Ha-jin, have you really never done a broadcast before?”
“Well, my senior Yoo Tae-seok mentioned it during a variety show. Something about whether the opening was shot or….”
Ha-jin’s eyes shifted awkwardly. But no one could have possibly imagined that inside the body of a twenty-year-old trainee lived the past life of a twenty-nine-year-old fourth-year broadcast PD.
“Hmm. Anyway, we’re done filming for today, so do whatever else you need to discuss and practice. We’ll see you tomorrow~.”
“Yes. Everyone, let’s say goodbye.”
“Thank you for your hard work!”
“See you tomorrow, PDs!”
“See you tomorrow~.”
At least it ended on a warmer note than when we first gathered.
The staff members, unable to break the icy atmosphere in an instant, left the practice room with keen interest in Ha-jin, who had transformed it into a fascinating turn of events.
“Wow, I’m really counting on you, Ha-jin….”
The Writer in Charge for the Blue Flare team caught Ha-jin just before leaving, expressing gratitude in a tone that, if converted to emoticons, would have been about twelve crying faces.
Of course, even I thought my own contribution today deserved praise. So I simply enjoyed those reactions and bid them farewell, telling them to be careful on their way out.
‘They’re probably filming the meeting scene separately tomorrow because of the team atmosphere.’
If even the slightest serious atmosphere took hold, or if the tension between Jeong Si-u and Lee Yu-gun became visible, there would be no controlling it. The game had loosened things up, but Si-woo and Yu-gun still hadn’t exchanged a single word.
With all the staff members gone, only the Blue Flare team remained in the practice room.
When Kang Ha-jin turned back to map out the upcoming practice schedule.
“…?”
“…?”
“…Lee Yu-gun, what are you doing?”
“Isn’t the shoot over?”
Lee Yu-gun was gathering his things, preparing to leave.
More accurately, he’d already made his way to the practice room entrance where Kang Ha-jin stood, ready to walk out.
“…Sigh.”
As if he’d expected this, Sung-woo exhaled heavily. Won-ho, who was arguably on Yu-gun’s side, wore an awkward expression as he watched the two of them. It seemed only Kang Ha-jin didn’t understand the situation.
“So, right now. You’re heading to the dormitory? Without practicing?”
“Not the dormitory—I have somewhere to be. Besides, we haven’t even decided on songs yet, so there’s nothing to practice anyway.”
“Then we pick the songs ourselves? You go to the dormitory and hang out?”
As Kang Ha-jin pressed Lee Yu-gun on it, Yu-gun scratched his chin with his index finger thoughtfully, then sighed heavily while looking at Ha-jin as if he found the situation just as difficult.
“Did you watch the last broadcast?”
“What does that have to do with this right now?”
“I don’t really care about getting a big part. I’ll pull my weight with whatever you give me. So just give me what’s left over.”
“….”
“If you really need my input, I’ll send it by text. Just reference that. And honestly….”
“…?”
“…Honestly, it’s easier to talk when I’m not there, isn’t it?”
Then I’ll be going.
Lee Yu-gun smiled playfully, shouldered his backpack, and leisurely disappeared out of the practice room.
Kang Ha-jin didn’t try to stop him.
* * *
Just because Lee Yu-gun left didn’t mean the remaining team members could head back to the dormitory.
“Since that’s how it is, what do the rest of you want to do?”
Kang Ha-jin turned back with a surprisingly unbothered expression and asked the remaining members for their thoughts. Naturally, everyone wanted to stay and continue with the meeting and practice, so the Blue Flare team decided to move locations.
The group came down to the Cafe on the first floor of the Miro New Building and each took a seat in a cushioned chair with their preferred beverages. (Eun-chan instinctively pulled out his older brother’s card, but Jeong Si-u paid instead, saying there was no way he’d mooch coffee off a high school student. During this exchange, everyone except Jeong Si-u looked at Kang Ha-jin.)
“So, the concept seems to be coming together?”
Kang Ha-jin wrote two large characters on a piece of paper torn from Lee Do-ha’s notebook (which he carried everywhere in case inspiration struck).
【Sexy】
“Getting harnesses and lasers, then suddenly going cute and refreshing—that’s pretty funny.”
“…I’m not sure if harnesses and sexy is right for an eighteen-year-old, you know?”
Sung-woo gestured toward Eun-chan with a nod, his tone half-worried and half-joking. Sure, Eun-chan had great physicality for his age and an intimidating appearance, but the truth was he still couldn’t shake his high school student image.
Suddenly the target of all his older brothers’ gazes, Eun-chan’s lips trembled as he floundered, then clenched his fists tightly. (He’d learned that from Ha-jin.)
“Y-yes, I’ll work hard to learn.”
But the catch was that there wasn’t really anyone on the team qualified to teach him that.
‘I’m not exactly an expert in sexy either, you know.’
Ha-jin shook his head quietly, his expression growing somewhat uncertain.
‘Maybe it would be better to have someone like Kyung-ho—oblivious but overflowing with confidence.’
You know, the type who licks their lips first and asks questions later, fully aware of the danger. As Ha-jin quietly reviewed the team composition, his gaze settled on the one person who seemed least suited to this keyword.
“Wait, but. We can say Eun-chan came because he doesn’t know what a harness is. But why did you come here, hyung? You said you already knew what a harness was.”
Jeong Si-u, who had been called out, took a sip of his herbal tea that he’d warmed up nicely before answering.
“This place is better than the other two.”
“What are these other two options? I’m so upset about not getting a hint as a Feather Class member that the tiramisu won’t even go down my throat.”
“Eun-chan, shh. That’s just a figure of speech. Haven’t you heard of metaphors?”
“Are you two doing a comedy sketch or something? Is this roommate chemistry?”
While Ha-jin and Eun-chan were bantering, Si-u found his keyword card and placed it on the table. Then he calmly began explaining why he’d chosen Room 1.
【Room 1 – Harness/Laser】
【Room 2 – Flowers/Confetti】
【Room 3 – Goggles/Air Shot】
“I was second place, and Tae-hyun was first, right? The moment I saw what was in Room 2, I immediately ruled that out. It was obvious what kind of team Seo Tae-hyun wanted to build.”
“True. If it were just flowers, sure, but Seo Tae-hyun with flowers?”
It was obvious he’d gone there to show off his specialty. The embodiment of fresh, refreshing, kitschy glamour—the Cherry Boy living up to his name.
“Air Shot wasn’t bad either… but I thought a harness would suit my image better than goggles. And since I was in second place, I also had to consider which teammates would likely end up in which room.”
“So, did your prediction work out?”
“You want the honest answer?”
Ha-jin held his hand up in front of Si-u like a microphone, mimicking an interview. Si-u, confirming that the self-cam wasn’t on yet, shrugged his shoulders.
“Except for Yu-gun, everyone who came was exactly who I expected. I thought he’d pick goggles, but then I realized he’s Feather Class, so he didn’t get a hint, right? That was my mistake.”
“So you could’ve closed it right after Yu-gun came in? Do-ha, Yu-gun, Pa-rang came next, and then me.”
“…Aha.”
At Ha-jin’s question, Won-ho cleared his throat this time.
“I said we should wait and see if hyung might come in too.”
“Me?”
“We needed at least one more decent vocal member besides Si-u hyung. His dancing seemed a bit weak too.”
“But Yu-gun came instead of me?”
“Yeah. Yu-gun was surprised too. …It was right when things weren’t going well between Si-u hyung and that situation.”
As Won-ho spoke while gauging Si-u’s reaction, Si-u rested his chin on his hand and laughed languidly as if unbothered.
“Feel free to say it. It’s about his attitude as a teammate, not that I dislike Yu-gun.”
“…!”
It was the tone of someone who clearly separated public from private. In fact, during filming, Si-u had spoken to Yu-gun without any discomfort.
At those words, Eun-chan seemed to realize something, and his pupils trembled slightly, but no one noticed. Si-u continued.
“Anyway, once Yu-gun came in, I couldn’t call it closed right then. Since he’d probably have almost no participation anyway. I thought it was a worthwhile gamble if just someone like you or Jae-young came in.”
“But Pa-rang’s Room 2 called it closed, and I ended up in Room 1?”
“I was planning to call it closed once one more person came in, regardless of who. Nobody wants to risk ending up with all the remaining spots filled, right? But since it was originally you I was expecting, from my perspective, there was no reason not to call it closed.”
That urgent “three-person closure” Si-u had shown earlier seemed to stem from this calculation.
Thanks to that, at least other hooks (like Kyung-ho, or Kyung-ho, or people like Kyung-ho) didn’t end up joining this hopeless party.
Thank you for that, at least I didn’t have to drag along any other weirdos (like Shin Kyung-ho, or Shin Kyung-ho, or someone like Shin Kyung-ho) to this hopeless party.
‘Shin Kyung-ho was right after me in the lineup.’
The remaining Feather Class trainees were automatically assigned to Room 3. Ha-jin recalled Gong Seok, who was probably giving up his space to Han Sung-woo’s lackeys 1, 2, and 3—for whom bullying had become a way of life.
‘At least Jayden is here. I should buy him some hot chocolate when I see him at the dormitory later.’
If push came to shove, I was even willing to pass along the KakaoTalk screenshot of Shin Kyung-ho that I still had to Gong Seok.
“Alright then. So, we need to have our meeting now, right? We’ve settled on the concept being sexy, and it’d be better to take our time finding the song?”
“Yes. I’m not holding my breath, but Lee Yu-gun did say he’d send us a text, so…”
“Then should we nail down the positions first? If each of us is clear about what we want to push as our strength, I think the song selection will fall into place.”
Si-woo certainly lived up to being the senior, conveying his opinions and the direction of the meeting with steady purpose. Since joining Miro, this was the first time a meeting had progressed naturally without Ha-jin leading it.
‘Finally, does my life get a first-class bus driver too?’
That alone was more than enough to be grateful for, but Jeong Si-u even showed consideration for Ha-jin, the official leader.
“Of course, if you have a meeting outline in mind, Ha-jin, we can go with that. I just always prefer to analyze each team member’s abilities first before we start, so I brought it up.”
“No, that’s good. Since the keyword ‘sexy’ itself is pretty broad, let’s talk about what each of us wants to push as our specialty, like you said.”
But truthfully, Ha-jin felt like he already knew roughly what each of them would say without even hearing it.
‘Lee Do-ha will probably go rap, Kim Won-ho and Lee Yu-gun will do dance. I’ll give Si-woo the main vocal… and Eun-chan, I wonder if he’ll do dance or rap.’
Then, Eun-chan, who had been quietly listening to the older members talk, suddenly gathered his courage and raised his hand.
“Hyung.”
“Yeah, Chan. Actually, I was about to ask—do you want to rap, or do you want to dan—”
“I want to do vocal.”
“Yeah, so… huh?”
All the older members’ eyes turned toward Eun-chan at once.
Eun-chan spoke with the same calm, confident voice as that day when he’d thrown shade at Han Sung-woo, meeting Ha-jin and Si-woo’s gaze directly.
“I want to do vocal. Please give me the vocal part.”

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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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