Grab the Regressor by the Collar and Debut - Chapter 99

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

99. Bomb? (10)
‘I knew this would happen.’
Our eight-foot truck with broken brakes had successfully rammed into Lee Yu-gun once again today. Even from a distance, I could sense his uncharacteristic panic.
‘The back of your head tingles the first time you experience this.’
I was relieved that Lee Yu-gun reacted exactly as Do-ha had anticipated.
Someone like Lee Yu-gun would find it far more comfortable to deal with someone who stripped away all the emotional baggage and spoke only the bare facts, rather than the overly sentimental types like Seo Tae-hyun or Dan Ha-ru.
Now that I knew the full truth, the aspects of Lee Yu-gun that had seemed incomprehensible before finally began to make sense—the possibility that he might be a Seonggwija.
His endlessly carefree attitude, his Copy & Paste trait, and the debuff applied to him.
[Lee Yu-gun (Affiliation: Miro)]
-Debuff: All stats decrease due to the influence of unique trait
Vocal: D(C+)
Dance: B+(S)
Expression: C-(A-)
Charm: D+(B+)
Special: Copy & Paste(B)
-At a certain probability, completely makes the subject of your immersion your own
Appeal Points:
‘Still, twelve ships remain.’
-Sense of responsibility, perseverance, intense immersion
‘I don’t know what his unique trait is, but… he only immerses himself strongly when he has a sense of responsibility, and he only masters things through that immersion. The problem is, he has no intention of debuting in the first place, so there’s no way he’ll develop that sense of responsibility.’
But that was only true until now. The Quest hasn’t disappeared yet, and no matter what happens, I have to get that guy through this stage performance safely.
To do that, I need to create a sense of responsibility in him somehow.
‘How do I manipulate someone with such pride? Should I just throw it at him—you ruined the vibe, so take responsibility?’
As I watched Lee Yu-gun fumble under Do-ha’s direct approach, wondering how to manipulate him, Ju Eun-chan, who had been sitting in the corner, raised his hand.
“…?”
Everyone’s attention shifted to Ju Eun-chan. He looked at me with an intense gaze, as if asking for permission to speak.
“Uh, yeah… go ahead, Chan.”
“Yes. I’d like to say something. So the reason Lee Yu-gun hyung can’t participate properly in practice right now is because of that part-time job, right?”
“Yeah, well… he’s been covering all the shifts in exchange for getting paid weekly at the Convenience Store.”
“Then I can solve that for you.”
Huh?
Everyone’s eyes widened at Ju Eun-chan’s bold statement. And in that moment, a certain fact flashed through my mind once more.
‘No way…’
“Hey, Ju Eun―.”
“I’ll hire you, hyung. As our choreography instructor.”
Before I could say anything to stop him, Ju Eun-chan pulled something from his wallet. It was Eun-seok hyung’s card that I’d seen during the housewarming party not long ago.
“The duration is until the Survival Program ends. I’ll pay you double the hourly rate when we’re on the same team.”
This was ridiculous—he was actually hiring someone and paying them like this!
At Ju Eun-chan’s words, the team members’ gazes shifted simultaneously to Lee Yu-gun. But contrary to our concerns, Lee Yu-gun simply stared at Ju Eun-chan and the card in his hand, then….
“Thank you for your patronage. How much were you thinking of spending?”
My eyes gleamed as I descended into the depths of capitalist servitude.
…This is driving me crazy, seriously.
* * *
Needless to say, Ju Eun-chan’s insane idea of hiring Lee Yu-gun with his own money never actually happened.
“Han Sung-woo’s already got a bad reputation right now anyway. If word got out that trainees were exchanging money among themselves, what kind of mess would that create?”
Jeong Si-u had talked him down with calm, affectionate words, drawing out “stop talking nonsense” at considerable length. Fortunately, Lee Yu-gun seemed to have accepted it half-jokingly, laughing without further protest. (Though it seemed Ju Eun-chan had been serious about it.)
So how were we supposed to solve this problem? The answer to that question, which had brought us back to square one, came unexpectedly from Lee Yu-gun himself.
“Actually, before I came here today, I already told the Store Manager that I think I need to quit.”
“What? Why?”
“…I do have a conscience, you know? I really did intend to come until the filming today, but I happened to lose my phone while dealing with a difficult customer, so I couldn’t even contact anyone…. Anyway… it’s not that I have no intention of debuting, it’s not that I want to cause trouble.”
But since things had come to this point because of the part-time job, Lee Yu-gun explained that he felt it was inevitable.
“So now we can continue practicing together?”
“Normally we’d take some time to find a replacement, but the Store Manager’s son just got discharged from the military and has nothing to do at home anyway, so we decided I’d just work until today.”
“Then what about living expenses…? Is that okay?”
“I’ve got some savings. And the appearance fee should come in soon. Well, I can manage for a month or two somehow. And….”
Lee Yu-gun leaned back in his chair as if it were nothing, his words trailing off. His face carried a hint of hesitation and awkwardness, and for the first time, a serious atmosphere settled over Lee Yu-gun’s demeanor.
“My Younger Sibling’s classmates watched the broadcast and apparently said some things about me.”
“Ah….”
“I don’t have much to leave for my siblings anyway. If I embarrass them on top of that, I can’t face them, you know?”
Saying that, Lee Yu-gun flashed his characteristic bright, refreshing smile.
“So what, should we put a leash on you now?”
“It’s called a choker.”
As I objected as if angry, laughter finally erupted in the conference room. Even Jeong Si-u turned his head away as if exasperated, making a deflating sound.
Now, at last, we were at the starting line.
* * *
“Ha-jin, are you feeling okay?”
“Pardon?”
The filming that was originally scheduled couldn’t begin until the afternoon, a little past lunchtime.
The Writer in Charge suddenly asked about my well-being as I came in holding a tumbler of water. I was momentarily flustered, but I noticed Si-woo warming up in the back giving me a subtle signal with his eyes, so I smiled naturally.
“Oh, yes. I took some medicine and got plenty of rest, so I’m feeling better now.”
“I was really shocked when I heard this morning, you know? For people like us, our bodies are our assets. You have to take good care of yourself.”
“Haha, thank you for worrying. You must have been quite startled. Sorry for delaying the filming because of me.”
“Oh, what are you talking about? Health comes first. We’re not the kind of people who chase after sick people with cameras.”
It seemed the production team had used my physical condition as an excuse when explaining today’s filming delay. Since I was actually sick, it wasn’t entirely a lie.
“Alright, alright. Our team will keep it light today—we’ll film the song selection meeting and some practice sessions in sequence. Oh, Ha-jin, did you happen to film any self-cam yesterday?”
“Oh, that.”
When the Production Director asked me, I retrieved the self-cam bag I’d left in one corner of the practice room and handed it back to him. Then, with an apologetic expression, I created a sad puppy-dog look and spoke in a voice full of aegyo.
“Ah~ But I’m sorry. I filmed really hard yesterday, but I must have pressed something wrong because there’s no recording at all….”
That was a lie.
During the two late-night meetings yesterday, the camera had been running perfectly. It’s not like this was some complicated DSLR or camcorder. There’s no way I could have made a recording mistake when all I had to do was turn on the power and press REC on a simple camera like this.
“Oh my, is that so? The recording didn’t work out at all?”
“I followed your instructions exactly…. But today, we’ll really make sure to pull together some solid content!”
The reason I formatted all the memory in the camera was simple: no matter how I looked at it, yesterday’s meeting content couldn’t air in any form whatsoever.
There were plenty of entertaining scenes, which was a shame…. But the footage that would actually be a plus factor when broadcast—like the late-night choreography sessions with Won-ho—I’d already filmed separately on my phone and emailed to the Writer, so it didn’t matter.
Of course, since Miro was doing the final confirmation, I could have given Ji Su-ho a subtle hint and asked him to cut the problematic scenes.
‘To minimize the risk regarding Lee Yu-gun, it’s better to erase that footage entirely.’
The Production Director showed a moment of regret at my claim that the recording hadn’t worked, but seeing me with my hands clasped together in a pitiful expression, he just clicked his tongue and said nothing more.
“Can’t be helped. It was just a backup anyway…. So you’re saying the song selection is all finalized?”
“Yes! I sent all the details to the Writer yesterday!”
“Okay. Can’t be helped then. So we’ll cover the song selection and such in the interview, and today we’ll….”
The Production Director quickly organized the situation with the Writer and settled on today’s filming content. Standing beside them, I skillfully provided useful material while subtly steering both of them toward the shooting direction I wanted. The key was adjusting the intensity so they wouldn’t feel like I was overstepping.
“Alright then. Let’s go with that.”
And so, today’s scenario was decided!
“So Blue Flare’s concept today is, ‘We learned sexy from textbooks. The chaotic sexy adaptation chronicles of rookie trainees!’ kind of vibe?”
“Yes. Plus ‘Lee Yu-gun’s fumbling rapper philosophy.’ I think it’ll be fun if we focus on Lee Yu-gun and Do-ha. Their roles reverse when they dance versus rap.”
“And this is Eun-chan’s first time showing his vocal skills on stage…. Last time Si-woo and Ha-jin had that vocal battle, and now they’re on the same team, which is fun too. This team has a lot of drama.”
‘The discord between Jeong Si-u and Lee Yu-gun’ or ‘the disharmony caused by Lee Yu-gun’s poor attitude’.
The keywords I’d wracked my brain to come up with to escape those titles were now flowing directly from the Production Director’s and Writer’s mouths.
Of course, they were all clues they’d picked up from the words I’d casually dropped, but they didn’t realize I’d deliberately steered the conversation that way.
“But how did Lee Yu-gun end up rapping? Not Eun-chan?”
At the Writer’s genuinely curious question, Lee Yu-gun, who’d been stretching nearby, laughed awkwardly. Then he recited the answer I’d drilled into him just minutes ago.
“I was already somewhat interested in it, and my teammates kindly encouraged me to give it a try. So I decided to take on this challenge through this opportunity. I want to show Destiny a new side of myself. I’ll work hard to become a cool partner with Do-ha.”
“Aha, that’s great. Such a positive attitude. I’m looking forward to it too.”
At Lee Yu-gun’s markedly different enthusiastic demeanor compared to yesterday, the Production Director gave me an impressed look. There was wonder in his eyes—as if asking how I’d managed to tame this wild beast.
-No, I’ve never rapped before. How am I supposed to do this? Ju Eun-chan is right there?
-We already wrapped that conversation really well and warmly yesterday, so if you’re curious, watch the broadcast.
-What? How am I supposed to watch something that hasn’t aired yet… No, that’s not the point!
-Didn’t you say you’d handle whatever’s left? That it didn’t matter?
-That’s, well, no, but you should still make me do something I can actually do…!
-Anyway, if you can’t do it, none of us can.
-….
-Choose. Either gracefully take the chorus and look good rapping the part, or forcibly wear the leash and reluctantly handle the leftover part.
-What’s the difference!?
…By putting on the leash.
I answered silently to the Production Director’s surprised gaze.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————