The Regressor's Ice Is Golden - Chapter 11

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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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011.

‘Done it!’
I snapped my body upright in a flash.
The moment my balance wavered was because the Toe Loop had caught slightly at the end.
In a real performance, that would have cost me points.
But for now, the important thing was that I’d landed it.
I pressed forward with composure, picking up speed again.
I executed the upper-body choreography, launching my leg skyward.
With a sharp whoosh, ice spray scattered across the rink.
The landing of the Double Axel was clean.
I rode the momentum and hurled myself into the air with full force.
The Flying Camel Spin, approached in the difficult entry style!
I held my back rigid and spun in place.
I counted the rotations, then caught my suspended foot out of the air.
I brought it up to the crown of my head and held it, then lifted it higher still along with my upper body.
The Biellmann Spin, shaped like a flower bud.
Then I released my hands and let my leg down smoothly.
The moment my skate blade bit the ice, laughter burst from my lips unbidden.
There was no dizziness to be found.
Following the piano’s flow, I turned and began another rotation.
With a crisp whirl and a clean sound, I landed again.
The landing on the confident solo Triple Loop was immaculate.
From here on, the focus had to be on the edges of my blades.
I performed the next sequence in rhythm with the beat.
The Step Sequence.
Dancing in time with the music, it was the element that conveyed the world of the piece.

***

Cha Jin-hee gripped the railing of the Spectator Stands.
She should have brought Park Ji-ho along if she’d known it would be like this.
She didn’t even know what kind of reaction she should be showing right now.
If he were here, probably
“Wow, that’s incredible. You used to do stuff like that too?”
he’d be making a fuss like that.
“…….”
Cha Jin-hee had naturally performed the Step Sequence during her own competitive days.
But she’d never done anything ‘like that’ before.
Unlike the music flowing softly, the trajectory etched on the ice and the sharp angle of the skate blade as it leaned deep were ominous.
‘She’s really good.’
It had been a long time since she’d watched a skater’s performance properly.
Now that she thought about it, connecting a Double Axel after an Inbauer was one of Lee Yu-na’s signatures.
She remembered seeing it in a video once, long ago.
Could this girl succeed Lee Yu-na?
In time with the piano’s melody, the skate blade moved with busy precision.
Gliding on one foot in a semicircle, switching feet, turning direction, leaving a trace on the ice.
Counter Turn, Three Turn, Loop Turn…….
Techniques that were finished before their names could even be spoken, flowing without pause.
Then, touching the ice with the blade’s toe, she leapt into the air.
Spinning on one foot in a dizzy whirl, and as it ended, switching feet again to move forward.
All the while, her arms flew like skipping stones across the piano’s song, riding the flow and drawing patterns through the empty air.
Without thinking, Cha Jin-hee began folding her fingers one by one.
Counting the steps and turns she’d included, the composition was precisely what would earn the highest level.
Now that she thought about it, Coach Park had mentioned selling choreography to cover the ice rental fees, hadn’t she?
‘More than enough to earn from this.’
The issue was whether the skater had the stamina to handle such intricate choreography.
Regardless of anything else, the base value seemed generous.
After finishing the Step Sequence, Ha Seol picked up her speed a little more.
The recoil sent her into a spin, and she sat down into the rotation almost as if collapsing onto the ice.
A Change Foot Sit Spin, switching her feet once in the middle.
Looking at her, her flexibility was quite impressive.
To finish, she performed one more difficult variation of the position.
Somewhere along the way, Cha Jin-hee had slipped into a trance.
“Want to hear something interesting?”
Ha Seol’s coach drifted over to her side.
“What kind of thing?”
“Today’s the first time anyone other than her parents and me gets to watch her take a Grading Test like this—you and your friend, I mean.”
Cha Jin-hee turned to look at Coach Park.
“Just do your best. If you can land a Single Axel, you can do everything else.”
“……I see.”
The thought that I had to create choreography that elaborate was daunting.
A wave of vertigo washed over me.
Meanwhile, Ha Seol picked up speed again.
The jump she’d spent the most effort practicing: a triple combination of two jumps in a row.
Counting one and two, she rotated her body with a Three Turn.
A thin inside edge, nearly neutral.
She planted the blade on the ice again and launched herself.
Crack!
“……!”
In that instant, her center of gravity vanished.
Or had her axis already been thrown off?

The strength drained from her thighs, but she couldn’t let herself fall.
‘Please!’
I braced myself on the ice with my hand.
Barely—the Triple Flip……, did I land it?
My body was shaking too much to tell what had actually happened.
At least I hadn’t fallen.
‘In a real competition, I could’ve covered it with the Late Program Bonus.’
For now, the next element was waiting, so I had to keep moving.
I rushed toward the center of the Ice Rink and focused intently on my fingertips and feet.
With a sharp scraping sound, I launched into the Triple Salchow.
Then I planted my toe again and wrapped the rotation tight.
One more time!
It was a full three-jump combination.
Triple Salchow, Double Toe Loop, Double Loop.
‘Phew.’
Right after landing, I glanced down at my sliding foot.
It fell a bit short of a triple-double combination, but this sequence was designed to chase the Late Program Bonus.
Now only one jump element remained.
Just a little bit more.
While gliding from center ice, I turned my body slightly.
As I rotated, I pressed down on my feet with force.
Timing it perfectly, my right blade traced a smooth arc.
Then I drove hard on my legs into the Triple Salchow.
I landed in a spray of white ice shavings.
The Program rushed toward its true finale, an aching choreography unfolding.
Leaping, spinning, gliding!
At last, only the final element remained.
I arched my back and spun with the same speed I’d been rushing forward in.
A Layback Spin with a deep arch, flowing seamlessly from the previous choreography.
One, two, three, four.
My arms traced a rounded curve as though cradling the emptiness of the air.
I lifted one foot toward the crown of my head, then straightened my torso and raised it higher still.
Three full rotations of the extended Biellmann Spin brought it to an end.
As the spin ceased, the tremolo of the cello and the final note of the piano fell silent together.
My fingertips and arms flowed into a single, perfect curve.
“Huh… huh…”
The music, edited to about three minutes, faded as if gently falling asleep.
My heart felt ready to burst.
Ragged breaths tore from deep in my throat.
I held the final pose for a moment, then released it.
“Hah. Hah-hah-hah-hah.”
I felt strength draining from my fingertips.
I tried to bend and brace my hands on my knees, but there wasn’t enough strength left.
My body grew impossibly heavy.

[Challenge Complete (Clean Completion of Junior Free Skating and 3 others) — Points +5 awarded.]
[Points: 13]

Oh, so I get points for that.
But before I could even consider what to do with them, a red notice flashed.
Do you remember?
The penalty for the special ability I used this time.

[!The effect of special ability ‘Cardiopulmonary Endurance UP!’ has activated normally. Penalty is now in effect.!]
[(※Temporary respiratory distress or hyperventilation symptoms may occur immediately after execution.)]

“Ugh.”
Startled by my uncontrollable breathing, I clutched at my throat.
A sensation like fire burning down my airway seared through me.
Or was it freezing? Bursting apart?
It didn’t matter which.
I couldn’t stand.
I sank slowly onto the ice.
A sharp cry echoed from outside the rink.
It was Coach Park.
“Ha Seol!”
The spectator stand stairs rang out with thundering footsteps.
Two figures rushed toward me.
“Seol. Ha Seol. Ha Seol.”
The coach rubbed my back with urgent, frantic motions.
My entire body was drenched in sweat.
My chest heaved with my quickened breathing.
With each gasp for air, pain surged through me.
My lips were parched and cracked—I tasted rust, unsure when I’d bitten them.
“Seol, try to walk a bit. Hey? Don’t you dare fall asleep here!”
I couldn’t muster even a twitch of my fingers.
The next moment, someone’s arms hooked under my shoulders and lifted me.
One arm wrapped around my shoulders to hold me steady and keep me from collapsing.
“Take it easy. Hey, stay with us! Wake up!”
Slap, slap—someone’s hand struck my rapidly chilling cheek.
It was probably Cha Jin-hee.
And so I was led out of the rink, supported between my coach and my friend.

***

Now that I thought about it, I’d felt this sensation once before.
The way consciousness grows distant under overstimulation beyond my limit.
Two years ago from now—when I was sixteen.
Back then, I’d been struggling with a fractured leg.
I think I collapsed on the ice rink then too and was dragged away.

“Ahhh…”
When I came to, I was lying on a bench.
Thankfully, I was still in the Medical Office at the Ice Rink.
Since the test was still underway, they must have moved me here for now.
“Hey.”
“……What?”
I turned to look beside me and nearly gasped.
Cha Jin-hee was staring at me with wide, reddened eyes.
She looked thoroughly shocked.
I tried to sit up from the bench.
“Stay down.”
“Ugh.”
Cha Jin-hee pressed down on my shoulder, so I couldn’t.
I touched the back of my head, which had gone numb where it had struck the bench.
“You, this——”
“What, Ha Seol’s awake?”
Coach Park approached with a face drained of all color.
“……How long was I lying down?”
“Three minutes.”
Not as long as I’d thought.
“I was about to call 119, but you said not to report it.”
Ah.
Somehow, even in my daze, I’d managed to stop them both.
I pushed myself up into a sitting position.
This time Cha Jin-hee didn’t stop me.
“Ha Seol.”
Coach Park’s voice was strained.
“When I first suggested attaching a Toe Loop, what did you say?”
“I don’t know?”
“‘I’m not going to spend my whole life doing figure skating and die, right?'”
……
“What on earth were you thinking, to collapse like that after one program?”
Cha Jin-hee turned her head away quietly, and Coach Park bowed hers.
Was she disappointed? Terrified?
Either way, this wasn’t the reaction I’d hoped for.
So I wanted to hear it.
What I’d been expecting all week, despite all the panic.
“Coach.”
“What?”
“How was I?”
“Huh.”
Coach Park stared at me for a moment in disbelief.
“Yeah, you did great. Really great. Gold medal material. On the express track to the underworld.”
“Come on, Coach. Even so.”
“Ha.”
In the next moment, Coach Park’s expression turned stern and cold.
“Do I look like I’m joking right now?”
The sharp edge in her eyes made me shrink back slightly.
“I didn’t start focusing only on you and cutting back on the other kids’ practice for nothing. Of course I like that you’re working hard, I like it, but——”
Coach Park sighed and opened a Water Bottle to drink.
“It makes my blood run cold as your guardian.”
I had no choice but to stay silent at that.
As I sat there reading the room, Cha Jin-hee interjected quietly.
“……But you did do well.”
“Mm?”
“Honestly, just landing it was something. Everyone knows attaching a Loop raises the Base Value.”
Cha Jin-hee also glanced cautiously at Coach Park.
“It’s a jump that usually only male skaters do sometimes. It’s that difficult.”
It was unexpected support.
I let out a soft laugh, took a moment, and added one more thing.
“But it’s good if I can do it at all.”
“That’s true.”
“And, um.”
Cha Jin-hee hesitated, then drove her point home.
“It was posted on your SNS back then. The Triple Axel distance was pretty long.”
“…….”
Coach Park’s frown deepened.
“You’re putting in a Toe Loop, right?”
“……Yes.”
That was it.
Cha Jin-hee, standing beside me, let out a sigh of her own.
“Listen, I don’t care about anything else, but you’d better go to the emergency room with Coach Park later. You nearly collapsed out there—I was absolutely terrified.”
“But what about the test results…….”
Hmm.
In the end, I had no choice but to hold my tongue.
The Returner’s Ice — Episode 11
E-book Publication Date | June 5, 2026

Author | Korckaroli
Publisher | Heo Heung-beom, Park Geon-won
Publishing House | Poten

Address | [04783] 10th Floor, 11 Yeonmujang-gil, Seongdong-gu, Seoul
Phone | 02-6320-8500
Fax | 02-6320-8585

UCI | G720:N+A101-20260514092.0011
List Price | Not for Sale

© Korckaroli 2026

This e-book is protected by copyright law.
This e-book has been published under contract with the author, and reproduction, distribution, or sharing in any form without the written consent of both parties is prohibited.

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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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