The Regressor's Ice Is Golden - Chapter 12

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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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012.

Since there was still time before the other skaters finished their tests, I decided to make a trip to the Emergency Room.
Fortunately, the nearest Emergency Room was close enough for Coach Park to drive us there and back.
There was nothing seriously wrong, but I was told to take better care of my joints.
The moment Cha Jin-hee heard the news, she let out a long breath and launched into a tirade.
“You better not push yourself for nothing and collapse on me, or I’m not choreographing anything for you.”
“Isn’t that backwards? You know Coach Park made most of that choreography, right?”
“Coach, is she always like this?”
“She does seem to be pushing herself a bit lately.”
It’s just a status window adjustment, so it’s fine.
In fact, there was another practice session scheduled at a different ice rink after this, but Coach Park decided we should all head home now, rental time be damned.
But there was no point letting a perfectly good rental hour go to waste just to make soup.
So I ended up leaving Cha Jin-hee behind at the ice rink to watch our things.
By the time I got back, the results were being announced.
Cha Jin-hee and Coach Park came up and linked their arms around my shoulders.
“Congratulations.”
“Of course.”
When I received the passing certificate and badge and returned to the ice rink for practice, there were barely twenty minutes left.
‘How am I supposed to get any real skating in with so little time left?’
So I compromised by doing only the most basic drills.
“All right, one and two, Lunge.”
That sort of thing.
One leg stretches back, and you push forward on the bent leg.
Bring the stretched leg back and stand up.
“Your shoulder keeps rising. Watch that.”
“Got it.”
“Oh, Jin-hee’s getting pretty good.”
I hadn’t expected to end up practicing with her, though.
Coach Park hadn’t asked her to join—she’d picked it up on her own.
“You really do skate well.”
“Not like I used to. Between studying and barely coming to the rink, I’ve gotten rusty.”
I steered the conversation in a different direction.
“How far along are you with Compulsory Figures?”
“Oh, should we try the beginner level?”
“Yeah.”
I watched Cha Jin-hee trace a perfect circle on one skate.
Forward and backward outside, and inside circles.
That was the very first thing I’d practiced right after my Regression.
Her skate blade tilted as it traced a clean, precise pattern.
‘Guess I’ll give it a try too.’
I traced a semicircle on one leg, switched direction in the middle, and skated backward in the opposite direction.
Changed feet, moved forward, then backward.
It felt noticeably easier than when I first tried it.
I spent the remaining time refining the short program choreography.
That pretty much wrapped up our ice time for the day.
“Want me to give you a ride?”
“It’s okay, the bus works better for me.”
“When an adult offers you a ride, you say thank you and get in the car.”
“Ah, well, in that case.”
“Bus fares went up again anyway.”
Cha Jin-hee climbed into the car without protest.
With the three of us, there was plenty of room.
I plugged in her address, and up came a single-family house.
“Whoa, nice place.”
“Our house is pretty well-off, yeah.”
But Jin-hee’s expression was completely flat.
After all, what good was living in a house like this when there were things you wanted to do but couldn’t?
“Be careful going in. Good luck.”
“Thank you.”
“See you later.”
We dropped Cha Jin-hee off at her house and left.
After that, the drive home was quiet.
Streetlights blurred past the windows.
“Ha-seol.”
“Yes?”
Coach Park broke the silence, smacking his lips thoughtfully.
“Does living alone bother you?”
“I’m sorry?”
Where did that come from?
Well, compared to that cramped place back when I was roasting offal for a living, this apartment was practically a palace.
Even after my parents passed, I’d lived alone in that big house for a while.
But the maintenance fees ate me alive, so eventually I moved in with Coach Park, though he’d been suggesting it for a while anyway.
‘He did want to do it around this time.’
Besides, I barely spent any time at home anyway.
‘Eat lunch, leave school early, then train until night.’
Since I ate all my meals out, the only things I did at home were cook and sleep.
“Why are you asking, Coach?”
“Well, it’s nothing serious. You don’t have any relatives on your family register, so I became your legal guardian.
The car was too dark to see Coach Park’s face.
“In this day and age, it’s dangerous for a young girl to live alone. And a home should have someone to greet you and see you off.”
……
I thought back to what this period meant.
From this point in time, it’s around last winter.
The time I came home with a medal from the elementary division national championship, only to stand at a funeral instead of an awards ceremony.
And all those years bouncing between rooftops and tiny study rooms, barely scraping by.
Now that I think about it, Coach Park is really something.
The process must have been incredibly messy, but thanks to him, I never went into an orphanage and never went hungry.
He also made sure my inheritance was handled properly.
And that’s how I ended up grinding my teeth and pushing through figure skating.
Still doing it, even now.
“If we lived together, could I work harder?”
“How much harder could you possibly work?”
“Well, I suppose you have a point.”
From what I knew, Coach Park’s circumstances weren’t exactly comfortable either.
There was the money from selling choreography and the life insurance from my parents’ deaths, which disqualified him from basic welfare assistance.
The car smelled sharply of muscle patches.
“Do you think things would be better if we lived together?”
“Ah.”
Coach Park’s eyes widened, and he shook his head.
“No. If you’re comfortable living alone, I won’t push it. A change of environment would be inconvenient for you anyway.”
“No, no, it’s fine. I’d like living with you too.”
I waved my hand as well.
At the very least, I wouldn’t feel lonely coming home.
And renting out the two-bedroom would free up some money.
That way, I could prepare for the season ahead with a bit more breathing room.
“Let’s both think about it a little more.”
……Yes.”

***

Park Ji-ho had a lot on his mind.
He was choosing his words carefully for his mother.
No matter how precocious he was, he was still just a middle school sophomore.
He couldn’t just decide to sponsor someone or recruit them as an advertising model out of nowhere.
And he was too old to wheedle and pester someone in power like a child to get what he wanted.
But his parents had told him something.
‘Dream big. Even when it breaks, the pieces are large.’
And it seemed Cha Jin-hee was planning to bet on Kim Ha-seol’s Olympic gold medal.
They stuck together every day at school, so even when they met at lunch, there was a strange sense of distance between them.
In a situation like this, all he could do was.
“I never thought the day would come when our Ji-ho would ask me out for tea.”
“I suppose so.”
“And your timing is perfect too. How did you manage to find me just when your mother had a spare moment? You’re clever.”
There was nothing to say to that.
Park Ji-ho stared unenthusiastically at his iced tea.
The sociability he usually displayed around peers of his age had long since gone dormant.
A middle-aged woman who bore an uncanny resemblance to him picked up her coffee cup.
“So, what’s on your mind?”
“Nothing in particular. I just remembered you asking me to tell you about school life before.”
“Is that so?”
They both set down their cups at the same time.
Park Ji-ho swallowed dryly without realizing it.
“Cha Jin-hee made a new friend. The three of us got close, so we eat lunch together now.”
“Really? That’s wonderful. What kind of friend?”
“Somehow we connect well when talking about our futures. She does figure skating.”
“Is that so?”
“She’s impressive. The way she talks about sports and all.”
“Ah, I was wondering what you were up to lately—so you’ve been spending time with this friend.”
His mother paid it no mind, merely offering a thin smile.
“How is it spending time with her?”
“It’s fine. It’s refreshing in a way. But strictly speaking, she’s not really my friend—she’s Jin-hee’s friend.”
“That’s perfect, then. Your mother just wants you to be doing well.”
“Actually, about that.”
It was time to move on to the main topic.
Otherwise, the conversation would drift into tedious talk about future careers.
“Can I use Dad’s sewing machine?”
“Hmm?”
In the corner of the house’s storage shed sat a dusty, mouse-gray sewing machine.
According to what he’d heard, Park Ji-ho’s father had acquired it with great difficulty during his university days.
It was a precious thing, so it remained a mystery why he hadn’t taken it with him.
Since things had come to this, Park Ji-ho decided he’d rather try something with it than let it gather dust.
‘Besides, Mom hardly ever mentions it anyway.’
Park Ji-ho carefully set down his cup.
“There’s something I’d like to try. Obviously, since I’m still in middle school, I’m not sure where I’d actually use it, but.”
Instead of taking a deep breath, he took a sip of his iced tea.
The cold, slightly sweet liquid slid down his throat.
“Still, if I’m thinking about this from a business perspective, I figured it would be good to make at least one piece of clothing.”
“Is that right?”
“And when are you planning to find a new model, by the way?”
His mother looked at him with a puzzled expression.
He couldn’t falter here.
“Why do you ask?”
“I’d like to recommend that figure skating friend of mine. She’s quite pretty, honestly? I thought it would be good if you considered her.”
“Our son is thinking of such considerate things?”
His mother fixed him with a steady gaze.
“Still, you’re only in middle school. It’s fine to challenge yourself with something, but why not start small?”
Her eyes probed and searched, trying to uncover his intentions.
It felt like the summit was in sight now.
This was a moment he couldn’t afford to bungle.
“Well, this is interesting. Do you like this friend?”
Park Ji-ho deliberately laughed.
“Come on, I have several female friends. Your son has an eye for these things, doesn’t he? Why not give it some careful consideration?”
“Hmm.”
His mother slowly propped her chin on the table.
Tap, tap, tap.
Her fingertips drummed against her cheek.
“What’s this friend’s name?”
“…Kim Ha-seol.”
“Yeah, that sounds good.”
Park Ji-ho’s Mother took another sip of her coffee and closed her eyes.
Park Ji-ho knew that look well.
The expression she wore when weighing something, calculating.
His mother was undoubtedly a good person, but in moments like these, she unsettled him.
“It’s not a bad idea, but won’t customers resent it if she’s become famous because of being a model?”
“Oh, quite the opposite. Her circumstances have quite a few similarities to ours, actually. It’s mutual benefit, really.”
“Mm.”
Park Ji-ho recounted what Ha-seol had told him.
He filtered out the personal details.
His mother listened quietly, then set down her cup.
“Use your judgment. Feel free to use the Sewing Machine however you see fit.”
“!”
“The thing is, my line of work demands a solid foundation for judgment.”
“I suppose you would be that way.”
“Yes.”
Park Ji-ho regarded his mother quietly.
His mother regarded her son in kind.
“Build that foundation for yourself. You can do that, can’t you?”
He felt the cool ceramic of the cup against his fingertips.
Park Ji-ho lifted it to his lips and drank.
“I understand.”
“Good. Still, don’t fall behind on your academy homework.”
After that, Park Ji-ho answered his mother’s various trivial questions before returning to his room.
The tension drained from him, and he sighed without thinking.
Alone in his room, cold sweat broke across his skin.
“Phew.”
Rationally speaking, it had gone well.
He’d been of use to his mother, and now he had an answer ready for the inevitable question of how he’d make his living.
The only thing that troubled him was not knowing what grand design his mother had in mind.
She’d only just opened a shop and a social media page, yet she carried herself with a weight she hadn’t shown before—he couldn’t fathom why.
Though he had to admit, it was thanks to that weight that the shop and page had come to exist at all.
Park Ji-ho shot a quick text to Cha Jin-hee.
[Do you have Kim Ha-seol’s phone number?]
[Cha Jin-hee: Do you like her?]
He said no—but it didn’t matter.
Park Ji-ho had to play twenty questions with Cha Jin-hee before she finally gave him Kim Ha-seol’s number.
He took a deep breath, then typed out his message.
[It’s Park Ji-ho, second year. Got your number from Jin-hee.]
As far as he knew, Kim Ha-seol needed money.
Hadn’t Coach Park mentioned that even during her competitive days, Kim Ha-seol shot a lot of commercials to cover training costs?
From their perspective, there was nothing to lose—and it could pay off in the long run.
A brand that built its career alongside an Olympic gold medalist!
If Cha Jin-hee had bet on it, why shouldn’t he?
Park Ji-ho sent the final message and turned off his phone.
[By any chance, would you be interested in modeling work?]
The Regression: Golden Rink Chapter 12
E-book publication date | June 5, 2026

Author | Cor Caroully
Publishers | Huh Heung-beom, Park Geon-won
Published by | Potent

Address | [04783] 10F, 8 Yeonmujang 11-gil, Seongdong-gu, Seoul
Phone | 02-6320-8500
Fax | 02-6320-8585

UCI | G720:N+A101-20260514092.0012
List price | Not for sale

ⓒ Corcoroli 2026

This e-book is a copyrighted work protected under copyright law.
This e-book is published by agreement with the author, and unauthorized reproduction, distribution, sharing, or transmission in any form without the written consent of both parties is strictly 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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