The Regressor's Ice Is Golden - Chapter 19

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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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019.

The lyrical violin trembled and tore sharply over passionate melody.
Roxanne’s tango was that kind of piece.
“She’s got a nice flow…”
“And her condition looks solid.”
“You can tell that from here?”
“Figure skating fans have good dynamic vision.”
Cha Seohui maintained her expression work without faltering as she continued her skate.
A flawless Connected Jump, a Flying Spin that showcased her suppleness.
The distance of her Double Axel in particular was almost unreal.
“Wow, she’s practically flying. The Triple Axel must clear three meters?”
“Probably…?”
Overall, she skated with an ease and naturalness that felt comfortable to watch.
The choreography too — whoever had arranged it showed no clumsiness, only polish.
Right up until she landed the 3Lz-3T as her final jump.
Crack!
“Ouch, but she stayed up.”
She hadn’t fallen, at least — Cha Seohui’s performance held together on the surface.
{The results for Cha Seohui’s performance: Total score, 67.25. Current ranking: First place.}
“Wow, that’s high.”
Then the applause began to fade gradually.
The scrape of skates carving ice drifted across the rink.
{Our next competitor: Songgol Middle School, Kim Haseol.}
“Waaaah, Kim Haseol!!!!”
“Tear it up!!!”
The two of them let out powerful cheers the moment the announcement finished.
In that instant, Haseol glanced up in their direction and broke into a grin.
“Ugh.”
“Oh.”
The two of them tamped down their excitement and suddenly turned when they heard whimpering behind them.
The child had been startled by the loud noise.
“S-sorry. Want to drink something?”
“Y-yes…”
Park Jiho quickly cracked open an Ion drink and offered it.
The child’s mother settled the boy in a seat beside them.
“Did you choreograph that skater’s routine?”
“Yes! And I made the costume.”
“Sorry about that. Hope the noise didn’t hurt his ears.”
“We’ll take him to get checked later if needed.”
Meanwhile, Haseol took her place at center ice.
Her left foot planted on the back edge, her hips tilted slightly to the left.
One hand rested against that hip while the other came up as if to shield her brow.
The opening movement of choreography created by Cha Jinhui.
A moment of perfect stillness hung in the air.
Boom, boom-boom, boom-boom-boom-boom, boom.
The music exploded into intensity and the performance began.
Haseol swept her shielding arm across the space in a sharp arc.
The characteristic melody and rhythm of “Allegro Tangabile” unfolded.
And matching it perfectly: movements both proud and buoyant.
“Wow.”
Even the child, whose brow had been furrowed moments before, blinked and stared at Haseol.
The child’s mother held up the drink can for him.
“That skater is really talented.”
“Well…”
Cha Jinhui, her ears flushed, cleared her throat awkwardly.
Park Jiho too found he could not take his eyes off Haseol on the ice.
The hem of her skirt and her short hair trembled in the rush of speed, looking like true dark-blue flames.
Soon she turned to prepare for her jump.
“Now!”
The same Triple Lutz as the skaters before her.
But what followed wasn’t the breathing room to set up a Toe Loop.
Haseol didn’t separate her feet.
Instead, she wrapped the rotation around her right foot the moment it landed, launching into the air again.
“Whoa!”
The moment Jinhui’s eyes widened, the sound of ice scraping thundered across the rink.
The Connected Jump—a Triple Loop—landed cleanly.
Applause erupted from scattered corners of the arena.
“Wow, wow! She’s really doing it, just like she said—what a crazy thing to pull off!”
“What was that? Hey, can you explain what just happened?”
At Park Jiho’s urging, Jinhui swallowed hard.
“Usually when you do two triple rotations in a row, you attach a Toe Loop as the second jump. The base score is lower, but you get a brief moment to compose yourself after landing the first jump. Like what those two skaters did.”
Haseol continued executing the choreography as though nothing remarkable had happened.
Her expression looked refreshingly satisfied.
“But instead of a Toe Loop, you can attach a Loop jump—which has to be performed on the right foot—as a Connected Jump. You have to wrap the rotation the instant you land, completing three full rotations on your right foot alone.”
“Pardon?”
The boy’s eyes went wide, fixed on Jinhui.
“How is that even possible?”
“Even world-class skaters rarely attempt that combination.”
When a Loop attached as a Connected Jump, it usually appeared as the final element in a triple combination, coming after a Double Toe Loop.
It was a jump demanding perfect timing and exquisite technical precision.
But the Connected Triple Loop allowed no approach run, no moment to gather composure.
There was a reason people didn’t do it.
Park Jiho let out a fresh note of admiration.
“That’s incredible. She’ll rack up points on that one, won’t she?”
“Yeah, the Connected Triple Loop has a higher base score than the Toe Loop. But the only person in this competition who’d bring a combination like that was Seohui.”
“But Seohui did a Toe Loop, didn’t she?”
“Exactly. So Loop is half a point higher than Toe Loop. Figure skating is a sport where placements come down to decimals.”
Jinhui clasped her hands together.
“For just this short program today, nobody’s going to touch her.”

***

I was genuinely thrilled.
I’d successfully cleared a major hurdle!
‘Done it!’
Buoyed by confidence, my limbs carried the passionate choreography forward with conviction.
After finishing a Layback Spin, bending my torso back, I built my speed again.
The next jump was a solo Triple Flip.
I turned carefully to set up for the takeoff.
Inside Edge of my left foot, toward the big toe.
I tensed my ankle to keep the inside blade angled deeper.
The instant the tip of my right foot’s blade, stretched behind me, touched the ice.
I pulled my arms together in a flash and wrapped into the rotation.
My body, which had lifted skyward, came back down to the ice.
Crack!
‘Oh.’
The sound of the ice was rough.
My landing timing had been early.
I gritted my teeth and opened my arms to steady myself.
At least I didn’t fall.
‘Not finished yet.’
The next element was the Step Sequence.
It was the one I was most confident about—a chance to showcase the music’s world and my artistry!
I traced every conceivable curve across the ice, my breathing growing heavy.
Complex patterns, meeting the high scoring standard, etched themselves in white.
If I traced it on one foot, I traced it identically on the other.
Moving my arms with the choreography, flying my body across the ice, smiling toward the judges—
The choreography Jinhui had created drew extreme dynamism within the prescribed rules, taking the form of a masterwork.
It was a dance wrought from sheer physical endurance and concentration—and all the more brilliant for it.
The final jump, a Double Axel, landed cleanly.
A Twizzle, spinning on one leg in a spiral glide forward the instant after landing.
All the way through the Flying Sit Spin, launched with a snap of the body.
The spin ended the moment the piano and bandoneon notes warped and burst with a sharp crack.
“Huh—hah.”
I held the finishing pose, gasping for breath.
A roar like thunder poured down like rain.
Cheers and applause rang out from across the spectator seating.
In the midst of it all, Cha Jinhui and Park Jiho were nearly in tears.
I bowed slowly toward the stands.
This section, then the opposite side, then over there.
Sweat dripped steadily from my face as I finished acknowledging them all.

“Want something to drink?”
“Thank you.”
The moment I sat down in the Kiss and Cry, I gulped down the Ion drink Coach handed me.
Once my thirst eased, my surroundings came into focus.
The backdrop panel with the Ice Skating Federation and sponsors lined up.
A long table, folding chairs, the Owl figurine Coach had brought.
Even the broadcast equipment filming this space.
‘I’m sitting here again.’
Honestly, it still felt a little unreal.
If I closed my eyes and opened them, it seemed like it should be time to go make stir-fried offal.
Only the tingling ache in my legs proved this was real.
Coach draped a Jersey over my shoulders.
“You did well. At least among the athletes competing today, you performed the best.”
I looked steadily at Coach Park Chaeram.
Her eyes held a look of immense pride, yet also deep sympathy.
“Of course.”
I put absolute certainty into my reply.
Of course, there were probably deductions in the scoring.
The landing timing on the Triple Flip had been a fraction early.
‘How many rotations short was it?’
Anything past three-quarters of a rotation counts, but below that, points get deducted.
There was still more practice to do.
I closed the bottle cap, and an announcement began to flow.
{This is the competition result for athlete Kim Haseol.}
With a beep, the score appeared on the scoreboard.
{Total Score: 68.97. Current standing: First place.}
Unbelievable.
A score ahead of Cha Seohui.
I stared blankly up at the scoreboard.
Even reading it again, the score remained the same.
“Holy! I knew you could do it!”
“R-really?”
Coach Park threw her arms around me and made a fuss.
I swayed with her and grinned sheepishly.
“All right, let’s head out. You worked hard.”
“Thank you.”
We exchanged greetings with the filming crew and left the area.
Already, an announcement was calling the next athlete.
As we exited the Kiss and Cry zone, two familiar people were waiting.
“What? Did you two cry?”
“W-well…….”
Cha Jinhui was still holding tissue, sniffling, while Park Jiho wore a sheepish smile despite his puffy eyes.
“Hey, you saw the performance. I made the costume well, right? Should’ve grabbed some points for artistic merit?”
“Ugh, don’t go sniffling like that—and mind your own business, would you?”
Cha Jinhui swatted him while covering her face, but Park Jiho only laughed harder.
“So that’s it, then? It’s all over?”
“For now.”
Coach glanced at another scoreboard.

1. Kim Haseol
2. Cha Seohui
3. Park Chaerin

“Haseol, are you going to wait and see the final rankings?”
“Yes. I doubt anyone will place higher than me. I think I’ll have to do an interview.”
“That’s true enough.”
It was the first qualifying tournament for an international competition, after all—sports journalists weren’t about to let the top three skate off without a word.
“Then we’ll stay with you. No problem.”
“Do we get interviewed too? We choreographed and made the costume.”
“I’m not sure about that. Jinhui’s name probably won’t show up in the results.”
At Coach’s explanation, Park Jiho turned around, but Cha Jinhui simply laughed, bitter and resigned.
“Still, later I’ll make sure you get home with me safely.”
“Didn’t you say you came here with Coach’s parents on the express bus anyway?”
“What, are you turning on me now too?”
“I told you not to say unnecessary things.”
The four of them climbed slowly toward the spectator seating.
Where Cha Jinhui and Park Jiho had been sitting, an elementary school child and his mother remained.
“Are you still here?”
“Yes, the child wanted to stay a bit longer.”
The boy came over in quick, eager steps.
“Hello! You’re Kim Haseol, right?”
“Oh? Yes, I am.”
He blinked, then thrust his thumb up with a sharp gesture.
“That was so cool! How do you do all of that?”
“!
I glanced sideways at the boy’s mother.
She was wearing nothing but a rueful smile.
……I think I understood the situation.
Just as things were about to become awkward, Coach stepped in smoothly.
“This girl learned it from me. Do you want to learn to skate?”
“Yes!”
“My, what spirit! Though you’d have to work very hard.”
Coach opened the memo app on his phone, jotted down a number, and showed it to the mother.
“Talk it over with your child, think it through carefully, and then reach out whenever you’re ready. The after-school lessons aren’t that expensive.”
“Oh, I see? Thank you so much.”
The child and his mother left the spectator seating for a moment.
From the way he was asking for ramen, it looked like they were heading to the concession stand for a snack.
We watched their retreating figures for a moment.
“It must be hard.”
“But it’s fun.”
“That’s true.”
And that day, I took first place in the short program of the qualifying tournament.
The Returner’s Ice Rink – Golden Episode 19
E-book Release Date | June 5, 2026

Author | Corcaroli
Publisher | Heo Heung-beom, Park Geon-won
Publishing House | Potent

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

UCI | G720:N+A101-20260514092.0019
List Price | Not for Sale

© Korcarolli 2026

This e-book is a work protected under copyright law.
This e-book has been published by agreement with the author and may not be reproduced, distributed, shared, or transmitted in any form without the written consent of both parties.

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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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