The Regressor's Ice Is Golden - Chapter 22

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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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022.

Park Chae-ram was turning over the details of the morning Run-through in his mind.
It was the time to assess the rival skaters in the same competition and gauge everyone’s condition for the day.
Of course, the technical compositions the skaters had prepared were mostly made public beforehand.
When they registered, they’d write down “this is what I’ll attempt,” and all that.
But that was only ever a plan, nothing absolute.
An athlete might lower their difficulty due to injury, or conversely, if they felt sharp, they might go for a higher-difficulty composition to score more points.
In short, this time was for confirming the final—truly final—actual final version of the programs each skater had brought.
Coaches watched the competing skaters and compared their condition against the pre-announced compositions, adjusting their tactics accordingly.
And Cha Seo-hee, in today’s Run-through, had landed the Triple Axel.
‘She looked like she was in decent shape.’
Whether it was because the girl was naturally bright, or whether he was deliberately shielding her from stress, he couldn’t say.
Either way, just putting a Triple Axel in her program showed plenty of confidence.
It was a major technique that earned eight base points if successfully executed.
Since skaters had to attempt an Axel by regulation, considering the Double Axel was worth 3.3 base points, the difference was formidable.
Even if the rotation fell slightly short, the base score itself would be solid.
‘But I’m not sure if her stamina will hold up.’
Of course, as a precaution, Kim Ha-seol had also practiced throwing loops on all her jumps.
But that didn’t mean it was fine to change the jump composition recklessly.
As the competition wore on, an athlete’s stamina depleted and their legs grew heavy.
Sure, going for a medal was good, but one mistake could lead to injury.
Now that she’d moved up to Junior level, he wanted to think long-term.
‘I need to talk to her about this again.’
He headed back to the waiting room first.
The next reconnaissance would come only during the 6-minute warm-up before Kim Ha-seol’s group’s competition started.
Surely nothing else would go wrong by then……?
“Where’d she go?”
She’d left her Skate Carrier behind and vanished like she’d evaporated.
Even if she’d gone outside to warm up, she’d usually come back to rest by now.
And she wasn’t the type to wander off without telling him.
Park Chae-ram felt a chill creep down his spine and hurriedly scanned the area.
The short-haired female skater was nowhere to be seen.
He was rushing out of the waiting room at that very moment.
“Kim Ha-seol, where—”
“Ow!”
Bang—someone crashed into the door.
He quickly checked behind it.
“Ugh. Why’d you do that, Coach?”
Kim Ha-seol stood rubbing her forehead, her face scrunched up in displeasure.
Park Chae-ram blinked, then came to his senses.
“You—you didn’t say a word before disappearing! You scared me half to death!”
“Oh.”
Kim Ha-seol looked confused for a moment, then her mouth fell open.
The expression on her face was unmistakably ‘I forgot.’
“Sorry. I just kind of… happened to…”
“Sigh.”
Park Chae-ram rubbed her forehead gently and let out a relieved breath.
“As long as nothing serious happened. That bump didn’t hurt?”
“No, no.”
“I’m sorry. I gave you quite a scare.”
Fortunately, aside from her forehead, she didn’t seem injured anywhere.
“Are you cold anywhere?”
“I’m a bit warm, actually.”
“Want to take off your jacket? Here, give it to me.”
Back in the waiting room, the two unpacked and took out a few things.
Park Chae-ram carefully folded the warm-up clothes and pulled out the Medical Tape.
“Your knee’s okay? Still, it’d be good to tape it just in case.”
“Should I go change clothes?”
“If you need to. Are you comfortable now?”
“I think it’d be good to wrap it.”
Park Chae-ram checked a few other things.
Whether there were any sore spots, if her knees felt all right, what her current condition was like.
Kim Ha-seol returned from the restroom in shorts and settled quietly onto the Skate Carrier.
Park Chae-ram sat in front of her and began tearing off Medical Tape with practiced efficiency.
It was taping meant to reduce the pain in her knee joints.
“Where did you disappear to earlier?”
“I was doing my warm-up outside when I ran into Choi Ji-hwan. Seems he still hasn’t solved his boot problem.”
“So you went to watch the competition? He took the gold medal.”
“Yeah. Cha Jin-hee and Park Ji-ho came too.”
“Hmm, is that so?”
Park Chae-ram nodded quietly and said something.
“From now on, don’t wander off without telling me. You scared me.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Well, Choi Ji-hwan and I do have some connection, so I suppose you were curious about his competition. Right?”
Kim Ha-seol nodded.
“Next time, let’s watch together. But keep things just friendly. Even so, a five-year gap is too much.”
“What are you talking about, seriously?”
Seeing her look of disgust, Park Chae-ram figured everything was fine.
He chuckled and stood up.
“I’m just kidding. All right, taping’s done. Go change and come back so we can run through the choreography once.”
“Okay.”
“Oh, and there’s something I wanted to talk about.”
Kim Ha-seol’s eyes widened slightly.
“Are you really going to jump the Triple Toe Loop in the second half?”
In the current composition, there were three jumps after 1 minute 45 seconds, which was the latter section.
A Double Axel and a Triple Toe Loop, followed by a standalone Triple Salchow and Double Axel.
Park Chae-ram explained this briefly.
“If you’re going to jump in the second half, you’ll probably need to swap one of these with something else. Personally, I think swapping it with the Salchow would be best.”
“Hmm…….”
Both of them sat with their chins resting on their hands, lost in thought.
Keeping close to the original composition would probably give a decent success rate.
Since there wouldn’t be a separate Preparation turn section, there was no worry the flow would be disrupted.
After a moment of silence, Kim Ha-seol spoke first.
“Coach, what about this?”
“What?”

***

Park Ji-ho sat alone in the stands, watching the competition unfold in a daze.
Already lacking background knowledge, it had grown tedious without Cha Jin-hee there.
Though she could be a bit sharp-tongued, she’d always provided spot-on commentary on the matches.
Still, he didn’t understand everything, but at least he’d gotten something.
‘That skater’s got strong Spins but does Salchow Jumps unusually. This one’s got decent rotation but lacks the leg strength for distance.’
So the only thing Park Ji-ho could do was admire the skaters’ costumes.
“When is she coming…….”
A skater in a green outfit—he couldn’t remember her name—finished a rather mediocre performance.
Just then Cha Jin-hee returned to her seat.
“Sorry I took so long. Grabbed something at the concession stand.”
“Oh, nice, Bacchus. Thanks.”
The two of them each held up a bottle and downed it in one go.
“Phew, gonna get fat at this rate. Kim Ha-seol’s the last one in her Group, right?”
“Getting bored already? Can’t blame you…….”
Meanwhile, the competition continued its steady pace.
The Total Score of the last skater in the previous group appeared on the scoreboard.
“This is the result for Oh Seo-hyun. Total Score 173.24, currently in third place.”
Cha Jin-hee stretched luxuriously.
“Why don’t you go use the restroom too. We’ll do the Ice resurfacing and then the final Group’s 6-minute warm-up.”
“Okay. But now that I think about it, you.”
“Hm……?”
Cha Jin-hee looked up at Park Ji-ho with a sullen expression.
For a moment he flinched, then broke into a grin.
“When did you start dropping honorifics with me like that? I’m still your senior by a year.”
“You vanish from sight for a bit and suddenly you want to be treated like an older brother again?”
“Hey, we’re in Seoul, that’s how it works! You’re supposed to come down with me anyway.”
“Yes, senior Park Ji-ho, who still can’t tell Triple Toe Loops apart.”
“Hey now.”
“Stop whining—it’s annoying.”
While the two of them bickered, the ice resurfacing machine finished its work and rolled out.
Finally, the 6-minute warm-up for today’s final group had begun.
{We will now begin the warm-up for female junior competitors numbers 31 through 35. The warm-up period is 6 minutes.}
“Ooh, Kim Ha-seol’s up!”
Ha-seol’s Free Skating costume was a Chinese-inspired dress in red, adorned with yellow cubic crystals and gold embroidery.
Turandot is an Eastern fantasy after all!
There were plenty of references to work with, so the design came together easily.
As Park Ji-ho watched Ha-seol’s skating with satisfaction, his eye caught on someone else.
“Hey, you said that was your sister, right?”
“Who? Oh, her.”
The way her eyes hardened told him he’d guessed correctly.
Cha Seo-hee’s costume was quite distinctive.
The base was a white dress, but long sleeves and the hem had been added with lengths of yellow and black fabric.
The gradation work suggested it was inspired by watercolor or ink painting.
“Who designed that costume? That color combination must have been incredibly difficult to pull off. But why do skaters even bother with custom costumes?”
“Well, it looks striking for one thing, and it makes a better impression on the judges. If you choose a powerful, intense piece but skate in a princess dress, it won’t match, right?”
“Ah, that’s true.”
So what kind of piece would justify that strange watercolor dress?
Park Ji-ho, who had no way of knowing Cha Seo-hee’s song choice, quietly finished off the last mandarin orange.
After the 6-minute warm-up ended, an announcement rang out through the venue.
{We now present our competitors. From Seolhyang Middle School: Kim Ji-su.}
One by one, skaters took to the ice and performed their routines.
Each lasting 3 minutes 30 seconds.
Seven jumps, three Spins, and one Choreography Sequence.
{The results for Kim Ji-su. Total Score: 172.35. Current ranking: 4th place.}
Park Ji-ho applauded politely and asked a question.
“Is it only like this for women’s competitions? The competition time seems shorter than before.”
“That was the men’s senior competition earlier. The junior Free Skating is 3 minutes 30 seconds for both men and women.”
Cha Jin-hee launched into her smooth commentary again.
“And in junior Free Skating, instead of a step sequence, there’s something called a Choreography Sequence. You build it out of big techniques like Spirals and Ina Bauer.”
“I know what a Spiral is. Isn’t that when Yuri lifts her leg high and glides across the ice without falling?”
“Yeah, that’s it.”
Cha Jin-hee pulled another chocolate bar from her pocket and handed it to him.
Meanwhile, the judges finished scoring the third skater in the group.
{We now present our competitors. From Songgol Middle School: Cha Seo-hee.}
As applause filled the arena, Cha Seo-hee skated out onto the ice.
And silence descended in an instant.
The sharp, clean scrape of skate blades cutting through ice rang loud and clear.
Cha Seo-hee moved to center ice and slowly took her opening position.
Soon a lively piece of music filled the venue.
An orchestra led by Korean percussion and wind instruments.
The OST from the animated film Magpie and Cat.
A work that had gone viral through a major streaming platform, sparking a wave of popularity.
“Oh, that’s famous. Isn’t that from a Netflix anime?”
“Right? I was wondering why you were suddenly watching an animation I’d never seen before.”
While we spoke, Cha Seo-hee gradually picked up speed, gliding smoothly across the ice.
Then she entered the preparation for an Axel jump.
Right foot on outside edge, skating backward, shoulders open, gaze forward in the direction of travel.
After a brief pause, she switched her weight to her left foot and thrust her right leg upward with force.
Triple Axel.
In an instant, Cha Seo-hee’s body lifted skyward, spinning with a sharp whistle.
Rotation power that rivaled a semi-quadruple, combined with exceptional height!
Crack—!
Her blade carved loudly across the ice.
She landed with a radiant smile, and applause erupted immediately.
“Wow.”
Cha Jin-hee let out a sound that was part sigh, part exclamation.
Park Ji-ho was no different.
“That’s incredible.”
“I know.”
Cha Seo-hee’s story was only beginning.
The Returner’s Ice Rink — Episode 22
E-book Release Date | June 5, 2026

Author | Korkarolli
Publisher | Heo Heung-beom, Park Geon-won
Published by | Potent

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

UCI | G720:N+A101-20260514092.0022
List Price | 100 Won

ⓒ Korkarolli 2026

This e-book is protected by copyright law.
This e-book has been published under contract with the author, and unauthorized reproduction, copying, distribution, or sharing is prohibited 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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