The Regressor's Ice Is Golden - Chapter 25

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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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025.

Once, the entire nation lived in her era.
In local time it was evening; in Korean time, day and dawn.
Back then, the whole country stood frozen before televisions and scoreboards to watch her compete.
Every time she jumped, they cheered; each step, each turn, each spin drew gasps of wonder.
Among all those people, there were some of us — still too young to have entered elementary school.
We were those who followed the path she had lit.
And now she stood before me.
I’d been staring blankly at her when I suddenly snapped back to myself.
It was my turn to receive the bouquet.
“Congratulations.”
Her voice descended like an oracle.
She extended the bouquet toward me. Only then did I fully come to my senses.
“Oh, yes.”
Soft hands held out the bouquet.
My hands trembled as I took it.
‘Am I dreaming?’
But the texture of fresh flowers at my fingertips told me this was real.
For what it’s worth, the person beside me wasn’t doing much better.
“W-wow! I’m a fan!”
Cha Jin-hee practically babbled the words and nearly dropped her trophy.
Given who was standing in front of us, it was entirely understandable.
“We’ll now proceed to take commemorative photographs.”
Throughout the photo session, she remained there before us.
That’s when I accepted it.
I was so grateful to have returned to the past.
To receive a bouquet from the woman who had been my childhood idol.
A life too precious to waste grilling offal and then getting struck by a truck.
‘Next time, I’ll stand in the center.’
However precious, I’ll claw my way up for as long as I’m able.

***

“When did you start hating grilled offal so much?”
“Yeah, I know. It just started making me feel queasy.”
After leaving the ice rink, the three of us wandered around looking for a suitable place to celebrate.
Park Ji-ho had initially suggested grilled vegetable offal, but I vehemently objected.
Cha Jin-hee, reading the room, backed me up.
“If a figure skater eats something that greasy, it’ll make weight management impossible. Not like you’re doing a low-carb, high-fat diet or anything.”
“Yeah, shame. It’s delicious.”
After the back-and-forth, the menu we finally settled on was… malatang.
And it was Cha Jin-hee who chose it.
“You get to pick a variety of toppings yourself, and if you go with level zero spice, it’s not too intense and actually pretty healthy.”
“What does level zero even taste like?”
“You need to understand that there’s a whole species of people out there who can’t handle spice.”
So we ordered: one malatang at level one spice — moderate portions, and one at level three — generously heaped.
And two bowls at level zero — just barely worth eating (according to Park Ji-ho’s assessment, at least).
For the record, the owner cursed us silently with her eyes the moment she took the order for two level-zero bowls.
When we explained the situation, she did process the payment…
Though the sigh swallowed by the card reader’s beep didn’t escape my notice.
When the food arrived, Cha Jin-hee naturally claimed the level-three malatang.
Park Ji-ho looked down at my bowl.
“Bird seed, basically…”
“It is a bit sparse, isn’t it? At least it keeps costs down.”
I answered somewhat sheepishly and picked up my chopsticks.
The vegetable-based malatang with firm tofu instead of meat was decent enough.
Park Ji-ho, eating something not much different from mine, suddenly spoke up.
“Speaking of which, we should start packing soon. The figure skating team is going into training camp.”
“Oh, is that so? You’re heading to Jincheon.”
Cha Jin-hee chewed quickly and swallowed the food in her mouth, pretending she already knew.
“It might be cold, so bring several thin layers.”
“Have you been there?”
“No, I haven’t, but Taenung was brutally cold.”
“Wait, what? It’s not Taenung?”
Park Ji-ho blinked rapidly and dropped his mushroom into the broth.
Park Ji-ho’s Mother sipped her water calmly.
“The facilities at Taenung were outdated, so they built a new one in Jincheon last year.”
“I see.”
“I’ll send you the homepage notices later—read through them, Seol-ah.”
“Yes.”
Though honestly, I can guess most of it anyway.
Let me think… it’s a training camp, so…
“I wonder if Lee Yu-na will show up.”
“Why her?”
Cha Jin-hee answered in a flat tone.
“Oh, I just thought she might come to the training camp too.”
“Well, I wouldn’t know. I only hear about my sister from press releases and what my parents tell me.”
Cha Jin-hee pulled out a piece of cheese tteok and continued.
“But I think she probably will. After all, once you make the national team, the federation gives you things. Might as well take what they’re offering.”
Even if she were some billionaire heiress, there’d be no real reason to turn down free benefits.
For us, it’s different—we actually need them.
As if voicing that sentiment, Park Ji-ho spoke up.
“But hey, doesn’t your family build ice rinks or something? You’ve got a figure skater in the house—seems like something worth considering.”
But Cha Jin-hee’s answer was sharp.
“Don’t even mention it. These stubborn old fossils haven’t improved a thing since Lee Yu-na’s generation.”
Park Ji-ho’s Mother and I nodded silently.
The truth is, a dedicated figure skating rink never materialized—not even by the time I was grilling tripe.
So what’s the rink in Jincheon? It’s shared with short-track speed skating.
In other words, even at the national Athletes’ Village, there’s no ice rink that belongs solely to figure skaters.
‘Though to be fair, they share facilities at the Olympics too.’
Cha Jin-hee went on venting bitterly about the federation and her own family.
“Because Lee Yu-na pulled it off in those terrible conditions, they think: ‘She managed it, so why can’t you?’ But why can’t they see that more investment would make things even better?”
“Right, right. And they didn’t even fund airfare for competitions back then?”
“Seriously? They’re nothing but parasites.”
Before long, the conversation drifted into gossip about the Korean Speed Skating Association.
Park Ji-ho’s Mother shared stories from her own competitive days, Cha Jin-hee fueled the indignation, and I added my own regrets.
“Those people didn’t even visit when my parents passed away.”
“After Lee Yu-na retired, there was that world championship, right? Korean skaters competed, but the federation officials flew business class while the athletes and coaches got economy.”
And Park Ji-ho, who’d been watching all this sourly, finally interjected.
“Actually, I’m curious—can someone explain what tournament this is supposed to be?”
……
Cha Jin-hee fixed Park Ji-ho with a cold stare.
“You watched the competition without knowing?”
“I thought it was just the national team selection tournament.”
“Okay, fine—let me explain. Might as well review it myself!”
Park Ji-ho’s Mother swallowed her bok choy and set down her chopsticks.
“This tournament was a selection event for ISU Grand Prix Series dispatch athletes. So it also doubled as the national team selection.”
I listened quietly.
It was all familiar.
“The ISU Junior Grand Prix Series—one of the major international competitions held annually by the International Skating Union. But it’s not a single tournament. What’s at the end of the name?”
“‘Series.'”
“Exactly.”
Park Ji-ho’s Mother patted my head and went on.
“Under the ‘Junior Grand Prix’ umbrella, there are seven different competitions. Each skater can enter one or two of them. The domestic selection tournament we just finished determines how many entry slots each skater gets.”
“Oh, so Seol-ah gets to compete in two?”
“That’s right. Top five get two entries, top nine get one.”
In any case, once you compete and place, you earn something called ranking points.
Gold gives 15 points, silver gives 14, and so on down by one.
“Through the seventh competition, we add up each skater’s ranking points. And the top six by total score—”
The coach picked up his chopsticks again, eyes gleaming.
“Those six compete against each other in a tournament. That’s the Grand Prix Final. The winners of each series event face off there.”
The tip of his chopstick tapped against the table.
“The ultimate championship, really.”
“Wow.”
Park Ji-ho nodded thoughtfully.
“So which of the seven are we entering?”
“Well, ideally somewhere close because of the time difference. Thailand and… where would be good?”
“Think it over. Besides, the entries are already set anyway.”
I fished a piece of bok choy from the pot and ate it without much enthusiasm.
“It’s not like we’re competing right away. Most of them start after training camp ends in August anyway.”
“Right……”
“And we’ll have plenty to do. School paperwork to submit, passport to renew.”
The coach and I fell quiet for a moment.
I’d entered the Athletes’ Village before, of course, but the bureaucracy was daunting.
When would I even have time for passport photos?
Before the mood could sink further, Cha Jin-hee cautiously raised her hand.
“Um, is it okay if we go and cheer?”
“We don’t mind, but the Association only covers airfare and accommodation for athletes and coaches. You’d have to pay out of pocket.”
“Ah.”
“And doesn’t school start?”
I finished the last of the seasoned sprouts and wiped my mouth.
“You’d need to go to school.”
“Right, right. If I’m gone from the start of the new term, that’d be awkward.”
Park Ji-ho swept his hand across his forehead with exaggerated regret.
“Still, wouldn’t Jin-hee be worth taking along? She’s a choreographer, after all.”
“Me? Well……”
Cha Jin-hee fell silent for a moment, then shook her head firmly.
“I wish I could. But I’m still a minor. When I registered for the competition, I couldn’t even put my name on the entry form.”
“Ah.”
“Sigh……”
Cha Jin-hee grumbled inwardly about her family situation and wiped her face with resignation.
I laughed awkwardly.
“Still, we might see each other. They might have a Gala Show, and you’d need a choreographer and costumes anyway.”
“Oh, well then.”
Cha Jin-hee perked up again.
After we finished eating, we rode down to the neighborhood in the coach’s car.
It’s no secret that everyone except the coach slept the entire way.

***

“All right, let’s take the picture. One, two, three.”
Click!
Before entering the Athletes’ Village, we visited Park Ji-ho’s Mother again.
Her online store business was apparently doing better than expected.
So she’d planned a whole new autumn collection and called us back to be her models for the product shots.
“Oh, you won a medal last time, didn’t you? Congratulations!”
“Th-thank you.”
“What was the competition called again? Grand Prix? You’ll have to bring back the gold medal from there.”
“Yes, yes.”
I answered dutifully with a professional smile.
The coach wasn’t much different, for what it’s worth.
“Please, have some grapes~”
“Wow, the boss is generous.”
Right on cue, Park Ji-ho’s Mother came in laden with Shine Muscat grapes.
We ended up slipping into the space between everything and snacking anyway.
“You’ll need a lot of clothes when you enter the Athletes’ Village, won’t you?”
“It’s fine. What I have now is enough.”
“Really? But you might as well take a bit more. It’s not strange for a Hooks model to wear Hooks clothes, is it?”
That makes sense.
Indeed, pants needed frequent replacing because the knees wore through so easily.
“Thank you so much. If I run short later, I’ll just bring more with me.”
That was how the final shoot wrapped.
We were about to leave the studio—we were heading for the door—when
Park Ji-ho’s Mother followed us out.
“Mother, it’s hot out here. Wouldn’t you rather wait inside?”
“Oh, don’t be silly. You’re my son’s friend. There was something I wanted to give you.”
“Ma’am?”
What she handed me was a business card.
Notably, it wasn’t from Hooks.
Purple Company
Sports Management
I glanced back and forth between the card and her.
“……Where did you get this?”
The Returner’s Ice: Episode 25
E-book Publication Date | June 5, 2026

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

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Phone | 02-6320-8500
Fax | 02-6320-8585

UCI | G720:N+A101-20260514092.0025
List Price | 100 won

© Korckarolli 2026

This e-book is a copyrighted work protected under copyright law.
This e-book has been published under contract with the author, and unauthorized reproduction, copying, distribution, and sharing without written consent from both parties are 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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