The Regressor's Ice Is Golden - Chapter 29

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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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029.

After making her choice, Cha Jinhee ended the call with a face drained of energy.
And she left this message in the chat:
[Cha Jinhee: If I don’t make it to the finals I’m literally dead]
Well.
The coach seemed half-enlightened by it all.
On the way to the Ice Rink, he just smiled faintly.
“Right, I’d better make sure you win, then.”
Or something like that.
As for me, I had no intention of losing anywhere either.
I recalled the stats displayed in my Status Window for a moment.
‘I can do this.’
I could manage it. Or rather, I wanted to.
It had only been one day since I’d properly trained at the Athletes’ Village.
I knew what to focus on, what to choose, and what to be careful about.
I’d have to work hard before leaving the Athletes’ Village.
The moment I stepped into the Ice Rink, cold air brushed my cheeks.
The Ice Resurfacing machine was still making a loud noise as it circled the rink.
“Should we redo your Taping before you get on?”
“Just the right side.”
I sat on the bench and rolled up my leggings.
While the coach re-taped my knee, I pulled up my Status Window for a moment.

Strength: B-
Endurance: B
Flexibility: B-
Precision: B
Charisma: B+

[Biological Metronome] (D/Active)
!Status Abnormality! Body shape changes from Secondary Sexual Characteristics
[Points: 1]

What needed immediate attention was Strength and Endurance.
Triple Lutz and Triple Flip are techniques that demand refined skating technique.
To maintain that precision all the way to the latter half of the competition, I’d need the stamina to hold up, wouldn’t I?
So I’d decided that when one more Point came in, I’d dump it into one of those two.
“Alright, Ice Resurfacing is done. Everyone in!”
The Ice Resurfacing machine withdrew and everyone climbed onto the ice at once.
And so the afternoon practice began.

* * *

Swish, swish.
Skaters were gliding busily across every corner of the rink.
Sung Juhee narrowed her eyes.
In her more than ten years as a figure skating coach, she’d supervised and given feedback to many athletes.
Among them, there were roughly two types who stood out.
First, those whose skill and competition results were exceptional, drawing every coach’s hopes onto themselves.
And those with something unusual about them, something that drew attention.
For something to become a talking point was one thing, but there were two skaters this year who satisfied both.
“Up, check! Oof.”
“Ugh, I almost had it!”
Cha Seohee, who’d fallen on the ice, stamped her feet in frustration before getting up.
Truth be told, she’d held some bias about that skater from the first time she saw her.
She was from a famous wealthy family, after all.
‘If she’s been flying off to Canada for training since the novice level, there’s nothing more to say.’
Still, it seemed the money spent on trips to Canada was paying off.
The quality of her Triple Axel was quite decent, after all.
Cha Seohee pushed off again and kicked her feet up into the air.
Three and a half rotations, and at the right moment she sprayed ice powder as she landed.
The rotation count looked a bit short, but even with just an under-rotation, the Base Value was hardly negligible.
That’s how formidable the Triple Axel is as a weapon.
“That’s it!”
“Yay~!”
Cha Seohee excitedly high-fived her coach.
Since she’s been cheerful the whole time, it’s hard to tell what her mental state really is.
A skater brushed past near the coach, who was absorbed in her analysis.
She’s no pushover either.
“Spin, up, check!”
The coach turned to watch the other side, where she could hear the ice being carved.
Kim Haseol had just landed her Triple Flip.
What made her stand out in figure skating was the boldness of wearing a sharp bob cut.
Most skaters grew their hair long and twisted it up in a bun.
‘She seems to be wrestling with her program composition lately.’
Starting with the first Grand Prix event, it looked like she was planning to skip the Triple Axel and use two Flips and Lutzes instead.
Well, they must have designed it that way because they could execute it.
But the edge technique needed some correction.
‘She was tilting out again just before the takeoff earlier.’
Usually, flipping a Lutz as a Flip was more common than flipping a Flip as a Lip, but current judging trends were stricter about the former.
It somehow escaped detection as a Long Edge in the qualifiers, but in international competition, who knew.
Soon enough, the program practice time approached.
Coach Park, who was on duty, brought out a tissue box.
“The program practice will mimic how the competition Run-through is conducted. Starting with the draw and going through the 6-Minute Practice. During the scoring phase, I’ll give feedback to each skater.”
“Understood.”
“You’re welcome to practice when it’s not your turn, but make sure you don’t interfere with the skater whose turn it is. We’ll do the draw in alphabetical order.”
As the tissue box rattled back and forth, the skaters gathered around instinctively.
“Alright, one by one then. Kim Haseol.”
The skater reached into the tissue box and pulled out a slip of paper.
“Group 1, Number 1. Next, Kim Hyojin.”
“Oh no.”
Being first would be pretty rough.
The waiting skaters sighed and clapped in sympathy instead.
It was their way of cheering her on.
The skater herself, despite drawing such an unlucky order, never flinched and trudged off to prepare for her run-through.
Internally, she muttered ‘Bad luck from the start,’ but no such words escaped her lips.
The coach watched the expressionless skater walk out.
Looking closely, this skater had more than one unusual quality beyond her technique.
Clearly still a middle schooler with baby fat on her cheeks, yet she gave off the air of an office worker on a Wednesday commute.
An inscrutable expression, deep-set eyes.
A short bob that swayed around her neck.
An unflappable attitude toward everything.
She hadn’t even flinched at the coach’s feedback during the first practice, which said it all.
Having lost both parents, perhaps her maturity had come early.
In that sense, she might have been a step ahead of Cha Seohee.
The coach folded her arms and watched the skaters draw their numbers.
One by one, the skaters drew their numbers in turn.
As it happened, the junior qualifier medalists were split between Group 1 and Group 2.
The moment the lineup was set, the coach clapped her hands sharply.
“Alright, Group 1 skaters, head up and do a 6-Minute warm-up.”
The first practice was the Short Program session.
The scraping of ice erupted all at once.
‘Right, those girls aren’t the problem right now.’
The coach turned her attention away and focused on her own skater.
“What is this, now and always being so timid? Do you have some disease where you die if you don’t stick to the boards? Stop hesitating and just jump.”
The skater’s eyes widened and she quickly picked up her speed again.
With just about ten skaters practicing luxuriously on this sprawling rink, there was no point in holding back like that.

“Your rotation count is decent enough, but you’re turning a bit slowly. You could drive your foot up harder on the entry. And watch that your shoulders don’t hunch when you land and settle.”
“Yes. Anything else?”
“The Spin is fine for now. Your hair okay? Should I pin it up?”
“Could I get the Hair Band too?”
I tilted my head toward the coach.
The wisps of hair that had been fluttering at my temples were pinned down one by one.
“You’re not thinking of growing it out?”
“It’s distinctive, isn’t it? And it’s not like I can’t tie it at all.”
“Fair enough. Now, let’s see the Lutz-Loop.”
“Yes.”
I skated out onto the ice and quickly built up speed.
For my first jump, the Triple Lutz, I whirled around backward with a pivot.
I pressed backward on the outside edge of my left pinky toe, controlling my ankle pressure so I wouldn’t slip to the wrong side right before takeoff.
Even as I swept my trajectory outward like a brush stroke, I planted my right toe pick and tucked my arms in—
Snap.
“Up, check! Spin!”
The moment the coach called out, timed to my landing, I wound my body up once more.
I scraped the ice with the outside edge of my right foot and pulled upward—
Whoosh!
I landed the Triple Loop and extended my left leg smoothly through the air.
“That’s it. You getting the feel now?”
“Yes.”
“Just keep doing it like that. Much more stable. Your rotation count looks good too.”
Coach Park grinned and handed me a Water Bottle.
The moment I took a sip, another coach’s voice rang out.
“6-Minute Practice over! First skater, Short Program is up. Get ready!”
“All right.”
The coach who’d taken my Water Bottle leaned over the boards from outside.
I eagerly pressed my clasped hands forward.
“We said practice like it’s the real thing. Right?”
“Is it really that serious?”
“Practice like competition, compete like practice.”
“What a way to be.”
I let out a small laugh and pressed my clasped hands to my forehead.
Coach Park wrapped my hands and brought them to his lips.
“Go out there.”
“Yes.”
I immediately skated out toward the center of the ice.
I felt the texture of the ice, marked by the traces of others who’d skated before.
It was slightly warmer than the Ice Rink where I normally trained, and the ice was softer.
But there were few people moving around, and there was nothing to distract me.
With a sharp click, I came to a stop.
Where the judges’ panel would have been, the coaches sat instead.
All of them watching me alone.
I scanned them once and took my starting position.
Soon as the bright, crisp melody of the bandoneon erupted from the speakers, my Choreography began to unfold.
For some reason, I felt like smiling.

The evaluation of the skater proceeded without the coach in charge present.
It was to prevent any biased or unfair feedback from being given.
The coaches sitting took pencils in hand, eyes sharp.
After the opening Choreography ended, the glide that followed picked up momentum.
The skater, driving forward with her weight, straightened her torso and switched her foot placement.
The first jump, the Triple Lutz, and then the Triple Loop!
Landing smoothly on the offbeat, the skater flowed into the following Transition with practiced ease.
The coaches each scribbled their own notes.
‘Good Distance, average Height.’
‘Rotation Count within acceptable range.’
‘Music timing excellent.’
Accelerating again, the skater glided toward the far side of the rink, then suddenly twisted her body to turn backward.
The toe pick strikes crisply as the skater’s body rises and spins through the air.
Triple Flip.
A rough, scraping sound erupted on landing.
For a moment, the skater’s expression twisted.
‘Rotation count under. Landing unstable.’
But she didn’t fall.
She spun, showed a few connecting elements, and the choreography flowed on.
At the end, she kicked into the air again, wrapping up the rotation.
The final jump: a Double Axel.
Whoosh!
The skater grinned broadly toward the coaching staff as she finished all her jumps.
Her short hair swayed brightly around her ears.
Pencils moved naturally across the papers in scratchy scribbles.
‘Judge Appeal superb.’
‘Choreographic expression competent.’
And then the Step Sequence—quick, lively, its rhythm sweeping them all along.
The moment the first turn began, the coaches’ eyes widened.
Some counted off on their fingers one by one; others sketched tally marks, tallying up the composition.
When the final Spin’s rotation ended and she struck her Ending Pose, the music finished in the same instant.
The coaches set down their pens.
“Thank you. Well done.”
“Thank you.”
The skater bowed politely and glided off the Ice Rink with unhurried grace.
There was no cheering. No applause.
The moment one skater finished, the judges had to prepare to score the next.
“Ugh, I’m exhausted.”
“All right, let’s collect those notes over here.”
As the first skater’s scoresheet was gathered up page by page, another skater stepped onto the ice.
“Good work. Well then, I’m going off to score the next one.”
Coach Park cracked his neck with a series of sharp pops and handed over the written notes.
“Read through them. I’ll give you my feedback after I’m done.”
“Yes.”
I looked down at six pages scrawled with notes and marks.
Let’s see what we have here.
The Returner’s Ice Chapter 29
E-book publication date | June 5, 2026

Author | Corcoroly
Publisher | Heo Heung-beom, Park Gun-won
Publishing company | Potent

Address | [04783] 9F, 11-8 Yeonmujanggil, Seongdong-gu, Seoul
Phone | 02-6320-8500
Fax | 02-6320-8585

UCI | G720:N+A101-20260514092.0029
List price | 100 won

ⓒ Corcoroly 2026

This e-book is protected by copyright law.
This e-book is published under contract with the author, and reproduction, distribution, sharing, or unauthorized republication is prohibited without written consent from 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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