The Regressor's Ice Is Golden - Chapter 36

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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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036.

“Safe travels!”
“See you later!”
After the venue closed, we returned to our accommodation and wrapped up the day’s schedule.
Or rather, we’d finished everything in Thailand.
Park Chae-ram’s eyes were dead as stone, but he smiled with his mouth as he briefed me on what came next.
“Alright, so once we’re back in Korea, we’ll do a press conference and take photos for the media release, plus we’ve got three news interviews lined up—one the day we arrive, then lunch and dinner the following day, and so on.”
For the record, I was sprawled across the bed wearing nothing but the bare minimum.
I didn’t need any of it. I just wanted to go home.
I’d already been congratulated enough, eaten and drunk my fill—what else was there to do?
“I’ll trust you, Coach. You’ve done well by me so far.”
After he finished his explanation, I burrowed under the covers.
The man could handle publicity stunts single-handedly without breaking a sweat, so I had faith he’d shepherd us through without a hitch.
In any case, we packed everything we’d brought and went to sleep.
The next morning, we woke up and headed straight to the airport for the flight back to Korea.
Looking back, it seemed like that was probably the best moment of all.
It was when I still thought naively about my future.
The ripples that a Junior Grand Prix Series debut victory would send through my career.
In other words, the title that had eluded everyone since Lee Yu-na.

***

“Wake up.”
“Ugh.”
I opened my eyes to find the plane had landed and come to a stop.
I stumbled to my feet and started gathering my things.
There hadn’t been anything unusual up until then.
Collecting baggage, that sort of thing.
The major upheaval began when we stepped toward the arrivals gate.
“What’s going on? Why is it so loud?”
“Well…”
The other skaters glanced around nervously, asking the officials from the Korea Skating Union.
Park Chae-ram simply smiled knowingly.
“Ha-seol, was I supposed to take a photo of that title you brought back?”
“Oh.”
He quietly lifted the Gold Medal and placed it around my neck.
“There are only a handful you can count on your fingers. You’re the first Junior Grand Prix Series debut victor since Lee Yu-na.”
I slowly looked beyond the arrivals gate.
Park Chae-ram tapped my shoulder with a quiet knock.
“Don’t worry. You’re good with words, so you’ll do fine at the press conference.”
What do you mean…?
I mean, I wasn’t unaware it would happen, but that’s a pretty steep introduction for someone who hasn’t prepared.
In any case, the moment the automatic doors opened…
“Wooooow!”
“Kim Ha-seol, look this way, please!”
Flashes erupted from every direction, nearly blinding, as exclamations poured down on me.
The two junior skaters who’d come with me stepped in with stupefied expressions.
Watching me sideways the whole time.
‘I’m about to lose my mind.’
Since when had the Korean media taken junior figure skating this seriously?
Through it all, Park Chae-ram calmly guided me along.
“Put your luggage aside for now. We’ll do photos and interviews first. We’ll take care of your bags while you’re at that.”
“Yes, yes.”
Though it would’ve been nice if he’d stuck with me the whole time, regardless of my answer.
But nine years of professional experience had hardened my nerves enough to endure the flash bombardment.
The photo area had a fairly familiar backdrop set up.
The kind with the Korea Skating Union logo and various sponsor logos affixed to it.
Someone wearing a Korea Skating Union lanyard smiled and handed me a bouquet.
“Congratulations, Ha-seol!”
“Oh, thank you.”
Despite the chaos, the schedule moved forward without a hitch.
Photos were taken with each of the other competitors who’d traveled together, then with the coaches and federation officials.
I glanced sideways and caught someone grinning awkwardly.
‘I’m not a bridesmaid here. What is this?’
“This way, please!”
“And this way!”
My eyes are killing me.
I squinted and flashed what I hoped was a professional smile.
At least there’d be nothing here to drag me into some character controversy later. Probably.
The moment the photos wrapped, a small platform was installed.
There was one microphone from a news outlet, then two, three… what the hell, there were so many.
About a dozen media microphones stood on that platform.
Camera flashes kept firing without pause.
After the initial barrage faded, a brief silence fell over the room.
Then all eyes turned toward me at once.
“…? Why is everyone—”
“We’ll start with Kim Ha-seol.”
“? Oh.”
I’d assumed it’d be by seniority, but it was by placement.
I stepped forward to the platform with a subtle smile.
“What are your thoughts on winning your first international competition?”
“When was the most difficult moment during this competition?”
“During the Free Skating, you recovered from a Jump Error very skillfully—was that a pre-planned strategy?”
A few stock questions followed by some about the competition itself.
To be honest, I don’t remember exactly what I said.
The atmosphere never got heavy, so I’m confident I didn’t make any serious blunders.
When the press conference with all three of us ended, only about thirty minutes had passed.
“Thank you.”
“Thank you!”
The microphones and platform were cleared away, and the backdrop behind us was gradually dismantled.
“That’s it, right?”
“Yes…”
I picked up my bouquet and shuffled out to the parking lot with the other competitors.
Several coaches were waiting by their cars parked on the shoulder.
I chose the most beat-up one among them.
“Whew, you did well. Pretty intense, huh?”
“It was something.”
“That’s a pretty bouquet. We should put it in a vase when we get home.”
“Okay.”
I set the bouquet carefully on the seat beside me instead of tossing it around.
I slept almost the entire drive home, so it wasn’t until much later that I found out what I’d said during the ride.

***

A few days later.
“Hmm.”
Cha Jin-hee scrolled slowly through her phone.
The article headline read:

[Interview] Kim Ha-seol (Songgol Middle School), 20XX Junior Grand Prix Series Round 1 Champion… “The Bond of Earnestness”

Unkhye Daily (hereinafter ‘Unkhye’): I hear you held a group training camp at the Athletes’ Village. Could you tell us what kind of training was conducted?
Kim Ha-seol (hereinafter ‘Ha-seol’): This season, the rink at Jincheon Athletes’ Village had a lot of time when just the four of us were skating. We’d set an order and practice crossing the entire rink to the music, and—
Tap. The scroll moved down a bit further.

Park Chae-ram couldn’t have been certain at the time. Yet he didn’t reverse his decision midway.
Park Chae-ram (hereinafter ‘Park’): When I first heard about it, I’ll be honest—I was taken aback. Ha-seol was already dealing with a lot while we prepared for this season. I wished such a sudden change hadn’t come to her while she was still so young. But at some point, I started to see something they had in common. Earnestness.

Her composure, her maturity, the seamless topic transitions—all delivered without a hint of awkwardness.
The interview naturally pivots to Cha Jin-hee and the Short Program.

Kim Ha-seol: It’s difficult to explain in detail, but we each needed to produce convincing results in a short timeframe. That goes for me too, but she and my senior struggled tremendously while balancing their studies alongside skating.
Unkhye Daily: Wow, that’s impressive. Middle school academics must have been no small matter either?
Kim Ha-seol: Especially in her case—the choreographer—her parents strongly opposed her getting back on skates. But the results turned out so well that even I was surprised. I’m genuinely delighted.

And then she continues.

Kim Ha-seol: So I really hope neither of them has to back down anywhere now. If anyone tells them it’s pointless to start now, they can hold their heads high and point to the Gold Medal.
Unkhye Daily: Ha ha, that’s quite a solid rebuttal. The costumes received excellent reviews too, didn’t they?
Park Ji-ho: Well, I wasn’t enough just as a choreographer, so I had to drag a costume designer into this mess as well.

‘Huh?’
I didn’t expect the story to shift to Park Ji-ho.
Though without Park Ji-ho, Cha Jin-hee wouldn’t have been able to interact with Kim Ha-seol this far.
Her parents would have confiscated those skates she’d finally bought.
She sent me the article link by text message, trusting I’d read it myself.
By the way, this interview wasn’t something only Cha Jin-hee read in that house.
“Ha…….”
The twins’ mother sat across the dinner table, pressing her forehead with the heel of her hand.
But she wasn’t frightened anymore.
When people find something to lean on, they develop the backbone to push back—or so Kim Ha-seol had once mentioned.
…….
“Are you really going to keep doing this?”
“If you tell me to go ahead, will you let me?”
…….
A brief silence fell. Their mother exhaled a sigh—how many times today, she couldn’t say.
Then she went to the water dispenser and refilled her glass.
“There’s a condition. You’re still going to Korea University. Business Administration.”
“I don’t have confidence I’ll actually use the degree.”
…….
And so this stubbornly old-fashioned household reached a compromise at a reasonable middle ground.
Do whatever you want, just get into Korea University’s Business Administration program.
Cha Jin-hee gladly accepted the agreement.
Her mock exam scores from the academy that semester weren’t poor, and she figured that if she buckled down in high school, things would work out one way or another.
‘If it comes to it, I could always drop out and retake a year…….’
She thought this with the careless optimism of a middle schooler.
Back in her room, Cha Jin-hee checked her accumulated text messages.

[Kim Ha-seol: This is the journalist I gave the interview to. She wants to talk with you too, so I’m leaving her email address. Think about it. [email protected]]

By the way, her father didn’t add a single word to this agreement.
He neither endorsed it nor shut it down.
But that was enough.
In Kim Ha-seol’s interview responses, she had hinted at events that preceded Cha Jin-hee getting proper credit for her work.
Not that it mattered much—her father would probably spin it later as a beautiful reconciliation between parent and child for publicity purposes anyway.
After that, Cha Jin-hee drew up a list of what she needed to prepare for proper choreography work.
An ISU choreographer profile to submit, how to use audio editing software, things like that.
Included in this were the pointers Kim Ha-seol had texted her.
[Kim Ha-seol: I don’t think you’ll need to register as a business operator, so your payments will come after taxes from now on. You’ll need to do Copyright Registration too, and file for Local Income Tax in May, so consult with a tax accountant.]
I had no idea where or how she’d learned all this, but in any case.
Cha Jin-hee felt the weight of society crashing down on her for the first time and collapsed face-first onto her bed.
Her head swam with vertigo.

And here, another head swimming with vertigo.
[Choi Ji-hwan: Congratulations on the win. How have you been?]
This man went silent after I left the Athletes’ Village, and now out of the blue—what’s this about?
And at such a perfectly timed moment, no less.
I found myself looking back and forth between the text message on my phone and the internet browser on my tablet, uneasy.
A single email appeared on the logged-in mailbox.

[Purpely Company] Congratulations to Kim Ha-seol on Junior Grand Prix Series Round 1 Victory & Partnership Proposal

Hello, Kim Ha-seol.
We work with elite athletes leading the future of Korean sports…….

Do I remember it?
The business card I received when I went to Park Ji-ho’s mother’s brand for a photo shoot after the preliminary competition.
Cha Jin-hee had slipped it to me, passing it through Park Ji-ho and his mother. This was from them.
At the time I’d only obtained a business card with no real connection, but now that I’d won a medal, some leverage had emerged.
Still, I would refuse.
‘No, I’m not going.’
The Cha Jin-hee situation would’ve died down now that I’d won the medal, but this was a different matter—entering the same competitive line.
What kind of fool hands their rival the power of life and death?
It was right then that Choi Ji-hwan reached out.
[Choi Ji-hwan: Is there anything difficult about your athletic career?]
Come on, seriously?
[Is this about a management company offer?]
[Choi Ji-hwan: How did you know? Have you gotten similar proposals?]
…… really does ruin people, doesn’t it.
The Returner’s Ice: Golden Chapter 36
E-book Publication Date | June 5, 2026

Author | Corcaroli
Publishers | Heo Hung-beom, Park Gun-won
Published by | Poten

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

UCI | G720:N+A101-20260514092.0036
List Price | 100 won

© Corcaroli 2026

This e-book is protected under copyright law.
This e-book is published under contract with the author, and unauthorized reproduction, distribution, sharing, or transmission of any kind 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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