The Regressor's Ice Is Golden - Chapter 62

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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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062.

I bolted from the cafe and started running.
‘Punching someone in the face like that—!’
I’d fled, yes, but found myself briefly wondering about the Iced Tea I’d left behind and the macaron that had shattered before I could even pull it from its bag.
Was it really okay to abandon my seat for this long?
The problem was that Cha Seo-hee, barely a year into the junior circuit and already landing Triple Axels, was annoyingly quick.
She was definitely planning to train tonight anyway—so what was she thinking, running off like this?
Oh, and my mobile phone—I’d left it at the cafe!
“Whoa!”
“Hey, watch it!”
“I’m sorry!”
I apologized to the cyclist who’d braked hard in front of me, then threw myself back into running.
Two middle schoolers in uniforms chasing each other through an afternoon street.
Shadows stretched long, and passersby glanced sideways as they hurried past.
Cha Seo-hee was already far ahead, glancing back at me every few steps as she ran.
She was fleeing, sure—but why keep checking on me?
The thought that formed was almost bitter.
‘Did I really have to save her?’
Before time rewound, my knees were destroyed because I’d saved her neck.
It had been a truck back then too, though honestly the accident wasn’t that severe.
It just proved catastrophic to a body already ravaged by grueling practice and joint pain.
If I hadn’t pushed her away from the road that day.
‘I wouldn’t have needed to go this far.’
But sure, I’m older now, I’ve stumbled through life—I understand it better.
People hear what they want to hear, and fact-checking is the last thing on their minds.
Still, that didn’t mean I could stop running.
Because now I wanted to ask her the final riddle that remained.
When twin sisters who’d shared the same dream were robbed of that dream by their parents.
When the person who’d saved her life was ruined by false rumor.
When all of that had happened.
‘Why did you just stay silent and hold your breath?’
The street ahead glowed with the amber light of early dusk.
Commuters and cars; signs flickering on one by one.
As soon as I pushed my pace and broke free from the Commercial Street, the space opened up.
Cha Seo-hee stood hesitating at the crosswalk before the main road, and our eyes met.
“Hey, don’t run—talk to me!”
Just then, the traffic light’s green signal began to blink.
Cha Seo-hee started crossing the crosswalk, and I dove straight into the middle of the wide pedestrian crossing.
Most people had already crossed; the road stretched empty, cars stopped at the lights.
And a truck was barreling toward us from the distance, not slowing down.
Déjà vu struck like a physical blow; dizziness washed over me.
Not enough to fall, but instinct came first.
If I ran to grab her now, it would be a mistake.
What if, instead—?
“Augh!”
I deliberately cried out loud as I threw myself flat on the pavement.
Everyone around us looked.
And Cha Seo-hee, who’d been about to cross the center line, stopped and turned around.
Behind her back, the heavy truck bore down on her.
Whoosh—!
The truck grazed past with barely a breath to spare, leaving wind in its wake.
It scattered through Cha Seo-hee’s hair, which she hadn’t tied back.
I swallowed my embarrassment and hauled myself up.
I’d used the Fall Technique—no injuries.
And Cha Seo-hee hadn’t been hit.
“……!”
She stared after the truck, her face drained of all color.
But the moment I stood up, she finished crossing the crosswalk and took off running again.
‘That crazy bastard!’
I dashed across the crosswalk and ran after Cha Seo-hee.

It was autumn now, and the air turned cold as soon as the sun began to dip toward the horizon.
Especially along the Riverside, where the wind howled relentlessly.
I wiped the sweat from my neck with the back of my hand and kept running.
On a weekday afternoon, the Pedestrian Bridge that spanned the great river was empty.
Someone had decorated it nicely and tastefully enough, but the far side remained undeveloped—just fields and paddies stretching out.
Because of that, people who climbed up usually just circled the round bridge and came back to where they started.
Since she had to get to practice later anyway, she wouldn’t have gone down to the side where the buses didn’t run.
So in the end, I managed to catch Cha Seo-hee.
It was roughly three-quarters of the way across.
My entire body was soaked with sweat.
“Hey, hold on a second…….”
I gasped for breath and started to get annoyed.
“When someone asks you a question, you answer them, damn it. Just—”
But no reply came—only the sound of heavy breathing.
She must have sprinted the whole length of this bridge too.
In the crisp wind, my sweat cooled and chilled against my skin.
Cha Seo-hee hesitated, then pointed at my leg.
“You…….”
“What? Oh.”
I steadied my breath and wiped away the drops of blood that had trickled down.
‘I thought I’d fallen gently.’
Only then did my skin begin to throb and sting.
The joints seemed fine, so it didn’t matter.
I limped over to a nearby Bench and sat Cha Seo-hee down.
I sat beside her too.
For a while, neither of us said anything.
Below the quiet Pedestrian Bridge, the river flowed with a gentle, rolling sound.
The sun sank deeper, painting the sky and earth in shades of crimson.
My breathing had steadied by now, but the cold wind kept blowing.
Finally, Cha Seo-hee sneezed, and the silence broke.
“Now. Say something.”
“Say something……. Like what?”
“You really want to do this? We both have our circumstances, but you don’t throw things at someone’s face.”
“……I’m sorry.”
“Is that all?”
I glared at her, but Cha Seo-hee’s face crumpled and she hung her head low.
So I held back from pressing her further.
After leaning against the back of the Bench for what felt like an eternity—roughly two minutes later.
Cha Seo-hee began to confess, halting and reluctant.
“A month ago, well, you know how in Home Economics class they talk about…… that thing.”
“I get what you’re saying. Just go ahead.”
Still, one useful keyword emerged for understanding the situation.
If you suddenly got stomach cramps and unexpected bleeding while living a normal life, it’d be easy enough to fall apart mentally.
“Right. Anyway, so I took a break from training. But after that break, and from that point on……, hic, my Triple Axel just stopped working.”
“…….”
“So I didn’t enter the Open Trophy separately either. They said if I couldn’t win a medal, I shouldn’t bother going at all…….”
And the reason for all that, you didn’t need to ask to understand.
JGP round six in Nagoya.
Cha Seo-hee had established herself as a promising talent even in her Novice days.
At the Grand Prix Final, it was her very first appearance and she went on to win it outright.
In other words, failing to win a medal was enough to disappoint someone.
Someone like her parents, for instance. Or her parents.
“You’re scared of something you shouldn’t be that scared of. You heard I totally bombed the Open Trophy too, right? Can’t help these things.”
The physical changes that come with growth are something every living creature experiences naturally.
It’s not some peculiar disaster that’s befallen only her and me.
Her coach must have explained that fact to her and to her parents.
Cha Seo-hee wiped her face and mumbled something.
“Yeah, so honestly? I felt a bit relieved. You’re always so composed, you know? It threw me off a little. I thought the Short Program Qualification would be easier to handle.”
And indeed, Cha Seo-hee had secured both the gold medal and a competition slot without breaking a sweat.
But here’s the thing.
“You went and landed both your Short Program and Free Skate completely clean during that qualification round. And me? People give me grief for just attempting a Triple Axel and falling, but you land a silver medal and get congratulated.”
“Um…”
This was pure Status Window manipulation.
It wasn’t doping or anything I could explain away as some supernatural nonsense—there was no real way to justify it.
I didn’t really need to defend myself, but still.
“So that’s why you’ve been acting like such an idiot this whole time.”
“…I’m sorry.”
“You knew, and you still went that far?”
Yet Cha Seo-hee’s sniffling showed no signs of stopping.
“But I was genuinely terrified. You don’t understand. If I hadn’t won this time… I might’ve had to quit figure skating altogether.”
…?
‘What kind of fresh nonsense is this now.’
How had this brat turned into such a self-pitying mess?
Here I was, old enough to know better, standing here cursing at a girl who’d barely made it past middle school.
“Talk sense. If you were in your first year as a Novice and saw some kid landing a Triple Axel and making it to the Grand Prix Final, would you want her studying her butt off?”
“No. You really don’t get it, *sniffle*, yeah. Our parents, you know how they are.”
Ah.
When I didn’t respond, Cha Seo-hee started sniffling again.
At least now I could see it clearly.
This was learned fear, pure and simple.
Call it conditioned dread.
“Your parents…”
“Cha Jin-hee didn’t tell you? Really?”
“No, I know. Yeah.”
How they’d snatched everything away in an instant because her grades slipped and her ankle got hurt.
Twin sisters doing the same sport—Cha Seo-hee must have watched every second of what their parents did to Cha Jin-hee, whether she witnessed it directly or heard about it later.
One way or another.
And yet in the midst of it all, she herself had suddenly started receiving massive financial support.
“The clothes she wore, the equipment… no matter how I looked at it, they were Jin-hee’s. But they kept saying no, that they belonged to me, that I should use them.”
So all that enormous investment—the kind that had led her to land a Triple Axel—ended up crushing her psychologically instead.
Everyone dreams of being rich, but if huge sums suddenly appeared in your account from nowhere, you’d be terrified.
‘We’re doing this much for you, so you’d better not fail, understand?’
That’s the vibe it sent.
I narrowed my eyes and watched the sun dip below the horizon.
The red, round silhouette slowly descended behind the buildings and then vanished entirely.
With it, every shadow lost its shape.
“Alright, I heard what you had to say. You’ve been through a lot.”
“*Sniffle*.”
“Stop crying now.”
If your parents saw those puffy eyes, they’d have my head on a platter.
Anyway.
“We’re in that anxious stretch right now. Our bodies don’t cooperate, our minds won’t settle, and there’s no clear way forward. So people tend to find someone or something to blame, I think.”
A good rant lets off steam.
You can bury your own stupidity, and it gives you a tidy reason why things aren’t working out.
I tore open the bag and pulled out a battered macaron fragment.
I handed her a reasonably large piece.
“That’s probably why people say time heals all wounds. Even when it’s your own situation, a little time passes and you start seeing things much more objectively.”
“Is that so…”
Cha Seo-hee blinked, accepting the macaron piece almost by reflex.
‘The kid’s barely dried behind the ears and it irritates me, but at this point it’s all water under the bridge.’
And looking back on all of it, I conclude I didn’t do anything particularly wrong.
I just lived hard and did a few decent things.
At least I didn’t act like an idiot.
But even that much was enough to ease my mind a little.
I popped the remaining crumbs and fragments into my mouth.
Just your standard, unremarkable mass-produced strawberry macaron.
“So share what you’ve learned with others. Stop whining for no reason. You’ve suffered through it—you should understand better than anyone.”
“……”
“In the end, people spill their circumstances all the time, but nobody ever truly understands or sympathizes with anyone else’s story.”
Just like me now, and like you.
I brushed the dust from my hands and stood up.
Cha Seo-hee, who had eaten something sweet, had stopped crying.
The Reincarnator’s Ice Rink Episode 62
E-book Publication Date | 2026.06.05

Author | Korcarolli
Publishers | Heo Heung-beom, Park Geon-won
Published by | Poten

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Phone | 02-6320-8500
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UCI | G720:N+A101-20260514092.0062
List Price | 100 won

ⓒ Korcarolli 2026

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