The Regressor's Ice Is Golden - Chapter 66

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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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066.

Debussy’s “Clair de Lune,” built on the careful melodic line of a piano.
Last season, the skater had used Bach’s Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major.
Lee Ji-su’s programs tended toward calm, contemplative classical pieces like these.
But that didn’t mean the program was boring.
There was her unhurried, effortless skating, and the expressive artistry led by the elegant arc of her hands and every gesture.
And beneath it all—the steely consistency of her jumps and her mental fortitude.
I watched the skater as she turned to gather speed for her first jump.
The Triple Lutz.
“Oh, she fell…….”
The college student winced.
Kim Ha-seol sighed and clasped her hands together.
But the skater was up in an instant, drawing her speed back up slowly.
The Senior Short Program, unlike the junior program, has no mandatory elements.
So apart from the solo Axel, the skaters get exactly one more chance to recover among their three jumps.
‘We still need to watch this,’ I thought.
Soon the skater repositioned herself.
A Triple Flip, entering via three-turn with a twist.
Followed by the Triple Toe Loop!
“Wow, Plan B.”
Even the audience’s applause carried a note of relief.
Having landed the combination cleanly, the skater moved into choreography for the next element.
With a sharp tap of her blade against the ice, her body lifted skyward.
A Flying Camel Spin, entering via a Tö arabian.
The axis was straight, the flexibility striking—a beautiful spin.
A Level 4 element earned in full, the skater finished her rotation.
Then came the Step Sequence.
“Beautiful…….”
The piano notes tumbled in like foam upon a night sea, blending into every turn and step.
Rocker, counter, a spiral with one arm raised and foot grasped.
Changing feet on a choctaw into a loop, bracket, counter turn.
She didn’t waste a single edge, carving her path with clarity, while her upper body swayed without hesitation to the music.
And there—the slight release of tension, eyes half-lidded, a soft smile.
When the step sequence finished, the program had already moved into its final section.
Layback Spin.
Arching backward at the waist, she held her arms behind her back, one reaching up to grasp her raised foot.
Then she drew that foot up into a Biellmann position above her head.
Spinning slowly downward, she lost none of her grace even as her leg descended.
The final jump element, a Double Axel, flowed through to completion.
As the Change Foot Combination finished, the piano faded the music away.
Along with the soft extension of her arm.
“Wahhh!”
Cheers and applause poured down, and the skater smiled and took her bow.
Kim Ha-seol clapped enthusiastically from the stands, nodding her head.
‘She skated well.’
Despite one fall early on, her backup plan had executed so cleanly it seemed almost forgotten.
If she avoided mistakes at the national championship, an Olympic quota spot seemed well within reach.
“So lovely.”
“Wasn’t it.”
The two fans, two skaters, and one coach watched until Lee Ji-su sat down in the Kiss and Cry.
In the moments between scores, Choi Ji-hwan started quietly waving at his own fans nearby.
“Um……, could we get an autograph?”
“Oh! But we don’t have paper or a pen right now.”
The two fans, having received the two skaters’ signatures on their phone’s notepad app instead, erupted in delighted chatter with each other.
At that moment, the skater’s scores were announced.
{This concludes Lee Ji-su’s competition. Total Score: 69.05. Current Standing: 1st Place.}
Solid performance all around.
“Thank you!”
The two fans finished their greetings and chattered away as they left.
“Did you say Dubed would be coming today?”
“Probably. I didn’t contact them separately because it looked like they’d be busy. But since they didn’t say anything, they might not come.”
“If they do come, I’ll meet them briefly just before the awards ceremony. Let me reach out.”
Thanks to that, Kim Ha-seol left the chattering fans behind and met up with Choi Ji-hwan again.
“You seem used to this?”
“Well…….”
“So what do you want to do now? Keep watching the competition?”
“No, I’m going to see Ji-su.”
Kim Ha-seol’s turn came second after this group, so there was still a bit of time.
So we left our seats and headed down to the first floor.
Lee Ji-su was talking with Coach Seong in the waiting area downstairs.
But her expression didn’t look particularly good.
‘Did she fall on the Lutz and get penalized?’
I grabbed Choi Ji-hwan before he could thoughtlessly approach and assessed the situation.
Only after Coach Seong stepped away did we go over to say hello.
“Hello, thank you for your hard work.”
“Oh, it’s Ji-hwan and Ha-seol!”
Her bitter smile immediately brightened with warmth.
“Did you come on purpose to watch the competition? The junior events don’t start until the day after tomorrow.”
“Well, you said you have to go to the Olympics.”
“That’s true, but hehe. Thanks for coming to cheer me on.”
I handed over the Plush Toy I’d brought.
Normally, Plush Toys or wrapped bouquets are thrown onto the Ice Rink right after a competition, but these days there are hardly any gifts like that.
There was an incident once when someone threw unwrapped fresh flowers and knocked over the next skater.
Anyway.
“Your expression has gotten even better.”
“Really? I guess what you told me last time helped.”
“What do you mean?”
“Oh, Ji-hwan recommended a movie to me.”
This guy?
“Ha, don’t look at him like that. He doesn’t seem like it, but he’s a very sensitive person.”
“Senior…….”
Whether Choi Ji-hwan waved his hand in embarrassment or not, Lee Ji-su simply laughed good-naturedly.
“So what movie was it?”
“Oh, it was an animated film! It was unique. Should I call it silhouette animation? Is that right?”
Listening to the whole story, it sounded like she’d watched an animation with pretty backgrounds where all the characters appeared only as jet-black silhouettes.
Anyway, she said the story had a fairy-tale quality that went well with the visuals and she really enjoyed it.
“Ha, that’s actually the Gala Show program I just whipped together. Right?”
“……Yes.”
“Sounds like you really enjoyed it.”
“Yeah! Want me to tell you the title?”
“Just text it to me later and I’ll watch it.”
Though I wasn’t sure I’d have time to watch it.
“With animation, I usually just think of bright, colorful, flashy stuff, but this was so beautiful!”
“Right. Restrained and subdued, yet vivid and gorgeous.”
“Wow, you really were impressed by it.”
“Yeah! Because what you see on the surface isn’t all there is, you know?”
I was nodding along when suddenly something Lee Ji-su said made me blink.
“Huh?”
“Never mind.”
For now, I brushed it off vaguely and changed the subject.
But the conversation didn’t last long after that.
After seeing the two of them off, I turned straight to Coach Park.
“We’ve been thinking, and we realize there’s something we’ve been forgetting a bit.”
“What’s that?”
I slowly crossed my arms.
“Figure skating isn’t a sport where only jumps matter, right?”
“Right, there are spins and step sequences too.”
“And one more thing. PCS.”
“!”
Program Component Score.
The skater’s technical execution, the overall structure and connectivity of the program, and the musical interpretation and choreography.
It’s commonly known as the “artistic score.”
While jumps carry more weight, these elements pack their own punch and can’t be ignored.
Until now, this PCS has largely been carried by two special abilities and demanding choreography that set Cha Jin-hee’s soul on fire.
She’s never half-stepped through that choreography, but it’s still not enough.
Both special abilities are only D-rank, so there seems to be a ceiling there.
‘PCS is traditionally scored entirely by judge discretion, which is why it gets so much criticism.’
But that also means it’s easier to target if the program impact and quality are strong enough.
At least, if you have the skill to consistently pull off an apparent clean.
Coach Park studied me with an odd expression.
“So should we lower the layout?”
“No—the layout we have has real impact. We need to keep it.”
It’s the kind of conviction I won’t bend on anymore, not now.
Anyway, I made an excuse about needing the bathroom and opened the status window the moment I was alone.

[Kim Ha-seol]
Age: 13 years old (born February 27)
Height: 163cm
Weight: 44kg
Developmental Progress: 46%

Strength: B+
Endurance: B+
Flexibility: B+
Precision: B+
Presence: A

[Biological Metronome] (D/Active)
[Grasping Movement] (D/Active)

Special Notes: Reincarnator, indomitable spirit
!Status Abnormality! Physical changes from secondary sexual development
[Points: 2]

At this point, the only factors buffing my program component score are those two D-rank special abilities and my Presence stat.
Somehow, this stat alone hasn’t dropped much, and it kept my component score solid even during the Open Trophy.
‘That’s probably thanks to the special ability too.’
So what can I do with this right now?
I don’t know what I’ve been doing lately, but a few new functions have unlocked in this status window.
[Status Window Update in progress—Update complete!]
When that popped up, I was just waking from a nap, so I brushed past it. But when I checked it later, the functions were terrifying.
One of them is this.

[Special Ability Synthesis]
[Synthesize two special abilities of C-rank or lower into one, upgrading it to a minimum of B-rank or higher.]

I wasn’t sure if this was fortunate or unfortunate, but it wasn’t a function you could use by spending points.
The status window showed a simple addition-style window with blank slots.
[Drag your special abilities into the two empty spaces next to the equals sign.]
“Let’s see what happens then.”
I followed the instructions and plugged both special abilities into the slots.
A “Loading” message flashed briefly, and then another popup appeared.

[※Prerequisite Challenge]
[Achieve Grade of Execution bonus points of at least +4 levels on one consecutive jump combination]

‘Are you serious?’
I’m trying to synthesize a buff for my component score, so why the hell does it want technical bonus points?
I finished my shower quickly and headed out.
“Why did you take so long in there?”
“I was nervous.”
“Come off it. You didn’t choke in Nagoya.”
Thankfully, Coach Park didn’t press further and headed in to shower.
I quietly powered on my phone and started tapping at the calculator app.
‘Just hold on.’
Well, they say technique becomes art when it’s perfected.
In a combination jump, the bonus points factor uses the Base Value of whichever component jump has the higher Base Value.
In the 3Lz-3Lo combination, the Triple Lutz has the higher Base Value at 5.9 points.
And Grade of Execution operates up to five levels, each granting bonus points of 10%.
If you receive a GOE of +4, you get bonus points equivalent to 40% of the Triple Lutz’s Base Value—2.36 points.
‘This is brutal.’
I’d gotten +3 or better on scoresheets fairly often, but I’d never had all judges mark me at 3 or above.
Even accounting for dropping the highest and lowest scores and averaging the rest, the maximum had only been 3.
And yet.
‘I’ll have to pull it off eventually.’
I had accepted the challenge.

***

And so my turn arrived.
{Next skater. Songgol Middle School, Kim Ha-seol.}
I exhaled a long breath and stepped into the center of the Ice Rink.
I shook my arms once, loosening them, and rolled my neck back and forth a few times.
Then, as always, I took my starting position and looked toward the judges’ panel.
The Reincarnator’s Ice Rink is Golden 66
E-book Publication Date | 2026.06.05

Author | Cor Caroli
Publisher | Heo Heung-beom, Park Geon-won
Published by | Potentiae

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ⓒ Cor Caroli 2026

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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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