Grab the Regressor by the Collar and Debut! Chapter 19

Chapter 19. The Most Effective Way to Defuse a Bomb (4) 

Dan Haru, eyes wide and shining, launched into a passionate speech.

“Last time we went to Rene! What if hyung got shocked because you beat him with pure facts and he went into hiding?! Feel guilty!”

“It’s guilt, not ‘a guilty conscience.’ And—wait, is this my fault now?”

Haru answered with a sulky face. “Honestly, I think you have some responsibility.”

Joo Eunchan immediately nodded along too.

These brats…?

“Fine. Let’s say Seo Taehyun was so shocked by my truth-bombing that he went into hiding. Then I really shouldn’t go. If he sees my face, he’ll hate it even more.”

“Only the perpetrator’s sincere apology can heal the victim’s wounded heart.”

“I’m the perpetrator now? From where I’m standing, wasn’t the perpetrator Cha Minseok?”

“Then should we bring Minseok hyung too?”

“…Never mind. Forget I said anything.”

Even when I countered logically, Haru stayed stubborn. His eyes were even sparkling—at this rate, he looked ready to pack Rene’s “statue” and take him along.

Seeing Haru was a lost cause, I turned to target Eunchan instead. But Eunchan—already completely possessed by guilt and responsibility over Taehyun—had that resolute look and was already searching the pension’s address like he’d made up his mind.

“Eunchan. Don’t make that face. You scare me the most when you make that face.”

A kid who already looks like the rightful heir to a noir crime boss… putting on a serious expression like that? That’s not even “intimidating”—that’s just straight-up gangster energy.

Exhausted by two teenagers I couldn’t reason with, I just flopped down on the spot. Eunchan, still staring at his phone, glanced at me and quietly came over.

“…Why don’t you want to go, hyung?”

“You want the honest answer?”

When I asked if he really wanted to hear it, Eunchan hesitated a moment, then nodded silently.

“I don’t see what the benefit is in going that far to drag Seo Taehyun back.”

“……”

“You said you wanted it to be a fair game for everyone, so I’m building it that way. A survival-show veteran with a thick fanbase—Seo Taehyun? To me, he’s just a strong competitor. Nothing more, nothing less. Sorry.”

Those two had known him for ages, and they were soft-hearted teenagers.

I wasn’t.

In my previous life, I did feel sorry for him, sure—but that was it. In this life, I’ve talked to him like two or three times. I wondered if I sounded too cold to them, but… no means no.

Eunchan—wearing an unreadable expression like he was about to order a body buried somewhere—thought for a moment, then asked:

“If there was a benefit, would you come with us?”

“Hey. I’m not even that close with Seo Taehyun. Why are you trying this hard to persuade me? Me going won’t change anything.”

“Investors.”

Right as I was about to ask why they were so desperate to drag me in, Eunchan tossed out that word calmly and kept going.

“I saw the PPT you were making last time. Taehyun hyung was in it too. The frontman to pull in early buzz and recognition.”

Oh?

“Honestly, Miro trainees don’t have that much public pre-info yet. Sure, it’s Miro, so a survival show would be a big deal either way. But whether or not you have Boy’s World’s Seo Taehyun? The buzz difference isn’t even comparable.”

I can’t deny it. I almost got persuaded.

Eunchan and Haru stared at me with sparkling, desperate eyes. Those angel-kitten faces almost made my heart wobble—

…Yeah, no.

“I’m never going to look for him, so stop talking nonsense and just eat your chicken.”

My life is already busy enough—now you want me to go on a “Find Seo Taehyun” road trip for a guy who might be a ticking bomb? That’s like brushing your teeth with mint chocolate.

Meanwhile…

“…It’s quiet.”

The guy who turned Miro upside down—Seo Taehyun—was sprawled comfortably on a wooden platform, cool sea breeze blowing.

“Taehyun. Your mom called your noona again today. She’s asking if you’re okay. Are you seriously fine staying here?”

His uncle, done cleaning an empty room after guests checked out, clicked his tongue and asked worriedly. Taehyun nodded with his eyes half-closed.

“I’ll really stay quiet for just a few days, then I’ll go.”

“I mean, I’m happy you’re here… but your mom’s worried to death, so I have to ask, you punk.”

“It’s fine. I’ll contact her.”

“Yeah, okay… We’ve got a booking today, so if guests arrive, call me.”

Maybe he thought more nagging would be a burden—his uncle didn’t interfere further. Instead, he set out some eggs and sweet rice drink on the platform, then quietly left Taehyun alone.

Taehyun slowly opened his eyes.

What do I even say to Mom?

His parents had supported him for seven years. And after Boy’s World ended three years ago, his dad had told him to quit immediately—only for his mom to persuade and persuade until she won him this trainee spot.

And now he’d thrown even that away.

…How do I tell them I can’t debut anyway?

Taehyun sighed, thinking of the Director—the root cause blocking his debut path.

How did it end up like this?

He remembered the day it all started.

“If I bring you in, it's a guaranteed debut. Let’s debut together, Taehyun. Okay?”

There were a lot of reasons he said yes to Minseok, but one mattered most: Taehyun had been unbearably lonely after Boy’s World ended.

He was younger than most, without an agency, and had to survive alone. More than “guaranteed debut” or a jaw-dropping signing bonus, what he needed was a friend to face the uncertainty with him.

Then came the contract—handed over by the Director one day.

“You know Ocean Blue, right? They like you a lot. If you sign now, you can debut solo immediately and they’ll push you hard. Sign here.”

A famous agency backed by foreign capital. A deposit a teenage boy couldn’t even imagine. Guaranteed debut. A sweet offer a drained trainee couldn’t easily ignore.

But Taehyun knew:

Anywhere that’s only sweet always has a trap.

When Taehyun refused, the Director turned petty.

“You’re Seo Taehyun right now. Give it a few months—you’ll be forgotten in an instant. You not debuting? That’s nothing to me.”

After that, even though Taehyun was in the special class, he was cut off from every benefit. He tried to look for another agency, but someone had already “handled it.”

Days piled up where he didn’t even know what to aim at anymore.

So Taehyun started collecting evidence—little by little. Double contracts the Director showed him. The bullying and exploitation he inflicted on other trainees.

It was scary, but he thought evidence was the only way to survive.

Then he let Minseok hold the evidence for safekeeping—

and only later realized what “I’m sorry” was really apologizing for.

“Did you really not know? Cha Minseok sold you off and went to Rene. He knew Rene wanted you, and he asked the Director himself—‘Send me instead of Taehyun.’”

Only then did Taehyun learn what Minseok had traded with the evidence, why he moved to Rene without a word, and why he cut contact.

“…Bastard.”

He was sick of it all.

Debut—so important people would even sell their friends for it.

His dream still writhed in his chest, furious and wronged… but he was too tired to even feel it properly.

He remembered the argument the day he went to see Minseok.

“I gave you your chance once too. Boy’s World—I was supposed to go, but you went. This time, think of it as you yielding to me.”

Realizing his “closest friend” had been nurturing not friendship but an inferiority complex… made Taehyun feel pathetic and disgusting.

“Worst. Seriously.”

His uncle’s seaside pension was perfect for sorting out his thoughts alone.

He’d come here with Minseok plenty of times too—so the memories only dragged him down.

Then—other faces surfaced too.

“I want to debut with someone like you, hyung.”

“Ah… Haru.”

“And I didn’t even get to eat tteokbokki with him…”

He worried Eunchan might blame himself too. He left without even explaining properly.

…Should I at least contact them?

The faces wouldn’t stop haunting him, so Taehyun finally sat up and stepped off the platform—

And then—

A shadow fell over him.

“…Huh?”

“You. You bastard.”

That voice—furious, and familiar. Taehyun looked up and froze, unable to make a sound.

“Found you.”

Kang Hajin was standing there.

Like a grim reaper.

“Ghk—!”

“Where do you think you’re going?”

The second our eyes met, Taehyun instinctively tried to bolt.

But I’d expected that.

I grabbed his hoodie and yanked him right back down onto the platform.

“Hyung—why are you here?!”

“It’s not ‘why are you here,’ that’s rude. Taehyun.”

“How are you even here?!”

I glared at the guy who’d dragged me all the way to the Gangwon coast and gritted my teeth.

“Mgh—th—m—r—f—”

Flash!

A familiar notification popped up above Taehyun’s head.

< System Alert: ‘Seo Taehyun’ reacts to you. From this point on, whether you can recruit Seo Taehyun as a companion will be determined by his ‘reaction rate’ in conversation. >

< Companion recruitment status: 1/?? >

That damned quest.