Grab the Regressor by the Collar and Debut! Chapter 64
Chapter 64. Shouting to You (6)
After crying like she was trying to meet a daily quota, Sarin quickly pulled herself together and took the microphone again.
“Honestly, this song is my signature track… but for a while now, it’s been a song that scares me to sing.”
Sarin knew the nickname the industry—and even the general public—called her.
Boss.
In her prime, she had been proud of it. To live up to that name, she poured everything into every stage and delivered performances no one could argue with.
Ah… even Sarin can’t beat time, huh.
But she had never imagined that all that effort would one day become a wall that trapped her.
[4K] XX0712 Sarin – “Shouting to You” @ Neon Park Festival
Whoa, her live is insane ㄷㄷ
Unnie PLEASE release an album
Kind of sad she can’t pull out her old voice anymore… was her throat not okay?
└ She worked herself to death when she was the breadwinner… ㅠ She should’ve rested after her 3rd albumI still can’t forget when she sang “Shouting to You” at that awards show four years ago. That day was perfect—hair, makeup, styling, the outdoor wind, Sarin tearing up during the last chorus… even the girl group reaction at 2:17 where they get emotional. Honestly a once-in-a-lifetime legendary stage.
└ Where can I watch it?
└ Search “XX1230 Sarin Shouting to You,” it’ll come up.
└ Here’s the link: itube.com/watch?
The song that supposedly turned everyone who sang it into a “boss” had, at some point, become a barrier even she couldn’t climb over.
“It became too famous with the public. And it was also a song I sang too well… So every time I sing it now, the pressure is overwhelming. It’s my own song, but it became so difficult that even I couldn’t sing it comfortably anymore.”
That was why she had stopped performing after getting pregnant—using childbirth and childcare as an excuse. At some point, she had lost the confidence to stand on stage.
Because she couldn’t recreate the voice she had ten years ago, when she was young. And after giving birth—after her body stopped feeling like it used to—it became even worse.
“But… watching the stage you prepared today, I forgot for a moment that this was my song.”
The rushing high notes.
The explosive emotional delivery.
The flashy ad-libs and technique.
Hearing Shouting to You stripped of all the “mandatory conditions” she had once defined… it was still good.
And it felt new.
So these lyrics can hold emotions like this too.
“For the first time in a long while, it felt like I was facing ‘Shouting to You’ again. And I thought… I want to try singing it with these emotions. I want to express this part like this. That’s what I felt.”
“Wow. That’s huge praise, sunbaenim.”
At Sarin’s generous evaluation, Enderway’s Choi Yeonwoo clapped excitedly. The boys on stage still looked stunned, glancing at one another and scratching the backs of their heads awkwardly.
And standing at the center, Team Sad Ending’s leader, Kang Hajin, thought:
Whew. Looks like we hit the tear button perfectly.
Whatever it was, they struck gold. He hadn’t planned on doing this well.
Maybe I need to tweak the plan a bit…
He relaxed slightly, thinking about the man who’d been “politely fired” and was probably monitoring this somewhere in the studio.
It won’t hurt to raise our value.
But it seemed the impact of their stage wasn’t simple at all.
[System Notice: ‘Sarin’ has gained enlightenment!]
[System Notice: A turning point has occurred due to ‘Sarin’s enlightenment.]
[System Notice: ‘Sarin’s timeline is shifting…]
…Huh? What’s shifting?
Before he could fully process the flood of system messages, Sarin smiled with a refreshed, liberated expression and delivered her final words.
“Thank you so much for letting me meet my song again in a new way.”
[System Notice: ‘Sarin’s fixed event (retirement and disappearance) has been deleted.]
…Well, damn.
It feels like we just did something ridiculous.
“Alright! We’ll pause filming, grab dinner, and come back!”
“Team Sad Ending! To the waiting room!”
“Mentors, you can return to your rooms! I’ll organize the call times and let you know!”
After listening to the other mentors’ evaluations, they headed backstage.
“W-we did well… right?”
“Sarin sunbaenim’s comments were amazing, at least…”
Maybe they weren’t filming backstage reactions this time. Normally they’d gather everyone to talk, but instead a staff member immediately guided them to the waiting room.
Even walking down the long hallway, his teammates still looked dazed. Pretty mild reactions for people who had supposedly “torn up the stage” hard enough to rewrite the original singer’s timeline.
The reason was simple.
“But the other judges’ comments were kind of disappointing… so I don’t know how the results will go.”
Aside from Sarin, the feedback had been lukewarm.
“The fresh approach was good, but for a competition stage, it felt a little plain.”
“Your energy! That energy alone is absolutely something I acknowledge.”
“I wish you’d shown more vocal capability… that’s my honest thought.”
It leaned closer to praise than criticism. But compared to Sarin crying and giving them glowing approval, it felt underwhelming.
Still, Hajin smiled easily and patted their shoulders.
“It’s fine, guys.”
“Huh?”
They’re going to air Sarin crying and nothing else anyway.
“We gave it everything. No matter the results, it’s fine.”
“Ahh, right! We worked really hard!”
“Yeah! If the original singer 인정’ed us, that’s enough!”
The two naturally cheerful ones nodded enthusiastically.
They grabbed the lunchboxes handed out at the entrance and sat down. Whatever else this production company did, they fed people properly.
“Hyung, chopsticks.”
“Good boy. So reliable.”
“Why do you talk like my grandpa?”
“Want some New Year’s money?”
“I will respect you, Grandfather.”
Soon everyone was focused on eating. They hadn’t eaten much earlier to avoid looking puffy on camera.
Me? I’m fine. Thanks to my skill, I don’t have to worry about swelling.
Hajin opened a bottle of water and reviewed the earlier system notices.
Sarin had always left the industry around this time in every timeline except one.
And now that had changed.
So fixed events can be deleted?
He had thought they were absolute.
But Park Jaeyoung’s situation had changed too.
Maybe nothing was completely fixed after all.
Another notice appeared:
Regressor authority updated.
Access to more human timeline information available.
Enter the “Space of the Unconscious”? (Condition: fainting sleep)
Not happening right now.
He closed the window.
The system protested that it was extremely important.
Sure. Maybe.
But right now, what mattered more than the epic mechanics of fate was the spicy pork and fried chicken in front of him.
The system dramatically insisted something huge was happening.
To Hajin, the truly huge and amazing thing was that they got a proper two-dish lunchbox instead of chicken-mayo.
The system felt defeated.
Systems grow up like that.
He ignored it.
As he mixed spicy pork and kimchi into his rice, he made eye contact with Han Seongwoo walking past.
“Wow. I just lost my appetite.”
Yeah, right.
Hajin didn’t even look away—he scooped up a huge bite and ate it deliberately. Seongwoo’s face hardened as he turned away.
Seo Taehyun sighed beside him.
“Grandpa, hurry up and eat.”
“Kids these days don’t respect their elders.”
“…But I really don’t want to lose to that hyung.”
“Same here, grandson.”
Hajin finished first, as always, and stood up with his empty lunchbox.
At the recycling station, he noticed someone crouched there.
“…Lee Yugeon?”
With bleached hair swept back and three piercings in his ear, Lee Yugeon was awkwardly crouched in tight leather pants, carefully sorting lunchboxes and utensils.
“What are you doing?”
“If you recycle like this, you get fined.”
“Then why are you fixing it?”
“Habit. Just leave yours. I’ll throw it out.”
He even peeled the sticker off the lid meticulously.
This guy really isn’t normal.
Hajin pulled up his stats window.
All traits –20%.
Dance 33%.
Vocal 37%.
Expression 45%.
How was someone with these numbers in Special Class?
Something didn’t add up.
Just as he was thinking—
An empty lunchbox dropped onto his arm.
Kimchi broth splattered across his clothes.
“My bad. Didn’t see your hand. Thought you were throwing trash.”
Hajin looked up at Han Seongwoo and forced a smile.
“Hyung, I think you should get your glasses fitted. You’ve been ‘not seeing’ things a lot lately.”
Ah.
This annoying bastard. Seriously.