Grab the Regressor by the Collar and Debut! Chapter 77
Chapter 77. Unexpected Luck (2)
What the hell is this?
Sitting in a cozy café while monitoring reactions to MIRO MAZE, Hajin blinked in confusion.
Real-Time Trends
Our Nephews — 10,841 posts
Miro Family — 7,932 posts
Myeongdong Busking — 9,045 posts
Taeil I Love You — 15,791 posts
MIRO MAZE — 5,112 posts
The timeline of the burner account he’d made just for search monitoring refreshed every three seconds.
Up until recently, MIRO MAZE had been “a slightly big-scale but typical K-boy group survival show.”
Now it had mutated into something like:
“the miraculous fruit borne by the young breadwinners of a tiny company.”
Why is everyone suddenly flooring the gas pedal?
It didn’t take Hajin long to find the “problematic post” while surfing endless threads. And once he saw it, he immediately understood the chain of coincidences that created this tidal wave.
Coincidence #1: UPIA’s 12th Anniversary Concert
UPIA’s fandom, I.dea, had a long, almost absurd 13-year history. Compared to most idol fandoms, their average age skewed older.
Most were working adults now. Instead of camping on communities or SNS to aggressively promote their faves, they quietly consumed updates and focused on real life to fund their fandom spending.
Normally, a long post uploaded to a community at dawn would’ve been buried by morning…
But recently, UPIA had announced their 12th anniversary fan concert—their first full-group concert since their military hiatus.
Thanks to:
successful contract renewal
first full-group concert after enlistment
upcoming 12th anniversary
I.dea was currently running on a triple injection of nostalgia-fueled hype. Their online activity rivaled UPIA’s peak years.
So the “problematic post” didn’t sink—it exploded with hundreds of comments.
I.dea members started talking about how meaningful it was that a third boy group from Miro was debuting. That warmth spread smoothly to Enderway’s fandom, who had already been quietly tearing up over nostalgia.
Miro is family.
So what’s our family tree now?
The “students” were officially the young masters… so does that make them the younger-younger masters?
But calling them “young masters” feels shameless… the youngest trainee is 17.
Then sons? I mean, weren’t they born from UPIA and Enderway’s capital anyway?
Let’s just call them nephews. One trainee is apparently distantly related to Tae-il anyway.
And just like that, MIRO MAZE became Miro’s youngest “son”—and nephew.
Up to here, fine. It was still contained within Miro fandom culture.
But then—
Coincidence #2: Cat’s Gratitude, Part 2
When Hajin first saw the reward in the system window, he thought he’d misread it.
That’s not over yet?
Hadn’t they already gotten enough out of that rainy stray kitten incident? Apparently the drenched kitten had been extremely grateful.
He didn’t know what kind of repayment was coming this time—
Until he found out.
“…Ah.”
[Post: Saw STH and someone?? Huge thread warning]
(Photo)
Proof shot!
My friend lost her cat recently. She opened the window to air out the house and the cat slipped out.
She was practically fainting from crying and searched everywhere.
(Photo of the cat)
Posting because it’s cute. Honestly isn’t it gorgeous?
Anyway she adopted it when it was a kitten and treasured it like crazy.
Yesterday the animal hospital called—said they found “Aegi” (that’s the cat’s nameㅠㅠㅠ).
We were eating together so we dropped everything and ran.
(Yes she bought me meat afterward lol I’m fine)
But when we entered the animal hospital… there was like… a halo??
It was pouring rain but somehow there was sunshine? The whole place felt warm.
And then I saw two insanely handsome guys.
Turns out Seo Taehyun found her cat.
There was another ridiculously handsome guy with him—never seen him before.
And LOL my friend and I used to be “Teachers” during Boy’s World eraㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
Anyway our bias wasn’t STH but my friend loved him too so she recognized him immediately!!
When we went “OMG STH?!” he just shyly smiled… insane… he hasn’t aged at all… guess I’m the only one who did…
Now I totally understand the Cherry Boy syndrome.
In real life he’s crazy handsome. Taller too. Voice deeper now.
Originally he had such a soft voice but now it’s subtly low??
(Photo with Seo Taehyun)
(Signed photo)
My friend tried to give him a reward but he refused—said just remembering him was enough (how could we forget youㅠ)
So we said if he debuts we’ll buy 500 albums and go to fansigns and bring gifts.
He smiled kind of wistfully…
The other handsome guy mentioned “manager hyung” and “company,” so I think he’s a trainee!!
We asked permission before posting this!!
If he debuts later I’ll post his photo too and verify this story.
Anyway seeing him again made my heart race… don’t know how to end this lol;;
The end!
It was posted by the friend of the cat owner that Hajin and Taehyun had helped.
The previous hospital sighting had been secretly filmed.
This one? With permission and proof photos.
It spread fast.
Originally it had been buried—long post, mostly about Taehyun. But with teaser hype and the “our nephews” wave, searches spiked and it resurfaced.
Now comments flooded in:
Pilgrimage complete.
Our nephew candidates even have good hearts.
Miro trait: looks like they’d kill birds mid-flight but actually cherish even ants.
Holy shit Kang Hajin must be insanely handsome if a normal person asked him for a pic;;
Oh so this is that animal hospital rumor from beforeㅋㅋㅋ
Writerㅠㅠ now that teaser’s out can you release the Hajin pic tooㅠㅠㅠ
There’s a law requiring 5 cat photos. It’s the law.
Now four groups were involved:
MIRO MAZE early fans
senior fandom boosting the “nephew” narrative
Seo Taehyun fans actively promoting
K-pop lurkers enjoying the chaos
The post dominated entertainment forums for days.
Just when it started cooling down—
The original poster came back.
+Update
OMG this made weekly best.
This glory goes to Aegi (sleeping at my friend’s house).
(Cat photo)
Friend gave permission!
Now that teaser and official profiles are out, I think it’s safe—
(Photo with Kang Hajin and Seo Taehyun)
(Photo of Hajin smiling while holding cat)
(Photo of Taehyun petting cat)
The handsome guy WAS a trainee lol.
Not viral marketing!!! Swear on my former Teacher pride and my cat’s cuteness!!!
(Animal hospital receipt)
(Bank transfer proof)
We DID vote for Miro Maze though^^ㅎㅎ
Maybe we’ll graduate from Teacher to Desty (viewer name for MIRO MAZE).
Guys they’re insanely handsome in real life. Please invest in this stock now.
Please give lots of love to Kang Hajin and Seo Taehyun♡
(Also baby trainee Danharu please love him too…)
Of course:
So you became a Desty in the endㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
What was Kang Hajin like IRL????
Writer: insanely handsome. Don’t trust the profile photo. Wolf-like eyes. His visual chemistry with Taehyun is insane.
Are they close? I’m Taehyun bias debating adding Hajin to my basket
Writer: Not sureㅠ but their face combo alone was worth it
Some viral-marketing accusations popped up—
But awakened I.dea and And With U shut them down instantly.
Miro doing viral marketing????
Give Miro the budget and manpower first before saying that please
If Miro knew how to do that UPIA would’ve built a 20-story building by now
Hot posts created spin-offs. Spin-offs brought new influx.
Taehyun fans actively tied him to Hajin to promote MIRO MAZE.
Other trainee fandoms grew bolder too.
And that’s how they ended up here.
Hajin set his phone down after checking the explosive buzz numbers.
If this momentum held, MIRO MAZE would almost certainly succeed.
The editing and structure were solid. The trainees’ skills were real.
Ji Sooho had noticed too—working overtime to plan extra content to keep the fire burning.
Yes.
And that’s where the problem started.
There’s nothing left to feed them.
To hook new fans, you need new bait.
But MIRO MAZE only had:
profile photos
two performance videos
a teaser under a minute
PD Kwon would normally be dropping pre-release clips, second teasers—anything—to capitalize on this.
But right now?
The production team was letting the fire cool.
And Hajin knew exactly why.
And he knew how to fix it.