Grab the Regressor by the Collar and Debut! Chapter 91

Chapter 91 – Bomb? (2)

Before I even had time to process the shock—

the next line followed.

“Ha-jin’s the kind of kid who ends up taking on the leader role whether he wants to or not.”

“He sees too much. In his eyes, he sees everything.”

“Who’s struggling with what, who’s good at what… things like that.”

“It’s instinct. Instinct. He can’t help it.”

Over that audio, B-roll of me started playing.

Little moments—probably dug up by some assistant director who had combed through the footage from start to finish.

“I think that’s why I keep ending up saying things that sound disappointed. Because I see parts of myself in him—parts I messed up before, parts I regret.”

“In the end, being an idol means the group matters, sure—but you also have to shine within it, right?”

“And sometimes it feels like Ha-jin doesn’t have that ambition right now.”

…He saw right through me.

Listening to Seo Tae-il’s interview—hearing him identify a mental state even I hadn’t fully understood myself yet—felt strange.

Back then, I really had been in a place where my confidence in my stage presence and my skills had taken a major hit.

I knew I could put on a performance I wouldn’t be ashamed of.

But I still couldn’t tell how far that performance could go—or how high it could climb.

…Not anymore.

Sure, it would still take time for that built-up sense of defeat to disappear completely.

But once you recover even a little of that feeling—

I’m okay—

there’s no way things can stay the same as before.

“……”

And come to think of it—

sitting right next to me was another guy who had read me almost as accurately as Seo Tae-il had.

Lee Doha.

The one who, after that, had hit me with absolutely brutal facts—

even if none of it would ever air.

Lee Doha, whose trust level in me still hadn’t passed 70%.

Lee Doha, who still didn’t fully believe in me.

Could that trust level have had something to do with the way I was back then too?

If that was the case—

then now, now that I’d gained at least some confidence in myself, unlike before…

maybe I could raise it by, say, 2%.

I should probably talk to Lee Doha sometime soon too.

This whole Seon-gwija hunt.

It was turning me into someone way too diligent and way too social.

That thought barely had time to settle before I looked back at the TV.

“Slate coming in!”

“Ah, please.”

“March 2nd, 8:42 p.m. Team B mid-check, take one-two-three!”

Clap!

An absurdly bright clap echoed through Joo Eunchan’s living room.

I could feel everyone staring at me in stunned silence without even needing to look around.

For a second, nobody knew what to say.

Then Dan Haru—who had been calmly rolling up the two extra slices of pizza we’d just ordered—tilted his head.

“Hmm. Seems like he’s already shining plenty on his own….”

Quietly, I poured garlic sauce over Haru’s pizza slice.

Was my image really okay like this?

No matter how I thought about it, PD Kwon had worked way too hard.

…That edit was a little too good.

The moment I thought about the scenes that were still coming after this—

I got a bad feeling.

At this point, I was probably going to have to stay up all night monitoring reactions instead of putting it off until tomorrow.

“Ah, they’re pushing Kang Ha-jin so fucking hard, those crazy bastards.”

If they were going to shove him down our throats this much, then they should just debut their own handpicked brat already, goddammit.

The profanity came out completely unfiltered.

Leaning back irritably, face blank, they opened social media on their phone.

KimMakki @makkiii

Watching that little Kang-hop bastard force that fake persona is seriously nauseating

Has Seo Tae-il gone senile, or did his eyes just stop working

Guess when your instincts are gone you should just die already ㅉㅉ

With that shitty face acting like he’s the main character,
trying so hard to force-feed himself that quirky 4D-character role,

and the producers eating it up and pushing him for it is so embarrassingㅋㅋㅋ

There wasn’t even the slightest emotional reaction on KimMakki’s face as they uploaded blind abuse aimed at someone else.

For KimMakki, this level of malice was basically the same as saying,

Ugh, Miro Maze is boring because they only push one person too much~

In fact, if you scrolled even a little down KimMakki’s timeline, it was packed with endless strings of insults and “reviews” aimed at all kinds of celebrities—not just Ha-jin, whom KimMakki called Kkangchung.

Kang Ha-jin + try-hard thug.

SeoRya-unnie please stop with the plastic surgeryㅠ your nose is practically Mt. Namsan now

Choi Gyeong-nu, this bastard should just keep taking his shirt off for fangirls instead of acting like some real-music tryhard, what a joke, even your own fans don’t listen to your songs

To the fans of KingCup, whose guy is fooling around with another fandom’s fangirl and clearly lining up his exit, listen to unnie and unstan now, seriously. I’m saying this because I’ve been there~

Followers: 0
Following: 0

It was the kind of account that only occasionally got noticed when one of its nasty quote-tweets on a celebrity’s Bluebird post happened to go semi-viral.

Of course, sometimes random fans would track the account down and mass-report it or send abuse through DMs and mentions.

But whenever that happened, KimMakki would just temporarily deactivate the account, then come back later.

Change the nickname.
Change the ID.
Swap out the profile and header.

And it was like nothing had happened.

Sometimes lunatics follow me just to watch, but that’s easy enough. I just block them.

To KimMakki, this was basically just a fun daily hobby.

Celebrities laughed on TV for a while and made hundreds of millions anyway—what was wrong with one person like me throwing in a little “harsh truth”?

That was KimMakki’s logic.

“Stop showing that Kkangchung bastard and push someone worth thirsting over instead, you producers with no taste.”

And KimMakki’s current target was Miro Maze.

The top-tier boy groups were all gone now—

either enlisted, broken apart over contract renewals, or blown up by scandal.

The second-tier and rising ones had emptied out too, thanks to one scandal after another.

So now these trainees were making noise all over the internet before they’d even debuted.

Their fandoms hadn’t solidified yet, and since it was still a survival show, there wasn’t even any group-fandom unity.

For KimMakki, this was the most fun phase of all.

Maybe I should throw in some fuel?

Stretching in their worn pajamas, KimMakki logged onto one of the forums they frequented.

If Ha-jin hadn’t taken care of CP Yoon, then Han Seongwoo was originally supposed to be the protagonist of Episode 2.

But he had left the show in disgrace, and the network didn’t want to take on even the slightest risk.

[Look at how they’re handling the dropped trainee on Miro Maze]

You can totally see how determined they are not to show him at allㅋㅋㅋㅋ guess that’s what “he left” means

— Seriously, the fact that even in full shots you can only count 8 people is insane
— And in the performance vid that came out before, he had the first part lmao how did they even do that
— They completely butchered the rhythm editing

[To Me dropped-trainee rumor]

(A rumor post saying Han Seongwoo got cut after trying to entertain someone with his connections)

This is the rumor going around right now about the To Me dropped trainee.

No verification, just some random crap, so take it with a grain of salt.

Deleting soon.

— Where did you even see this
└ Just found it while searching aroundㅇㅇ
— People were saying it came from a manager account, though
— Huh, wasn’t he the rich trainee everyone kept gossiping about here before too?
└ Nobody knows
— The producers delivering mysterious justice… kind of love it, honestly

The producers minimized references to and exposure of Han Seongwoo as much as possible without breaking narrative coherence.

Because of that, with Ha-jin’s battle opponent disappearing from the episode, the storyline of Ha-jin even having had a battle couldn’t really be emphasized anymore.

Since they had no choice but to abandon the Han Seongwoo rivalry arc, the producers found another point of comparison instead.

Jung Siwoo. Team A’s leader.

[Guys, if you were the leader, which side would you rather have?]

Team A = absurd individual stats, but a total mess as a unit

VS

Team B = weaker individual stats, but strong team unity

The classic survival-show formula is usually Team A crashing and burning while Team B skyrocketsㅋㅋㅋ,
but Team A here is stacked with monsters, so who knows

— Look at that wording, “a total mess” my ass
— I was gonna bus-ride with A, but after seeing Jung-shu’s mask start cracking today, I don’t think I canㅋ
└ Shu-fans keep screaming that their oppa is some mastermind tactical genius, and by Episode 2 it’s already exposed that he’s just an awkward loserㅎ I’m embarrassed for themㅠ
— Why do they keep pushing ugly nobodies against A;
└ 2
— ?? Why are the comments like this, I thought I clicked the wrong community
└ A bunch of weirdos all rushed in. Just report and lock the comments

Jung Siwoo’s struggle to hold together a team full of strong individualists aired almost exactly as it happened.

In particular, the conflict with Lee Yugeon—who kept walking that fine line between “careless” and “just naturally easygoing” throughout practice—was highlighted.

“I’m not expecting anything from you. But at least give an opinion.”

“That way, I can do my job too.”
(Sharp sound effect as Siwoo turns to look at Yugeon.)

“No, I mean—”
(Yugeon’s expression, clearly frustrated.)

“How many times do I have to say it? I really don’t care. Just let the hyungs do what’s easiest for them and give me whatever’s left.”

In reality, even though he ended up taking the fewest parts, Lee Yugeon never actually showed any dissatisfaction.

And after that exchange, Jung Siwoo didn’t show any particular discomfort toward Yugeon during practice either.

Living up to the label of a survival show without evil editing, the producers kept it exactly at that level and presented it plainly.

But that didn’t stop viewers from reacting.

[This survival show gave me PTSD]

It reminded me of those team-project freeloaders who always just agree with everything, and I got so annoyed I turned it off. People like that are always the ones who later whine that no one gave them a proper part

— Seriously, first time I’ve ever seen someone on a survival show just say “give me whatever’s left”ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
— If that’s your attitude, then just leave the show and go home;

[Still… it does feel a little off, kind of careless]

I watched the whole thing too, and I get what he was trying to say, but… yeah. He seems like the kind of person who talks without thinking about how it sounds. I do think the attitude itself came off careless.

— (anon1) I knew something felt off about him since Episode 1ㅋ physiognomy really is science
└ (anon2) Ah yes, the phrenology sommelier has arrived again, our great expert~?
└ (anon3) People like you always make these “his face tells the story” comments without even watching the show
└ (anon1) I did watch the live broadcastㅋㅋㅋ wasn’t it obvious from Episode 1 that he had no sincerity and got buried in screen time because of it?
└ (anon3) A guy with no sincerity does 10 consecutive girl-group relay dances?? You just want an excuse to drag him

— Guys, come on, is this your first survival show;;; you’re all ready to kill each other over an edited broadcast again

[Did the people calling Lee Yugeon careless actually watch the clip???]

If you look at it, Lee Yugeon said over and over from the start that he was fine with letting the other hyungs pick first and just taking whatever was left; the BGM and subtitles are what made it sound serious, but he kept smiling and saying he really didn’t care, and Jung Siwoo was the one who suddenly snapped with that “I’m not expecting anything from you” line;;;

I’m a different trainee’s fan and can prove it, but I’m posting because I feel frustrated for him

— Yugeon fans are so transparent…
└ (OP) Is tearing people down from your room really your life’s greatest achievement? Please go outside and touch grass...ㅠ
└ (reply1) Yeah, and you stop projecting yourself onto a trainee who already has dead-fish eyes before debuting~ㅋㅋㅋ
— (reply2) Though honestly, I did also think, “Why is Jung Siwoo suddenly getting so angry?” Of course it’s a show, so there were probably edited parts tooㅠ

[Current trainee issue dividing opinions in Miro Maze.jpg]

(Screenshot 1 of Jung Siwoo and Lee Yugeon’s conversation)
(Screenshot 2 of Jung Siwoo and Lee Yugeon’s conversation)
(Screenshot 3 of Jung Siwoo and Lee Yugeon’s conversation)

The problem is Jung Siwoo for suddenly snapping
VS
The problem is Lee Yugeon for being uncooperative

Opinions are split into these two camps

What do you guys think?

The whole internet seemed to catch fire in an instant—

but thankfully, the controversy didn’t spread any further.

Because in the performance that followed,

Lee Yugeon was just too good.

His part may have been small, but the moment the dance break started, he shot to center stage like a fish back in water.

And then—

wearing the happiest smile anyone had seen from him yet—

he handled the high-difficulty choreography like flowing water.

Especially right before the dance break—

when there was a moment where he caught Kim Wonho’s eye and deliberately made a playful face at him to ease his nerves—

new posts started exploding for a completely different reason.

— So I’ve fallen for a face that looks like it’d get rejected endlessly at a parents’ meeting
— holy shit he’s cool as hell
— Honestly the other kids feel like they’re performing on a survival show, but Lee Yugeon just looks like he’s genuinely having fun. He’s born to be a star
— Wait, they were saying he was lazy or whatever, but he was crazy good though

The people who had already been bewitched by the main dancer with the weightless delinquent look started coping so hard they even rewrote Lee Yugeon’s weak live skills and his conflict with Jung Siwoo into something romanticized.

[So what happened earlier between Jung Siwoo and Lee Yugeon was basically]

the heartbreaking brotherhood of an eldest hyung who felt bad for a gifted younger kid who really meant it when he said he was fine taking whatever was left because he knew his own shortcomings, and who was frustrated seeing him give up before even trying, right?

Okay, got it. Starting today I’m eating Yu-Shu. This hate-chemistry is delicious

— The revisionist history here is legendary
— Is this not an illness
— Just give this person the win. A mental victory is still a victory

Both Jung Siwoo’s fans and Lee Yugeon’s fans were left feeling vaguely uncomfortable as the whole thing came to a close.

Both fandoms stayed extremely cautious, trying not to hand the trolls—or the people stirring things up to sabotage rising trainees—anything more to feast on.

If only a bigger villain would show up and drag all that attention away.

Maybe somewhere out there, someone was thinking exactly that.

That was how overheated interest in Miro Maze had become.

In a situation like this,

once anything at all got picked up as bait,

there was no going back.

And then—

[Isn’t Miro obviously pushing Kang Ha-jin too much??ㅋㅋㅋ]

Into that fragile atmosphere,

someone threw in a spark.