Grab the Regressor by the Collar and Debut!

Chapter 229: Gambling Counseling is 1336

Panting as he looked around the meeting room, Dan Haru became flustered when he noticed that I was in the middle of a live broadcast. He quickly glanced around the room, rolling his eyes in confusion.

“W-Were you doing a live broadcast…?”

“Yes.”

“Not gambling…?”

…It’s similar, though.

I couldn’t exactly admit that an idol was gambling during a live broadcast, so I answered with silence instead. Dan Haru tilted his head as if something was odd and approached me.

“That’s strange….”

“What is? Do you want to keep hitting the same note?”

“But Siwoo-hyung definitely said, ‘Hajin is currently doing a luck test to see if he can pick the number he wants most out of 63 options within 30 tries.’”

“…….”

“‘He already lost about 100,000 won, but I hit the jackpot in one go!’ That’s what he said!?”

“………….”

— Yeah… that’s gambling alright.

— Add in the endless unopened albums to complete the look, tsk.

— Should we say he oversimplified the explanation or exaggerated it…

— No wonder the kid rushed over in a panic, LOL.

How do you deal with the fact that the rumor’s creator and its spreader, which nearly gave rise to the ‘Kang Hajin Gambling Rumor’ following the ‘Kang Hajin Club Rumor,’ are both the eldest and the youngest members of the same group?

‘I can’t even sue them here… Should I make them give a presentation with a PowerPoint?’

While I was briefly contemplating, Dan Haru let down his guard, approached me, and curiously examined our albums and photocard collection spread out on the desk.

“Then what are you doing right now, hyung? Oh, right. Desties, hello! It’s Haru!”

“I’m opening albums, but I’m already ruined because of duplicate photocards….”

“Oh, a knife! It’s shaped like a carrot?”

As I gloomily spoke while looking at the unopened albums left, Dan Haru picked up the carrot-shaped knife in front of me, examining it with curiosity.

And seeing that, for some reason, a strange sense of duty began to rise within me.

‘Baby Bunny Warrior and the Absolute Carrot…?’

As the self-proclaimed leading otaku of Kairos (which I’ve now just decided to accept), there’s no way I could miss out on such a rare sight. It felt like discovering an unexpected lucky charm.

I quickly grabbed Dan Haru’s arm, pulled over a nearby chair, and sat him down.

“Hey, come here. Try this.”

“Are we looking at the albums?”

“Yeah, something like that. You look at the albums. I’ll just focus on the photocards.”

— Gosh, LOL, it’s still your album, LOL.

— Haru is always so cute when he wants to join in with what the hyungs are doing, LOL.

— Our Hajin clearly started by admiring the album photos with so much affection, sigh.

— Welcome to the photocard addiction.

— What if Haru pulls out Siwoo’s god-tier photocard again…? Our lucky baby bunny seems to have good luck.

— Haru Bunny is so cute, I can’t, sigh.

The chat window lit up with excitement at Dan Haru’s participation in the album unboxing. Some even flooded the chat with yellow hearts and sparkly emojis, which Dan Haru often used on social media.

Most reactions were positive, but remembering the strange chat messages that appeared during the last live broadcast, I knew it was still wise to be cautious. I subtly pushed the monitoring tablet closer to me and gestured for Dan Haru to choose a new album.

“Pick one. See this? If you get the photocard with a heart, it’s a success.”

“Wow, hyung, did you get all of them? There are so many stickers!”

“…Don’t ask. It’s a painful memory.”

“Oh, okay. But why are you doing this, hyung? Is it for content?”

“…Something like that. Ah, just pick quickly, come on.”

— Ah!

— Here we go, the reaction of a muggle toward an otaku.

— Hajin is crying, Haru.

— Are you crying? LOL.

I hurriedly urged the chattering Dan Haru to pick an album, and after some thought, he chose one. It was the ‘THE NIGHT’ version, which included a photocard of Lee Doha in uniform.

“Okay, now open it. Carefully.”

The carrot knife, which had finally found its true owner (or not), carefully tore off the album’s plastic wrap. I watched with a prayerful heart.

‘Please… Please don’t let it be me.’

An 8-time duplicate is really something only a devil would do.

With that desperate prayer and hope, I silently watched Dan Haru open his first album.

* * *

Another 30 minutes later.

The heat in the meeting room had reached a level that even the word “madness” could not fully describe.

“Hyung!! It came out!!! It came out!!!!!! The Lee Yugeon basketball photocard!!!!!!”

“Aaaaaaahhhh!!! We did it! We did it!!!!! You wonderful kid!!!”

Like archaeologists who had just discovered Pharaoh’s hidden gold treasures, Dan Haru and Kang Hajin clung to each other, screaming in tears of joy.

In Dan Haru’s hand was a photocard of Lee Yugeon in a sporty outfit, casually resting his chin on a basketball while gazing downward—Kang Hajin’s coveted photocard No. 5.

— Congrats, congrats, congrats, congrats, congrats!

— Wow, this is moving.

— Hajin, please trade with me. Please, I’m serious. I have two Taehyun cherry peace photocards. I’ll give them both to you, I swear. Please, I’m begging you.

— It took 19 tries to get the first coveted card, congrats.

— It really didn’t want to come out, LOL.

— Oh no, what if Haru starts crying, LOL?

The table was covered with all sorts of photocards from about 20 albums, neatly arranged by version and member.

The sheer number of photocards was overwhelming, with a disproportionately large number featuring Hajin and Haru. Just as Kang Hajin had mostly pulled his own photocards, Dan Haru had also miraculously drawn mostly his own face.

— Now that I think about it, they’re just pulling their own cards, LOL.

— Come to think of it, even Siwoo drew his own face and left, LOL.

— But Haru’s still better compared to Hajin, at least Haru pulled enough of other members’ cards to make a collection.

— Kang Hajin’s fine with anyone but himself, but he just keeps pulling duplicates of himself, LOL.

After embracing and enjoying the moment for a long time, the two finally came to their senses and sat back down in their chairs.

Still playing the older brother, Hajin cleared his throat and tried to end things on a polite note.

“I apologize. We were overwhelmed with joy… I’m sorry.”

“I’m sorry.”

Hajin bowed his head in apology, and Haru followed suit, bowing deeply. Yet, Haru’s face was still bright with a joyful smile.

There were still about ten unopened albums left, but Hajin decided it would be best to stop here today. Knowing when to quit was more important than knowing when to keep going.

“Okay, so we managed to get one coveted card…. Let’s wrap up the album unboxing here today. We’re going to put these photocards in sleeves and organize them in my binder, then head back to the dorm.”

“You’re stopping, hyung? We’re on a roll now! Album unboxing is all about momentum…!”

Having become more immersed in the photocard gambling… I mean, album unboxing, than me, Dan Haru spoke in a regretful voice.

Seeing him like this, I started to worry that we might be the first idols ever to be reported for album unboxing addiction, so I quickly handed him some OPP sleeves for storing the photocards and changed the subject.

“Hurry and put the cards in these sleeves. Then, you can arrange them here.”

“Sigh…. I really felt like I was going to pull something great if I opened just one more…. I’ve got a feeling….”

Did this kid secretly go back in time and open 300 albums by himself…?

Not wanting to take any chances, I hastily handed Dan Haru a collect book and even packed up all the remaining unopened albums into the shopping bag I had brought. Though he grumbled with disappointment, he soon focused back on organizing the photocards.

After placing the opened albums neatly in the shopping bag, I also joined in on organizing the photocards. As I inserted the cards Haru had sleeved into the binder in order (by member, age, and version), I casually asked him a light question to fill the silence.

“So, Haru, what have you been up to these days?”

“These days?”

“Yeah. The Desties must be curious about what you’ve been doing. Since our activities ended, there are no schedules.”

“Oh, I see. Um, I’ve been… I’ve been practicing singing lately.”

“Oh, singing practice? What are you practicing?”

At my question, Dan Haru’s expression subtly changed.

From past experience, I knew that face meant he was about to drop a huge spoiler and was hesitating, wondering if he should say it. I quickly covered Dan Haru’s mouth.

“No, don’t say it. I don’t think you should say it. Whatever you’re thinking of, forget it.”

At

my words, Dan Haru nodded enthusiastically. Still not entirely convinced, I stared into his eyes and made him promise multiple times not to say anything before finally letting go.

“You have to be careful. Seo Taehyun might be watching all of this.”

“Taehyun-hyung was just with Eunchan-hyung doing that…”

“No! Don’t say that either, you fool!”

Is this kid just naturally inclined to spill spoilers with every breath?

As I patted my chest, feeling my heart drop at the near-miss, I praised myself for preventing a major spoiler disaster. Then, another comment in the chat window caught my eye.

— Seo Taehyun✓: What about me?

— Seo Taehyun✓: Dan Haru, I sent you to get the hyung, and you’re still not back yet???

“See! I told you he’s watching everything! Wow, look at him instantly type in the chat the moment we mention him.”

“Oh! Taehyun-hyung! Look at this! I pulled your photocard! Can I carry it around in my wallet?”

After seeing Seo Taehyun appear in the chat, Dan Haru excitedly waved Taehyun’s photocard at the camera.

A moment later, Seo Taehyun’s chat message popped up again.

— Seo Taehyun✓: Good job, I saw everything~ You’re good at pulling cards, Haru, LOL.

— Seo Taehyun✓: But come back to the dorm quickly, LOL. Siwoo-hyung is waiting outside.

Haru beamed with pride at the praise, smiling from ear to ear. Meanwhile, I wondered why Seo Taehyun was suddenly rushing us to return, and then I remembered that we had scheduled a meeting tonight about our guest stage at the Utopia concert.

“Oh, okay. Everyone, you see? We have to go now. We have another schedule to attend to….”

“Huh? We have another schedule? No, we don’t? Today, we…”

“Haru, shush.”

“…Shush.”

“Just stay quiet. I’ll tell you after the broadcast.”

To prevent spoilers, I told Dan Haru to stay quiet. Haru, realizing that his spoiler instincts were kicking in, quickly covered his mouth with his fingers and nodded.

“Alright, everyone. We’ll be heading off now. I’ll update you on the remaining album unboxing results through Bluebird or Kairogram. Goodbye. See you next time, everyone. …Haru, say goodbye too.”

Since I felt we should at least give a proper farewell, I gestured for Dan Haru to say his goodbyes. Haru waved at the camera with a bright and energetic voice.

“Goodbye, Desties! See you next week!”

It was just one word different from my farewell, but that one word caused a huge stir.

— Next week….?

— Next week??????????????

— Did he say next week?

— ???????????????????????????????????????????!?!?

— Hey, do we have something coming next week?????????

— The spoiler bomb Haru strikes again, just as expected.

— LOL, Haru’s going to get scolded again, sigh.

In disbelief, I glanced back and forth between the chat window and Dan Haru’s face.

When Dan Haru saw the chat window filled with question marks, he realized he had made a mistake and quickly covered his mouth, hiding under the desk.

And among the sea of question marks in the chat, a blue checkmark-bearing nickname appeared once more.

— Seo Taehyun✓: Dan Haru.

— Seo Taehyun✓: You’ve got an additional two hours of spoiler prevention training today.

— Seo Taehyun✓: No meat in your salad tomorrow.

— Seo Taehyun✓: And Kang Hajin, Grandpa.

— Seo Taehyun✓: For failing to manage your younger sibling, you get bean rice for dinner tonight.

“Wait, Taehyun. Why me…? Didn’t I do my best? Taehyun? Taehyun? Teacher Taehyun. Teacher?”

“I… I need to sew my lips shut…. I need to seal my mouth….”

In the end, we had to keep calling out Seo Taehyun’s name like the male lead in a regret-filled story until Jung Siwoo burst into the meeting room, grabbed us by the scruff of our necks, and dragged us out.

But I couldn’t stop the bean rice from appearing on my dinner table….