Grab the Regressor by the Collar and Debut!

Chapter 274. Results Over Process

We won.

‘This is the best. So thrilling. The dopamine rush is amazing.’

The long glass display case in the company lobby, built solely to ★boast★, was now filled with trophies collected by Utopia and Enderway. Nestled proudly among them were our trophies. I gazed at them with pride, thinking that after we receive the Rookie of the Year award at this year-end ceremony, we might need to buy a new showcase to accommodate them.

‘Being number one is a good thing.’

Although during the second week, Lanion made an impressive leap to become a top contender for first place, thanks to their overwhelming album score, we still won in the end.

Forget the process.

The result is what matters the most.

Of course, if we hadn’t won first place, I’d be saying the process was more important, but anyway.

“Hyung, why do you dislike Lanion so much? They don’t have much to do with you, right?”

Seo Taehyun, who had come to work with me for practice, asked curiously, seeing me grinning to myself.

As soon as he asked that, I checked my surroundings and lightly bumped Taehyun with my shoulder. I thought it was just a gentle push, but since he was off guard, Taehyun staggered backward about five steps.

He glared at me, his eyes turning fierce in an instant, so I coughed and quietly pulled him to the side.

“Why are you spouting rumors like that in the company lobby? When did I ever say I hated Lanion?”

“But you care so much about them.”

“…It’s just that, you know, since we’re in the same industry, I’m keeping an eye on them, nothing more. When did I ever care that much…?”

“But you don’t care at all about Believer, even though they’re also Rookie of the Year candidates.”

“…….”

Why would I care about guys who supposedly wander around the broadcasting stations all day trying to get female celebrities’ numbers?

…That’s what I wanted to say, but I held back.

You never know who’s listening—whether it’s a reporter by day or a stalker by night.

“Ah, whatever. You go on and practice. I need to go up and meet with the director.”

“I’ll go, but… hyung, you’ve been acting weird lately.”

“When haven’t I been weird?”

“…I guess I don’t have much to say if you put it that way.”

Before Seo Taehyun could start saying more nonsense, I hurriedly pushed him along. He glanced back at me, tilting his head with a short sigh, and then turned to head down to the basement practice room. But just before he went down, he stopped and looked back at me again.

“Ah, hyung.”

“What now?”

“Think about what you want for a present.”

“A present?”

A present out of the blue?

When I asked, Taehyun chuckled as if I was being ridiculous and answered.

“Your birthday present, hyung.”

“Ah.”

Only then did I remember the last big event left this month.

November 30th.

It was my first birthday since debuting!

* * *

“Give me a birthday present!”

“…Ah, never mind. Someone just walked in… Yes. I’ll have it organized and sent to you by email shortly. Yes, please go ahead.”

When I opened the director’s office door with overwhelming force, Ji Suho, who had been on a call, looked at me with cold eyes and quickly ended the conversation. He put down his phone with a half-resigned expression and asked me,

“You don’t have any intention of knocking, do you?”

“I did knock. You just didn’t hear it, Director.”

“Right. My hearing must be bad….”

Ji Suho gestured for me to take a seat, so I quickly made myself comfortable on the sofa. Since I was here at Ji Suho’s request, I leaned back and hugged the sofa cushion with a relaxed mind.

As expected of the director’s office, the sofa’s cushioning was no joke. I should upgrade the sofa in the subconscious space when Thirteen comes back.

“Anyway, I called you here today because there are a few things to discuss. Originally, I wanted to talk to everyone, but looking at your schedules, it seemed like it would take too long, so I just called you as the representative.”

“Sure, no problem. Is it urgent?”

“Well… it’s not exactly urgent….”

Ji Suho shrugged, giving me a vague expression.

Wondering what this could be about, I took a sip of the iced chocolate I had brought along. Ji Suho crossed his legs and lightly rested his hands on them before getting to the point.

“There’s a lot to talk about, so let’s start with the good news. You guys will start receiving your earnings next month.”

“Kurgh—,”

“Hey, you!”

I choked so hard that even while wiping my hands and chin with the wet tissue Ji Suho hurriedly handed me, I kept coughing. Anyone would’ve thought I just drank poison.

After cleaning off the stickiness, I looked at Ji Suho with wide eyes and said,

“Why would you say something so important while I’m drinking iced chocolate…?”

“It’s not that important. You didn’t think it would take long, did you?”

“That’s true….”

I did think it wouldn’t take that long, considering how hard we worked like oxen and how the response was clearly visible.

But while we were busy with our schedules, I hadn’t been keeping track of how much money was coming in and where it was going. I only had a rough estimate. So, hearing that we’d be receiving money just three months after debuting made me feel a bit dazed.

“We’ve already recouped the investment costs, so you’ll start receiving money next month. As I explained when we signed the contract, you’ll get paid on a monthly basis. The money settled this month will be deposited at the end of next month. Your team might get confused, so make sure you explain it to them.”

“What about the earnings statement?”

“The accounting team will compile and send it to you on the 3rd of every month.”

“Got it. I’ll explain it to them. Yugeon will be relieved.”

Thinking of Yugeon, who would probably be the happiest about this news, I nodded. Ji Suho, who seemed to have the same thought, added in a serious tone,

“You know this already, but the amount is quite large. If a lot of money suddenly comes in, the guys might be a bit overwhelmed, so Hajin, you need to help keep the atmosphere calm. The company is planning to bring in a tax accountant soon for a session on taxes. Don’t let them go crazy with their spending just because they made some money.”

“…How much are we talking about, that you’re scaring me like this?”

“…….”

At my question, Ji Suho silently tapped on his tablet a few times, then quietly placed it in front of me. Feeling a bit apprehensive, I cautiously checked the screen, and saw an unfamiliar figure displayed.

“…Ten, hundred, thousand, ten thousand, hundred thousand, million….”

How much is this…?

This was an amount that made my past life, where I used to work full 24-hour shifts crawling on the office floor for 2.3 million won and was happy because it was 200,000 won more than my previous job, seem like a distant memory.

‘Is this for real?’

No wonder young people these days are giving up on job hunting, damn it….

Even though this was the amount I had earned and would be deposited into my account, I still felt a weird mix of resentment and futility.

It made sense now why those time managers forced me to become an idol with the promise of making me young and rich, even when I was on the verge of being sent to the military for the third time.

“If you win the Rookie of the Year award at the end of the year, your value will increase even more, and with events lined up next year, you’ll keep seeing good results. But I’ll emphasize again, don’t let the guys get too carried away. Usually, a lot of accidents happen around the time of their first earnings.”

“I’m the one who’s most likely to mess up first….”

“Don’t joke around.”

“I’m serious….”

I’ve never made this kind of money before.

Hearing my voice, which even I thought sounded dumb, Ji Suho paused for a moment and looked at me, then smiled and patted my shoulder.

“Didn’t I tell you to trust me?”

“…Yeah. I’m glad I did.”

I nodded in agreement.

Without adding anything more, Ji Suho moved on to the next topic.

“So, that was the best news I had to share.”

“How many things do you have to tell me if that was the first one? I’m getting nervous now, but since I’m in a good mood, hurry up and tell me.”

“The second thing is about your birthday.”

“Ah.”

Ji Suho handed me a file he had prepared in advance. When I opened the folder, I found an A4 sheet detailing the promotions and event schedules related to my birthday.

“Since it’s your first birthday after your official debut, we want to do it right. Taehyun and Siwoo’s birthdays were in July, and Yugeon’s was on September 1st, so we couldn’t do much for them.”

“That’s true. Most of the events were organized by the fans.”

“But this time, since you guys are getting such a great response, and because your birthday kicks off a string of birthdays—Haru’s and Doha’s are coming up—we want to use this as a chance to better organize the events for next year. These are the ideas

we’ve come up with so far, so take a look and discuss with the others which ones you like the most.”

“Alright… I’ll read it over carefully when I get back to the dorm.”

As I flipped through the materials, I saw a reference list of how other idol groups celebrated their birthdays and some ideas that our company’s marketing team had come up with.

‘Birthday… birthday, huh….’

To be honest, I don’t have many memories of receiving special birthday events in my life.

I was always the one giving, not receiving.

‘This will be my first time having such a grand birthday celebration.’

There were some things I’d wanted to try for a while, and maybe this would be the perfect opportunity.

As I briefly got lost in thoughts, planning various ideas in my head, Ji Suho clapped his hands as if to bring me back to reality.

“Okay, okay. And next.”

“Why are there so many things…?”

“You’re the one who keeps stirring things up.”

“…….”

…No argument there.

I couldn’t say anything since I was just about to stir things up even more.

“About that vacation you requested. It’s been approved. You can’t take much time, just two nights and three days. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.”

“That’s more than enough.”

“But Taehyun will head down separately after the music show on Thursday, and Eunchan has a family gathering that day too. Mr. Joo Eunseok reached out to me, and he said he’ll personally bring Eunchan over on Friday morning.”

“I heard about Eunchan. Anyway, I’m just going to catch Dan Haru, so it doesn’t matter.”

“You’ve discussed everything with the others? About where you’re going and all that.”

“We talked about going for two nights and three days, but we haven’t decided where yet. I’ll let them know soon.”

“Alright. Just let me know once you’ve got it sorted out.”

“Sure. Thanks.”

Although Ji Suho still seemed a bit suspicious about this mysterious two-night, three-day vacation, he didn’t push further, sensing that I had no intention of explaining more.

I didn’t bother to clear away the many thoughts that gathered in my mind like fluffy clouds.

I just quietly sipped the remaining iced chocolate.

“Alright, so that’s it for the good news. Now…”

After watching my expression for a moment, Ji Suho sighed and spoke.

“I’ve got some bad news.”

“…What is it?”

Why is he setting the mood like this?

A sense of foreboding crept up my neck like smoke, and Ji Suho opened his mouth.

“QBS reached out to us.”

“……?”

“They’ve decided that Lanion will perform Utopia’s song for the year-end cover song stage.”

Who’s doing what now?

My brow furrowed as I took in the massive blow delivered by QBS and Rene, which I never saw coming.