Grab the Regressor by the Collar and Debut!

Chapter 295. The Necessary and Sufficient Condition for Happiness (3)

“So, I need your help.”

[My help?]

“Yeah.”

[…Alright. How can I assist you?]

At Thirteen’s willing response, Hajin paused the movement of massaging his cold hands.

“First, I want to check the timelines of all the people I’ve recruited as allies so far.”

[All of them? That might be too many.]

“Even a brief overview will do. Dolja will surely mess with those timelines. I want to at least know what might happen in advance.”

[Understood. Quick summaries and accurate information delivery are essential system skills.]

[(ゝω´･)b⌒☆]

“And…”

Hajin trailed off, lightly tapping the table with his fingers.

Even without asking, it was obvious that countless thoughts and calculations were racing through his mind.

“I also want to recruit more members as allies. I want to understand exactly what this ally system is.”

[The ally system, as the name suggests, is designed to assist the Chosen Regressor in completing quests. It’s a system that temporarily allows you to recruit them under the Chosen Regressor’s management.]

“So, you’re saying I can manage their timelines?”

[In simple terms, it’s a workaround. Since a human like Kang Hajin can’t recklessly interfere with others’ timelines, the ally system allows you to subtly bring them under your time management authority.]

“What are the criteria for recruitment? So far, the only members who haven’t triggered an ally recruitment notification are Jung Siwoo, Lee Yugeon, and Dan Haru.”

It would make sense for Dan Haru, but shouldn’t Jung Siwoo and Lee Yugeon have triggered it by now?

At Hajin’s repeated question, Thirteen calmly responded.

[There are two conditions for recruiting allies.]

<1. Timeline alteration 2. Connection with the manager>

[First, timeline alteration is when the timeline of a person is influenced by Kang Hajin, causing a flow completely different from the past timeline.]

[Seo Taehyun and Kim Wonho fall into this category.]

“What about the second?”

[Second, the connection with the manager refers to how much Kang Hajin trusts or accepts the person.]

[Ji Suho, who was chosen as the first supporter for quest progression, and Lee Doha, who was acknowledged as a musical ally, fall into this category.]

[By the way, Joo Eunchan meets both conditions. His timeline changed, and Kang Hajin sincerely considered Joo Eunchan a close friend.]

So, Hajin’s thought that an ally recruitment quest triggered when someone wanted to become deeply entangled with him was half right and half wrong.

It wasn’t when someone wanted to get deeply entangled with him, but rather when he himself became deeply entangled with someone else.

Hajin nodded to himself, recalling the moments when the ally recruitment notification had appeared.

“So, what about Lee Yugeon and Jung Siwoo? It’s understandable for Dan Haru, but shouldn’t those two have triggered it during the infinite regression or the barn incident?”

[The ally recruitment system is based entirely on Kang Hajin’s timeline and unconscious mind.]

[If the ally recruitment system hasn’t triggered for those two, it’s because neither of them met the conditions.]

[For example… it could be that Kang Hajin subconsciously refuses to interfere with their timelines, or that their timelines aren’t influenced at all.]

Hajin pondered deeply at those words.

Although it was true that the two incidents mentioned had brought him closer to those two people, it was also true that if he were to point out the members he still felt the most distance from, it would be those two.

It was also his honest feeling that he wasn’t yet ready to delve deeper into the unfortunate family backgrounds of Siwoo or Yugeon.

‘So, in the end, it was all my problem.’

As Hajin let out a small sigh, he suddenly seemed to remember something and asked Thirteen.

“Ah, hey. Then what about that thing? The one that always pops up with a red light, making people uncomfortable. Like ‘Seo Taehyun’s current mood is very bad.’ Why is it always Seo Taehyun? Occasionally, it’s Lee Doha?”

[It’s simple. It pops up because Kang Hajin cares about that ally’s emotions.]

“Me?”

[Because Kang Hajin unconsciously perceives Seo Taehyun as sensitive and delicate, his emotional state gets updated frequently. On the other hand, because you don’t worry as much about Joo Eunchan, no notification pops up for him.]

[Understanding the ally system is easy, right? ☆～（ゝ。∂）]

“…Saying ‘easy’ like it actually is.”

So, the hellish red light notifications I’ve been seeing were all caused by myself.

Knowing the answer made all the situations so far suddenly make sense. Hajin sighed deeply again and sprawled out on the sofa.

“This meddlesome nature of mine, seriously….”

[Is that all for your inquiries?]

[Then I’ll go summarize the past timelines….]

“No, no, stop. Hey, stop! There’s one more thing.”

[The workload as soon as I arrive… -3- (Whatever you need, just say it!)]

Thirteen, who was about to disappear, hastily put on the brakes and reappeared, sparkling.

Seeing Thirteen, who no longer seemed to bother hiding the change in their speech bubbles, Hajin raised his eyebrows in exasperation.

“Hey, I know you can take human form now, right? The moment you appear before me in human form, you’re getting 100 flicks to the forehead.”

[Nope. I stopped taking human form. I reset back to the time management system.]

“Don’t lie. I told that HQ brat to leave your body as it is because I had a use for it.”

[Ugh, I really dislike you, Kang Hajin. This is time manager abuse.]

“Do your job properly before I report you for dereliction of duty. I saved you from getting obliterated, you know.”

[-3-]

“Did you just…?”

Seeing Thirteen’s disgruntled yet comfortable attitude, Hajin got up abruptly in disbelief.

In response, Thirteen quickly changed their stance and brightly flashed a message adorned with all sorts of sparkling effects.

[What is it! What do you want! What are you planning!]

“You think just decorating the system window makes everything look nice….”

[Hurry up and tell me. Staying here too long isn’t good for Kang Hajin either. You haven’t built up an immunity to side effects yet, you know.]

Grumbling but subtly concerned, Thirteen caused Hajin to sit up straight and clasp his hands together again. With a trip planned early the next morning, coughing up blood at dawn and alarming the members was something he wanted to avoid as well.

Hajin quietly looked around the vast, meticulously decorated space of his unconscious mind.

An infinite space.

If not for knowing it was a dream, one could easily mistake it for reality.

“Let’s remodel this place. Make it beautiful.”

Hajin was determined to make good use of this boundless, intangible space.

* * *

“Guys, did you pack everything you need? Nothing left behind?”

It was the dawn of the first day of Kairos’ official vacation.

Ji Suho asked the members as he watched Manager Kwon Wook load their luggage into the car trunk.

Due to various circumstances, they had decided to leave quickly in the early morning, and some of the members were still too sleepy to even open their eyes properly, leaning on each other.

When Yugeon, who had been dozing off with his head resting on Doha’s shoulder, started to stumble and fall, a hand suddenly appeared from behind and caught him just in time.

It was Hajin, who had been helping Kwon Wook load the luggage. After waking Yugeon and sending him to the car, Hajin turned around and replied to Suho.

“We’re not moving overseas or anything. If we forget something, we can buy it there.”

“Oh, really? Now that you’ve received your settlement, you’re saying you’ve got some money?”

“No, Eunseok-hyung gave me a card.”

Hajin pulled out a card from behind his phone and smoothly slid it between his fingers, raising his eyebrows.

“He gave it to me when he came to pick up Eun-chan yesterday. Told me to use it for travel expenses. Thanks to him, we’re going to have a great time.”

“You really… never hesitate with these things.”

“They say you’re not supposed to refuse gifts from adults.”

Even though Suho couldn’t help but smile at Hajin’s cheeky response, he couldn’t completely shake off his unease.

Recently, Hajin seemed much less prickly compared to the time when they first talked in front of the convenience store. But from past experiences, Suho knew that the more stress Hajin was under or the more he needed to be cautious, the more he let his guard down, which only added to Suho’s anxiety.

While Suho was lost in his thoughts, Kwon Wook finished loading the luggage, and after helping the members into the car, he approached Suho and Hajin to report.

“Director, all the luggage is loaded. Eun-chan’s older brother said he’d personally bring him tomorrow. As for Taehyun, I’ll drop the others off and then come back to Seoul to pick him up. I’ll probably return to the company at night after dropping off Taehyun.”

“No, there’s no need for you to return to the company since you’re on vacation too. Just take care of Taehyun and head home with the car. If anything comes up, I’ll contact you.”

“Yes, sir. Thank you.”

Initially, the plan was for the seven members to handle everything themselves, from driving to grocery shopping.

But given the rapidly rising popularity of Kairos, the company decided it wasn’t safe to let them go alone.

Eventually, it was agreed that Manager Kwon Wook would drive the members to the villa and pick them up on the last day of their vacation.

Ji Suho looked at Hajin with a face full of worry.

“Seriously… I’m trusting you guys with this. Please don’t get into any weird accidents.”

“It’s Eun-chan’s private property, complete with a caretaker and security. Even if the sasaengs want to come in, they won’t be able to.”

Hajin, who had been making lighthearted jokes, turned serious as soon as Kwon Wook headed for the driver’s seat, leaving only him and Suho outside the car.

Dressed in a black-and-green tracksuit he had received as a birthday gift, Hajin stuck his hands casually into his pockets and spoke in a heavy tone as he turned to Suho.

“Hyung.”

“…What? Why so serious?”

“You trust me, right?”

The look in Hajin’s eyes as he asked that was not the usual confident one, but rather filled with a bit of tension and fear. Suho, seeing that expression for the first time, grabbed Hajin’s arm.

“What’s going on? You’re making me anxious.”

“Just answer me. Do you trust me or not?”

“…I trust you, man. If I didn’t, would I send you all on this trip at such a crucial time?”

It was only after hearing that response that Hajin smiled slightly and nodded. However, Suho’s unease only grew stronger, and he tightened his grip on Hajin’s arm.

“What’s wrong? Tell me so I can help. You….”

“I don’t know either. I can’t quite figure out what’s going to happen.”

“…….”

“But something is definitely going to happen this time. And it might not be like before, where only I know, and only I feel it.”

“…What?”

“If anything happens, I’ll contact you right away, so no matter what happens, please trust me and just wait it out.”

Hajin gently removed Suho’s hand from his arm and patted Suho’s shoulder with a reluctant smile. Then, with a very cautious expression, he hesitated for a long time before speaking.

“…And be careful while driving.”

“What are you talking about now, seriously?”

“If possible, don’t drive yourself; let someone else do it. Take a taxi or something. Better yet, just stay at the company. Why does someone as important as you keep coming out to the field?”

“Hey, Kang Hajin…!”

“I’m leaving. See you in three days.”

Before Suho could ask anything more, Hajin had already climbed into the car with his long legs.

Even as the car started and the members waved at him through the window, Suho found himself unable to move.

“Why….”

Why are the kids’ lights black?

Seeing a color he had never seen before, Suho clenched his fists with all his might.