Grab the Regressor by the Collar and Debut!

Chapter 301. The Unexpected

No, this is so unfair.

‘I didn’t even punch Dan Haru! I didn’t hit him!’

As the feeling of injustice surged within me, I realized that, no matter how I looked at it, the situation was indeed my fault. So, I kept my mouth shut, dumbly clutching my sore cheek, while Yugeon, still half-asleep, wrinkled his face and asked me,

“Hyung, are you okay?”

“…Did you seriously just ask me that after seeing him punch me full force in the face?”

“Well, you’re talking just fine, so you’re okay…. Oh, damn! Phew, thank God.”

I wasn’t okay, but Yugeon nodded vigorously, deciding on his own that I was fine, and then slumped back down, holding his head. Judging by both Doha’s and Yugeon’s reactions, something serious must have happened while I was unconscious.

With my heart pounding nervously, I timidly asked Doha, who was still glaring at me.

“So, what happened? What exactly happened, huh?”

“You died.”

“What? You have to tell me, so I can apologize or… What? What did you say?”

Doha, with a face so cold it was practically frozen, looked down at me and spoke decisively. Yugeon, who had been clutching his head in distress, nodded in agreement. Then, there was a loud thud from the direction of the stairs.

“……?”

“Who… Who died…?”

It seemed Dan Haru had followed us and overheard the conversation. He had collapsed on the stairs, sitting there, staring blankly at us.

Yugeon immediately got up and headed towards Dan Haru, but Doha, standing tall like a statue in front of me, continued speaking in a frighteningly emotionless voice.

“Your heart stopped.”

That’s when I finally remembered that one of the side effects of the unconscious space was temporary cardiac arrest.

Clearly, it was too big an issue to deal with just dizziness, so they must have opted for something short and intense.

‘Wait a minute. I went into the unconscious space in the evening, and now it’s at least 10 a.m., so if I was out for a whole day….’

I released my grip on my cheek and clasped my hands together respectfully. I also adjusted my pathetic posture, fixing myself into a kneeling position. Bowing my head deeply, I apologized to Doha in a small, humble voice.

“I… I’m sorry.”

I committed a grave sin… No, no. That’s not it….

Please kill me… No, that’s not right either.

‘Kim Thirteen, you’re dead meat…!’

He said he’d take care of it, and now this…

With no Chosen Regressor left to undo this disaster, I could only hang my head in shame.

* * *

Once we all calmed down, the stories Yugeon told me were even more dramatic than I had expected.

It was currently the morning of the third day of our vacation. I was already surprised that I’d been unconscious for an entire extra day, but I couldn’t believe my vacation had flown by like this.

“After you and Haru collapsed on the first evening, Doha hyung and I started having strange memories surface. Honestly, we were in such a daze on the first day that we could barely think straight….”

Even now, Yugeon kept holding his head as if it was still hard to believe, groaning softly between his words. Seeing this, Dan Haru, who was sitting beside him, visibly flinched, but Doha, who had regained his composure, spoke first.

“…That evening, after laying you, Siwoo hyung, and Haru down, Yugeon and I had our awakenings. Then, Wook hyung called. He told us not to go anywhere, to turn off all our phones, and to stay in the villa until he came to get us after his vacation ended.”

“What was going on?”

“We didn’t have the luxury to ask. You told us to keep anyone from entering the villa until you all woke up. So we agreed, turned off our phones, and Wook hyung said he’d contact us through the villa’s landline.”

And then…

Doha paused, as if recalling the events of the previous day, then ran a hand over his face, rubbing the back of his neck. He looked stressed out, his face clearly showing the strain as he continued.

“After that, we did the things you asked. We contacted the director and informed him of the situation, and we reached out to Eunchan hyung’s family so he could stay with them until his vacation ended….”

“…….”

“Oh, I also called Wonho, and he seemed fine. It didn’t seem like he was affected the way we were. Eunchan said nothing unusual had happened to him either.”

Fortunately, Ju Eunchan and Kim Wonho hadn’t experienced any awakenings.

Whether that was a good or bad thing remained to be seen, but based on my experience as a seasoned regressor, it seemed more like a relief.

The quest completion window earlier had mentioned that Dolja’s influence over the timeline had significantly diminished, so this might have been an indirect result of that reduction in his power to attack us.

Though I was slightly concerned that Doha hadn’t mentioned Seo Taehyun yet, I decided to listen to Doha’s account patiently. There had been so many events in the past three days, so I figured he’d explain everything thoroughly.

…It definitely wasn’t because I was too scared to interrupt Doha while he was talking. Definitely not.

“So, we thought we just needed to wait for you and Haru to wake up…. But then last night, you suddenly spiked a fever, started having nosebleeds, and then bruises began appearing all over your body.”

Oh my god. Did that happen to me?

Fainting, spiking a fever, and suddenly having nosebleeds and bruises? Even someone like me who’s immune to such horror movie scenarios found that terrifying.

Startled, I checked my arms and legs, but my body was completely clear, with no sign of any bruises. Seeing this, Yugeon, who had been listening to Doha’s explanation, suddenly spoke up, still visibly shaken.

“Do you have any idea how scared we were? Your body was burning up, but when we took your temperature, it was normal. We couldn’t even call 119 because you told us not to. Then, out of nowhere, bruises started showing up all over your body, and you were coughing up blood…!”

“…I was coughing up blood? I did?”

“We really thought you were going to die! Forget awakening, I was ready to take you to the emergency room and check myself into a mental hospital!”

“…I, I’m sorry. I didn’t know that would happen….”

“Then, suddenly, you were fine again. The bruises disappeared, your complexion returned to normal—you were even glowing with health after just coughing up blood! We were barely coping, and then you suddenly stopped breathing in the middle of the night…!”

So I suddenly had bruises, coughed up blood, and then the bruises vanished, and I looked healthy again?

Thinking over those symptoms, I recalled one of the side effects that the main office had mentioned when they gave me a list to choose from.

<1. Hemoptysis (Clears blocked blood vessels, aiding in energy recovery)>

That’s what it was, damn it…!

And the cardiac arrest that followed must have been the ‘temporary cardiac arrest with no impact on life or health’ they’d mentioned.

‘I swear, I’m going to get back at the main office and Kim Thirteen….’

I’d put Jung Siwoo to sleep to avoid triggering his trauma, only to end up giving the others the same trauma he had.

Determined to make sure Kim Thirteen either erased these memories or applied some mental care to Yugeon and Doha later, I nodded as Yugeon, his hands still cold from the shock, continued.

“It’s good that you came back to us, but do you have any idea how terrified we were?”

“…….”

“You said to trust you, but damn, you’re just a con artist….”

Yugeon’s voice, which had been angry and accusatory, now trembled as he wiped away tears. It must have been terrifying to have to suddenly deal with such an unreal situation, watching someone cough up blood and go into cardiac arrest right in front of you, without being able to call for help.

‘Even I think I’d have gone crazy in that situation, so there’s really nothing I can say to them.’

In the suddenly silent living room, the only sound was Yugeon’s shaky breathing. Doha seemed to have been helped somewhat by the mental care program, but Yugeon didn’t have that, so the fact that he was still holding up was impressive.

Feeling a bit awkward, I sat beside Yugeon, gently patting his shoulder and awkwardly hugged him.

“Hey, I’m really sorry, okay? I didn’t expect things to escalate like this. You were really worried, huh? I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Okay? I’m really sorry, Yugeon.”

“Don’t ever make me do something like this again…. I’d rather everyone pass out together. Damn it….”

“This won’t happen again. It really couldn’t be helped. I can’t explain everything, but everything’s fine now. We just need to sort out the aftermath. That’s all. Okay? I’m sorry, man.”

As I anxiously comforted Yugeon, I noticed Dan Haru sitting opposite us, head lowered and fidgeting with his hands. He probably felt like this

was all his fault.

I didn’t have the energy to console our sulking ‘Sparkling’ as well, so I focused on calming Yugeon first. Doha, seeing Dan Haru’s dejection, silently reached out his hand.

“……?”

“…Haru, you.”

Doha’s large hand covered Dan Haru’s trembling one entirely. Startled, Dan Haru looked up like a frightened rabbit, and Doha asked him in his usual calm voice,

“Haru, are you okay?”

“M-Me…?”

“Yeah. …Hajin explained it to me. Briefly, but he did.”

“…….”

“Are you okay now?”

Dan Haru bit his lip, as if determined not to cry, and nodded vigorously, eyes wide open. Then, Doha’s gaze naturally shifted to me.

“…….”

“…….”

It felt like he was asking, ‘What about you?’ Without stopping my hand from patting Yugeon’s back, I gave a small nod. Seeing this, Doha let out a long, slow breath.

“…Alright. That’s enough for now.”

Yugeon, who had been awkwardly leaning on me, finally seemed to calm down a bit and stood up, wiping his face with his sleeve. Even then, I noticed how quickly his eyes darted to check on Dan Haru, showing his concern for his younger brother.

It had been a tough day, but I felt relieved that I had made the right decision to leave these two together.

“And….”

After the tension had somewhat dissipated, Doha spoke again.

“Now, let’s talk about Taehyun.”

Doha hesitated, seemingly unsure how to break the news, then silently stood and walked into one of the rooms on the first floor. When he returned, he was carrying the laptop he had brought for work.

“It’s better if you see it for yourself.”

At Doha’s words, Yugeon let out an annoyed sigh beside me. His reaction suggested that something serious had happened to Seo Taehyun.

Feeling slightly anxious, I waited as Doha searched for something on the laptop, then turned the screen towards Haru and me.

“This is….”

“It’s an article about Taehyun that came out this morning.”

The first thing I noticed was the headline and the large photo of Seo Taehyun plastered across the screen.

It was a picture from a recent photoshoot he did with a cosmetics brand for a special collaboration commemorating White Day on March 14th. The whole thing was so pink and over-the-top that it hurt my eyes.

“Yesterday, a post accusing people of manipulating votes during *Boy’s World* Season 1 went up. Of course, Taehyun got caught up in it.”

This was something I had expected.

I had been worried about it since the announcement of *Boy’s World* Season 2.

I actually felt relieved and sighed in relief.

“That’s manageable. Taehyun might be a bit shocked, but he didn’t debut because of that, and he was actually one of the victims, so as long as we handle the media well….”

“No.”

“……?”

Doha cut me off firmly. Confused, I scrolled up to read the article in detail.

Then, the unbelievable headline came into view.

“‘Calculated Success’… Was Kairos’ Seo Taehyun the Beneficiary of the *Boy’s World* Manipulation Scandal?”

“Taehyun’s one of the perpetrators.”