Grab the Regressor by the Collar and Debut!

Chapter 270. The Snowball of Luck (3)

Kairos’ first encore stage for their number one ranking was a complete disaster.

Four members couldn’t sing because they were crying, two were too dazed to sing, and one was too excited to sing.

As a result, half of the first encore for was sung by Destis instead.

“Great job, everyone!”

“Hey guys, you did well~”

The situation in the waiting room, after much struggle to get off the stage, wasn’t much different.

Most of the staff had watched the members since their trainee days or during the Miro Maze era, so many were as thrilled and moved as if they had achieved the number one ranking themselves.

“Blow out the candles, blow the candles!”

“Congratulations on your number one!”

“Let’s make Kairos a huge success!!”

As soon as they heard the news that they were in the running for first place, Manager Kwon Wook had quickly fetched a cake from a nearby café, and a single candle was placed on top of it.

Still with eyes brimming with tears, Hajin gathered the members, who were lost in the joy of their number one ranking. The members, today’s stars, gathered in a circle around the white whipped cream cake.

After clearing his throat softly, Hajin, representing the group, began to speak.

“Um… There were really a lot of ups and downs today, and I’m sure everyone was in a rush… I’m just so glad that we’re being rewarded like this….”

Still overwhelmed with emotions, Hajin trailed off, took a short breath, and then, with a refreshing smile on his face, shouted loudly.

“Kairos will continue to run hard! Thank you for being with us!”

A round of applause erupted at his bold statement. The members, who had been watching each other, blew out the candle in unison.

Once the atmosphere had settled to some extent, Haru, who had been watching the older members cautiously, opened his mouth with a determined expression.

“Hyungs. I have a wish!”

“What is it?”

“Say it, say it.”

“With the mood right now, anything’s possible except money and a guarantee.”

As always, but especially today, the older members were unusually generous, and Haru, rolling his eyes as if he had made up his mind, pulled out a wet wipe and wiped his hands clean.

Then, he reached out and scooped up a big dollop of whipped cream from the cake.

“…What, what are you doing?”

“Let me just smear this on your faces once, hyungs.”

“……That’s your wish?”

“It looked so warm and friendly in the movies!”

Then, Siwoo, who hadn’t said a word since the encore stage ended, staggered forward to the cake.

Looking back and forth between Haru and the cake with teary, delicate eyes, like a dew-kissed orchid in the morning, Siwoo smiled faintly and gently took Haru’s hand to rub the whipped cream on his own face.

“…!?”

“It’s not a guarantee, and it’s the youngest’s wish, so this much is nothing.”

At that radiant smile, Hajin was startled and said,

“Hyung, if you keep doing this, the genre will change, and that’ll be a problem.”

“Genre?”

“There’s something like that, anyway.”

Muttering to himself, Hajin naturally gave a signal to Doha and linked arms with Seo Taehyun, who was standing right next to him.

“Doha, hold him.”

“Okay.”

“What, what? Why are you doing this? Why are you holding me?”

The pupils of Taehyun, who was firmly held by Kairos’ Door One and Two, trembled violently.

Hajin, who delivered Taehyun in front of Haru with a nod of his chin, calmly said while pointing at Taehyun,

“Haru. I’ll offer you Seo Taehyun as a sacrifice, so please spare me.”

“What!? Hey! This hyung really…!”

“Oh! Hyungs, the cake…!”

In an effort to save the cake from the struggling Taehyun, Eunchan hurriedly tried to move the cake box but bumped into Yugeon behind him. As a result, half of the cake was smashed against the cheek of Kairos’ Door Number Three, who had been bending down to take out his phone.

“Gasp….”

“…Ha.”

The sigh of Yugeon, whose half-face had turned into a whipped cream cake, brought a sudden stillness to the rowdy waiting room.

Eunchan, who had caused this major incident, albeit unintentionally, pursed his lips tightly and carefully set the cake down.

Yugeon, who had tossed his phone back onto the sofa, slowly wiped the cake off his face with his fingers and, with his three hundred eyes glaring fiercely, said,

“…Joo Eunchan, get over here.”

“…Hyung. I swear it wasn’t on purpose….”

“You’re dead.”

And in an instant, the waiting room turned into a battlefield.

As they watched the chase unfold, members fleeing and getting caught, Ji Suho, who was standing in the corner with his arms crossed, shook his head.

“When will our kids ever stay warm and cozy for more than five minutes….”

Hearing Suho’s somber voice, Manager Kwon Wook laughed while blowing his nose into a tissue.

“I hope they never grow up.”

Even if the moment comes when winning the first-place trophy with their names on it becomes a matter of course,

Or even when it becomes natural not to expect a first-place trophy anymore.

He hoped they’d always laugh happily together like this.

Agreeing with Kwon Wook’s heartfelt words, Suho shrugged.

* * *

“Ah, these brats…”

Taehyun, who had valiantly fallen in the whipped cream battlefield, sighed as he headed to the station restroom.

Being the weakest physically among the members, Taehyun was covered in whipped cream, his face as well as his bangs now slick and greasy.

“They were so excited, I couldn’t even say anything, really.”

Even as he wiped his face with the wet wipes the stylist noona had given him, Taehyun’s mood wasn’t that bad.

It was a shame about the cake, but they had salvaged the untouched part and eaten it all together.

The sticky whipped cream was a bit annoying, but his skin wasn’t sensitive, so he could just do a bit more thorough skincare before bed tonight.

In fact, Taehyun might have been more generous today because he felt like he could forgive anything except his parents’ enemies.

“…Oh.”

“….”

As if to test Taehyun’s generosity, a familiar face greeted him in the messy restroom. Cha Minseok was at the sink, wiping off his eye makeup.

Having run into what seemed like his own enemy instead of his parents’, Taehyun made eye contact with Minseok in the mirror.

“……….”

It was Taehyun who first broke eye contact.

It was only natural. There was no reason to keep staring.

Taehyun moved to a sink a bit further from Minseok and used a foam cleanser to gently wash off the whipped cream. He liked how the sticky feeling on his face was gradually being washed away with the warm water.

He carefully washed his bangs and, after drying himself off with a towel he’d brought with him, turned to head back to the waiting room.

“…Hey.”

At the call, Taehyun turned around. Minseok, still dripping with water and holding onto the sink, made eye contact with Taehyun through the mirror again.

One of Minseok’s eyes twitched, as if something was bothering him. Taehyun knew that this was the expression Minseok made when he had a lot on his mind. Though there was a three-year gap between them, Minseok didn’t seem to have changed much from three years ago.

“Must be nice, huh? Winning first place and doing so well.”

Minseok’s tone sounded as if he were saying, ‘Now that things are going well for you, you don’t owe me anything anymore, right?’ It seemed like he was waiting for Taehyun to get angry and rush at him.

Taehyun blinked slowly and finished wiping the water off his hands with the towel. Then he calmly approached Minseok and set the towel down beside him.

Minseok looked at Taehyun as if asking what this was about, and Taehyun gave his reply calmly.

“Yes. It is nice.”

“….”

“Thank you for the congratulations. Use the towel and handle it as you please. You can keep it or throw it away.”

Taehyun, smiling faintly as if addressing a stranger, bowed his head briefly before leaving the restroom without hesitation. Minseok, left behind, couldn’t say anything as he watched Taehyun go.

Minseok’s gaze fell on the navy towel beside him.

The towel, soggy and limp with water, felt like it was him, and the thought made Minseok unbearably uncomfortable. Grinding his teeth, he shoved the towel into the trash.

“…….”

Despite it being his debut day, Minseok wasn’t happy.

Not knowing what was causing this displeasure, Minseok had no choice but to stand there, lost in thought, until his manager came to find him.

* * *

I made up my mind.

‘I have to get first place again.’

If I had never known, it would be one thing, but now that I’ve had a taste, I can’t let it go.

Am I supposed to think of it as a good experience and cherish this moment?

At least in this timeline, cheesy youth manga lessons like that don’t apply.

Anyway, what I’m saying is, I’m going

to get first place next week, no matter what.

‘Judging by the momentum, it’s clear that we have a good chance this week…’

Now that the fans have seen us hit number one, they’ll likely put more effort into other votes as well.

The problem is the situation next week. With Lanion’s results starting to be officially counted, it seems highly likely we’ll be up against them.

“Being a first-place candidate right after debuting, they really have no shame….”

“Huh? Hyung, what did you say?”

“…Nothing. I’m just really happy we got first place.”

“Oh. Me too.”

After patting Joo Eunchan on the head, who nodded proudly, I turned on my phone and habitually logged into SNS. These days, checking if anything had popped up had become a habit whenever I had a free moment.

UPIA OneStagram Backup Account @UPIA_ONESTA

2X1118 Seo Taeil OneSta Story

[SeoTail] He’s crying againㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

Congrats on your 1st place, kids~

(A photo of Hajin giving his acceptance speech while crying on TV)

“Ah, this hyung is really something…”

Isn’t this guy busy?

Why does he always monitor everything we do?

Just because he’s a producer?

‘…Well, being a producer is everything….’

Scrolling down, the next post was even more ridiculous.

Real Deal @heatherland

Eeeeee~

Kang Hajin messed up~~~

He made a mistake~~~

It’s all exposed~~~~

(A capture of Hajin’s mistake during the choreography)

(A capture of Hajin with a reality check at the ending)

‘I should turn off my phone today.’

Have you ever witnessed the miracle of an insidious habit, like checking your phone every ten minutes, being cured in just one minute?

That was me now.

Without hesitation, I turned off my phone and looked out the window, seeing the car just entering the company’s underground parking lot.

Even though today was a joyful day, having finished the college entrance exam and getting first place, practice wasn’t canceled, so as soon as we got out of the car, we were fated to change into our practice clothes and train all night. The year-end stage was really just around the corner, so there was no choice.

“Guys, get out, wash up, change, and warm up. Teacher Do is on his way over right now.”

“Okay~”

The members, so exhausted they were beyond weary, poured out of the car like zombies.

Sitting in the front, I was the first to get out, and as I watched the half-asleep members stagger towards the company, I swiftly grabbed Seo Taehyun and Lee Yugeon by the nape of their necks like a cat snatching fish.

“Gah…!”

“Ah, why are you doing this again…?”

“My dear seniors in their final year of high school. You’re on hold for a moment.”

Your hyung is serious right now.

To solidify our steadily rising music chart rankings and cement our image as the trend, there’s nothing I won’t do.

“Let’s just do one thing with hyung before we go in.”

“What now…?”

“Hyung, you’ve already used up all your crazy stunts for today. Do it next time.”

“Then I’ll combine today’s with tomorrow’s.”

“You’ve already used up a month’s worth.”

“Ah, then I’ll borrow next year’s.”

Shaking the back of Lee Yugeon’s neck as he grumbled, they both gave up and looked at me with eyes asking what I was up to.

“It’s easy, easy. Since you’re still in your uniforms, let’s just film one challenge before we go.”

“A challenge? What challenge?”

“Our own. ‘This Is Not a Carol’.”

“There’s no separate challenge for that?”

“No, there is. I just made it.”

“…Huh?”

No matter how I thought about it, the most effective, cost-free, and quick-viral marketing strategy that also captured public appeal was a shorts challenge.

I’d already used this method a few times, but it was the most cost-effective, so I couldn’t help it. And to maximize that cost-effectiveness, I absolutely needed the ‘youth’ of these two high school seniors.

Besides, I had some faith this time.

[System Alert: Sudden Quest!]

Content: ☆Kairos Debut Special☆

Back with a bonus time☺

Successfully complete your music show schedule and

increase your awareness!

Deadline: During the music show promotion period

[Success Reward: Would you like to claim ★Snowball of Luck!★?]

“Tonight, let’s bring this youth drama to its finale.”

Ah, what a perfect night for filming a youth drama.

The dark night sky had never looked so beautiful.