Grab the Regressor by the Collar and Debut!

Chapter 311: Until Spring Comes (3)

Our touching reunion was brief, and after a moment of staring at each other, I grinned first.

Taehyun, unsure of the meaning behind my smile, followed suit, grinning along. But then, without warning, I grabbed both of Taehyun’s cheeks with my hands.

“……?”

And then, I pulled them with all my might.

It hurt like hell.

“Ah! Ouch! Are you crazy!?”

“I told you not to go to Gangwon Province! Not Gangwon!”

“Ah! It hurts! I said it hurts!”

When Taehyun tried to escape my ruthless grip, I took off my shoes and climbed onto the bench, wrapping my arms around him and locking him in a headlock. Though it wasn’t painful, the unfamiliar sensation of being in a headlock for the first time in his life made Taehyun scream in fear.

“Hyung, are you out of your mind!? I didn’t come here because I wanted to!”

“Even if Hyung Wook put in the address, you should’ve turned the wheel!”

“What does it matter if I want to go home!? Ahh! Let go, seriously?”

“If you were going to come, you should’ve at least relaxed. Do you know how much that red notification stressed me out because of you!?”

“What, what red notification? What are you talking about!? Kang Hajin! Let me go, now!”

Taehyun had no way of knowing that I had suffered the entire time because of the system notifications displaying his status. But I wasn’t about to let him go, determined to exact some delayed revenge.

Thanks to that, Taehyun, who had been shoveling until a moment ago, forgot all about it and struggled to free himself from me. Soon, I felt someone approaching and smoothly separating me from Taehyun by expertly restraining me.

“Why are you causing trouble all the way out here…?”

“Taehyun, get up.”

When Taehyun raised his head, he saw Yugeon skillfully restraining me while Doha was helping him up. Before he could even fully process the shock of his members suddenly arriving at his family’s home, he noticed Haru bouncing excitedly toward them from the distance. Sunglasses on, Siwoo was scanning the area around the pension, while Kwon Wook, having parked the car, was putting the keys back into his bag.

“Wait, why are you all here… Did you all come together?”

Still dazed, Taehyun asked, and Haru, who had sprinted to the bench, beamed with a bright smile.

“We came to get you, Hyung!”

“…”

“Eunchan hyung is here too!”

“What?”

Taehyun was shocked to hear that Eunchan, who had been injured in an accident, was with them. Haru smiled broadly and held out his phone in front of Taehyun. It seemed he had initiated a video call, and through the screen, Eunchan, wearing a patient gown, waved at Taehyun.

“Taehyun hyung!”

“Eunchan! Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, Hyung! I wanted to go to Gangwon-do too, but the doctor said it was absolutely out of the question…”

“Of course! You can’t be going anywhere after an accident! Who would even allow that!?”

“The hyungs even came up with a plan to sneak me out of the hospital, but we got caught by Kwon Wook hyung, so I couldn’t come along in the end.”

“W-What… Sneak you out…?”

Taehyun didn’t need to ask to know who the ‘hyungs’ Eunchan referred to were. As he glared with dagger-like eyes at Kairos’s proud hyung line, they averted their eyes and looked away in embarrassment.

Yugeon, standing beside them, added a comment.

“I told you. There’s no one sane here except you.”

At Yugeon’s brazen and confident statement, Taehyun couldn’t help but burst into laughter.

However, since laughter was technically a form of a smile, once he started laughing, he couldn’t stop himself. The refreshing smile that followed made him forget what he had been thinking or worrying about just moments before.

“Taehyun hyung, hurry back to Seoul.”

“…”

“Let’s prepare for our comeback quickly. I’ll work hard to get better.”

“…”

“We need to be number one again, Hyung.”

Taehyun was silent for a moment after hearing Eunchan’s cheerful words. Then, he quietly looked at Eunchan through the phone screen, and at the members and Manager Hyung surrounding him. Kwon Wook, the last to join them, smiled awkwardly as he spoke.

“I was going to come alone, but these guys insisted on coming along.”

“…”

“Come on, Taehyun. You’ve got a lot of catching up to do.”

As if to prove his point, Kwon Wook rushed off to take another call after leaving that one comment.

Taehyun remained silent for a moment. The other members couldn’t guess what thoughts were running through Taehyun’s mind, but they patiently waited for him to process his emotions.

It was also a small gesture of comfort for Taehyun, who, unlike the other members who had been together during tough times, had endured those moments alone here.

“Seo Taehyun.”

After a short time, I finally managed to free myself from Yugeon’s grasp and called out to Taehyun with a smile. The system notifications showing Taehyun’s emotional state continued to update in front of me.

“Do you remember what I said when I first came to pick you up?”

The moment I asked, Taehyun nodded without hesitation. He hadn’t forgotten a single word of that conversation.

As if expecting that, I leaned back and raised my eyebrows.

“I meant every word.”

Taehyun looked at me. As the familiar landscape and familiar face overlapped, an equally familiar memory, not missing a single detail, came to his mind.

“I voted for you.”

“You’re really good, you know. I envied you a lot, watching you.”

Taehyun finally felt a bit of clarity in his mind. I continued to speak with a smile, my tone firm and serious, without any hint of playfulness.

“I believe in you.”

“…”

“Nothing you’ve achieved so far was anything but your own skill.”

I was someone’s star.

I was shining, after all.

The moments when I couldn’t even believe in myself floated back up into the night sky like stars. Taehyun felt the gray fog that had been clouding his heart gradually lift and laughed again.

“No, but seriously.”

“…”

“I didn’t come here because I wanted to, okay? Why do you keep treating me like a runaway?”

At Taehyun’s incredulous remark, relieved smiles spread across the faces of the other members.

Despite the wind blowing so fiercely, Taehyun realized that he didn’t feel cold at all. It was because of the members standing around him, naturally blocking the wind.

Taehyun finally came to a realization.

Unlike before, when he had to endure everything alone, he was no longer alone.

And that… was a much bigger comfort than he had expected.

“Guys, if you’re done talking, let’s head back up. If we delay any longer, driving at night will be too dangerous.”

Kwon Wook, having finished his call, approached the group and said. Haru pouted, expressing his reluctance to leave, saying it was a shame to leave such a nice place so soon. However, Taehyun’s pension was located in a fairly remote area even within Gangwon-do, so it would be difficult to leave once it got darker.

Yugeon, who had awkwardly avoided eye contact with Taehyun since arriving at the pension, lightly tapped Taehyun’s leg with his knee.

“…? What? Why are you picking a fight?”

“Aren’t you going to pack? I’ll help. Let’s go in.”

“Oh….”

But Taehyun’s reaction was a bit strange. Even though he needed to pack his things to leave soon, he hesitated, looking troubled. Siwoo, noticing this, took off his sunglasses and asked.

“Taehyun, what’s wrong?”

“Um… Well….”

Taehyun hesitated, opening and closing his mouth a few times as if unsure what to do. As the others focused on him, wondering what was going on, Taehyun shook his head with a troubled voice.

“I can’t leave right now.”

“Why?”

Then, from somewhere, a phone rang.

It was the business phone of the pension, which Taehyun had been holding onto tightly all this time.

As the cold wind from Gangwon-do blew through the heartwarming atmosphere among the Kairos members, Taehyun chuckled and held up the phone.

“The pension is fully booked today. I have to stay and watch the place.”

Whoosh—bang!

With a loud sound, fireworks launched from somewhere behind them lit up the night sky in beautiful patterns.

‘…The beautiful night in Gangwon-do is crazy busy even in March.’

As expected, we’re never going to have a touching moment. We’ve totally missed our chance, and now I’ve given up. Laughing, I held my temples with both hands, feeling a headache coming on.

It was the historic moment when our first schedule after resuming Kairos’s activities turned out to be working part-time at a pension in Gangwon-do.

* * *

“Excuse me, boss, could we get some more charcoal… Oh?”

P, who had recently returned to college after finishing his military service, was on a one-night, two-day trip with his classmates to celebrate the start of the semester.

He had entered the pension’s management office to get some charcoal for a barbecue when he stopped in his tracks at the

sight of a young boy sitting at the counter. It wasn’t the same person he had seen during the day.

“Oh, you’re here for charcoal? Just write down your room number and name in the log and you can take it from over there.”

“Ah, okay….”

The boy, who had been doing something at the counter, noticed him first and responded with a kind smile. P hesitated for a moment, but then grabbed a bag of charcoal from where the boy had pointed and wrote down his room number and name in the log.

‘So, he’s just a part-timer.’

P wondered why such a young part-timer was working at an old pension like this. Could he be the owner’s son?

Without giving it much thought, P handed back the pen to the boy, who accepted it with a smile under his white cap, his purple hair peeking out.

“If you have trouble lighting the fire, feel free to call us at the front desk. We’ll set it up for you. Also, we’ll take care of the cleanup, so just make sure to gather the trash. The instructions are right here.”

“Ah, thank you.”

Wow, he’s really handsome.

His face was pale, and even though his cap covered most of his face, his large eyes were clearly visible even from a distance. P thought he might have seen this face somewhere before, but he was certain he didn’t know anyone this handsome.

Just as P turned to leave the office with his charcoal, he bumped into someone entering.

“Oh, sorry.”

“Oh….”

Wow, he’s really tall.

The person P bumped into immediately set down the box he was carrying with both arms and checked to see if P was okay. Though it wasn’t a hard collision, P was more shocked by the man’s height, looking down at him from above.

“I couldn’t see where I was going…. Are you okay?”

“Ah, yes, yes. I’m fine. I’m okay.”

The man, wearing black-rimmed glasses and a black mask, looked fierce and intense, a stark contrast to the boy earlier. Was he also a part-timer? As P wondered, the boy from earlier scolded the man with a sharp tone.

“Hyung, didn’t I tell you to carry just one box at a time? Why did you have to get competitive… What if you had hurt our customer?”

“No, I’m fine. Really, I’m okay.”

“Do you know why we’re working part-time unloading boxes at this hour? If the customer had gotten hurt…. Are you sure you’re okay? If you’re injured, we can…?”

“No, no, I’m really fine.”

P had only come to get a bag of charcoal, but now he found himself stuck between the boy with the white cap and the man with the black-rimmed glasses. He started sweating, unsure of when to leave. But before he could make up his mind, another person burst into the small office.

“Taehyun hyung! Where should I put these?”

“Oof….”

“Over there on the right. Do you see the pile of charcoal?”

“Got it!”

A blonde boy entered the office, effortlessly carrying at least five large bags of charcoal on each shoulder.

‘Those look heavy as hell….’

But the boy, seemingly unbothered, walked past P with a cheerful demeanor. As he passed, he even greeted P casually, “Oh, hello there!”

‘This isn’t even a big pension, so why are there so many part-timers…?’

And they’re all ridiculously handsome.

P started to wonder if, during his time in the military, aliens had invaded Earth and somehow caused the average appearance of South Korean men to skyrocket.

“Huh? Where are the other hyungs?”

“They’re helping out at the restaurant next door since they were short on staff. Doha hyung and Lee Yugeon went. Kwon Wook hyung is resting in the staff quarters since he has to drive.”

“Oh, I bet Yugeon hyung is great at working in a restaurant.”

“Apparently, he’s currently carving a peacock out of fruit as a garnish.”

“…A peacock?”

“Yeah. The hiking club members there throw around a lot of money when they’re in a good mood.”

“Oh wow. Yugeon’s going to come back with a lot of money. Let’s buy some roasted potatoes at the rest stop with it.”

P didn’t know what exactly was going on next door, but it sounded incredibly interesting. He found himself eavesdropping on the part-timers’ conversation, momentarily forgetting his purpose for being there. But then he snapped back to reality, realizing he needed to get back to his group and start the fire for their barbecue.

“Taehyun, why isn’t there any hot water?”

Just as P was finally about to leave the office, his path was blocked again by someone entering. The man, freshly showered, was dressed casually in a white T-shirt and gray sweatpants, with a white towel over his head. He removed the towel with one hand and looked up.

“Oh, Siwoo hyung. You need to adjust the settings in the room, but I must have forgotten. Did you already finish showering?”

“Yeah. Cold water felt really refreshing after so long.”

…Are you even human?

The moment P saw the man’s indescribably handsome face, he gave up thinking altogether.

‘What the hell is this place? This is terrifying. Why is everyone here so good-looking?’

What kind of place is this…?

P, clutching his bag of charcoal tightly, felt his pupils begin to tremble uncontrollably.