Chapter 117 The Reason for Actions (4)
〈02. Why Did the Regressor Attack the Mental Care System?〉
The second headline appeared.
[System Alarm: To explain this, there is something you need to understand first.]
Thirteen played a serious BGM.
‘Right now?’
That thought crossed my mind, but since he seemed excited, I let it slide.
Then, the text “<Reason for This Regression?>” appeared on the PPT, along with the profiles of Yu-geon and the Blue Flare team members.
[System Alarm: This regression happened because of the Blue Flare team.]
[System Alarm: No, to be precise… The Chosen Regressor caused it ‘for’ the Blue Flare team.]
What…?
“Are you telling me that lunatic did that crazy stuff for my sake? What kind of garbage excuse is that?”
Oops.
A moment of unfiltered, 100% genuine thoughts slipped out.
I quickly raised my hand to express my regret to Thirteen, but my mouth, still unfiltered, continued to spew all the pent-up frustration at 1000% capacity.
“What the hell is wrong with that bastard? I don’t even remember how many times I’ve regressed now, the timeline is all mixed up. But, while I was lying there with my shin shattered, what the hell was that regressor doing? What was he doing? At first, I even tried to keep an eye out for anyone who might be the regressor, but no matter how hard I looked, I couldn’t figure it out! I couldn’t! After so many repeats, I don’t even remember who did what anymore!”
As I finally lost it, Thirteen automatically turned on the air conditioner (Can he even do that?), brought me a glass of cold water (Can he do that too?), and finally, he turned off the PPT and played some ASMR and nature meditation music to help me calm down.
At this point, it felt like whatever Kang Hajin imagined became reality… though it wasn’t reality or my imagination.
[System Alarm: First, drink this and calm down.]
[System Alarm: (Though I’m still worried about the harsher things that haven’t been said yet…)]
[System Alarm: ;;;;]
“This isn’t even the end!?”
[System Alarm: Ah, oops!]
[System Alarm: ∑(; •`·´) /”]
[System Alarm: (Momentarily forgot that thinking internally still gets detected and panics…)]
“Seriously, what the hell is going on?”
What was he even doing by himself?
I was so dumbfounded that I couldn’t even laugh.
“Okay, fine. I’m ready. I can handle whatever you throw at me now. Just hit me with it.”
At this point, it was all or nothing. I was prepared not to be shocked even if the regressor turned out to be my mom.
[System Alarm: …… ]
[System Alarm: Uh, okay. Then I’ll tell you.][System Alarm: “%〉m6)>”]
“Just say it. Spill it. I’m ready.”
After a moment of hesitation, Thirteen seemed to make up his mind. The blue screen fluttered, and as if typing at 999 words per minute, the text appeared rapidly.
[System Alarm: The Chosen Regressor is not aware that they are repeating the regressions…!]
As soon as I saw those words, I screamed in shock.
“What the hell!!?”
[System Alarm: Aaaah! Please, listen!! Please listen to me!!!]
As if anticipating my reaction, Thirteen started typing at 9999 words per minute, flooding the screen.
[System Alarm: That lunatic, the regressor, seems to have somehow completely separated the ‘Chosen Regressor’ personality from the ‘Base Personality’!!!]
[System Alarm: Although it’s the ‘Chosen Regressor’ who’s been repeating the regressions!!! The ‘person’ living in this timeline has no idea that the regressions are even happening!!!]
[System Alarm: That’s why none of the people around you seemed suspicious, and why we’ve had so much trouble finding the ‘Chosen Regressor’!!!!]
“What the hell…?”
So, that crazy bastard doesn’t even know they’ve been regressing!!!??
*
*
*
Unlike before, this time it was Thirteen who had to go to great lengths to calm me down.
[System Alarm: Um, should I sing you a song?]
[System Alarm: Or maybe something sweet? You like chocolate, right? How about some chocolate cake? Though, unfortunately, you’ll have to imagine the taste…!]
[System Alarm: Or… uh… Ah! How about reading the comments on ‘To You’!?]
[System Alarm: The response this time was phenomenal!]
Then, as if he’d done some extensive searching, he pulled up reactions to episode 4, 〈To You〉 stage.
– Why am I crying while watching a survival stage? Listening to ‘To You’ made me tear up.
– Seriously, who would have thought a combo of ‘To You’ and city pop would work, but it’s amazing.
ㄴ? What’s ‘To You’?
ㄴ It’s short for ‘To You.’
ㄴ Ha, why is K-pop so complicated for us?
– Is there no audio release for this?ㅠㅠㅠ It’d be perfect for my evening commute songㅠㅠㅠㅠ
ㄴ The original singer was so moved that they cried. Let’s remake it #Let’sGo
[OMG, is ‘To You’ really trending again?]
(Photo of ‘To You’ entering the charts on a music site)
How is this even possible???? ‘To You’ is a song from years ago????
– Now we just need a remake. I’m starting to pray today.
– Wow ㄷㄷㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋIt’s #1 on Lemon Chart now.
[No wonder the Sad Ending team blew up.]
Out of the three teams, theirs was the only one not doing a boy group song + an unexpected ballad.
And half the team didn’t even voluntarily choose this song.
(Haru and Taehyun chose it, but Hajin was hit with a battle penalty, and Jaiden and Jaeyoung didn’t have any options left.)
And to top it off, the original song is notoriously difficult to cover, especially since it’s a representative song of the Queen of Ballads.
In this situation:
They failed during the mid-term evaluation + fought back to create a legendary stage.
Even the original singer was moved to tears.
The youngest, Jaeyoung’s growth story.
Taehyun overcoming his trauma with the small sky.
Hajin finally establishing himself as the main vocalist.
Haru shining in his first role as center.
Jaiden proving his potential as a singing rapper.
This was destined to be a hit, for realㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
– Seriously, did you see Sarin-nim’s interview today? She said she was inspired to prepare for a comeback after watching the stage. What more do I need to say?
ㄴ I saw thatㅠ But it made me feel a bit bittersweet. To think even someone like Sarin-nim would consider a career break after pregnancy and childbirth… Of course, it’s not that her agency wouldn’t release an album, but she felt she couldn’t physically handle it… but still…ㅠ That made me cry even more watching the stage.
Kanghadi @kang_HD
Guys, this is our school uniform.
I’m mind-blown right now.
Kanghadi signing off.
(Capture of the Sad Ending team’s ‘To You’ stage)
(Hajin’s school uniform)
(Taehyun and Haru’s art school uniform)(Jaeyoung and Jaiden’s school uniform)
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Kanghadi @kang_HD
To those quoting this secretly
Please come out and speak up. It’s not that I’m scared.
I just need someone to talk about Miromaze with.
#MaybeThisIs #AProblem #CouldBeCrazy
Harang @dohajin_luv
Kanghadi, our prodigy singer.
That high note you hit with your real voice at the end was thrilling.
#Miromaze #KangHajin
(Video of Hajin hitting the high note in the third chorus)
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[Yesterday’s interview with a tearful Seo Taehyun]
66 “Enough.”
[System Alarm: Yes, sir.]
As I spoke while clutching my throbbing forehead, the half-completed community post crumpled away like a piece of paper. After pressing my temples a few more times, I straightened my body.
‘Yeah, I don’t have time to be knocked out by shock.’
The longer I stayed here, the worse the side effects might be when I woke up. So I had to finish listening to this report, understand it, memorize it, and wake up as quickly as possible.
“Alright. Let’s summarize.”
I instinctively brought up a blank system window. After thinking for a moment, a pencil-like tool appeared in my hand, allowing me to write on the system window.
“Ha, man. This is ridiculously convenient.”
I felt that even if I wanted to delete the fixed regression personality later, I might be too attached to this function to do it.
[System Alarm: Th-this function will disappear once we find the Chosen Regressor and the regression stops!]
[System Alarm: Misuse of the system… Stop!]
I left the nearly-crying Thirteen alone and started jotting down what I understood.
Chosen Regressor = A crazy guy who’s regressed over a few hundred times.
??? = The base personality of the Chosen Regressor. Doesn’t know he’s regressing.
〉Unlike ‘Kang
Hajin,’ where the personalities are integrated through the Mental Care System,
This guy’s personalities are completely separated.
The Regressor = Used to be a Time Manager…
The reason why he convinced the regressor to regress is unknown.
He tried to destroy my Mental Care System this time > Why?
What does this guy want?
“That’s it for now. Is that right?”
[System Alarm: …Yes. I’ll add just one more thing.]
Then, at the very last line, a new sentence was added.
What does this guy want?
+ He wants the regression to repeat in some way.
[System Alarm: This is a hypothesis I came up with while investigating the infinite regression incident….]
Thirteen hesitated as he pulled up the screen.
[System Alarm: I think the Regressor might be after ‘the lost timelines.’]
[System Alarm: Specifically… the ‘abandoned timelines’ that result from repeated regressions.]
Then, another headline appeared on the PPT.
<03. Who is the ‘Base Personality’ of the Chosen Regressor?〉
Clues confirmed so far (based on abandoned timelines):
– An orphan.
– Doesn’t know who his parents are.
Has a special relationship with the orphanage director.
– The director’s death triggered the regression.
“This much I heard last time, right? But none of the current trainees are orphans. The only one who doesn’t live with his parents is Lee Yu-geon…. But, Yu-geon’s life is too tough for him to have regressed. He’s probably not the one.”
Even the most likely candidate, Lee Yu-geon, didn’t perfectly match these conditions. Moreover, Yu-geon seemed to know what his parents looked like. At least, he must have lived with them until his younger siblings were born.
[System Alarm: You’re right.]
[System Alarm: Based on what we know so far, there’s no match.]
[System Alarm: However, during this investigation, we’ve found other clues about the Chosen Regressor.]
[System Alarm: …Take a look.]
With those words, new conditions were added below.