Grab the Regressor by the Collar and Debut!

Chapter 321. The Moment Daily Life Is Etched (2)

The auditorium quickly filled with students.

J quietly slipped into a seat at the front, where her classmates were gathered. She glanced around for the friend she had argued with earlier but spotted her further up, already chatting excitedly with another friend.

A small, spiteful feeling welled up in J’s twisted heart. At this moment, the whole world seemed hateful.

3, 2, 1—

Regardless of her mood, a dazzling light show began in the now-dark auditorium.

Amidst the overwhelming cheers, students around her pulled out their phones to record, but J merely sat back, watching the stage with a detached attitude.

Soon, the curtain covering the stage dropped, and a thrilling high note rang out.

**Raise your voice, One, Two, Three!**

With the opening lines of **”Kick Off,”** the song even more popular than their debut track **”Over the Night,”** Kairos appeared on stage. Dressed in perfectly fitting white shirts, black ties, and slacks, their entrance triggered a deafening roar of applause from the audience.

J noticed her friend, who was also filming and screaming with the others, and pursed her lips.

*”Always fighting with those Destis just because you’re an Only (a Lanion fan)…”*

J, now with a scowl, looked back at the stage. There, a boy who looked noticeably young was flashing a bright smile, showering the crowd with fanservice gestures.

*”Is that Dan Haru? I think he’s around our age.”*

Having distanced herself from the world for a while due to exam preparations, J strained to recall the details, crossing her arms more tightly.

The members of Kairos were undeniably stunning, their live performance flawless to the point of eliciting gasps. Yet, precisely because of this, J felt even more irritated.

*”Must be nice for them. They’re young and handsome, so they earn lots of money and have people fawning over them…”*

They probably never stay up all night worrying about not getting into college, right? I’m so jealous.

The more dazzling the stage lights became, the smaller and more insignificant J felt in the darkened audience. She knew these were unhealthy emotions, but she couldn’t easily shake them off.

“Seoul High School, let’s hear you scream―!”

One of the members, wearing black-rimmed glasses, loosened his tie and naturally elicited a response from the crowd. As the roar grew louder, he flashed a wide smile, then jumped down from the stage to greet students and even shook hands with a few.

Watching as he finished shaking hands with her friend and returned to the stage, J thought to herself.

*“…I wish I’d just stayed in the classroom and studied. Shouldn’t seniors be exempt from stuff like this? Or at least let those who want to study, study. It’s not like they’re going to take the college entrance exam for me, so what a nuisance.”*

But the truth was, she didn’t really want to study.

J knew better than anyone that the real reason for her ugly feelings wasn’t the idol, her friend, or anyone else—it was her own inadequacies.

“So annoying, seriously….”

She envied the members of Kairos, who were smiling and playing on stage with microphones.

She couldn’t fully enjoy this situation, which she had stumbled upon by luck, nor could she fully digest the sadness and inferiority pulling her down.

In the middle of an auditorium filled with cheering and excitement, J hung her head and let her tears flow.

At that moment, she wished for nothing more than to remain unnoticed by anyone.

* * *

Kairos made the most of their allotted 50 minutes.

In addition to **”Kick Off,”** they performed **”Over the Night,”** **”Again, Spring,”** which had just been officially released, and even treated the audience to a special performance of **”More More,”** which had heated up the year-end season!

They then spent the remaining time interviewing the homeroom teacher of Class 1, Year 3, who had sent in the story, playing games with the students, and handing out gifts during a talk-and-play session.

Due to the constraints of the event, they hadn’t hired a professional MC, but since Kairos had Kang Hajin and Seo Taehyun, that wasn’t much of an issue.

“Hello! This is MC Jini, back again!”

“I’m MC Hyuni! Please take care of us!”

With their heads adorned with flashy, polka-dot ribbon headbands, the two did a fantastic job of keeping the energy in the auditorium high.

“But Jini! Isn’t today’s prize lineup way too extravagant?”

“Don’t even get me started, Hyuni! All of these gifts were provided by JDZ for Seoul High School as part of the Youth Sniper Project! What do you think, Kairos members?”

“From now on, I plan to thank JDZ before every meal.”

“I swear, if it’s not from JDZ, I’m not buying any furniture.”

“JDZ beds are the best for sleeping. The mattresses are so comfortable.”

“Eunchan-hyung, are you watching? We’re working hard.”

Following the intent to make full use of the golden spoon members, they didn’t forget to throw in some capitalistic banter.

“The last song might be a bit out of season…”

“Really? Why?”

“Technically, it’s a song you’re supposed to sing at Christmas.”

“No way, the title is literally **‘Not a Carol.’** It’s actually more appropriate to sing it now.”

“…Is that so?”

The final encore was **“Not a Carol,”** currently the most well-known Kairos song. The Band Live version, specially arranged for year-end performances, drew an almost concert-level sing-along.

The intensity of the students’ enthusiasm, amplified by the enclosed space of the auditorium, seemed to even excite the members themselves.

“Thank you! We’ve been―!”

“Kairos! Thank you!”

With a synchronized farewell as sharp as their choreography, Kairos successfully wrapped up their first Youth Sniper Project busking performance.

But that wasn’t the end of what Kairos had planned.

*“Excuse us…!”*

They made their way to all ten classrooms of the senior year.

And…

*“Snack delivery!”*

They brought snacks!

*“We don’t want to be a nuisance by interrupting your studies, so we thought we’d bring something to eat first.”*

It was a plan that involved a fair bit of strategy.

Though it had only been about two hours since lunch, at that age, a burger and soda were just a snack, so it was no problem.

All the members went to Class 1 together, where the story’s author was, and afterward, due to time constraints, they split into three teams of two to visit the remaining nine classes, each covering three classrooms.

“Hello, snack delivery~”

The door to J’s Class 9 opened about 20 minutes before the end of the lesson.

Since it was PE time, the 3rd-year students of Class 9 were self-studying in the classroom when a gentle knock on the door was followed by its opening, prompting small screams from everyone.

The screams grew louder as Hajin and Dan Haru entered with their arms full of burger boxes.

“Sorry to interrupt your studies. We brought some burgers and drinks to give you a little energy boost—may we come in for a moment?”

“Of course↗!!”

“You can stay forever!”

“Oh, that would be a problem… Ah, hello, teacher.”

Hajin laughed softly as the reaction was even more intense than expected, then bowed politely to the PE teacher sitting at the front of the class. The teacher, who had been tapping his shoulders with a back scratcher and laughing heartily, gestured for them to proceed comfortably.

“Well then, let’s do something while we eat, shall we?”

“Yes―!”

“We’ll pass the burgers and drinks around, so please hand them back from the front to the back~”

Like a well-trained elite unit, the burgers and cans of cola were smoothly passed from front to back.

Even J, who had tried to continue studying with her earbuds in despite Hajin and Haru’s entrance, couldn’t resist the savory smell of the burger placed on her desk and had to put down her pen.

Though her deskmate was making a fuss about how she could even think about eating a burger given by Kairos, J stubbornly chewed her burger in defiance.

Once the classroom had settled down a bit, Hajin, standing by the teacher’s desk as naturally as if he were born to be there, spoke up.

“Class 9 is our last stop today, so if you don’t mind, we’d like to chat and spend the rest of the class time with you…. Would that be okay?”

“That’s totally fine!!!!! Totally!!!!!”

“Yes↗↗!!!!”

“Oh, thank you.”

“Thank you!”

Seeing her classmates eagerly agree, J scowled.

*How could anyone say no to that?*

Her crooked heart still struggled to find its way back to normal.

Whether J kept skimming the words on her open study guide or not, Hajin continued speaking at the front of the room.

“Well, we did have something prepared… but after visiting the other classes, it seems like everyone prefers just asking questions or talking about what they want. Does anyone in Class 9 have any questions for us?”

As soon as he finished speaking, one of the most talkative and outgoing students in the class shot her hand up. When Hajin nodded for her to go ahead, she immediately pointed to the girl sitting next to her and blurted out,

“Oppa, she’s a Desti!”

“Hey, stop

it! Ah…!”

“She’s liked you since the Miro Maze era! She has merch in her locker!”

The classroom was instantly filled with an uproar of laughter. The girl in question turned beet red, unable to lift her head, while her friends eagerly revealed her fangirling to the very idol in question.

Having already experienced similar situations in other classrooms, Hajin and Haru playfully opened their arms wide.

“Well, we can’t just stand by and do nothing. Come on up.”

“…Oh my god, no, I can’t….”

“No time to be shy, nuna…! Quickly, quickly!”

“Oh no, please….”

Amid the envious murmurs of her classmates, the Desti girl trembled as she walked to the front.

Though they had initially offered a hug, they settled for shaking her hand and signing the merch she had brought when she almost burst into tears. The sound of gasps and camera shutters erupted from all around.

“Well, that’s one down. Any other questions? We’re also happy to give advice or help with any concerns. I’ve already done career counseling with three students today. Of course, I don’t know everything, but….”

The mood in the room had relaxed, and Hajin spoke with a warm smile.

At this, J’s spiteful heart reared its head.

*Career counseling? Like they’ve ever taken a proper mock exam, what would they know…*

Acting purely on impulse, J raised her hand. Even she didn’t know what had come over her.

“Yes, you with the glasses.”

As soon as she raised her hand, Haru pointed at her with a bright smile.

Even that smile irritated J as she grabbed her crumpled-up March mock exam paper from her desk drawer and spoke.

“Then could you help me with an English problem?”

“…Sorry?”

“Could you solve this problem for me? …To save time.”

She could feel that everyone—her teacher, classmates, even Hajin and Haru—was a bit taken aback by her words.

She knew it was because of the sharp tone in her voice rather than the question itself, but J’s actions had now almost become a matter of pride.

“Ha, unbelievable.”

“……?”

Just as the atmosphere in the classroom was about to turn cold, someone let out a dry laugh.

J looked up from where her gaze had been falling to the floor. Standing by the teacher’s desk, sleeves rolled up and chalk in hand, was none other than Kang Hajin.

“How ironic.”

He smirked confidently as he ran a hand through his hair.

“How did you know I was a humanities student who studied like crazy for the college entrance exam?”

This was a man who had experienced a regression while taking the college entrance exam’s English listening test during his second round as a student.