Chapter 175. Penalty (6)
The Dan Haru standing before me was certainly not the ‘him’ I knew.
It was as if the current Dan Haru, who I knew, had aged by about ten years and had been battered by the hardships of life and the passage of time.
If I had to describe it, I would say he resembled the appearance of Dan Haru from the ‘first timeline’ that I had seen before.
“Ha, damn. How the hell did a fantasy hashtag end up attached to my life…?”
Not long ago, I was relieved it wasn’t a #hunter story. At least you can kill monsters. But this, dealing with bits of 0s and 1s trying to become human, can’t even be beaten up, so it’s incredibly frustrating.
While I sat on the bed, clutching my head in irritation, the regressor, disguised as Dan Haru, slowly moved and perched on the desk. Then, with a smile, he spoke to me.
“Don’t worry. I just borrowed this form for a moment to talk to you.”
“Maybe you don’t know this because you’re not human, but usually, when you kidnap and confine someone and then try to talk, it’s called a threat, not a conversation.”
“Come on, you wouldn’t listen to a threat anyway.”
The regressor’s creepy smile gleamed with red eyes.
To think there would come a day when Dan Haru’s face gave me chills.
Honestly, what freaked me out the most was myself for having such relaxed thoughts in this situation. The fact that I was slowly getting used to this genre also annoyed me.
“So, what conversation do you want to have? Let’s hear it.”
Since there was no immediate way to escape, I asked the regressor, deciding to listen to whatever nonsense he had to say. Then, the regressor slowly opened his mouth.
“Hajin, do you hate regression?”
“If you lived your life earnestly, only to have it rolled back and end up serving in the military three times, would you like it?”
“Haha. Don’t lie. You didn’t live earnestly.”
This bastard.
“Didn’t I ask you last time? ‘Shall I give it back?’ And you couldn’t answer then, could you?”
It was frustrating because I had nothing to refute his irritating smile.
As I ground my teeth, the regressor continued.
“Hajin, you should be grateful to me.”
“……”
“Thanks to getting caught up in the regression, your trashy life has completely turned around. Isn’t that right?”
“……”
“I don’t understand why you treat me like the villain when you’ve gained so much from this. I’m not an enemy, not to Haru, not to you.”
I’m just giving you a choice.
The whispering voice made me think he was like a devil.
Pointing at the small, narrow bed where I was sitting, the regressor said.
“If it weren’t for me, if you hadn’t regressed, how could you, who used to be like this, have debuted as an idol, loved by so many?”
Unfortunately, before I could even debut, my life genre drifted into fantasy horror.
I marveled at the regressor’s method of speaking, which was remarkably good at getting under my skin, and asked.
“…Did you gaslight Dan Haru like this too?”
“Gaslighting? We just made a deal.”
“If taking over Dan Haru’s body was the price, then that’s human trafficking. You know that, right?”
“I gave Haru a choice. It was Haru who made the decision, so I don’t see why you’re making a fuss.”
The expression on the regressor’s face, using Dan Haru’s visage, suddenly turned cold.
The eyes that always sparkled with life now looked dead, giving me a chilling feeling.
Forcing my stiffening facial muscles to move, I said.
“So? What can you do to me? From last time until now, all you’ve done is run your mouth; you haven’t done anything. Unless you plan to stab me with a knife using Dan Haru’s body, I’m not afraid of you.”
“Hmm. That does sound scary. Maybe I should consider that.”
“This psychopath is now threatening murder right to my face.”
Thirteen, please. What are you doing? You never show up at times like this.
As I thought about how these time managers were utterly useless to my life as a fixed regressor, I remained on guard against the regressor. Noticing that I was scared, the regressor let out a mocking laugh and slowly approached me.
“You said the problem was being constantly regressed, right? Then how about this? I’ll erase all the timelines you’ve regressed through. And you’ll return to being the thirty-year-old loser Kang Hajin.”
“……”
“No more love from fans, no more cool colleagues. But in return, no more regression, and you won’t have to meet me anymore. How’s that? You don’t want that, right? You want to stop regressing, but you’re too attached to being Kairos Kang Hajin to let it go.”
“……”
“If you don’t like that, I have another proposal.”
The regressor, now kneeling right in front of me, suggested with a bright smile.
“You just have to let me complete my deal with Dan Haru without interference.”
“……”
“I made a deal with the ‘Chosen Regressor’ Dan Haru. After everything is over, the personality of the ‘Chosen Regressor’ Dan Haru will disappear, and I’ll take over the body of Dan Haru with only the base personality left. In your terms, that would be possession.”
“……”
“Then, naturally, all the timelines associated with the Chosen Regressor Dan Haru that entangled you will disappear, and you won’t have to repeat regressions following Dan Haru.”
As you continue living as Kairos Kang Hajin, you won’t need to fear regression anymore.
“Anyway, the important thing to you is Dan Haru, not the ‘Chosen Regressor,’ right? You’ve probably never even met him.”
“…It’s not like you’re more important to me either.”
“Even if I possess this body, what you’ll see is still just Dan Haru. Nothing changes.”
“……”
“Don’t pretend to be good, Hajin. Just think about your own gain.”
For a moment, the eyes that had lost their usual luster returned to the familiar appearance I knew.
In front of me now was the ‘him’ I knew, Dan Haru, smiling at me with a sparkling grin.
“Hajin hyung, choose me.”
Who cares about some Chosen Regressor personality you’ve never even met?
Just as I was getting overwhelmed by his perfectly mimicked carefree voice, something behind the regressor began to shine.
‘…What’s that?’
What lay beyond the regressor was the familiar front door of our house. The navy blue iron door, which our whole family had painted ourselves to save money when we first moved in.
It was so familiar that I sometimes saw it in my dreams, yet something strangely out of place was faintly glowing above it.
<☆★EXIT☆★>
Why is something like that attached to our front door?
The moment I saw that out-of-place sign, I realized where I was trapped.
I also understood the source of the unsettling nausea that was making me feel so sick.
“…Right, I thought something was off. I was way too calm for this situation.”
The regressor, who had been threatening me with various options, stopped moving at my words.
I raised my middle finger once more at the regressor who had been trying so hard to tempt me with Dan Haru’s face.
“Screw you, idiot.”
With those words, I shoved the regressor away with all my strength and dashed towards the front door.
“Ugh, damn it! Can’t you stick to one genre for once?!”
As if realizing my intent, the distance to the front door suddenly expanded, and all sorts of obstacles began to appear.
At that moment, I was certain that this was the ‘subconscious space,’ as I sprinted towards the front door, dodging and jumping over the walls and barriers that sprouted from the ground and popped out from the sides.
“You think my nickname ‘Master of Scaling Walls’ is just for show, huh? Ouch!”
Now, even balls were rolling in to trip me up, but I leaped with superhuman reflexes and escaped. As I got closer, the <☆★EXIT☆★> letters grew larger and emitted a stronger blue light.
I was convinced it was Thirteen’s trace, and I threw myself forward, grabbing the doorknob.
“I don’t understand. Why won’t you accept it? It’s a rational proposal.”
The regressor’s voice, distorted and crackling, flew at me from behind.
Without looking back, I flung the door open.
“Do you think people are machines? Calculating their actions down to the last gram like a scale?”
That’s why you’re stuck as 0 and 1, you bastard.
As I stepped through the door, a sensation of being sucked in engulfed my entire body.
And when I opened my eyes again.
“……”
Ting―,
“Hyung, aren’t you coming in?”
Before me stood the real Dan Haru, not that psycho maniac.
“…Hajin hyung?”
Staring into Dan Haru’s round eyes, blinking as if nothing was wrong, made everything feel a little surreal.
I quickly scanned my surroundings and took out my phone to check the time.
Even though it felt like I had been wrestling with the regressor in the subconscious space for ages, in reality, only a few minutes seemed to have
passed. After confirming that the time and date were normal, I immediately called Kim Wonho.
-…Hello?
“Kim Wonho. When were we supposed to meet for a meal?”
-That’s the day after tomorrow. Why?
“Nothing. Did I say I’d go near Lime Entertainment?”
-Yup. You said you’d come over because I have a lesson that day. Why? Is something up?
“No, nothing. I just forgot. I’ll see you the day after tomorrow.”
-Huh? Okay, see you then.
Just to be sure, I confirmed that Kim Wonho’s timeline was intact before ending the call.
I was also a bit worried about Park Sangyul, but I figured I could check on him through my mom later….
For now, nothing seemed to have happened.
“Hyung, did you make plans with Wonho hyung? Oh my gosh. Can I come too?”
As I hung up the phone and let out a sigh of relief, Dan Haru, who was simultaneously the source of all this trouble and entirely oblivious to it, flapped over to me.
I stared intently at the sparkling person before me, who exuded a completely different atmosphere from what I had just seen.
“…Ack! Hyung, what are you doing? That hurts!!!”
And then, I pinched those soft cheeks hard, making Dan Haru flap around and stomp his feet trying to pull my hand off.
Hmm. It seems I’m definitely back in reality.
Convinced that the sparkling person I knew was indeed the one standing before me, I couldn’t help but feel a bit more annoyed, so I pinched his cheeks slightly harder than usual before letting go.
“Dan Haru.”
“Yes?”
I wanted to ask why he made a deal with that psycho, but Dan Haru looked up at me with innocent eyes, not knowing anything. Seeing that face made all my combativeness fade away, so I just grabbed Dan Haru’s shoulder and led him into the convenience store.
“…Forget it. What’s the point of asking you?”
“It hurts…. ”
“I’ll buy you ice cream.”
“I already had some earlier, so I don’t want any.”
“Then pick out some snacks.”
“Yay!”
Holding his sore cheek and whining, Dan Haru followed me into the convenience store.
While Dan Haru took 3 seconds to pick up a toothbrush and 3 minutes to choose snacks, my mind was swirling with countless thoughts.
“Hyung! I’m done choosing.”
“…If you eat all that, your teeth will rot.”
“That’s why I bought a toothbrush!”
As I gave a quick nod to the snack-laden Dan Haru, he hummed a tune and headed to the counter.
While pulling out my wallet to pay, I recalled the regressor’s words just before I left the subconscious space.
-Can you still say that if something goes wrong in your life? Will you be able to push me away even then?
With the regressor’s question, which triggered countless thoughts, lingering in my mind, I left the convenience store with Dan Haru.
Contrary to my worries, nothing happened after that.
We wrapped up our originally planned peaceful and fun 2-day trip without any issues,
And on the last day of my vacation, as promised, I met Kim Wonho outside Lime Entertainment after his practice session. Somehow, that day’s plan escalated into a large gathering, involving not just me and Kim Wonho, but also Lee Doha, Gong Seok, Yoon Taehee, and even Dan Haru and Joo Eunchan.
And finally, on the first day I entered the dorm as Kairos after the vacation ended,
I understood what the regressor’s last words meant.
[Penalty – The Butterfly Effect has been triggered.]
[My dream and life were ruined because of Kang Hajin. Exposing the true nature of Kairos’ Kang Hajin on MiroMaze.]
“Man, they really don’t give you a moment to breathe.”
The time had come to settle the score.