Grab the Regressor by the Collar and Debut!

Chapter 37. The One Who Reaches for the Sun (3)

‘Kim Wonho and Lee Doha.’

With these two candidates, each with their distinct strengths and weaknesses, I pondered for a moment.

I still hadn’t fully grasped what exactly this “companion recruitment” system was all about. However, if I were to recruit one, it was better to choose someone who would be beneficial for future endeavors.

And in that regard, one was overwhelmingly superior.

‘Is there a more reliable card than someone from the debut lineup?’

Taking in Lee Doha as a companion might be convenient, but the one concern was his low response rate.

‘If it were just at 70%, I could at least try to make a mental victory out of it.’

“Kangha hyung, stop zoning out and look at this quickly.”

“Alright.”

Kim Wonho, who immediately pounced on me the moment I got distracted, had pretty good instincts. It made me feel a bit sorry for labeling him as part of the no-hopers trio at first, considering how quick he was at reading the situation.

‘This is tough.’

Why are these guys reacting to me on their own? The longer my dilemma dragged on, the more my head started to throb. I wanted to take a moment to think properly, but this damn maze seemed never-ending.

“……”

“Kangha hyung, what are you doing?”

I looked up at the only open ceiling within this suffocating square. The lighting, clearly placed with filming in mind, and the cameras set up between them.

“We should get out by climbing over there, right?”

“What?”

“If the cameras are angled like that, they’ll capture it well, right?”

“Capture what?”

Ignoring the confused questions from Kim Wonho and Lee Doha, I stood in front of the sturdiest-looking wall. Since it was a foliage wall, there were plenty of footholds.

“Wow, hyung!”

“If you’re not going to follow, I’m going first.”

After just a couple of jumps, I managed to climb over one wall. I had to calculate it well since it was my first appearance on the show, but considering it would be just an image cut for five minutes, there wasn’t much to gain from dragging it out here.

“Ah, that hyung sometimes seems more reckless than me.”

Kim Wonho mumbled something, but soon after, both he and Lee Doha followed me over the wall with a thud. From Kim Wonho’s dancing alone, I knew he had good physical coordination, and while Lee Doha was terrible at dancing, it seemed his physicality wasn’t entirely useless either.

Not bad at all.

I pointed to the giant floating time limit mission in the air.

“Our goal is to clear the maze within five minutes. How? By climbing the walls.”

“Sometimes, that hyung is just terrifying.”

Ignoring Lee Doha’s incredulous look, we charged toward the exit.

* * *

Back in the control room.

“Who are they? Kang Hajin, Lee Doha… They’re all from Wings, huh?”

“Yes, it seems so.”

For the PD, the appearance of such interesting characters couldn’t have been more perfect. PD Kwon’s eyes sparkled as he asked the assistant writer about the trio’s names. Who’s in charge of them? Make sure to mark it for the pre-meeting later, he reminded.

‘Well, it’s a decent start, I guess?’

Suho, who had been nervously watching from the back, felt a wave of relief wash over him as things seemed to be going smoothly. He relaxed his stiff posture and resumed monitoring.

The three, who were jumping over walls and navigating their way through the maze, soon reached the exit.

— Lee Doha, Kang Hajin, Kim Wonho have completed the escape. I’ll fill in the audio and get them on standby.

— The trainees in B2 section have completed the escape within five minutes.

— C1 section finished in under three minutes as well.

“Okay. Good job. Send the ones with mics to the 5th-floor practice room. We’ll do a brief OT and meeting there while wrapping up the other areas.”

— Got it.

— Yes.

As the other trainee groups, who had entered the maze earlier, began completing their escapes, PD Kwon stood up from his seat. Suho, who had received the shooting plan in advance, knew that the opening shoot was almost over. But just in case, he discreetly asked the PD organizing the schedule beside PD Kwon.

“Could you tell me the remaining shooting schedule?”

“Hmm, a brief OT in the practice room. Once the main spot is wrapped up, we’ll shoot a summary with Seo Taeil. Then, individual interviews and we’ll be done. Since it’s the first shoot today… Ah, would you like to see this?”

Suho waved off the PD who offered him a brief cue sheet, and he got up to follow PD Kwon.

“Ah, Team Leader Ji. Let’s go together. I’m going to meet the trainees now.”

“Yes, yes. I’ll guide you.”

PD Kwon, holding his cue sheet, happily followed Suho. Suho moved along, pretending not to notice the name “Kang Hajin” clearly written at the top of the plan.

* * *

“Alright, now that you have your mics on, please move to the practice room!”

After a quick escape from the maze, we were greeted by the familiar (in many ways) sight of broadcasting staff we were all too familiar with. A woman with a bob haircut, who seemed to be an assistant director, led us to the audio director, where they approached each of us to attach our labeled mic packs.

“Ah, I can do it myself.”

“Huh?”

Oops. The occupational habit kicked in again.

Seeing the flustered assistant director fidgeting in front of me with a mic pack, I instinctively took it and attached it myself. The habit of attaching mics to performers during my days as an assistant director wasn’t going away anytime soon.

“Is this mic on? I’m good at attaching it, so you can go help them over there.”

As I pointed to the struggling Lee Doha and the idly waiting Kim Wonho with a nod of my chin, the assistant director, still looking somewhat embarrassed, hurried over to them.

“Excuse me, I’ve finished attaching the mic.”

“Ah. Please move to the 5th-floor practice room.”

“The 5th floor?”

“…Ah. We removed all those walls, so they’re gone now. Just a moment.”

At the assistant director’s cheerful response after a brief moment of thought, I was left speechless. Did they really set all that up just for a brief shoot? The same question popped into my head again.

‘Maze, did you win the lottery?’

The guide soon arrived, and Kim Wonho and Lee Doha, now with their mics on, followed close behind me. I adjusted the crooked mic on Kim Wonho’s sweatshirt and gave him a word of advice.

“When you talk, be careful not to bump this into your necklace. It’ll make a clinking sound. And during the interview, try not to use that~ ‘Hmm’ tone, it can come off as annoying.”

“Huh? Ah, okay.”

“Everything you say is being recorded, so be careful with your words. Both of you.”

“…Kangha hyung, you really sounded like Team Leader Ji just now.”

This occupational habit, it’s really a problem.

Unable to find the right words to respond, I just shut up and followed the staff. Soon, we reached the 5th floor that had caused us confusion earlier. The wide, open hallway, now free of the maze setup, came into view.

“Please wait here for a moment.”

“Thank you.”

“Hyung! You’re here?”

As we entered the 5th-floor practice room, as instructed, familiar faces and voices greeted us. Having escaped early, Joo Eunchan and Dan Haru were already settled in the center of the practice room, welcoming us.

“Where’s Taehyun? He said he’d be here today.”

“Taehyun hyung’s over there.”

“Where? …Ah.”

When I asked about the whereabouts of Seo Taehyun, who had said he’d join us after spending the last day of his vacation at Joo Eunchan’s place, Dan Haru pointed to a corner of the practice room. There, with his hoodie pulled all the way over his head, Seo Taehyun lay collapsed, his hands neatly folded like a corpse.

‘…I can already guess what happened.’

He probably passed out trying to stop Dan Haru, who’s as reckless as I am, and Joo Eunchan, who has an intense competitive streak.

“Ah, the other hyungs are coming too.”

Soon after, other trainees began to trickle in. Lee Doha exchanged a brief glance with Jung Siwoo, who entered alone. I thought they were close, but it seemed they weren’t the type to stick together, as Jung Siwoo took a spot at a reasonable distance from our group.

After quickly surveying the trainees, who were now bustling with talk about the monthly evaluations, vacations, and the hottest topic of all—the maze escape, I opened the system window.

[Ji Suho (Awakened One)]

Descriptor: ‘With Burning Passion,’ ‘The Deepest Shadow’

Traits: Star Maker☆

-Has a ‘fateful’ ability to recognize potential stars. (Accuracy 77%)

-Depending on the star’s potential, different colors of aura appear.

Special: Influenced by the ‘past timeline’ through contact with the Chosen Regressor. (Déjà vu)

[You can check the current status and location of recruited companions, and summon them when necessary (10 cash required).]

‘Isn’t there a control button for this?

I can’t talk if someone calls now because of the mic.’

Shouldn’t telepathy at least be an option when recruiting companions? Or leave a text record, at the very least.

After these all-too-realistic thoughts crossed my mind, I decided to trust that Ji Suho would have the good sense to text rather than call in this situation and summoned him.

And once again, the effect was amazing!

‘Wow, this is effective.’

I marveled at the instant vibration from my phone, feeling the satisfaction of spending 10 cash as I quickly replied.

Ah, so Seo Taeil was involved in the investment too? If that’s the case, it makes sense that a third of this scale was covered. After all, at this point, he’s bound to be in the top 5 copyright holders in Korea.

‘How does someone like that even win the lottery? Life really is an unfair game.’

Feeling the harsh reality of the rich getting richer, I etched the reward for Quest No. 1 into my brain. Young and rich, tall and handsome. Just wait.

If I continued the conversation, it’d be easy to be mistaken for someone glued to their phone during filming, so I decided to stop there. After deleting the recent messages with Ji Suho (years of web novel experience taught me that not deleting such things usually led to trouble), I tucked my phone deep into my pocket.

And soon, the practice room door opened, and someone entered, drawing everyone’s attention.

“Alright, alright. Hello, everyone~.”

Ji Suho entered the practice room with two women. All the trainees’ eyes turned to the trio in the center.

“Were you all surprised? We prepared a little surprise initiation to see some genuine reactions. Did everyone escape the maze well?”

“Yes~.”

“Guys, you did well today. Sorry we couldn’t give you a heads-up. It must have been chaotic, right?”

Ji Suho smiled as he looked around at the trainees. But before anyone could dwell on their confusion, realizing it was the first day of filming, the trainees quickly and excitedly responded, eager to make a good impression.

“These are PD Kwon Myungeun and writer Go Sehwa. They’re the main PD and writer for the upcoming survival show, so you’ll be seeing them often. Make sure to greet them properly.”

“Yes!”

There was only one person who couldn’t bring themselves to smile in this cheerful first meeting.

And that was me.

“They showed a lot of impressive traits today. I’ll briefly explain the broadcast and today’s schedule.”

‘Why… why is that senior here…?’

What’s it like to become a trainee, determined to debut as an idol after four regressions, only to find out that the PD in charge of your debut survival show is your senior from your first life?

‘I’m screwed.’

Amid the applause from everyone, I could only cover my mouth in disbelief.