Chapter 130: A Small Trigger (2)
130. A Small Trigger (2)
"Oh, it's starting, it's starting."
Episode 6 had begun.
The trainees, who had been chattering noisily just moments ago, fell silent in unison as if on cue.
But here.
Long before Episode 6 began, there was one man who couldn't seem to keep his mouth shut.
"...Hey, did I do something wrong to Hajin-hyung?"
"No idea?"
"Or is Hajin-hyung in a bad mood today?"
"Not sure."
"But why does he keep glaring at me...?"
"No clue."
"...You little bastard!"
"Ah! Are you crazy?"
The man who elbowed Yu-geon in the ribs as he absentmindedly answered while eating chicken.
Kim Won-ho. Age 19.
He had merely asked Kang Hajin for a slice of potato pizza, and now he'd been subjected to an intense stare for the past ten minutes!
'He's staring so blatantly that I can't even bring myself to ask why he's looking at me like that.'
Won-ho felt sweat trickling down his back for some reason.
He turned his head slightly to glance at Hajin's movements.
'......?'
Hajin, who had been staring at him earlier, had now turned his head and was laughing with Tae-hyun on the sofa, exchanging playful banter.
Relieved to be free from that blatant glare, Won-ho felt oddly awkward.
'...Was I just being overly self-conscious?'
Well. What reason would that hyung have to glare at me anyway?
Scratching his neck, Won-ho picked up his chopsticks again with an embarrassed expression.
But contrary to Won-ho's hopes.
The moment Won-ho turned his head, Hajin's eyes sharpened like axes as he resumed staring.
Hajin had a perfectly valid reason to glare at Won-ho's head until it practically burned a hole through it.
'Why? The reaction rate was over 90% back then, and we're on good terms now, right?'
Truthfully, Hajin hardly suspected Won-ho as a potential Fixed Regressor candidate.
If asked why, well.
It was just a gut feeling.
[System Notification: Now you're guessing Fixed Regressors based on gut feelings?]
'What's with you? I've got good instincts, you know.'
Anyway, since he didn't suspect Won-ho much, recruiting him as a comrade wasn't strictly necessary.
After all, the Comrade Recruitment system was just a means to identify Fixed Regressors through past timelines.
'But! Still!'
It just didn't sit right with him!
There's still Lee Do-ha, who hasn't even crossed that damn 70% threshold!
Why! Kim Won-ho, who also had the Comrade Recruitment prompt appear for him!
Hasn't shown any progress since then! Why!
Thinking back on the patterns of past Comrade Recruitments, it seemed like the prompt only appeared when Hajin felt a moment of 'intense entanglement' with someone—when their relationship solidified into complete mutual trust.
From that perspective, the fact that Kim Won-ho's Comrade Recruitment event hadn't triggered yet was downright infuriating to Hajin!
It felt like your best friend deliberately avoiding sitting next to you on a school trip bus.
[System Notification: What even is that analogy...?]
[System Notification: The System is baffled by this unnecessarily detailed description....]
[System Notification: (๑•̌.•̑๑)ˀ̣]
'It's a thing, okay.'
Hajin crunched into the ice cream he'd brought for dessert and racked his brain.
Once the thought had taken root, a stubborn determination to recruit Won-ho as a comrade no matter what had sprouted.
'From what I've seen, the Comrade Recruitment seems to trigger at those "this is the moment" kind of scenes.'
You know those dramatic moments in movies or dramas where the emotional music swells, everything freezes, and the protagonist delivers an iconic line with a bright smile?
In web novels, it's that bittersweet, emotionally charged final line right before the scene transitions...
[System Notification: Stop it, you damn nerd....]
'Wow, now you're dropping formalities.'
Anyway, the conclusion was:
'MOOD' was everything.
'Guess I'll have to grab a meal with him soon.'
You think you can avoid becoming my comrade?
Hajin's eyes gleamed as he glared at the back of Won-ho's head.
While Hajin schemed about how to 'cook' Won-ho, Episode 6 of Miro Maze steadily progressed.
After the mission was revealed and teams were randomly assigned by selecting rooms, the trainees erupted into chatter again with their reactions.
"But weren't you all kinda nervous when we did that?"
"I mean, we had no idea who was inside each room."
"And the Wings class got all the hints, right? But us Feathers had nothing—pure 50/50 luck, seriously."
The trainees laughed and continued their conversations without hesitation.
It was hard to believe these were the same guys who, just months ago, had drawn lines between the special and regular classes and constantly butted heads.
Wings or Feathers.
Regardless of rank, they now mingled naturally, chatting and sitting together. Someone—no, the Fixed Regressor—watched them and thought:
'...So this was possible too.'
The trainees' harmony and reconciliation, which had once seemed impossible.
And the countless timelines that had changed because of it.
'......It was possible, after all.'
At the edge of the Fixed Regressor's vision stood the one person who had made all this change happen.
Kang Hajin.
The man who, through countless repeated lives, accomplished what the Fixed Regressor had deemed impossible—effortlessly.
The man who had appeared out of nowhere and now loomed larger than anyone else.
The Fixed Regressor stared at Hajin for a long moment before suddenly recalling his own situation and thought:
'It's still fine. ...For now.'
Reassuring himself, the Fixed Regressor's consciousness slowly faded.
Staying awake too long would put too much strain on the body.
Having been separated from the main personality for so long, he no longer even felt like this body was his own.
But it didn't matter.
"Si-woo hyung, how did you even know about harnesses?"
"The fact that you knew about it beforehand is even more shocking."
By the time Blue Flare Team's Truth Game segment aired, the Fixed Regressor's personality had completely faded away.
"Is it really that shocking that I knew? Haru knew too—what a harness is."
"I saw it on Boyhood Under Heaven, where Tae-hyun hyung appeared!"
"Haru, you knew what a harness was...?"
"Our Jju-tto-mol is shocked again."
"...I'm not shocked!"
"Grandpa, stop teasing Eun-chan."
"This old man's only joy...."
Starting with Si-woo, the conversation flowed naturally to Haru, Eun-chan, Tae-hyun, and Hajin.
The one who had 'been' the Fixed Regressor blended seamlessly into the group.
As if nothing had ever happened.
"Oh, the stage is starting."
"They're really showing all of the third mission performances in one go. I thought they'd split it over two weeks like before."
"Probably because voting closes the day after tomorrow."
At the mention of the voting deadline, the lively atmosphere dimmed slightly.
The thought of 'eliminations,' which they'd barely managed to forget, resurfaced.
As the mood turned somber, Hajin, sitting in the center, covered his eyes with his hand and spoke in a grave tone.
"...Who was the one who just made 'that remark'?"
"It was Gong Seok-hyungnim, Your Highness."
"Huh? Me, why...?"
"Tsk. For our eldest hyung to make 'that remark'... How heartbreaking. Sentence him to the chicken leg punishment at once."
"Yes, sir."
"...No, no, why! Ugh!"
At Hajin's command, Parang and Jae-young grabbed Gong Seok's arms. Won-ho, apologizing profusely—"Hyungnim, I'm sorry! I didn't want to do this!"—shoved a heavily sauced chicken leg into Gong Seok's mouth.
Watching this, Yu-geon turned to Tae-hyun with a baffled expression.
"...Why are they doing that?"
"Leave them be. They always play like this."
"Isn't a sauced chicken leg more of a reward than a punishment?"
"High calories—for trainees who need to watch their weight, it's a punishment, see?"
"Ah."
"...Why are you nodding like that makes sense?"
When Yu-geon nodded at Tae-hyun's explanation, Tae-hyun gave him an even more incredulous look before suddenly remembering something and cautiously asking:
"So, you. Have you started wanting to debut now?"
"Out of nowhere?"
"No, just. ...Can't friends ask?"
After glancing at Tae-hyun's awkward face and then back at their own reflections on TV, Yu-geon thought for a moment.
During the 'dropout incident,' he'd returned for various reasons, including wanting to stick with Hajin and the Blue Flare Team a little longer, but...
'...Debut? Me?'
Wasn't that still a distant thought?
Feeling inexplicably overwhelmed, Yu-geon shrugged and shook his head.
"Dunno. Haven't thought that far ahead yet."
"Hey, what are you gonna do if you actually debut?"
"Dunno. But, well, ten of us are getting cut anyway... I can worry about that 'blessed' problem after I survive."
Yu-geon habitually started cleaning up the food wrappers, cutting off the conversation.
Just, for now.
At least until the results came out.
He wanted to close his eyes to the painful reality and live in a dream a little longer.
"...I see."
Whether he understood Yu-geon's feelings or not, Tae-hyun nodded with a complicated expression, his eyes tinged with bitterness.
Episode 6 of Miro Maze, packed with the third mission performances, ended without incident.
With eliminations looming, the trainees began preparing themselves mentally in their own ways.
The Desty fans, too, dreamed of last-minute upsets and poured their efforts into voting for their favorites.
Cherry Blossom @ch_blossom
★Miro Maze #SeoTaehyun Voting EVENT★
RT this tweet and
reply with proof of voting
for a chance to win
chicken, perfume, or a film camera!
Deadline: Tomorrow, 11:59 PM
(Boyhood Under Heaven Seo Tae-hyun unreleased HD photos)
('I'll Tell You' Seo Tae-hyun HD candid shots)
(Chicken gift card photo with barcode fully obscured)
(Perfume and film camera photos)
[Who are we teaming up with for votes?]
I'm voting now—who else should I vote for besides Haru??
— Eun-chan!
— Vote for Eun-chan!
— Eun-chan, Jae-young, or Tae-hyun! We agreed to support each other
Reasongun @2uuu_gunn2
Starting today's voting proof thread!
Mention Yu-geon and
flood us with proof of votes!
Whether it was because of the high-quality performances in the third mission or the looming threat of actual eliminations, even trainees who rarely got mentioned before started trending on communities and SNS.
Park Jae-young, who showcased adorable younger-brother charm in 'I'll Tell You,' and Gong Seok, who earned praise as Silver Chain Team's main vocal carrying the performance alone, were prime examples.
And.
Amid the Desty fans' desperate 'save my baby' campaigns, one fandom stood out.
— Yo what the hell is up with Kang-Hajin's fans
It was Hajin's fandom.
— Did they awaken after getting beaten up or something...?
└ They kinda deserve it tho
└ ?? Why? What happened now?
└ ???? Did you not watch yesterday's episode?
The reason was simple.
— Hajin cried saying he was grateful they let him perform
It was all because of the most powerful thing in the world—their baby's tears.