Chapter 75

It was well into the evening by the time Hajin got home.

'The sun was definitely still up when I got on the train.'

If there was a next time meeting Ji Suho, he was absolutely making Suho come out to his neighborhood.

With that small resolution and a body wrung out from all the crying, Hajin stepped through the front door.

"I'm home."

"Hyung, back?"

"Wait — where're Mom and Dad?"

"Walk."

"You eat?"

"Yeah."

Hawon — sprawled on a blanket in the living room, watching iTube on his phone — greeted Hajin in a bone-dry voice. Hajin was about to walk right past him into his room when he turned around, walked back, and crouched down in front of Hawon.

"…? Whatcha doing?"

"Observing my little brother."

"…something up?"

"No? Why?"

"Hyung, you do this when something's up."

Twenty years living with him had left Hawon with nothing he didn't know about Hajin, and the line threw Hajin off a little.

Just as he was starting to pull back — worried Hawon might catch that he'd been crying — Hawon, thankfully, just glanced up briefly before flicking his eyes back to the phone screen.

"Fine, whatever."

"Wh-what could possibly be up? Nothing's up. I'm going to shower."

"'Kay."

Sharp little shit….

Hajin quickly got to his feet. He grabbed a change of clothes and was about to head into the bathroom when Hawon's voice came again — still watching iTube from where he lay.

"Oh, hyung."

"Yeah?"

"…nah, nothing."

"There are two things in this world that piss a person off, and one of them is starting a sentence and not finishing it—"

"Ugh, seriously, it's nothing. Just go shower already."

Hawon actually rolled fully onto his side, cutting the conversation off; Hajin pouted in protest and went into the bathroom.

As soon as Hajin turned the water on to shower, Hawon — still on his side — peeked his head back around. After confirming the bathroom door was shut, he picked his phone back up.

On the screen, Hajin's performance video on iTube was paused.

"……"

Hawon stared quietly at his brother, frozen in the paused frame.

His brother had seemed a little down lately, in a way that wasn't quite like him. But the version of his brother in the video was still cool and sharp, and that was a small comfort.

'…openly telling him "you did great" would just be, like, {weird.'}(#u8tjkfbms40k)

Hawon quietly hit 'like' on the video. Subscribed to the channel and turned on notifications. Scrolled down a little, sorted the comments by 'Top,' and hit 'like' on the ones praising his brother, too.

'I've gotta work hard, too.'

His own quiet way of rooting for the brother who was always a step ahead of him.

---

"…what. Kang Hawon, you asleep?"

When Hajin came back out from washing up, Hawon was passed out in the living room without the blanket even properly pulled over him.

"This kid, sleeping like that."

Hajin — still with a towel over his head — strode over, pulled Hawon's blanket up properly, and nudged the phone rolling around on his chest off to the side.

Only after turning off the living room light too, leaving just the entryway lamp on, did he head into the bedroom he and Hawon shared.

"Alright, then. Time for me to do my own work."

Hajin sat on his bed and pulled up the System window in question.

The thing that had, a few hours ago, made him forget he'd been crying in the middle of the street and sent him scrambling home — the whole run of it rose up in front of him.

'Drift and Wander' mode is being maintained below 50% and is deactivating. (currently 48%)

"Yeah, this — I get the gist. Pass."

Something he'd noticed on the way home — for a while now, breathing had felt oddly easy, and his mind had been running taut and clear.

Like a stone that had been pressing on a corner of his heart had shattered.

That was probably why.

"The problem is — this."

'Kang Hajin' 'responds' to you. (response rate 100%) 'Kang Hajin' is available for recruitment. Confirm recruitment? (Y/N)

"Wait — so all this time it was a Kang Hajin team without Kang Hajin?"

His voice went up out of sheer disbelief. He shut his mouth quickly in case Hawon woke up, but that didn't do anything to make the disbelief go away.

Thirteen — who by now should be in full explainer-nerd mode about 'this is all because of the permissions, blah blah' — had gone dead silent since that alert.

'Diving back into the unconscious space to ask is a little risky given the side effects….'

What to do.

Then, as if reading Hajin's deliberation, a new System window rose up.

title: Sudden Quest The greatest ally in this world is you. Believing in yourself starts with knowing yourself! Let's get to know 'Kang Hajin.' reward: Distributed by degree of completion. — Recruit 'Kang Hajin' as a companion: Voucher to view one designated person's traits — Confirm 'Kang Hajin's traits: Free skill-upgrade voucher — Confirm 'Kang Hajin's stats: An unexpected stroke of luck

No failure penalty, and rewards that chained one into the next. However he looked at it, this quest had nothing to do with tracking down the Selreg.

So this — like the Cat's Repayment before it — was probably one Thirteen had cooked up on his own.

"Fine, whatever. Let's have a look."

And now Hajin felt like — wherever his limits fell — he'd be all right.

'Kang Hajin' has been recruited as a companion. (4/??) You can now check a recruited companion's current state and location, and, if needed, summon them (10 cash charge).

"Not that I'd have all that many occasions to summon myself, mind you."

Sudden Quest special reward. You may use the voucher to view one designated person's traits (self excluded). View companion 'Kang Hajin's traits? (Y/N)

In the first place, this system wasn't Hajin's own ability — it was a temporary grant of Time Administrator permissions. And going by his reasoning, the System didn't identify him as 'Kang Hajin' — it identified him as the 'Fixed Regressor.'

'It always calls me the Fixed Regressor. That'd be why 'Kang Hajin' can be recruited as a companion, and why the "self excluded" trait voucher still works on him.'

Feeling his grasp on this 'system' deepening, Hajin drew in a sharp breath — psyching himself up.

"Okay, ready."

When he nodded, the familiar blue window — the same one he'd first met at the very beginning — rose up in front of him.

label: Kang Hajin (Fixed Regressor) Modifier: Undetermined (achievements insufficient to earn a modifier) Trait: Fixed Regression — Follows the Selected Regressor's timeline — Retains memory of 'past timelines' — Experience from 'past timelines' accumulates Special: 'Drift and Wander' mode OFF Affected by 'past timelines' through contact with the Selected Regressor. (Déjà vu) ※Mental Care System is temporarily active.※

The trait window he'd finally come face-to-face with was less of a big deal than he'd expected.

'Not sure what I was so scared of.'

The one line worth flagging was the last one. The same line he'd seen in Ji Suho's trait window.

"…meaning I really have met him. That Selreg bastard."

Who the hell could it be?

He quickly waved off the handful of candidates that surfaced in his head. For today, he was only grilling himself.

Hajin opened the next reward.

Sudden Quest special reward. You may upgrade one of your skills, one time, with no penalty. Please choose the skill to use. — Just As I Say (LV.10) — Name Your Price — Behold with the Dragon's Eye (LV.3) — What's So Me About Me? (LV.4)

"Man, look at the naming sense on these."

Now that they were laid out like this, the naming really showed its age. And they'd said skill names get picked as whatever's easiest for me to understand, so…. Well, nothing I can say to that.

Either way, he'd already decided which skill to spend this free upgrade on.

"Upgrade the Dragon's Eye skill. Right now it's way too hard to grasp objective ability levels — make it more intuitive."

All skills are being constructed based on the skill user's DB. Do you consent to quantifying 'human ability'? On consent, the display values of Skill 〈Behold with the Dragon's Eye〉 will be revised.

"Wait — you're saying the reason it's been showing up in those damned-hard-to-read percentages this whole time is my fault? Because I hate being evaluated?"

Skill 〈Behold with the Dragon's Eye〉 (LV.3) comprehension increases!

"Wow, floored again."

Hajin pressed a hand to his forehead at this skill secret he hadn't seen coming. Turns out his gloom had burrowed deeper into his head than he'd realized.

Sure — being able to see how much more of someone's talent they could still bring out was less off-putting than tier-ranking their ability….

'But now I need a clearer indicator.'

To find that Selreg bastard, he needed something simpler and more intuitive. Decision made, Hajin nodded without hesitation.

Skill 〈Behold with the Dragon's Eye〉 skill content is being upgraded….

"Hey — can I change the skill name too? Seriously, no matter how I look at it, it's a bit…."

…skill renaming is available for 100,000 cash, dear customer ^♡^

"…oh dear, our tightwad Thirteen is back."

Even at the truly outrageous rate of a full 100,000 cash, Hajin let out something almost like a fond laugh. Complain as he might, he knew this quest had been cooked up purely for his sake.

Skill 〈Behold with the Dragon's Eye〉 has been upgraded. Changes take effect immediately. Use Skill 〈Behold with the Dragon's Eye〉? (Target: Kang Hajin)

"Whew. Alright — this is the final boss, right?"

Hajin straightened his back, shook out his wrists, threw in a completely unnecessary neck stretch, and nodded.

"Show me. My stats."

The blue window came up as if it had been waiting. Without so much as blinking, Hajin watched the letters etch themselves onto the System window.

label: Kang Hajin (Agency: Miro) Debuff: Mental Care System influence causes certain stats to drop Vocal: A Rap: A- Dance: B+ Expression: C+ (S) Charm: A- Special: Made for the Stage (S) — In live performance, all stats have a chance to temporarily boost. Appeal Point: 'Even So' — Leadership, positive outlook, synergy

Better than he'd thought. No — better than what he'd been thinking….

Blankly reading through his stats, Hajin — unable to hide his own daze — hurried to open the stat windows for the others.

"Strongest guy, strongest guy…."

The stat windows for what Hajin considered the most 'ideal idol' and the most 'gifted idol' opened up.

label: Seo Taeil (Affiliated Group: Upia) Vocal: S- Dance: SS Expression: A- Charm: S Special: Melody (S) — Composing and producing abilities substantially boosted Appeal Point: 'Everything, in the Palm of My Hand!' — Leadership, charisma, stage command label: Seo Taehyun (Agency: Miro) Vocal: B+ Dance: A- Expression: A Charm: A Special: Enchantment (A) — Charm stat has a chance to temporarily boost Appeal Point: 'Eyes on Me, Eyes on Me!' — Vocal tone, dance line, stage expression

Next, the stats for the 'least idol-like idol.'

label: Lee Doha (Agency: Miro) Vocal: F Rap: S Dance: C Expression: B Charm: B+ Special: Melody (SS) — Composing and producing abilities substantially boosted Appeal Point: 'Strong Heart' — Delivery, on-stage composure, performance realization (80%)

Finally, he checked the stats for the 'hard-to-believe idol.'

label: Lee Yugeon (Agency: Miro) Debuff: Inherent trait causes all stats to drop Vocal: D (C+) Dance: B+ (S) Expression: C- (A-) Charm: D+ (B+) Special: Copy & Paste (B) — Chance to fully make an object of deep immersion one's own Appeal Point: 'There are still twelve ships remaining.' — Sense of responsibility, tenacity, deep immersion

Working through the comparisons — now laid out plain and clear — Hajin muttered, feeling strangely hollow.

"…I'm actually all right?"

"Haha." A laugh full of relief spilled out, and Hajin fell onto the bed like something had let go, closing his eyes.

"I'm all right."

That night, Hajin dreamed. Past memories, the same as always, smudged through the dream like paint.

But the Hajin in the dream no longer cried.