Grab the Regressor by the Collar and Debut!

Chapter 342. Admiration and Salvation (1)

I had always known that Joo Eunchan attracted a lot of strange fans.

A cliché cold beauty with black hair, yet innocent and untarnished by the world, born into a wealthy family, and diligent on top of being talented.

Even I knew that those were the perfect conditions to drive people mad. But still—

‘That doesn’t mean he deserves to go through this.’

The gift box, toppled over on the waiting room floor, looked like the remains of a terrible monster. Perfume, keychains, small plush toys, and bookmarks—everything in the box was something Joo Eunchan liked. The affection poured into those gifts was clear, but now, so was his dark red blood, staining them.

‘A sasaeng? An anti-fan? A stalker? Or maybe it’s another fan disguised as one of Eunchan’s antis? No, it could be that bastard Dolja again…’

The letter sticking out from the pile of gifts was repulsive. Only a short while ago, we had decided not to accept any support besides fan letters. So how did this thing end up here in the waiting room? As I pondered this, I suddenly remembered: today was Joo Eunchan’s birthday.

Kairos only accepts fan support on members’ birthdays.

So, on his birthday, Joo Eunchan received a glass box full of malicious intent as a present.

‘But when? Where? Who? Could it be from one of the staff or employees? Or maybe it was handed to him earlier on our way in? If it was something like that, it might actually be better. At least it would narrow down who gave it, and we could catch the bastard and hand them over to the police or the company….’

Countless thoughts overlapped, clouding my mind. Thirteen’s notifications flashed before my eyes, warning me about something, but I couldn’t focus on that.

I felt like I was sinking into a sea of thoughts, about to drown, when a large, warm hand suddenly grounded me.

“Kang Hajin.”

“…….”

“Get a grip.”

The owner of the hand was Lee Doha, locking eyes with me with his dark, intense gaze. His firm voice jolted me out of my panic, and for the first time, I could hear the commotion around me. Only then did I realize how lost I had been just moments ago.

In a calm voice, Lee Doha asked, “Do you even remember what you were doing just now?”

“…No.”

As if expecting this, Doha let out a small sigh and adjusted his grip on my wrist. He pressed two fingers to the inside of my wrist, as though checking my pulse.

“Breathe.”

“What?”

“Breathe. You’re not even breathing properly right now.”

And just like that, I started to breathe.

After matching my breath to Doha’s signals five times, I finally regained some semblance of rational thought. While I calmed down, Doha explained what had happened.

“You called Hyung Wook earlier and told him what was going on. He took Eunchan and Taehyun to the hospital. Siwoo just got a call—Eunchan had to get a few stitches because his palm was cut pretty deep…. Taehyun and Haru were really shaken up, so they’re both resting with IV drips too.”

“…What about the fansign?”

“The company announced a one-hour delay. Everyone wanted to cancel, but… Eunchan insisted it couldn’t be canceled.”

“In this situation, he’s still thinking about the fansign? Is he out of his mind?”

I snapped at Doha, the anger in my voice a result of my still-frayed nerves. Realizing I was taking it out on the wrong person, I shut my mouth quickly. Doha, however, remained calm, gripping my wrist tightly to keep me steady.

“I know it’s hard to stay calm right now, but you need to. The more people who can keep their heads in moments like this, the better.”

His words, delivered in that typical T-style, worked surprisingly well this time.

I gave a small nod of acknowledgment, and Doha sat me down on a nearby couch. Across from me sat Lee Yugeon, who seemed just as shocked, glancing at me nervously. He was probably just as shaken, yet seeing him worry about my reaction made me realize how much of a mess I must have looked.

“…I’m not going to bite. Don’t look so worried.”

“…….”

Normally, Yugeon would have made a snarky remark, but this time, he just nodded silently. Now that my head was clear, I scanned the waiting room again. It looked like the police had already been called, as Jung Siwoo was at the door, talking to officers in uniform.

As I sat there, reviewing the situation calmly, I suddenly stood up. Without saying a word, I brushed past Yugeon, Doha, and even the officers talking to Jung Siwoo at the door.

My destination? The rookie security guard who was still standing in the hallway, trying to look like he was doing his job.

“Hey.”

“…Yes?”

“You know something about this, don’t you? About what’s happening right now.”

“……I’m not sure what you mean….”

“Earlier, you were about to say something. You stopped because your supervisor was there.”

I wasn’t afraid to call him out for looking to his supervisor for permission earlier, because that supervisor wasn’t around now. If this rookie had seen something but stayed silent to protect his job, that meant he had swallowed the truth to protect his paycheck.

I wasn’t going to blame him for that—this industry was small and cutthroat, and I understood that everyone had to look out for themselves. But—

“Sooner or later, they’re going to check the CCTV, and when this gets out, the world will know that your team messed up so badly that this happened. Do you want to wait until then to get cut loose, or are you going to help us catch whoever did this? If you cooperate now, our company might stay quiet.”

“…….”

“Don’t you get it? If you give a proper statement, we won’t sue your company or release articles about your security failure.”

I wasn’t going to let these people ruin my group to protect their own careers.

Without any regard for courtesy, I stared down the rookie security guard. I knew this was rude, but I didn’t have the luxury of caring about that right now.

“I’ll… talk.”

Finally, the rookie security guard nodded. From the corner of my eye, I saw Jung Siwoo and the police approaching, probably curious about what was going on.

Meanwhile, upstairs, where the fansign was supposed to be held, I could hear the chatter and singing of fans.

Could the culprit be among them?

Were they aware of what had happened downstairs?

What were they thinking about the one-hour delay?

And if we went through with the fansign now, would I be able to meet them with a genuine smile?

If we kept quiet about what happened and faced the fans as if nothing were wrong,

And if I failed to keep up appearances and showed them how I was really feeling,

Would they leave words of concern, or would they post messages of disappointment?

‘…This sucks.’

No matter how much I’d experienced, I still had no answers when it came to the minds of fans.

For some reason, today, these devoted, enthusiastic, and sometimes selfishly demanding fans… felt just a little too overwhelming.

—

The security guard gave his statement to the police, recounting exactly what he had seen.

He had noticed someone disguised as a staff member, carrying a gift box, enter the waiting room. Since the person hadn’t been on the staff list, the rookie had hesitated but let them pass without questioning them.

Fortunately, his description of the suspect was detailed, and he had witnessed the key moment when the suspect had the dangerous object. With this, he became an important witness.

Luckily, the hallway had CCTV, and the staff entrance automatically logged every entry. The police assured us that identifying the culprit wouldn’t take long.

‘We’ve done everything we can for now.’

Hyung Wook repeatedly asked the police to keep everything confidential until the suspect was caught.

There was a chance that the press had already caught wind of this, but since the victim was Joo Eunchan, we were fairly confident they wouldn’t act rashly. The incident with Joo Eunseok had JDZ’s legal team dancing on a knife’s edge.

And now, what remained for us was…

“I’ll do it. It’s just my left hand that’s hurt! I can still do it.”

“It’s not about your hand right now, Eunchan… Sigh….”

“You said the culprit isn’t among the fans here, right? They’ve been waiting for an hour. We can’t just send them away.”

…Joo Eunchan, who was still trembling yet stubbornly insisting that the fansign had to go on. Hyung Wook, rubbing his forehead in frustration, was trying to persuade him.

“I’m not saying we should cancel it completely…. Of course, the fans who came today will be compensated. We could always reschedule another fansign….”

“Some fans can only make it today. There are Destis who traveled here from out of town just for this. Some probably spent hundreds of thousands of won just for a chance. If my hyungs are okay with it, I want to do it.”

I knew Eunchan was stubborn, but today he was particularly immovable. I had no idea what to do in this situation, so I stayed quiet. But then, a voice came from an unexpected place.

“Just let him do it.”

“……?”

“Let him touch the fire and burn himself. He wants to feel it

firsthand, so let him get burned.”

It was Dan Haru, who had thrown all pretense of being a ‘sparkling’ idol out the window, speaking in his usual bratty tone.

“What? Hey, Haru, what are you—”

“He’s insisting he can go out like that, so let him. Whether he freezes up in front of the fans and can’t say a word, or whether the hidden culprit pulls off another attack, let him deal with the consequences.”

Despite his harsh tone, Haru’s expression looked sad.

So those cruel words must have been his way of expressing concern, his frustration at not being able to do anything for Eunchan. The way he had clung to my arm earlier, pale-faced, and followed Eunchan to the hospital to make sure he was treated—it was clear that whether he was in his ‘sparkling’ or rebellious mode, Haru genuinely cared about Eunchan.

‘His way of showing it just sucks.’

And from personal experience, I knew that this kind of behavior usually led to trouble sooner or later.

Like when Jung Siwoo had finally snapped at my constant deception, or when Seo Taehyun confronted Lee Yugeon’s defiance, or…

“…Why.”

“…….”

“Why do you have to say it like that?”

…just like now, as Joo Eunchan stood in front of Haru, for the first time, his face hard and serious.

‘Ah, fuck. This is such a headache.’

Sparkling, I miss you.

This was one of those moments where I desperately longed for our endless optimism and sunny youngest member.