22 years old.
The boy who once couldn’t even ride the subway alone without his mother’s hand was now completely alone.
Ha Jeban loved acting.
He started acting because he loved it.
Though his family was poor, his supportive parents allowed him to start working as an actor, and gradually, their house began to get bigger.
Ha Jeban never thought of himself as unhappy. Both his parents were alive, and they loved him.
He thought he would continue being happy like that.
They had almost paid off their debts, and now both his mother and father always smiled.
Seventeen years old.
His father died in a car accident.
During the funeral, his mother cried her heart out, but Ha Jeban couldn’t cry.
He was sad, but he managed to endure.
His precious mother was still by his side, and he was by hers.
He said that once they finished paying off the debts, the two of them would live happily, even making up for his father’s share.
That spring, at the age of twenty, he decided to reduce his schedule and spend more time with his mother.
That’s when his mother told him she had cancer.
Stage four.
When he heard that, Ha Jeban couldn’t help but blame himself.
Even so, he didn’t lose hope.
He thought that with treatment, she could live at least a bit longer.
He spent the whole year with his mother, but before even a year had passed, she died.
To be honest, he felt a bit wronged.
All he wanted was to act happily, pay off their debts, and, like others, travel with his family and spend lots of time together. Looking around, it felt like he was the only one left unhappy. It seemed like everyone else was living happily. Being loved and cheered on… just like that.
So Ha Jeban retired. He couldn’t act in that world any longer.
He wasted a whole year alone.
After giving up all happiness, all he had left was his own body, so at 22, Ha Jeban decided to go to America.
In that country where he had no memories or ties, he studied English hard, took part in plays, and dreamed that one day he would overcome everything and live as an actor again.
The day he resolved to move forward for a new start, Ha Jeban died.
He can’t remember the reason. Maybe it was an accident.
As if there really was such a thing as reincarnation, he thought he might be born again, but when he opened his eyes, he was back in the body of his 15-year-old self.
“…….”
Tears fell silently.
The joy of acting again, and the fear of losing precious people all over again hit him at the same time, leaving him unable to figure out what to do.
A status window appeared.
[For regressors with clear objectives, our Regressor Survival System does not provide quests.]
[This system is merely another chance given to you. Please use this opportunity as you wish.]
[However, if your choices render the regression system’s purpose meaningless, the system may intervene.]
[Regressor, walk the path you desire. A new path will open before you.]
A second chance given to him.
A life where neither his father nor his mother had died yet.
He paid off all the debts first.
From then on, he lived five years to change the future.
He persuaded his father not to get involved in business or driving, and thus passed the age of seventeen safely.
Thanks to requesting more extensive checkups during the yearly health exams, they detected his mother’s tumor before it became cancer and treated it.
After that, Ha Jeban went everywhere with his manager, and his mother rested at home.
Then spring came, and he turned twenty once again.
“Haha.”
No one died. Misfortune was avoided. He had his family. He could still act.
The system explained that a regressor loses their regression memories once they surpass the original point of death. However, if a regressor didn’t receive a quest, they could choose whether to erase their memories after resolving the incident they most wanted to change, and most people chose to erase them. But Ha Jeban did not erase his.
Because the times he’d felt unhappy were the reason he could exist as he was now.
[Regressor, your choice has changed the future.]
[The Regressor Survival System will always support your new life!]
[Thank you for everything.]
[The Regressor Survival System will now shut down automatically.]
After the shutdown message, the system window never appeared again.
Once his body and mind found peace, he finally began to notice the world around him.
Then, one person caught his eye.
…Jeon Yeohoo.
Where did actor Jeon Yeohoo go?
Before regression, he’d bumped into Jeon Yeohoo a few times as a child actor at the broadcasting station. Just passing encounters, so there’s no way Jeon Yeohoo would remember him.
But in this life, he hadn’t seen Jeon Yeohoo acting or even hanging around the station.
‘By now… he’d be twenty-five.’
Jeon Yeohoo had suddenly disappeared from the scene around this time in his previous life.
Ha Jeban was a fan of his acting.
If it was this life, if he could live a little longer, wouldn’t he be able to act with him?
That’s what he’d thought…
But this time, Jeon Yeohoo was nowhere to be seen.
He was curious.
When he saw Jeon Yeohoo debut in the TAM commercial, he was honestly shocked.
Because in the world he knew, Jeon Yeohoo had never appeared in a TAM commercial.
Jeon Yeohoo wasn’t living the life of the actor he remembered.
It was like he’d regressed once, too.
‘Just like me…’
Once that thought occurred to him, Ha Jeban began to suspect, ‘Could Jeon Yeohoo have regressed too?’ He never imagined he’d meet him at .
***
“So, you suspected me from the start?”
“You were the only one acting differently from the future I knew, senior. Of course, there could be another regressor I don’t know about somewhere else.”
“Then . Did you know I’d join?”
Ha Jeban shook his head urgently.
“No way. Meeting in was pure coincidence. Of all the projects I could have joined at this time, I knew would do best, so I stole the role from Lee Jaeho. Didn’t you do the same?”
“That’s true.”
How much of this should I believe?
There’s no contradiction.
If he’d regressed and already changed the past he wanted to, it wasn’t illogical to suspect that someone else who’d changed the future might also be a regressor.
But to have no goal in his regression—does that make sense?
Even I got some weird reverse quest.
But for someone with a quest, he’s acting… almost too naïve.
People who receive quests wouldn’t casually talk to others about regression.
I know that better than anyone who’s received one.
Unless he isn’t just naïve…
“Then why did you approach me as if you knew me?”
“That, uh…”
“Don’t say it was just because. You don’t seem that stupid.”
At that, Ha Jeban shrank back to an awkward early-twenty-something kid. He ruffled his hair and bowed his head, muttering softly.
“I was lonely…”
“What?”
“I was lonely…”
…
“That can’t be the real reason, can it?”
“It’s true! It was really hard for those five years. Mom and Dad both wondered why I was so extreme, but I knew the whole future.”
Both of you would die, you know.
“But I couldn’t tell anyone, and I knew everything alone. At first, it was all so good, but honestly, I don’t know what to do anymore. And there’s no one around to talk to about this. I even thought about posting on a forum, but people would just think I’m whining. Everyone else had dangerous goals where they might die if they failed, but I… I had nothing at all.”
“So you came to me?”
Ha Jeban nodded.
“Today, hearing Lee Jaeho’s name mentioned, I was sure. My contract with my current agency is ending soon, and I’ll have to sign with a new one, but the idea of an unknown future isn’t so easy to handle now, and it scares me. If you’re a regressor, you might know a future I don’t…”
So basically, you won’t be renewing with your current agency,
But you’re scared to make the next decision, and you have no one to ask,
So you came to ask me.
‘If he thinks of me as a fellow regressor, maybe it makes him feel closer.’
Call it innocent if you want, or just call it dumb.
If he had posted, ‘I want to make friends with fellow regressors. You won’t betray me, right?’ on the regressor message board—
– Haven’t you thought of that at all?
– Not all regressors are good people.
– Everyone fends for themselves. Why act familiar?
That’s the kind of comments he’d get for sure.
But that’s how people are.
If you haven’t experienced it yourself, you can’t know someone’s anxieties.
He regressed at just 22, and he’s only 20 now.
They say twenty is old enough to take responsibility for yourself, but I never thought so.
Now that I think about it, even by the time I was 35, I didn’t know what I was doing wrong.
…Why not? Some people just don’t know.
Even if people say—
No.
Back to the point.
“So, do you think I’m a good person? Good enough to tell me all this?”
“Did I do something wrong?”
“Who knows.”
Until you experience something for yourself, you don’t know what you’ll do.
If you claim to know how you’ll react to something you haven’t experienced, you’re either wrong or just immature.
No one can be levelheaded all the time, and people always act differently than they plan.
Because no one’s perfect.
Can anyone, at any age, handle something perfectly the first time?
Adults seem like they don’t make mistakes just because there are fewer firsts and they’ve fixed the things they were criticized for. If someone lectures you as if they’ve always been perfect, you’re better off avoiding them. That’s the advice of my 35-year-old self.
As I said nothing, Ha Jeban anxiously watched me.
“Um…”
I can’t claim to truly understand the heart of a child who lost his parents, died at 22, and then returned to being 15, nor do I ever intend to. But I could at least sense why he tried to talk to me.
‘He must’ve felt like he was grasping at straws.’
I just stared at Ha Jeban for a long while.
He rolled his eyes, then bowed his head again.
Did he finally realize something?
“What. Got something else to say?”
“I’m sorry. Honestly, I just talked to you because we’re both regressors, and I could erase my memories if I wanted, so you can just forget everything.”
“You can really erase them? You can’t talk to the system anymore, right?”
“…Y-Yeah, that’s true.”
Where did the confidence go—now he’s just a pitiful kid.
“Ha… The way you say it makes me sound like a bad guy.”
“Huh?”
“Am I going to eat you or something?”
Ha Jeban blinked his big eyes.
“If you remember everything from before regression, you must know all about my reputation too. How I was famous for being heartless.”
It’s a pity I died too early to have any memories worth asking about.
“A-a little… But since I died at 22, I don’t know that much…”
“So you do know. Yet you still talked to me?”
“I’m sorry…”
He hung his head even lower.
I could see right through his thoughts.
He’s probably thinking, ‘I shouldn’t have said anything—he really is like his reputation.’
‘It’s a miracle he talked to me at all, knowing my pre-regression rumors.’
I stood up and ruffled his hair.
He looked up at me with startled rabbit eyes.
He’s really just a kid, a kid.
I can’t grill a kid like this about regression, the system, or anything.
Probably wouldn’t help anyway.
“You should count yourself lucky. You’re the first brat who’s ever come to me directly and asked for help, so that’s why I’m helping.”
To be honest, that’s a lie. The real reason is, now that I’ve met another regressor, maybe helping this guy will lower my own chances of dying. In other words, it’s not from the kindness of my heart. Besides, maybe there’s something he remembers that’ll be useful within the next three years.
Doesn’t seem like it yet, though.
“Sit next to me at the afterparty. I’ll give you our manager’s number then, so contact him. I’ll take care of the rest.”
“You’ll take care of it…?”
“You said you need to sign a contract. Sign with our company. It’s a good place.”
“…”
“I’m guaranteeing it as a regressor, you punk.”
Ha Jeban would have been out of the industry like Lee Youngbin if things had gone as before,
But now he got another chance and came to me again, didn’t he?
If the system didn’t foresee this, my own limited lifespan might change, too.
“If you get it, just say ‘yes.’”
“Uh…”
“Not going to?”
“Yes! Yes, hyung!”
Well, guess I just gained a loyal underling.
***
Ha Jeban came after me, swinging a black plastic bag full of hangover jelly.
“But hyung. Is it okay if I call you hyung?”
“You’re already calling me that, aren’t you?”
“Then, hyung.”
“What.”
“I didn’t get to ask before, but how old were you after you regressed? The timing of your debut seems off compared to before. Did your past change when you regressed?”
Look at those sparkling eyes.
He’s just looking for a chance to act like a senior regressor, all mischievous intentions shining right through his eyes, and I can practically hear his eyes rolling.
“No, zero years old. I regressed with no memories.”
“Eh. Liar.”
“It’s true. Why? Planning to act like a senior regressor if I regressed later than you?”
“That’s… not it. But then why was your debut late? Was your quest to become a national actor or something? That’s the usual quest, right? That’s what most people talk about on the message board.”
No need to tell him what my quest was.
“Yeah. Something like that. My late debut was just for personal reasons.”
When I brushed it off, Ha Jeban seemed to notice I didn’t want to talk, so he quickly changed the subject.
“Oh, then in this life I’m your senior as an actor?”
Again. His eyes change.
He’s found something to tease me with, all excited.
“Ha Jeban sunbaenim~ Would you like to try saying that?!”
“You want to die before your twenty-second birthday in this life, too?”
Yeah, yeah…
Raising a brat is always like this.