Cheongryeo

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## Cheongryeo

* Webtoon
* Webnovel

## General Informaton

### Alt Name Spellings

청려 (Hangul)
青黎 (Hanja)
Shin Jaehyeon
Shin Jaehyun
신재현 (Hangul)
申宰贤 (Hanja)

### First Appearance

Chapter 49 (Webnovel)
Episode 51 (Webtoon)

### Family

Mother
Dog (Kongi)

### Group Role(s)

Leader
Main Dancer

### Representation

Snow Leopard
🫐
🔨

### Autograph

**Cheongryeo (청려)** is the leader and main dancer of VTIC.

## Background

He is a regressor like Park Moondae. He, however, is not possessing a different body but is Cheongryeo himself and aren't able to see his status window nor his mission.

By repeating regressions without knowing the conditions to clear the missions he buried all values in 'VTIC's eternal success', and it seems that it has become close to an obsessive-compulsive disorder. It appears that the number of times he deliberately regressed by suicide is overwhelmingly higher than the number of deaths due to mission failure. Cheongryeo was suspicious of Park Moondae, who was a former participant of an idol survival show that everyone expected to fail but turned out to be a huge success, because Park Moondae's family history was at a convenient time released when he was accused of criminal misbehavior, which showed his innocence and won therefore the first place. Since Cheongryeo was convinced Park Moondae must also be a regressor he invited him as a guest on the variety show "Let's get to know each other" where he called him out in private.
The problem is, as mentioned above, if Cheongryeo is slightly unsatisfied with his situation, he has the obsession to turn the situation around by committing suicide again, but because he has already completed all the missions and can no longer regress he is thinking about trying to follow the reset by making Park Moondae fail his missions. He openly encouraged Moondae to commit suicide and deliberately attempted to use Moondae as a save point by creating a situation in which TeStar's reputation would be in danger.
Cheongryeo's abnormal status is calibration (Let's do it again!), whereas Park Moondae's is specified as 'death', so Moondae's death due to mission failure is highly likely to be a complete end. Because he provokes Park Moondae without knowing that the risk of his mission failure is different thus endangering Moondae's life, he is treated as the middle boss villain of the novel.
And the excuse made by Cheongryeo, who was blocked by Park Moondae for this incident, was "It's most comfortable to die at this timing."
Since then, Moondae blatantly avoids Cheongryeo thinking "This crazy madman must be handed over." Nonetheless he couldn't avoid him forever since they have the same job and Cheongryeo is Park Moondae's sunbae with a worldwide popularity. Thanks to that Moondae hoped that VTIC would win the Daesang so that there would be no reason for Cheongryeo to kill himself.
Later when the main vocalist, Bihan, is caught up in an incident that will lead to his social fallout, Cheongryeo lures Park Moondae to him under the guise of a filming program where he kidnaps Moondae.. Even if only Park Moondae regressed and he was left on the current timeline, the police investigation would not proceed to the extent that an idol had disappeared, so he thought the risk was small compared to the merit of returning together.
In the end attacked Park Moondae Cheongryeo and tied him up so wouldn't do any nonsense and revealed that he is possessing a different body. So even if he was to be killed, a regression would be impossible. He then explains that even if Cheongryeo would regress hundreds of times a 'perfect career' would be for an idol impossible. In the meantime, Cheongryeo apologized for the kidnapping with a recording and a photo, and a safety device to prevent a recurrence. With this Cheongryeo retires from the role as the novel's villain. After his fight with Moondae he lives a fairly easy life by putting down his obsession of a perfect career without any flaws, starting his personal activitiesand raising a dog . He remains apologetic in his heart and tries to help in his own way because of the blackmail on the recording, but whenever that happens Park Moondae asks if he got hit.
The TeStar members, who do not know about regression, but who do know that Cheongryeo kidnapped and assaulted Park Moondae, are also wary of Cheongryeo. If they have to attend an official event together with VTIC they would cover Moondae with their bodies by sitting between Cheongryeo and Moondae.
Since he has regressed many times, he has raised most of his stats to the limit of his potential, and his ability to coach others is excellent. He even gave enlightenment to Park Moondae, who then felt like he could reach the full potential of his current dancing stat. In other words not only are his stats good he also knows how to use them. He said that even though he practiced very hard on his vocals he felt limited in his singing abilities and therefore struggled immensely to find a suitable member to take over the position of main vocalist. Although B+, the vocal stats of Cheongryeo, can be considered high, there are plenty of people with higher vocal stats, so he can not really compete as "the group's vocal force".
In the parallel world created by the system, he agreed with Ryu Gunwoo's opinion that 'as soon as we debut, we win the Rookie of the Year Award together with the Daesang, see the ending, and return to reality'. Since then he has made his debut as "Wishze" through his agency's idol survival show.

## Appearance

Shin Jaehyun is a tall and handsome man with an athletic build. He is said to perfectly fit Leti's standard for his "cool and bleak" appearance. He often has a friendly smile and amicable attitude, but according to Cha Eugene, Cheongryeo gives out an aura that make Cha Eugene note that he is the "darkest thing" he ever met in his life.

## Personality

Cheongryeo presented himself as a perfect idol, with impeccable manners and reliable demeanors from the outside. In actuality, Cheongryeo is a perfectionist with a reset syndrome, due to his trauma in his first life when his group disbanded due to a series of incidents among the members and he couldn't satisfied with just merely being a successful idol. After repeating hundreds of loops, he managed to complete all missions and succeeded in surviving, but because of his extreme meticulousness, he would rather go back to the past to create a more successful future for VITC when he see a chance for a better deal and monitor his group very closely that most of them are his "Yes man". By repeating regressions without knowing the conditions to clear the missions he buried all values in "VTIC's eternal success", and it seems that it has become close to an obsessive-compulsive disorder. It appears that the number of times he deliberately regressed by suicide is overwhelmingly higher than the number of deaths due to mission failure.

Cheongryeo is a highly cautious person and makes plans for possible situations, he is quick to find solutions and ways to handle them efficiently, though his methods are either cold at best or twisted at worst. However, as mentioned, if Cheongryeo is slightly unsatisfied with his situation, he has the obsession to turn the situation around by committing suicide again, but because he has already completed all the missions and can no longer regress, it becomes an unexpected predicament and make him wary. It was an end to a pattern he used to and he thought about trying to follow the reset by making Park Moondae fail his missions. He openly encouraged Moondae to commit suicide and deliberately attempted to use Moondae as a save point by creating a situation that would be detrimental to TeStar's reputation.

He's prideful and seems to enjoy taunting others by choosing his words and doing things in a way that would incite his opponent's anger or annoyance, though he doesn't do it for fun most of the time because it usually poses as warning and challenge to the others. However, whether he admits it or not, he has yet to lose his humanity completely even considering how long he has lived and what he has done to get there, he still cares for people and things he loves in a way. Especially with his dog, Kongi, he was persuaded to adopt it again by Park Moondae after they somewhat resolved their hostility. He donated to the animal shelter and is good at handling dogs due to his time with Kongi, his dog is also something he is vulnerable with, and becomes very distraught when he thinks he might lose Kongi again.

## Status Window

 Dancing
 PhysicalAttractiveness
 Charm
 **Appraisal (A)** [CH 92]**Appraisal (S)** [CH 543] | That which is valuable is rare and there’s garbage everywhere you look.
 **Revision** [CH 92] (Deactivated)

## Alternate Timelines

* Wishze 'Reality'
	+ Aside from Ryu Gunwoo, he is the only person who have his original memory attached. He later joined LeTi's in-house survival show Wise and debuted as Wishze. At the end, it is revealed that he became the GM (Game Master) ever since he woke up in this 'reality'.

* Cheongryeo 101st Life
	+ 101th-Cheongryeo sees Park Moondae in form of Status Window and he calls him 'Help' after Moondae states that he's from the future and he can help him clear the status abnormalities given by the System. It's also mentioned that 101th-Cheongryeo had a hand in T-Holic's car accident that led to their disbandment in this timeline.

## Relationships

* Park Moondae: Cheongryeo and Park Moondae first started on a bad note. He first thought Park Moondae was suspicious and became convinced that the younger man is a regressor like himself after seeing Park Moondae's reaction to his "ghost story" on the variety show "Let's Get to know each other". Because of this belief and obsession with restarting for a better deal by committing suicide, Cheongryeo tries to make Park Moondae fail on his behalf since he has already completed all the missions and can no longer return to the past or restart. He either openly encouraged Park Moondae to commit suicide or tried to use Park Moondae as a save point by intentionally creating a situation that would be dangerous to TeStar's reputation. However, since Cheongryeo's status abnormality is "Correction (let's try again)", but Park Moondae's death is specified as "death", it is highly likely that Park Moondae's death due to mission failure is the complete end. To make Cheongryeo understand that a mission failure is not a return (restart) but a death (end), it is necessary to first reveal the fact that the mission and penalty are visible in the status window, but Park Moondae cannot afford to reveal everything he has to a crazy person with an obsessive-compulsive disorder. He hid it because he didn't know what the other reaction would be. He continued to provoke Park Moondae who by that point was trying to avoid him as much as possible to little success because they couldn't ignore each other when they're in the same division group in the same industry, and it is even more difficult because Cheongryeo is a long-time senior with worldwide popularity. Cheongryeo only shows mild embarrassment toward kidnapping Park Moondae under the pretense of filming a program and apologizes for it out of pity. He also didn't show much concern even if only Park Moondae returns or actually dies and he is left behind in the current timeline, the police investigation will not proceed with the disappearance of one idol. He thought the risk was small compared to the merit of returning together. However, after getting beaten up, tied up, and hit with the truth that Park Moondae is a possessor, not a regressor along with being told a common sense fact that it is impossible to get a perfect idol career, once the mission is over, reset is not a new opportunity, but an abandonment of the current life. Cheongryeo apologized for the kidnapping and accepted the threat of Park Moondae revealing his crime by recording and pictures, they reached an agreement to not expose each other for safety measures to prevent recurrence. With this, Cheongryeo retired from the villain position and did not antagonize TeStar from then on. Park Moondae dislikes the idea of Cheongryeo reaching out to him first, but if he needs help from him, he will contact Cheongryeo. Since the older man is the only one who knows about the missions Moondae uses him as a collaborator. Cheongryeo also obediently provides information and helps as payback for unjustifiedly causing problems for Park Moondae before and is willing to listen to the other man even when he's not in the right state of mind. Cheongryeo enjoys taunting and teasing Park Moondae, he also doesn't mind that Park Moondae's reaction can be harsh but he definitely finds it amusing that can rile the usually calm Park Moondae up, sometimes showing a more comfortable side to him around the other man perhaps because they have something in common as regressors. Cheongryeo usually acts the best person to cool Park Moondae's head down due to his cold rationality and can act like a reliable sunbae but his advice is often questionable at best. Currently, they share a frenemy relationship of sorts and can occasionally spend time around each other without involving business.

## Digression

* After the first conflict with Park Moondae is over, he seems to think of him as a funny hoobae to tease. They have something in common as "regressors", and it seems to be because he is the only person who can clearly see through Cheongryeo's intentions and work well with him as partners even when they don't necessarily trust each other. In addition, Park Moondae's reaction every time Cheongryeo taunted him is quite harsh but also comical.
* He probably already knows Park Moondae's preference for cute things. He often uses his dog, Kongi, to trick Park Moondae, and Park Moondae gets caught every time. From the narrative, it is presumed that Kongi's photos are being sent to Park Moondae periodically.
* Since his mother is a person with an Order of Cultural Merit, he only needs to serve six months of shortened military service. And with this, Park Moondae, who had been judged on active duty, cursed him early on.
* He's not good at acting.
* His favourite things are half-bath and his dog Kongi.
* Even in the middle of summer, he only drinks hot water.
* It is said that in his 9th or 10th life, he once called for a "status window".
* In the story, he is a character whose likes and dislikes are uniquely divided. Because he is a very mentally distorted person, his actions of helping himself often end up backstabbing both Park Moondae and the readers. When a problem arises, he pushes for what he thinks is the most efficient way to overcome the situation, but it is often difficult to accept it as a universal value because he is so used to believing that restarting is only beneficial.
* He was saved as [VTIC Cheongryeo-Sunbaenim] in Park Moondae's phone contacts, but from chapter 170, it was changed to [VTIC Cheongnyeo-Sunbaenim]. Many readers also call him by the nickname "Sincheongryeo".
* Coincidentally, he often appears in serials posted on Fridays (chapters 176, 276, 322, 449, etc.). He was nicknamed the "Friday Man". Writer Baek Deok-soo is very good at pacing the story and is especially good at cutting off crucial events at the beginning, on Fridays before the weekend. Cheongryeo is the person that Park Moondae is most alert to, so he appears frequently on Fridays and is active from Monday.
* His exact age has never been revealed, but considering the time of enlistment, he doesn't postponed for the sake of group longevity. It is estimated that he is 4 years older than Park Moon-dae.
* He enlisted as a language student. He was deployed to the JSA (Joint Security Area) Guard Battalion in Panmunjom, the northernmost part of the country, right in front of the ceasefire line.
* Starting from chapter 541, it was revealed that he had restarted more than 100 times.
* He remember the first stage he performed on.
* Ironically, even though he is a web novel character and is a regressor who has regressed hundreds of times, he has no interest in general subcultures such as webtoons, webnovels, internet communities, etc. Because of this, some readers call Cheongryeo a muggle.
* Because he is a well-written character, many readers choose VTIC or Cheongryeo as their favorites. The problem is that when the series passed its second half, episode 600, and a depiction of VTIC and Testa competing directly appeared, the serial manager asked, "Why is there no VTIC content?" It is said that the trolls who cause chaos in the comments have also started to run rampant. Ironically, even though Cheongryeo is a supporting character rather than the main character, the character and narrative are solid, so he is treated quite well as a well-liked character with good characterization.

## Quotes

* "I'm jealous" Cheongryeo --> Park Moondae (ch 93)
* "I want to know if I'm going to regress if you die." (ch 123)
* "Would you like to commit suicide?" Cheongryeo --> Park Moondae (ch 177)
* "I don't know. I really don't know. There were nights where I was so desperate that I cried and couldn't bear it, where I couldn't sleep. And after a time when I thought it wasn't going to come, I finally got here. I still don't know what kind of enlightenment the desperation of that time gave me. But now I have more feelings than that. Thank you. For keeping me from giving up." Cheongryeo's award acceptance speech --> audience (ch 195)
* "So every time... how annoying it is to find a sane youngster who sings well." Cheongryeo --> Park Moondae (ch 216)
* "Because people can't fix it. Remember that. It will be useful in the future." Cheongryeo --> Park Moondae (ch 232)
* "You said you couldn't restart. Then you should stay alive. That's a strange thing to say." Cheongryeo --> Park Moondae (ch 237)
* "Very specific, huh? How can you be so sure... It's fun." (ch 237)
* "Everything that Park Moondae has achieved is something you have achieved. Whether it's your body or not, it's your mind that's in your head, you created it." Cheongryeo --> Park Moondae (ch 318)
* "'Believe' doesn't mean 'understand'. ··· (Omitted) ··· Unless you have experienced the same, you can't relate to this unrealistic situation. That's why you have too high expectations, Junior." (ch 343)
* Failure did not go away. But life is not lost, even those built on failure. (ch 408)
* "Kongi, I'm back." Cheongryeo --> Kongi (ch 415)
* "Why don't you worry about yourself." (ch 434)
* "I'm going to do everything I can in the given situation." (ch 484)
* “I hope you take good care of Kong.” - Chapter 541
* "[The incarnation of an idol looks at you]" - Chapter 560
* “You quit after meeting your junior, right?” - Chapter 564
* “It’s a moment that will never come again, so we need to nurture it and use it well, with care and balance.” - Chapter 607

## Gallery

### Webnovel Illustration

#244#440 (with Park Moondae)
## References

1. ↑ Cheongryeo debuted at the age of 18. The year Moondae first meets him is VTIC's 8th year
2. ↑ However he is much older than that due to the amount of time he restarted, and if calculated that if he restart every 3 years throughout more than 100 restarts, his chronological age is possibly over three centuries old
3. ↑ An abandoned dog, the breed is a retriever mix
4. ↑ It is said that if you don't do something you feel like you have to do, you die.
5. ↑ For example, when another boy group released a mega-hit song, he went back to the past and bought the song from the composer so his group could instead release it. The current VTIC is also a composition created by Cheongryeo selecting members through multiple regressions.
6. ↑ He later revealed, that he had mistakenly thought that Park Moondae had to be a regressor because the statement came at such an opportune time that Park Moondae must have been manipulating the situation from behind the scenes
7. ↑ In order to prevent TeStar receiving the "Rookie of the Year Award" TeStar's Antis supported another rookie group called "Onyx" by saying "TeStar received a push from a large company and TeStar taking the "Rookie of the Year Award" is unfair". At this time, Cheongryeo deliberately posted a post on SNS to support Onyx, inciting the VTIC fandom to criticize TeStar. Cheongryeo knew that Park Moondae would die if he failed to win the the rookie award, but he did it thinking it wouldn't be a problem since he could just restart.
8. ↑ Here it is revealed how broken Cheongryeo's mental state is. He only thinks of being forced to commit suicide as 'a rather embarrassing request', and it is mentioned that he has already had many experiences of kidnapping and confining others in this way in previous chapters. No matter what he does, if he resets, the opponent won't remember, and even if he kills them, they will come back to life. However, seeing that Cheongryeo always expresses regression as 'restart', it can be seen that he regards death as 'an opportunity to do it again' rather than the end. In other words, because he has lived a life in which death + regression is perceived as a game retry, even death has become a means to an end.
9. ↑ VTIC has never done solo activities in its 8 years. It seems that Cheongryeo was blocking solo activities, fearing that they would lose popularity due to neglect of the group.
10. ↑ The dog was brought in from an animal rescue shelter. The name is Kongi, the breed is a retriever mix with yellow fur.
11. ↑  Park Moondae dislikes the idea of Cheongryeo reaching out to him first, but if he needs help from him, he contacts him Cheongryeo. Since he is the only one who knows about the missions Moondae uses him as a collaborator. Cheongryeo also obediently provides information and helps.
12. ↑ Lee Sejin and Bae Sejin
13. ↑ Choi Wongil had the vocal stat A during ICorp and TeStar's main vocalist, Park Moondae, has a S vocal stat and the lead vocalist, Ryu Cheonwoo, has the vocal stat A (S-). Bihan the former main vocalist of VTIC, who was selected by Cheongryeo, has the vocal stat A-.
14. ↑ Like how Moondae saw Big Moon
15. ↑ To prevent TeStar from winning the Rookie of the Year award, he took advantage of a group of anti-TeStar that compared them to another rookie group "Onyx" and tried to sway public opinion by saying, "TeStar, which had the backing of a large company, unfairly took away the Rookie of the Year award". At this time, Cheongryeo intentionally posted a post supporting Onyx on social media, encouraging the aggro in VTIC fandom and creating a situation where TeStar was criticized. Even though Cheongryeo knew that if Park Moondae failed to win the Rookie of the Year award, he would die, he did it because he thought it wouldn't be a problem since Park Moondae could just start over
16. ↑ Their situation is like two sides of the same coin, Cheongryeo can't see the status window, but he can infinitely retry, while Park Moondae can see the status window, but he cannot retry
17. ↑ In fact, before Park Moondae appeared, even after being freed from the mission, Cheongnyeo experienced the aftereffects of numerous resets and lost the meaning of life other than success, but with Park Moondae around to be someone he could easily talk to, it was new sort of entertainment for him. Just looking at the KakaoTalk conversation between the two, it is clear that Cheongryeo having fun as he gently teases and riles up Park Moondae, who pretends to be calm on the outside but grinds his teeth on the inside.
18. ↑ Every time Park Moondae sees Kongi, he strokes the dog reflexively and without even caring about the saliva got on him, so it's even weirder that the viewer doesn't notice
19. ↑ Ryu Gunwoo finished community service before returning and has to go to the military once more as Park Moondae.
20. ↑ It was mentioned in the comments of "Let's Get to know each other", in which he appeared with Park Moondae.
21. ↑ When Park Moondae asked him to say status window, he burst into laughter.
22. ↑ While the favorable side praises the "complex and multifaceted character" built through Cheongryeo's background, the unfavorable side evaluates him as a "villain pretending to be an ally" who judges everything by his own standards
23. ↑ According to the current law, postponement of enlistment is possible until the year of turning 28, but there is a mention that even though postponement of enlistment date is possible with the Order of Cultural Merit
24. ↑ “Consistency is the most important thing in learning a foreign language, and it was an environment where I could do it consistently.” (Chapter 528)
25. ↑ The first person he reveal that he was a regressor to is Judan. At that time, Judan ran away, and Cheongryeo was so heartbroken that he did not reveal to anyone that he was "restarting" after that. However, in chapter 558, it is revealed that Judan did not run away because he did not trust Cheongryeo, but because he knew Shin Jaehyun too well. Judan's thinking order is like this: "An extremely realistic person says this" = "This life is a failure and he is on the verge of a reset" = "He might try to silence me or kill me because they don't like the answer he will give" → "Running for survival".
26. ↑ “The first performance was special. I still remember it.” (Chapter 390)
27. ↑ For example, he prefers his regression as "reset" or "restart", and what Park Moondae calls a "status window", Cheongryeo calls "profile". Also, he doesn't understand the way of thinking of Judan, who is an otaku.
28. ↑ It is unrealistic that a male idol group, which has passed the contract renewal period, passed their prime, and suffered a major accident, continues to be portrayed as number one even after leaving the military. This buff was received when the author described him as a very capable rival character who engages in a friendly competition with the protagonist, rather than a mid-boss who can be thrown away once and for all, but as a "former worldview powerhouse" in the idol industry.
29. ↑  Upon hearing this, Park Moondae thought that it was strange that he was unreasonably reprimanded by this weirdo.