1st in Class Hides Regression - Chapter 10

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Ranked 1st in School While Hiding Her Regression
Episode 10
‘So you’re planning to trade me in for him now?’
To Seo Jae-gyeom’s barbed question, I gave him exactly one answer.
‘Why would that concern you?’
I mean, it’s true.
Whether I date Jung Eun-seong or Jang Woo-san — what business is it of yours, Seo Jae-gyeom?
* * *
“Good grief.”
Today had been endlessly long.
First, there was him stalking me all morning, then my dark history surfacing, and during lunch in the cafeteria, getting into it with a school delinquent.
Fifth period drained what was left of me thanks to Seo Jae-gyeom’s running commentary from the desk next to mine.
After I’d answered his “So you’re trading up?” with “Why would that concern you?” he’d stopped talking, but every time Jung Eun-seong and I ended up near each other after that, something flickered across his face — something strange.
He seemed to think that because I’d dumped him, I was now parading around in front of him with another guy just to prove a point.
That I was using Jung Eun-seong to manufacture some jealousy play against him.
The more I thought about it, the more I realized Seo Jae-gyeom had his own blind spots — more than a little self-absorbed.
Eighteen years of life lived almost entirely as the popular guy probably did that to you.
“If I actually had the charisma to drag Jung Eun-seong into some jealousy scheme, I’d have seduced you already, Seo Jae-gyeom.”
Muttering this to myself, I turned down the alley that led to my neighborhood.
Lunch had been followed by fifth, sixth, seventh period, and homeroom.
I’d spent the entire afternoon on edge, half-expecting Song Yeor-eum to hunt me down between classes and drag me to the restroom or grab my hair, but thankfully nothing like that happened.
She hadn’t even been waiting by the front gate to ambush me when school let out.
Still, I kept my guard up on the way home, scanning all directions — ready to ditch my bag and run if needed.
While waiting for the walk signal at the crosswalk, I pulled up my smartphone’s notepad and started mapping out my study plan for the coming weeks.
“First I need to figure out where the gaps are in math, then work through it section by section. For Korean and English, it’s just about drilling the problem-solving patterns…….”
“Hey! Da-hye! Kang Da-hye!”
“Oh? Ah… hello.”
“School’s out already?”
“Yes.”
The one calling me was a cluster of older women gathered on plastic chairs in front of the Beauty Shop.
Towels wrapped around their hair in dusty gray, the sharp chemical smell wafting over from the salon. Scattered across the table were lipstick-stained paper cups, stale snacks, dried squid.
“Schools letting out early these days?”
It wasn’t until the woman spoke again that I placed her.
The Villa Landlady.
‘I didn’t even recognize her for a second.’
You’ve gotten so much younger, ma’am.
“Did you just do your hair?”
“Yeah, touched up the gray. Figured I’d get a neck massage while I was at it~.”
“Are you having coffee?”
“Coffee? No, soju! Want a glass, Da-hye?”
“My goodness, nothing stops you!”
The Beauty Shop Ajumma next to her smacked the landlady’s shoulder, laughing.
“Don’t drink that stuff when you grow up, Da-hye — it’s nasty! You’ll get fat!”
‘I’ve already tried plenty of it.’
Swallowing the retort I couldn’t quite make, I accepted one squid leg from her.
The Villa Landlady would head down to the countryside around five years from now, claiming she needed to help raise her granddaughter, and would become harder to see — but for now, she was the neighborhood’s central hub of information.
There was no person, no rumor she didn’t know about, and with that voice of hers, getting on her bad side meant trouble.
For reference, when this woman found out I was Ranked 1st in School during my first year, you know what she said?
‘Good grades? None of that matters. Without believing in Jesus, you’re headed straight to hell.’
And when my mental state collapsed after getting grabbed by some random grandfather and I bombed the College Entrance Exam, what did she tell me?
‘Overcome it through prayer. The Lord arranged this differently for you, Da-hye…….’
“So, heading home?”
“Yes. I’m going to eat and then head to the library.”
“You kids don’t do night self-study anymore? My daughter used to eat at school and come home after eleven.”
“Oh, Ji-eun’s mother! Kids don’t do that anymore these days. These days they go to cafes and order Strawberry Yogurt Blended drinks while they study, Strawberry Yogurt Blended.”
“What? Strawberry Yogurt Blended? What’s that?”
“I know! It’s a strawberry yogurt blended drink!”
“My goodness! What’s that all about!”
“Hehe! Surprised us!”
“Haha… I’m making my exit….”
I backed away from the growing commotion, squeezing past the cluster of ajummas.
“Hey, Da-hye! That cardboard trash by the utility pole isn’t from you guys, right?! If it stays there, nobody’s gonna take it!”
“No, it’s not ours~.”
“If you happen to see who it was, tell me, okay? Please!”
“Yes~.”
I quickened my pace and slipped into the familiar villa.
“God, I’m starving.”
I’d skipped lunch and my stomach was making its displeasure known.
I dumped my school bag carelessly on the floor and made for the kitchen, opening the refrigerator.
But.
“There’s nothing to eat.”
All that was inside was kimchi with just the broth left and a jar of gochujang barely clinging to the bottom. I was about to make do with that anyway, but there wasn’t a grain of rice in the house.
“Should’ve bought some instant noodles.”
But after fifth period ended, I’d spent my last ten thousand won on chocolate milk with Ji-su at the campus store.
I peered into the refrigerator as it made that strange whining noise, then closed it and shouldered my bag again.
“I’ll have to go eat at Mom’s shop.”
My mother, who used to work as a maid at Seo Jae-gyeom’s house when I was little, now runs a small Kimbap & Tteokbokki shop with three tables in the market.
‘The lady could be a bit temperamental, but she’s a good person. When I told her my back was hurting and I needed to quit, she even gave me my severance pay. That’s how I was able to open the shop.’
Those were my mother’s words, and she still called Seo Jae-gyeom’s mother “ma’am.”
For the record, neither Seo Jae-gyeom nor I have fathers.
Mine left when I was small, and as for his—well, he’s probably back at his hometown by now.
“I’ll carefully ask for just ten thousand won. For a problem book.”
I muttered to myself about how nice it must’ve been to earn my own money in college, then stepped into the market entrance.
Just one more block from here and we’d be at my middle school.
That’s why all my middle school classmates knew that Kang Da-hye was the daughter of the tteokbokki shop owner.
I’d run into them at the shop from time to time.
Before the regression, I’d been so embarrassed by it that I’d rather starve than ever go to the shop to eat, but now? What was the big deal?
‘Why wouldn’t I go? The tteokbokki is delicious.’
Spicy wheat rice cakes and glass noodles, with sesame sprinkled on top, served with those sweet rice cake tteokbokki—order some blood sausage too and dip it in the broth, and it’s honestly the most delicious thing in the world. You should really try it!
“Mom!”
I pushed open the worn metal door that looked more like the entrance to a grain mill than a proper shop.
“Mom, I’m he—what?”
My cheerful greeting died in my throat.
The small shop was in complete chaos.
As if a table had tipped over and scattered everything, tteokbokki and blood sausage, cola cans and eggs were rolling across the floor, and kimbap filling had spilled everywhere.
Green plastic plates wrapped in vinyl and foam bowls lay overturned beneath the tables.
Broth had splattered all the way up the wall.
In the middle of it all, my mother lay sprawled on the floor, gathering up the spilled tteokbokki and kimbap with her bare hands.
“Oh, my daughter’s here?”
Seeing me, my mother rose awkwardly, wiping her hands on her apron.
“Are you okay, Mom? Are you hurt?”
I quickly grabbed the tissue box from a nearby table and hurried over.
“What happened? Did you drop something?”
“No, a customer had their leg stretched out under the table and I didn’t see it—here, I’ll handle it. Just sit down.”
“Why are you using your bare hands? Stop, let me get the mop.”
“It’s fine. My hands are faster. I wasn’t paying attention…”
“Mom, you’re going to burn your hands doing that!”
I was trying to stop my mother as she pressed her hands into the steaming broth when—
“Excuse me, ajumma, where’s our tteokbokki? How much longer do we have to wait?”
A sharp voice cut down from above, landing over my mother and me as we crouched there.
At the same moment, a pristine white sneaker stepped directly onto the rice cake my mother had been picking up.
A black footprint appeared on the spicy red-coated wheat cake.
“Oh no, the shoe got dirty. Ajumma, wipe it here first for me, would you?”
“And give us some wet wipes too.”
Click.
At the same instant, the faint sound of a camera shutter.
They’d heard it themselves—I caught the slight snicker of barely stifled laughter.
I lifted my head slowly.
Three figures sitting at the table directly in front of where my mother and I crouched.
Familiar uniforms. Hair curled with a hair straightener during break, hair rollers fastened to the foreheads. Faces I hadn’t quite registered until now.
“She caught on, I think.”
“Of course she did, you idiot. That camera click was loud as anything.”
“God, this is hilarious. Da-hye’s mother literally kneeled in front of us.”
“Check out her nails. She’s got dirt under them, it’s gross, I’m going to puke.”
It was Song Yeor-eum and her friends.
One of Song Yeor-eum’s followers—the same girl who’d warned me I’d end up on High Teen Parents if I kept living like this—held up her cellphone screen to show Song Yeor-eum.
“This is so funny. Look at this. The photo came out so stupid.”
“Whatever—my shoes, though! How am I supposed to—the broth got all over them!!!!! If I have to buy new ones, I’d need to sell this whole shop and it still wouldn’t be enough!”
Song Yeor-eum stomped back and forth through the spilled broth on the floor.
Some of it splattered up into her eyes.
Our eyes met, and Song Yeor-eum burst into laughter.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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