1st in Class Hides Regression - Chapter 100

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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
Hides Her Regression
100
“Seo Jae-gyeom, I’m upset with you.”
There it is.
I caught Seo Jae-gyeom as he passed me in the Hagwon hallway without so much as a glance.
“I’m heading out.”
Kim Ga-eun, standing beside Seo Jae-gyeom, tactfully excused herself. Her face is pretty enough, I suppose, but she always wears that scowl. Her tone’s aggressive too. I don’t particularly like her.
“Go on.”
“See you.”
After sending Kim Ga-eun off, I tugged at Seo Jae-gyeom’s sleeve as he stared at his cellphone.
“What?”
“I think I know who did it.”
“Did what?”
“The KakaoTalk leak from last time.”
……
I’d thrown out bait I thought would interest him, but his response was lackluster.
Seo Jae-gyeom turned off his phone screen and slowly lifted his head, his expression hardening. He spoke my name with deliberate weight.
“Han Ji-su.”
This reaction caught me off guard.
“I’m not accusing you or anything.”
……
“Did that really leak the way you said it did?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, it did leak, sure. But did it actually spread from the Reading Room, or—”
“Or what?”
“You captured those screenshots yourself and showed them to your friends, and then they spread around?”
“What?”
“How else would only that specific conversation be floating around?”
……
Sharp instincts.
Seo Jae-gyeom’s reasoning didn’t stop there.
“Han Ji-su. I saw the KakaoTalk—you were pushing Kang Da-hye hard. You were even the one who first suggested we sit together in math class. But then you told me Kang Da-hye abandoned you to sit with me instead, didn’t you?”
“That’s not what—”
“Look, I get it. Information gets exaggerated as it passes along. I’m not planning to go tell Kang Da-hye any of this to stir up trouble between you two. But.”
Seo Jae-gyeom pocketed his cellphone and looked directly at me.
“You’re not quite what I thought you were.”
……
“Watch yourself. You’re on thin ice.”
If word got out that you were the source, what would you do then? He issued the warning and left without another word.
Left alone, I muttered to myself.
“Why would that rumor ever get out?”
It never has before.
I was just—
“I only helped a few times because I was worried you two might actually start dating.”
Though honestly, I knew there was no chance of that. Seo Jae-gyeom had never shown the slightest interest in Da-hye.
All I did was refrain from telling Da-hye the truth outright. I knew it would end badly, but I didn’t stop her or discourage her—I just helped. That’s all.
If she found the courage to pursue him because I encouraged her and ended up getting rejected, I could always comfort her afterward. And besides, it would be entertaining to watch from the sidelines the whole time.
Honestly, who helps someone else’s situation with genuine sincerity?
Everyone says they root for their friends, but deep down, nobody wants to see them do better than themselves.
‘Looking at how things are unfolding these days, it wasn’t entirely impossible, either.’
My mood soured.
Seo Jae-gyeom taking Da-hye’s side, the class suddenly voting her as class representative, and her grades too.
This whole semester’s been nothing but bad luck.
I came home in a foul mood to find several letters on the living room table.
Desperate pleas from Song Yeor-eum and her parents—begging us to spare their family, insisting they were repentant and remorseful.
“Sigh.”
I’d told them they didn’t need to show me these and to throw them away immediately upon receiving them.
Maybe the housekeeper has low intelligence.
Then again, that’s probably why she’s working as a housekeeper at her age—poor judgment, wearing that watch on that salary.
She’s really stupid…….
Ji-su set down her school bag over the letter, which was smudged here and there as if written through tears, and sat up straight on the sofa. Ever since I arrived, she’d been calling to the puppy hiding in the corner with her finger, lost in thought.
‘If only Kang Da-hye had Seo Jae-gyeom.’
Then the math would work out if I had Jung Eun-seong, wouldn’t it?
It wouldn’t be so bad to date a trainee at least once while I’m still at school.
If I could steal Jung Eun-seong away from Da-hye, who was only close to him now, this filthy feeling would surely improve.
‘Seo Jae-gyeom, Jung Eun-seong….’
I wanted to do something right away.
Unfortunately, it’s the holiday break tomorrow.
Well, I’ll have plenty of time after the break ends anyway.
* * *
“You’re really not coming, Da-hye?”
“No. I have something to do.”
“That’s a shame.”
“Sorry….”
The news of Song Yeor-eum’s suicide attempt, which spread with the end-of-term ceremony, fizzled out without resolution.
Since Song Yeor-eum hadn’t shown up at school for quite some time, no one could say for certain whether it was true or a lie.
Song Yeor-eum disappeared, leaving only rampant rumors behind.
For someone who had openly assaulted a classmate in the classroom, it was an oddly anticlimactic ending.
‘Ji-su said she still doesn’t know.’
My friends went to Rotte World as promised, while I, unable to afford the admission fee, went to the Reading Room.
‘Mom. I don’t need to take the special lecture. I’m getting private tutoring with Seo Jae-gyeom instead. His mom said she’d include me too.’
‘The lady of the house?’
It’s fine. I’m not some Cinderella who wants to go to a ball.
I can go to Rotte World when I’m older and enjoy it plenty. A hundred times over.
I checked the group chat with my friends, who had sent not a single photo of themselves having fun, and focused back on my studies.
Night fell.
Ring.
“Hello…….”
-Da-hye, we’re at the playground near your place right now. Come out for a sec!
“Se In-i….”
Click.
The call ended before I could say anything.
?
I was planning to head home anyway. I grabbed my school bag.
Of course, there’s no playground at the villa where I live; I have to go all the way to the nearby Apartment Complex. Because it was late, there was no one at the playground.
The swings creaked and swayed as if someone had been there just moments before. What’s this? I tilted my head as I walked in.
Bang!
“Yelp!”
I startled and covered my face with the back of my hand.
“Hey, Da-hye, you got scared!”
“That’s the whole point of a surprise—to scare you!”
“So it was successful, wasn’t it?!”
Laughter rang out as my friends rushed out.
Do Yeon-i, Se In-i, Su-a, Kim Ga-eun, Yeon-hee.
At the back, Do Yeon-i was holding a cake with lit candles on top. The bang sound was from a firecracker Su-a had set off.
“Happy~ day~”
“It’s not my birthday?”
“Oh, right. Congratulations~ on~ ranking~ 1st~”
“For~ our~ beloved~ Da-hye~”
Se In-i tugged at my hand as I stood there, unable to process the situation, urging me on.
“Come on, blow out the candles!”
“Yeah, hurry and blow!”
“Make a wish!”
I blew them out without thinking.
“Please let our Da-hye keep being 1st in school.”
Yeon-hee closed her eyes and pressed her hands together.
The cake Do Yeon-i held out for me to blow easily, and on the white box beneath it, I could see the messages my friends had written.
-Da-hye, congratulations on ranking 1st! I’m so glad to be your friend, let’s stay close forever
-It wasn’t fun today without Da-hyeㅜㅜ
-Oh my god, if we weren’t in the same class, I’d have missed out on Kang Da-hye’s charm, seriously
-Always grateful to you, love you
-Kang Da-hye you dummy! ㅋㅋ who am I
As I stared intently at the messages, Kim Ga-eun placed a curious hat on my head.
“Bought it from Rotte World.”
“Let’s take a picture!”
“What, Se In-i?”
“A Polaroid!”
“Will it come out if we take it at night?”
“Just shoot it under a streetlight.”
My friends, still in their school uniforms from having just gotten back from Rotte World, dragged me beneath a streetlight.
They positioned me in the middle with the hat on and giggled, snapping away.
“Oh, what is this!”
“It came out like a ghost!”
“Take it again, again.”
…….
“Whimper….”
“Whoa, Da-hye’s crying.”
“Why are you crying.”
Do Yeon-i beside me laughed and pulled me into a hug.
Yeah. Why am I crying.
“Guess you’re moved.”
“Yeah….”
So very moved…….
Here I am, twenty-nine years old, crying at a playground…….
“Don’t cry, you’re making me tear up too….”
Se In-i and Yeon-hee sniffled beside me. Even Kim Ga-eun, pretending otherwise.
Su-a, who’d been giggling at the crying girls and snapping Polaroids left and right before getting smacked on the back by Kim Ga-eun, spoke up.
“You had every right to cry, Da-hye. You got confessed to by Do Ha-jun.”
“True.”
“But hey, I saw Jung Eun-seong’s abs back then? When Da-hye lifted his shirt to wipe her eyes.”
“Crazy.”
“Come on, describe them.”
“Sit down for this. Should we climb up there?”
We all scrambled up the structure Su-a was pointing to. At the mention of Jung Eun-seong’s abs, my tears dried right up, and I wiped the snot from Do Yeon-i’s sleeve with my own as I climbed up.
We laughed and chattered for a while, sharing a slice of cake with a single knife in the pitch darkness, getting cream smeared across our faces, then collapsed backward into the night.
Gazing up at the sky together, someone—it didn’t matter who—broke the silence.
“Let’s stay close, no matter what.”
“Yeah.”
“Keep in touch even after we get to college. See each other all the time.”
“We’d have to stay in Seoul to meet up. If someone goes to a provincial school, we won’t see each other much.”
Kim Ga-eun, are you serious?
“Sniff… I don’t think I’ll make it into a Seoul school.”
“Don’t worry, Se In-i. We’ll come visit during breaks.”
“I’ll tutor you.”
“Really?”
Se In-i, lying beside me, just turned her head to look at me. We locked eyes while lying down and smiled.
“Enjoy your break, you guys.”
“Why are you saying it like we won’t see each other during vacation.”
“Yeah. Let’s meet again tomorrow then.”
“Yeah.”
Through the open gaps in the structure overhead, a yellow moon glimmered against the summer sky.
My cellphone flickered in my hand, signaling new messages.
Seo Jae-gyeom
Private tutoring tomorrow!!!!!
20:37
You didn’t forget, right?!
22:33
Jung Eun-seong
Enjoy your break
22:36
The start of summer vacation.

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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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