1st in Class Hides Regression - Chapter 11

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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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The Top Student Hides Her Regression
Chapter 11
“I’m sorry, everyone. My hand just slipped…….”
“What, that’s hilarious. Since when do you talk informally to us?”
“Right? When have we ever met? Do you even know who we are?”
“Selling tteokbokki at the Market, and here you are acting like some elder. How old-fashioned.”
“…I apologize, everyone.”
“Not ‘I apologize’—say ‘I’m terribly sorry.'”
Song Yeorum’s tone, as if instructing a slow child, went unanswered. Mom didn’t push back.
Watching her pretend not to hear and wipe up the spilled broth with a rag, Song Yeorum and her group giggled once more.
“Hey, hey. Snap some pictures, snap some pictures.”
They openly thrust their smartphone cameras forward.
Children half my mother’s age were heaping contempt on her, and playing deaf was all she could manage.
“So when are you getting us wet wipes?”
“Aren’t you supposed to wipe our shoes with those?”
I mean, come on.
Messing with someone’s parents—isn’t that crossing the line?
“…Student, I really was trying my best to let it go……but you stuck your leg out in my path just now, didn’t you? I dodged it, but you stretched your leg out, and I ended up hitting your shin, which made me trip……that’s why I fell.”
“Wow, she’s ‘letting it go.’ Anyone watching would think the Market auntie is doing us a favor.”
“Who said you should let it go? Don’t hold back.”
“Hey, Song Yeorum.”
I cut through the chatter.
“Did you trip my mom?”
I’d tried to ask calmly, but my voice trembled. Song Yeorum smirked at my unsteadiness.
“What if I did?”
“…….”
“What if I did—you gonna call the cops or something?”
“…….”
“You can’t, though. This dump of a shop doesn’t even have CCTV.”
She leaned in with a laugh, daring me to try.
“…….”
If I were twenty-nine again, I really would have called the police.
I’d have filed a report for property damage or business interference, summoned their parents as the guardians responsible for their supervision, extracted compensation for the broken dishes and all other damages, and given them a piece of my mind about raising their children properly.
I would have made sure they understood what it feels like for their parents to be humiliated because of them.
These kids treat a trip to the police station like a badge of honor, and they’re not even scared when their parents show up?
‘That’s something you learn by trying it.’
Kids who can stay cool about becoming criminals—I’d rarely seen that even among small-time neighborhood thugs.
The ones who acted so tough most of the time usually hid behind their parents when it mattered, stammering out their own names.
I would have made sure of it.
If I were twenty-nine.
‘But I’m eighteen now.’
If I pulled out my phone now and made a show of reporting them, Mom wouldn’t back me up—she’d try to stop me, saying ‘why would you report something like this?’ And the cops would dismiss me for being a student.
‘I’ve lived through it before. The day of the College Entrance Exam.’
When I’d shown up at the police station with a puffy face to report that old man from the morning, they’d told me, ‘Student, you seem very upset about failing your test—take a breath and go home and rest’…….
…Wait.
Just because I’m a student, they dismiss me?
“Hey, how do I tag the location? I want to upload this to our school’s page.”
Song Yeorum’s attendant, still loudly obnoxious but somehow looking cheap through my eyes in that hoodie, giggled. The camera of her white smartphone, fitted with a gaudy pink rabbit-ear phone case, was pointed squarely at me and my mother.
I grabbed that expensive-looking phone she’d clearly just bought, scooped up a Cola can from the floor, and dumped it over the device.
“Ugh!”
The startled attendant dropped the phone and jumped up.
“What the—what are you doing?!”
“Hey! Are you crazy?!”
“What the—what the—what the…….”
The attendant, gone pale, fumbled to peel off the case and tried powering on the phone, but it was already dead.
It broke that quickly. Smartphones from ten years ago must not have had water-resistance features.
Anyway.
‘How sad that the only word for expressing my bewildering emotional state is a curse. My vocabulary’s really thin.’
Do people get calm when they’re angry enough?
While I was thinking such things with eerie composure, Song Yeorum shot to her feet.
The expensive shoes Song Yeorum had been bragging about all afternoon were ruined—streaked with cola and tteokbokki sauce that had spilled across the table.
There was no way anyone would call them new anymore.
“Hey, Kang Da-hye…….”
Song Yeorum’s voice trembled as she spoke my name. Just like mine had, moments ago.
“These cost over a million won. You think you can pay for them?”
I answered her calmly, as if I hadn’t even heard.
“Why would I pay for those?”
“…What?”
“Got proof? That those shoes got ruined by me? His smartphone too? You said yourself there’s no CCTV here.”
“What….”
“I’m not paying. If you’re upset about it, you call the police.”
I asked if her phone had broken too, and if so, told her to use mine to file a report—then held it out to her. When she didn’t take it, I explained slowly.
Like teaching a slow child.
“You always tell me I’m pathetic, that I’m a loser. But what looks like a loser to your eyes—adults see as sincere.”
Even a cop who usually brushes off students would think differently if they had something to compare.
“When you report this to the police, I’ll deny everything. In fact, I’ll say you’re the one who came to our shop and caused a scene. Look at us—me in my school uniform, here helping my mom during business hours, and you, clearly just hanging around. Which story do you think the police will believe?”
Without evidence, it would just come down to credibility.
“Go ahead and try reporting me. I’m really curious what happens.”
I said it with a smile.
The moment Song Yeorum saw me smirking like that, egging her on, she lost control first.
What happened after that was exactly what I’d expected.
‘Hey, I really can’t go back to the police station again,’ one of Song Yeorum’s quieter friends said, trying to pull back the hysterical one. When the shop grew loud, shopkeepers from nearby stalls gathered and essentially drove Song Yeorum’s group out.
As Song Yeorum stormed toward the door, I called after her.
“Pay first. 21,500 won.”
Twenty-one thousand five hundred won at current prices. They’d ordered a lot, probably hoping to ruin things for my mom.
“What?”
“Should I be so generous as to waive the bowl charge?”
Oh, and.
“If shoes that cost this much fall apart just from a little tteokbokki sauce, they were never shoes you could afford in the first place. Take this as a lesson—don’t buy things like that next time.”
* * *
“Kang Da-hye, even so, you shouldn’t treat a customer like that…….”
“They’re not customers if they don’t bring benefit. They just broke a bowl.”
“Still, you didn’t have to pour cola on them. If you act like that, you become just like them.”
“No, Mom, the person who strikes and the person who strikes back aren’t the same. By that logic, wouldn’t the Japanese pirates and Admiral Yi Sun-sin be the same?”
“That’s not what I mean.”
“Ugh, fine. Go rest. Go on—take a break.”
I pushed Mom toward the kitchen in back, forcing her to go rest.
I set the tables back up, wiped the floor, cleaned everything, and when I went back inside, I found Mom sitting blankly in front of the refrigerator.
I walked over deliberately, making noise, and Mom quickly wiped her eyes with her palms and stood up.
She rubbed her wet hands on her apron to dry them, then asked me as if nothing was wrong.
“Should we eat.”
“Now’s the time. What about you, Mom? Have you eaten?”
“You eat. I’m fine.”
“Come on, I came here to eat with you. Hey, Mom—do you know what Rose Tteokbokki is? Rose Tteokbokki?”
“Rose what?”
“Wait a minute. I’ll make it for you.”
After that, everything went quiet.
I bustled about, buying ingredients from the nearby convenience store and making tteokbokki. Even as I set the finished dish in front of us and took my seat across from her, Mom sat with her head down, her face still gloomy.
“…It’s delicious.”
“Right?”
And silence again.
I pushed the quail eggs I’d generously added onto the plate in front of Mom and changed the subject.
“Mom, later on… when I get into a good university and make a lot of money. Let’s go overseas together.”
“Overseas? Don’t be silly.”
“Let’s go. Really far. What about America? Have you ever been to America, Mom?”
“Of course not. Now eat your rice.”
“We’ll fly business class. I’ll make enough money to take you there myself.”
As I boasted about how I’d make money and do this and that for her, Mom finally let out a small laugh.
“I mean it. I’m going to give you the good life, Mom.”
“I’m the one who should be giving you the good life. You just focus on taking care of yourself and living well.”
“…….”
“I’m sorry I can’t give you what other parents do for their children.”
Plip.
A tear fell from her mother’s hand onto the back of the one holding her chopsticks.
“Our daughter is so clever. You have so many dreams, so many things you want to do. If you’d been born into a different family, you’d be so much happier by now.”
Why this sudden gloom…
“…You’re right. There are so many things I want to try.”
I want to fly on an airplane.
I want to buy fish and chips from that blue-signed shop on Sydney’s beach, the one Seo Jae-gyeom went to over winter break.
I want to place a really complicated, fussy order at a café in Manhattan, where both the customers and staff speak quickly.
Succeeding through my own efforts is one of those things I want to try.
“Like you said, I’m clever, so I can do it alone without your help.”
In this second life I’ve been given, I want to try everything — all the things I wanted to do — without giving up.
“So instead of apologizing, cheer me on. Give me strength.”
“…Okay.”
“But Mom, isn’t this really delicious? Should we sell this as a new menu item? Rose Tteokbokki.”
“I don’t know. It’s not quite that good.”
“Seriously?”
* * *
The next day.
“Oh, I forgot to get money for the problem book.”
I couldn’t have brought up asking for money after yesterday…
Let me think. First.
“I should ask Ji-su if it’s okay for the three of us to eat together with Do-yeon……”
Since Ji-su is kind, she’d probably say yes anyway, but I should still ask.
With that thought, I crossed the crosswalk. The moment I turned onto the hill path leading to the school gate, I spotted a familiar figure from behind.
“Oh, there’s Ji-su.”
I can’t be so reserved.
I started to raise my hand to wave cheerfully but stopped short.
Seo Jae-gyeom was walking alongside Ji-su.
He was naturally carrying her large bag for her. Their eyes met, and Seo Jae-gyeom smiled, saying something to her.
Laughter burst from Ji-su.

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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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