1st in Class Hides Regression - Chapter 25

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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
Episode 25
“What are you doing locking Midwinter up in here like this?”
“It’s not Midwinter. It’s Song Yeoreum.”
“You got half of it right, didn’t you?”
“Half of nothing is still nothing…….”
“(Shameless)”
“I don’t know. I probably just did it without thinking ahead, figured I could humiliate you and get away with it. Or maybe…….”
“Maybe what?”
“……Even if you’re locked up, you’d eventually need to use the bathroom, right? I was betting you couldn’t hold it and would have to go here, so I could take a photo and ruin you?”
“You’re insane.”
“Trainees aren’t supposed to date, are they? Even before debut.”
“They think it means you lack desperation. And our company policy is, once you debut, you hand over your phone until you hit number one.”
“Wow~ Adults really do toy with idols when they’re young, huh?”
“Jeong Eunseong, did you finish reading?”
“You think I did?”
“Hurry up and read it.”
“Got it.”
“Ten minutes. That’s all you’ve got.”
“I said I got it.”
“Tick-tock.”
…….
“I’m starving.”
Cold, hungry, sleepy—I was practically a beggar. I heaved a sigh and sniffled.
I’d actually put on the School Uniform Knit that Jeong Eunseong had draped over my shoulders, while he sat a fair distance away in just his shirt, apparently unbothered by the cold.
“Should I write SOS on A4 Paper and tape it to the window?”
Jeong Eunseong looked at me with utter contempt.
Still, it was a far cry from the shouting and accusations we’d been hurling at each other earlier.
Since I’d regressed, I don’t think I’d ever had a conversation this calm with Jeong Eunseong.
“Doesn’t the Classroom seem a bit dimmer lately?”
“Because your beloved Jae isn’t here?”
…….
I really want to hit him right now.
I glared at Jeong Eunseong and hunched my shoulders again. The scent of fabric softener rose from the knit I was wearing.
“Smells nice.”
Without thinking, I lifted the knit to my nose—and Jeong Eunseong shot to his feet.
“Why are you smelling it?!”
“What? It just smells good…….”
“Are you a pervert?”
“Would you prefer I was?”
So you’re saying you’re trapped in here with a pervert right now? As I delivered this cold truth, Jeong Eunseong’s cheeks flushed crimson.
I let out a short laugh and looked out the window. Dark. Jeong Eunseong followed my gaze outside and asked.
“When do your parents come home?”
“My mom? Not before midnight, probably. What about yours?”
“……You’d better hope for yours to show up first.”
Jeong Eunseong dismissed it with an ambiguous expression, then returned to his persistent attempts at forcing the locked door open.
“It won’t work, I’m telling you…….”
I chided him while moving over to stand beside him.
“On the count of three, should we try it together?”
I placed my hand on his as he gripped the doorknob, both of us trying together. His knuckles were prominent, so without thinking, I pressed on one.
Jeong Eunseong flinched.
“? What? Did it open?”
I couldn’t see clearly in the shadow. I widened my eyes and looked up at him.
Our eyes met.
The dark hallway beyond. The bright Practice Room by contrast. Between the boundary of light and shadow, a face ten years younger than my last memory glowed.
0.
1.
2.
3.
For what felt like an eternity, Jeong Eunseong didn’t blink once before slowly lowering his gaze. Looking at my hand overlaid on his, he finally spoke.
“…oh.”
“Huh?”
“This won’t do.”
Jeong Eunseong abandoned the door and trudged across to the window on the opposite side, yanking it open.
Then he jumped.
?!
“Jeong Eunseong!”
I lurched forward and peered down.
Jeong Eunseong rolled across the flower bed, his white shirt back now smeared with dirt, his face twisted in a grimace as he pushed himself up.
His face, his face!
He can’t damage his face!
“Are you okay?!”
I leaned out the window and shouted. Jeong Eunseong gave a rough nod and pointed toward the central stairwell with his hand—apparently he’d come back up and unlock the door from his side.
At least his face looked fine.
But.
“You’re limping!”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re clearly not fine!”
Wasn’t his legs just as important as his face for an idol? He has to dance!
“Wouldn’t it have been better to just wait for your parents to arrive?!!!!!”
“Can’t wait for something that doesn’t exist.”
Jeong Eunseong’s quiet murmur didn’t even register with me.
“Hey, don’t move! If you twisted your ankle, moving wrong will only make it worse! Wait there!”
I moved without waiting for his response.
I grabbed the spare wigs, costumes, and cushions stacked nearby and hurled them down haphazardly, flinging them until they formed a rough, rounded pile below.
Then I climbed out the window myself.
“Oof!”
I landed face-first on a cushion, and Jeong Eunseong quickly caught me and pulled me up.
“You alright?!”
“Yeah… blegh.”
Ugh. Hair in my mouth.
“Why’d you jump? You’re already short.”
“Please. You’re not exactly towering over me, are you?”
“I’m over 180.”
“Talk to me when you hit 188.”
Your final height is 187, after all.
I stood up and rotated my wrists and ankles. My ankles were fine, but my wrist throbbed.
Jeong Eunseong’s expression hardened when he saw me touch my wrist.
“You’re hurt?”
“It aches a bit, but I don’t think it’s sprained.”
“…You need to study.”
“And you’re supposed to dance with a twisted ankle?”
“It’s not twisted. I just took a jolt from the impact.”
“…….”
“…….”
“Let’s go.”
“Yeah.”
My wrist hurts, his ankle hurts.
I support his limping frame so he can walk, while he carries the books and Reading Report Notebook I’d grabbed and thrown down with us.
“Hey, lean on me properly. Why are you being so stiff?”
“If I lean properly, you’ll topple over.”
“Do it anyway.”
I pulled his arm across my shoulders, refusing to let him avoid contact.
Walking like this, limping together and leaning on each other, was ridiculous and funny at once.
Jeong Eunseong laughs—apparently thinking the same thing. The body heat where we touch is exactly as warm as I’d imagined.
He really does smell nice…….
“Won’t your company punish you when you get there? Not maintaining your body properly.”
“This much will be gone by the time I get home.”
“I hope so.”
If I were bigger, I could’ve just carried him out myself. As that thought crossed my mind, something else surfaced—something I’d forgotten.
A short story by Ha Geun-chan depicting the pain of modern Korean history. Our situation now is similar to…….
“Jeong Eunseong, do you happen to know ‘The Suffering Generation’?”
“A prestigious university?”
Such an ignorant fool…….
“Yeah. One of Korea’s top universities. Korea University, Eagle University, Tiger University, and the Suffering Generation University.”
“Oh.”
Oh, what.
In that story, a father carries his son across a bridge. The father lost his arm during Japanese occupation, and the son lost his legs in the Korean War.
“Read the book sometime.”
“Suddenly?”
I managed to drag the bewildered Jeong Eunseong all the way to the School Gate.
“I’m okay now.”
“Me too.”
I took the book and notebook from Jeong Eunseong, who rolled his ankle experimentally.
The March spring wind swept past my dirt-smudged hair. Shadows played across Jeong Eunseong’s face in the light of the streetlamp.
Our eyes meeting like that felt strange somehow.
Jeong Eunseong, apparently feeling the same way, cleared his throat awkwardly and asked.
“Going straight home?”
“Guess so. Don’t you need to head to work?”
“Nah.”
…….
…….
Thump. Thump. Why did the memory of our hands overlapping in the Practice Room just now come rushing back.
Thump. Thump. Why is my heart pounding in my ears.
“Oh, Jeong Eunseong. What are we going to do about the Music Assignment? I still haven’t thought of a difficult song.”
I could just say goodbye and head home, so why am I babbling nonsense.
“Can’t you just sing well?”
“Is that easy?”
“…Should I help?”
“…You?”
“Yeah.”
Why is Jeong Eunseong actually taking me up on this meaningless offer I just threw out.
“Well, that works for me, but…….”
Why does my face suddenly feel hot when he’s offering to help.
I’m grateful the streetlamp is orange. I couldn’t even moisten my suddenly parched lips with my tongue, and I barely managed to speak.
“You don’t have time, so are you sure?”
Jeong Eunseong tapped the asphalt with the toe of his sneaker and replied.
“…Then you teach me studying in return.”
“I’m not that good…….”
“You’re better than me.”
“Okay, then.”
“Okay.”
…….
…….
Business settled, words said.
So why aren’t either of us saying goodbye.
When did this atmosphere happen, and for what reason.
Just as I was about to greet him first, feeling that dragging it out any longer would get weird, Jeong Eunseong rubbed his cheek with the back of his hand and spoke somewhat urgently.
“Listen, Kang Dahye….”
“Eunseong, are you just getting out of school?”
A high-pitched voice cut in abruptly. I spun around in surprise.
A woman in her mid-thirties, holding designer shopping bags in both hands, was blinking at us.
She wore a pink frilled blouse, a white skirt like a ballet costume, long hair down to her waist, and a tiara perched on top of her head.
The woman who had stared at me standing beside Jeong Eunseong for several seconds smiled at him.
“Why are you coming out so late? Have you been studying?”
…….
I know this woman.
This woman… she’s a Sasaeng for Jeong Eunseong.

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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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