1st in Class Hides Regression - Chapter 3

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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 in school hides her Regression
Chapter 3
A low voice read the words written on the screen.
“I want it. Jae.”
I followed the large hand gripping my smartphone and slowly lifted my gaze.
Lightly tanned skin. A neat school uniform that clashed with his delinquent impression. Eyes wide and clear enough to make older girls swoon, and a beautiful mouth.
“…Jeong Eun-sung?”
It was Jeong Eun-sung.
The last person I saw when I fell from the Rooftop before the Regression.
The man who became South Korea’s representative actor eleven years later, after his bandmates’ complete withdrawal, scandals, and all manner of incidents and accidents.
But right now.
Still an eighteen-year-old trainee at a Major Entertainment Company.
A new face who transferred into our class with the new semester. The center of attention.
Along with Seo Jae-gyeom, the reason girls from other classes made up excuses like “Can I borrow your gym clothes?” and “Can I borrow your textbook?” to drop by our Classroom.
The primary culprit who, after just two days, drove our homeroom teacher to exasperation and slap a massive sign reading on the Classroom door.
The one classmate whose future appearance I alone knew.
“Oh, there’s Jeong Eun-sung.”
“Eun-sung, hi!”
“Eun-sung, do you remember me?”
Even in the brief moment Jeong Eun-sung and I stood facing each other in the Hallway, girls giggled and waved at him as they passed.
“Jeong Eun-sung….”
I stared at the Jeong Eun-sung who had suddenly become eleven years younger, a mixture of emotion welling up in me.
Jeong Eun-sung, whose gaze met mine, still had tears glistening in his eyes that I hadn’t fully wiped away, and his expression turned awkward.
“Jeong Eun-sung, you….”
“Kang Da-hye, you….”
“So you were short in high school?”
“Why are you crying?”
…….
…….
Oh no.
I should have kept that thought to myself.
Jeong Eun-sung’s face twisted.
“You’re saying I’m short?”
As if exasperated, he looked at the ceiling, let out a “ha, ha,” then straightened his back completely. But straightening his spine wouldn’t make his height grow.
Looking at Jeong Eun-sung’s Adam’s apple right in front of my face, I trailed off.
“I mean, you really are kind of short….”
Objectively speaking, his height might not be that short, but anyone would feel the way I did if someone they’d had to crane their neck to look at just hours earlier had suddenly become about ten centimeters shorter.
For reference, Jeong Eun-sung’s height in his late twenties was 187 centimeters. He was listed as 187 on his official profile, though there were rumors he was actually taller.
But now?
He seemed to be around 179.
I thought he was already over 180 when he debuted, so did his height shoot up that much in one year?
Now that I think about it, I vaguely remember seeing Jeong Eun-sung in senior year, complaining that he’d need to buy new uniforms after growing so much in just one year, shuffling along looking frustrated….
“It’s fine. You’ll grow soon.”
I tried to console him, but Jeong Eun-sung didn’t even pretend to listen.
Ignoring my words, Jeong Eun-sung lowered his gaze to my smartphone in his hand.
Jeong Eun-sung’s thumb swiped across the screen and scrolled downward.
Anyone watching would think it was his own phone.
It was rude to flip through even a close friend’s phone like that….
“Hm?”
Now that I think about it.
At this point, Jeong Eun-sung couldn’t have been here more than a week, so he and I were definitely still awkward with each other.
Yet we’re talking to each other quite naturally, aren’t we?
Why is he being so comfortable with me?
……Could it be?
“…Jeong Eun-sung, did you also remember—”
“Unrequited love alone. Maybe it’ll get boring. Even when I try to find only your shortcomings.”
“…Huh?”
Jeong Eun-sung cut off my words just as I was about to ask if he’d also Regressed.
Jeong Eun-sung, looking down arrogantly at my smartphone in his hand, began reciting the lyrics I’d highlighted in my Unrequited Love Playlist.
In a voice that sounded utterly bored.
“Even for a single day. Being by your side. Her being me. Before I knew it, I was praying.”
“…….”
“To love that’s changed. Whenever you come. Just in my arms. To fall asleep, fall asleep, fall asleep~~ Oh”
oh
oh
oh
oh
oh~
”
“Stop! Stop it!”
You lunatic!
“Give it back!”
I snatched the smartphone from his hands.
Unlike how he’d been gripping it as if his life depended on it, Jeong Eun-sung released it without resistance.
Jeong Eun-sung looked straight at me, my face burning crimson, and twisted his lips into a lopsided smile.
“You’ve bookmarked an endless amount of lyrics.”
“That’s none of your——”
“Seems you’re nursing quite the unrequited love.”
“…….”
“Who’s Jae?”
“Be quiet!”
Because that Jae is right here in our class! I scolded him while covering his mouth with my hand.
Jeong Eun-sung, whose lips I’d pressed shut with my palm, simply moved his head to shake my hand away, his eyes lowered without the slightest hint of ticklishness.
“Why would you read that!”
“Is there a reason I shouldn’t?”
“There absolutely is!”
“Why?”
“It’s my private life!”
“Your private life is a song? A song that swept the charts decades ago?”
“Not decades ago, okay? And besides, a great song transcends time!”
“True, a great song transcends time. Which means it’s famous, so it’s definitely not your private life.”
“It’s not the song — it’s the smartphone! My smartphone is my private life!”
“Ah, your Unrequited Love Playlist? Well, that certainly qualifies as private……”
“Hey!”
“Your face is red.”
“…….”
I’m embarrassed. Simply embarrassed.
Eleven years ago — why was I drowning in this much sentiment back then……?
Jeong Eun-sung, watching me sulk, tilted his head slightly toward his shoulder.
“What, are you ashamed of your love for Jae? You’ve collected ninety-eight songs for them.”
When Jeong Eun-sung said “ninety-eight songs,” he craned his neck forward to peer at my smartphone.
“Would you mind turning your attention elsewhere?”
I snapped back curtly and, getting my phone returned, began tapping the screen irritably.
Delete this stupid playlist right now! Delete it!
“Why delete it? We’re having a greatest hits party.”
“The party’s over.”
“Why? Did they dump you?”
“…….”
He doesn’t remember. He has absolutely no memory of it.
If he did, he couldn’t possibly say something like that.
I pressed my lips firmly shut and glared at Jeong Eun-sung.
His still-boyish face looked directly back at mine.
The scar on his cheek that his fans would later lament — clean skin that hasn’t yet marked him.
If his face would be complete eleven years from now, then in these boyhood days, there’s something hopeful about his potential.
While admiring his face in all this, I answered Jeong Eun-sung’s call a beat too late.
“Kang Da-hye.”
“…What?”
“If the other person ignores you even when you’re shouting like that from behind, then it’s already a love that’s run its course.”
“…….”
“Give up and find another man.”
“…….”
“Oh, and don’t forget to share the playlist before you delete it.”
“This is insane….”
“Hehehehe…….”
“Hey, what are you two doing in the hallway!”
The homeroom teacher from the class next door, rapping the wall with a wooden stick as he approached, separated me and Jeong Eun-sung, both of us standing there slack-jawed.
“Get inside, both of you!”
I’m keeping my eye on you.
I shot Jeong Eun-sung a glare.
He caught my stare and smiled, then slipped into the classroom first.
I turned to follow him in.
Click.
The door shut right in front of my face.
“…….”
Through the closed classroom door, Jeong Eun-sung winked at me.
This bastard.
* * *
Was Jeong Eun-sung always like this?
[What I know about Jeong Eun-sung]
– By the time he transferred to our school, he’d already appeared in several advertisements and music videos.
– Search his name on a search engine and you get his photos, his age, and the high school he attends (ours).
– Before the Regression, fans would sometimes show up at school looking for him.
– So was he always this kind of person? I don’t know! I can’t remember!
“Da-hye, are you okay?”
“Huh?”
“You were crying earlier.”
“Oh. I’m fine. I’m fine now.”
I answered quietly to the friend whispering beside me—the one who’d shown me my seat earlier.
In the Music Room, where we sat in an S-shape starting from the front in order of student number, Seo Jae-gyeom in the back wasn’t paying any attention to me, instead playing along coyly with the teacher’s joke.
Jeong Eun-sung’s section was quiet.
‘What was Jeong Eun-sung’s personality really like? I can’t remember.’
It wasn’t until later, once we found ourselves in the same club and all, that we actually started talking. At the beginning of the semester, we barely exchanged words.
We were just two people who happened to exist in the same class—nothing more, nothing less.
After the Regression, it’s surprising me too, the way Jeong Eun-sung suddenly acts like this.
“So listen up. You all know you’re doing a Vocal Performance test for your Performance Evaluation, right?”
The music teacher sitting at the piano cut through my thoughts.
“You kids don’t study hard for music anyway, since you think it’s not important for college. So starting this year, I’m going to raise the weight of the Performance Evaluation. First semester it’s Vocal Performance, second semester it’s Composition.”
“Composition?!”
“Won’t that be plagiarism?”
“Yes, you’re being loud. For the Vocal Performance test, you can choose the song. What do you want to sing?”
“The National Anthem?”
“Can you memorize all the lyrics from verse one to verse four?”
“No, sir.”
“Rejected.”
“…….”
“No other suggestions?”
“…….”
“If there are no suggestions, we’ll sing the school anthem.”
No way to the school anthem.
Our school anthem has a rap section in it.
Someone, anyone, please offer an opinion.
With that thought, I turned around to look back and my eyes met those of Jeong Eun-sung, who sat propping his chin in his hand while looking ahead.
Jeong Eun-sung blinked quietly at me,
“^_^ㅗ”
so I flashed him a smile.
Suddenly, Jeong Eun-sung shot his hand up.
“Teacher.”
“Yes? What is it, Eun-sung?”
“Kang Da-hye knows a lot of great songs.”
“…….”
What the hell is this punk doing????????????

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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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