1st in Class Hides Regression - Chapter 30

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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 through time.
Episode 30
Han Ji-su
Kang Da-hye, where are you?
22:07
22:07
I’m working my shift
Han Ji-su
Still?
22:07
There’s something important I need to finish!
22:08
What about you?
Han Ji-su
I just finished academy class
22:08
Han Ji-su
Seo Jae-gyeom didn’t show up again today
What a waste of money ><
22:09
Seo Jae-gyeom's with me right now, so that's why.
I swallowed the words I hadn't said and flipped my phone face-down. Somehow I'd ended up keeping a secret from Ji-su, and I hadn't even meant to.
Even after I'd told her I didn't like Seo Jae-gyeom anymore, she kept habitually passing along news about him.
'Come to think of it, Ji-su really did push us together pretty hard.'
It was even Ji-su who'd suggested in the first place that I sit with Seo Jae-gyeom instead of her during math class…….
Now that I'm out of the picture, could things work out between Seo Jae-gyeom and Ji-su in this life?
If they do, I should congratulate them.
Which is why I'm here with Seo Jae-gyeom right now, past ten at night.
"Kang Da-hye. Is this really going to work?"
"Yeah."
I glanced over at Seo Jae-gyeom, who was murmuring beside me.
I'd told him to dress as grown-up as possible, so he'd shown up in a shirt and slacks. It wasn't exactly giving off an air of adulthood, but at least he looked like a college freshman—maybe one who'd just enrolled.
The popular kind with a lousy personality, the type who'd probably be dating a pretty senior by the end of March.
Seeing Seo Jae-gyeom as a college student—someone I'd never seen before the regression, someone I'd never see again—felt oddly comforting in its own way.
Seo Jae-gyeom noticed me sizing up his appearance and lifted the corners of his mouth.
"How is it? Do I look old?"
"You look exactly twenty. Perfect."
A look in his eyes that said he had the nerve of an adult just the right age. When I added the explanation, he laughed.
"Kang Da-hye, I think this is the first time it's been just the two of us like this."
After saying that, Seo Jae-gyeom handed me one of the two Banana Milks he'd just finished paying for.
"This is the one you like, right?"
Strictly speaking, I preferred Coffee Milk…….
"Yeah."
I inserted the straw into the carton of Banana Milk and looked outside.
In the convenience store's glass wall, I could see the reflection of me in my school uniform and Seo Jae-gyeom in casual clothes standing side by side, drinking our Banana Milks.
We were at a convenience store diagonally across from Ibaji Academy.
"Will this really work? You're not helping me—you're helping Kim Ga-eun."
"Helping Kim Ga-eun is helping me."
"Why?"
"Because resolving this problem is what I want most right now."
"You're not even that close to Kim Ga-eun."
"I've gotten closer. Since a few days ago."
"What do you mean by——"
"Shh. He's coming."
I whispered that it was him, and grabbed Seo Jae-gyeom's wrist where it rested beside me.
Seo Jae-gyeom flinched slightly and fell silent, fixing his gaze on the academy building visible from here and the middle-aged man slouching toward it.
Here's the question, though.
What exactly had I asked Seo Jae-gyeom to do?
'There's this crazy man at the academy who keeps following Ga-eun around. But I can't tell her parents about it. Can you pretend to be her older brother and get him to back off?'
Men like that always ignore what women say, but they'll listen to another man.
If an adult man goes and tells my sister to back off, she'll listen. Out of fear of getting hit, if nothing else.
Does that guy come by every day?'
'Not every day, I'd guess. Ga-eun doesn't go to the academy every day, does she?'
'Then what if he doesn't show up on the day I'm staking it out?'
'Can't he just come the next day and help again?'
'What? So this isn't just a one-time favor, then.'
'…Want the chocolate back?'
Take this and help me out twice. I remember the way Seo Jae-gyeom's expression hardened at my words—equal parts shameless and mortified.
'Just throwing it out there. You eat it. I'll help until that guy shows up.'
Lucky for us, the man appeared on the first try.
The moment I spotted him lingering near the academy entrance, I sent a message to Ga-eun inside. She emerged from the academy shortly after, wearing her usual guarded expression.
He followed immediately, wearing an even more repulsive smile from a distance.
Seo Jae-gyeom bolted out of the convenience store the instant he saw the man approach Ga-eun.
I tossed my empty Banana Milk into the trash and slipped out of the store. I crouched behind a car parked illegally just ahead and poked my phone through the gap between vehicles.
-Recording in progress-
"A grown girl out this late every time……"
"Mister."
Seo Jae-gyeom strode over and slung an arm around the man's shoulder.
The man flinched at this broad-shouldered young stranger's sudden appearance. Seo Jae-gyeom looked down at his shiny scalp with the contempt one might reserve for an insect, then jerked his chin toward Ga-eun.
"So, is this the guy? The one who follows you after academy?"
Ga-eun didn't even answer, but Seo Jae-gyeom nodded to himself as if he'd figured it out. That hulking frame combined with his youthful features gave off a distinctly hooligan air.
He glanced my way, then abruptly grabbed the man by the collar.
"!"
For a moment, I nearly jumped to my feet.
Damn, Seo Jae-gyeom doesn't mess around!
He hauled the man in with one hand and whispered something into his ear. Whatever he said, the man's face drained of color in an instant.
The man stammered.
"I, I just thought of her like a daughter… with good intentions……. I mean, student, even so, an adult……. I'm not that young…!"
"What kind of father bothers his daughter alone on a dark street, huh?"
"Bothers? That's a misunderstanding!"
"Don't care if it's a misunderstanding or whatever. Stay away from her. And if you get any ideas about clearing up the misunderstanding and show your face again… you're done."
"I won't, I won't…!"
-Recording stopped-
'Hmm. Can't use this.'
If I showed this to anyone, Seo Jae-gyeom would be the first one arrested.
'I didn't expect Seo Jae-gyeom to commit like this.'
But the effect was undeniable.
The man who wouldn't budge when Ga-eun showed her discomfort melted away with a single intimidation from Seo Jae-gyeom, tail between his legs.
Without so much as a glance in Ga-eun's direction.
Once Seo Jae-gyeom confirmed the man was gone, he turned back to Ga-eun.
"You okay?"
I scrambled out from my hiding spot and rushed over to them both.
"What'd you say?"
"That he'd come one more time and I'd kill him."
"And?"
"He said he got it."
What else would he say? Seo Jae-gyeom shrugged, like someone who'd never experienced this brand of threat in his life.
Ga-eun, on the other hand.
She let out a hollow laugh, muttering to herself.
"…It resolved this easily."
I could read the emptiness written across her face.
Yeah, that's right. Anticlimactic, isn't it?
I knew it would be like this, but seeing it firsthand still felt hollow.
I pocketed the phone I'd been holding.
"So."
Now it was time to deal with the other problem.
I looked at Ga-eun, still standing there in a daze.
"Kim Ga-eun."
"…Yeah."
"Apologize to Do-yeon when you get to school tomorrow."
"Huh…?"
"I won't drag this out. How did you feel when that man was all over you earlier?"
"…Well."
"You hated it, didn't you?"
"Yeah."
"You hated it, so Do-yeon must have hated it too, right?"
"……."
"You said you did that to Do-yeon because you wanted to give her room, and that's how the rumor started. I can say the exact same thing to you right now. How would you feel if someone said something like that about you in this situation?"
Now that she's on the receiving end, maybe she'll understand — I don't want to say things like this.
But I hope Ga-eun learns something from what happened today.
Ga-eun didn't answer, but I could tell she understood what I was saying.
I pulled the sniffling Ga-eun into a hug.
"I'm sorry."
"You don't owe me an apology. I wasn't trying to lecture you."
"…Okay."
Yeah, that's enough.
The rest is up to you.
"You're heading straight home, right? I'll take you. What about you, Seo Jae-gyeom?"
At my question, Seo Jae-gyeom nodded.
"I'm coming too."
"What's gotten into you?"
"…I'm not that cold-hearted, you know?"
The three of us walked side by side with Ga-eun in the middle.
It didn't take long to reach the Apartment Complex where Ga-eun lived.
"Go on in."
"Okay."
Ga-eun, who had been hesitating, finally spoke.
"Thank you so much for today. Both you, Da-hye, and you too, Seo Jae-gyeom."
"Yeah. If that man shows up again, call me. ……Actually, never mind — I'll just pick you up from Ibaji Academy for a while, timing it with when you finish."
"Huh?"
That sound came from me — I was startled.
Seo Jae-gyeom, being this kind…?
Did you go through a regression too or something?
After Ga-eun went inside, I turned to Seo Jae-gyeom.
"Are you hurt somewhere?"
"I'm not such garbage of a person that I'd ignore something like that……."
"Is that so……?"
"You really did like me, didn't you?"
"I didn't like you for your personality."
"Seriously."
"Hehe."
"How could I just stand by watching something like this? I'd help even if it was a stranger."
"I see…."
"Besides."
Seo Jae-gyeom's expressionless gaze locked directly onto mine.
"If I go pick up Kim Ga-eun, I get to see you too, don't I?"
"?"
Was that the real reason?

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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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