1st in Class Hides Regression - Chapter 32

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Top Student of the Entire School Hides Her Regression
Episode 32
“I sent Seo Jae-gyeom a KakaoTalk yesterday saying that guy isn’t coming anymore so it’s fine, and that I was grateful for everything. But…….”
“But?”
“He left me on read.”
“Ah….”
“Yeah.”
“Fair.”
Left on read? That’s the biggest sign of complete disinterest.
“But how can a guy help a girl who couldn’t care less about him that much?”
“Maybe if he’s a nice guy, he could?”
“Seo Jae-gyeom’s nice?”
“Isn’t he?”
“What then?”
“I don’t know!”
Se-in pressed her head between her palms. Then Do-yeon, who’d been quiet until now, spoke up.
“He likes Da-hye, doesn’t he?”
“Da-hye?”
“Yeah. I mean, Da-hye was the one who asked him for help in the first place.”
“Oh….”
Su-a and Ga-eun’s eyes lit up—it sounded plausible.
They don’t know that Seo Jae-gyeom rejected me. They really don’t.
It’s absolutely not that.
I denied it.
“No way. Definitely not.”
“Why not! It could be.”
“No, it couldn’t. Seo Jae-gyeom and I have been KakaoTalking for like… two months now?”
In that chat window with Seo Jae-gyeom—already buried so far down I could barely find it anymore—there was nothing but my messages, sent under countless pretexts, and his one-word replies or read receipts.
My pathetic attempts to keep the conversation going, nothing but questions, all of it preserved there like a taxidermied corpse…….
Stop thinking about it.
“Anyway, it’s not like that. Seo Jae-gyeom doesn’t like me.”
He likes Ji-su.
“Hmph.”
Se-in tilted her head and turned to Ga-eun again.
“What about you? Do you like Seo Jae-gyeom?”
“Well, I wouldn’t say I like him exactly… but if Seo Jae-gyeom showed interest in me, I’d be more than willing to give it a shot.”
“Isn’t that the obvious answer?”
“Who’d turn him down… Man, I just saw Seo Jae-gyeom’s abs.”
“Where!”
In an instant, all of our gazes locked onto Seo Jae-gyeom. In the middle of the Sports Ground, he was lifting his gym shirt to wipe the sweat from his face.
“Whoa!”
Su-a applauded like a seal.
He really is in a league of his own. Face, build, everything.
“Now that I think about it, Seo Jae-gyeom really doesn’t have a girlfriend, right?”
“Positive. He doesn’t hide stuff like that anyway.”
“What about Jung Eun-sung?”
“Jung Eun-sung probably has one but keeps it quiet. He’s a trainee.”
“If I were his girlfriend… I’d be really good at keeping secrets.”
“But why is Jung Eun-sung by himself?”
Our attention shifted to Jung Eun-sung this time.
Not joining in with soccer, basketball, or even the group sneaking hot dogs in the corner—Jung Eun-sung was alone, lying in the shade.
“The guys aren’t… bullying our Eun-sung, are they?”
“No way.”
That’s not the kind of person who gets bullied.
“Go over and ask him, Da-hye. Why he’s alone.”
“Me…?”
“You’re the class president.”
“…….”
“And tell us everything Eun-sung says, from start to finish.”
“Got it….”
I’m absolutely not going because I’m curious about Jung Eun-sung.
The girls pushed me from behind.
I shuffled over to Jung Eun-sung slowly.
“Hey.”
I called softly, and Jung Eun-sung opened his eyes just a crack to look at me.
“Why are you just lying here doing nothing?”
“I’m pretending to have a sprained ankle.”
“Oh.”
Right. To mess with Song Yeo-reum’s head…….
“You’re really dedicated to your cover story, aren’t you?”
I said it with a hint of admiration. At my words, Jung Eun-sung opened his eyes fully and looked up at me, then suddenly lurched to his feet and shoved me aside.
A soccer ball whizzed through the space where I’d been standing and struck the ground with a sharp crack.
“Whoa—hey, oh God, I’m sorry!”
…….
The way Jung Eun-sung glared was absolutely chilling, and the boys who received that look apologized so frantically they were stumbling over themselves.
My nascent theory about Jung Eun-sung being an outcast evaporated on the spot.
“Kang Da-hye, are you okay?!”
“Hey, we’re really sorry…….”
Jung Eun-sung watched the soccer players freeze in place, their faces twisted with worry, then scratched his eyebrow.
And kicked the ball hard.
In the opposite direction from the Sports Ground.
“Didn’t you say your ankle was injured?”
“Just healed now.”
“I see.”
Somehow I felt a little awkward…….
Oh.
“Want some chocolate?”
I pulled out the Mint Choco Chocolate from my pocket.
Someone left it on my desk on White Day, but I wasn’t particularly curious about who gave it, so I never bothered to find out.
Reason: all the boys at our school are ugly! Except for two!
It was my way of saying thanks, but Jung Eun-sung’s expression turned fierce.
“Hey. This chocolate….”
“What?”
“You don’t like mint choco?”
“Well… I don’t eat it at all.”
“You don’t know what you’re missing…….”
Jung Eun-sung muttered, snatched the chocolate from my hand, popped the whole thing in his mouth, and lay back down. I watched him blink, then turned back to the girls.
“What? What are you saying?”
“Jung Eun-sung’s not being bullied. Absolutely not. If anything, Jung Eun-sung’s the one bullying everyone else.”
“I just saw it! Jung Eun-sung kicked the ball!”
“Didn’t he say he’d sprained his ankle?”
“He said it’s all better now.”
“Must be a fast healer along with being handsome.”
Se-in giggled and clapped her hands together.
“Oh yeah, you guys know about that?”
This and that. Se-in went on about how a rival group member of her favorite boy idol group was caught up in a dating scandal before their comeback.
“So they posted a handwritten apology…….”
“Right! Did you see it?!”
At eighteen, there’s always something demanding your attention.
You have to feel butterflies for a handsome classmate, study, keep up with every move of your favorite celebrities…….
With dozens of stories breaking daily, the incident with the creepy man we hadn’t seen in a few days quickly became yesterday’s news for us.
* * *
“Ga-eun, you heading out now?”
“Yeah. I want to get home and use the bathroom.”
“Wait a bit and let’s go together. I’ll walk you there.”
“You’re in danger too—don’t give me a ride. Just hurry up and get home. Today’s your last day at your part-time job, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Want to have a party at school tomorrow? I’ll grab a slice cake.”
“Forget it. Just get home and go to the bathroom.”
I shoved Ga-eun, who went on some unnecessary tangent about eating instant noodles whenever she needed to use the restroom, out the door of the Academy.
At last, the final day of my part-time job!
I yawned as I stepped into the Staff Room.
“Getting all worked up on his own, stammering through his complaint……”
“Good heavens, is that so?”
The teachers who hadn’t left yet were clustered together, voices heated with discussion.
“As far as I know, his daughter doesn’t have a boyfriend, and even if she did, it’s not someone from our Academy, or so he said. He claims they didn’t meet here.”
“What’s wrong with his daughter having a boyfriend? And even if she does, is that something he should be complaining to us about?”
“There’s a reason the kid’s dating behind her father’s back.”
“How’s the girl supposed to feel coming to the Academy like this?”
“Exactly. You never know what’ll come up these days.”
“What happened?”
I handed a lost item I’d retrieved from the Classroom to the vice principal, asking the question.
“Well, a parent called the Academy just now… saying his daughter studies here but isn’t studying at all, and she’s been seeing some college student, and demanding to know how teachers could possibly let a grown girl run around with a boy at such a late hour, getting all angry about it.”
“You… you mean…?”
“He’s telling us to monitor things properly. Is this an Academy or a convent?”
“Wait until he finds out about her drinking with boys in college — he’ll faint.”
While I stood there bewildered, my phone rang in my pocket.
It was Jung Eun-sung.
He was calling me?
I hurried out of the Staff Room and answered.
“What?”
My uncertain voice met his curt reply through the phone.
-You said to call if I didn’t understand something while studying.
“Oh… right.”
Though I never actually expected him to.
Wait — did I set a call waiting tone back then? Please don’t tell me it was some mournful unrequited love song…☆ I thought as I stepped into an empty Classroom nearby.
“What’s something you don’t understand?”
-We……
(Is anyone here willing to study for 100 won? I’ll skip the details of Jung Eun-sung’s question.)
“That word is the hint. It’s referring to the Imohun Rebellion, so option four isn’t right. Noh Deok-sul was a Japanese Colonial Period figure.”
-Who’s Noh Deok-sul?
“A torture police officer during the Japanese Colonial Period. A collaborator.”
-Ah.
“But why did you suddenly get curious about this at ten at night? You hate studying.”
-I’m trying to study Korean history.
“Why?”
-My company senior… posted a photo on March 1st Independence Movement Day wearing a kimono in Japan, and now the fans are ripping him apart.
“Why’d he do that?”
I nodded and settled onto the desk.
“Is the senior at least showing some remorse?”
-No. He’s asking his manager why he didn’t stop him, throwing a water bottle at him.
“Unbelievable. A grown man needs to take responsibility for his own actions……”
‘A grown girl out this late every time……’
‘At such a late hour, a grown girl running around with a boy, how could that be allowed….’
“Jung Eun-sung, wait a second.”
I stood up from the desk.
Swing.
“Teacher!”
“Yes?”
“That student’s father who called earlier about the boyfriend thing!”
“Yes.”
“Could that be Ga-eun’s father?!”
“How did you know?”
……
-Kang Da-hye?
That man.
I gripped my phone and bolted from the room.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————