1st in Class Hides Regression - Chapter 45

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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 45
Seo Jaekyeom
Kang Dahye
Is the tteokbokki good?
19:20
Did you die eating?
22:05
Sigh.
23:11
Bang Eunji, caught completely off guard, crumpled like a puppet with cut strings.
With a sharp crack, the liquor bottle slipped from the hand of the man who’d ambushed Bang Eunji and rolled across the ground.
“Damn it, damn it….”
He’d gone out alone to buy alcohol and must have just returned—the convenience store bag hanging from his wrist made a loud clattering sound.
“Filthy pig….”
The man muttered something while looking down at Bang Eunji sprawled on the ground.
“Ahhh!”
Then he suddenly staggered backward and fled, sliding as he went.
“Bang Eunji!”
The moment the man disappeared, I crouched down in front of Bang Eunji in a panic.
“Hey, are you okay?!”
I was terrified that she might be badly hurt, since the man had fled in such fright—but fortunately, that wasn’t the case.
Bang Eunji, curled into a ball, swore under her breath.
“Ugh, ah… my head’s split open….”
“No, stay still. Don’t try to get up.”
“Did you see the guy’s face?”
“Yeah. He’s two grades above us.”
A hoodlum who’d once had a name for himself.
Like most delinquents, he’d supposedly disappeared without a trace after graduating high school.
And here he was, running with Song Yeoreum.
“Don’t move. I’m calling 119 right now.”
There was an electric scooter parked nearby—the key was even in the ignition, clearly left by one of these losers—and I desperately wanted to ride it.
But I don’t have a license! I’m only eighteen!
God, I really wish I could take the college entrance exam early and just become an adult already….
I slipped my bag under Bang Eunji’s head as she lay on her side. I pulled out my phone to call 119, but Bang Eunji stopped me.
“Hey, do I really have to go to the hospital?”
“Are you insane? If you got hit wrong, this could be serious.”
You might have glass shards embedded in your head. I said it seriously, but Bang Eunji just shook her head.
“I don’t have money….”
“You think I’m going to ask you to pay? Your parents will.”
“That’s the thing. My mom could kill me.”
I don’t want to go. I’m fine. Bang Eunji shook her head and tried to sit up.
“Ugh. There’s a ringing sound in my ear.”
I watched Bang Eunji dust herself off and continue muttering curses under her breath, then picked up my phone.
“Hey, I said no!”
“Be quiet. What are you whining about? Are you close with me or not?”
Ring-ring.
—Yeah, Dahye? Haven’t you left yet?
“Oh, Mother. That’s not it. Someone else just came and left. She graduated two years ago… she was part of that crowd from earlier.”
I answered politely and switched the call to speaker phone.
—Someone else came?
“Yes. My friend who came with me tried to hold that guy back and got hurt a bit….”
—She got hurt? How badly?
“She was hit in the head.”
—Do you know exactly who that man is?
“My friend knows him. I think he’s probably the ringleader.”
—Alright, then come to the hospital with your friend. Take a taxi, or call 119.
“But we came in such a rush that we don’t have money right now….”
—That’s not something the children need to worry about. Your friend can still give a statement, right?
After finishing the call with Jisoo’s Mother, I looked at Bang Eunji.
“Done?”
* * *
Bang Eunji was admitted to the hospital.
Jisoo’s Mother agreed to cover all medical expenses in exchange for testifying about the conversation she’d overheard at the Empty Lot yesterday.
After the weekend passed, the School Violence Committee convened.
Song Yeoreum transferred schools.
As for the boys who no longer attended school, criminal charges would naturally follow.
I overheard teachers murmuring that never in the school’s history had transfer procedures been completed so quickly.
‘Jisoo’s Mother really pulled some strings.’
It was a remarkably swift and anticlimactic ending, considering what Song Yeoreum had done.
‘Should’ve picked someone else to mess with.’
But Jisoo’s Mother’s retaliation didn’t stop there.
“Turns out Song Yeoreum’s father’s company president is friends with my dad.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yeah. So she said she’d pass the message along through our parents. And….”
“And?”
“I didn’t even know, but Song Yeoreum’s mother runs a kimbap restaurant in our mom’s building. She’d been charging low rent until now, but that’s all changing.”
“…So Song Yeoreum’s mother runs a restaurant too.”
“My mom says I committed a sin and wants to go pray. So I probably won’t go to academy this weekend.”
“Still, she managed to settle for just a transfer.”
Given her mother’s temperament, I’d expected expulsion.
“Actually, I don’t think the School Violence Committee issued a forced transfer. It seems like my mom and Song Yeoreum’s parents reached an agreement. He transferred on his own terms.”
“Yeah?”
“Mm. Mom seemed to have her own plan in mind.”
“…Like getting his father fired from the company? Raising the rent to push them out of the building…?”
“No!”
Jisoo waved her hands emphatically.
“Just a message about raising their son better. You know, Dahye—you can be surprisingly cruel sometimes.”
“Ah.”
“By the way, Bang Eunji’s testimony was the deciding factor. All that stuff about preventing him from using his hands, scarring his face.”
“Right. That’s what happened.”
I nodded.
You really never know where life leads.
Who would’ve thought Bang Eunji would be the one to bring down Song Yeoreum?
Was this what they call… using the enemy’s own tactics against them?
“Are you okay, Jisoo?”
“Yeah. I’m fine. Actually, I’m relieved things turned out this way. If you’d been the one arrested….”
The thought alone horrified her; beside Jisoo, who trembled at the imagining, I laughed quietly.
Right.
If I were the victim—if my face had been scarred, my hand broken—I’d never have been punished this swiftly and decisively.
This outcome was only possible because the victim was Jisoo.
“I’m sorry, Jisoo. This happened because of me.”
“No. How were you supposed to know they’d come at you like that? Besides, I’m not even hurt.”
“Right.”
“Mom’s having her secretary handle civil proceedings separately.”
“Her secretary?”
“My mother’s personal secretary.”
“Ah.”
That’s right. Sometimes you need a clean resolution without getting your hands dirty. I patted Jisoo’s back lightly.
“I’ll head back to class now.”
And so the Song Yeoreum problem was resolved.
But I still had one minor issue left to deal with.
“Kang Dahye!”
As I was leaving the Teacher’s Office with the attendance record, Seo Jaekyeom called out from behind me.
With long strides, Seo Jaekyeom smoothly ushered me into the elevator.
“We’re not supposed to use the elevator.”
“If anyone asks, I’ll say I forced you on.”
“Jaekyeom!”
“Jaekyeom! Come with us!”
Seeing the elevator doors open, a crowd came rushing over; Seo Jaekyeom waved them off dismissively and pressed the close button.
Suddenly it was just the two of us in the elevator.
Seo Jaekyeom had dutifully pressed the close button, but then neglected to press the fourth-floor button that led to our classroom. He stood there with his hand buried in his pocket, looking down at me.
With the pouty expression of someone playing the vulnerable younger man.
“Kang Dahye.”
“Yeah?”
“Why did you leave my Kakao message on read?”
……
“I waited all weekend for you.”
“You waited?”
“Yeah.”
……
“A lot.”
There it was. This. A small problem that still hadn’t been resolved.
I stared at Seo Jaekyeom as he gazed down at me with lowered eyes.
Should I say something, or shouldn’t I.
I didn’t want to create an awkward rift between us and end up with more things to worry about. Should I just pretend I hadn’t noticed and move on, or should I speak up.
Oblivious to my hesitation, Seo Jaekyeom added with a smooth smile,
“If you don’t reply, would it be okay if I called you instead?”
Fine. Just say it.
“Seo Jaekyeom.”
“Hm?”
“Why have you been like this lately?”
“Like what?”
“Toward me lately…….”
I frowned and pressed my lips together.
How was I supposed to put this properly.
He was putting on an act.
He was flirting with me.
He was trying to seduce me.
In any case, he was deliberately being nice to me. To shake me up.
I’d noticed it about him for a few days now.
He used to be the type who’d leave my Kakao messages on read or give one-word answers whenever I’d reach out first with something to discuss, but now he sends messages for no good reason.
He initiates conversations. He laughs at what I say. He jokes around. He acts friendly.
He even asks me to give him false eyelashes.
He says if I become class president, he’ll be vice president.
Do you know what they call this kind of behavior in modern parlance?
Keeping options open.
He probably thinks he’s being subtle about it, but how could I not see through it. I have a head on my shoulders too.
“Seo Jaekyeom. Looking at what you’re doing these days.”
“Looking at it?”
“It looks like you’re deliberately leaving room for hope — hoping I’ll start liking you again.”
……
“Is that it? Are you having second thoughts now that I’ve stopped liking you?”
You didn’t even want to try things with me, and you don’t actually like me either.
But now that I’ve slipped from your grasp, you suddenly want to hold on.
“If I’m right about this, you’re really terrible. If you’re not going to like me, then let me stop liking you too. I don’t owe you anything.”
I finished speaking and pressed the elevator button.

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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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