1st in Class Hides Regression - Chapter 5

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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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Top Student Hides Her Regression
Episode 5
“What on earth were you two doing all day? Every teacher who came into our classroom today had something to say about it. I was so embarrassed I wanted to disappear!”
Into a mouse hole!
The Homeroom Teacher pointed at the empty floor and stomped her foot with a thud.
She was furious, but I’d gone blank.
Seeing the Homeroom Teacher’s face again after ten years—it looked exactly the same as back then.
She’d just graduated from university, newly assigned to this school, and immediately given homeroom duties—a fresh-faced office worker barely out of college.
Only about ten years older than us, still making mistakes left and right.
I’d seen her more than once slump her shoulders and say, “The vice principal wants me to finish this before I go…” when someone asked, “Teacher, aren’t you leaving?”
Since she knew less about how the school worked than we did—having spent only a year here ourselves—some of the boys even openly disrespected her.
Even so, she’d seemed incredibly grown-up to my eyes back then.
Now, seeing her again, she’s completely childlike. Completely.
Does the teacher go home and make instant noodles with vegetables while reviewing the Euler Challenge after work?
In any case, this seven-years-older, thoroughly exasperated adult woman grabbed both me and Jung Eun-seong as the other students bolted toward lunch.
“Why exactly did you two pull that stunt today? Did you two plan something? Are you trying to get me in trouble?”
The Homeroom Teacher roared.
“The other teachers really gave me an earful!”
“Teacher, it’s not like that. Jung Eun-seong—!”
I really didn’t want to do any of this!
I’m twenty-nine years old, and I spent the whole day with my hand raised looking for the teacher!
Worse, some of the teachers I whined to today about disciplining Jung Eun-seong are younger than I am.
What is this?!
“Jung Eun-seong started it first!”
“That’s not true. I was just helping the music teacher.”
“Both of you, be quiet. Do it one more time, and you’ll both stay behind for cleaning duty together—got it?”
“Wow. I’m so jealous of Kang Da-hye.”
“Teacher, I want to stay with Eun-seong too!”
The short-haired girl who’d jumped in from the side flinched and fell silent under the Homeroom Teacher’s withering stare.
“Please, just let me off the hook. Our class already has so many tardies, and the Grade Head is keeping a close watch. If you keep this up, I’m really going to catch hell.”
“Yes, sorry.”
“My apologies.”
“Right. Go eat lunch. We’re having stir-fried octopus today.”
The Homeroom Teacher, who’d warned that going late meant there’d be no broth left to mix the rice in, disappeared ahead, her hopes high for seaweed powder.
My plan to live as a model student right from the start had already fallen apart on day one.
I glared at Jung Eun-seong.
Feeling my gaze, Jung Eun-seong looked down at me.
“What are you looking at?”
…….
Just ignore him.
I need to get to lunch. If I go late, there won’t be any broth left for the stir-fried octopus.
I pushed open the classroom door, which by then had emptied of all the other students.
The friend I used to eat lunch with back then was…….
“Da-hye!”
My friend, who’d been waiting outside because of the <No Entry to Other Classes!!!!> sign posted on the classroom, beamed and reached out her hand to me.
“Han Ji-su!”
I ran over and threw my arms around her.
“Ji-su! Wahhh!”
“Huh…? What’s wrong……?”
“Wahhh…… it really is you…….”
It really is Ji-su. My best friend, Han Ji-su.
The same tears that had welled up when I saw Mom looking younger this morning came rushing back in an instant.
“Sniff sniff sniff…….”
I tightened my grip around her, my nose running.
Han Ji-su.
My friend, seen again after ten years.
The person closest to me in my twenty-nine years of life.
We’d been in the same class for all three years of middle school, and in high school we were together again our first year.
We stayed that close for six years straight, but when I bombed the College Entrance Exam, contact between us died.
To be precise, I cut off contact unilaterally.
Inferiority.
I’d bombed the College Entrance Exam while Ji-su took it like any other day and got into Korea University—in the exact department I’d wanted.
Even after that, Ji-su kept reaching out to me without fail, but when I started ignoring her calls, we lost touch around a year later.
Whenever life got hard, I thought of Ji-su, but I couldn’t bring myself to contact her again.
No shame in it.
And I wasn’t doing well enough to justify reconnecting anyway.
I regretted it constantly—wishing I’d never let our contact slip in the first place.
So how could I not be happy to see her?
My friend’s face, after all this time.
“Sniff….”
“What’s wrong? Did the homeroom teacher scold you?”
“Han Ji-su. I’m heading downstairs first.”
Seo Jae-gyeom, who’d been stuck to Ji-su’s side until I emerged, glanced between me and Jung Eun-seong in the doorway before waving at Ji-su.
“Enjoy your lunch.”
“You too, Seo Jae-gyeom.”
Before turning away, Seo Jae-gyeom’s gaze brushed past me for a moment, but I had eyes only for Ji-su.
What did Seo Jae-gyeom matter? Han Ji-su was standing right in front of me.
“Kang Da-hye, you’re really okay, right?”
“Yeah. Just hungry, that’s all.”
“Seriously? Let’s head down then.”
“Okay.”
“Wipe your nose first, though.”
“Do I look that bad?”
“Yeah. Really bad.”
“Sniff.”
I left Ji-su giggling behind me and hurried to the restroom, tearing off some tissue to wipe my face.
Ji-su linked her arm with mine without complaint, even though we were wasting precious lunch time.
My friend.
“I went to your classroom this morning, by the way.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. But you weren’t there.”
“Oh, I was probably at the school store when you came by.”
“Guess so.”
“Why? Did you need something?”
“Not really. I just… wanted to see you.”
“Why are you being so weird about it? You’re scaring me…”
“Hehe. I’m going to do my best from now on, okay?”
Regression was a good thing.
I got to see my friend again like this.
This time I’d never let contact slip—I’d stay close to her for life, no matter what.
God, Buddha, ancestors—
I don’t know which of you sent me back, but thank you. I promise I’ll live better from now on.
I teased her by stuffing the tissue I’d used into Ji-su’s uniform pocket when Jung Eun-seong suddenly appeared from behind and passed us.
Watching Jung Eun-seong’s back as he moved ahead, I could tell from the way his silhouette moved that he was undeniably handsome, and Ji-su whispered to me.
“Is that Jung Eun-seong?”
“Yeah.”
“Are you two close?”
“What?!”
What kind of rude question was that?
“He’s a completely weird guy!”
“Really? I saw you two talking pretty friendly outside earlier.”
“We were cursing each other out.”
“For real?”
“Yeah. Jung Eun-seong and I don’t have that kind of relationship. And that’s because he’s bad luck.”
“How can someone who looks like that be bad luck?”
“Right? It’s quite the feat that Jung Eun-seong manages it.”
“But how? What’s he like?”
“I’ll tell you all about it over lunch.”
Besides, I was starving.
The homeroom teacher’s scolding had delayed me, so there was no line at the cafeteria.
I swiped my student ID at the entrance and read today’s menu on the bulletin board.
—Brown rice
—Beef soup
—Stir-fried octopus with pickled radish
—Green bean jelly with seaweed
—Kimchi
—Red bean butter walnut cake
“Red bean butter walnut cake?!”
Are they serious?!
“That looks amazing.”
Can life really be this satisfying?
I practically skipped through the serving line, humming to myself.
They’d swapped seaweed powder for Chinese chives as the topping for the stir-fried octopus, and since most kids didn’t take them, there was a pile left over—which I gladly claimed for myself.
“You always liked Chinese chives, didn’t you?”
“I didn’t used to, I think… but I do now. They’re good for your liver.”
“Your liver…?”
“Yeah. After we eat, let’s walk a lap around the schoolyard before heading back. Managing blood sugar after meals is important.”
“Uhhh…?”
“It’s not something that hits home when you’re a teenager. But health is something you protect while you still have it.”
So I told Ji-su to take some Chinese chives too, piled them high on her tray, and turned to leave.
The cafeteria was already packed with students, and I wandered looking for a seat…….
“…Why does the atmosphere feel so strange?”
There are so many people, yet it’s oddly quiet.
The kind of quiet that feels like hushed snickering—or like everyone’s holding their breath, watching.
As I looked around in confusion, my eyes found the source.
At an eight-person table in the middle of the cafeteria sat a short-haired girl, eating alone.
While everywhere else buzzed with noise, her table sat conspicuously empty around her.
Everyone treated her like she was invisible, yet at the same time, I could feel all eyes were fixed on her.
A group sitting at the table right next to her giggled.
Their voices rose deliberately, sharp enough to pierce eardrums.
“Wow. How can she eat alone like that?”
“If it were me, I wouldn’t eat. I’d just starve.”
“I’d just drop out.”
“You’d have to have a face thick enough to pull something like that off……”
“Hold on, that’s not all she pulled off! She did it with Korean history too. Whenever geography comes up, our Do-yeon gets upset.”
Spiteful words flowed openly toward her, yet she just sat there stubbornly, eating her rice.
Ah….
How could I have forgotten about this?

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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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