1st in Class Hides Regression - Chapter 53

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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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Ranked 1st in School Hides Her Regression
Chapter 53
“Who’s dating!”
The Trainer, who had caught the word “dating” with an almost supernatural sense, snapped at them mid-motion, his hand frozen above his cellphone.
“Who! Who!”
“I meant I’m dating the fans who love me, sir!”
The Senior Trainee, who had flinched at first, shouted in an exaggerated voice and giggled while playing cute. The Trainer sneered at him.
“Hey, you don’t even get fans until you debut. Who’s going to debut you?”
“Ah, sir! Why are you trampling on my dreams like that….”
“It’s not me trampling your dreams—it’s you. Your plain face can’t seduce a single old woman. You’ve got less charm than a Serengeti livestreamer. It’s you, it’s you.”
…….
“Keep going at this rate and you won’t make it into the debut group until you’re conscripted. You know what happens when you just get older like that? You get cut. Cut!”
The Trainer, speaking with a sneer, sucked on his coffee—nothing left but ice.
“Get your head straight. Unless you want to spend your whole life delivering Chinese food with only a high school diploma because you couldn’t get into university.”
Packing all manner of slurs into a single sentence was its own kind of skill, if you could call it that.
But what the Trainer had just said was also the worst fear every trainee carried.
Some start in elementary school, others in high school. They come here chasing a single dream—to become a singer while still young—and while their peers are going to school, they don’t study, they don’t make friends, they abandon all basic academics and the whole of their school years, fixating entirely on debut.
And if that falls through?
What becomes of me, unable to debut?
My life?
An industry that makes you believe your life is over in your early twenties.
A place where everyone gathers—people who are eager to sell their souls to Peter Pan, wanting to stay eternal children—because that’s what this place is.
“You know we’re debuting a seven-member boy group next year.”
“…Yes.”
“You know after they debut, there won’t be any male idol debuts for a while.”
“…Yes.”
“The ones who are thirteen, fourteen now—they’re still okay. You. You. You. Especially you. You’re already twenty, right? What are you all going to do?”
…….
“Don’t laugh—think about this seriously. Yeah? Your hyung is genuinely worried about you.”
The Trainer, who had turned the mood to a funeral in an instant, waved his hand and said he was going out for a smoke, then left.
In the somber silence that followed, the Senior Trainee scratched his head vigorously.
“The Trainer just said everything I was going to say. …Though I wasn’t planning to put it that harshly.”
Even though the senior had just been singled out with “especially you,” he didn’t seem wounded by it. Well, with a mentality this fragile, he wouldn’t have lasted this long.
“Hey, Eun-seong. Normally, I’d tell you, ‘Date plenty while you’re a trainee—you won’t be able to once you debut.’ But.”
The senior glanced around, then leaned his torso toward Eun-seong.
“You heard, right? That guy who messed up this time—he’s the main vocal for the seven-member boy group we’re pushing as the next big thing. How are they going to debut without a main vocal?”
Plenty of trainees could dance, but singers were rare. Among all the male trainees here, Eun-seong was the only one with true main vocal potential.
The implication in the senior’s words was clear.
You could fill that spot, so you’re not going to stumble at this exact moment, are you?
“I shouldn’t be the one saying this, but Eun-seong, you’re eighteen. You’re not getting any younger. Sure, you’ve got an advantage over me since you can sing well, but you don’t want to wait years more with no promise of anything, do you?”
Eun-seong listened to the blend of concern, persuasion, and coercion without expression.
‘Waiting a few more years beats debuting with those punks.’
He thought blithely.
But what came next forced him to listen.
“That Sukrim guy studies well, doesn’t he? I mean, well enough to get into Korean University?”
“…Yes.”
“Right, so he goes to Korean University, and you keep being a trainee, say. Right now, in high school, kids treat you like ‘oh wow, a trainee.’ You think it’ll be like that after you get to university?”
…….
“Once he gets into Korean University, he’ll be riding that school prestige hard. While he’s enjoying campus life at a prestigious university, his boyfriend’s stuck without a degree chasing some fantasy of becoming an entertainer—she’s going to see you as pretty pathetic.”
The senior delivered the final blow, fixing Eun-seong with a wide, stern stare.
“Wake up. You don’t debut this time, you’re done with her too. If you don’t debut now, your life is over, and then she won’t even look at you.”
Jung Eun-seong, his life ruined at eighteen.
People get rich at twelve, and my life’s ending at eighteen?
But beneath the cynical inner monologue, Eun-seong’s insides were already churning.
…I’m going to look pathetic.
“So what should I do?”
“For now, don’t talk to her. And show her you’re working hard.”
Actually, Eun-seong didn’t talk to Kang Da-hye that often anyway. He was studying hard enough.
But the senior had decided on his own that Eun-seong was just chasing that girl at school and doing nothing else.
“Why shouldn’t I talk to her?”
“That’s why.”
Senior Trainee spoke firmly.
“You need to show him a cold, aloof side—someone focused entirely on her own work.”
“Oh.”
I nodded along.
“I’m pretty good at that sort of thing.”
“Good.”
“But honestly, I don’t even like him or anything. I just didn’t want to look pathetic in front of him.”
“Sure, sure. Anyway.”
…….
“……Do you have a photo?”
“No, I don’t.”
“Ah, is that so?”
Muttering to himself about being curious, Senior Trainee got up and went to fetch some water.
The Trainer, who’d gone out for a cigarette, hadn’t come back, and the rest of the trainees lay around looking dejected. Left alone, Jung Eun-seong pulled out his cellphone.
He opened the group chat for the class and tapped the photo album, where he found a batch of photos the Homeroom Teacher had sent on Election Day. Kang Da-hye wearing an animal headband, and some ugly guy next to her.
When he zoomed in, the ugly guy’s face got cut off, leaving only Kang Da-hye in frame.
“Hey!”
“What?”
“Have you ever made a promise to become a good person?”
“Huh? What kind of promise is that?”
“……I made one.”
“What do you mean?”
“Never mind.”
Kang Da-hye was definitely going to succeed.
She’d achieve everything she wanted and live happily.
Because she was smart. She was sincere. She was funny. She knew how to be brave for others—and not just once, but again and again. And she had the gift of pulling her friends along with her, not leaving them behind.
She’d definitely be better next year than now, and by ten years from now, twenty, thirty—she’d become someone truly remarkable.
But what about me?
Truth is, if I’m not showing it, I might just be Do Hye-jun 2.0 in Kang Da-hye’s eyes.
“…This feels rotten.”
* * *
“I’m not talking to you anymore.”
“???”
What?
I stood there with my mouth hanging open, staring after Jung Eun-seong as he left the practice room.
Why’d he suddenly act like that?
“Da-hye.”
Ji-su came up beside me, still dazed, and stuck a finger in my gaping mouth.
“Why’d you do that?”
“I just stood there thinking and got smacked.”
“Huh?”
“Nah, it’s nothing.”
I spat out his finger and grabbed my bag.
“You’re heading to the Counselor’s Office, right?”
“Yeah, I should……. I need to tell the teacher about what happened today.”
“Want me to come with you?”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
You’re always nervous around Lee Mongyong anyway.
But even as I said this, the bewilderment wouldn’t fade.
What’s Jung Eun-seong’s problem?
“This is ridiculous.”
“Ridiculous!”
“What is?”
“Leave it. Da-hye’s been like that since yesterday.”
Se-in flinched and looked at me as I cried out into empty air in the middle of eating. Beside her, Do-yeon poked a straw into her juice.
Q. What’s today’s cafeteria menu?
A. Grilled gochujang pork belly, radish kimchi, soybean stew, and Jeju mandarin orange juice.
“This is absurd!”
“Why am I so baffled. Heo-jun, I’m telling you.”
“That’s a royal physician.”
While eating, giggling to myself; after eating, walking the Schoolyard with the others, still giggling; climbing the Stairs afterward, still giggling. Every so often the thought would bubble up and leave me shaking my head in disbelief—and that’s when Jung Eun-seong happened to pass by.
“Hi, Eun-seong!”
“Hey.”
My eyes met his as he answered Su-a’s greeting.
“…….”
“…….”
He turned his head away sharply and climbed the Stairs first. I watched him go with narrowed eyes, his stride long and deliberate.
“Listen, guys. This is a story about a friend of mine.”
…No, wait. That’s just another way of saying “pay attention to me,” isn’t it.
Cancel that. Let me start over.
Something that couldn’t possibly be about me…….
“Listen, guys. This is a story about my grandmother.”

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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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