1st in Class Hides Regression - Chapter 55

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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
Episode 55
Me once. Seo Jae-gyeom sitting beside me once. Do Ha-jun sitting in Seo Jae-gyeom’s old seat once. And me again.
Jung Eun-seong’s gaze shuttled between us.
He just stood there at the front door without moving, as if he’d taken root. Anyone would think he’d grown into the ground.
Jung Eun-seong’s silent stare burned with intensity.
‘Says he won’t say anything.’
Yet his eyes were already saying plenty.
Seo Jae-gyeom, noticing the stare, glanced sideways at Jung Eun-seong.
“Why’s he staring like that?”
He pressed close to my side like a parasite, whispering.
“…Doesn’t whispering lose its point when you say it that loud?”
And why the hell is he jutting his chin up like that?
I pushed his face away from my ear. Get lost.
Hearing Seo Jae-gyeom’s sharp whisper, Jung Eun-seong slowly shuffled back to his seat. He seemed displeased, a furrow deepening between his brows, and finally he spoke.
“Do we have a free seating system?”
“Oh, no. It’s because Do Ha-jun and Park Su-hwan were being disruptive, so the teachers said something. That’s why our homeroom teacher told Jae-gyeom to switch seats with me.”
Jung Eun-seong’s seatmate answered kindly, but the displeasure never left Jung Eun-seong’s face.
Unhappy, but with nothing to say about it. That kind of expression.
I could guess what he was thinking.
‘He’s probably thinking I have no pride sitting next to Jae.’
Except I didn’t sit down here—he came to me.
And besides, even if we broke up, we can still be friends. He can make new friends but I can’t?
Of course, I wasn’t being childish about “Jung Eun-seong should only be close to me.” Absolutely not….
Whatever. It’s ridiculous.
He won’t say one word to me overnight, but he talks to Ji-su….
“Kang Da-hye. Look at this for a second.”
“Yeah.”
Even as I looked over the problem book Seo Jae-gyeom pushed toward me, my attention was fixed on Jung Eun-seong.
I kept glancing at Jung Eun-seong, but he deliberately ignored me and stared at his textbook.
This period is literature, but he’d opened a chemistry book. Upside down, no less.
‘Only paying attention to me, only to me!’
This kid is seriously weird!
* * *
Funny, absurd, ridiculous, handsome, tall, fit, strange….
“But do you think your mother will forgive me? Honestly, I was a complete jerk.”
“Language.”
“Right.”
I pulled myself from my thoughts and focused on the conversation in front of me. Bang Eun-ji flinched when I narrowed my eyes pointedly.
“Honestly, I was very foolish.”
“Yes.”
I don’t particularly want to say this in the middle of all this, but it seems Bang Eun-ji has become a fan of mine.
Why do I think that?
‘Because she sends me a message once a day or stops by our classroom.’
Our class is off-limits to other grades!
She comes and reports how she apologized to everyone, how she’s compensating for the damage she caused, who she’s made up with.
She obviously apologized to Do Yeon too. When she, true to her delinquent roots, told Do Yeon to slap her cheek as much as she wanted until she felt better, I got scared and stopped her.
She even set a date to visit my mother.
‘Separate from how my conversation with Bang Eun-ji started… there was lingering resentment because of it.’
I can usually tolerate people cursing at me, but cursing at my mother? I can’t. But now she’s saying she’s coming to apologize.
“I actually got scolded by my brother that day too. He said that’s not how you treat adults. My brother knows manners really well. But I’m not saying I want to get back together with him or anything.”
“A guy who knows manners dates a minor?”
“That’s why we broke up.”
“Good decision.”
“But my brother keeps asking me to reconsider. He says I’m letting my emotions get ahead of me, being irrational. He wants me to judge the situation maturely and calmly.”
“What. How mature can an eighteen-year-old be.”
“So I’m annoyed right now. We clearly broke up, but he keeps contacting me.”
“Ask him for money.”
“Money?”
“Yeah. About four million won.”
“So you’re breaking up?”
“I don’t know—I saw this movie called *Madame Bovary* and it was like that, you know? …But why did you suddenly decide to break up with him?”
Bang Eun-ji escaped the fate of becoming High Teen Parents, which was a relief, but the suddenness of the breakup struck me as odd. She rolled her eyes at my question.
“Just did.”
“Just did?”
“…After what happened with Song Yeor-eum, I had too much to think about.”
“Ah.”
Now that she mentioned it.
“Song Yeor-eum never came looking for you?”
“Nope. These days I just go back and forth between school and home. She can’t even show her face here because of Ji-su’s Mother. We haven’t run into each other.”
“Ji-su’s Mother is scary… Do you know which school Song Yeor-eum transferred to?”
“Gugugo High School.”
“That’s close.”
“Well, she doesn’t seem to be doing all that great there, though.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
Bang Eun-ji stretched and held up the mirror attached to her cellphone, examining a pimple on her forehead as she spoke.
“Honestly, it’s kind of a relief, because Song Yeor-eum’s birthday is next month, right? But the gift she wanted me to buy was seriously expensive. Eight hundred thousand won.”
“Eight hundred thousand won?!”
“Yeah. She said she wouldn’t accept anything else. So I was like, does this girl think I’m some kind of ATM or what—”
“I told you not to swear…”
Wait a minute.
“Bang Eun-ji. What’s today’s date?”
“Today? April 8th.”
“Huh.”
I’m screwed. Today…
‘It’s Jung Eun-seong’s birthday.’
* * *
I know Jung Eun-seong’s birthday because, before the Regression, I saw his birthday advertisements for ten years straight.
At the Subway Station in front of school, on buses passing by the Convenience Store where I worked part-time. Sometimes on the vibration alarm of a Coffee Shop.
“On the day the cherry blossoms bloom, Eun-seong came to us—Happy 21st birthday.”
Q. So why are you screwed?
A. Because today a Sasaeng Fan is coming to school looking for Jung Eun-seong.
Even before the Regression, I’d heard that she’d set up camp in front of school and nearly hit Jung Eun-seong in the face with a firecracker—he left early that day, so I only heard about it later—but what if it happens again?
Last time it was just an attempt, but what if he actually gets hurt today? The future’s already changed so much.
‘What do I do.’
Separate from the fact that Jung Eun-seong is a weird guy, shouldn’t I warn him about this?
But how do I warn him?
Can I even warn him? He hasn’t spoken to me in days.
“Ugh.”
I agonized over it all day but couldn’t come up with anything. While thinking about this, I spilled soup on my clothes during lunch and took a ball to the face during PE.
“Hey, doesn’t something smell weird in the classroom?”
“That’d be your sweat.”
“Open a window.”
“Oh come on, class monitor! You should’ve locked the door when we left!”
“I did lock it!”
“You did not! It’s open, you idiot!”
How am I supposed to say anything.
I kept glancing over at Jung Eun-seong, who sat across the room, lost in thought.
I spent the whole day worrying but couldn’t figure out what to do.
“Kang Da-hye, aren’t you leaving?”
“Oh. Yeah. I’m just going to organize my desk a bit. You go on ahead, Seo Jae-gyeom.”
“Let’s go together.”
“Get out.”
“Hmph.”
What do I do.
I slowly stuffed books into my school bag while sneaking glances at Jung Eun-seong. He was lingering at his desk too, as if he had something to organize.
Now would be the time to say something.
‘Should I just tell him to leave through the Back Gate? I could call him a taxi.’
But would he even listen to me? And what would I say if he asked why.
“Kang Da, see you tomorrow!”
“Yeah!”
While I was wrestling with my thoughts, everyone had already left.
The hallway emptied like a receding tide. Only Jung Eun-seong and I remained in the classroom.
I craned my neck to peer out the window, but the school gate wasn’t visible from here. I couldn’t tell whether that sasaeng fan was out there or not.
‘I don’t know.’
I swallowed hard and called out to Jung Eun-seong.
“Jung Eun-seong.”
This wasn’t because I wanted to talk to him. It was for the greater good.
I spoke toward his back as he stood in front of his locker, clearing my throat deliberately.
“Jung Eun-seong, are you heading straight to practice after this?”
“…….”
“Jung Eun-seong.”
“…….”
“Hey.”
What is this?
So he decided on his own not to talk to me—fine. But when someone’s actually speaking to you, you just ignore them?
I’ve been stressed about this all day because of you!
Fed up, I strode straight toward Jung Eun-seong.
“Hey, you’re really not going to—”
?!
Bang!
Jung Eun-seong hastily slammed his locker shut, but I’d already seen it.
“Hey, you—what is that?”
What the hell is that?!
Jung Eun-seong’s face went deathly pale as he waved his hands frantically.
“It’s not me. I don’t know. It’s not mine. I haven’t even opened my locker today.”
“Well, of course—”
It couldn’t possibly be his…….
What filled the locker was a heap of crumpled women’s underwear. White, pink, yellow. The kind that looked like it had been worn for days, with that stain on the inside. That… whatever it was.
‘It looks like blood…….’
A distinct odor wafted from the pile. And most damning of all—an opened, already-used sanitary pad resting on top of the underwear.
……Already used.
Zzzzzt- zzzzzt-
“!”
“!”

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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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