1st in Class Hides Regression - Chapter 59

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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 59
Jung Eun-seong of Class 2-2, second year, found himself thinking.
‘I seem to be thinking about this stuff pretty often these days.’
So what was today’s thought, exactly?
‘Does Kang Da-hye live her life twice over, all by herself?’
—One failure doesn’t ruin your entire life.
—Anyone who mocks you for failing is a loser anyway, so why waste the energy?
—Worse than failing is doing nothing out of fear of failing.
How could she pick exactly the words that burrowed into his skull like that? Did they go in one ear and out the other?
Of course, you could say she spoke carelessly since it wasn’t her problem, or that these were just the trite platitudes you’d find in any self-help book……
But when those platitudes came from Kang Da-hye’s mouth, they didn’t sound trite at all.
It felt as though she were sharing something she’d lived through and felt firsthand. There was a sense that every word she spoke came from 100% genuine conviction.
Maybe I just wanted to hear it that way.
And then there was this part.
‘If you’re really that worried, study in your spare time. Prepare for the possibility of failure. Any profession requires at least basic knowledge, right?’
It felt like he’d heard something similar from Kang Da-hye before. And he remembered being quite comforted by it then.
Even though he was hearing it for the first time today.
It was probably just his imagination, but her words had been a comfort both then and now.
‘She’s right. I can study too. Instead of wasting time being anxious.’
And I’m not taking my brother’s advice anymore, that’s for sure.
He said I might look pathetic, so I shouldn’t talk to her and should show a cold, aloof side instead—but what is this? He said he didn’t think I was pathetic in the first place!
Tomorrow when I see him at the practice room, I’m absolutely calling him out on this.
Truth was, Eun-seong was reaching his limit trying to avoid talking to Kang Da-hye.
This was what filled Eun-seong’s heart lately.
: But is it really right for me to stop talking to Kang Da-hye? Isn’t that just a selfish decision based on what I want?
Because.
Not talking to Kang Da-hye → classmates notice → the class atmosphere sours → class morale drops → Class 2-2’s grades fall → discouraged classmates roam around spreading negative energy to their friends → other classes’ study atmosphere crumbles → same mechanism ruins other schools’ atmosphere → nationwide → the education system collapses → Korean society falls.
That’s huge. Gives me chills.
‘Yeah. I can talk to her sometimes. I’m not trying to interfere with her studying.’
I just want to be her friend and actually study. I have to study anyway. For Korean society.
Practice hard, study hard. Exercise and sunscreen diligently.
Become a decent person.
Not just someone who doesn’t look pathetic—but someone so presentable that I wouldn’t embarrass her standing beside me.
* * *
“1894, 1896, 1897… I can’t get this order to stick no matter what.”
“How many times have you looked at it?”
“Fifty.”
“There’s a method you can use in that case.”
“What?”
“Look at it fifty-one times.”
“What if I still can’t memorize it?”
“Then look fifty-two times. You’ll have it memorized before five hundred times, I’m sure.”
“That’s your method?”
“Instead of wasting time questioning whether it’s a method, if you just start memorizing, you could learn it a second faster.”
“You won’t even try to empathize with someone suffering from being slow?”
“Nope. I happen to have a good head.”
“Cold-blooded and merciless.”
“If my tears could make Eun-seong memorize those dates, I’d cry gladly. But they can’t, so.”
It was genuinely infuriating.
He shot a glare at Kang Da-hye sitting in front of him, but she didn’t even smirk.
Click—she pressed the mechanical pencil tip a few times before speaking.
“You asked me to teach you how to study. This is the best tip I’ve got. If something won’t stick, you keep looking at it until it does.”
“That’s not a tip at all……”
The police officer who’d visited school that day had searched the building and found the camera pinned like a thumbtack to the bulletin board behind the classroom.
She’d changed her cellphone number and, just in case, changed every password on every internet site she could think of.
A few parents had called demanding she be transferred out, but apparently that had been smoothed over somehow. Probably because Han Ji-young’s mother, supposedly the most influential of them all, hadn’t stepped in.
“True wisdom never looks like wisdom.”
And now, whenever he had time, Eun-seong studied for exams with Kang Da-hye.
Kang Da-hye was genuinely diligent.
Studying during breaks, studying while the teacher drifted off in lectures, memorizing vocabulary while waiting in line for lunch. I asked what he was listening to with his earphones in, and it turned out to be English listening practice.
Even now, when I arrived at School this morning, he was already sitting at his desk solving problems from his Problem Book. I’d turned my chair to face him, sitting diagonally in front of Kang Da-hye’s empty seat, and we’d been studying together for twenty minutes.
“Any other tips?”
“Yeah. Memorize instead of hunting for tricks.”
We were in the middle of putting our heads together when—
“What are you two doing?”
Kang Da-hye’s desk mate—the ugly one—had appeared.
“Da-hye, you’re studying?”
His presence always soured my mood, and a shadow fell across the desk the moment he showed up. Jung Eun-seong, sitting in front of us, pretended not to notice and spoke only to Kang Da-hye.
It didn’t matter. Eun-seong was ignoring him just as thoroughly.
“Oh. I need to study for the Midterm too.”
The ugly one rambled on without being asked, then suddenly fell silent. Kang Da-hye didn’t pay him any attention, but Eun-seong glanced up briefly to look at him.
The ugly one caught his disapproving expression and made a proposal.
“Da-hye, want to prepare for the Midterm together? I’m taking this cram school and…”
“Sorry. I’m already doing it with her.”
Before he could finish speaking, Kang Da-hye cut him off, pointing at Jung Eun-seong with her Mechanical Pencil. The ugly one’s smile froze.
“Seo Jae-gyeom, want to join us? The three of us?”
No way.
“Um. That’s a bit…”
So the ugly one didn’t want to either. He shook his head and tried again.
“What about on weekends?”
“Weekends I’m with Do-yeon.”
“Will you come to the Library?”
“No. We decided to do it at Do-yeon’s place.”
“That’s too bad… I was planning to go to the Library.”
“You’re not even a Library member. Did you sign up?”
‘He keeps getting shut down. Just give up already.’
Listening to the exchange, Eun-seong laughed to himself—or rather, didn’t bother hiding it.
Snicker, snicker.
“Focus.”
Kang Da-hye, who had a supernatural ability to sense when someone wasn’t paying attention, flicked his nose with a rolled-up piece of paper. It was almost like how you’d scold a disobedient puppy.
“Did you check number 51?”
“No.”
“Go ahead and look at it then.”
“You two seem pretty close.”
The ugly one clenched his teeth and tried to cut in.
“Will you flick my nose too?”
“No…”
“Then go study.”
He didn’t even break even.
Snicker, snicker!
Kang Da-hye looked between them with an expression that said ‘Why do you two keep bothering me?’ before turning her gaze back to the Problem Book. I thought she might switch to another subject for a moment, but she went back to solving math problems.
Every time I look, she seems to be stuck on math.
“Do you like math?”
The ugly one asked the same question from beside us.
Kang Da-hye shook her head and tapped the Problem Book lightly with her Mechanical Pencil.
“Not exactly. It’s just that there’s so much I don’t understand.”
“You’re not saying you don’t know one problem out of a hundred, are you?”
“No, really a lot. I’ve been doing nothing but math all day lately—I’m even dreaming in numbers.”
“Dreaming in numbers?”
“Yeah. In my dream, there’s just the open Problem Book and numbers… and the solution steps.”
Really?
I was there in mine.
That’s what Eun-seong thought to himself.
‘It felt so vivid.’
It was something that had never happened in reality, yet it felt hazy like remembering something from maybe ten years ago. It was strange.
The season was already summer, so we were both wearing summer uniforms… the Classroom windows were open, and a breeze drifted in.
I was sitting by the window just like now. Front row, first group.
I was perched on the windowsill, test papers scattered across the desk, and you were tugging at my necktie.
And what you said to me then was—
‘Jung Eun-seong, you….’
“Jung Eun-seong, aren’t you concentrating?”
“Right.”
I’ll think about it later.
For now, I need to study.
Just the two of us—Kang Da-hye and me, without that ugly guy.
Hehehehe!

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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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