1st in Class Hides Regression - Chapter 62

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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, Hiding Her Regression
Episode 62
“Why isn’t she picking up?”
Again.
Brrrr.
—The number you’ve reached cannot be answered. Please leave a message after the tone……
Again.
—The number you’ve……
“…….”
Unease began to creep in.
I checked the clock—2:05 AM.
‘Mom, where are you?’
I left her a text message and went back to my book.
I was barely reading when, twenty minutes later, I tried calling again.
—The number you’ve……
“…….”
3 AM.
I gave up on studying entirely.
‘Even if she grabbed a late snack with the other ajummas from the shop next door after work, she should’ve been home by now.’
And in that case, she would’ve answered the phone.
I threw a hoodie over the worn t-shirt I’d been wearing.
‘I’ll go check the shop.’
I had just grabbed my cellphone and was about to open the front door when it rang.
Zing.
An unfamiliar number.
“…Hello?”
“Are you the daughter of Lee Suk-yeong?”
“Yes… that’s me…?”
“This is the emergency room at Korea University Hospital…….”
Honk———————————!
“Ugh!”
“Watch where you’re going!”
Trying to ruin someone’s life!
A woman with her grandmother in the passenger seat rolled down the window and hurled curses as she drove past.
Even if it was the dead of dawn, this was a street with two consecutive crosswalks, and she was speeding and cursing at me.
Under any other circumstance, I would’ve cursed right back, but my head wasn’t in it.
I hurried out to the main road and looked around.
I tried to flag down a taxi that finally came.
“Where are you headed, miss?”
“Korea University Hospital!”
“Korea University Hospital? Ah, I can’t go there.”
“What?”
“Look, miss. At this hour, all the taxis only take long-distance fares. There’s no one to pick up on the way back from there. You’re gonna have a hard time catching a cab to Korea University Hospital at this time of night, you know?”
“Can’t you just take me there once? My parents…….”
“No, no.”
He didn’t even unlock the door—just sped away.
“Korea University Hospital? I don’t go that way.”
The next cab.
“Korea University Hospital… sir!”
Gone.
And the next one after that.
Staring at the empty street, I bounced my leg anxiously.
What do I do? The call-taxi company isn’t picking up either. Should I go back upstairs and ask the landlady?
At 3 AM?
Or beg to borrow a bike…….
Zing.
“Hello…!”
Without even checking who it was, I pressed the vibrating cellphone to my ear. My voice came out half-whimpering, and from the other end came a familiar voice.
A lazy, low tone.
—You didn’t text back, so I wondered if you’d fallen asleep.
“Jung Eun-seong…!”
-…What’s wrong?
“I can’t catch a taxi…….”
These bastards are all insane, I’m going to report every single one of them to the police for refusing a passenger……. My voice was thick with impatience and indignation, and I got an immediate response through the phone.
-Where are you?
“I’m, uh… the main road up to our house…….”
-Wait. I’m coming.
“You’re coming?”
-Twenty minutes. Or fifteen. If you catch a taxi before then, just take it.
Through the receiver I heard Jung Eun-seong shouting “Senior!” Shouting it again, he spoke.
-I’ll be there in fourteen minutes.
Having just trimmed a minute off the time, Jung Eun-seong finally asked.
-What happened, anyway?
“A hit-and-run?!”
“Yes. A passerby discovered it and reported it to us.”
Of all places, there were no security cameras there…….
The police officer, wishing he never had to meet me again, clicked his tongue.
“She hit her head when she fell…… We are performing surgery, but it’s a simple procedure, so you don’t need to worry too much.”
“Is this student a family member of patient Lee Suk-yeong?”
An ER nurse with an indifferent expression cut in. Seeing that blank face, my strength drained away.
If the patient’s condition were serious, the nurse’s face wouldn’t look like that. A medical team’s indifference was a very, very good sign.
“We’ll suture the laceration with a few stitches and do a detailed scan of the fracture on her wrist. She lost consciousness from the impact of the fall, but fortunately there doesn’t appear to be any cerebral bleeding.”
“So….”
“Yes. You don’t need to worry too much.”
“Phew.”
Jung Eun-seong steadied me as my legs wavered. The nurse, flipping through the chart, asked.
“Besides this student, is there another guardian? An adult?”
“There’s my aunt…… She lives in Gyeongju. She said she’d come on the first bus today.”
“Would it be possible for us to call your aunt now?”
“Yes, yes….”
I handed over my cellphone with trembling hands. The nurse who took it disappeared.
Only then did I turn to look at the people who had brought me here.
“Thank you……. I was out of it earlier.”
“Oh, no. It’s fine.”
A handsome man standing beside Jung Eun-seong, who had been staring at me intently, waved his hand dismissively at my repeated bows. Jung Eun-seong spoke from beside him.
“A senior I train with.”
“Ah, from the same agency…?”
“Yeah. Water’s been leaking in his place, so he’s staying at our house for a few days.”
“Good timing….”
“Right.”
Jung Eun-seong replied expressionlessly and leaned toward me, whispering deliberately.
“No house but he’s got a car. Pure vanity.”
“Everyone can hear that, Jung Eun-seong.”
So that’s how ungrateful he is? The deer-like man widened his eyes.
“Vanity, you say! True enough! But it sounds sad when you say it out loud!”
“Still, I’m alive because of that car. Just now, really… I couldn’t catch a taxi.”
I bowed again.
“Thank you. I’m grateful, Jung Eun-seong.”
“No. Don’t thank Jung Eun-seong. Thank me. …But what’s your friend’s name?”
“Oh, I’m Kang Da-hye.”
“Oh… Do you study well?”
“? Yes… I do pretty well.”
“First in school?”
“Yes.”
“Ohhh…. So then, whipped cream?”
“Senior.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
The senior laughed and adjusted his hat.
“I’m going to sleep in the car. Wake me up when you go to school tomorrow.”
“Right. Then, Jung Eun-seong.”
I grabbed the hem of Jung Eun-seong’s sleeve.
“You should go now. You have an exam tomorrow.”
“What about you?”
“I’ll wait here until Mom’s surgery is done, then take the first bus home to change and head to school.”
“Then I’ll stay here too.”
“You need to go study or sleep.”
“I’ve already finished studying.”
“Don’t lie to me…….”
“I’m serious.”
“But still.”
You’re wearing pajamas. Animal pajamas, no less.
Saying you’d be here in fifteen minutes meant you didn’t even change your clothes before coming.
Yet Jung Eun-seong carried himself with complete confidence. Standing there in a blue shark onesie with his shoulders squared back, he rummaged through the shark’s belly and pulled something out.
“Here.”
It was a Mathematics Problem Set.
“I thought you might need it.”
“…You brought this?”
“It just happened.”
Work through it while you wait.
I took it almost reflexively and sat down. The long, straight bench in front of the operating room—the kind you only saw in dramas.
“Thank you.”
But math wouldn’t stick in my head right now. Not a chance.
I hugged the problem book and stared into empty space.
…….
If you hit someone, aren’t you supposed to report it?
Why did they just leave?
Were they scared of being punished?
What if the person dies?
There was no accident like this before the regression. Why is this happening?
‘It’s because I told Mom about the rose tteokbokki.’
Because of that, her business ran late. She was passing through that street at a time she normally wouldn’t…….
“Kang Da-hye.”
“…Yeah?”
“What are you thinking about?”
“That it might be my fault.”
“What? You don’t mean this accident?”
What kind of nonsense is that? Jung Eun-seong snapped.
He crouched down in front of me and looked up. Uncomfortable in his pajamas, he hitched up his pants a few times, then planted both elbows on his knees.
A shark onesie in a posture like some punk shaking down people in an alley turned to face me.
“Kang Da-hye. Did you hit your mother with a car?”
“No.”
“Did you hire someone else to do it?”
“…No.”
“Then if it’s neither of those things, it’s not your fault. So why are you making up reasons to blame yourself?”
“But Mom was out late because of me….”
“If you’re going to waste time on pointless thoughts, just go to sleep.”
Jung Eun-seong shook the training pants I was wearing.
But the guilt still wouldn’t leave me.
Jung Eun-seong, reading me like a ghost, tilted his head to one side.
“Want me to say it in your way of talking?”
“Huh?”
“Kang Da-hye. You sitting here not studying, not sleeping, and wallowing in guilt—that’s not going to erase what already happened or suddenly make your mother completely recovered and leap from her bed.”
…….
“Wouldn’t it be better for both you and your mother to pull yourself together and study even one more line?”
…….
It’s really my way of talking—I’ve got nothing to say against it.
Jung Eun-seong saw me laugh hollowly and tightened his gaze.
“You get it now. So either sleep or open the book.”
“Understood.”
“Good.”
Then I’ll just sleep. I sighed and closed my eyes.
“It’s already five.”
“Yeah. Even if you sleep right now, you’ll only get four hours.”
“Four hours? The exam is at nine.”
“Right. I’ll wake you up at exactly seven.”
But when I woke, it was 8:15.
Jung Eun-seong was gone.

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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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