1st in Class Hides Regression - Chapter 77

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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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The Top Student of the Entire School Hides Her Regression
Episode 77
“…I’m sorry.”
“Why are you apologizing?”
“You hate being the center of attention.”
But because of me, you’ve become the talk of the school, haven’t you?
Though honestly, even without me, Seo Jae-gyeom would be the center of attention for his every move anyway…….
At my words, Seo Jae-gyeom tilted his head.
“How do you know I hate that—because you liked me?”
“…Yeah….”
“But this whole thing isn’t your fault. If anyone should apologize, it’s Ji-su.”
Having said that much, Seo Jae-gyeom’s face twisted. Something about his expression felt strange. Seo Jae-gyeom scowling at the mere mention of Ji-su.
“Still, bringing it up again during the presentation just now—that was my mistake.”
“Didn’t you already smooth it over?”
Seo Jae-gyeom let out a short laugh, apparently remembering what had just happened.
“I was thinking—is this what turning a crisis into an opportunity looks like?”
He muttered to himself that if he finds this kind of shamelessness endearing, maybe he really does want to be actual friends with me.
“Didn’t it look ridiculous? I wanted to run out of there from embarrassment.”
“You gave your presentation well, regardless.”
“…I thought you’d be irritated seeing that KakaoTalk conversation.”
Se-in is presenting next, up front. She’s placing character relationship diagrams that she’d drawn in advance onto the blackboard, and Seo Jae-gyeom is applauding.
“I wasn’t irritated.”
Pretending to concentrate, Seo Jae-gyeom kept his eyes forward as he spoke.
“Two months ago you liked me that much, and now I’ve gotten confirmation you don’t anymore. That’s the feeling I got.”
“Why?”
“All the dates on those messages were from January and February.”
“…….”
He’s got a point.
Ji-su and I exchange messages dozens of times a day, but the fact that he dug back months to unearth those old messages is honestly impressive. Is he obsessed or what?
“What made you stop liking me?”
“Huh?”
I’d been thinking about cream cheese bagels and missed what Seo Jae-gyeom said. When I blinked, he repeated himself.
“Why did you suddenly stop liking me? What terrible thing did I do to you?”
Oh.
“It’s not really like that.”
“Did I say something harsh to you?”
“…….”
Yes. He did.
True, even a thousand years of love can grow cold from hearing that kind of harsh language. But that’s not the reason for me.
“There’s just something else that takes priority now.”
“What?”
My future, which is definitely ruined by age twenty-nine.
“It’s not the transfer student, is it?”
“Not the transfer student—it’s Jung Eun-seong…….”
Right then, Jung Eun-seong himself was entering through the back door.
He came in twirling a clear plastic straw, but stopped short when he caught sight of the Student Teacher—someone about ten centimeters taller than him and with a pretty decent face—leaning against the wall beside the front door with his arms crossed.
He wore the expression of someone whose world had just collapsed.
“Eun-seong, you’re here? This is our new Student Teacher who’ll be interning at our school starting today. Pretty handsome, right? Eun-seong, you should feel nervous!”
Jung Eun-seong stood frozen, his eyes just sliding toward me.
I gestured for him to snap out of it and hurry inside, then turned back to Seo Jae-gyeom.
“While we’re at it, don’t use that kind of harsh language with anyone else from now on. My heart turned really cold that time.”
I asked Seo Jae-gyeom, who was staring at me with the face of someone who’d just been hit, in a playful tone.
“So, was there even one thing correct in my analysis of you?”
“…No. Not a single thing.”
“Ugh.”
“And Ji-su.”
Seo Jae-gyeom’s frown deepened as he spoke again.
“Is he deliberately egging you on to ruin yourself? That’s what it looks like. I had no idea he was that clueless.”
“It was that bad?”
“Yeah. And while we’re at it, I should mention something too.”
Seo Jae-gyeom glanced at Jung Eun-seong as he took his seat, then spoke.
“I don’t like Ji-su anymore.”
“Oh.”
“You’re not surprised?”
“Nope.”
Your feelings don’t change overnight, after all.
“So you’re going back to liking Baek Eun-joo, Yang Da-jeong, and Kim Hae-in?”
“No. I’m thinking of changing my ideal type altogether this time.”
“You even had an ideal type to begin with?”
I thought you just dated anyone pretty and well-put-together. Surprising.
“…So what’s your ideal type, Kang Da-hye?”
“Mine? Tall, good-looking, fit guys.”
“That’s me.”
“Exactly why I liked you back then.”
“And now? I’m still good-looking, and I’ve gotten even taller.”
…….
He’s so self-absorbed it’s irrefutable, and it irritates me.
“There’s one more thing I’d add.”
“What?”
“A man I’m not embarrassed to be seen with.”
“I embarrass you?!”
“Ugh, Jae-gyeom! Stop pestering Da-hye! How much longer am I supposed to pretend not to notice?”
Moon Hak’s voice boomed from behind the teacher’s desk. I narrowed my eyes at Seo Jae-gyeom, who fell silent, caught out.
“Look at yourself right now….”
You’re the very definition of embarrassing.
“I listened to your presentation. It was well done.”
After Moon Hak’s class ended, I wiped the blackboard in place of Do Ha-jun, who was out doing community service. Before erasing it, I was photographing the writing with my cellphone camera when the Student Teacher spoke to me.
There are plenty of kids who want to talk to me, yet he specifically came over while I’m working.
A height that rises above the blackboard. Limbs long as a model’s. The kind of polished face that looks like he only dates the most beautiful university women.
Before the Regression, he hadn’t said a word to me until the day I left—but now this Student Teacher spoke to me with easy familiarity.
“Your homeroom teacher mentioned that since you’re class president, you can answer any questions people have.”
“Yes, of course.”
“Ranked 1st in the school, and you’re class president too? You must be both smart and popular. What was your name again?”
“Kang Da-hye.”
Seo Jae-gyeom, who’d been heading for the door, saw the Student Teacher standing beside me and immediately sat back down. He jutted out his lower lip and glared at the Student Teacher from across the room. He wanted to come over and join the conversation, but he couldn’t—probably worried his height would suffer by comparison.
Just then, another student asked from behind the teacher’s desk.
“Teacher, how tall are you?”
“Me? One ninety-one.”
The moment the number “nine” left the Student Teacher’s mouth, Jung Eun-seong clenched his fists hard on his side of the classroom.
Jung Eun-seong and Seo Jae-gyeom, sensing a crisis in the appearance of a man taller than them for the first time. Two eighteen-year-old boys.
And to make matters worse, that person was an adult man older than they were…!
‘But to me, he’s just a younger man.’
Student Teacher, you’re what, about twenty-five?
An older man (X)
A younger man (O)
The younger man perched on the edge of the teacher’s desk smiled and asked.
“Was that presentation for real?”
“Yes.”
“But you can just say that kind of thing in front of everyone like that?”
“I’m obsessed with grades. I’d gladly sell off the aching wounds of romantic heartbreak for a few points.”
“Wow.”
I delivered it flatly, and the Student Teacher clapped and laughed.
“I really like that kind of thing!”
“Well….”
He’s optimistic. That’s nice to see….
“You’re fun. I’m counting on you from now on, okay?”
“Yes.”
“Whenever you’re curious about something, just ask. If you’re ranked 1st in the whole school, you’re like my junior ahead of time.”
“…If I may ask, which university?”
As I spoke, I glanced sideways at the name tag pinned to his jacket.
“Korea University, then.”
“Wow!”
The classmates’ faces brightened at the news that the Student Teacher, already handsome enough to be charming, had such impressive credentials too.
“That’s so cool.”
“So he really could end up being Da-hye’s senior in college.”
“Wouldn’t you two meet up at university?”
Yeah. No.
By the time I enroll, this guy will already have graduated and be gone.
Thinking it over listlessly, I waved to my friends in the distance—Do-yeon, Ga-eun, Se-in, Soo-a, Yeon-hui.
Let me explain myself.
“It’s like you heard. I used to like Seo Jae-gyeom.”
“So… you confessed last year and he rejected you this year?”
“Yeah. Seo Jae-gyeom seemed to have forgotten I even confessed.”
“What an ass…”
“It’s fine. For me, it feels like ancient history anyway. And that’s why I brought it up with Ji-su back then…”
“I see.”
“I don’t like him anymore now. I got rejected and let it go.”
After school.
We held confession time on the wisteria bench at the Playground.
I’m speaking calmly, but I’m mortified.
Isn’t this the worst dark history a high schooler can have?
To live this down, I’d need to get a public confession from Do Ha-jun on Pepero Day, at least.
Ga-eun frowned as she listened to my story.
“I had no idea and kept saying nonsense about how Seo Jae-gyeom had plenty of intention to date you. I’m sorry.”
“No, don’t be! I’d already stopped liking Seo Jae-gyeom by then anyway. And he’s not mine to claim—of course you can say things like that.”
“But haven’t you been getting pretty close with Seo Jae-gyeom lately?”
“Speak of the devil.”
So much for class. Soo-a, with her keen eye, pointed to the far side of the Playground. Just as she said, Seo Jae-gyeom was coming down the stands with his friends.
But something felt off about the atmosphere.

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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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