1st in Class Hides Regression - Chapter 80

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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 80
Lunchtime. A Serious Showdown
(A)
A boss who makes you sing at company dinners
This is when I wish I could quit
Now that I’ve barely made it back, I regret
ever having taken this job. That kind of
pathetic boss.
This feeling—like fire, a boss as
I say fire, you say boss
Fire boss!
(Just let me go home!)
(B)
If you’d just quietly and quickly send me home, I’d be truly grateful
When we stare at each other’s faces too long, it breeds resentment
We have to part ways
of necessity
Ding~ (sound of guitar playing)
—Yu Ji-min, “Self-Written Poems Vol. 1, 2 (Due to Copyright Issues)”—
1.
Which of the following is NOT an appropriate understanding of (A) and (B)? [3 points]

① The speaker is a powerless office worker.
② Both (A) and (B) use spacing to highlight a longing for homecoming that should not be possible.
③ Legal working hours should be shortened slightly, and wages should be increased.
④ In (A), the phrase “pathetic boss”

is used as an ambiguous expression.
⑤ The speaker is angry at South Korea’s labor reality, yet due to a sense of defeat at not actually taking action, she transforms this into music.
“All right, next year’s College Entrance Exam definitely won’t have this on it. Let’s just skim it.”
“Yeah…”
“Who’s yawning!”
“…I apologize.”
“Jung Eun-seong! Now you’re just openly falling asleep!”
Moon Hak struck the blackboard with chalk.
“I wasn’t actually sleeping…”
Jung Eun-seong replied sheepishly, but with red marks blooming across his cheeks and his hair mussed, there was no convincing anyone.
“That’s adorable.”
The girls giggled as they watched Jung Eun-seong’s embarrassment.
As he pulled his chair in to sit, long, well-defined arms appeared below his uniform shirt sleeves. He must be sensitive to heat—he’d switched to summer uniform the moment the transition period began.
‘His body seems even better than it was during exams. Does he work out?’
Just looking at those sculpted arms and shoulders, his defined chest—there was an unmistakably masculine presence about him.
There was no way anyone could possibly confuse his gender, even by accident.
“You must’ve slept really well. Look at that neck mark. Your voice is so deep it might’ve bored a hole straight through.”
The teacher was teasing, but her face was all smiles.
Carried along by the girls’ gazes as they turned to look at him, I snuck a glance too.
“All right, let’s work through problems 1 to 3 first. You have three minutes.”
Then, just as our eyes were about to meet, I panicked and cast my gaze downward.
……
This is where I need to emphasize once more.
What’s my goal?
Perfect score on the College Entrance Exam. Admission to Korea University.
To achieve that?
No dating!
I’m not an idiot.
I know what this feeling is—this constant urge to look at Jung Eun-seong, to talk to him.
But I can’t dig into it.
Because, just like he joked about a few days ago, whether it’s him or me—now isn’t the time.
‘But above all, does Jung Eun-seong even like me?’
No, he doesn’t.
‘Even if he dated someone, it’d be one of the trainees at his company.’
I’m just the one he talks to a bit at School. I can’t mistake that for anything more.
‘Besides, I don’t even know if his company allows dating in the first place.’
Now that I think about it, how’s his Debut coming along anyway?
Learning about Jung Eun-seong’s family circumstances unintentionally, my heart grew tangled.
Given his background, debuting quickly would make sense—but if he debuts under that company, there’s a ninety-nine percent chance he’ll get caught up in all sorts of scandals and incidents.
‘And it doesn’t even seem like Jung Eun-seong wants it badly enough to accept that risk.’
More than anything.
‘Am I overstepping with this worry?’
Is this concern cut from the same cloth as my pre-Regression self worrying over Seo Jae-gyeom and doing his homework for him—meddling born of false kindness—or am I genuinely exercising altruism as a third party?
“…Da-hye.”
“…….”
“Kang Da-hye.”
“…Mm.”
“Why are you spacing out? You should focus on the lesson.”
“I am.”
“Then what’s the answer to number one?”
“Three.”
“Three?”
Seo Jae-gyeom, who’d been poking my dazed side, widened his eyes.
I finished the problems and was thinking about something else with the leftover time, so I nodded confidently.
“It’s not one? You have to cut working hours and raise salary.”
“It says cut by a small margin. If you only cut a small amount, what good is that? You need to cut drastically.”
“But the speaker doesn’t look powerless. He seems full of energy, right? He even plays Guitar.”
“There’s no such thing as an energetic working adult.”
I’d shared an adult secret that an eighteen-year-old wouldn’t know, but Seo Jae-gyeom stood firm.
“If you say three, I’ll put you through agony.”
“Everyone done? The answer is three for all three problems.”
“Hand over your hand.”
I attacked Seo Jae-gyeom’s hand as he placed it on the Problem Book.
The moment I tried to grab it, he yanked it away. Grab, yank. Grab again, yank again.
A silent struggle stretched out for a while.
Seo Jae-gyeom pressed his other hand down on mine from above, squeezing hard to keep me from moving.
Both our hands dropped beneath the desk.
Seo Jae-gyeom’s cheekbones grew pronounced.
“Will you let go?”
“No. You’re going to torture me anyway.”
“Fine. So hurry up and let go so I can carry out the sentence.”
“No.”
“Let’s start from the beginning. So, number one is….”
“Oh, the teacher’s explaining it. Let’s listen.”
“…….”
“Da-hye, you need to focus.”
Seo Jae-gyeom, making light of it and facing front, had his lips twitching with barely suppressed laughter.
I glared at Seo Jae-gyeom for a few seconds as he looked ahead with a full smile, then I looked forward too.
“It’s not like we’re having some secret romance. It’s weird to be holding hands under the desk, isn’t it?”
“This isn’t holding hands—it’s restraint.”
“Unbelievable.”
Since I’m left-handed, I manage okay, but Seo Jae-gyeom’s right-handed, so it must be uncomfortable for him to take notes—yet he won’t let go. Watching him steadily write with his left hand, I thought to myself.
‘What’s gotten into this guy that he suddenly doesn’t like Ji-su?’
I’d thought that without me around, Seo Jae-gyeom and Ji-su would get along fine and then date when they went to university.
Second life, and my studies are coming along reasonably well.
As for everything else—I honestly have no idea how it’s unfolding anymore.
Ding-dong-ding-dong
“Done!”
“…You don’t have to yell so loud. We’ll end class anyway, you lot.”
“Hehe. Sorry about that.”
“Right, Da-hye. Your homeroom teacher asked me to tell you he needs to collect the Break Special Lecture Application Forms?”
“Right. Yes. There are a few who haven’t submitted yet, so I’ll bring them to you next period.”
The moment Moon Hak left the Classroom, Seo Jae-gyeom asked.
“You’re taking the Special Lecture, right, Kang Da-hye?”
“No.”
“Why?!”
No money.
“Just because.”
“So we won’t see each other during the Break?!”
“Unless we happen to bump into each other on the street, I suppose not.”
I was about to ask why he was even taking a Special Lecture, and at school no less, but Seo Jae-gyeom beat me to it.
“Can I get you to fix my Application Form?”
“Sure.”
I pulled out the stack of Application Forms I’d kept in my desk. Glancing at Seo Jae-gyeom’s, he’d signed up for quite a lot.
“Did you apply for every subject?”
“Yeah. But I want to change it.”
“I see. So can you let go of my hand now?”
I brushed him off like shaking away a bug, trying to separate from Seo Jae-gyeom, when—
“Jae-gyeom!”
“What!”
“Ji-su’s looking for you!”
I turned to see Ji-su waving from the Hallway, alternating his wave between the two of us sitting together before pointing at Seo Jae-gyeom with his finger.
“Why are you looking for me.”
Seo Jae-gyeom tilted his head, then got to his feet.
“So you’re submitting the Application Form the way you changed it just now?”
“Yeah.”
“Got it.”
I checked and found he’d changed it from signing up for every subject to signing up for none at all. The kid really does things in extremes.
Let me see.
Who hasn’t turned theirs in.
All the girls have turned theirs in…….
“Do Ha-jun hasn’t.”
I glanced over at Do Ha-jun sitting in Group 4 with just my eyes.
After the incident last time, Do Ha-jun and his crowd were banished to Group 4. They’re scheduled to sit by themselves in that corner seat until the school year changes.
Parents have been making noise about it—calling it child abuse and a violation of human rights—stuffing them away in a corner like it’s some kind of exile, but
‘Then wouldn’t it be better to handle it by the book?’
that one comment from Do Yeon’s mother apparently shut them right up.
Among them, Do Ha-jun has completely plummeted to the absolute bottom of the hierarchy since that day.
What was once an unspoken hierarchy solidified once they conspired among themselves to pin the blame on Do Ha-jun.
A few days ago, Park Su-hwan even seemed to be using Do Ha-jun as his bread runner.
‘Really, the boy has no sense of propriety.’
Even now, Do Ha-jun’s latest-model Cellphone has passed into the hands of Park Su-hwan sitting behind him. I addressed Do Ha-jun, who looked ready to cry at any moment, with deliberate coolness.
“Do Ha-jun.”
“Y-yes?!”
Do Ha-jun’s eyes widened when he recognized me.
“You didn’t turn in your Application Form.”
“M-my a-Application Form?”
“Yeah. For the Break Special Lecture. You can change it later if you want, so just fill one out and give it to me?”
“Oh, um, I, th-that….”
What’s he saying.
“You don’t have an Application Form?”
“…Yeah.”
Ugh.
I pulled mine out from the stack of Application Forms and handed it to him.
Since I wasn’t planning to sign up for anything, it was clean except for my class number and name written at the top.
“Erase my name and write yours, then turn it in.”
I could just get a fresh one when it’s time to submit anyway.
Careful not to brush his hand, I set the Application Form on his desk. Do Ha-jun’s eyes wavered as he looked down at it.
What’s wrong with him.
“Why are you just sitting there. You don’t have a pen?”

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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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