The Regressed Chaebol Grandson Finds It Hard to Forgive - Chapter 10

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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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Episode 10. The Sagwaeja’s Clever School Life (4)

“O Gwangjun, so the ball-faced guy’s worth watching? Kekeke.”
“That boxer got beaten up by a skeleton? What a joke.”
“Your mom would flip if she knew.”
“Shut it! Damn it!”

Cheongwha High School had strict rules, but there were clearly defined exceptions.

The Physical Education Preparation Room off to one side of the Sports Field.

Not all students at Cheongwha High School were prodigies.

When their grades fell short, the school guided them toward prestigious universities as athletic specialists.

Equestrian sports, golf, ice hockey, canoeing—and more.
Students could freely choose from a handful of sports that required financial backing to pursue.

These exclusive athletic programs were naturally run for the children of the elite, out of reach for ordinary families.

The idea was to steer them away from the label of dunce and preserve their social standing by channeling them toward luxury sports.

First, they got admitted to prestigious universities through arts and athletics, fields with fewer applicants.
Then, at an opportune moment, they transferred majors and laundered their university and degree on their resume.

In this regard, Cheongwha High School—unrivaled in such matters—was a hotbed of exclusive athletic programs.

It was no exaggeration to say that most special athletics departments at Korea’s top universities were filled with Cheongwha graduates.

“Don’t stress. Here, light one up. In the end, he’s just a Sagwaeja.”
“The hyungs will stomp him for you! Kekeke.”
“Loyalty~!”

O Gwangjun had come to meet the athletic department students during lunch.

They soothed their irritation with cigarettes instead of the unpalatable cafeteria food.

Whirrrrrrr.

The air purifier’s fan whirled fiercely against the smoke.

The Physical Education Preparation Room was a smoking area the school tacitly permitted.

“Damn it. Lee Hyoju said to stop giving her a hard time.”

O Gwangjun ground his teeth.

“Lee Hyoju?”
“Is the Sagwaeja flirting with Lee Hyoju?”
“What bullshit! If her family heard that, they’d flip the world upside down.”

O Gwangjun’s peers—kids from respectable but unremarkable families.

The children of private hospital owners, local savings bank executives, small accounting firm partners.

Kids their mothers had molded meticulously from start to finish.

Even these arrogant youths felt an instinctive fear toward Lee Hyoju.

They perceived her as belonging to a different, higher stratum altogether.
They placed her in a realm apart—a celestial one.

She was the type you touched only if you wanted trouble.

“You’re just gonna take it lying down?”

Yang Cheolgyou asked, cigarette hanging from his lips.

“Me? I’ve got a plan……. A plan. Hhhhhaaaa.”

O Gwangjun drew long on his cigarette.
A bitter, malevolent smile played at the corner of his mouth.

* * *

“……??”

Park Jiwoong stared blankly at the figure settling casually across from him.

Ha Taewung?

One of five Sagwaeja-track students admitted to Cheongwha High School the same year.

Three of them had dropped out.
Two remained.

They might have drawn closer out of mutual reliance, but instead they avoided each other.

When Sagwaejas congregated, it only drew unwanted attention—a backfire.

People would sneer at them as a “pariah gathering.”

Those with weaker resolve dropped out in succession.

Park Jiwoong came from Guryong Village.
A truly exceptional case—climbing from the very bottom into Cheongwha.

From the one remaining slum district in Gangnam, known to any Korean with basic awareness.

Park Jiwoong’s dream was grand.

His father—a detective with a spine of cold steel.

But cruel fate abandoned Park Jiwoong in a harsh world.

His parents died in a traffic accident while driving at night on their way back from a distant relative’s funeral.

Before even holding the memorial service, creditors descended with their harassment.

Then came the police.
They said his dead father had taken bribes.

It was nonsense—impossible.

They ransacked the entire house searching for evidence.

His father had no other income.

His father, who’d worn shabby military boots through years in the violent crimes unit!

The man never created situations that would demand bribes or loan sharks.

Payday was when they got to taste meat.
That was how frugal the two of them were.

They barely tasted seasonal fruit, and only when it went on sale.

Kimchi, soybean sprout soup, and fried egg were the most common side dishes all year round.

And they were supporting his grandmother too.
Yet it was his mother who spoke of happiness before shortage.

Thrift ran in her very bones.

Even for her only son’s wedding, she’d gone part-time to save for a deposit on a jeonse apartment.

The modest nest egg had been scraped together through sheer determination.

When they left like that, Park Jiwoong’s household collapsed overnight.

His grandmother, old-fashioned, understood nothing of what was happening.

With just a few million won in his hands, he’d been driven back into Guryong Village.

Though he’d grown up normally like any working-class child, Park Jiwoong now tasted rock-bottom life.

The problem was that his dead father had been an only child too.

Left with his grandmother, he had no relatives to turn to for help.

He began scraping by on minimum living expenses from the district office.

Still, he never fit in with his peers from Guryong Village.

He couldn’t fall into bad habits—not with his parents’ memory.

He clung to his studies with grim determination.

As Park Jiwoong matured, doubt crept in.

The more knowledge he accumulated through studying, the more suspicious details emerged.

What if someone had orchestrated his parents’ deaths?

Around that time, things he’d overlooked in his panic began surfacing one by one.

Years after the accident, his dead father’s former partner sought him out.

That person only deepened his suspicion.

All the way to Guryong Village, the man had said just one thing: “I’m sorry.”

He’d left an envelope and walked away.

Park Jiwoong, who’d never dropped below first place in elementary and middle school—

Like the hidden truth that always appears in revenge films and dramas, he became convinced that someone was behind his parents’ deaths.

With that conviction solidifying, he’d ground his teeth even harder and thrown himself into his studies.

He needed power to uncover the truth of his parents’ deaths.

His excellent middle school grades had naturally provided the opportunity to enter Cheongwha High School.

It was the result of pleading desperately with a headmaster who’d tried hard to dissuade him.

The headmaster had been concerned about the Sagwaeja-track admission.

Park Jiwoong didn’t care.

Living without parents, he’d learned that the most painful thing is a life without money or connections.

Cheongwha High School—a playground for the wealthy.
He wanted to enter it somehow, build friendships with them, and use them as a ladder.

But reality proved far harsher.
It was a naive, foolish choice.

Sagwaeja…….

Within Cheongwha High School, they were merely an untouchable caste.
And they were treated as such.

“……??”

He was holding up a chunk of bulgogi with his chopsticks, looking at Park Jiwoong.

“What, what are you talking about?”
“You thinking about dropping out?”
“…….”

Next, he heaped on spiced braised pork ribs, sweet and spicy.

“……!!”

What is this bastard saying?

By morning, word had spread throughout school.

The Sagwaeja Ha Taewung had stomped O Gwangjun, the gangster bully!

Park Jiwoong was oddly glad to hear it.

But at the same time, he thought it was stupid.

It comes from the pen.

“…….”

“The Sagwaeja actually threw punches?”
“O Gwangjun’s father is the chief prosecutor at the Eastern District Prosecutor’s Office, isn’t he?”
“He doesn’t know his place…….”
“They’re well-suited for each other.”

“…….”

If this was a joke…….

Pitter-patter.

Three representative female students the school scolded but never truly disciplined.

“Tasteless cafeteria food—if he finishes it, isn’t that efficient?”
“Still, our poor bear eats so much. If there’s leftovers, they go to animal feed, and then the animals go hungry. What if they starve~”
“The school bear comes first.”
“So, should we let him?”
“Kind Seora, just bear with it. Animal welfare. They have a right to survive on their own.”
“Yeah, I’m feeling generous today. Go on, Sagwaeja, oink away. Hohoho!”

It was humiliation he had to endure each time, but he had to bear it.

She was the daughter of the landowner.

Her contempt was as unwavering as it was modern-day slavery.

But today was different.

“Ohhh~! You’re having quite the banner year for bullshit~”

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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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