The Top Student Hides Her Regression
Chapter 19
Chapter 19
The Top Student Hides Her Regression
“Hey, you little…”
“What.”
Even at Bang Eunji’s barrage of curses, Kyung Sein’s Friend 1 didn’t flinch.
Instead, as if growing even more furious, she held her head up firmly.
“Bang Eunji, don’t you think you guys are seriously crossing the line?”
Sein chimed in from the side.
“How long do you expect everyone to just put up with you acting out?”
Her voice trembled, but that only made it feel more sincere. Starting with that, complaints erupted from all around.
“Ah, seriously, how long are you gonna play delinquent? Aren’t we high schoolers?”
“Do you think people avoided you because you were scary? We avoided you because you’re disgusting, but you really don’t know when to stop, do you?”
“Doesn’t it say off-limits on our door? Why are you barging into another class’s room whenever you want? And when no one’s even here, too.”
“Is she gonna take responsibility if something goes missing?”
At the dozens of hostile glares suddenly directed at her all at once, Bang Eunji flinched.
The looks she was getting right now were definitely different from the ones she usually received when bullying people or making a scene.
Her ears turning red, Bang Eunji turned toward Kyung Sein’s Friend 1, who had spoken up first.
“Hey, are you confident about this? You think you can handle the fallout?”
“Stop it. Bang Eunji, what do you think you’re doing right now?”
With a hardened expression, the Homeroom Teacher stepped in.
“Are you threatening a classmate right in front of a teacher?”
After sternly scolding her, the Homeroom Teacher turned to the friend.
“Su-a, is what you just said true?”
“Yes. Me and Heemin saw it too.”
“Heemin?”
“From Class 7.”
“You’re saying this happened during club time?”
“Yes.”
“Bang Eunji left during club time saying she was sick and never came back.”
A boy from another class chimed in from outside the classroom. Bang Eunji glared at him, but he just feigned innocence with a look that said, What?
Once someone broke the ice, the boys who had been watching in silence also began pitching in.
“Damn brutal…”
“Way out of line.”
“Ah, Kang Da-hye’s notes can’t be ruined. I need to copy them.”
“Did Kang Da-hye even say she’d let you?”
“Crazy, I had a gaming console in my bag that I bought secondhand on Joonggonara. Is that gone too?”
“Who’d steal that, you idiot.”
“Uh, wait. I think it’s actually gone?”
“What?”
“Hey, Bang Eunji! Did you go through my bag?!”
“I didn’t!”
Sensing the situation turning increasingly against her, Bang Eunji shrieked.
“You don’t even have proof! Isn’t it too much to gang up on someone just based on what a few kids say?!”
That ‘too much’ is exactly what you’ve been doing to Doyeon all this time…
“It really wasn’t me!”
Until a moment ago, she’d had a ‘so what if I did’ attitude, but now she was denying it completely. Surprisingly, the one who drove the final nail into Bang Eunji’s shameless lying was Jeong Eun-seong.
“Teacher.”
Calling the Homeroom Teacher in the exact same tone he used when saying, ‘Teacher, Kang Da-hye did such-and-such,’ Jeong Eun-seong gestured toward Bang Eunji with his eyes. A damp mop was tucked under his arm.
“I saw her buying two strawberry milks at the snack bar earlier.”
“You did?”
“Yes. The snack bar lady forgot to place the order for strawberry milk, so she said there were only two left today. She bought both of them, so I couldn’t buy any.”
“…Is that so?”
“Yes. And they only sell that milk at our school snack bar. Convenience stores don’t carry it.”
“Dead to rights.”
“Teacher! Ah, hurry! Search Bang Eunji’s bag! My console cost 400,000 won!”
“Teacher, can’t you seriously check Bang Eunji’s bag? I think some cash is missing from my wallet too.”
What absolute chaos…
Looking at Bang Eunji, whose face had gone pale, I scratched my cheek.
What a mess.
Even if she didn’t take it, she’ll probably end up having to pay for it.
“Ah, it really wasn’t me!”
“Let’s head downstairs first.”
“Bang Eunji! You’re not getting away with this! You’d better be ready for serious trouble!”
In an instant, Bang Eunji had been branded a thief.
As Bang Eunji threw a fit, her homeroom teacher and our Homeroom Teacher took her downstairs together.
Male Student 1, who claimed his game console was missing, and Kyung Sein’s Friend 1 (her name was Ye Sua) went down with them as well.
“Ah, seriously… damn it… Why won’t you believe me…”
“Because you’re lying, that’s why. Didn’t you know there’s a CCTV camera in the hallway? It shows the back door of Class 2.”
“You’re not brushing this under the rug. Your parents will have to come in. And if the kids really lost their things, of course you’ll have to compensate them.”
There was even a CCTV camera? Justice is alive and well.
Dismissal fizzled out, and the students gathered their wits, packed their bags, and began heading home.
“Kang Daaaa…”
Jisu, who had been fidgeting anxiously, was caught by her homeroom teacher’s hand and dragged back to her classroom.
“Everyone, you know we have literature homework, right…? Make sure to write the book report by next Monday…”
I wrote mine a very long time ago, but it got soaked in milk, so I’ll have to write it again…
After calling out weakly to the kids leaving the classroom, I grabbed some tissues again and squatted in front of my locker.
Even though I’d roughly cleaned it up, the stench of milk filled the air.
I flipped through the soggy books. The traces of my past self jotting down every single word from the teacher had all smeared because of a single carton of milk.
“Ah, nothing can be salvaged.”
It’s fine.
I wrote them eleven years ago anyway, so looking at them wouldn’t ring a bell.
“Let’s do it together.”
Having fetched spray disinfectant from the Cafeteria in the meantime, Doyeon squatted down next to me. Practically nudging me aside with her shoulder, she scrubbed my locker vigorously.
“You’re gonna crawl right into the locker at this rate.”
I joked, but she didn’t even answer. Doyeon’s hands trembled violently as she wiped away the remaining moisture.
“…I’m sorry.”
“Why are you sorry?”
“It’s because of me.”
“Why would it be because of you? It’s because of Bang Eunji’s rotten personality.”
Poverty, parents, casual clothes. How does she manage to pick out every single sore spot of a teenager?
Thinking back on the words Bang Eunji had hurled at me, I let out a dry laugh.
That damn bag!
“Now that I think about it, it’s pissing me off. What’s wrong with carrying a bag from elementary school? Is she looking down on elementary schoolers?”
Looking down on elementary schoolers when it’s thanks to them that we get a day off from school on Children’s Day every year?
Bang Eunji, you shouldn’t get to rest on Children’s Day. For the rest of your life. Even when you become a working adult!
“Just you watch. I’m going to use this bag until it literally begs for death.”
They say using one item for a long time is protecting the environment. I’m standing right on the front lines of environmental protection. Wiping the inside of the bag, I winked at Doyeon.
Doyeon, who had looked on the verge of tears, finally burst into laughter.
Just then, a voice came from behind us.
“Um, Da-hye.”
“Yeah?”
I turned around.
Sein and Su-a were standing behind us. Stepping closer, the two peered into my locker.
“Are you okay? Ugh, the smell of strawberry.”
“What a mess…”
“I’m okay. All wiped down. What about you, Su-a? What did the teachers say?”
“Everything showed up on the CCTV, so we just came back. Bang Eunji’s mom is coming to school. Bang Eunji was crying.”
“She was crying?”
“Yeah. Her mom was cursing her out over the phone, and it was echoing all through the Teachers’ Room…”
“Whoa.”
She reaped what she sowed.
I spoke to Sein and Su-a, whose cheeks were still flushed from earlier excitement.
“Thanks for stepping up earlier. It would’ve been really troublesome without you guys.”
“Don’t mention it. Even without me, the CCTV would’ve revealed everything anyway.”
“Still.”
Should I do a full bow to you guys right here? When I joked, Su-a laughed.
To be honest, when she turned down Doyeon’s offer to ask questions a few days ago, she seemed a bit prickly, but right now she wasn’t like that at all.
“You know…”
A hesitant Su-a spoke up.
“…Bang Eunji wasn’t that big of a deal after all. Once I confronted her head-on, she panicked and couldn’t even say anything…”
“Right! I don’t even know why I was so scared of her all this time!”
Sein chimed in with wide eyes. Sein and Su-a began pouring out complaints about Bang Eunji like people speaking in tongues.
“Honestly, she crossed the line…”
“So satisfying…”
“I wore an adious T-shirt when I was little too…”
“You can wear it if you didn’t know…”
How cute.
Watching the chattering high school girls with the heart of a mother, I asked.
“Do you want to go eat tteokbokki? My treat.”
To be precise, Mom was treating, not me.
-Things High School Girls Need to Become Friends-
- MyChew 2. A handsome guy 3. Tteokbokki
“Sounds great!”
“I’m in!”
Having answered eagerly, Su-a turned toward Doyeon, who was standing awkwardly.
Clearing her throat with a cough, Su-a spoke hesitantly.
“Doyeon, you come too. …If you’re okay eating with us.”
“…Of course I’m okay with it.”
“…Back then, I think I spoke a bit harshly. I’m sorry.”
“No, it’s fine…”
“Gasp! Why are you crying?!”
For the record, Doyeon wasn’t the one crying.
I was.
“Heuuung…”
The kids are so kind… The nation’s future is bright…
“Heuu-heuu…”
“Kyung Sein, why are you crying now…?”
“I don’t know… Seeing Da-hye cry is making me tear up too…”
“Don’t cry, seriously… You’re making me cry too…”
“I’m sorry…”
“Thank you…”
“Heuu-heuu…”
“But what about Kang Da’s books, seriously…”
“Ah, right. Yeah… Let’s just say I’m crying because my books got wet…”
While the four of us hugged each other, wailing like a bunch of penguins.
As I wiped my runny nose and looked up, a shadow suddenly fell over me.
It was Jeong Eun-seong.
“You haven’t left?”
I asked in a daze.
Regardless, Jeong Eun-seong stared intently at my tear-streaked face before giving the mop in his hands a swift push.
After meticulously mopping up the leftover strawberry milk on the floor that hadn’t been cleaned yet, Jeong Eun-seong called out to me.
“Hey.”
“Huh?”
“I don’t feel like studying anyway. Do you want my books?”
