The Top Student Hides Her Regression
Chapter 27
Jung Eun-sung was crying mournfully.
Listening to his story:
“I… was staying behind in the Theater Club room yesterday to do club activities… when someone locked the door from the outside… sob….”
The end of Jung Eun-sung’s voice trembled faintly as he spoke.
When Jung Eun-sung blinked his wet eyelashes, another tear rolled down his cheek.
One of the watching teachers gasped, “Oh dear,” covering her mouth with a hand.
“She made eye contact with me and smirked……. Yesterday was an evaluation day at my agency……!”
Hunching his large frame, Jung Eun-sung rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand.
He had clearly taken off his knit sweater and left it with me yesterday, but somehow he was wearing a clean school uniform sweater without a name tag and a crisp, stiff shirt.
All eyes in the staff room were focused on the handsome boy neatly dressed in his uniform, weeping so piteously.
Jung Eun-sung sobbed.
“I thought I’d be trapped there all night at that rate… so in my desperation, I jumped out the window…!”
“Y-You jumped…?”
“I twisted my ankle… so in the end, my evaluation… uwaaah….”
What am I going to do…… Closing his eyes tightly, Jung Eun-sung made a motion as if burying himself in the Homeroom Teacher’s embrace. He didn’t actually hug him, but just the gesture was enough.
A second-year student who had come by on an errand gasped.
The teachers did too.
“Isn’t he the student who just transferred here?”
“That’s right, the trainee everyone was talking about….”
Receiving sympathetic glances from all around, Jung Eun-sung’s wailing grew even louder.
“Oh dear, who did this? Did you see her face?”
Teacher Na Mungwa asked from deeper inside the staff room.
“Song Yeo-reum…!”
Though he was crying, Jung Eun-sung’s pronunciation was clear, and his vocal projection was astonishing.
“Song Yeo-reum? She’s in Class 2-6…….”
“Ah, that girl?”
Amid the stirring commotion, Jung Eun-sung wailed, blushing all the way to the tips of his ears.
Flustered, the Homeroom Teacher patted Jung Eun-sung.
“Eun-sung, calm down for now. When Song Yeo-reum comes to school, I’ll call her in and look into it, so….”
“Uuuugh…! My evaluation…! My life……!”
‘You stayed behind alone at school for club activities on a day you had an agency evaluation? That doesn’t add up.’
However, no one in the staff room cared about such minor lapses in logic.
In an instant, Song Yeo-reum became a twisted pursuer who harassed and locked up a newly transferred celebrity hopeful to get his attention, and Jung Eun-sung became a diligent trainee who suffered unfair harm.
“I knew Song Yeo-reum would cause trouble eventually.”
“She did that last time too….”
In particular, the teachers who already had a grudge against Song Yeo-reum looked furious. Even the teachers who viewed the incident as a funny mishap shook their heads, saying, “She must have lost her mind.”
“Yes, Eun-sung. Dry your tears for now… Da-hye, what brings you here?”
Looking around while soothing Jung Eun-sung, the Homeroom Teacher’s gaze landed on me, standing frozen by the staff room door.
“Ah. Well.”
I was trapped with him too. But Jung Eun-sung’s gaze stopped me from saying those words. Frowning slightly, Jung Eun-sung gave a subtle shake of his head so the Homeroom Teacher wouldn’t see.
“…I came to get an extra copy of the handout you gave us yesterday. I need to take care of Seo Jae-gyeom’s, but I forgot.”
“Ah, right. Jae-gyeom didn’t come to school, did he?”
While the Homeroom Teacher rummaged through his desk and handed me a sheet of paper, the discussion among the teachers in the staff room continued.
“Could it be she did it without knowing?”
“How could that be? He said they made eye contact and he banged on the door, asking to be let out.”
“It’s not like she’s the type to stay after school usually anyway…….”
“Da-hye, could you take Eun-sung up to the classroom for now?”
“Ah, yes. …Let’s go.”
Caught off guard, I supported Jung Eun-sung.
Unlike yesterday, when he went out of his way to avoid touching me, Jung Eun-sung unhesitatingly rested his forehead against my shoulder and sniffled.
“Is this considered school violence too….”
“Which regulation should we apply…….”
“It’s utterly embarrassing….”
Leaving the murmuring voices behind, I exited the staff room. Jung Eun-sung, who had been clinging to my arm until then, straightened his back the second the door clicked shut. His limping ankle was suddenly completely fine, stepping firmly on the ground.
Standing with perfect posture, Jung Eun-sung stretched lazily.
“Kang Da-hye.”
“Huh?”
“The Suffering of Two Generations isn’t a university. It’s a short story.”
“Uh…?”
“I thought it sounded weird. Feel good about teasing a slow friend?”
“You actually looked that up…?”
“Yeah. Since I didn’t have my phone, I went home, booted up my laptop, and searched for it. It wasn’t in Sinchon, and it wasn’t in Anam. Where on earth was this ‘The Suffering of Two Generations’ university located?”
He’d almost written down ‘The Suffering of Two Generations’ on his university preference form, Jung Eun-sung argued with narrowed eyes.
Looking up at Jung Eun-sung’s red-rimmed eyes and nose from crying as he scolded me, I asked, “By the way, why did you cry?”
“I didn’t cry.”
“Then what was that?”
“Tear acting.”
“Tear acting…?”
“You have to strike first by crying. That way, a perfectly fine, able-bodied guy getting locked in school because he couldn’t handle a girl’s bullying makes some kind of sense, doesn’t it?”
You have to make people lose their minds by crying, Jung Eun-sung shrugged.
“Han Gyeo-wool is finished now.”
“It’s not Han Gyeo-wool, it’s Song—.”
Forget it, I’m tired of correcting him now…….
“Well, winter is over, since it’s March now…….”
You really act well; our play won’t have any problems…….
Muttering, I headed toward the classroom.
As I walked alongside Jung Eun-sung, the passing students turned all their attention toward the two of us. Some students turned their heads all the way around to look at Jung Eun-sung, some blocked our path trying to say hello, and some openly snapped photos.
Despite all the commotion, Jung Eun-sung walked calmly, looking straight ahead.
Sensing the atmosphere around us and gauging Jung Eun-sung’s mood, I whispered, “Why did you pretend you were trapped alone? If you’d said the two of us were trapped together, Song Yeo-reum might’ve gotten in even more trouble.”
“In a school where ridiculous rumors spread about students dating teachers, what good would come from spreading word that you and I were locked in together?”
“…….”
“If I’d said that, the focus would’ve shifted from Han Gyeo-wool to the two of us. How late we were in there alone together, what we did while locked up.”
“…….”
“You know too, don’t you? How thoughtlessly people make up absurd rumors and spread them around.”
The reason I couldn’t answer right away was because I knew Jung Eun-sung’s future.
Having seen all the rumors and fake articles Jung Eun-sung would suffer from after his debut, his words felt almost like a prophecy.
“And.”
Stepping onto the final stair leading to the classroom, Jung Eun-sung said, “This isn’t the first time you’ve gotten tangled up with them, right? Something happened with Bang Jeong-hwan last time too.”
“Bang Eunji. Bang Jeong-hwan is Children’s Day.”
“Well, whatever.”
“What do you mean, whatever….”
“The teachers taking your side because you’re a model student only works once or twice. If you keep causing trouble, adults get exhausted.”
“…….”
“Adults hate being bothered. They might take your side at first, but later on they’ll say there’s a problem with you too. Wondering why you couldn’t just endure it and move on instead of tattling and making a fuss. That’s how adults are.”
“…I know. That’s why the older kids get, the less they tell their guardians and try to handle things on their own. Because they’re afraid they’ll just hear stuff like that and get frustrated after bothering to speak up.”
“Yeah. It’s better not to expect anything from adults.”
“…….”
“Nothing to feel wronged about, either. We’ll become adults like that someday too.”
Finishing his sentence, Jung Eun-sung snatched the handout from my hand and walked ahead.
“I’ll put this at his desk.”
Watching Jung Eun-sung’s retreating back, I called out.
“Jung Eun-sung!”
“What.”
“If there’s anything you don’t understand while studying, ask me anytime. I’ll teach you everything.”
“…So suddenly?”
“Yeah.”
Because my twenty-nine-year-old self felt guilty, suspecting I had been that kind of adult to some extent.
* * *
The story of Song Yeo-reum locking Jung Eun-sung in the Theater Club room spread in the blink of an eye.
“Crazy….”
“Isn’t she, like, a sasaeng fan or something?”
“Jung Eun-sung must have gotten chills.”
“Speaking of which, didn’t Song Yeo-reum brag in middle school about taking a taxi to chase after a celebrity?”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, right! And that story about pulling an all-nighter in an Apgujeong parking lot.”
“Creepy.”
“Hey, Song Yeo-reum! Did you really lock the transfer student in the school?”
The boys chimed in one by one at Song Yeo-reum as she arrived at school after third period.
“What kind of bullshit is that?”
Though Song Yeo-reum looked baffled at first, when she was soon called in by the furious teachers and heard the whole story, she panicked and shouted, “I said no!” but there was no way out since it wasn’t entirely false.
Especially after the Theater Club room key was found in her bag.
‘You did lock someone in, after all.’
It was just that the target was me, not Jung Eun-sung.
“I’m going crazy!”
Getting rapped on the knuckles, scolded, and ridiculed by teachers taking turns. Thoroughly enraged, Song Yeo-reum was finally released from the staff room around lunchtime.
“Yeo-reum! Are you okay?!”
“Get lost!”
Song Yeo-reum shoved Bang Eunji hard on the shoulder as she approached worriedly with a giant ribbon in her hair.
Bang Eunji stumbled as her back slammed into the wall.
Pausing on my way down to eat lunch, I stood on the stair landing with Doyeon and watched the scene unfold.
“Whoa, what’s that?”
“Are they fighting?”
“No way.”
Oh….
Ah, I should’ve brought popcorn.
