The Top Student Hides Her Regression
Chapter 33
If he thought his daughter had made a boyfriend while attending the academy, and if that made him unhappy with the academy…
He could just move her to another one.
It made no sense to go out of his way to call the academy, lodge a complaint, and then hang up abruptly without taking any actual action.
‘What if, that day, he mistook Seo Jae-gyeom not for Gaeun’s oppa, but for her boyfriend?’
Thinking back, Seo Jae-gyeom had never explicitly nailed it down by telling the man, ‘Stay away from my younger sister!’
In the minds of older men like that, any boy and girl together must be dating, so he could easily have assumed they were a couple rather than siblings.
If he mistakenly believed that Gaeun, a high schooler, was dating a college student, it was painfully obvious how his twisted logic would have unfolded from there.
“Kim Gaeun!”
I tumbled down the stairs, almost rolling down them.
I shoved the glass door of the academy building open with my shoulder and burst into the alley.
It was the very same alley where I had found Gaeun last time.
“Kim Gaeun!!!”
I scanned the surroundings and screamed her name at the top of my lungs.
—Kang Da-hye, what’s going on?
Jung Eun-sung, who had been listening to everything over the line, asked. Only then did I realize I hadn’t hung up on him yet.
—Did something happen? Why are you suddenly looking for Kim Gaeun?
“Jung Eun-sung, can you call the police for me?”
—The police?
“Yeah. The location is—”
There was no time for a lengthy explanation. I rapidly rattled off the academy’s address, the direction I was heading, and the descriptions of Gaeun and the man.
“Gaeun’s place is in Purudao Complex 2, but… she probably didn’t make it that far. She only left the academy a little while ago.”
—Got it.
Thankfully, Jung Eun-sung didn’t waste precious time with maddening questions like ‘Why do I need to report it?’, ‘Aren’t you overreacting?’, or ‘Tell me what’s going on first.’
—Should I tell them it looks like that man kidnapped Kim Gaeun?
“Yeah. Just tell them it looks like he’s holding a knife. Make sure to mention we already reported him for the same thing before.”
—Where are you right now?
“I’m following the path to Gaeun’s house.”
—What? Hey, it’s dangerous for you too—
“Please, I’m counting on you!”
I hung up immediately.
I dialed Gaeun’s number, which I had memorized in advance.
—Even if you hide it, twinkle, what can you do?♪
The cheerful ringback tone, entirely unfitting for the situation, struck my ear.
“Why aren’t you picking up…!”
—You stand out so clearly♪
Yes, so please stand out already!
I absolutely despised this cliché where people never picked up their phones at moments like this, making everyone lose their minds!
I hated how dark this alley was without working streetlights, too!
I just hated everything about this!
Swearing under my breath, I turned into an even darker alley, where all the lights in the nearby houses were off, as if no one lived there.
“A high school girl…… so brazen and rotten……”
“…Seriously…”
“I only did it out of pity……”
“So… why… here of all places?! Your eyes…… are disgusting!”
“You little…… looking down on me?!”
Over there.
—I twinkle, it shows so easily♪
I hung up the call that was still singing about twinkling.
“…off me!”
Glaring toward the adjoining alley where the voices were coming from, I dialed 112 this time.
Ring, ring…
Once they picked up, I would calmly state my location first.
Then I’d shout loudly, ‘Mister, what do you think you’re doing?!’
After that, I planned to hand over the phone, telling him it was the police and to answer it.
“Let go! I’m really going to report you!”
“What, report me?! What did I do to get reported? You think you can report me just for trying to teach an ill-mannered little brat some discipline?! Go ahead! Report me! I ought to slap you right across the—”
I had it all planned out in my head.
But when you’re actually thrust into the situation, staying calm is impossible.
—Yes, emergency services—
The moment I confirmed 112 had answered, I sprinted straight ahead.
Rounding the corner, I saw the lunatic grabbing Gaeun’s arms, shaking her as if he wanted to break them.
“Report me! Go ahead and try!”
Thud!
“Let her go!”
I slammed my entire body into the shouting man’s back.
“Let go! Let go of her! Let go!”
Smack! Smack! I hammered the corner of my phone against the man’s arm with all my might, blindly forcing him away from Gaeun.
“What the hell!”
Startled out of his wits by my sudden appearance from behind, the man’s face twisted into an ugly scowl the moment he saw I was just another schoolgirl, no different from Gaeun.
“What is this now? You little…!”
Shove!
“Ah!”
Spitting vile curses, the man shoved me hard. His full strength, unleashed against a high school girl, slammed my back into the wall.
The impact jarred my body, and the phone slipped from my grasp, clattering to the ground.
“Now I’ve seen everything……. Fine, I’ll teach you properly today how to respect your elders.”
He was heaving, his face visibly flushed red even in the dark.
Thinking he could easily overpower two schoolgirls in uniform, he looked completely emboldened. Even though he hadn’t been able to utter a single word to the solidly built Seo Jae-gyeom.
“I’ll beat you till your ears ring so you finally come to your senses…”
Turning fully toward me, the man raised his hand high in the air.
I’m going to get hit!
Just then.
TWEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!
“Huh?”
“Huh?”
The piercing sound echoed deafeningly through the dark alley, freezing both the man and me in place.
TWEEEEET! TWEEET! TWEET! TWEET!
Behind the man’s back, Gaeun was blowing a whistle. Her face was flushed bright red.
The man, who hadn’t even flinched at my arrival, visibly shrank back at the loud noise that threatened to reach beyond the alley. Seizing the opening, I scrambled up and stepped beside Gaeun.
“Gaeun, are you okay?”
“I’m okay…! What about you?”
“Me too!”
Why did standing beside a friend bring such an overwhelming wave of relief?
Gaeun and I clung together, inching backward step by step. I wanted to grab her hand and just bolt, but my legs had no strength. Gaeun seemed to be in the same state, doing nothing but blowing her whistle repeatedly.
Ffft, tweet, ffft…
Even that was losing power; her throat was so locked up from shock that now only faint, breathy hisses leaked out.
“Ah, why won’t…”
“Gaeun. It’s okay. You can stop.”
All we could do was put as much distance between us and him as possible.
I glanced sideways at my phone lying on the ground. The call with 112 was still connected.
If the call was active, they should be able to trace the location.
Clutching the whistle on its lanyard tightly in her hand, Gaeun muttered under her breath.
“They said this was the best thing for self-defense…… so I bought it just in case. But I was so panicked earlier, I couldn’t even think of it……”
“It’s okay. You did great.”
I took Gaeun’s hand with my own trembling fingers.
Still, there were two of us now. That bastard couldn’t drag two girls away all by himself.
I yelled at the lunatic, who stood just an arm’s length away.
“M-Mister… I already called the police, you know?!”
My words were slurred and my voice cracked terribly, sounding pathetic even to my own ears. My hands were shaking, and now my voice was trembling too.
Damn it. I didn’t want to tremble.
Where did all that fiery momentum go from when I was screaming and shoving him just moments ago? Why was I shaking like this?
Over a pathetic piece of trash like him…… It was infuriating…….
“Everything about you trying to drag her away is recorded, and…”
The man, who had been about to swing his arm to snatch the whistle away, hesitated at the mention of the police already being called. Just as I was trying to keep up my empty threats in a foolish, helpless voice that wouldn’t have scared anyone—
Wee-woo, wee-woo.
A short, repeating siren sounded.
At the same time, the chaotic flashing of red and blue emergency lights filled my view from outside the alley.
A police car pulled to a stop, and two officers stepped out.
“Hey, sir! What do you think you’re doing right now?!”
“Are you students the ones who called?”
“Haah…”
In that instant, tears surged into my eyes.
We were saved.
I felt so pathetic, furious, and humiliated for being terrified of someone so utterly worthless…… but regardless, we had survived.
The approaching officers stepped in between Gaeun, me, and the man.
“Step back, sir!”
“No, I was just—!”
“Sir, please step back first!”
“You’re the student who reported it, right?”
“Yes, yes… I called.”
Over there, the phone……. I pointed at the phone lying on the ground.
The officer picked up the phone, spoke a few words to the dispatcher still on the line, and hung up.
Clinging to Gaeun like we were glued together, I stood there with my mouth hanging open in a daze, before the words suddenly burst out of me like a broken dam.
“That man has been following my friend around for a while now, and we already filed a report a few days ago, too……”
To think that I, someone usually told I could talk my way out of drowning, could speak so incoherently.
As I continued to babble words that sounded nonsensical even to me—
“Kang Da-hye!”
A taxi screeched to a halt behind the police car.
Yank! The door flew open with enough force to make the taxi driver furious, and someone came bolting out.
It was Jung Eun-sung.
His face was flushed beet-red.
“Kang Da-hye, are you okay?!”
“Jung Eun-sung…….”
How on earth did you get here?