The Top Student Hides Her Regression
Chapter 45
Seo Jae-gyeom
Kang Da-hye
Is the tteokbokki good?
19:20
Did you choke to death eating it?
22:05
Hmph
23:11
Caught completely off guard, Bang Eunji took a blow to the back of her head and collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut.
Clatter. A liquor bottle slipped from the hand of the guy who had ambushed her, rolling across the ground.
“Fuck, fuck…”
Whether he had just returned from buying booze by himself, the convenience store bag dangling from his wrist rattled noisily.
“Fat bitch…”
The guy muttered something as he looked down at the fallen Bang Eunji.
“Aaargh!”
All of a sudden, he stumbled backward, then scrambled and bolted in a panic.
“Bang Eunji!”
The instant he vanished, I hurriedly crouched down in front of Bang Eunji.
“Hey, are you okay?!”
I was terrified she had been critically injured given how the guy had freaked out and fled on his own, but thankfully, that wasn’t the case.
Curled into a ball, Bang Eunji cursed.
“Ugh, ah… my head is splitting…”
“Don’t move. Stay right where you are.”
“Did you see that bastard’s face?”
“Yeah. He’s… two grades above us.”
A delinquent who was infamous once upon a time.
Like most punks, I thought he’d faded into obscurity after graduating high school.
Turns out he was hanging out with Song Yeo-reum in places like this.
“Don’t move. I’m calling 119 right now.”
I desperately wanted to hop on that electric scooter parked over there—keys still in the ignition, clearly ridden in by one of those losers—and ride off.
Except I don’t have a driver’s license right now! Because I’m eighteen!
Ah. Times like this make me wish I could just take the CSAT already and become an adult…
I propped my bag under Bang Eunji’s head as she lay on her side. But as I pulled out my phone to call 119, she stopped me.
“Hey, do I really have to go to the hospital?”
“Are you crazy? Getting hit in the head is serious.”
You might have glass shards stuck in your scalp. I warned her gravely, but Bang Eunji only shook her head.
“I don’t have any money…”
“Do you think they’re gonna make you pay? Your parents will cover it.”
“That’s the thing. My mom might literally kill me.”
“I’m not going. I’m fine.” Shaking her head, Bang Eunji pushed herself up.
“Ugh. My ears are ringing like crazy.”
Watching her shake her head while continuously muttering curses under her breath, I lifted my phone.
“Ah, I said I’m not going!”
“Be quiet. Who are you whining to? Are we even close?”
Ring, ring.
—Yes, Da-hye. Haven’t you left yet?
“Ah, ma’am. It’s just that someone else came by just now. A guy who graduated the year before last… He’s part of the same crew as those guys from earlier.”
I answered politely and switched the call to speakerphone.
—Another one came?
“Yes. The friend who came with me tried to hold him back and got hurt a bit…”
—Hurt? How badly?
“She took a hit to the head.”
—Do you know exactly who that boy is?
“My friend knows him. She said he’s probably the ringleader.”
—Is that so? Then bring that friend along to the hospital too. Take a taxi, or call 119.
“The thing is, we came in such a hurry that we don’t have any money on us right now…”
—That’s not something for children to worry about. Your friend is in a condition to testify, right?
After hanging up with Jisu’s mother, I looked at Bang Eunji.
“Satisfied?”
Bang Eunji was hospitalized.
Jisu’s mother agreed to pay all medical expenses in exchange for her testimony regarding the conversation she had overheard in the empty lot yesterday.
After the weekend passed, the School Violence Committee convened.
Song Yeo-reum ended up transferring schools.
As for the guys who no longer attended school, they would naturally face criminal charges.
I overheard teachers whispering that a transfer process had never been wrapped up this quickly since the school was founded.
‘Jisu’s mother really pulled some major strings.’
Compared to what Song Yeo-reum had plotted, it was an astonishingly swift and anticlimactic resolution.
‘She just happened to mess with the wrong person.’
Yet Jisu’s mother’s retribution didn’t stop there.
“Turns out the CEO of the company Song Yeo-reum’s dad works at is friends with my dad.”
“Ah, really?”
“Mhm. So she said she’d pass along a word through my parents. And…”
“And?”
“I didn’t even know this, but the kimbap restaurant Song Yeo-reum’s mom runs is in my mom’s building. She used to give them a discount on rent, but she said that’s definitely over now.”
“…Song Yeo-reum’s mother ran a snack shop too, huh.”
“Mom’s making a huge fuss about me catching bad luck and wants to go pray. So I probably won’t be going to academy this weekend.”
“Still, it’s surprising she settled for just a transfer.”
Knowing her mother’s personality, I thought she would have pushed for expulsion.
“Actually, it wasn’t a forced transfer handed down by the committee. I think Mom and Song Yeo-reum’s parents reached an agreement. For them to transfer her voluntarily.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Mom seems to have her own plans.”
“…Like getting Song Yeo-reum’s dad fired from his job? Raising the rent and kicking them out of the building…?”
“No way!”
Jisu waved her hands in frantic denial.
“She’s just sending a message to raise their kid properly. You know, Kang Da, sometimes you’re secretly pretty savage.”
“Ah.”
“Oh, and Bang Eunji’s testimony was crucial, apparently. The stuff about crippling your hands and slashing your face.”
“Right. She did say that.”
I nodded.
You really never know what the future holds.
Who would have thought I’d catch Song Yeo-reum using Bang Eunji?
Is this… using barbarians to control barbarians…?
“Are you okay, Jisu?”
“Yeah. I’m totally fine. If anything, I’m glad it turned out this way. If you had been dragged away, Kang Da…”
Shuddering at the mere thought, Jisu trembled while I chuckled sheepishly beside her.
Indeed.
If I had been the victim, even if my face had actually been slashed and my hands broken, the punishment would never have been this swift and decisive.
This outcome was only possible because the victim was Jisu.
“I’m sorry, Jisu. It’s all because of me.”
“No, don’t be. How could you have known they’d pull something like that, Kang Da? Besides, I didn’t even get hurt.”
“Thanks.”
“Mom said she’s having her chief of staff handle a separate civil lawsuit too.”
“Chief of staff?”
“My mom’s executive assistant.”
“Ah.”
Right. Sometimes you just have to blow your nose without getting your hands dirty. Shrugging it off, I patted Jisu on the back.
“I’ll head over to my classroom then.”
And just like that, the Song Yeo-reum problem was resolved.
However, I still had one minor problem left.
“Kang Da-hye!”
Seo Jae-gyeom called out to me from behind as I was heading back with the attendance book after stopping by the teachers’ office.
Striding over with his long legs, Seo Jae-gyeom smoothly ushered me into the elevator.
“We’re not allowed to use the elevator.”
“If we get caught, tell them I forced you into it.”
“Jae-gyeom!”
“Jae-gyeom! Wait up!”
Waving off the group rushing over after spotting the open elevator doors to tell them to get lost, Seo Jae-gyeom pressed the close button.
All of a sudden, it was just the two of us left inside.
Having made sure to hit the close button, Seo Jae-gyeom didn’t bother pressing the button for the 4th floor where our classroom was. With his hands shoved into his pockets, he simply looked down at me.
With the expression of a needy younger guy acting sulky.
“Kang Da-hye.”
“Yeah.”
“Why did you leave my Kotalk on read?”
“…”
“I waited all weekend.”
“You waited?”
“Yeah.”
“…”
“A lot.”
Right. This. The minor problem that hadn’t been resolved yet.
I stared intently at Seo Jae-gyeom as his eyes looked down at me.
Should I say it, or should I not?
I didn’t want things to get awkward between us and create extra headaches for myself. Should I pretend not to notice and let it slide, or what?
Unaware of what was going through my mind, Seo Jae-gyeom offered a sly grin and added:
“From now on, can I call you if you don’t reply?”
Ah. Let’s just say it.
“Seo Jae-gyeom.”
“Yeah?”
“What is your deal lately?”
“What do you mean?”
“Lately, toward me…”
I frowned and shut my mouth.
How should I put this into words?
You’re acting coy.
You’re making moves on me.
You’re trying to flirt.
Either way, you’re being nice to me on purpose. To mess with my feelings.
It had been a few days since I first noticed Seo Jae-gyeom acting like this.
The guy who used to leave me on read or reply with dry one-word answers whenever I went out of my way to message him first was now texting me about completely trivial things.
Initiating conversations. Smiling at me. Teasing me. Acting close.
Asking me to take an eyelash off his face.
Claiming that if Kang Da-hye became class president, he’d be the vice president.
Do you know what they call that in the slang of this era?
Keeping someone on the hook.
He probably thought he was being subtle, but how could I not notice? I have a brain, too.
“Seo Jae-gyeom. Looking at how you’ve been acting lately…”
“Looking at what?”
“It looks like you’re deliberately leading me on because you want me to like you again.”
“…”
“Are you feeling regretful, by any chance? Because I told you I don’t like you anymore?”
You don’t even have any intention of dating me, and you don’t even like me.
Is it just that now that I’m slipping out of your grasp, you suddenly want to hold on?
“If I’m right, you’re being really rotten. If you’re not going to like me, then let me stop liking you. It’s not like I owe you anything.”
Having said my piece, I pressed the elevator button.