The Top Student Hides Her Regression
Chapter 46
The School’s Top Ranker Hides Her Regression
Once it started moving, the elevator brought us to the fourth floor where our classrooms were in the blink of an eye.
I stared blankly at the doors without any expression, and Seo Jae-gyeom didn’t say a word either.
Was he flustered because I’d hit the nail on the head? Or was it because I’d pointed out feelings he hadn’t even recognized in himself?
Leaving the dazed Seo Jae-gyeom behind, I stepped out first.
I was about to just walk away coldly, but…
‘I’m actually kind of pissed.’
Didn’t you say that to me?
How could I confess to you after seeing all the girls you’ve dated so far?
You were telling me to know my place.
I knew my place just like you told me to, so what’s your problem now? Or what, are you missing something? Mad that your homework shuttle, who did your assignments without you even asking, is gone?
I turned around and pressed the door-open button.
Seo Jae-gyeom, still inside the elevator, widened his eyes at my reappearance. Holding back the urge to stomp on his foot, I spoke.
“The reason I liked you, Seo Jae-gyeom, wasn’t just because you’re handsome, but because you were cool. Because I envied your personality—how you never cared what others thought and never dwelled on anything.”
“…….”
“But right now, you’re not cool at all.”
“…….”
“Don’t make me embarrassed for having liked you.”
Thirty, thirty-one, thirty-two…
When I reach the ages I’ve never lived before in the future.
Let me look back on your face and feel satisfied, thinking, ‘It was nice to have regressed. I even got to be a class officer with Seo Jae-gyeom, my old crush… hehehe…’
Don’t ruin my memories.
“And Seo Jae-gyeom. You’re close with Baek Eunju, Yang Dajung, and Kim Haein, right?”
At the names of his ex-girlfriends rolling smoothly off my tongue, Seo Jae-gyeom’s jaw dropped this time.
“N-No, we’re not close?”
He even stammered, uncharacteristically.
Not close, my foot. You always pick up whenever girls you used to date contact you. You fought with your current girlfriends multiple times over that very thing.
I spent years liking you—who do you think you’re fooling?
“Seriously. We’re not close.”
As Seo Jae-gyeom even waved his hands in denial, his earlier sly smirk and easygoing composure were nowhere to be found. Whether that was true or not, I didn’t care. I spoke in the coldest voice I could muster.
“Ask them what happened to me over the weekend. You said they tell you everything that happens with their friends.”
“Huh?”
“If you’re not getting off, I’m letting the doors close.”
I took my hand off the open button and turned around.
As I walked toward our classroom, I heard hasty footsteps scrambling after me.
Trudging along a step behind me, neither walking beside me nor striking up a conversation…
He really looked pathetic.
‘Eighteen-year-olds.’
Seo Jae-gyeom. You really aren’t all that much after all.
‘If you’re not going to like me back, then let me stop liking you. I don’t owe you anything.’
Then…
What if I do want to like you?
What if I end up liking you?
“…I’m losing my mind.”
Have I gone crazy?
“So you really don’t like Seo Jae-gyeom anymore, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Really?”
“Jisu. Want me to make an acrostic poem with ‘Ji-su’?”
“…? Ji.”
“Ji-su keeps asking me the exact same thing.”
“Su.”
“Such a question dozens of times.”
“Hehe. It’s just so fascinating, since you liked Seo Jae-gyeom so much for so long.”
“What about you…?”
“Huh?”
“Did you have feelings for Seo Jae-gyeom, and I just tactlessly made a move first?”
I brought up the ‘Kang Da-hye Villain Theory’ that I’d been harboring in my mind for a while.
What if Han Ji-soo and Seo Jae-gyeom had feelings for each other, and I suddenly barged in between them?!
What if I was acting out so much that Jisu couldn’t even say, ‘Actually, I like Seo Jae-gyeom too’?!
“If that’s the case…”
“No, absolutely not! I don’t like Seo Jae-gyeom. And Seo Jae-gyeom doesn’t, either.”
“Huh?”
“He hasn’t shown any interest in me lately. No texts, he doesn’t come see me during academy breaks, and when we run into each other, he just says hi and walks past.”
“…Really?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s strange…”
Did he neglect his own heart while trying to haul back the fish (me) escaping his aquarium? As I blinked, Jisu asked:
“Kang Da, does Seo Jae-gyeom contact you?”
“Um… no.”
There was no need to make things awkward by saying, ‘Yeah, he texts me.’ Besides, he wouldn’t anymore anyway.
Not after what I told him in the elevator.
Sigh. Whatever.
Better to memorize vocab in the time I’d spend thinking about Seo Jae-gyeom.
“We go to the sixth floor, right?”
“Yeah. We agreed to meet in the lobby in front of the snack bar.”
Today was the day the second-year members of the Theater Club were going to watch a newly released movie together.
There was a play based on the same original work. The plan was to watch the movie first, then watch a recording of the play during club hours, and compare the two.
Jisu and I had met up early to grab a meal before heading to the cinema. We could have eaten afterward, but I had plans in the afternoon.
“What time does the movie start?”
“There’s twenty minutes left! We can meet the others, buy some popcorn, and head in.”
“I want onion popcorn.”
Plus churros, butter-grilled squid, and pretzels.
In the future, movie theater snack bars rarely sell churros… I have to eat plenty while they’re still around.
Practically drooling, I stepped out of the elevator. The cinema’s signature orange lighting and black glass panels greeted us. As soon as we stepped out, I spotted a familiar face leaning against a pillar.
“Jung Eun-sung?”
Jisu called his name before I could.
Jung Eun-sung, who was looking down at his phone, raised his head.
An oversized hoodie and well-fitted pants. A black cap that made his already small face look even smaller.
‘Holy crap, he’s insanely handsome.’
Am I the only one who gets startled when caught off guard by a handsome face?
I took a deep breath to regain my composure.
Unlike me, Jisu, who seemed completely unaffected by guys’ outer shells, asked Jung Eun-sung:
“What’re you doing here?”
“Just standing.”
Jisu was the one who asked, but he looked at me as he answered.
I craned my neck to look at the lobby. The Theater Club kids were already crowded noisily in front of the concession stand.
Jisu, noticing the same thing, tilted her head.
“The kids are over there, so why are you standing here?”
“It’s awkward.”
“Jung Eun-sung, are you shy around strangers?”
“Yeah.”
“What the heck? Then how long were you planning to stand here alone?”
“Until she got here.”
Slipping his phone into his pocket, Jung Eun-sung pointed his chin at me.
Oh, please.
“I’m not your emotional support doll, you know.”
Anyway, since we were here, I nudged Jung Eun-sung to get going.
“Oh, it’s Da-hye!”
“It’s Jisu!”
“It’s Jung Eun-sung!”
“Is everyone here?”
“No, Do Hajun isn’t here yet.”
“…He’s not gonna be late, is he?”
“No way. I saw on Chebook earlier that he was awake.”
“If he wasn’t awake by now, he wouldn’t even be human.”
With twenty minutes still left before the movie started, the kids—who had already bought large popcorns and sodas and devoured more than half—shoved a handful of popcorn into my mouth too.
Munch.
“Let’s take a picture.”
“Jisu, can we hold the tickets and take one?”
“Yeah, hold on. I’ll get them out.”
Kids will be kids. They were thrilled just to be at a movie theater.
Then again, this was my first time at a movie theater since regressing, too.
It was fascinating to see movies showing in theaters that, from my regressed perspective, were only available as holiday TV specials or on streaming platforms. The theater interior was subtly retro, too.
‘So this was the number one box office hit back then.’
And why are the ticket prices so cheap?
While I was feeling the dizzying passage of time, one of the club members pointed at the poster I was staring at.
“This looks like it’d be fun.”
I replied without thinking.
“Yeah. It’s really good. I watched it twice.”
“…How did you watch it? It’s rated 19+…”
“Ah.”
“Kang Da-hye, what the heck? How did you watch an R-rated movie?”
“Oooooh~”
Not letting an opportunity to tease me pass by, the kids swarmed in to grill me.
“I heard that since there’s only one entrance to the theaters here, you can buy a ticket for Theater 1 and sneak into Theater 2. Is that what you did?”
“Kang Da-hye, you’re crazy.”
“I thought she only studied, but she’s sneaking around watching 19+ movies all by herself.”
“No, it’s not like that…!”
I watched the re-release after I became an adult…!
Unable to reveal the truth, I was being dragged back and forth as the kids shook me, when—
“That’s why you should’ve studied ethics, Kang Da-hye.”
Jung Eun-sung, who hadn’t said a single word, suddenly chimed in.
“Study ethics?”
“Law-abiding spirit.”
“What are you even on about?”
I glared at him in utter disbelief, but he didn’t care in the slightest. Instead, he even crossed his arms and looked down at me arrogantly.
“I believe ethical awareness is the most important quality in a leader. When an unprincipled leader takes charge, social order collapses.”
“Am I a leader?”
“You’re our class president.”
“My ethical awareness is extraordinary, thank you very much.”
“Then explain where you watched that movie.”
“That’s…”
I can’t…
Just then, Jisu laughed.
“You two must be really close.”
As she spoke, she linked her arm with mine, naturally slipping between Jung Eun-sung and me.
“This is the first time I’ve ever seen Jung Eun-sung talk this much! Even though he doesn’t even reply to my Kotalks.”
To Jisu, who was smiling up at him, Jung Eun-sung casually retorted:
“You’re close with those girls from the cafeteria, too.”
“Huh?”
“The ones you were eating bread with this morning.”
What’s he talking about?