Chapter 20
Chapter 20
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 20
Chapter Title: Gyeong Se-in Doesn't Wear Light-Colored Bottoms
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Gyeong Se-in from Class 2 of the 2nd year at Gogogo High School doesn't wear light-colored bottoms.
It was because of her uncontrollable menstrual flow.
There was the time she wore white pants and they leaked, so she borrowed a friend's outer jacket to tie around her waist and rushed home.
There was the time she ignored the ominous feeling that suddenly hit her during class (because teachers rarely let you go to the bathroom during class!), only to stand up afterward and find a total disaster.
There was the time she used the largest overnight pad available at the mart, yet still stained the bed and got scolded by her mom (Do you know how much this mattress costs?!).
Gyeong Se-in had experienced all of these.
That day was one of those days when her murderous impulses flared up.
About 10 months ago from now.
It was when Se-in, who had only recently become a high school student, came down to another class on the lower floor for a mobile class, carrying her stuff.
"……."
This feeling.
No way, she tried to ignore it, but it was definitely the feeling that a disaster would strike during class if she did.
Se-in checked the clock on the classroom wall and whispered to the friend who came with her.
"Su-a, do you have a pad by any chance?"
They had already used up 6 minutes of break time packing and moving to the classroom. Even if she dashed to the bathroom with a pad right now, time was tight.
The friend who heard Se-in's whisper shook her head with a troubled look.
"I have some in the classroom. Did it start?"
"Yeah……."
"What do we do? Hey, do you have any pads?"
"Whoa, I don't."
"What about you?"
"Me neither."
The friends who came with her to the classroom, and even the ones originally in this class, all shook their heads. Another minute passed in the meantime.
"Can't I just run to the school store now and buy some?"
"Do they even sell them there?"
"Who knows."
"Hey, just go out for now. We'll figure it out once you're out."
"Um."
The voice that cut in came at that moment.
The girl who had been reading a book at the desk next to theirs, almost invisibly, looked up at Se-in.
She had a pale face and sharp eyes. She was wearing a school uniform cardigan much too big for her body, with several textbooks stacked on her desk. Her long, slender neck, visible outside the cardigan, caught the eye.
The girl said.
"I have some."
"Huh?"
Strangely, what Se-in thought of first wasn't 'Who is she?' or 'She has pads?', but 'She really looks like a little girl.'
Her eyes are sparkling so much. Is she wearing lenses?
But that didn't seem right, given her roughly let-down hair and plain face that didn't even seem to have tinted lip balm on.
She could see the girl's dark eyes staring up blankly and the name on the badge below her sharp chin.
Kang Da-hye.
Kang Da-hye rummaged through her bag and handed over two pads from between the oversized cardigan sleeves that covered her hands.
"Here."
"Uh, uh… Thanks."
"If it's not enough, go to the nurse's office later and get some."
"They give out pads at the nurse's office too?"
"Yeah."
Kang Da-hye nodded and turned her gaze back to her book.
Her loose black hair flowed softly down beside her ears, where fine hairs stood fluffily.
"Thanks…!"
Se-in said. Kang Da-hye just looked up at her once more and smiled.
However, Se-in's murderous day didn't end there.
Halfway through the class, Se-in realized she had put the pad on wrong.
Either too far back, or it had folded somehow.
-I think it leaked ㅅㅂ
-ㅅㅂ
-Gotta dash to the bathroom right after class
-Yeah, I'll take care of your chair and stuff here
While exchanging notes with the friend sitting next to her.
"Gyeong Se-in, come up and solve this."
"Yes? Me?"
I can't stand up right now.
She radiated awkwardness with her whole body, but the indifferent teacher just urged her on.
"Teacher… Can I do it next time?"
"What are you talking about? Come up quick."
"Ah… Teacher, I really can't……."
"Hurry!"
"The answer is 13."
It was Kang Da-hye who saved Se-in again.
Da-hye's crisp voice rang through the classroom. The teacher let out a hollow laugh.
"Kang Da-hye, I didn't ask you."
"Right. But I already solved it in the meantime."
"Oh ho, pretty confident, huh? Then you come up and solve this one too."
"Sure."
Kang Da-hye stood up from her seat casually.
As she walked forward, Da-hye's hand tapped Se-in's desk. Se-in looked at Da-hye, but Da-hye didn't look back at her.
After that, they didn't have much contact.
Se-in's class was on the 3rd floor, Da-hye's on the 2nd, and after midterms, Se-in's leveled class changed.
They ran into each other a few times in places like the cafeteria on the way, but Da-hye seemed to have no memory of Se-in.
Only Se-in would hesitate every time she saw Da-hye, wondering 'Should I say hi? Should I pay her back for the pads?'
And this year.
"No way. Seo Jae-kyeom is in our class."
"Ugh, so jealous. Must've saved the country in a past life. Our class has Song Yeo-reum."
"Guess you sold the country then."
"Go back quick. To your class with Song Yeo-reum."
Amid the noisy friends, Se-in spotted Da-hye sitting alone over there.
Kang Da-hye flipping through the literature textbook, reading the works in advance. And occasionally lifting her head to sneak peeks at Seo Jae-kyeom.
Se-in rolled her eyes and thought.
I want to be friends with her.
Is that possible?
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "Don't wanna study? Want my books?"
I was stunned by Jeong Eun-seong's bombshell statement.
Can you live life that cool?
Don't wanna study, should I toss the textbooks~♪
Don't wanna take the test, should I kidnap the teacher~♪
Don't wanna go to work, should I blow up the company~♪
'Kidnapping the teacher is kinda tempting.'
No, that's not the point right now.
"If you give me your books, what about you?"
"I don't need them. Not gonna look at them anyway."
"So cool……."
I jabbed Se-in, who was admiring him, in the side with my elbow. Snap out of it.
"Then what'll you do during class?"
"Sleep."
"Not study?"
"Nope."
"Why?"
"Don't wanna."
"You have to study even if you don't like it. What we're learning in school isn't just knowledge—it's common sense. If you don't know this stuff after you graduate, people will call you ignorant."
I gave advice born from experience, but Jeong Eun-seong's expression was apathetic.
I tried to persuade him, who looked like he just wanted to hand over the textbooks quick and go home.
"Why do you hate studying?"
"'Cause it's not fun."
"Try thinking it's fun."
"How can I think it's fun when it's not?"
"Me or studying? You gotta like one or the other."
"Can't be helped then. Guess I'll study."
"……."
Somehow feels off…….
Jeong Eun-seong nodded with an extremely arrogant look and mopped the floor one more time with the mop he was holding.
"Wipe your feet here."
He even instructed me to wipe the strawberry milk off my indoor shoes, then gathered the scattered tissue balls around.
He left the classroom without even a goodbye.
Silence fell.
"…Da-hye, you're really not close with Jeong Eun-seong?"
"…Yeah."
I have no idea why he acts like that.
I shook my head.
Long story short, the homeroom teacher gave me textbooks again.
"What do we do? He probably took a lot of notes."
"Ah, they were written so long ago anyway. I don't remember any of it, so it's fine! Workbooks… I can just buy new ones."
I told the truth, but she patted my cheek sympathetically.
"I'll check at home and give you any leftover workbooks I have."
"Really? Awesome. I was broke anyway."
After getting all the cuteness from my younger teacher, I herded the kids and headed to our store.
"So what happens to Bang Eun-ji?"
"She crashes hard."
"Yay."
"Kyaa~ Mom, hi!"
"Ah, but lately my face has so much oil. Feels like it's absorbing all the oil in the world."
"You a kitchen towel or something?"
"Whoa, this tteokbokki is killer."
You know this? If you slice pizza bread with scissors, put it on spicy tteokbokki, and microwave it, it's delicious.
"But why hasn't Seo Jae-kyeom been coming to school lately?"
"Went somewhere with family, I heard."
"Their house seems loaded."
"Hey, didn't you see on Chasebook? Pic on a yacht or something."
"That's their family's yacht?!"
"Will the homeroom teacher like it if we give her our kids' album?"
"Does she even know our faves?"
"Probably not. She didn't even know Bust or Infinity."
"She's probably pretending. Adults."
Adults love idols more.
That 19+ fanfic you read using your sister's ID for age verification? The author might be your homeroom teacher, so watch out.
"Do-yeon, you eat spicy stuff okay?"
"Can't. Don't have it."
"Ooh."
"So Da-hye, you do online lectures with Do-yeon?"
"I'm just leeching off her."
"No academy?"
"Nah. Oh, hold on. I'll get you some cola."
I stood up seeing Do-yeon and Su-a with red faces from the spice. As I grabbed cola from the outside fridge, Se-in approached and spoke to me.
"Hey, Da-hye."
"Yeah?"
"That thing earlier about not having allowance."
"Ah, yeah."
She must've overheard me telling the homeroom teacher I was broke.
Se-in looked around and brought her face to my ear.
I tensed up, remembering Jeong Eun-seong's ridiculous statement earlier.
'What is she gonna say?'
I'm scared of teenagers' radical thinking these days.
Maybe suggesting we rob a bank since allowance is short?
Short on allowance, should we rob a bank~♪