Chapter 61
Chapter 61
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 61
Chapter Title: Unexpected Ice Cream Treat
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“Of course! We have to eat it!”
“...?”
It actually worked.
Just mentioning Modern Korean History made Teacher Yi Mong-ryong—his face beet red all the way to his neck—pull a card from his wallet.
“I’ll buy them. Let’s all eat one while we work.”
“Wow!”
“Wow!”
The club members cheered at the unexpected windfall.
Do Ha-jun, who’d been sulking silently during club activities ever since the embezzlement scandal, suddenly perked up and yelled.
“I want Triple Bianco!”
“Shut it. Melona for everyone.”
The nerve of this guy, grabbing the priciest one from the canteen the second the teacher offers to pay.
He’s the type who’d order a trenta-sized Java Chip Frappuccino with nine extra shots when a college senior treats him.
Bang Eun-ji whispered.
“Shouldn’t that guy not be eating any? Isn’t he Yi Wan-yong’s descendant or something?”
“Not a descendant, though...”
“Not even a descendant, then why’s he acting like that?”
“No idea. You ask him.”
“Come on, Kang Da-hye.”
Jeong Eun-seong, who’d taken the teacher’s card, gave me a look. He grabbed the shopping bags scattered around the clubroom and headed into the hallway.
“Here.”
Jeong Eun-seong took the paper bag—which couldn’t have weighed more than two grams—and led the way. I hurried to his side and looked up at his handsome face. His long eyes were still a bit puffy.
“What’re you staring at?”
“Your swollen eyes are hilarious.”
“Don’t stare. My face is too radiant—you’ll go blind.”
“Sorry, you feeling okay?”
“That’s why I asked if you have something to say.”
“Well...”
I had a ton I wanted to say.
Do you really not have parents? Are they gone? When? How?
Who do you live with now? Any other family?
How did I not know? I watched over you till you were twenty-nine.
But that’s prying into someone’s private life.
A refined person knows when to feign ignorance instead of asking everything on their mind.
I clenched my jaw and held back.
Change the subject. Change the subject.
“No calls from those sasaengs?”
“Nah. Changed my number.”
“Good.”
“Should’ve waited a few days.”
Jeong smirked mockingly.
“Celebs with full management teams might as well have public numbers. A trainee’s? Forget it.”
“Shouldn’t trainees get more protection? They’re still civilians.”
“Nope. That’s exactly why they stalk me—easier access than debuted idols.”
“Crazy... What, like a convenience store? Accessibility rating?”
Hm. But...
I don’t know idols well, but if he’s debuting next year, shouldn’t he be skipping school for intense practice by now?
Yet Jeong Eun-seong attends as diligently as ever.
Even pre-regression, I don’t recall him missing school then, but with all these little timeline tweaks, I’m getting worried.
No way his debut got butterflied away too.
I asked Jeong Eun-seong, who was holding the bag to shield his face from the pouring sunlight.
“Jeong Eun-seong, did you always like singing?”
“I was good at it.”
“But didn’t like it?”
“Being good at something and liking it are different.”
“So what did you like?”
“Watching dramas.”
“Dramas?”
“Yeah.”
He lowered the bag a bit to shade my face too, hesitated, then asked back.
“Weird for a guy to like dramas?”
“Not at all.”
Do dramas even have a gender? Though...
“If you don’t like singing, why aim to be an idol?”
“Don’t dislike it. Just like other stuff more.”
“Like other stuff more, but still why...”
“What about you?”
“Huh?”
“Don’t you get sick of studying every day?”
Hm.
I scratched my chin.
Truth is, the kids ask me that all the time.
Hey kids! Try failing at everything till twenty-nine, then regress back to eighteen.
You’ll think studying’s a blast.
You’ll be grateful just for the chance.
Pro tip for study hate: Close your eyes. Imagine your ruined life from slacking. Regret it hard. Pretend you regressed to now. Open eyes.
Sel-regression study hack.
He’s dodging my question. Doesn’t wanna answer.
Fine, drop it.
I played dumb.
“Lucky me, I’m good at what I like.”
“Any specific goal with studying?”
“Told you, no real dreams.”
“Still gotta have something you wanna accomplish.”
“Hm... No regrets.”
“Can’t live regret-free.”
“But you can give it your all.”
In this loop’s life, I’m doing everything I can. Even rewinding time couldn’t top my current effort.
That’s conviction enough.
“That’s why I’m grinding now. No regrets.”
Wanna see? I pulled the dog-eared notebook from my skirt pocket and showed him.
Jeong Eun-seong gaped at the unrecognizable rag.
“That’s... time to toss it...”
“No way... haven’t memorized it all...”
“You said you’d ace a test right now...”
“This one’s for finals...”
“Why’s the end water-damaged...?”
“I review in the bath too...”
“Ugh...”
I shoved Jeong Eun-seong—who was pinching his forehead—and we entered the canteen.
“Only five Melonas left.”
“Mix with Ppibi-ko then.”
“Bag’ll rip.”
“Carry ’em by hand.”
He’d insisted I come along, but Jeong Eun-seong handled everything himself: scooping the ice creams, stacking the surprisingly heavy load into the bag.
“Then why bring me?”
“Hold the receipt.”
On the way back, he muttered like a sigh.
“Exams next week already.”
Monday starts with English and Math, no less. Who schedules main subjects back-to-back like that?
“Nah, better knock out Math first.”
Slay Math early, check results, strategize. Jeong Eun-seong tilted his head at my determined fist-clench.
“We got Math Monday?”
“Math and English.”
“...Thought it was Modern History.”
“...That’s Tuesday.”
“What?!”
“...Slacked off?”
Jeong grimaced.
“No wonder Math and English weren’t on the test list.”
“......”
No wonder he’d only cracked Modern History!
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
💬 2nd Year Class 2 Girls Only ><.
— Ye-su-a
Ah seriously, why does that Do Ha-jun bastard send crap like that to the class group?ㅡㅡ
Dying of anger disease 22:17
— Anonymous
Oh then we can bury Do Ha-jun with you 22:29
— Ye-su-a
Excuse me, Kang Da-hye I’m dying because of Do Ha-jun, why bury him with me? 22:30
— Anonymous
ㅎㅎ Sorry But Su-a, you’re already dead ㅠ The living must live on 22:31 Your sacrifice gives us a Do Ha-jun-free world
— Gyeong Se-in
ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Kek 22:31
— Yu Jin-ha
ㅋㅋㅋㅋ From now on, first to die gets buried with Do Ha-jun 22:37
— Yeon-hee
ㅋㅋㅋ 22:41
Yeah~ your grave buddy’s Do Ha-jun~
I grinned and closed my phone.
Ten-minute break over. Back to studying.
Sunday night. Ten hours and nineteen minutes till Math exam.
Current status: Studied all day at Do-yeon’s house, now home and grinding Math to the bitter end.
“Ah... keep messing this up.”
A few more tries should nail it.
Still got time...
.
.
.
.
— Jeong Eun-seong
Give me 1 minute 00:42
I called right away.
He picked up before the first ring.
“Jeong Eun-seong, what’s up?”
-Verbs that take both to-infinitive and gerund as objects—what are they?
“Out of nowhere?”
-I noted up to “verbs that take both to-infinitive and gerund as object” but forgot to list them.
“Doze off?”
Not midterm material, but I taught him anyway.
“Love, Start, Begin, Like, Hate, Continue, Intend.”
-Love, Start, Begin...
His voice at night is trouble. All husky and addictive.
-Kang Da-hye, how late you going?
“Till I finish what I’m on now. You?”
-Pulling an all-nighter... but sleepy.
“...Hourly check-ins?”
KakaoTalk survival pings. No reply, I wake you. Sleeping? Say so.
-Sounds good.
“Cool.”
Hung up and checked—nearly 1 a.m. already.
Mom’s late tonight.
Business booming lately?
The rose tteokbokki I nagged her to test as a menu item’s flying off shelves.
I tilted my head and dove back into studying.
— Jeong Eun-seong
Sleepy? 02:00
“Gasp.”
What? Already 2 a.m.?
— Me
No no 02:00
“Mom’s still out.”
What’s going on? I called.
Ring... ring...
-The person you’re calling is unavailable due to...
“...?”
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