Chapter 99
Chapter 99
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 99
Chapter Title: Eternal Runner-Up
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The day before the vacation ceremony.
"Kang Da-hye got everything right again. Wow, how did she ace the entire semester's exams...?"
Han Ji-su from Class 1 of the second year thought.
That teacher only favors Kang Da-hye.
It had been the same back in first year.
After the midterms of the first semester of first year, in the first class afterward, the teacher had seen Da-hye sitting in the front row and said,
"Who told you to get everything right?"
He said he hated kids who got perfect scores, that 100 points lacked human touch.
But it was obvious he adored her.
Ji-su still remembered Da-hye's response at the time.
"It's not like I only got perfect on your subject, Teacher. I aced everything."
"That girl is just naturally smart."
Was that something to brag about all the way to another class? Was that teacher actually into Da-hye romantically?
"Are you close with Da-hye, Ji-su?"
"Yes. We're the closest."
The mechanical pencil lead in Ji-su's hand, who answered sweetly, snapped with a series of cracks.
...Well, it was true that Kang Da-hye was impressive.
She used to just be good at studying, but lately, she was popular too.
Just look at Seo Jae-kyeom.
Did you apologize to her?
Tutoring? Me? With you?
Her suggestion to do group tutoring over vacation had been blatantly ignored, only for her to hear that he was suddenly tutoring with Da-hye.
The change in Seo Jae-kyeom, who had openly found Da-hye annoying at the start of second year, felt unfamiliar.
Seo Jae-kyeom and Han Ji-su. And Kang Da-hye.
She'd thought Seo Jae-kyeom knew better than anyone about the hierarchy between them, but maybe she'd been wrong.
How could he not know? Ji-su tilted her head.
Han Ji-su. Hanging out with low-class friends doesn't raise them to your level. It drags you down to theirs.
Kids inherit their parents' lifestyles. It's fine to be friendly with Kang Da-hye, but be careful not to catch their bad habits.
Take a good look when you visit their house. That's what happens if you don't work hard when you're young.
Ji-su fully agreed with her mom's daily lectures.
Her own parents and Seo Jae-kyeom's were all college graduates—refined people—while Da-hye's mom was uneducated and crude. Who even knew where her dad was.
If he was around, he'd probably be the same. Lazy and ignorant.
Kids from messed-up families were bound to have issues themselves.
It got ingrained in them during upbringing. You couldn't change it.
Wasn't that why Da-hye studied like crazy? So she wouldn't end up like her parents? Because she was ashamed of them?
Not that she could completely escape her background.
Still, Da-hye herself wasn't bad.
If left alone, she'd claw her way into a good college, get a good job, and live a life worlds apart from her shabby home.
And that attempt would succeed, too.
That's why they'd become friends in the first place—their levels matched to some extent.
Da-hye was smart, pretty, and devoted to her friends; she was Ji-su's favorite.
So it wasn't that she felt bad about her friend gaining popularity now. Just...
Just...
Even among friends, there's a pecking order.
Honestly, Ji-su had always seen Da-hye as inferior, so it irked her to see her getting attention.
It was fine when Da-hye was just better at studying. But now...
Ji-su, who had long stopped paying attention in class, tapped her workbook with her pencil.
Same with grades.
The changed Da-hye. The changed kids around her. The looming first exam of second year. Her mom had spoken to her amid her extreme anxiety.
Don't worry too much. Da-hye probably won't take first place this time.
Just focus on studying. Mom will handle the rest.
She didn't know why her mom was so confident, nor did she particularly care to find out.
And then, the day before the exam, Da-hye's mom had an accident, like something out of a fairy tale.
A hit-and-run cyclist in a CCTV blind spot, apparently.
Tragic, but it happened.
Society was cold.
While Da-hye wore herself out wandering the hospital all night, Ji-su had pulled an all-nighter studying.
She thought she'd take first this time.
And with rankings being posted publicly, this was her chance.
Once the perception that "Han Ji-su is actually first" stuck, it wouldn't be easy to change.
But she stubbornly aced everything.
Ji-su clearly remembered the chatter among the kids in front of the bulletin board that day.
Just like she remembered last year's conversation between the teacher and Da-hye.
"But Kang Da-hye got first without even going to cram school, and here I am going to tutoring and cram school and still only this? Am I not trying hard enough?"
"Hey, at least you go to cram school. I told my mom studying at home doesn't work and begged her to send me, and you know what she said?"
"What?"
"Everyone knows your school's top student gets first without cram school, so why can't you?"
99.6.
That was practically Ji-su's miraculous score at the time.
But Da-hye pushed her name down one slot.
Pitying looks from kids who couldn't hold a candle to her, as if she were the pitiful one.
It would've been better if Da-hye had just stayed quiet there.
"If I'd had tutoring and cram school, I'd have done even better."
"Better than now?"
"Of course. I'd surpass school first and become national first. It's not just effort; I'm naturally talented. It's hard to excel without a good environment."
"Really?"
"Totally. Overcoming an unfair environment with effort is a lie. It's just something they made up because they can't change the environment, so they blame the individual!"
"But you did it, Da-hye."
"Exactly why I'm exceptional. Even I barely scraped first by studying all day."
In the end, wasn't that just boasting?
Her uniform sleeve was worn at the elbow from constant use, and her slippers looked especially shabby even if they were the same as everyone else's. Everyone knew she was from a single-parent basement home, so why act so superior?
Wasn't it a bit much? That's what Ji-su thought, but the kids around her nodded along.
"Yeah, it's different when your parents push you to study versus when they blast the TV at home all day."
"Right? But why do they blame it all on me? Like my lack of effort is the only reason?"
If Ji-su had said that, the mood would've turned icy. She'd be called arrogant forever.
But why did they empathize when Da-hye said it?
At least Literature Teacher admitted the mistake and corrected the scores, so midterms worked out somehow.
Finals...
Click-clack-click-clack.
Click-clack-click-clack-click-clack-click-clack.
"Ji-su?"
The teacher looked startled at Ji-su suddenly pressing the pencil's clicker dozens of times.
The kids' eyes turned to her, and Ji-su gave an awkward smile.
"Sorry. It suddenly stopped writing."
"Jeez, you scared me."
Thought something happened. The teacher chuckled and continued chatting. Ji-su stabbed the sharp pencil tip into the eyes of the smiling elementary kid in the textbook illustration.
No. Kang Da-hye needs to keep studying well. That's all she has.
If she didn't make it to college, her life was over.
Anyway, she wouldn't have these worries next semester.
Because...
Is this the score you bring home?
Half your high school life is already gone. Han Ji-su, you planning to be perennial second forever?
I can't let anyone say my daughter is perennial second, even over my dead body. Handle it yourself.
It's not perennial second. You've never even been second. This time it's 21st.
Sigh. I really didn't want to resort to this...
Han Ji-su, do I have to go this far for you?
From second semester on, she'd be first no matter what.
No matter how much Da-hye struggled.
Stab.
Stab again.
Ji-su tilted her head after neatly gouging out both eyes of the smiling kid in the illustration.
To emphasize again, she didn't hate or envy Da-hye.
I like Da-hye, okay?
This was just like feeling annoyed when a regular cafe worker you see often doesn't let you cut in line at the convenience store, or when the housekeeper shows up wearing a luxury watch.
It's not like I hate them.
Everyone feels that way, right?
By the way, would Seo Jae-kyeom show up at cram school today?
Since I tipped off his mom, he hadn't skipped.
I wanted to talk to him a bit...