1st in class hides regression

My locker, which had been unlocked since my first day back, was wide open.

 

All of my notebooks and textbooks were ripped out, and a carton of strawberry milk from the cafeteria was lying in there, burst open.

 

The locker rattled inside, its door broken by a kick.

 

Sticky pink milk was leaking out and damaging the locker below me and…

 

The bag.

 

My bag, which I had worn until I graduated from high school, was also abandoned in front of the locker, wide open, with a strawberry milk carton inside.

 

My reaction to seeing this was.

 “…What the hell.” 

‘Did she pay for that milk? Did you spend 2,000 won at the canteen just to torment me? Do you have a lot of money?’

 “What should I do…?” “Dahye, are you okay?” 

By now, the front door was full of kids. Some are genuinely sorry for me, while others are giving me curious glances.

 “Kangda, are you okay?!” 

I wonder how she saw this through the crowd. Jisoo, who had come running from the restroom with a roll of tissues, knelt down and started wiping down my locker.

 “It’s okay.” 

I took over the tissues and stopped the milk from flowing down. I pull out my soaked notebook, but it’s already soaked through and won’t even open.

 

‘I can’t save this.’

 

I look around the classroom.

 

There, by the back door near the lockers, I saw a familiar face, arms crossed and smiling.

 

She wore a shortened school skirt that made me wonder if she could walk like that, and eyeliner that looked like they were drawn with a computerized signature pen.

 

It was Song Yeo-reum’s lackey, who would appear in <Teen Mom> in about 396 days.

 

For some reason, I saw a name tag on her chest patch, not a hoodie, but a school uniform.

 

Bang Eun-ji.

 

…I don’t need to ask who did this.

 

I asked quietly.

 “Bang Eun-ji, did you do this?” “What?” “My locker, did you do this?” “Look at your eyes.” 

Glaring at me, Bang Eun-ji cursed out loud.

 

Suddenly, the room was quiet. Conscious of the stares surrounding us, she spat on the classroom floor.

 

She squints her black-lensed eyes and asks.

 “Dahye, why are you so fat?” 

It’s a typical bully tone, so instead of being scary, it’s funny.

 “That doesn’t answer my question.” “Are you a teacher, do I have to answer your questions?” “Nonsense. You don’t answer my questions, because you don’t know anything.” “Ouch.” 

Bang Eun-ji threw her hands up and kicked the door in frustration. Looking at the cell phone in her hand, she must have fixed it.

 

Bang Eun-ji, who had been shouting at herself for a while, stopped in frustration. She ran her hand through her bangs a few times and pulled up the corners of her mouth.

 “So you did it.” 

She asks me.

“Do you have proof?” “Oh.”

I said.

 

Eun-ji laughed out loud.

 “Do you have CCTV in the classroom? Or what, do you have witnesses? The police need evidence to move. Call the police, once.” “…….” “Pfft, you fucking bitch.” 

When I didn’t answer, she thought I was speechless and cursed again.

 

Song Yeo-reum is still not that bad, but Bang Eun-ji definitely lacks vocabulary and can’t speak without swearing.

 

Meanwhile, she talks a lot.

 

My ears are going to rot, so I’m going to apply self-filtering from now on.

 “My dear friend Dahye, do you remember when we were in middle school and you wore those two★star shoes to school, and you never wore them again after I publicly informed you in front of the kids that they were fake?” 

(expletive omitted)

 “Judging from the amount of work you do these days, you’ve grown up, I think. But why is your bag still the same? Why don’t you buy a new one at the market where your mother makes a living selling tteokbokki? Your mother works all day with the smell of sundae all over her, and you don’t even have 100,000 won to buy a bag? That’s a pity.” “…….” “Isn’t it funny? Her shoes said “Two-Star” on them, <Introduction to Butchery>. Her mom is…” 

I shrugged at Bang Eun-ji, who kept tripping over my mom.

 

‘She must have some kind of complex to keep bringing up my parents like that.’

 

Actually, I know what to say to shut her up.

 “Yeah. My mom sells tteokbokki at the market, but your mom sells other things at the karaoke bar across the street.” 

‘That’s why you don’t go that way even if you’re going to die, because you’re afraid of running into your mom. But you don’t say it because you don’t want to be the same.’

 

Instead…

 “Uh, yeah, I wore them without knowing what they were. I didn’t recognize the brand.” 

I coolly admit.

 “You’re right that I didn’t think to buy branded shoes because I was broke, but so what?” 

I’m not guilty, I just didn’t know.

 “I’m glad you have money and know about shoes. But I may not have shoes, but I have more on my head than you do.” “What?” “Don’t you get it? You’ve got a big head. It’s not that you can’t study, it’s that you don’t have the intelligence to realize that bullying and humiliating others like this is out of line.” 

Other kids don’t say hurtful things because they don’t know how to say them.

 

They know they shouldn’t, so they put up with it.

 “You’ve never been taught to respect boundaries, so one day you’ll cross them hard, and society won’t let you off the hook. What’s the ending… Teen Mom if it works out, Cheongju Women’s Prison if it doesn’t?” 

No one will believe that she was a classmate of Jung Eun-sung’s when she watches him on TV in prison.

 

When I thought about it, I really felt sorry for her.

 

It’s not worth getting angry. I just looked at her wistfully.

 “It doesn’t matter if I know the brand of shoes now, what matters is what I’ll be doing in 10 years. I’ll have worked hard and achieved my dreams, and what will you be doing then? Will you still be judging the shoes of kids walking by?” “Heh….” “Seriously, go home and study geography if you have time for this kind of shit. You thought Gyeongsangbuk-do was above Seoul.” 

I shake my head in disbelief as I grade her geography paper.

 “You thought Gyeongsangbuk-do was above Seoul? You should go live there. It’s North Korea.” 

If you come back in a decade and write a memoir, I’ll buy you a copy.

 

How about “The Crash Landing of Two Star”?

 

I like it. It sounds like Jeon Doo-hwan.

 

Of course, she didn’t understand what I was saying.

 

She laughed at me, as if she barely understood anything I said except

“I’m going to succeed.”

 “How can a dirtbag like you be successful? Are you going to win the lottery or something?” “We’ll see about that.” “Crazy Mental Wins…” “Uh, well, at least I’ve got sanity, and you don’t.” 

Bang looked me up and down.

 “Your sanity must be going to hell in a handbasket because you spend all day staring at what someone you don’t care about is wearing.” “…….” “You’ve lost your mind, you’ve lost the argument, you haven’t won anything, have you?” 

Bang Eun-ji, her face reddening, was speechless.

 

How can you beat me in an argument when you can’t read a single line of a book… Read a book.

 

It was then…

 “Hey! What are you all doing!” 

The teachers came up to dismiss the class and yelled at the kids gathered in front of our class.

 

I could hear the neighboring teacher banging on the wall with a bamboo stick, and a group of nervous kids scattered.

 “What’s going on? What’s going on… Oh my God.”  

The homeroom teacher who came upstairs with Do-yeon widened her eyes at the mess of my locker and bag.

 “…Who did this?” 

The teacher’s voice dropped in anger.

 

Everyone naturally looked at Bang Eunji.

 “There’s no evidence.” 

It’s not like there’s CCTV in the roo

m or anything.

 

It’s my fault for leaving my locker open because I didn’t think anyone would steal anything.

 

I frowned in annoyance.

 

It was then.

 “It was Eun-ji.” 

A clear voice came from the group of students who hadn’t yet dispersed.

 

Someone stepped forward, pushing past the kids who were looking back.

 

It was Kyung Shin. In front of me.

 “Bang Eun-ji opened Dahye’s locker, took out her books, stepped on her, and threw milk at her. I saw it.”