The Regressed Chaebol Grandson Finds It Hard to Forgive - Chapter 9

Episode 9. The Wise School Life of the Underprivileged (3)

She’s here! She!

Three-striped Nike slides.

The weapon of my pride.

An everyday item they despise.

With Gwang-jun Oh’s face still under my foot, I turned toward the sound.

A female student who had just entered through the back door of the classroom and stopped.

The moment I saw her, she filled my vision.

It’s like the whole classroom just lit up.

She’s the girl I used to be terrified of just by looking at her in the past.

She is a young lady from an aristocratic family that commoners wouldn’t dare even glance at.

“Still as……. pretty as ever.”

My inner thoughts slipped out of my mouth before I could stop them.

She’s about 170cm tall.

A small, snow-white face with a bob cut and not a single blemish.

Perfect, well-defined features and a golden-ratio physique.

Hyo-ju Lee, the girl who gets handed stacks of business cards from talent agencies the moment she steps outside the school.

She doesn’t even wear makeup like the other girls.

With her fresh, youthful skin, she shone with pure innocence itself.

Her large pupils, set beneath natural double eyelids, stare straight at me.

Clear.

As far as I know, she was admitted to Goguk University.

And yet, she…….

“……??”

She, no, Hyo-ju Lee opens her eyes wide and asks with a look of confusion.

Her eyes demanding an explanation for my sudden remark.

There isn’t a single person in this school who has said something like that to Hyo-ju Lee.

Plus, the situation is hilarious.

Gwang-jun Oh, who had been enforcing discipline in the class, is pinned under my slipper.

I must look insane, standing there stepping on his face and spouting nonsense.

“……Tae-woong Ha, he seems crazy, right?”

“He told Hyo-ju Lee she’s pretty!!”

A commotion broke out among the kids.

The kids’ reaction.

I understand it perfectly.

Hyo-ju Lee is a genuine chaebol heiress.

She is the granddaughter of the current chairman of the Oyang Group, which ranks around 60th in South Korea’s business world.

As is the case with most chaebol families, her father is the CEO of an affiliate.

If that were all, I might think it’s just that, but……

There’s more.

Her great-uncle is the current chairman of the Doa Ilbo, one of the three major daily newspapers.

She’s at the core of the tangled web of political and business marriage ties among chaebols.

Naturally, she belongs to the top predator group where wealth and media converge.

Her roots are different.

She is of the bloodline of Jang-su Lee, the wealthiest man in Korea during the Japanese colonial period.

Look at that subtle golden aura radiating from her entire body.

Her haughty appearance and aura combine to make her stand out even more.

And that Hyo-ju Lee…….

Heh. She laughs, as if she’s dumbfounded.

“Tae-woong Ha.”

She calls my name accurately.

It’s the first time my name has been called since I entered Cheonghwa.

It’s an honor to my family.

“Yeah.”

We’re making eye contact for the first time, too.

I stared straight into her pupils.

“Can you handle the consequences?”

Hyo-ju Lee’s gaze turned toward Gwang-jun Oh, who was pinned under my slipper.

She knows it too.

Among all the students in Class 3 of the 2nd year, I am the super ‘Eul’ (subordinate).

She’s trying to wake me up to the reality that I’m standing on one of the ‘Gaps’ (superiors) I should be looking up to.

“Sort of.”

I’m concerned about Gwang-jun Oh’s father’s profession, but I’m not afraid.

A prosecutor? I have a way to deal with that.

“Don’t do this in the future. No violence in my classroom.”

My classroom, as Hyo-ju Lee calls it.

Hyo-ju Lee is our class president.

Hyo-ju Lee, who is nearly a perfectionist.

For Hyo-ju Lee, who even has to use being class president to build up her resume, classroom violence is unacceptable.

She didn’t ask why I did this to Gwang-jun Oh.

Sabak-sabak.

Hyo-ju Lee said one word and walked past with light steps.

Sseuk. Tuk.

She indifferently picked up a wet wipe that was on someone’s desk and dropped it in front of Gwang-jun Oh’s face.

“Clean up your own filth.”

It’s a clear voice devoid of emotion.

Pareureureu.

Gwang-jun Oh, still pinned down, trembles.

A word from the Brahmin caste is an absolute command.

“You heard her? She said you should clean up the shit you made. Heh heh.”

I laughed at him just like Gwang-jun Oh used to.

I won’t endure it and be a victim anymore.

This is how a wise school life should be.

If you get stepped on, you have to squirm!

If they show their teeth, you just have to bite back!

If I endure it like before, I’m not Tae-woong Ha.

I lived by enduring, but the world didn’t roll the way I wanted.

Either way, the world just kept rolling the way it always did.

I have no more attachment to Cheonghwa School.

With my skills at this point, I could take the GED route.

But…….

“This is fun.”

The Sabeja’s school life, with the play button pressed.

Super fun, I have high expectations.

Sarak.

Hyo-ju Lee sat in her seat and solved the math problems her tutor had printed out for her.

The pen isn’t moving as she thinks it should.

Her head was filled with distracting thoughts, and she felt frustrated.

The miserable scene she witnessed a little while ago.

The shock was great.

She acted calm, but she was afraid.

She went through a luxury private kindergarten in Gangnam and made it all the way to Cheonghwa.

She had seen minor acts of violence, but there had never been a situation as extreme as the one just now.

Tae-woong Ha, who stood there laughing while trampling on a person’s face.

He looked like a safari hunter who had captured a wild beast.

He’s definitely crazy.

He had been quieter than anyone else in the classroom.

He has the height and looks to rival a model, but he’s a Sabeja.

He knew his place and had behaved well.

Hyo-ju Lee had often seen celebrities who acted up just because of their looks.

She had absolutely no personal curiosity about Tae-woong Ha.

His academic achievement was decent, but he couldn’t break through the Sabeja wall.

Gwang-jun Oh sometimes crossed the line in the classroom, but it wasn’t enough to bother her.

The world she had seen throughout her upbringing was originally like that.

Only the strong can hold their heads up.

If you lack even one thing—power, wealth, or connections—you become weak.

At that moment, you have to bow your head.

She grew up learning this fact firsthand.

But today, the Sabeja Tae-woong Ha touched Hyo-ju Lee’s solid beliefs.

He rebelled. He changed. Why?

He said to her, ‘Still as pretty as ever.’

It’s an impossible provocation.

There is no one around her who would dare say such a thing, other than her family.

But, it wasn’t bad.

Tae-woong Ha, who made eye contact but didn’t look away, unlike other times.

“Hmph.”

A light, unidentifiable laugh leaked out.

The punishment for today’s assault won’t be light.

By now, the rumors have already spread far and wide.

First of all, Gwang-jun Oh, whose father is a chief prosecutor, won’t let it slide.

On top of that, there are several other nasty guys who hang out with Gwang-jun Oh.

“Just don’t make things tiring for me…….”

Hyo-ju Lee muttered quietly to herself.

After entering Cheonghwa, her position among her cousins became ambiguous.

It’s something that children of chaebol families go through as they become adults, and it carries many meanings.

Soon, it will be decided how much of the family’s assets she will receive.

When she was immature, she dreamed of living freely like ordinary people.

Now, that’s not the case.

Isn’t there a saying in the Talmud that there’s nothing worse than an empty wallet?

Hyo-ju Lee, of the chaebol bloodline, had long since grasped the way the world works.

Ttarang ttarang ttararang~♬

4th period is over.

“The scope for next week’s midterm exam is up to what we learned today. You know how important ‘Hwajak’ (Speech and Composition) is without me saying it, right?”

Teacher Yu-ra Han gives a fresh, eye-smiling look.

“You’ll make the questions easy, right?”

“Teacher! Give us a hint!”

No matter how talented they are, as long as they’re in a high school classroom, they’re just the same high school brats.

In front of an exam that will be an objective evaluation, chaebols and Sabejas are on equal footing.

“I’d like to do that too. But you know the standards of the other teachers, right?”

2nd-year Korean. The exam questions are created jointly by three teachers.

“It’s too hard…….”

“The teachers’ question difficulty is the worst!!”

As expected of a prestigious private high school, the level of the questions is on another level.

Even among famous top-tier instructors in Gangnam, Cheonghwa High School’s questions are considered the best.

“Enjoy your lunch.”

The cute teacher leaves the classroom with quick, light steps.

Sseuk. I stood up from my seat.

It’s the moment I’ve been secretly waiting for ever since I returned to school.

Lunchtime!

Cheonghwa High’s lunch class, which is on a different dimension from other schools.

Just thinking about it makes me swallow hard.

The moment I was about to leave the classroom.

“F*cking bastard…….”

A curse-filled remark heard from behind my back.

On top of that, I raised my right hand straight up.

“Eat shit, you bastard.”

I stuck my middle finger up high and sent it his way.

I headed to the cafeteria with a light step.

Right now, what’s important is that no matter what anyone says, lunch is the top priority.

My walk is confident and heroic.

It’s the cafeteria that was newly completed next to the main building a few years ago.

Unlike other schools, they don’t divide by grade to use the same space.

The enthusiastic parents and committee members couldn’t stand to see even a scrap of time wasted.

This cafeteria is large enough to accommodate the entire student body.

However, the 3rd years had a separate cafeteria in the new building.

Everyone can have lunch at the same time.

It is fully equipped with pleasant air purification facilities and heating/cooling systems.

As an autonomous private high school, it freely receives large donations from outside figures.

They didn’t just accept donations from anyone.

First, you need the wealth, and you need the power to back it up to join the steering committee or the parent association.

They are the ones who make the donations.

You can think of Cheonghwa High School as the typical model for a power-trip drama set in a luxury school.

Seureureut. Even the tempered glass door of the cafeteria is an automatic door.

The view of the cafeteria unfolding before my eyes!

“Oh!”

I let out an exclamation first and grabbed a tray.

It’s not an ordinary stainless steel lunch tray.

Cheonghwa High School’s lunch is…….

“It’s a buffet. Heh heh.”

A chef who was a former hotel executive chef and a nutritionist with a doctorate degree run the cafeteria.

Starting with organic vegetable salads, high-quality meats like Jeju black pork and Korean beef, large fried fish like tilefish and king hairtail, various appetizing side dishes, pizza and spaghetti, seasonal fruits from various countries, and even slice cakes.

There are rows of foods that a Sabeja like me would never have the chance to buy and eat in my lifetime.

The amount alone is prepared in two sets on both sides.

“Something this good. Why aren’t they eating it?”

Only half of the entire student body uses the cafeteria daily.

The cafeteria atmosphere is peaceful because it’s spacious and there are few people.

After graduating from Cheonghwa High, this was the one thing I missed.

The high-quality lunch that was provided.

I felt it even when I was a working adult, but it’s on a level that puts famous hotel buffets to shame.

Cheonghwa High School, which is serious about its lunch.

I love you intensely!!

“Korean beef bulgogi! Japchae! Bachelor radish kimchi!”

I piled up the dishes that make my heart feel generous evenly on my tray.

Free food provided infinitely to Sabejas.

I scooped a generous amount of Koshihikari rice onto my tray and looked around.

Students sitting together in small groups, eating.

Among them, a student sitting alone at a 4-person table eating caught my eye.

My lips twitch automatically with gladness.

“Long time no see……. You scary bear bastard.”