His low, deep voice read the words written on the screen.

“I want you. Jae.”

I slowly raised my gaze from the large hand holding my phone.

Slightly tanned skin. A neat school uniform that didn’t match his gangster-like impression. Wide-set eyes and pretty lips that would make older girls go crazy and chase after him.

“…Jung Eun-seong?”

It was Jung Eun-seong.

The last person I saw before I fell from the rooftop before regressing.

The man who, after weathering the departure of all his group members and various controversies and incidents, would become the undisputed representative actor of South Korea in 11 years.

But right now.

He was just an 18-year-old boy, still a trainee at a major entertainment agency.

The new face who had just transferred to our class at the start of the new semester. The center of attention.

Along with Seo Jae-gyeom, the reason why girls from other classes made up all sorts of excuses like ‘Can I borrow your gym clothes?’ or ‘Can I borrow your textbook?’ to come to our classroom.

The main culprit who, in just two days, had made our homeroom teacher so annoyed that he had written in huge letters on the classroom door: <NO ENTRY FOR STUDENTS FROM OTHER CLASSES!!!!>

The only classmate whose future I knew.

“Oh, it’s Jung Eun-seong.”

“Eun-seong, hi!”

“Eun-seong, do you remember me?”

In the brief moment that Jung Eun-seong and I were facing each other in the hallway, girls giggled, waved at him, and passed by.

“Jung Eun-seong…”

I looked at the suddenly 11-years-younger Jung Eun-seong with a slightly emotional heart.

My eyes, still glistening with tears I hadn’t fully wiped away, met his, and he made a sour face.

“Jung Eun-seong, you…”

“Kang Da-hye, you…”

“You were short in high school, huh?”

“Why are you crying?”

“…”

“…”

Oops.

I should have kept that thought to myself.

Jung Eun-seong’s face crumpled.

“I’m short?”

He looked up at the ceiling as if in disbelief, let out a ‘ha,’ and then straightened his back. But that didn’t make him any taller.

Looking at Jung Eun-seong’s Adam’s apple right in front of my nose, I trailed off.

“No, but you really are short…”

Objectively speaking, he might not be that short, but anyone would feel the same way I did if a guy they had to crane their neck to look at just hours ago had suddenly shrunk by about 10 centimeters.

For reference, the late-20s Jung Eun-seong is 187 cm tall. His profile says 187, but there were rumors that he was actually taller.

And now?

He seems to be about 179 cm.

I thought he was already over 180 when he debuted, so did he have a sudden growth spurt in one year?

Come to think of it, I think I remember seeing Jung Eun-seong in his senior year of high school, striding along and complaining that he had to buy a new uniform after just one year…

“It’s okay. You’ll grow soon.”

I tried to console him, but he didn’t even pretend to listen.

Ignoring my words, Jung Eun-seong lowered his gaze to my phone in his hand.

His thumb swiped the screen, scrolling down.

Anyone would think it was his own phone.

It’s rude to look at even a close friend’s phone like that…

“Huh?”

Come to think of it.

At this point, it’s been less than a week since Jung Eun-seong transferred, so he and I should definitely still be awkward with each other.

But we’re talking so naturally, aren’t we?

Why is he so comfortable?

…Could it be?

“…Jung Eun-seong, do you perhaps also remember…”

“A one-sided love. Maybe it will get boring. Even if I try to find only your ugly habits.”

“…Huh?”

Jung Eun-seong cut me off just as I was about to ask, ‘Did you perhaps also regress?’

Looking down condescendingly at my phone in his hand, he began to recite the lyrics I had highlighted in my playlist.

In a voice that sounded like he was bored to death.

“For just. one day. The girl by your side. I pray that it’s me. All of a sudden.”

“…”

“To a changed love. Anytime. So that you can come. So that you can fall asleep. in my arms~ woo~”

“Stop! Stop!”

You crazy bastard!

“Give it back!”

I snatched the phone away.

Unlike how he had been holding it tightly as if he wouldn’t let go, Jung Eun-seong gave it back without a fight.

Looking straight at my flushed face, he raised a corner of his mouth in a crooked smile.

“You’ve bookmarked an endless number of lyrics.”

“None of your…”

“You must be having a pretty spectacular one-sided love, huh?”

“…”

“Who’s Jae?”

“Quiet down!”

That Jae is right here in our class! I scolded him, covering his mouth with my hand.

Jung Eun-seong looked down at my hand pressed against his lips, then simply moved his head to shake it off, as if it didn’t tickle at all.

“Why did you read that!”

“Am I not allowed to?”

“You’re not!”

“Why?”

“Because it’s my private life!”

“That song is your private life? A song that swept the charts decades ago?”

“It wasn’t decades ago, and a masterpiece is timeless!”

“That’s right. A masterpiece is timeless. Since it’s a famous song, it’s obviously not your private life either.”

“Not the song, the phone! My phone is my private life!”

“Ah, Kang Da-hye’s Crush Playlist? Right, that definitely qualifies as… “

“Hey!”

“Your face is red.”

“…”

It’s because of the humiliation. The humiliation.

Why was the 11-years-ago me so full of emotions…

Seeing me fuming, Jung Eun-seong tilted his head slightly to the side.

“What, are you ashamed of your love for Jae? After collecting… 98 songs.”

When he said ’98 songs,’ Jung Eun-seong craned his neck to look at my phone.

“Would you mind your own business?”

I retorted bluntly and tapped the screen of the returned phone furiously.

Delete this stupid playlist right now! Delete!

“Why are you deleting it? It’s a masterpiece party.”

“The party’s over.”

“Why? Did you get dumped or something?”

“…”

This guy has no memory. One hundred percent no memory.

If he had his memory, he wouldn’t be able to talk like this.

I pressed my lips together and glared at him.

His face, still boyish, stared back at me.

Clean skin, without the scar on his cheek that Jung Eun-seong’s fans would lament.

If his face was complete in 11 years, then now, in his boyhood, it was more like he had a promising future.

In the midst of all this, I was admiring his face and was a beat late in responding to his call.

“Kang Da-hye.”

“…Huh?”

“If the person you’re yelling at from behind like that pretends not to hear you, then that love is already over.”

“…”

“Give up and find another guy.”

“…”

“Oh, and don’t forget to share the playlist before you delete it.”

“You crazy…”

“Heh heh heh…”

“Hey, what are you doing in the hallway!”

The homeroom teacher from the next class, who was walking over, hitting the wall with a bamboo stick, broke up the space between me, whose mouth was agape in disbelief, and Jung Eun-seong.

“Get back inside!”

You just wait.

I glared at Jung Eun-seong.

Receiving my glare, he let out a smirk and entered the classroom first.

I was about to follow him.

Click.

The door closed right in front of my nose.

“…”

Through the closed classroom door, Jung Eun-seong’s eyes crinkled into a smile.

This little punk?

Was Jung Eun-seong always like that?

[What I know about Jung Eun-seong]

• He had already appeared in several commercials and music videos by the time he transferred to our school.

• If you search his name on a portal site, his picture, age, and the high school he’s attending (our school) come up.

• Before the regression, fans would sometimes come to the school to see him.

• So, was Jung Eun-seong always like that? I don’t know! I can’t remember!

“Dahye, are you okay?”

“Huh?”

“You were crying earlier.”

“Ah. I’m fine. I’m okay now.”

I replied in a small voice to the friend (the one who told me where my seat was) whispering next to me.

In the music room, where we were seated in an S-shape from the front according to our student numbers, Seo Jae-gyeom, who wasn’t paying any attention to me, was charmingly responding to the teacher’s jokes.

It was quiet on Jung Eun-seong’s side.

‘Jung Eun-seong’s personality… I don’t know. What was he like?’

We eventually started talking later because we were in the same club, but at the beginning of the semester, we barely spoke.

You could say we were just two people who existed in the same class, nothing more, nothing less.

I’m a little surprised myself at how Jung Eun-seong is suddenly acting after the regression.

“So, everyone. You know you have a singing test for your performance evaluation, right?”

The music teacher, sitting at the piano, broke my train of thought.

“You guys don’t study hard for music anyway. You say you don’t need it for college. So starting this year, I’m going to increase the weight of the performance evaluation. In the first semester, you’ll have a singing test, and in the second semester, a composition test.”

“Composition?!”

“Is plagiarism allowed?”

“Yeah, quiet down. I’ll let you guys choose the song for the singing test. What do you want to sing?”

“The national anthem?”

“Can you memorize all four verses?”

“No.”

“Then it’s rejected.”

“…”

“No opinions?”

“…”

“If there are no opinions, we’re singing the school song.”

Not the school song.

Our school song has a rap in it.

Someone, please suggest something.

With that thought, I turned around and my eyes met Jung Eun-seong’s, who was looking ahead, his chin propped on his hand.

Jung Eun-seong blinked slowly, so,

“^_^ㅗ”
(A Korean emoticon representing the middle finger.)

I offered a smile.

And then, suddenly, Jung Eun-seong shot his hand up.

“Teacher.”

“Oh, yes. Eun-seong, do you have a suggestion?”

“Kang Da-hye knows a lot of masterpieces.”

“…”

…This little punk????????????