I Returned as a High School Girl

Chapter 3: Returned as a High School Girl (2)

Choi Hwang-Cheol broke out into a cold sweat and stomped his feet from Kang Ra-Eun’s unexpected submission hold.

“I-It hurts! M-My arm’s gonna break! Hey!”

“Don’t you ever talk to me if you don’t want to become like this again. It won’t just end with this next time.”

Plop!

Hwang-Cheol fell down on his butt the moment that his arm was released. His arm hurt, but his pride was hurt much more.

“Enough is enough, you bitch...!”

At that moment, other delinquents who were probably Hwang-Cheol’s friends held him back.

“Hey, Hwang-Cheol!”

“The homeroom teacher’s coming, so just let it go. You’ll get sent to the staff room again.”

“...Tch!” Hwang-Cheol clicked his tongue and left the classroom along with his posse.

Before going back to her seat, Ra-Eun raised her voice toward her classmates.

“Enjoyed the show?”

“N-No.”

“Ahem!”

They hurriedly averted their eyes and scrambled to prepare for class. Ra-Eun went back to her seat and roughly removed the strands of hair stuck to her face.

‘My temper’s gotten a lot milder.’

If something like this had happened in her days as Park Geon-Woo, then she’d only have been satisfied if she at least broke Hwang-Cheol’s arm. She put one leg over the other and sighed with an expression that obviously showed the terrible mood she was in.

The homeroom teacher arrived just in time. He tilted his head, noticing the sunken mood in the classroom.

“Did something happen?” the teacher asked.

“Nope, nothing!”

“Absolutely nothing happened!”

The teacher looked at the students with visible confusion.

***

Ra-Eun returned home as soon as classes were over. She was waiting for Kang Ra-Hyuk to return home, and got up from her seat as soon as she heard the front door open.

“‘Sup,” she greeted.

“What’s with that greeting to your older brother? Can’t you greet me more gently?”

Unfortunately, gentleness couldn’t be expected from the current Ra-Eun.

“Enough talk. Hurry up and change and turn on the computer.”

“What computer?” Ra-Hyuk asked.

“Yours.”

“Why do you need it?”

“Because I’m gonna help you earn money.”

“...Huh?”

Ra-Hyuk couldn’t understand what she was talking about.

“You’re gonna help me earn money? What a strange thing to say.”

“You trade stocks, don’t you?” Ra-Eun stated.

Ra-Hyuk was startled.

“Hey, hey, hey! Y-You said you’d keep that a secret! Dad will throw a fit if he finds out!”

Thankfully, their father was still outside working as a delivery man. After Ra-Eun pieced together her memories to find out that Ra-Hyuk was trading stocks behind their father’s back, she decided to put the Plan B that she had thought of this morning, a.k.a. Operation Secure Funds, into motion, using Ra-Hyuk.

‘Bitcoin would be the most surefire method, but...’

There was still a long time until the Bitcoin storm would be upon them, and it would be a waste of time to wait until the storm blew. Hence, Ra-Eun was planning on making an even bigger investment after getting as much money as she could through stock trading.

‘I’d like to do it myself, but...’

She did not have the leeway to do so. Hence, she decided to use her dumb-looking brother.

“How much money do you have in your account?”

“In my stock account?” Ra-Hyuk asked.

“Yeah.”

“Umm...”

Ra-Hyuk answered while walking on eggshells around Ra-Eun, “3 mil?”

“Tell me the truth before I tell Dad. Is it really 3 mil?”

“...5 mil.”

“You should’ve said so from the start.”

Five million won. As someone who had witnessed transactions of billions, she barely reacted to such a meager number.

‘I don’t like it, but I have no choice.’

She still had fifteen whole years. She needed to succeed within that time, whatever it took.

“Listen carefully to what I’m about to tell you. Put all that money into Yeong-Shin Industries,” Ra-Eun stated.

“Yeong-Shin Industries? What’s that?”

“A company that was listed two days ago. Their stocks are around 10,000 won, so buy as many as you can.”

“How am I supposed to trust the company’s stocks when I don’t even know what they do...?”

“Don’t trust the company, trust me, you idiot.”

She almost let out a harsh curse out of habit from her previous life. As Park Geon-Woo, he had read many tabloids regarding information about businesses back when he guarded people of the political and financial world. As such, Ra-Eun was thinking of picking out information that would make her a lot of money to maximize her profits.

‘Too bad I don’t have enough seed money.’

But it didn’t matter. Ra-Eun already knew a stock trading formula that was bound to succeed, and the first business that would enter that formula was Yeong-Shin Industries.

“Buy their stocks, and sell them all exactly four days later. The price is gonna take a massive nosedive once midway, but do not sell them. It’ll reach its peak in exactly four days.”

“What about after that?” Ra-Hyuk asked.

“It’ll only go down, so make sure you sell them all before the market closes. Understood?”

“No, but still. On what grounds are you telling me to buy all the stocks of a company that just started up?”

He couldn’t believe it. And not only that, the one who was telling him this was his little sister, who didn’t even know a single thing about economics.

Ra-Eun frowned.

“Fucking hell, then how are you planning on paying back your student loans, earning 5-600,000 won per month? Huh?” she retorted.

“...”

“Just trust me. And if you end up blowing that 5 mil, then I’ll pay you back using whatever means necessary. Don’t worry.”

Ra-Hyuk said to his little sister with a dumbstruck look on his face, “You kinda feel more like an older brother than a little sister today, what’s up with that?”

Ra-Hyuk wasn’t very quick-witted, but his intuition wasn’t half bad.

***

Ra-Hyuk decided to trust his little sister. Since he had never once made it really big from stock trading, he decided to go all-or-nothing and put his entire fortune of five million in something that his little sister heard from who-knows-where. The results would be seen after two days. In the middle of class, she got a text from Ra-Hyuk.

[It really rose! Jackpot!!!]

Ra-Hyuk sent a screenshot of the earnings along with his text. Only two hours after buying the stocks, the profit rate had increased beyond 10% in an instant. Ra-Eun couldn’t hold in her embarrassment.

‘He’s making such a big deal over a 10% increase.’

There was still a long way to go. She was going to earn as much as she could using Ra-Hyuk’s seed money. In the meantime, Ra-Eun was going to raise her value as much as possible.

“Next, Question 17. My teacher made me... Choose the word that fits the blank best. Umm... What’s the date today?”

A boy wearing horn-rimmed glasses seated at the front answered the English teacher.

“The 7th.”

“Then Number 7, stand up and answer the question.”

Ra-Eun stood up, her chair rattling as she pushed it backward. Once she stood up, the English teacher lightly sighed.

“Ra-Eun, can you answer this question?”

No one expected much from Ra-Eun, who had the lowest of the lowest grades. However, instead of answering the English teacher’s question, she gave the answer to Question 17.

“The answer is 1, do.”

It was correct. However, the English teacher thought Ra-Eun answered correctly because she guessed. Hence, she even gave the reasoning for her answer.

“The sentence given in the text is format five. It consists of a subject, verb, object, and object complement. When the verb is a causative verb, an infinitive must be used for the object complement. That is why I chose Number 1.”

“...”

“...”

“...”

Not only did the teacher, but even her classmates fell silent temporarily. Ra-Eun didn’t care. She simply sat back down and waited for class to resume.

Park Geon-Woo had always been extremely smart, even in his previous life. He had never once dropped below the top 10 in his school, neither in middle school nor high school. Even in university, his name was always at the top. Therefore, there was no way a second-year high school question would be challenging for him.

The English teacher belatedly came back to his senses and made a forced smile.

“Th-That’s unusual of you, Ra-Eun. Have you finally decided to pull yourself together and put some effort into studying?”

Ra-Eun responded, “I’ve already pulled myself together since long ago.”

***

Humans were adaptive animals indeed.

‘I’m finally getting used to this uniform skirt after wearing it a few times.’

There were days when a skirt was more comfortable, particularly hot days, but that didn’t mean she liked being a woman. Her hair was as uncomfortable as always, and her arms and legs were skinny, as she didn’t have the muscles from her days as Park Geon-Woo. And another thing...

‘I didn’t know brassieres were this uncomfortable.’

Her chest always felt stuffy. She wanted to know how to return to her original body, but that was not within the realms of possibility for her. As she picked up her backpack and was heading outside, she got a call from Ra-Hyuk.

- R-Ra-Eun! Sh-Should I sell them now? It’s dropping a lot right now...!

“Don’t you remember what I said last time? I told you not to sell them even when the price takes a massive nosedive. It’ll start going back up before you know it.”

-B-But... It’s such a waste.

She couldn’t help but sigh. Just when she was about to emphasize to him again not to sell the stocks…

“Hey! Kang Ra-Eun!”

A delinquent shouted her name angrily. It was Choi Hwang-Cheol. He stood in front of Ra-Eun again, but with his friends this time.

Yet another sigh escaped from Ra-Eun’s mouth.

“I might be a bit late today, so don’t you dare sell.”

- What? W-Wait! Ra-Eun!

Beep.

As soon as the call ended, Hwang-Cheol looked down at Ra-Eun and said, “We still have some unfinished business. Why don’t we have a nice chat?”

Snickering, Ra-Eun readily accepted his offer.

“Okay.”

She was just in need of stress relief. Perfect timing.

1. The portion in italics is in English in the original.

2. Yes, the explanation is actually correct.