On January $2,2025,$ Hernandez, Inc. signed a ten$-$year noncancelable lease for a heavy$-$duty drill press. The lease stipulated annual payments of $$300,000$ starting at the beginning of the first year, with title passing to Hernandez at the expiration of the lease. Hernandez treated this transaction as a finance lease. The drill press has an estimated useful life of $15$ years, with no salvage value. Hernandez uses straightline depreciation for all of its plant assets. Aggregate lease payments were determined to have a present value of $$2,027,706,$ based on implicit interest of $10\%.$

In its $2025$ income statement, what amount of interest expense should Hernandez report from this lease transaction?

A$)$ $$172,771$

B$)$ $$180,000$

C$)$ $$150,000$

D$)$ $$0$