Eighteen’s Bed Novel Completed - Chapter 110

“Then who’s spreading it?”

“You.”

You. I closed my mouth, then squeezed my eyes shut and opened them again, then opened my mouth once more.

“You, your friends.”

“Ah.”

Ahahahah! Go Yohan, opening his mouth and lightly patting his cheek, hardened his face with an expression that was clearly not serious.

“No wonder, their reactions…”

Go Yohan let out a sneer. He wasn’t seriously worried about the situation at all.

“But now it looks like he’s going to spread it.”

“…”

“Right, you don’t want to get caught up in a violent incident.”

Go Yohan crossed his arms, rested his chin on his hand, and fell into thought for a moment. One eyebrow twitched. As Go Yohan, lightly biting the tip of his fingernail, came into my view, I instinctively felt nauseous. Did that bastard just bite his blood-stained hand? Crazy bastard. My gaze shifted back to Kim Minho. That stupid idiot. Why did he act up when he couldn’t even properly win? What a pathetic idiot.

First, I gripped the desk. It was to easily climb the stairs.

“First, let’s just hand Kim Minho over to the teacher, and I’ll…”

“Huh? No. You just go.”

A gently raised hand stopped me from approaching. Go Yohan, who had been stroking his chin with his fingers, looked at me. A red mark was imprinted on Go Yohan’s white chin. His seriously downturned lips curved upwards.

“Thanks for today, Jun. You can go now.”

“…Are you going to hit him more?”

“Do you really think I would? There’s a limit to what a person does. Just a moment.”

Go Yohan took out his phone and frowned. Then he waved his hand and suddenly asked,

“Jun, right, left?”

What kind of answer should I give to such an incomprehensible question? I just answered.

“…Right.”

“Okay.”

Go Yohan nodded lightly once, then leisurely dialed a number. And while waiting for the call to connect, he hummed a small tune. Hmm, hmm. Then he lightly raised his eyes and looked at me. While taking the call with his mouth.

“Oh, Seokhyun? It’s me, Yohan.”

“…”

“Can you come to the school music room for a bit? Uh-huh, no big deal. I have something to tell you.”

When Lee Seokhyun whispered softly from the speaker, Go Yohan mouthed to me,

‘Go.’

That day, I saw a sociopath smiling with a clear face in the music room.

Suddenly, my head throbbed. It felt like I had a fever.

That was the end of my act. There was nothing I could do there. The only thing I knew was that the violence against Kim Minho stopped there because of my actions. And I can guarantee it. At that moment, I lost every tiny possibility.

A terrible sense of defeat, the leisure of scoffing at everything I suffered. At least that was real.

Lee Seokhyun and Kim Minho evaporated after that day.

Rumor had it that Lee Seokhyun and Kim Minho fought to the death in the music room. The kids said, “How did Lee Seokhyun beat that pig? Was he better at fighting than Kim Minho? Hey, didn’t you see Lee Seokhyun’s face was a mess when he left school? He was just a monster. He probably couldn’t have just beaten Kim Minho.” But the rumors had no ‘why’. No one knew why Kim Minho and Lee Seokhyun fought.

They both received suspensions. No, Lee Seokhyun might have just received community service. I’m not sure. Anyway, the school seemed to be taking this opportunity to get rid of the eyesores.

However, there was something the kids didn’t know. I was in that music room. I was there too. Kim Minho had yelled that Go Yohan and Kang Jun were also there, but because Lee Seokhyun, who was with him, denied all of Kim Minho’s words, Go Yohan and I became non-existent people in that place.

And the music teacher, my only witness, also played a big part.

I was dragged to the faculty office because Kim Minho had named me, but the atmosphere inside the faculty office was more one of comfort than interrogation. The music teacher, sipping mixed coffee from a paper cup, said,

“Jun borrowed the music room key, but Jun left his notebook while listening to class, and he was just coming to find it. And on the way, huh? Kim Minho, that bastard, he took it from Jun, didn’t he? Isn’t that right? These days, the kids’ atmosphere isn’t good. This guy, didn’t he just fight with someone he was bullying? It’s obvious.”

“…”

“They probably got caught up doing something strange among themselves again. Right, Jun? Huh?”

I, who had borrowed the key from the music teacher, nervously racked my brain, but the music teacher first testified with groundless false conjectures. He pointed to Kim Minho’s attendance number as if looking at a disgusting insect. Most of the teachers willingly agreed with the music teacher’s words.

“Of course, Jun wouldn’t do that. Jun is such a diligent student.”

The most active was my homeroom teacher. And the teachers tried their best not to link me with Kim Minho. Even Go Yohan was included in that benefit.

“Minho says Yohan was there too, but it’s hard to believe him.”

“Exactly. He always tells lies, so as a teacher, I can’t even try to overlook it.”

“Yohan’s older brother is at a prestigious university overseas, and his younger sibling is at a prestigious high school… His family is also a very famous corporation, and they’ve been a Catholic family for generations. He himself is just a bit mischievous, but he’s diligent and studies hard, so putting him on the same level as a punk like Minho is absurd. Besides, Yohan is perfectly fine, isn’t he? Does it make sense for him to be fine after fighting with such an ignorant kid? Jun, don’t be scared and tell us honestly.”

It was truly amazing that Go Yohan, unlike me, who hadn’t built a strong trust with the teachers, was also treated this way. However, I vaguely guessed the reason, so I didn’t question it and acted as if nothing was wrong, doing what I had to do.

“Yes. When he saw me get the key, Minho snatched it away.”

“See?”

“And Yohan was with me at that time. So maybe…”

I pretended to mumble and cut my words short. That way, at least I didn’t lie.

Following the atmosphere that spread throughout the faculty office, the unpleasant rumors related to me completely disappeared. As if such rumors had never circulated.

A few days later, I suffered from a terrible fever. My father and mother watched over me as my fever climbed to 39 degrees Celsius. At that time, at least I didn’t suffer from sorrow. It was a relief.

“No, what kind of school tells students to come to school even when a typhoon is coming? This is why Korean education is like this.”

“Shh, Jun is sleeping.”

“How did you hurt your hand like this…”

“They say it could be due to academic stress. …Did we push him too hard?”

The words I heard in my hazy state were truly gentle. But after I fell asleep, there were only nightmares. I don’t know what kind of nightmare I had. It felt like Go Yohan appeared.

When I woke up to the sound of birds in the morning, the typhoon had stopped. I touched my forehead with a wet hand and felt only a slight fever. As expected, my body responds remarkably well to medicine. When I measured my temperature with the electronic thermometer brought by the housekeeper, it was 37 degrees Celsius. My parents advised me to skip school, but I refused.

Before changing clothes, I sat blankly on my bed in my empty room.

I quietly watched the clock, where time changed every minute. After suffering from the fever and waking up, my head felt frighteningly calm. It was a relief. My new morning began that way.

When I dragged my heavy body and opened the door, I met Go Yohan on the street, which was messy from the typhoon that brought the rain. This time too, Go Yohan appeared suddenly, but I wasn’t as surprised as I thought I’d be. Perhaps my reaction wasn’t entertaining, as Go Yohan looked a little embarrassed. Then he rubbed his neck with his finger.

“You should have told me everything earlier. Then I would have taken care of everything.”

“…”

“We’re friends, aren’t we?”

My foolish but not stupid mind was working for me. And only after the typhoon passed did I realize. Until now, I had been too intoxicated by being eighteen.

“Yohan.”

“Hmm?”

“I paid back my debt to you, right?”

Because I kept your weakness from spreading. And Go Yohan, who read my intentions perfectly, said,

“Hmm, I guess so? Yeah, I guess so. Well, thanks. It almost turned into a big mess.”

“Right.”

My eighteenth year was a time of raging anger, but my nineteenth year was not. Perhaps my attitude now is more mature than a year ago. A person can’t help but grow. My time was a step behind others, but I was still proud of myself.

“Then it’s done.”

My wildly beating heart began to move in sync with my cooled head.

The fever had ended. So utterly empty.

From now on, what I had to do was… if I thought about it, it was just studying. The problems that tormented me appeared over Go Yohan’s face. They weren’t about love, friendship, or hierarchy struggles, but about college entrance exams. Priority for the future. Yes, selection and focus.

Come to think of it, the vice-principal said he’d hold an in-school math competition soon. I need to prepare for that.

“…What’s done?”

Go Yohan asked, slowing his words. I shrugged and replied,

“Everything.”

“Tie up the seashells…”

Go Yohan hummed a cheesy old song. At the same time, he strung together caramel candies, which he’d bought from who knows where, one by one, wrapper by wrapper. I’d seen something like that before. I think it was in kindergarten. As I quietly watched him, Go Yohan smiled softly. The song didn’t stop.

“And hang them around her neck…”

Before long, the candy necklace was complete. Go Yohan proudly gazed at the colorful creation in his hand. And then, he half-rose and placed it around my neck.

“Sitting facing the fire.”

I paid no mind and read my palm-sized English vocabulary book. This was a small pavilion behind the school, and it was after lunch. I sat on the bench, but Go Yohan, who was slumped on the floor, continued to hum and took out one of the remaining candies, peeling off its wrapper.

“Whispering all night.”

Go Yohan tossed the small candy into his mouth. A crunching sound echoed through the quiet pavilion. I glanced at his rough movements, then read the real problem.

Many things had happened in a short time. Kim Minho never returned. He had dropped out, they said. Since Go Yohan said it, I wasn’t sure if it was true or not.

I heard that Lee Seokhyun was being talked about for forced transfer. It was said to be an extraordinary measure taken by the principal, who dreamed of a ‘prestigious high school without violence’. I also didn’t know how much influence the parents had in that.

So Lee Seokhyun didn’t appear for a month, and Kim Seokmin and Park Dongcheol lived as quiet as mice. The hushed atmosphere felt strange, so one day I secretly grabbed Shin Jaehyun who was going to the restroom, and Shin Jaehyun pulled his grabbed clothes from my hand and said,

“I’m sorry… I don’t want to talk right now.”

He wasn’t angry at me, nor was he blaming me. He just seemed to be sensitive to the uncomfortable situation. I decided to respect his wishes. At least I knew he was wiser than me.

“Alright.”

I cleanly let go of his hand.