Eighteen’s Bed Novel Completed - Chapter 117

Han Taesan looked at him, and he pretended not to see Han Taesan and walked past. It was very obvious. He turned his head and bit his lip. Damn it, it showed. Still, he tried to ignore him and walk past, but this persistent guy, without a hint of tact, called his name.

“Ju-Jun!”

His perpetually messy uniform-like way of speaking was still the same. Now, pretending not to know him was even more awkward. He suppressed his irritation and turned around.

“Oh, Taesan. Hi.”

The epitome of pretense. He even found himself disgusting.

“A-Are you just arriving?”

“Yeah.”

“…”

“…”

If he had answered, he should have asked something, but he remained stubbornly silent. Kang Jun was the one who lost the game of silence. Perhaps he had less patience than Han Taesan.

“What are you doing here?”

“Oh, ah… G-Grandma…”

“Waiting for your grandma?”

“Uh, yeah…”

Damn it, Han Taesan looked pitiful. Why was this bastard born with such a pitiful life? Still, repeating “Don’t pity him” endlessly made it bearable.

“Is your grandma feeling better?”

“Th-Thanks to you…”

“Thanks to me? What did I do?”

“…”

“…”

Silence again. His left foot instinctively tapped the sandy ground.

“Can I go now?”

“Oh? Oh, oh…”

His round face crumpled again, looking downcast. Don’t pity him. He’s a guy who messes up his own life. He’s the guy who said something outrageous about his life, possibly flowing similarly to Kang Jun’s. Kang Jun desperately brainwashed himself. But brainwashing wasn’t as easy as he thought. Especially for a suspicious person like him.

He was about to walk towards the auditorium but changed direction. And he strode over and handed the bouquet he was holding, almost hitting Han Taesan’s chest with it.

“…W-What is this…?”

“Graduation gift. You take it.”

“…”

“Show it to your grandma, it’s expensive, so you can brag. Tell her a friend gave it to you. You’ve only ever hung out with Han Junwoo since you came to Seoul. She must be worried. Tell her you have other friends besides Han Junwoo.”

“Th-Thanks…”

“Surely Han Junwoo won’t say anything about this, right?”

“…”

Han Taesan hesitated and then nodded slightly. Kang Jun nodded back lightly.

“Then it’s fine.”

“…You, you…”

“Huh?”

“H-How did c-college go?”

“Oh, that.”

He tilted his head back and pouted his lips. Should he say it, or should he not? He decided not to say it. There was no need to be too careful in life.

“It’s okay. It’ll work out, I guess.”

“…”

“What about you?”

“Me? I, I…”

His voice trailed off shyly. It wasn’t the shyness of excitement, but a very familiar embarrassment.

“…It didn’t go well.”

“It’s understandable that it didn’t go well.”

“…”

If you could study in that situation, you’d be a superhuman. He himself had dropped 12 ranks. Ah, he shouldn’t have thought that. Damn it, he felt a sense of camaraderie. He quickly frowned and shook his head. If he talked to Han Taesan any more, his own life would get complicated. He quickly decided to leave and poked the bouquet, which was accidentally in Han Taesan’s arms, with his fingertip.

“Don’t go to college, become a civil servant.”

“…”

“You were good at studying. Study more and get into civil service through a high school special recruitment. That’s better for your situation. You probably used all your money to treat your grandma’s illness anyway.”

It was unnecessary meddling. He knew it, but he still said it. Ugh, if he hadn’t lightly wiped his face with the back of his hand to control his expression, he would have openly shown his disgusted face.

“Ah, oh… Thank you.”

“I’m going.”

He moved his feet before he could do anything more foolish. Uh… He heard Han Taesan’s lingering desire to say more from afar, but he left the spot without looking back. And feeling the oppressive presence disappear, he thought that he would no longer have to meet Han Taesan.

When he arrived at the auditorium entrance, it was already packed with people. It was because parents in flashy clothes were blocking the way. Anyway, even if he forced his way in, he would only see unpleasant things. The thought was so sickening that he gave up. It was enough to just take a graduation photo with his phone camera.

He turned his body, positioned himself so the graduation banner was visible, and turned on his camera. Click. With a short signal, the photo was taken. He checked the screen, and it came out quite well.

“…In celebration of a successful high school graduation, the speech by Ahn Jisu, a third-year, second-class student who achieved the best grades this year…”

Ah, it was a good thing he didn’t go in. He glared at the inside of the auditorium with a thoroughly disgusted face. And then, why, of all times, did his eyes meet Go Yohan’s, who had turned around? He should have remembered that Go Yohan was the tallest in the entire school. Of course, he would be standing at the very back.

“…”

He felt his pupils widen. A small ray of sunlight flowing in the air shot into his eyes. His vision, hurt by the sharp light, blurred. He squinted. Run away. His survival instinct screamed through electrical signals. He covered one eye with his palm. Run away. Go Yohan, whose eyes he had met, turned his body completely. He instinctively lowered his head to avoid Go Yohan’s face. Go Yohan’s feet, visible below, approached, pushing through the crowd.

Run away!

The moment his toes came into view, his feet finally left the ground.

He ran. He just ran without a plan.

But his body instinctively sought familiar places and directions. The corridor he knew well, the stairs he knew well. He grabbed the railing and gasped for breath as he climbed, hearing the terrifying sound of someone running behind him. The sound of hurried, rolling footsteps.

“Huh, huhh…”

In extreme situations, the body performs miracles. He swallowed his exhausted breath and ran again. Footsteps, out of sync with his own running, were rapidly approaching him. He couldn’t see, so he didn’t know how close they were. His terrified eyes searched for an empty classroom.

He found a visible classroom, opened the door, felt relieved that the door was open, closed the door, lowered his body, and hid under a desk.

He held his breath as much as possible, calming his breathing, and gripped the desk legs.

The world, as he sat quietly and listened, was truly silent. When that silence continued for a few minutes, he felt relieved. It was his imagination, Go Yohan hadn’t followed him. It was an auditory hallucination created by his delusion. He felt comfortable enough to believe that.

Still, being cautious, he slowly sat down on the floor without making a sound.

“Crazy, I was so surprised…”

“…Jun.”

His brain, which had been comforting itself with self-reassurance, burned black and died. His entire body stiffened. The sound came from behind him. He moved his stiff muscles and turned only his neck to look behind him.

There was Go Yohan, breathing heavily.

“…”

Go Yohan approached. One step, two steps. The floor vibrated with each step. The vibration traveled up his hand, which was on the floor, to his brain. But his dead brain didn’t react. Even before Go Yohan approached him and suddenly lowered his body.

“…”

After that, he only thought, ‘I’m going to get hit.’

He instinctively squeezed his eyes shut and raised his hands to cover his head. He trembled in the darkness for a long time, but felt no pain. It was strange. His heart pounded wildly. He finally couldn’t stand it and squinted his eyes open.

And he saw an unbelievable sight.

“…Go, Go Yohan.”

“Thank you, thank you, thank you so much…”

Go Yohan had his head buried below him, gripping his feet with his hands. His gripped legs were so painful that blood didn’t seem to flow. He knew by the sound of Go Yohan’s voice that it wasn’t intentional.

“Thank you…”

His dead brain couldn’t quite accept that expression of gratitude. He was too surprised. It was unavoidable that all his thought circuits had stopped. His brain had been abused too much until now.

“You son of a bitch, no, I, I didn’t come to see you…!”

In his surprise, it was a long time later that he violently pushed Go Yohan’s shoulder, who was bowing his head beneath him. The moment he saw Go Yohan’s face as he lifted his torso, he finally saw the face he had been searching for in his nightmares.

It was a face he had never seen before.

A face that couldn’t be explained in words, couldn’t be drawn, and could only be remembered by his eyes. His blackened brain turned to ash. Because it was such a shocking face that he couldn’t even store it in his memory. He stuttered, “Uh, uh…” His vision, which had been painfully blurry, was slowly returning.

The world came into clear focus. As if to remember this moment.

He saw the true identity of Go Yohan above the neck, who had been tormenting him in his imagination.

Nightmare, Go Yohan, pupils, dead brain. Everything was insane. He, within it, was also insane. All the emotions and words he had experienced and heard until now mixed together.

‘Well, maybe a kiss would do.’

The circuit breaker went up so easily. And so he committed that act.

He knelt and approached Go Yohan. And he grabbed the face he felt he would never forget and kissed him. Surprisingly, his first kiss tasted not of lemon or lime, but salty.

“…”

“…”

He pushed Go Yohan’s shoulder away and met his eyes. The eyes that met his changed in various ways, like a spectrum illuminated by light. Finally, when the colors found their rainbow hue, he finally came to his senses.

Crazy, insane bastard.

His body sprang up like a spring. He wiped his lips with his rough palm, which must have been dirty. His flushed head built a defensive wall again. He gripped the desk with his hand and barely supported his swaying body. And to Go Yohan, who was kneeling and looking up at him,

“I-Is this enough, is this enough now?”

“…”

“Then let’s end it now.”

He said this, then turned and ran away. The last corridor he looked back at was the second-year classroom. No wonder the inside of the classroom felt familiar. It was the classroom where Go Yohan and he had met.