Eighteen’s Bed Novel Completed - Chapter 118 Your Entrance Ceremony

I’m not sure how I got back. Only fragments of memory remain, where a door opened and closed. The car door opening, closing, and the front gate of the house opening, closing – only these moments repeat in my mind. Each time the scene broke, all I could hear was my own ragged breath escaping my lips.

“Heoh, heok…”

In the dead of winter, I hid in my room like a pheasant fleeing a hunter. I buried my head in that futile sanctuary and felt a fleeting sense of relief. The only difference between me and the pheasant was that I knew my sanctuary would soon melt away.

“As expected, as expected, I can’t do it. No. I can’t.”

I lay prostrate on the floor, desperately searching for plane tickets. My eyes were on the verge of tears. My hand kept rubbing my lips as if to crush them.

“I was the crazy bastard. I was the truly crazy one…”

Muttering curses at myself, I hastily scanned for the earliest possible flight. My hand kept slipping, pressing the wrong screens. I was already out of my mind.

Go Yohan is, indeed, the chaos of my life. Go Yohan always takes away my control.

“Damn it…”

As soon as the payment window appeared, without checking the time or anything else, I called my parents. My sweat-soaked palms gripped the carpet.

“Please, please pick up…”

After a long, drawn-out ringing, the call went to an answering machine. They weren’t picking up.

“Damn!”

But it didn’t matter. I just had to go. I pulled out any travel bag I saw and stuffed things in indiscriminately. I just swept in everything that looked necessary. I was in such a frenzy that the housekeeper, witnessing my commotion, was flustered and tried to stop me.

“Student!”

“…!”

“What are you doing? Wh-where are you going?”

Unfortunately, the situation didn’t allow for detailed explanations. With my head spinning, like throwing a dart at a revolving dartboard, I answered in a truly urgent and blunt manner.

“I’m, I’m going to where my parents are.”

“Was this planned? Your luggage…”

“No, now, I’m going now.”

“Have you contacted your parents?”

“No.”

I threw things in as if grabbing and tossing them, and swept items off the table with my arms. Something shattered as it fell. My mind was in turmoil. Avoiding the suddenly damp floor, I closed the overstuffed bag. After a few fumbles, I pulled out the handle and hurriedly stood up. At the same time, my eyes met an anxious gaze.

The housekeeper grabbed me as I was about to pass her and leave the room. Her grip, though not painful, stopped my physical body, but my runaway judgment had already plummeted.

“I’m sorry.”

I had no time to care for or comfort anyone. Hundreds of footsteps were chasing me from behind. In the extinguished night, the despair of a lone fugitive running with a lantern tightened around me, utterly draining. Even the breath that had been struggling to escape my lips stopped flowing.

“Ah, could you please call my parents, ma’am?”

“…Me?”

“I’m, I’m going to catch a plane now.”

“A plane, now?”

“Yes, yes.”

“Is something wrong?”

Something wrong? Nothing. Even if there was, there shouldn’t be. I shook my head as if denying everything that had happened to me. I was desperate.

“Nothing. Nothing was wrong.”

“…I’ll make the call.”

The housekeeper didn’t ask further and released my arm. Her demeanor was impeccably neat. Feeling the strength drain, I moved my legs. I glanced back briefly and saw the housekeeper standing there with a slightly stiff expression. Our eyes met, but I quickly avoided hers, turned, and ran.

Every second counted. The hour hand of the clock was chasing me.

“I can buy toiletries there… just buy everything there…”

I hurried to call a taxi. The travel bag, bumping noisily against the stairs as I went down, was none of my concern. The taxi, which happened to be passing by nearby, connected quickly, and as soon as I confirmed it, I practically threw myself out of the hallway. I couldn’t even put my shoes on properly, just shoved my feet in. The moment I straightened up and opened the door, my eyes met my reflection in a large mirror.

“Oh…”

When had I last seen this face?

My memory rewound to eighteen. That tiresome age had put a heavy weight on my feet, preventing me from growing. That dog-like night I never wanted to recall, that impoverished face that had somehow crawled into my house, was strangely in the mirror.

Why are you there?

If I even gave you a bouquet, you should have gloriously disappeared. Why do you keep holding onto me?

A foolish bastard who doesn’t progress, who doesn’t know how to learn, looks at me. That pure gaze left the mirror and reached out a hand towards me.

“No…”

My desperate struggle caused me to throw the object I was holding. My reason didn’t register it at all. The moment the heavy sensation left my hand, I knew what I had thrown. With a loud crash that assaulted my ears, the mirror shattered.

Sharp fragments grazed the top of my foot.

Fortunately, the large pieces fell on my shoe, but smaller ones brushed my ankle. A vivid red line was drawn on my pale skin. A dizzying line handcuffed my ankle. My body stiffened, watching the blood slowly seep out. As if trying to drag me down to the floor, but then.

Honk!

“…!”

My mind snapped awake. It was a sound from outside. The nearby taxi pulled my hair, which was sinking into a swamp, and yanked it up. Crazy, idiot. I hurriedly stepped on the broken mirror pieces and rushed outside.

“Ah, why are you taking so long!”

Kang Jun, who had always lived so conscious of others’ opinions, now didn’t even care who was angry in front of him. He simply dragged the bag, which wouldn’t pull properly, and then rudely hit the trunk like a madman. As soon as the trunk clunked open, he threw the bag inside and, without another word, leaped into the back seat and slammed the door shut.

“Driver, quickly, quickly go.”

“Why are you in such a hurry?”

“Quickly!”

The driver looked at me strangely and shifted gears.

That’s when I saw it. That’s when I saw it. A fleeting moment passed like an eternity.

A black taxi passed us, going in the opposite direction. An uneasy feeling gripped my throat. It felt as if all the blood was draining from my body. Instinctively, I ducked down. But my gaze was fixed on the receding taxi. The black taxi stopped exactly where I had just gotten into my car, and the person emerging from it gradually came into clear view.

Tall, light eyes, melancholic…

As I pressed down hard on the faux leather seat with my clammy hands, the figure who had emerged from the black taxi suddenly turned his head.

“…!”

I gasped. I quickly hid my face beneath the seat. My heart felt like it had stopped.

“No, no…”

The top of my foot, grazed by the fragment, stung. The blood wouldn’t stop seeping.

After a flight of over 10 hours, my parents scolded me the moment they saw me. I had left my phone behind, so communication was cut off, and I was still in my school uniform.

“What if this was America? Jun, if you mess up, you’ll be kicked out.”

I had heard these words hundreds of times. Riding in the car with my parents, going to their house, I stared blankly at the car ceiling. The scolding never stopped, but all the words scattered into the air. After that, I slept for almost a week. I used jet lag as an excuse.

Everything was peaceful. I heard no footsteps chasing me. The sense of relief from being at the ends of continents made me feel languid. It certainly did.

However, when the time came, wrapped in a gentle pink sunset, when it was hard to tell if what was far away was a wolf or a dog, I would often lie in bed and put my finger to my lips.

That act was so secret and quiet that the mistake happened without my knowing.

“Haa…”

My desires sometimes moved before me while I slept.

In the early morning, when my body, unable to overcome jet lag, was sucked into a deep pit in the bed and writhed, the most fundamental desires appeared naked. He bit the plumpest part of his finger horizontally and closed his eyes. It was by no means an intentional act. The lips that trembled naturally, the faint heat that tickled my lower abdomen, were not my doing.

“…!”

Then, when I suddenly woke up, I would deliberately bite and crush my finger with my teeth, as if to tear it to death. Only when it was tattered and wounded did the shame that knew pain flee far away.

He and I played a game of soul-territory at all times.

“Oh, right, the dormitory.”

Fumbling for the approaching date of the first lecture, it suddenly occurred to me. Since I didn’t have my phone and couldn’t receive any calls, idiotic days had passed by endlessly. I hurriedly got up and looked for my parents.

“Um, could I check the internet for a moment?”

“Oh? Why?”

“I need to check the dormitory…”

“Ah, that? Use the one on the desk in the study.”

“Yes, thank you.”

I bowed my head and was trying to recall the unfamiliar layout of the villa.

“But aren’t you going to buy a phone?”

Why did that question prick my conscience? I couldn’t bring myself to say that the precarious peace I was enjoying now was only possible because I had cut off all means of finding me, so I just offered an awkward smile. Remembering my phone, which was miserably lying on the floor by the entrance.

“I’ll buy one when I go back to Korea.”

“…Aren’t you taking calls from your friends?”

“Just.”

My hesitant lips finally offered a belated excuse.

“They’re just friends I don’t want to contact.”

“…Alright. If you say so, then it must be so.”

It was a somewhat unsettling answer. It sounded like a pitiful gaze at a son who was being bullied at school. Well, it wasn’t wrong.

“You can make friends when you go to university.”

“Yes… right.”

I quickly escaped the awkward atmosphere. And in the unfamiliar study, I belatedly checked the dormitory application results. Of course, I was accepted.

It wasn’t surprising, as my parents said they would take care of it. It was just a little embarrassing that my address was listed as Busan. Why Busan of all places? As I was thinking this absurd thought, an apartment in Haeundae under my name came to mind.

“Ah, that.”

I quickly pressed the close button to cover my embarrassment. Then I checked the move-in period.

The strange thing was that there was definitely a registration period, but no specific move-in period was set. Just “weekdays.” That was all. So, I guess I should just move in roughly before the first class.

As soon as the brief calculation was over, I booked a flight to Korea. And I informed my parents about my dormitory acceptance. My parents, who were not keen on me going to a dormitory, weren’t particularly pleased with the result. However, they did call home and ask the housekeeper to take care of my luggage.

At that time, I was trampling on the bud of anxiety and sprouting the seed of confidence. Because I could overcome the one who woke up late in the afternoon and early in the morning by crushing my fingers. Also, thinking of myself, who had finally pulled out the tooth of “university” that I had suffered from for 19 years, I felt like I could do anything.

“Ah, this is really awkward.”

Especially in the phone store, I felt unnecessarily self-conscious.

The feeling of signing a contract alone was unfamiliar. Adult matters sought my name. That’s how I bought a new phone and changed my number. The evidence of adulthood, etched into me, encouraged me. The life I had longed for was unfolding. On the basis of my rightful efforts. That mere “acceptance” certificate became my nameplate. My pride remained unbroken.

I thought it wouldn’t break.

However, as soon as he entered the neighborhood, the boastful man turned into a small mouse. A mouse scurrying and hiding between holes. The sight of him sneaking through familiar streets was utterly pathetic. His gaze constantly fell on the gate of the Go family’s house.

It won’t open…

I won’t run into him…

I hunched my body low. I muffled my footsteps. I acted like a thief who had snuck into this neighborhood. With steps filled with fear, I entered the gate. The dignified Kang Jun had died.

The first thing that greeted me when I returned home was the tidy entrance and the housekeeper, who must have been living like the mistress of the mansion while no one was home. Then, our eyes suddenly met, and the housekeeper’s expression was truly peculiar. I wondered why she looked like that, and then I remembered what my parents had said at the airport.

‘Now, only Mrs. Jung will be alone in our house.’

‘Oh dear, should we fire her?’

‘Then who will manage the house?’

They stood with their arms crossed, contemplating, and the conclusion was “don’t fire her.” The reason was that they wanted to see a clean house without any chores when they returned home. They also said this:

‘Then that house will be hers. What a windfall for her. If she pretends to be the owner, no one would ever know.’

‘Jun, you need to go home every weekend and keep a close eye. See if she lets any strange people in.’

It was a joke, though. Anyway, I could check with the CCTV.

Anyway, seeing her face full of worry, I couldn’t just leave her be, so I repeated what my parents had said.

“They said they won’t fire you.”

“Ah, yes…”

“…I’ll come over for meals sometimes when I have time.”

“Yes.”

“Please take good care of the house…”

“Yes.”

It was a concise conversation, but I shivered, finding it strange that I was saying such things to an adult. It was awkward. I felt like I was going to die from the awkwardness. I cleared my throat unnecessarily and pretended to be busy. Then the housekeeper, who had been speaking a little more, suddenly spoke up.

“I, I put that on the desk.”