Eighteen’s Bed Novel Completed - Chapter 121

Disappointed by a day full of frustration, I waited for the elevator, and my phone rang. Thinking it was another department announcement, I checked the screen, and to my surprise, it was my homeroom teacher.

“Did you check the school website?”

School website? What was there? I frowned, frustrated by the answer that didn’t immediately come to mind. I decided I should check something, so I turned on the internet and searched for the school name. When the window popped up, I clicked it, and an unfamiliar pop-up appeared. I sighed immediately.

“They updated the list of accepted students.”

My name, Suneung perfect score, Hankuk University, Department of Political Science and Diplomacy, Kang Jun, written proudly at the top. It was something the school would naturally be proud of, so they must have uploaded it now.

“I wish they hadn’t.”

I regretted not keeping it a secret. Furthermore, below me was Ahn Jisoo, confirming my homeroom teacher’s words. It was surprising. Did they rank by Suneung score, not by internal grades? I shrugged and scrolled down the screen. Below Ahn Jisoo were names I vaguely recognized.

“Ha Min Woo got in too. Korean Language and Literature.”

A clear sound rang out. It was the sound of the elevator arriving. Only then did I take my eyes off the screen and press the 4th floor. The quiet space was filled with the noise of the machine moving. I scrolled down another name, and the door opened quickly. I squeezed my body through the narrow gap. I naturally walked down the hallway, checking further.

“Park Ha On barely got in too… This year, there are more accepted students than last year.”

The principal and vice principal must be going crazy again. I clicked my tongue and scrolled further down the screen. On the scrolled screen, increasingly familiar names appeared clearly.

At that moment, the full bag dropped to the floor.

The scattered bag spewed out its contents, but I just stared at the screen in horror.

“…F***, what is this?”

The screen trembled faintly. The bright screen gradually became blurry.

Hankuk University, Department of Economics, Go Yohan.

A light flashed in my head. A video that had been dormant in my memory played slowly like an old movie. Moments that had casually passed by intertwined and became a kaleidoscope.

‘Do you think you can go to Hankuk University with your grades?’

‘If it’s the special admission for foreigners, well.’

‘Huh, foreigner?’

“No way, that’s impossible…”

Impossible, so it was true. Those words were true. Why is Go Yohan here? So, was that why he told me to definitely get in? Impossible. No way, it can’t be. I have to check. When was the announcement date for the foreign student admission? It seemed a bit early. I definitely saw it. Was it September? Then what, Go Yohan was already accepted?

“Impossible. Impossible…”

My flustered hands even dropped the phone I was holding to the floor. The signal of my despair hit the hard floor and bounced up. The phone, fallen to the floor, slid across the dirty floor. I slightly raised my head and reached out for the phone, but someone was standing at the dorm door. With a large suitcase.

“…”

It was a strangely familiar pair of shoes.

Why?

Why is it familiar? Why? Why is it familiar?

Large feet, long legs. My stiff gaze slowly moved up his legs.

And then I heard the sound of my life collapsing. Why does coincidence, that bastard, appear at the best time of my life and interfere?

“…Kang Jun?”

“…Go Yohan.”

My lips trembled. I was confused by the unbelievable sight.

“You, you, why are you here?”

Why are you in front of my dorm, of all places?

“Why are you here, you bastard!”

I shrieked. It was because the emotions that had been hiding in the sole of my foot, the only blind spot in the world I couldn’t see, crawled up my body. I wanted to scratch my body. Rather than itching, I wanted to shake off the things that had erupted on my body like ringworm.

Because all the causes of my suffering were right in front of my eyes. But what scared me more was that Go Yohan was also standing there, equally surprised, saying nothing.

“You, you, why…”

Why are you standing there like you’re surprised too?

I can’t believe your expression. I don’t want to be fooled by a liar’s act anymore.

He must have done something. My stubbornness ignored the small, budding rational question. This wasn’t some high school where you could fix things with a single word, was it? What if it was just a coincidence, as Shin Jae Hyun said?

Then why, of all coincidences, is it Go Yohan? Why, of all people!

The calm Kang Jun isn’t here. Only the perpetrator, trying to shift the blame for a humiliating past, is present. The flames of memory, burning with my shame, are trying to forcefully pin all the blame on him.

“You, you… What did you do? How are you here? Why are you here?!”

Denying what was happening, I slowly backed away. From Go Yohan? No, it wasn’t. I just wanted to believe I was running away from Go Yohan. When in fact, I was running away from my own patheticness. The sensation of chasing the prey of desire in a dense fog, for as long as I had avoided Go Yohan, was more honest than my mind.

“…Why have you lost so much weight? You were already thin.”

Go Yohan didn’t listen to me and only said what he wanted to say. With a pitiful look on his face, a little haggard, I didn’t know why he seemed more overwhelmed with emotion. Go Yohan, who took a step towards me as I backed away, said in a trembling voice:

“Don’t change the subject!”

My throat strained, hurting my vocal cords.

Don’t worry about useless things. It was a desperate struggle laced with pity. A lump in the center of my chest was being sucked down to the center of the earth. My emotions followed gravity, and unfortunately, the core was Go Yohan.

“You don’t really care what happens to me anyway…”

You were just amused by my playing into your selfish games. I know. Your lies.

“No, that’s not true.”

Go Yohan’s appearance, bowing his head as if he had done something wrong in response to my words, bothered me. That precarious expression violently struck my heart and choked my breath. His deceptively sorrowful eyes followed my gaze. Don’t follow me. I desperately avoided his eyes.

“…That’s not it.”

I covered my ears. I shouldn’t listen to any excuses.

“Go.”

With my ears roughly covered, I glared, unleashing excessive anger. I knew it was emotional overkill. But I had a valid reason to hate Go Yohan.

“Just go!”

I uttered my hatred, staring at the bastard who showed no sign of leaving. The answer came from somewhere else.

“Who’s in the hallway? Quiet down there!”

There was a loud thud of a fist hitting a door. At that sensible warning, my head finally cooled down instantly. This was someone I might encounter for months. Did they know it was me? Damn it, damn it.

“…Get out of the way!”

Overwhelmed by unbearable shame, I roughly shoved the fallen items and my dropped phone into a bag, then pushed Go Yohan aside. Before he could even turn his head, I quickly punched in the lock code to open the door, entered, and hastily shut it behind me.

“……”

But it was pathetic. Even after entering what I thought was a safe place, I stood in the tiny entryway, barely big enough for one person, and stared blankly at the door. At that moment, I desperately wished for something.

“Please… please, no.”

Expectations always betray me. Then again, my wishes have never come true easily, not even once.

Beep, beep, beep, beep.

With four simple beeps, a slightly slow interval between them, the door opened. My body instinctively moved out of the entryway, and through the small gap, a planet, a disgust, a disaster, squeezed its way in. His eyes, which had been so fierce, threatening to destroy me, were now filled with sorrow and despair.

Go Yohan, seeing the unlocked door, offered a bitter smile.

“You didn’t change the number. The office told you to change it.”

“……”

“You never change your numbers, do you? Your phone, too.”

“Don’t come in.”

I stretched out my hand and pointed at the entryway.

“Go back right now and cancel your application to leave.”

Why was the place I’d fled to now his nest? Why, of all places, here? Caught in that shock, I made an absurd demand. It was a forced command. And I knew perfectly well that the crazy bastard I knew wouldn’t listen to me. I trembled with a rising sense of unfairness, tears welling up.

He’d surely refuse or scoff. That’s the Go Yohan I know.

Go Yohan parted his lips, swallowed once, and then spoke. Fine, let’s see what excuse he’ll make. I stood my ground stubbornly. But what I heard was unbelievable.

“……Okay, I got it.”

“……Huh?”

He got it? Go Yohan? He’d leave on his own? Without even an excuse? Confusion seized my head, stretching and tormenting me. It felt like I was caught in a cosmic vortex. Like taffy stretched out in a black hole. Why?

“……Why?”

It was a stupid question. My confusion was natural, as a plan I’d taken for granted had fallen apart in an instant. While I was in such disarray, the source of my confusion was incredibly compliant.

“You told me to.”

“Me? You’re doing this because I told you to? You?”

Ha, a light, hollow laugh escaped me. If you’re going to be obedient, at least fix your face. One eyebrow was twisted, and his lips twitched oddly.

I know that expression well. It’s when things aren’t going Go Yohan’s way.

“Don’t play games. After tormenting me for two years.”

“It wasn’t two years.”

Go Yohan looked at me with an unjustly aggrieved expression. Who was he to say that? What did he even do?

“It wasn’t all torment, was it?”

“Don’t talk nonsense. That’s just what you wanted to believe.”

“……Do you really hate me that much?”

Cutting me off, his urgent voice broke through.

“Since when?”

Does he really need to know that badly? I answered honestly.

“Since when? I told you, I hated you from the moment I first saw you.”

“……Why?”

“Because you’re obnoxious.”