Eighteen’s Bed Novel Completed - Chapter 123

“No, someone is looking for you.”

Go Yohan flashed through my mind for a moment. And I was certain. It was the result of my complete distrust. My expression grew colder, and my head became increasingly clear.

Now I’m truly fed up.

“Did someone look for me?”

“Yes, just a moment ago. It was literally just now. Like a few minutes ago. Right?”

“Yeah, about 15 minutes ago?”

“She said 15 minutes ago.”

The TA even asked the other TA sitting next to her for the time, as if to prove her words were true, and only after hearing the specific time of 15 minutes ago did she look at me with a satisfied expression. However, her satisfaction soon turned to concern. She clearly sensed the situation as soon as she saw my face.

“Well, we told them we couldn’t give out personal information. We didn’t leak anything.”

“Was it a tall man?”

“Do you know him?”

“……I think I might know who it is.”

“I see. Then you should contact him. He seemed a little… urgent.”

“……Yes, thank you for your trouble.”

“Yes-s.” The TA drew out her reply and sat down. Her gaze had already left me and was directed at the monitor. After briefly scanning the monitor, the TA nudged the TA next to her. Then our eyes met. We both bowed our heads in that awkward situation. It was a truly uncomfortable greeting.

Closing the office door and stepping out, I thought. University seems to be a place where you make a lot of uncomfortable greetings. My random thoughts soon led to Go Yohan.

“That bastard.”

What was he up to now? His intention in asking the office was obvious. He must have been trying to find out what classes I was taking. But then again, I also thought it was unlike Go Yohan. He would know perfectly well that the department office wouldn’t give out personal information even if he asked. Besides, given the nature of a small space where several people work, word would get around, and it was clear that the story would reach my ears, as I was in the same department. He liked flashy acts, but he wasn’t the type to do something so foolish.

“……But he was definitely strange yesterday.”

Go Yohan, whom I saw for the first time since that day, which was too awful to even mention, had changed in a truly strange way. I was so unaccustomed to that change that I simply dismissed it as some kind of trick. I couldn’t deny that thinking that way was the easiest.

So I was convinced that Go Yohan was the culprit. After I sorted it out, I ignored it. I had known for a long time that he was someone not worth bothering with. However, the ignoring didn’t last long. More than three messages from classmates in the same department had been sent to my number, which was on the announcement.

「Hi, I’m Im Ye-na, same year. I didn’t have your number so I just sent a personal message. Just in case… some guy asked where you were, so I just vaguely told him you didn’t come to class today.」

「Sorry for the sudden message, but someone was looking for you. Just wanted to let you know.」

「You’re Kang Jun from our year, right? Someone was looking for you?」

What’s going on? My stomach churned from the overwhelmingly kind three messages. Weren’t these the same people who just a few days ago would only glance at me or awkwardly smile and pass by?

In such cases, there are two answers. Either they want something from me, or the bastard asking is clearly out of his mind. But there’s no way they’d want something from someone whose face they barely know. Knowing this well, I slowly checked the senders of the messages. Two women, one man. The man even had a picture of himself enthusiastically volunteering with his friends. He must be at least my age, and if he was someone who was so proud of volunteering, it was obvious. He must be incredibly meddlesome, and full of humanity like someone else.

Then there was only one answer. The latter. The bastard looking for me was objectively out of his mind. And the only crazy bastard I knew was Go Yohan.

“What on earth is he trying to do…”

Having nowhere to go, I quietly sat on an empty bench behind the building, racking my brain. The wooden bench smelled of cigarettes. All of this was no different from high school, which made it even more irritating.

It’s strange. Go Yohan wasn’t this reckless.

Go Yohan was unusually different from others. He was indescribably insidious, had a melancholic side, and all his actions were irregular. If defined by a dictionary, Go Yohan was a non-existent word. A concept that could not be defined, and could not be found if one tried to find it. That was Go Yohan.

Go Yohan was the one who drove me crazy, and Go Yohan was the one who prevented me from growing.

“What on earth is he thinking… Ah.”

Feeling uneasy, I touched my mouth with my hand, and inadvertently found myself biting my lip again. Again, crazy. I frowned deeply and deliberately bit my already scarred index finger.

“Ah! Damn it… damn it!”

It was all that Go Yohan bastard’s fault. My kissing him, it was just, just because Go Yohan was a dog-like bastard. I didn’t want to find any other suitable reason. Blaming him in a secluded place where people rarely appeared usually calmed me down, but today, it was unusually difficult to settle my emotions.

And this reason, too, was because of Go Yohan.

Yesterday, it was yesterday’s fault. Last night’s fault. Those gloomy, sad eyes, that face that seemed to have let go of something yet hadn’t. That bastard who pretended to listen obediently and leave, but in fact, scattered himself all over the room.

And so, in the end, I tormented myself endlessly and then sought out the presence that tormented me again. How ironic. I hadn’t even saved his number on purpose, but my hand naturally dialed it. The dial tone continued, then suddenly cut off. At that moment, words poured out of me.

“Hey.”

-Who… Jun?

“What are you doing right now?”

-Is that you, Jun? Is this your number? Did you change your number?

“Don’t talk nonsense, I’m asking what you’re doing right now!”

But the words from beyond the speaker were utterly absurd.

-What do you mean?

“Stop pretending you don’t know. Who else here would do something like this besides you?”

-Where are you? Can I go there?

“Don’t come. I know you’re playing tricks.”

My already sensitive words came out sharpened. But the voice from the receiver was unusually dejected, unlike Go Yohan’s usual self.

-It’s not like that.

For some reason, that made me even more annoyed. Just the fact that Go Yohan was dejected annoyed me. I even hated the fact that I was feeling my own irony. I just hated myself.

“Not like that? You’ve been stirring up trouble since this morning.”

-Stirring up trouble? Jun.

“University people are so kind, everyone, even strangers, told me you were looking for me. I don’t know what your intention is in trying to meet me—”

-Jun, that wasn’t me.

“What?”

Then who was this crazy…

The words I was about to say came to mind, but were erased before my mouth could open. It was because the accumulated questions hit my head violently. Right, I thought so earlier. It couldn’t be Go Yohan. The false accusation I had pinned on him out of spite whispered. Your narrow-mindedness made a mistake.

My neck instantly felt cold. Then who was it, really?

-……Where are you right now?

Who was looking for me so loudly? Lightning struck my storm-racked mind. In confusion, humans instinctively seek answers. The flashing thought delved into the deep sea, beginning to sift out the most plausible figures again.

Han Junwoo? Nonsense. Han Tae-san? Even more absurd. Shin Jaehyun? No way. Ahn Ji-soo? Why would he? The people I forcibly pulled from my narrow social circle were all unrelated. My thoughts, sinking deeper, suddenly found a few messages I had received before I ran away.

“Ah…”

「You dog-like whore. Are you happy? You bastard, I’ll douse your face with acid and stab it to pieces, turning it into a rag.」

That message I had scoffed at and ignored the moment I saw it.

-Hey.

I heard footsteps. The thought that occurred to me then was incredibly stupid. ‘Ah, right. He said he hadn’t left the office long ago. Then he must still be in the building.’ It was a truly leisurely thought.

Indeed, people instinctively find their place. They know the place that suits them. So when something happens, when they want to find something, they seek out the most familiar place. For me, that was a place where no one could find me, and for someone else, it was a place to commit slightly dangerous transgressions.

The familiar smell of cigarettes was different. Go Yohan, at least, didn’t smoke. At least the deviant I knew, the resentful deviant who would send that message…

-Where are you!

“I’m behind the Social Sciences building…”

Before I could turn around, my mouth moved on its own. The approaching footsteps were familiar. They say people have different footsteps, like fingerprints. Is that how I knew?

“Wow, shit, you were here. You fucking bastard.”

The person I turned to see was Kim Minho.

My phone plummeted to the ground. I heard Go Yohan scream faintly, so faintly, but only I heard it.

“Why on earth are you here…?”