Eighteen’s Bed Novel Completed - Chapter 13

At that moment, I snorted. It was a very strange laugh, mixed with fear and mockery.

It’s a bit funny to other kids that Go Yohan’s best friend is me. In fact, I’m also a criminal branded with an impious mark. And just a few months ago, I was Han Junwoo’s close friend. To think I’m here, having escaped a dirty trap.

I just hadn’t been caught.

It was dawn. A call suddenly came from an unsaved number. A summons at 4 AM. Waking up abruptly in the early morning, I thought what was happening was a dream. Though I hadn’t sought out Han Junwoo to avoid getting hurt, my heart fluttered, wondering if it might be him contacting me now.

I rubbed my eyes in a hurry to confirm again who had sent the message. My feelings were complicated. Part of me wished it was just a common illegal message, like one for a loan. But the moment I read the content, I knew it wasn’t Han Junwoo.

「Jun. Sorry for contacting you so early. Could you come out in front of your house for a moment? I’m sorry. I’m really sorry.」

「Just once. Just this once.」

There’s no way Han Junwoo would apologize to me.

Only two people my age call me Jun, and among them, only one is this pathetic. By the way, how did Han Taesan know my house? I frowned as soon as I saw the screen. I didn’t want to see Han Taesan at all. He was always unpleasant.

However, contrary to those thoughts, I got out of bed, tidied my clothes, and stood up. Unable to even step over the threshold, I stood silently in front of my door, leaning my forehead against it, and sighed.

“…Damn it.”

It’s complicated. Like I’m indigestion. My stomach feels heavy. There’s nothing else to say. I hit my chest. I always got good grades, and I was confident I knew a variety of words from reading so many books, but the words I knew couldn’t fully express this complicated and subtle thought.

It was just complicated. The hatred for Han Taesan, Han Taesan’s face stained purple that day, and the feelings I felt during those desperate days trying to keep them apart, even for a moment. Everything was mixed up. I bit my lip, jiggled the doorknob a few times, then closed my eyes and rotated my wrist widely.

In the garden, the cold morning dew confirmed it was autumn. I walked on the cold marble stones between the grass to avoid the dew. The dawn was quite chilly, so I tightly buttoned my front. My toes, sticking out from the front of my slippers, finally stood before the main gate.

I paused for a moment, then clicked my tongue lightly and grabbed the handle. The interlocking hinges creaked, so I flinched and opened it even slower. When the door opened, Han Taesan, in his school uniform, stood on the asphalt lit by the streetlamp, his head bowed low, scribbling on the ground with the tip of his shoe.

“…Han Taesan.”

At my call, Han Taesan’s head shot up like lightning.

“Jun, Jun!”

“What? Why are you here?”

“I-I’m sorry. No, thank you so much for coming out. Truly, thank you.”

With those words, Han Taesan suddenly burst into tears. I sighed again and looked closely at Han Taesan. His shabby autumn uniform was tattered again, his right eye was torn, his cheek swollen. Dried blood on his philtrum. I stood there silently, observing everything about Han Taesan.

Finally, what I did was approach Han Taesan, lightly push his shoulder, and let him inside the house.

The indigestion wouldn’t go away.

Unconsciously, I gripped Han Taesan’s shoulder tightly. In the gap between Han Taesan’s clothes and skin, Han Junwoo’s twisted love was evident. The moment Han Taesan flinched, I quickly removed my hand from his shoulder.

Opening the front door, I shook my head, looking at the number of shoes on the floor. Both my parents were overseas, and the live-in housekeeper used a different building. There was no chance of being caught with this unpleasant guest who had come in the middle of the night. My safety was more important than Han Taesan’s.

“Let’s go to my room first.”

I pushed Han Taesan’s shoulder. Han Taesan just cried silently and slowly walked in the direction I pushed him. Upon arriving at the room, I told Han Taesan to sit on the sofa. He stood in front of the sofa, hesitating awkwardly, then glanced at me, vigorously wiped his bottom with his palm, and only then sat precariously on the edge. That bothered me even more.

“Just sit comfortably.”

“Uh, unh.”

“For now, just wait here for a moment.”

Leaving Han Taesan in the room, I went to the living room to find the medicine I had used, then went back up to the room. Han Taesan was still sitting uncomfortably on the edge of the chair when I returned. I narrowed my brows, strode over, put the box beside him, and pushed Han Taesan’s shoulder back.

He made a stupid sound, “Uh, uh,” and stiffened his body. In the meantime, I took out ointment from the box and threw it to Han Taesan.

“First, put this on.”

“Huh?”

“Yeah. On the injured parts. Here, your lip. It’s still bleeding.”

“Uh, unh.”

Han Taesan hesitated, fiddling with the ointment, and feeling impatient, I snatched the ointment from his hand. I quickly opened the lid and handed it back to Han Taesan. While Han Taesan slowly looked at the ointment, I turned my eyes to the box, looking for a pack to reduce swelling that might still be there.

I took out the pack I found in the second compartment, tore open the packaging, and looked at Han Taesan. Han Taesan was applying the medicine to his lips with his fourth finger, lightly touching them. What is he doing? I sighed and put my hand on Han Taesan’s cheek. He flinched so noticeably when my hand touched him that I said, subtly annoyed,

“Don’t move.”

And then he really stopped. I was dumbfounded and tilted my head slightly. What was he doing? Every single one of his actions annoyed me. Apply the medicine. The medicine. I put the pack on the cheek I was holding.

“Is this… Han Junwoo’s doing?”

At my words, Han Taesan slowly nodded.

“Hey.”

“Uh, unh?”

“I have a question.”

“……Unh.”

“Why don’t you transfer schools?”

Han Taesan curled his small fingertips and stopped. I felt annoyed and pathetic again by Han Taesan’s actions, and I snatched the ointment from his hand. I roughly squeezed a bit of ointment onto my index finger and applied it to his torn eye. Every time my finger touched him, Han Taesan flinched.

So annoying, really. Only when I had applied it to the small scratches on his temple and forehead did Han Taesan finally speak.

“I… I can’t transfer.”

“Why?”

“……Our house. We can’t move. I live with my grandmother.”

“If it’s about money, I’ll lend it to you. No, I’ll just give it to you. I can help with the deposit for a small officetel. Or you can report it as school violence. I’ll help you.”

I took my hand away from applying the ointment. I spoke kindly enough, but no matter how I thought about it, my words were covered in selfish desires. However, Han Taesan didn’t seem to feel that way at all. I could clearly see Han Taesan give a small smile.

“S-Sometimes, Jun, you say incredible things so casually.”

What is he talking about? I just frowned, and Han Taesan made a sad expression.

“But, right now, o-our grandmother is sick.”

“……”

“She, she has cancer… Pancreatic cancer.”

“Ah—-. Cancer.”

I nodded mechanically. And pretended to sympathize.

“That must be hard.”

“N-Not necessarily… There’s still hope, and they say there’s hope since it was found relatively early.”

“……”

“Hey, th-there’s something.”

“Yeah.”

“Th-Thank you. Really.”

“It’s fine.”

“Jun is really kind… and a good, good kid.”

“……That’s not really true.”

A sudden pang of guilt made me stammer. Han Taesan stopped talking again, hesitated a bit, then began his story.

“W-When we lived in the countryside. For treatment… treatment, they said it was better to go to Seoul… Grandmother said it was okay, but I p-pestered her, so we decided to move to Seoul. We also have the inheritance my parents left… Ah, my p-parents died in a car accident when I was young… I said we should move with that. Grandmother said no, that it was for my college tuition, but I forced her. I said I wanted to go to college in Seoul, so I had to learn in S-Seoul.”

“Unh.”

“A-After we moved, I tricked Grandmother, saying we were going on an outing, and took her to the hospital, and when I pulled her with force, Grandmother was dragged along… I wondered if I was this strong, or if Grandmother was this weak… I forced her to start chemotherapy… Unh. S-She started… But to Grandmother, I, unh. I, that… When things got really bad, Grandmother was hospitalized, so it was okay, but… I can’t tell Grandmother that I came to Seoul and became like that… That kind of story. I can’t.”

“……”

“I can’t do it…”

Han Taesan’s voice, muffled with tears, was full of sobs as he buried his head in his knees, curled up on the sofa with his feet up. I bit my lip. Damn it.

I couldn’t quite pinpoint what was so annoying. I didn’t want to think deeply about it either. I rolled my lip inside my mouth, pressed hard, then released it.

“Is your grandmother home today?”

“Uh, unh?”

“Because it seemed like you came to our house because your grandmother was home. No?”

“……Uh, unh. I’m sorry. Really…”

“I’ll get you a pillow and a change of clothes, so sleep here tonight.”

Of course, there was a guest room, but I didn’t bother to prepare it for Han Taesan. Looking at Han Taesan’s current state, it was obvious. It was clear that nothing good would come from being caught with Han Taesan here. But then again, ‘Kang Jun’ couldn’t heartlessly kick someone out.

Perhaps it would have been better to pretend I hadn’t answered the phone.

I grabbed a pillow from my bed and went to the dressing room across the hall to find some clothes to sleep in and a blanket to casually cover myself with. Then I threw them onto the sofa where Han Taesan was sitting.

“Cover yourself and sleep. You’ll be uncomfortable, so change into these.”

“……Thank you, really, thank you.”

“No need to thank me. Just change and sleep. And I’ll arrange a place for you to stay for a while. If your grandmother worries, just tell her you’re studying, using me as an excuse. If you need me to call, I’ll do it.”

“Ah, Jun is good at studying, so…”

“Yeah. That’s right.”

As soon as I answered, Han Taesan gave a strange smile. Though, thanks to his swollen face, it looked more like a grimace. When I frowned, flustered by his sudden smile, Han Taesan waved his hand in the air. And, his voice trembling as he tried to suppress his laughter, he made an excuse.

“No, I just… I thought you were surprisingly unique…”

“What do you mean?”

“No, nothing. Nothing at all.”

Now, Han Taesan was stifling his laughter, even covering his face.

My annoyance surged at Han Taesan’s puzzling behavior. But since I couldn’t tell him to stop laughing, I just turned around with my face still scrunched up and got into bed. Han Taesan seemed to laugh for a long time in that spot, then kept glancing at me over the back of the sofa before changing his clothes.

I slightly raised my body and looked at Han Taesan’s back as he changed. His back, stained blue and purple, was clearly visible. Perhaps worried about stretching my clothes, Han Taesan carefully changed, then touched the front of his shirt before suddenly turning his head to look in my direction. However, it was Han Taesan who was startled, his face reddening as he lowered his head.

“Why?”

“N-Nothing…”

Then he glanced up, gauging my reaction, and lowered his eyebrow over his torn eye.

“…Is that cheek okay?”

Fucking hell. Reflexively, I covered the spot where Han Junwoo had hit me with my palm and hid under the blanket. Fucking Han Taesan. Shame and humiliation boiled up inside me. I really shouldn’t have helped him.

“I’m sorry, really, I’m so sorry… Sorry for causing you trouble too.”

Fuck. Fucking hell. I cursed endlessly. The only curses I knew were ‘fuck,’ ‘idiot,’ and ‘fucking piece of shit,’ picked up from Han Junwoo or Go Yohan. I swallowed the rising irritation and spat out,

“Just go to sleep. It’s fine.”

After those words, I heard no more from Han Taesan.

Just as the dawn’s melancholy pressed down on me, forcing me into a heavy sleep, a sound broke the profound silence. I fumbled for the source of the noise. A bright light stung my eyes, making me blink rapidly several times. The phone screen displayed a word that shook me.

‘Han Junwoo’

I hesitated for a long time before that name. As my indecision lingered, the call disconnected. But the phone lit up again, stabbing my eyes and my worries. I got up. Han Taesan was quiet, as if he had fallen asleep. I looked back and forth between Han Taesan and the number on the phone, and finally, I silenced it.