Eighteen’s Bed Novel Completed - Chapter 159

I guess Kang Jun has really gone crazy.

I woke up at 10 AM. I slept for a long time. There was no rush since my classes were in the afternoon, but my increasingly lazy body amused me. Why did I sleep so long after doing nothing? I used to wake up early in high school. Surely, it’s not just because I’ve aged a few years, is it? If so, that’s truly absurd.

Still, as I cautiously moved my body, it felt lighter than it had in the early morning. Sometimes, when you wake up suddenly after sleeping in the early morning, your body aches. Well, it must have been like that this time too.

“…?”

But as soon as I put my feet on the floor and stood up, my body collapsed. I fell helplessly to the floor and looked at the ceiling. I blinked for a long time before coming to my senses. F*ck, thankfully no one saw me.

I left the room, but no one was home. Of course. It was Go Yohan’s morning class day.

I scratched my neck vigorously with my hand and shuffled along. Then I looked around the quiet living room. From outside the slightly open window, I heard a late bird chirping, just like me.

Then, when I went into the bathroom to wash my face, my face turned pale.

“Crazy, what is this?”

A swollen dumpling was in the mirror. If Go Yohan had seen it, he would have teased me again.

I forced my creaking body to move towards the campus cafe today. Once a week, excluding lectures, I met with Kang Soohyun to discuss our assignment. As soon as the topic changed, Kang Soohyun lost interest and subtly tried to skip our meetings. Today was one of those days.

「My grandpa went into surgery (crying) I have to go nurse him ㅠ You understand my heart, right?」

「Yeah, don’t come.」

For reference, Kang Soohyun’s grandfather had passed away twice earlier this semester. And one of Kang Soohyun’s SNS profile pictures is a cake with “Happy Birthday Grandpa” written on it. How many grandfathers does this bastard have? At least four in total, I guess.

「Thanks ㅠ I love my grandpa too much, can’t help it ㅠ」

「K」

I clicked my tongue and turned around. I guess I’ll have to make this childish assignment as plausible as possible myself. It was a topic I suggested in a fit of pique, and as I wrote it, this pretentious topic that even a middle schooler wouldn’t write made me feel… skeptical, and I tried to change the entire content. But this time, the professor was the obstacle.

‘Why aren’t you doing it when I praised it?’

‘I’m sorry, but the topic seems too monotonous and childish.’

‘How many times are you going to change the topic in one semester?’

And he gave me a look of contempt. How could I stubbornly insist on changing the topic then? Being subtly a commoner, I just said, “I’m sorry,” and became mute. Should I just try to win by sheer volume for now? I grabbed my forehead, walking along the path in front of the academic building where weeds grew in patches.

How can I make this f*cking topic sophisticated and cool? Should I just put Go Yohan’s face up large as a signboard? People are weak to visual stimuli. Go Yohan should be enough to distract them.

I checked the time. Today was Go Yohan’s back-to-back lectures. Go Yohan’s classes wouldn’t end for another two hours. Should I just go home first? Standing alone, pondering, I suddenly looked up. A brilliant idea had struck me.

‘Should I audit his class?’

Now that I think about it, I had never seen Go Yohan in class. We didn’t have any overlapping classes. Which floor of the humanities building was Go Yohan’s class on? The third floor? I quickly turned on my phone. Then I hurried my steps towards the shortcut to the humanities building.

I had to go in during the break so the professor wouldn’t catch me…

But it seemed I had run too fast. My foot caught on a protruding paving stone.

“Ah!”

It was fortunate I didn’t fall. But my body jolted, and a sharp pain shot through my lower back, which had been aching since dawn. Because of that, the phone in my hand plummeted to the ground. Thud, thud, the phone bounced on the ground and slid down the slope. Oh, no, not now of all times. I couldn’t even collect myself and ran down. My lower back felt like it was about to collapse.

“Ah, f*ck, ah, damn…”

I bent my heavy waist. Damn it. The now tiny phone rolled until it finally hit someone’s shoe. And that someone bent down and picked up my phone. Then, he stood in front of me, who was bent over, holding my waist, and handed me the phone.

“Oh, thank you…”

I thought he was a kind person, but when I looked up, I saw Kang Soohyun’s flustered face.

“……”

“……”

“Um, that…”

“……”

“It’s good that your grandpa got much better, right…? Right…? That’s good…”

Kang Soohyun quickly raised the phone in his other hand to his ear. Then he put his unpowered phone to his ear and put on a strange act. What a weird bastard… He even mouthed “On call. On call.” and avoided my gaze. I smiled half-heartedly and said,

“You can just go back. Go see him. You said you liked your grandpa.”

“No! Ah! What! No! Grandpa! I’ll hang up! I hung up. Let’s do it. We can go now. Our assignment deadline isn’t far off. Ah, grades are important! Of course, they’re important. Let’s go! The cafe in the academic building?”

“……”

Useless bastard, as always. I pouted and looked regretfully at the humanities building, which was faintly visible. If it weren’t for my grades. And I rubbed my lower back, which felt like it was tearing. At least if my body hadn’t been aching.

Kang Soohyun hadn’t prepared anything for the assignment, yet he was annoyingly good at nitpicking. Even though he was so enthusiastic at the beginning of the semester. I compared his current self to his old, proactive self regarding assignments. The conclusion was easily drawn: he didn’t like the topic. That was for sure.

Kang Soohyun, who read through the notes half-heartedly, pushed the paper far away and suddenly blurted out, “No matter how I think about it, your friend isn’t suitable for the topic. How about we change to someone else?” Thus, the evidence for the conclusion came out faster than expected.

“Now?”

“Girls don’t like violent men like that.”

“……”

“Don’t tell that friend I said this, okay? Keep it a secret, okay? You got it? If you got it, quickly link pinky fingers.”

No, you bastard.

I couldn’t bring myself to say no, but I expressed my feelings by stubbornly refusing to offer my finger. However, Kang Soohyun forcibly grabbed my wrist and linked my pinky fingers with me. Actually, that act alone made my annoyance surge to the top of my head, but this time he forcibly opened my hand and tried to put his palm against mine.

“Hey!”

Are you crazy? I recoiled in disgust and pulled my hand out from his grasp.

“Don’t! That’s gross.”

“Copy it for me, scan it for me! Quickly! I can’t live with this anxiety.”

“I won’t tell. I’ll never tell. So please, just don’t cling to me.”

“You said it, right? You promised, right? If you don’t keep your promise, you’ll go bald!”

Gross, so gross. I rubbed the hand that had touched Kang Soohyun on my pants to wipe it off. Because of that, I didn’t even hear what Kang Soohyun continued to say. I was too preoccupied with my fervent wish for the second semester to end quickly.

Perhaps sensing that I was distracted, Kang Soohyun grabbed my arm and shook it violently.

“Ugh… Aack!”

“Gasp! Sorry!”

My muscles, tightly bunched, screamed. My body, which had almost died crawling to school since morning, cried out fiercely. It was already hard enough, and Kang Soohyun had to choose today to act like a pain in the ass. I imagined killing Kang Soohyun in my mind while composing my expression outwardly.

“Sorry, I guess I slept badly last night.”

“Oh, come on.”

Kang Soohyun smiled with a sly look. He clearly didn’t believe my words.

“You don’t have to lie like that in front of me.”

“What? I didn’t lie.”

“Anyway. So, what I was saying is, instead of Go, let’s use Kang. How about ‘Raising Your Ideal Type’? We take a naive, boring man and turn him into a man women would be satisfied with, and then we show the process and results during the presentation.”

“…Surely, that ‘Kang’ isn’t referring to me, is it?”

“Of course it is!”

Kang Soohyun pounded his chest like a gorilla, boasting confidently. Given his track record, I couldn’t easily trust Kang Soohyun.

“I’m Kang.”

“……”

Oh, right. We have the same last name.

I cautiously observed Kang Soohyun. Well, what kind of woman would choose Kang Soohyun? Probably a volunteer or a woman with unique tastes. It was obvious that presenting with Kang Soohyun would yield no results. There was no visual impact. I shook my head, pretending I couldn’t help it.

“I’m sorry, but it’s a bit…”

“Why?”

“…I’ve written… too… many… reports.”

In reality, I had written one page. But it worked on Kang Soohyun. It seemed he was quite worried himself, as the midterm presentation was approaching. I felt relieved at the atmosphere of surrender. What a relief.

“If you say so, I can’t help it, but that’s how I feel? I feel a bit like that.”

“Yeah. I see.”

I wasn’t particularly curious, so I didn’t ask for the reason.

“I can read faces, you know.”

But Kang Soohyun seemed determined to speak. Even face reading? He’s really going all out.

“That kind of face isn’t very good. Isn’t he very handsome?”

“……”

I just took the file Kang Soohyun transferred via USB and closed my laptop. My ears were rotting from hearing so much nonsense. Still, I had a public image to maintain. I had to acknowledge that Kang Soohyun and I had only known each other for a little over a month and a half. In other words, I was a bit shy. And because I was shy, I always habitually treated Kang Soohyun kindly.

“If you’ve read the material, that’s enough. Make sure to show the professor that we communicated during the next lecture. Otherwise, our grades will be docked for not having met. And I have my next class now. I think I should go.”

“Huh? Don’t you have a class next?”

How do you know that, you bastard?

Goosebumps rose. How did he really know? Words that felt like they were about to burst out lingered on my lips. I forced strength into my neck and answered as gently as possible.

“They said they’re making up for a class that was canceled a few days ago. Attendance isn’t related, but it’s good to listen in advance, right?”

“Then I guess there’s no helping it!”

Kang Soohyun slapped the table with a thud. Though he didn’t look it, Kang Soohyun, who was a model student who only studied, was deeply impressed by my passion. He even slapped my butt to cheer me on. Thanks to that, I had to clench my teeth from the pain inside my lower back, as if it were being scratched by fingernails.

You f*cking bastard.

After shaking off Kang Soohyun, I shuffled along, looking for an empty classroom. It was more valuable to study for my exam during my free time than to waste it with Kang Soohyun.

However, the classroom I found happened to have stairs inside, so I had to climb them in an undignified manner. Still, there was no choice. This was the only empty classroom available in the building where Go Yohan had his classes.

So, I crawled in, carefully found a seat, and took out my laptop. I wanted to see Kang Soohyun’s opinions.

“Hmm.”

*Go OO = Violent and talk too much.

*Only his face is somewhat decent.

*Annoyingly taller than me.

*Bad personality, a devil, a terrible devil.

*Probably partied in school (a delinquent).

*If he received chocolates on Valentine’s Day, he’d find out who it was and expose them to the world to tease them.

*Causes trauma to others.

*Ugly ears.

*Even in college, he only hangs out with rich, rude people just like him (except Jun).

*Visibly ignores people who are inferior to him.

“……”

It was still nonsense, even after rereading it. Should I just take an F and retake the course?

‘You must consider your teammates as partners and embrace each other’s flaws. That is marriage. If, after the set period, you ask to change teams or decide to work alone, I will consider that you have misunderstood this course from the beginning and will give you an F. There will be no retakes.’ Why are you looking at me like that? Is it surprising? This is what married life is like.

Right. No retakes. I’m going crazy. I should have run away on orientation day. But I can’t just say I don’t like any of it and ask to remove it. I just felt like dying. I slowly scrolled up and down, closing my mouth.

Then, should I change direction? Yes, now that I’ve changed my mind, Kang Soohyun’s opinion is also right. We should analyze Go Yohan, not worship him. I scratched the keyboard with my fingernails, then closed the laptop again.

“…First, let’s prepare for other class exams and then write this.”

My monologue echoed in the classroom. Embarrassed, I fumbled to pull out my textbook and pen from my bag.

After memorizing the book for a long time, I looked out and saw the sunset. When did so much time pass? I casually glanced at the book and realized I had already read half of it. This was a pretty long textbook. Has enough time passed for me to read this much?

I quickly reached out and checked my phone, which was face down, and saw “7:20 PM” and “32 missed calls.” All callers were Go Yohan.

「Hey.」

「Hey.」

「Jun.」

「Hey.」

「Jun, are you ignoring my call right now?」

「You really want to die, don’t you?」

「Where are you?」

「Hey.」

「Hey.」

「What are you doing, Kang Jun.」

「Where are you really?」

「At school?」

「The one I just sent was a joke.」

「I tried to delete it but it wouldn’t delete.」

「Jun.」

「Why aren’t you answering the phone?」

「Is something wrong?」

「Should I come pick you up?」

「We have to eat dinner together, don’t we?」

「Let’s eat dinner together.」

「Huh?」

「Jun.」

「Are you, by any chance,」

「Angry?」

“……”

With each message I checked, a heavy sense of guilt accumulated. By the time I checked the last message, I had hit my knee with my fist two or three times.

「(Hand)(Crying emoji)(Hand)(Up arrow)(Down arrow)」

「(Heart)(Heart)(Heart)」

Why did I put it on silent because it was bothering me? This whole mess happened because of my habit of putting my phone on silent when I didn’t want to be disturbed and then forgetting to turn it back on.

I hastily shoved my laptop and textbook into my bag, picked one of the missed calls, and pressed the call button. The phone rang twice before connecting. It was a somewhat awkward speed for me, who was rushing to put on my bag and go down the stairs.

Even then, before Go Yohan could say anything, I blurted out words like a machine gun.

“Yohan, I was concentrating on preparing for this exam, so I couldn’t answer the phone. Did you wait long?”

Go Yohan was silent at first. I was so scared by the quietness that I was biting my lip alone, but Go Yohan’s first words were unexpected.

-Wait for what? We didn’t even make a promise.

Well, that’s true. I stopped my steps on the stairs.

“Where are you? I’ll go to you. Are you home? Let’s eat dinner together. I’ll treat you.”

-Jun, you have less money than me, but you’re trying to solve it with money.

“Are you home?”

-I’m at school. I’ll go. Where are you?

“I’m… Humanities Building Room 201. Where are you?”

I asked casually, but there was no answer. Puzzled, I took the phone from my ear and looked at the screen; the call had already ended a long time ago. Wow, this… bad bastard. It’s not like we had a promise anyway, and I was just late because I was waiting for him. Was there a need to hang up so abruptly?

I curled my lips into my mouth, looking at the dark screen that had been off for a long time.