Eighteen’s Bed Novel Completed - Chapter 196

A male high school student standing among his friends, laughing. When he smiles, a faint dimple appears on one cheek. What’s so funny? I turned the lens to find the cause of his laughter.

“…”

It was really Han Junwoo. Did that bastard say something funny? How did he make him laugh? What funny things could that kid possibly say?

“…Why is he laughing?”

Kang Jun. Kaaang-jun.

The evaluations Kang Jun received, as he became increasingly famous while hanging out with Han Junwoo, were quite negative. A naturally incredibly boring blockhead. A moron who kills the mood by being serious when everyone else is having fun. A coward who subtly backs out when the excitement builds. And he’s subtly unpleasant to mediocre bastards, making him even more unpleasant.

In an all-boys high school, a boring bastard is worse than a bad bastard.

However, the guys who hated bad bastards would hang out with him. Well, because he was good at studying, and because he had a lot of money at home. Just as I thought, he was a young master from a well-off family.

And I was secretly disappointed in him. How could he live without playing pranks? For the first time, I gave that pushover goody-two-shoes a minus. I wholeheartedly agreed with the kids who hated bad people. I hate bastards who kill the mood by being serious the most. Just like Choi Seonghyun.

After lunch, coming up with a good idea near the snack bar must have been a divine revelation to mess with this bastard. I decided to immediately accept and follow the revelation.

“Seonghyun-ah. I can’t open this. Can you open it for me?”

“What did you just say? You can’t open a plastic bottle cap? Yoohan’s a wimp, isn’t he?”

“Yes, I’m a wimp.”

I didn’t intend to do anything bad. It was just a prank. Because I like pranks.

Choi Seonghyun tried to snatch the plastic bottle, so I tightened my grip. A smirk crept onto my face when I saw the bottle wouldn’t slip from my hand, no matter how hard he pulled. Ah, just imagining what’s about to happen is making me laugh like crazy. What should I do?

Choi Seonghyun’s efforts to take the plastic bottle ultimately came to nothing. I couldn’t hold back my laughter, snorting, at his face, which was suspicious of my refusal to give him the bottle.

“What? Why are you laughing?”

“I have rhinitis.”

“You have rhinitis?”

I waved my hand lightly. Then I nodded the top of the plastic bottle towards Choi Seonghyun.

“Hurry and open it, I’m thirsty.”

“Ah, damn it. Seriously annoying. It’s ten thousand won if I open this.”

“O-kay.”

“This isn’t cider, is it?”

This time, I made a circle with my hand. Choi Seonghyun grinned at my hand, then forcefully twisted the bottle cap. Crrrack-. The cap, which had never been opened, came off easily. Choi Seonghyun shrugged with a slightly proud expression, and I finally let out the laughter I had been holding back.

At the same time, I squeezed the hand holding the plastic bottle tightly. The plastic crumpled miserably in my hand, and the displaced water spurted out, drenching Choi Seonghyun’s proud face miserably.

“Haha, ahahaha!”

“What, you—! Fuck!”

“Whoa, crazy, Yoohan. Did that bastard really fall for it? Ah, fuck, he’s such an idiot! How could he fall for that?!”

Ugh-hak-hak. Malicious laughter erupted simultaneously. The audience, who had been waiting for my prank all along, reveled in it. I had told them I would buy a bottle of water and confidently spray Choi Seonghyun. Everyone waited for my plan and loved it. The greatest happiness for the greatest number. Utilitarian happiness had arrived in the classroom.

“You startled me, you son of a bitch!”

Soon, Choi Seonghyun also wiped away his surprise and joined in the laughter. He must have found it funny. The bright classroom was very satisfying.

But he apparently hated things like this. I stared at the plastic bottle, less than half-full of water. Then I threw the uncapped bottle at Choi Seonghyun.

Then, licking the drink from my fingers, I said.

“Hey, you guys go up first.”

“Fuck, Yoohan, why?”

“Because if I stay with you guys, I’ll get dirty too.”

First-grade water can’t be next to fifth-grade water, can it? You filthy bastards.

I kindly explained to the future trash why they and I couldn’t be together.

“Live like that and die. Goodbye.”

“That fucking moron…”

Kim Minho, whom I had beaten up recently, had an unpleasant way of speaking, so I gave him the middle finger.

And so, a short ten-minute walk began. Grains of sand crunched under the soles of my indoor shoes. The west wing, closer to the back door, had an asphalt path, but the east wing, closer to the main gate, had playground sand crunching like this.

“Come to think of it, I like these kinds of things too.”

Such old-fashioned things. I think I like them too.

“Yeah, I like it too.”

My lies begin when the truth is unpleasant. And they repeat until the truth is forgotten. A pleasant lie is better than an unpleasant truth, isn’t it? Chasing only good things, pleasant lies became my life.

Last Christmas, Gorosa asked me.

‘What you said, was it true?’

Of course not. You moron. Why would I like men? I scoffed at Gorosa, who wasn’t even there, then my laughter abruptly stopped. Below the corridor connecting the west and east wings, between the dim alleys. He was there. And he was looking in the direction I was looking.

…It was him.

Him, Kang Jun.

Kang Jun was there. Holding a completely melted green tea ice cream, he was staring at me with an utterly stupid expression.

“…Oh.”

Why?

Strangely, my heart area tingled, and my breathing became constricted. I pressed my palm firmly against my chest and rubbed hard.

“Ah, fuck… why…”

I violently punched the center of my chest with my fist. Yet, I didn’t stop taking another step closer. Kang Jun saw me, right? Why? Surely not to greet me? My constricted chest tightened even more, making it harder to breathe. Then I sensed a presence near the trash can between Kang Jun and me.

The culprit was smoking in the corner between the buildings. Smoking, seriously. The sight of him exhaling white smoke through his nose was utterly repulsive, making me frown.

That bastard is definitely going to hell. He’s breaking school rules left and right. If you’re going to smoke, do it when you’re an adult. The old-fashioned Kang Jun wouldn’t like that. A sense of satisfaction welled up. I don’t smoke. You don’t either, right? Imagining him, who must despise Han Junwoo just as I did, I looked at him again.

But then he smiled brightly.

I hastily looked around. A few people were walking around, but they weren’t the kind of bastards he’d pay attention to. So, I was the only one he could be looking at and smiling at. My heartbeat pounded in my ears, and—

His voice burst forth brightly, like a pomegranate splitting open.

“Junwoo-ya!”

“…What.”

Kang Jun ran towards the trash can. He ran into the place thick with cigarette smoke. Following Kang Jun’s gaze, I saw a familiar face. And Kang Jun stood next to him, staring intently at the lawbreaker sitting there smoking.

Kang Jun, he’s Han Junwoo’s lackey.

“Fuck.”

They said he was unnecessarily serious and old-fashioned. Then why is he watching that slutty moron smoke? What the hell. What a funny bastard. Funny bastard? So Kang Jun is funny. That doesn’t make sense logically. Can someone be funny if they’re not interesting? Is that possible?

I pressed my wrist firmly against my strangely constricted chest and pondered a philosophical question. Being funny while not being interesting. A dual meaning. Does that mean Kang Jun is a two-faced bastard? Fuck, he’s a crazy bastard. This.

Kang Jun was becoming increasingly unlikeable. The points that were once positive were falling endlessly.

That night, unable to resist the impulse, I grabbed Kang Jun’s face with one hand, squeezing it as if to make it burst. The sight of him struggling in my hand, gasping for breath, was quite a spectacle.

The end of summer approached. In the house where magnolias once bloomed, only a withered tree remained. It was so vibrant in spring, but after the bright flowers faded, monstrous fruits appeared. The magnolia tree wasn’t that pretty. It even looked a bit shabby. Then isn’t it a house that’s only pretty for a few days out of the year?

“And I’m not just going to look at the garden in spring.”

No. That makes sense, actually? It hadn’t been long since I moved into this house and started living next to that magnolia tree, but I had never once seen anyone who seemed like its owner. Only one middle-aged woman came and went, but she didn’t exude the kind of wealth one would expect from living in a house like this.

“It’s not a haunted house either.”

It was a truly suspicious house.

If I open the rightmost window of my room’s living room, I can just barely see the gate of the house next door diagonally. Watching that dead-quiet house, I often let my imagination run wild.

Maybe a dying old man lives there. Or that old man’s mistress. Crazy, if he can buy a house like that, he must be no ordinary old man. Would his old dick even get hard?

Imagination is fun. Because it can satisfy curiosities that can’t be fulfilled in reality.

Especially for someone like me, living a plant-like existence, unable to do anything inside the house. You don’t only see people in a vegetative state in hospitals. Isn’t that exactly me?

I flailed my body and collapsed onto the bed. And so, my imagination fell off a strange cliff and headed towards Kang Jun, who was once again Han Junwoo.

An familiar face shimmered into my vision as I lay in bed, just sleeping. It was Kang Jun. It was Kang Jun, crawling on the floor and bawling. Snot dripped freely from his nose, and drool from his mouth. His pale skin was covered in wounds that looked like they’d bleed any moment, and others that had already scabbed over.

Ah, it’s a good sight.

This time, his eyes were covered, so I couldn’t tell what expression Kang Jun was making. But he struggled to crawl away, trying to escape anywhere, then collapsed onto the floor. I don’t know where he was hit, but his veins were prominently bulging. The skin was peeled back, revealing red flesh.

“It suits him.”

My lips curled up automatically. Thinking fun thoughts made my body feel light. I effortlessly lifted my lethargic body and abruptly pulled Kang Jun’s hair, which was thrashing wildly.

He definitely seemed to be in pain, but what a tough bastard, he didn’t even scream once. How vexing. Not even a single sound. I let go of his hair, lifted the edge of the blanket, and covered the struggling Kang Jun. Then I wrapped the blanket around him so tightly it was suffocating. He probably made it even harder to breathe.