Eighteen’s Bed Novel Completed - Chapter 198

One minute, two minutes, three minutes, four minutes, five minutes passed. When the piercing noise from outside entered the classroom, the classroom door opened, and a pale face entered with it. I instinctively closed my eyes. Meanwhile, my hand trembled, unnaturally fumbling for the desk. My right hand is trash. I want to cut it off right now.

Steps of a steady pace approached with a thud. And stopped in front of me, and my breath stopped too. A subtle presence didn’t leave my desk. My right hand unnaturally tapped the desk again. Only then did a calm voice descend.

“Yoohan-ah.”

“…”

Get lost. I don’t really feel like talking to you. You gay bastard.

“You didn’t turn in your parent-teacher notice? The homeroom teacher is about to start checking, and your notice wasn’t there.”

“…”

“Just in case. I have an extra, so use that and turn it in.”

With a rustling sound, the smell of gray newsprint wafted under my nose. Footsteps were heard again, and I slowly opened my eyes. In front of me was the parent-teacher notice the homeroom teacher had insisted on getting a few days ago. I raised my hand and stroked the rough paper, then, with a sudden thought, I sprang up from my seat.

“Hey, you…!”

You knew my name? You actually knew it? That’s what I was going to ask.

I only needed to ask that. But Kang Jun had already disappeared. A sense of emptiness washed over me. How pathetic, rushing off so frantically. Surely not just to eat with that Han Junwoo bastard? What a worthless bastard.

‘Kang Jun, he’s a pushover. A smart pushover. He pretends not to be, but he fawns over guys higher in the pecking order. That’s exactly his level.’

Words I had heard sometime before flowed gently in my ears. The older I got, the more I realized my palm was small, and there was too much it couldn’t hold. Sand just slips through your fingers, doesn’t it? It was the same this time. The illusion born of a seventeen-year-old’s arrogance slipped through my fingers.

After that, I heard that Han Junwoo arbitrarily decided not to participate in kick dodgeball. I ended up breaking my mechanical pencil with one hand.

“Do you know Edison was originally a retarded bastard?”

“Ah, fuck. It’s GoYohan saying that again. I heard that in my first year of high school too. Hey, don’t listen to him. Don’t listen to him. If you listen to that, he’ll just chant the same thing again. If you don’t want your ears to burst, everyone pretends you didn’t hear him.”

“Edison was originally a retarded bastard with shitty grades, so he got expelled from school. They even sent a parent-teacher notice, you know? ‘Your kid is too stupid, no teacher wants to teach him, so just make him work at home.’ But do you know what his mom said when she got that notice? She said the school told her, ‘Our kid is so smart, no teacher can handle him, so educate him professionally at home.’ Edison thought he was smart his whole life. But in reality, he was a retarded bastard. Interesting, isn’t it, friends?”

“Ah, maybe he got struck by lightning or something and became a genius. See? Oops, isn’t that a bit much to say?”

“This bastard. He has a sneaky side. Don’t you think? Yoohan-ah?”

I didn’t answer the question. I’ve said what I wanted to say, so now I’m satisfied. The Edison story is so funny. Even twice a day isn’t enough. I didn’t care if the kids couldn’t relate to my humor. They weren’t my friends anyway. There’s no need to waste time on lives that will only share a classroom for a short while. I just needed to say what I wanted to say. I got up from my seat with a light heart.

“Oh, where are you going?”

“What’s it to you? You fucking bastards. Are you stalkers?”

“Going to the bathroom? Let’s go together.”

“No, I don’t want to. Don’t even think about coming to the bathroom until I’m back. I want to use it alone.”

“I’m saying I’ll pee my own pee. Huh?”

“Don’t pee, I said. You must think I’m joking.”

Unfortunately, I tend to hold grudges quite a bit. It’s a completely different matter from me speaking cheerfully. The bastard who ignored my story doesn’t even deserve to go to the bathroom. I tapped the boundary between Choi Dong—I can’t remember after that—’s forehead and where his hair began, and laughed.

And the other kids were flustered, laughing at the guy who said, “Hey, really? No, not really?”

“Pee on the floor. Got it?”

And I lightly tapped his forehead, chest, and both shoulders. Until I left the classroom, I kept smiling brightly. At least until I stepped over the classroom threshold.

As soon as I stepped into the hallway, my smile vanished. I walked down the hallway with long, almost running strides. Kang Jun wasn’t in the classroom. Han Junwoo wasn’t either. Then there’s only one answer. He’s probably watching that smoking bastard again. What a moron. Is smoking really that good? There’s no moron like that moron.

Kang Jun likes Han Junwoo.

Kang Jun is a sneaky bastard. He hides his dark intentions so well that no one knew Kang Jun harbored ill will towards Han Junwoo. They just say Kang Jun is a pushover. That he’s nice.

Nice? Absolutely, Kang Jun is never nice.

I confirmed his true nature a few days ago in the cafeteria.

‘Hey, wanna eat together?’

It was something I blurted out as soon as I saw Han Junwoo and Kang Jun eating alone. Actually, there was a bit of spite too. I don’t know where that spite originated. The entire time I was putting down my tray, I watched Kang Jun. And Kang Jun watched me too. More accurately, he glared.

Oh, look at this bastard. A hollow laugh escaped me.

After that, I acted friendly towards Han Junwoo. Then Kang Jun looked at me instead of Han Junwoo. Kang Jun probably doesn’t know that I acted even friendlier because I found that funny.

One more thing. I called Kang Jun ‘Jun’ instead of ‘Kang Jun’. I know where this feeling came from. I wanted to be special. Because all the other bastards called Kang Jun ‘Kang Jun’. If I called him ‘Jun’, Kang Jun would react to my call first among countless others, wouldn’t he? I originally like special things.

This time, I shoved Kang Jun into a locker. He was already such a skinny bastard that he somehow fit into that narrow locker. Also, the closer I got to Kang Jun, the more the Kang Jun in my imagination gained a voice. Usually, lines like “I’m sorry,” “I was wrong,” “I won’t do that to you again,” were included.

A pitiful sound came from the closed locker door. That’s what you get for not treating me better.

The closer I got to Han Junwoo, the more Kang Jun’s devotion transferred to me. It was sickening.

Kang Jun is smart? Which bastard spread that bullshit rumor? Kang Jun was a moron who would rush out even if Han Junwoo called him at 4 AM. What’s even funnier is that Kang Jun would then pretend to be a cool friend. Rushing out to a hotel in a taxi at 4 AM itself isn’t cool at all.

Sometimes, when Han Junwoo’s card was declined, Kang Jun would come and pay for him. Han Junwoo’s friends would say, “Kang Jun really is nice.”

Is that being nice, you fucking bastards? Han Junwoo also said it boastfully.

“Kang Jun is very nice. I really did well to have him as a friend.”

Hearing that, I narrowed my eyes, imagining shoving a rubber ball into Han Junwoo’s mouth.

At the beginning of the semester, out of curiosity, I waited for Kang Jun without going home until dawn. But he really came as soon as Han Junwoo called. That moron. Does he think ‘nice’ is actually a compliment?

“Kang Jun is very nice.”

Does that stupid bastard Kang Jun know how brutally those words chew people up?

Still, a priest once said. Heaven helps those who help themselves. I willingly suppressed my nauseating disgust and decided to help the pitiful, unfortunate Kang Jun. I spent time next to the boring Han Junwoo, just watching him commit petty crimes. And since everyone liked it when I was next to Han Junwoo, I generously played along. And whenever it got a bit late, I’d sarcastically lead Han Junwoo’s group out.

There were some annoying moments, but Kang Jun was pitiful, wasn’t he? They said he was nice. And like an idiot. Honestly, I have no right to talk, as I violate Kang Jun almost every day and make him ejaculate in my imagination.

Annoyingly, Han Junwoo liked my actions. He said it was perfect for quietly going to have sex. He said the other bastards were clearly high schoolers, so they weren’t good. No, who is he to like or dislike? How absurd. I held back because I’m nice. If I had a slightly worse temper, I would’ve stuck a soju bottle in this bastard’s mouth and killed him right now.

Why does Kang Jun treat Han Junwoo like that? Is it really because Han Junwoo is somewhat popular, as the kids say?

If so, it’s unfair. If I had been in the same class as Kang Jun in first year, not Han Junwoo, then Kang Jun would surely have been devoted to me, not Han Junwoo. Imagining Kang Jun rushing over at 4 AM to hand me his credit card, blood rushed downwards.

“I’m jealous, Han Junwoo.”

“What?”

Han Junwoo, slouched in his chair, leaned his ear towards me. Ah, I want to tear off that ear right now and put it in that bastard’s dinner. I slowly bent down and told Han Junwoo again.

“Go die.”

“I thought it was something else. Are you acting up again?”

“Not acting up, it’s a preview.”

“A preview of what?”

“Your future.”

Han Junwoo looked at me with a ‘what are you talking about now’ expression, but I didn’t want to be kind enough to explain everything to him. I straightened my bent back and stood up from the chair using only my leg strength. Then I picked up the phone lying on the desk.

What kind of pictures were on my phone? Is there still one of Kang Jun lying on the mat in his gym uniform?

“If English asks for me, tell them I went to the infirmary.”

“You don’t smoke.”

“To relieve myself.”

“Yoohan-ah, stop peeing so much. You’re cracking the toilet because your virility is so strong.”

“…”

I just shrugged at Kim Seokmin’s words, but Han Junwoo looked at my phone and me without saying anything. From that gaze, I read what Han Junwoo wanted to say. Han Junwoo probably understood the meaning of ‘going to relieve myself’ exactly. Anyway, a slutty pervert is different, I guess.