Eighteen’s Bed Novel Completed - Chapter 31

The atmosphere, which had soared with Kim Minho’s excited tone, plummeted again. When I became serious, the smile disappeared from Kim Minho’s face. Then he suddenly threw the book he was holding. What a bluff. I subtly glared at Kim Minho’s face from my chair.

“What? You? Are you picking a fight with me, given your place?”

“Let’s go outside and talk.”

I approached Kim Minho, grabbed his arm, and whispered quietly. I wasn’t trying to make sure it wasn’t heard. Rather, I wanted everyone to hear it. Fortunately, Kim Minho moved exactly as I wanted. He raised his arm, shook off my hand, and glared at me.

Ah. Thank goodness he’s stupid.

“Let go. What did you just say? Did you just lecture me? Wow—fuck. Did you just scold me?”

“Kim Minho. I said stop.”

“Kim Minho. I said stop? Crazy, he’s acting so cool. A worthless bastard.”

“I said let’s go outside and talk.”

“I don’t want to, what are you gonna do about it? Fucking hell. What are you gonna do about it?”

“Can’t you see the class atmosphere? How long are you going to keep playing that bullying game? A month is enough. There’s a limit. The semester is almost over. If you want to play, play all you want during vacation. What more is there to gain by making noise here? Anyway, let’s not cause trouble loudly in the classroom.”

I suppressed the natural feeling of patheticness and tried hard to act as if I was worried about the other students.

“Fucking hell. Kang Jun is acting so nice. Crazy, wow—look at this. I never dreamed this bastard was such a niiiiice guy! Who are you? Who the fuck are you to tell me what to do? You bastard, if you were just standing by, why don’t you keep standing by? Huh?”

“Haa.”

I let out a natural sigh and rubbed my forehead. Kim Minho seemed to interpret that attitude as hostility.

“Why. Do you also feel a tickle when you see Han Taesan? Oh, right. You were originally Han Junwoo’s friend too, weren’t you?”

His level is truly low. I can see why Go Yohan ignores him. Kim Minho doesn’t know his limits.

“…”

However, I absolutely did not raise my voice.

It was clear that Kim Minho, like Park Dongcheol, had no tact. It was two weeks before final exams, and our school had as many rich students as poor ones.

Kim Minho should have known that children from wealthy families lived under academic pressure. That there was something scarier in their world than Kim Minho’s territorial marking. Of course, poor Kim Minho wouldn’t know, and didn’t understand. So he must have overlooked the possibility of a situation like this happening right now.

“Does he use the classroom alone?”

The first courageous words burst out from the front of the classroom. Someone had finally had enough and blurted it out.

The first step is always the hardest, but once you take it, the second is easy. I started it, and someone less courageous than me spoke up. That was Ahn Jisoo. Following Ahn Jisoo’s statement, the top student in the school, words poured out like a dam breaking.

“If you’re going to be a nuisance, go outside and talk.”

“Yeah, who’s ruining the atmosphere?”

“Guys! Be quiet! Teacher’s coming.”

“Ah, Kim Minho has been acting up since forever, is he finally getting his way? So annoying.”

“Hey—guys. Be quiet. Teacher’s coming—!”

Among those who chattered at this opportune moment was Hong Hwijun. He was part of Han Junwoo’s group, and now a bastard who had fallen away. Hong Hwijun criticized Kim Minho more harshly than even the students who studied well.

“Indeed.”

A low voice pierced my ears amidst the murmuring. It was a voice right next to me. Go Yohan, at the edge of my vision, grinned. And habitually, he pressed the tip of his thumb with his canine tooth and continued.

“The kids are right. Minho. You went too far.”

“Hey, fuck. Go Yohan. What the hell. Whose side are you on?”

“No—I mean, looking at it, the kids have a right to be angry. A student shouldn’t ruin the class atmosphere.”

He bit his thumb and smiled playfully. Seeing that smile, my chest felt tight and happy, and a feeling of pride welled up inside me. I almost burst out laughing without realizing it. It’s a good thing Go Yohan is quick-witted. Even more surprising was the fact that Lee Seokhyun backed me and Go Yohan.

“Yeah. Hey. If you’re going to joke around, read the room.”

“What? Lee Seokhyun, you fucking—”

Kim Minho’s face turned red and he fumed. Just as he was about to curse loudly, Go Yohan suddenly stood up, walked into the hallway, and then unexpectedly opened the door to the next classroom.

“Teacher! Kim Minho is making noise during self-study time!”

It was utterly absurd. The teacher who emerged from the next classroom was the notorious PE teacher, and Go Yohan shamelessly pointed at Kim Minho from outside the classroom and said,

“This guy. This guy. He’s too loud. Hurry up and scold him.”

The PE teacher seemed to have a lot of pent-up frustration with Kim Minho, who often skipped his classes. That’s probably why he dragged Kim Minho out without even assessing the situation. At the same time, he loudly shouted that if they disturbed the study atmosphere again, he would call their parents. The situation ended like that. Kim Minho, who was standing in the hallway looking out the window, presumably at the PE teacher’s command, glared at me.

Idiot. What are you going to do by glaring? I don’t care if Kim Minho hates me or not. The important thing is that the other kids in the class will implicitly ignore Kim Minho now. The harvest was better than I expected. I never dreamed Lee Seokhyun would step in.

Then what about Go Yohan? In fact, I think I implicitly believed that Go Yohan would help. I don’t know why, but I felt that confidence. Why? My mind was enchantingly complex. But I pretended nothing had happened, quietly sat down, and solved problems in my workbook.

And unfortunately, my actions seemed to have made someone I truly disliked very happy. I met Han Taesan while running an errand during cleaning time. Han Taesan hesitated for a long time, then spoke to me.

“…Thank you.”

Watching him bow his head and pick at his fingernails, I clicked my tongue inwardly.

“Thank you? No, I’m sorry I couldn’t help you sooner.”

“Ah, no… Really, for me, really… Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me too much. It’s nothing great.”

Who said I did it for you? You just happened to get lucky. Overinflated ego. Ugh.

The peace showed no signs of ending. Not even until the final exams were over. Han Junwoo still hadn’t returned. Yet, Kim Minho couldn’t make noise at the back of the classroom as usual.

In fact, he seemed to have tried a few times to change the class atmosphere, but all attempts failed. Whenever Kim Minho tried to say something, a reprimand always followed. In truth, Hong Hwijun was mostly the one excitedly putting him down. Aside from that, the others were tactful enough not to criticize Kim Minho more than they had that day.

Anyway, this criticism would only be temporary, and it was obvious that Kim Minho would make a spectacular comeback. Although he wavered for a moment, it wasn’t easy to bring Kim Minho down.

The teachers were thrilled. Seeing the dejected Kim Minho, they seized the opportunity to nag him.

“Alright, Minho. You’re in your final year now, so let’s get the atmosphere right and focus.”

“Ah, what are you talking about?”

“You know our school was chosen as a high school with excellent academic results this year, right? This year is important. Don’t disturb the kids who study well and get your act together, you.”

To put it bluntly, it meant, you’re a poor student who can’t study. Kim Minho pressed his lips together and noisily took out a book, throwing it onto his desk. The ear-splitting noise drew all eyes to Kim Minho. Oh, seriously. He’s making it so obvious he’s angry. I shook my head in disbelief, and Go Yohan straightened his back stiffly and grinned.

“Kim Minho, don’t throw books.”

“What, fuck.”

“Fuck?”

“…”

“…Did you just say ‘fuck’ to me?”

“No, I didn’t… Ah, hey. It was a joke. A joke. Why are you taking it seriously? You crazy bastard.”

“Yohan, Minho. Both of you, be quiet!”

The teacher banged the blackboard with his fist, but Go Yohan continued to stare silently at Kim Minho, his back still straight. Kim Minho, sensing the mood, quieted down again. Only then did Go Yohan turn his head to look at the teacher.

“Anyway, what a funny bastard…”

I sneered, looking at the defeated silence. Live your whole life like that, a low-life. Idiot.

“What’s so funny?”

“Huh?”

Suddenly, a low, small voice whispered in my left ear. For a moment, my left neck muscle stung as if cut by a knife. Goosebumps rose on my left arm. My body, which should have moved freely, felt stiff. In the midst of it, I flinched and covered my mouth with my right hand. Did he hear?

“You seem to be having a lot of fun.”

I glanced sideways and saw Go Yohan still leaning close to my ear. Damn it, my head suddenly felt hot, so I avoided his gaze. On Go Yohan’s desk was a workbook with only the front part heavily underlined. Looking closely, it was non-fiction. The muscles around my ear felt like they were pouring downwards.

“It’s nothing.”

“What’s that nothing? Tell me too.”

The whisper reaching my ear grew more and more intimate. Now his voice was full of playfulness. Strangely, I couldn’t answer right away. It was even more so because my mind had frozen, and I had missed Go Yohan’s voice. I frowned one eyebrow. I had a bad feeling. A really bad feeling. A slender finger touched my earlobe. I suddenly flinched and subtly glanced at him.

“It’s really nothing.”

“What is nothing?”

“I just laughed because I thought it was funny by myself.”

I didn’t particularly want to tell him my gloomy inner thoughts. I hesitated whether to tell him or not, then felt endlessly ashamed of my momentarily childish thought and kept my mouth shut. However, Go Yohan, seemingly offended by something, pushed the finger that was holding my earlobe outwards as if throwing it away. My head turned slightly in the wind, and I couldn’t see Go Yohan’s face. The voice that came down my neck was somehow a little cold.

“Ah, what.”

‘What,’ he said?

There was no chance to explain. It was because Go Yohan’s cool eyes swept over me.

“Kang Jun, don’t talk to me.”

“Wait, what?”

“Fuck… I’m getting annoyed.”

“No, that’s… Hey.”

Go Yohan brushed my hand away with his arm as I tried to speak and ignored me. I desperately racked my brain, wondering what I had said wrong. There was no answer. Was he really acting like this just because I didn’t tell him why I laughed?

However, after that, Go Yohan truly did not speak a single word to me. That silence bothered me immensely. A feeling of unease sprouted in my chest.

Amidst the noisy commotion, I buried my head in my workbook, drawing lines on problems I couldn’t even read. When I occasionally felt a gaze and pretended to look at my watch, I sometimes made eye contact with Han Taesan. His large eyes would briefly waver when they met mine, then calmly settle. At the same time, my mood would sink terribly, as if it had fallen to the bottom of the ocean. I thought, kindness can be unpleasant too.

I was convinced that the peculiar tug-of-war between Go Yohan and me was a battle of wills when lunchtime began.

It was because Go Yohan went out to eat lunch with Lee Seokhyun. Park Dongcheol and Kim Seokmin, with somewhat surprised faces, vaguely told me to get my wallet too, but Go Yohan stopped them.

“Jun said he’s going to study.”

When did I say that? I opened my mouth in disbelief and glared at Go Yohan, and Go Yohan glared back at me just the same. However, my actions of pretending to study with my nose buried in a book during every break time backfired on me.

“Ah… Well, Jun has been studying hard today.”

Park Dongcheol affirmed. One of Go Yohan’s eyebrows twitched upwards. And he quietly looked down with his narrow eyes. His face, showing something displeased, swept over Park Dongcheol from head to toe.

“…”

I was not so foolish as to make a fuss and follow along tactlessly. I tapped my workbook with my mechanical pencil and, as usual, with a smile that anyone would see as kind and gentle, I said,

“Yeah. I couldn’t finish my tutoring homework, so I can’t go because I need to finish this. You guys go ahead.”

Did you see that? Your instigation doesn’t even bother me. Go Yohan’s deep eyes narrowed further. Even though it bothered him so much, he tried not to let it show.

Go Yohan is tall. The tallest in the school. His height, measured in the last physical examination, was a whopping 187 cm.

The kids in my class once said it was good that Go Yohan had no more growing to do. But at some point, I realized that Go Yohan’s growth spurt was still not over. I clearly witnessed Go Yohan, who used to pass through the classroom door without difficulty around this summer, having to slightly duck his head to enter around the beginning of winter. I have no idea where Go Yohan’s crown of the head touched the classroom door in spring, but Go Yohan in winter is clear.

Go Yohan always stood at the back. Because he was tall. Just like now. Whether they were pretending to be sorry or genuinely sorry, the guys who kept insisting on going together couldn’t see Go Yohan’s expression behind them. Only I, seeing him from the front, saw that expression.

However, that expression was one that no one had ever shown me before, so I had no idea how to describe it or how to interpret it. I only knew that it held a subtle hostility. Fearing that gaze, I naturally picked up my pen and subtly turned away from Go Yohan.

“Yeah, just solve your problems, you idiot.”

Go Yohan scoffed from behind me.

“Hey…”

Kim Seokmin nudged Go Yohan’s arm, reprimanding him.

“What?”

Go Yohan pushed Kim Seokmin’s shoulder hard, annoyed. Kim Seokmin, who almost stumbled forward, forced a smile and said,

“Hey, guys. Let’s go quickly. Not much time left.”

“Ah… Right. Kang Jun, study hard.”