Eighteen’s Bed Novel Completed - Chapter 62. The Age of Misfortune, Nineteen

“Move.”

Go Yohan’s greeting was as absurd as the ending of a B-movie.

“Of all things, why did your right arm have to be the one that got hurt? How are you going to take notes?”

My homeroom teacher looked at my plastered hand with pity.

“They said it’ll only be for three months.”

The teacher, hearing my words that sounded like an excuse, lowered their eyes.

“Oh dear, how did you get hurt?”

It was a light scolding. I wondered. Was the soft-hearted teacher truly worried about my grades, or were they worried that the class average might drop? Perhaps it was both. People in this world tend to think in ways that benefit themselves.

At least, the adults I grew up watching were like that.

Today, I didn’t come to morning classes, using my injury as an excuse to avoid Go Yohan. The result was a private meeting with the teacher, but at least it was better than meeting Go Yohan. I didn’t want to show up even if it killed me. I was afraid of my parents, who would immediately be contacted if I skipped school without permission. To be precise, I was afraid of my parents asking for the reason.

“I fell. On the stairs.”

“Be more careful. How could a quick-witted kid like you make such a mistake?”

Indeed. Why did I make such a mistake?

I subtly smiled, hiding my low spirits from the adult in front of me. Then, foolishly, I unconsciously scratched near my neck with my left hand. I winced at the stinging pain, like a knife cutting into my skin.

“Ah…”

“Oh, you hurt yourself there too?”

“Ah, yes.”

“What are we going to do? I feel so stifled inside.”

“I’m sorry.”

“You’ll be able to do well on the test, right? Even with your left hand?”

“Probably, yes. I can do it.”

I nodded to myself.

“I have to do well.”

“If you ever have any difficulties or hard times, just tell me anytime. Okay? I’ll help you as much as I can.”

“Teacher Min, don’t worry too much. He says he’ll do well. Very well.”

The geography teacher, quite old, who had been reading a newspaper while leaning back in his chair, cleared his throat and looked at me over the newspaper. It seemed that geography class was also canceled today.

“Why did he have to get hurt now, of all times?”

It’s not like I wanted to get hurt. I clenched my teeth, looking at his wrinkled face. That teacher always acted like this whenever he saw me. He always had to be sarcastic about everything. Ahem. His deeply wrinkled philtrum moved as he cleared his throat, thick with phlegm from old age.

“Don’t cause trouble for the teachers. You take care of your own business.”

I lowered my head silently. What did I even do? It was to hide my rising irritation. The homeroom teacher awkwardly smiled at the geography teacher and then tried to soothe me.

“He’s just saying that. All the teachers like Jun and worry about him. Other teachers won’t be troubled. You can come to us anytime.”

“I’m fine.”

As if I couldn’t distinguish between malicious and well-intentioned advice. But to me, who needed good grades, there was no one more terrifying than a teacher, so I had to quietly shut up and pretend to understand everything.

“The teacher is right. I’ll take care of my own business.”

“Oh dear. I’ll tell the other teachers to pay good attention to you.”

Ahem-mm! The old teacher cleared his throat. His murky eyes briefly swept over me and the homeroom teacher, then quickly turned away. The hint he was giving was far from subtle. Annoying old raccoon. That teacher never liked me from the start. There was no reason. He’d been sitting in the teachers’ office for so long that he had useless power within the school, and perhaps to show it off, he always picked on one student subtly.

He was like a fisherman casting a bait, hoping someone would bite. So, getting more dislike would only cause more trouble. I should just get out of here quickly before he notices me more. I bowed my head low.

“Thank you. I’ll head back to the classroom now.”

“Alright. Be careful with your arm. Really, what a shame.”

“Don’t worry. I’m really fine.”

“Still…”

“Then I’ll see you in class later. Goodbye, teachers.”

“Oh, alright.”

“Right.”

A phlegmy voice answered without looking at me. The sound of the newspaper turning was louder than his reply. I adjusted my backpack strap, which kept sliding off my shoulder due to the weight being unevenly distributed. As I left the teachers’ office and closed the door, I heard the old teacher’s voice through the gap in the thin plywood-like door. Unlike the voice that had just acknowledged my greeting, it was loud and booming.

“That kid, I just can’t talk to him. He’s too cold.”

“Jun? No, teacher, Jun is really kind. He helps me so much.”

“Teacher Min, what are you going to do with such a lack of discernment? That’s not kindness, that’s pretending to be kind. He’s not even friendly… Tsk! Anyway, I don’t like him.”

“Teacher Min, don’t believe him. That old man only dislikes handsome kids.”

“What?”

“Teacher Lee. When you get old, at least try to be kind-hearted.”

The one who interrupted was another teacher, about the same age as the geography teacher. He had just been watching before, but now that I was gone, he playfully chided him. Even though they insulted each other like this, they were all colleagues who ate from the same pot, so they kept it within the bounds of playful banter.

I should have closed the door faster.

Anyway, the teachers’ gossip about me wasn’t worth listening to. What could I do even if I heard it? It wasn’t something I could fix. It would just leave me with a nasty feeling.

But I couldn’t help but feel annoyed. Do old people enjoy tormenting kids so much? What was with him speaking so loudly right after I left, even before the door closed? Was he deliberately trying to make me hear it?

My lower lip jutted out unconsciously.

“Hey.”

“Huh? Oh.”

“Are you going into the teachers’ office?”

I was startled by the sudden, unfamiliar voice. I quickly turned my head. A familiar face, whose name I didn’t know, stood awkwardly by the door. I waved my hand and said as calmly as possible.

“No, I was just closing the door.”

“Then I’ll go in.”

“Okay.”

I nodded and pulled my slipping backpack back up. Worried that the teachers might see me through the open gap, I quickly left the hallway. As I walked, break time began, and I stood in the middle of the hallway filled with running boys, looking at the classroom door, which felt strangely off-limits.

Go Yohan was inside there.

I clutched my neck with my left hand. A faint breath, like a candle flame flickering in the wind, trembled inside me, then escaped roughly. The opaque classroom window felt exactly like my stifled heart. The terribly quiet classroom across the noisy hallway bothered me even more. If I opened the door, all eyes would surely be on me.

My chest tightened.

“Damn it, if it was going to be like this, a class with delinquents in the second year would have been better.”

But avoiding it wouldn’t solve anything. Before opening the door, I prayed to every god I could remember. I knew well that what I was doing was the tantrum of a petty atheist, but I also knew that miracles were the only thing I could lean on.

Still, my luck in this area wasn’t bad.

Please, let my luck be good today too. I desperately hoped Go Yohan would also want to avoid me. And I prayed dozens of times that Go Yohan wouldn’t be in the classroom, then opened the door. At that moment, I experienced my worst luck.

“Move.”

Was it the age of misfortune? But if I was eighteen, wasn’t it yet the age of misfortune? And if I was in my age of misfortune, wasn’t that bastard too? Why did I have to see Go Yohan the moment I opened the door? Just my luck, Go Yohan also seemed to be trying to open the door and leave, standing awkwardly with his arm raised. Go Yohan only said one word to me, who was blocking the door. He didn’t even make eye contact.

“…”

Hearing those words, I couldn’t stubbornly refuse or argue.

His gaze was filled with a strange malice that stimulated a fear deep within my heart. My mouth froze stiff. Go Yohan brushed past my shoulder. It was a clear expression of displeasure.

At that moment, I knew.

I was a discarded card.

My head went cold. The moment I lifted my head, feeling as if all the blood had drained to my feet, I saw two guys sitting in the back row make eye contact and whisper quietly. They were subtly looking at me. I slowly opened my mouth, trying to appear as if nothing had happened, as if it was nothing to me.

“What…?”

Damn it. I was pathetically pathetic. If I could take back those words, I’d sell my life for it.

“…Ah, sh*t.”

There are days when nothing goes right. At that time I liked Han Junwoo.

Looking back, my life never revolved around me. I wasn’t the center of the world, and no matter how much I tried, I was just a high school student. And now, was it the age of misfortune? Comparing the battle of luck between Go Yohan and me, Go Yohan always seemed to be the winner.

I became certain of that fact because of the midterm exams.

I waited for Go Yohan’s punishment all along. Go Yohan did nothing, but I was even more parched because I knew he was waiting for the right time. The most important thing was that Go Yohan truly did nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Go Yohan slowly began to treat me like a third party in this class. Everyone was a little puzzled, but it was so subtle that they couldn’t be sure. For example, he would call Kim Seokmin and Lee Seokhyun, and subtly exclude me from lunch. Everyone understood and laughed, but stories were exchanged that I couldn’t comprehend. It felt like chewing on a hard stone, making my teeth ache.

“Hey, remember that guy from our first year? He works at that gas station.”

“Damn, I knew he’d end up like that after causing such a ruckus.”

I didn’t know. Who caused what trouble in the first year, which gas station he worked at, why, or how he was doing it now. But everyone except me knew. Finally, I got up, feeling awkward.

“Um, I’ll get up first.”

“Ah, ah, sorry. Hey, we talked too much about things only we know.”

To Kim Seokmin’s sincere apology, I replied with a strange, forced smile.

“No, I have to… study. Midterms are in a few days.”

“Right, that’s true. Hey, Yohan. Are you going up too?”

Kim Seokmin and Lee Seokhyun’s gaze turned to Go Yohan. Go Yohan licked the inside of his gums with his tongue, then glared at me with incredibly cold eyes. There was no answer. Kim Seokmin and Lee Seokhyun, sensing the atmosphere, looked at me with eyes that had changed terrifyingly quickly.

“…I’ll go.”

“…”

I picked up my tray and hastily left my seat. I couldn’t look back. I felt like I was dying of thirst.

After that, I couldn’t eat lunch with them. As always, Go Yohan would come to my seat during lunchtime and wait for me, but this time, he merely tapped my desk with his finger and left. I had no chance.

The nightmare of my senior year began at this time. It was the event that signaled the prelude to my despair.

Damn it. I didn’t know I’d be so bad at using my left hand. I looked at my watch to fill in the OMR card, and it was already one minute before the end. Other subjects with only multiple-choice questions didn’t matter at all, but the problem was math. I had no talent for mental arithmetic, and my left hand was woefully inadequate for scribbling down equations.

I focused and picked up the computer pen, but when the bell rang, I had only managed to mark up to question 25. I stood stiffly, my mind blank, until the physical education teacher, who was supervising the exam, opened his mouth. I hastily filled in the remaining blanks.

“Put your pens down and collect them from the back.”