Eighteen’s Bed Novel Completed - Chapter 68

If I wasn’t on Han Junwoo’s or Go Yohan’s side, I’d be ignored, treated like a loser if I couldn’t get into their group, and had to laugh off humiliating treatment as a joke in that small space. So what was I supposed to do?

“What, do you want me to be a pathetic loner?”

So now, what the hell did I get?

What kind of state am I living in now, having been cast out by Go Yohan just as he cast me out? Those dog-like bastards. If they’re going to call me a bat or whatever, then don’t make me one. If I wasn’t a bat, they would have just let me die. How are Hong Hwijun, Choi Dong-hwan, and Park Dongcheol living at school now? They’re living like idiots. They can’t even do it themselves.

What the hell, why me, why me? You bastards. What more do you want from me?

“Damn it!”

Unable to contain my anger, I threw the slipper I was holding onto the floor.

Immediately, a car horn blared. Startled by the ear-splitting sound, I raised my head. There was a large foreign car there. And I saw my slipper, hit by the rear bumper and lying on the ground. My eyes widened as much as they could. Kang Jun. You idiot. The window slowly rolled down. The person who poked their head out was a man who looked to be in his early 30s.

“What are you doing to my car! You bastard!”

“…I’m sorry.”

“Just my luck. Get out of the way!”

My face burned. I hastily bowed my head and awkwardly walked over to pick up the slipper. In the process, my cast arm felt heavy, and I stumbled once. The car started violently. Acrid exhaust fumes hit my face. I involuntarily coughed.

“Cough, cough…!”

I quickly got up and, dragging my bleeding foot, hurriedly entered the alley. I leaned against the wall, repeatedly inhaling and exhaling. As my heart rate calmed down, shame immediately washed over me.

“Crazy, stupid bastard…”

The anger I had spewed out was embarrassing, and the result of my clumsy anger was also embarrassing.

As expected, nothing goes right in my life. Damn it. I slowly lowered myself and sat on the ground. My white sock had already turned red. It seemed to be quite a large tear. I might have stepped on a few more pieces while moving hurriedly. However, my embarrassing situation was a greater wound to me than my injured foot, so I couldn’t get up for a while.

As expected, it was torn.

I had to remove small pieces embedded in my flesh and get eight stitches. Moreover, there was no need to buy new shoes. I wouldn’t be able to wear them properly anyway. I had to go to school wearing indoor shoes with my left foot bandaged. It was fortunate that the weather was warm.

My right arm was already injured anyway, so I figured my left foot didn’t matter. I even thought it was a good thing that I was told to avoid touching the wound as much as possible. Now I won’t have to wear shoes for a while. I could hide the fact that someone had stolen my shoes.

I didn’t tell my parents. Still, I couldn’t avoid the housekeeper’s gaze, who stared at my foot at dinner. Feeling guilty under her indifferent gaze, I confessed first.

“I accidentally hurt myself at school. It’ll heal quickly. Please don’t tell my parents.”

“Your parents?”

“Yes, because I don’t want them to worry.”

“…”

The housekeeper didn’t say much, but I knew she wouldn’t tell them as I asked. Because if she told my parents I was hurt, she would be the one getting scolded by them.

She might even be grateful to me for asking her not to tell.

My foot hurt too much to walk to school. I should have taken the crutches when the hospital recommended them. I refused because I thought they would be too conspicuous, but daily life was inconvenient. I worried briefly, then decided I didn’t need crutches after all and picked up my phone. I’d just take a taxi.

“…”

After arriving at school, I opened the classroom door to a silence so profound it was almost deafening. The kids who were fed up with studying were already out in the hallway, chatting, and those uninterested in conversation were focused on solving their workbooks. The world continued to turn peacefully, even when I was struggling. My painful days were no different from ordinary life for many people.

At this moment, I was grateful for that. I didn’t want to show Kang Jun, whose foot was torn and heavily bandaged. I’d be found out eventually, but I wanted to delay the time of being noticed as much as possible.

But what you desperately wish for never comes true. Did I limp too much? The off-beat footsteps seemed to annoy the kids in the classroom. Two or three people looked up and stared at me. Damn it. A kid I had never even talked to since moving classes glanced at me, and his gaze fell downwards. No way. The kid, whose face looked a little surprised at my foot, opened his mouth wide.

“Kang Jun. Did you get hurt again?”

“Uh, uh… yeah.”

“Ugh. That must hurt.”

The gaze that had been looking at my foot with furrowed brows suddenly became burdensome. I don’t know why even now, but I subtly hid my injured foot by turning it away. I guess I was embarrassed. I couldn’t even use the excuse of falling anymore.

“How did it happen?”

“Ah. I just stepped on glass.”

So I told the truth. Omitting how I happened to step on it.

“Ah-.”

The guy nodded, but his gaze still didn’t leave my foot. He had a somewhat uneasy expression. What’s he looking at? I quickly headed to my seat. As soon as I sat down, Im Yungi and Park Ha-on stopped whispering. After a short silence, they exchanged glances, then Im Yungi turned around.

“You said you got hurt?”

“…Yeah.”

“Oh dear, ugh. How did you get hurt like that?”

What is this? I couldn’t help but frown. I shortened my words and lengthened my thoughts.

“I dropped a cup on the floor while getting water in the early morning.”

“Ah-. I see.”

Im Yungi looked at Park Ha-on and smiled. Park Ha-on nudged Im Yungi with his elbow as if scolding him and said to me.

“You must be cursed this year.”

“Yeah. I was careless.”

To act as if nothing happened, as if it was truly an accident, you have to say it very lightly. At times like this, my face, which doesn’t easily show emotion, becomes an advantage. I shrugged my shoulders.

“I’m trying to think of it as bad luck being over.”

“Isn’t that bad luck too strong? How many stitches did you get?”

“Eight stitches.”

“Wow. Crazy. Did you step on a blade or something?”

“The glass cup was a bit big.”

However, Im Yungi didn’t answer and looked at the back of the classroom. I instinctively knew. Go Yohan had appeared. Im Yungi’s eyes followed Go Yohan’s movements. From left to right. And then slightly downwards.

Drrrk. The sound of metal scraping on the floor was heard. Im Yungi’s gaze returned to me.

Go Yohan had sat down in his chair. The conversation naturally reconnected.

“As expected, stainless steel cups are the best. Right?”

“If I use a glass cup twice, I’ll die.”

Park Ha-on and Im Yungi chuckled at their unfunny jokes. I didn’t laugh along with their prank. Because I felt strangely displeased. I might have had to laugh to avoid being disliked by them. Still, I didn’t. I thought I could still do that much. I was still Kang Jun, after all. The two of them didn’t force me to laugh either. It was just a joke they made among themselves.

“…”

Anxiety, like clumped dust, grows unknowingly.

Just as a dust bunny sleeping in the corner under the bed eventually becomes a nuisance when cleaning, it becomes a problem in my life. When did that dust bunny grow so big?

It was gym class. After the math test incident, I found it very awkward to see gym.

But gym class, on the contrary, welcomed me. It acted with a subtly coercive attitude towards me, as if showing off that it had helped me. It seemed to be expressing affection in its own way, but I hated it so much. So when gym class approached, I subtly pretended to be busy and avoided it. Today was one of those days again.

It was the day gym class overlapped with Class 8.

Class 8 was the class with Kim Minho and Park Dongcheol. What an awkward coincidence. Anyway, my foot was injured, my arm couldn’t be used, it was inconvenient to change into gym clothes, and seeing gym class was awkward, so I considered skipping by feigning illness and resting in the infirmary.

The decision was quick. No matter how I thought about it, skipping was better.

So when I told the gym teacher I wanted to skip, the gym teacher said generously, as if conceding.

“Third-year high school students need stamina. Come out and get some sun. Are you a child of darkness? Anyway, don’t just stay cooped up in the classroom, come out.”

It was an implicit coercion.

In the end, I was forced to go out to the field and rest. I should have just asked the kids to tell him and skipped.

Still, there was a good point. Sitting in a corner of the field and quietly looking into the air, I could see all the kids on the field. Among them was Go Yohan. And at that moment, I realized that Go Yohan had quite a few friends. No, to be precise, I realized that there were many kids who wanted to be friends with Go Yohan.

“Annoying.”

Here I am, living so cautiously. Go Yohan was monopolizing two of the five soccer balls given by the gym teacher and playing, and the big guys around him were shouting things like “Pass it! Pass it!” and showing off, and surprisingly, Kim Minho and Park Dongcheol were among them.

Those bastards really have no pride. To stick around like that even while being ignored by Go Yohan.

Of course, Go Yohan didn’t pass the ball. Go Yohan, who had clearly ignored Kim Minho, said playfully.

“Why? Are you going to eat the soccer ball too?”

Kim Minho acted as if he had forgotten his humiliation.

“Damn it, this is muscle, not fat. Don’t you know what a beefcake is?”

“Anyone can see it’s spam.”

Disgusting, so disgusting. That relationship is disgusting. The fact that I was there until recently is also disgusting.

“Hey! Stop Go Yohan!”

Go Yohan avoided the big guy trying to snatch the soccer ball. The soccer ball, kicked by Go Yohan, flew high into the sky and landed back on Go Yohan’s ankle. Go Yohan bared his fangs, sneered, and laughed. I saw that laugh and immediately closed my eyes. By now, the hatred should have surged up, just like when I hated Han Junwoo, it definitely should have.

“Damn it, I shouldn’t have looked.”

Not yet.