Eighteen’s Bed Novel Completed - Chapter 85

The conclusion of the sudden change was this: win-win. Go Yohan, unlike Han Junwoo, chose agreement. To trade pride, he was truly a great schemer. A not-so-pleasant smile automatically formed. At least on the surface, it meant he would protect Kang Jun’s pride. For the carrot he would get from me. Even if he didn’t know what it specifically was. For a bigger future. Go Yohan was a born businessman.

I knew it. That cunning bastard. But I was just a pathetic middle-class snake who had to accept this offer. What could I do? Yes, I had no choice but to survive by clinging on without loyalty like a bat, flitting this way and that. Anyway, it was a sweet trap that my low, low rank was bound to fall into. Damn it.

At my answer, Go Yohan slightly raised his clasped hands and smiled brightly. The rosary still swayed on his white wrist.

“Yeah, what’s so good about being alone? It’s just boring.”

“……”

“This is perfect, right?”

His blunt fingertips tapped the messy table. Each time they touched the table, which must have once been dazzlingly white, a dirty sensation touched and then left. When he pressed down with force, it felt like he was pulling as if to devour, and when he let go, it felt like he was clinging on shabbily, a strange feeling that made my head feel heavier.

“Yeah.”

Go Yohan was right. I had finally managed to blend into the class atmosphere. The nickname “Mama’s Boy Kang Jun” still circulated, but no one called me by my implicit nickname to my face as a joke. Im Yoon-ki and Park Ha-on had started talking to me, and even Shin Jaehyun had started talking to me again, hadn’t he?

Wait a minute.

Come to think of it, hadn’t Shin Jaehyun started talking to me subtly ever since Go Yohan pretended to reconcile with me?

“……No way.”

I turned my head again and looked in the direction Shin Jaehyun had disappeared. And I was certain. As expected. Did he run away because Go Yohan came? I was a little disappointed. There really are no saints in this world.

As I was thinking that, I suddenly heard the sound of fingers clicking next to me. The sound of his index finger and thumb clicking together drew my gaze. My hazy mind instantly cleared. I widened my eyes and looked at Go Yohan, who, with his back straightened, leaned in with a mischievous face and said:

“Jun?”

Within the white mist, only Go Yohan was clearly visible.

It was Go Yohan’s talent. Go Yohan knew how to stand out most in any situation. And it seemed certain that he felt anxious if others’ gazes weren’t directed at him. If it was someone he felt affection for, Go Yohan would act disturbingly gloomy and pathetic.

Then I would feel good again. I was truly a small canary trapped in Go Yohan’s cage.

Others might dislike it and demand freedom, but I decided to be content with this state. First, because I didn’t want to experience the moments of contempt I had suffered in that short time again, and second, because I didn’t want to lose the power Go Yohan had bestowed upon me. I had deeply realized that the power I had held all along was the power of a bat. Go Yohan had terrifyingly figured me out.

“It’s nothing.”

In that case, I should sing a sweet song to the master who fed me. Just enough to be like a friend, not dangerous. I opened my mouth, watching Go Yohan twitch one eyebrow.

“I was just thinking.”

“Thinking about what?”

“Just…”

I continued, subtly looking at Go Yohan’s ear. My gaze naturally fell on the tip of his ear. My persistent gaze intently watched the slightest change.

I wanted Go Yohan to remember that I, too, was the son of a businessman.

“Various things about you.”

It wasn’t a lie. It wasn’t. At the end of my persistent gaze, I saw a reddish tint. The sharp tip of his ear turned pink. It was instantaneous. Go Yohan covered his ear, pretending to run a hand through his hair. I suddenly recalled my pathetic moments when I had gauged my victory by this phenomenon. Because the one who falls in love is the weak one, and that only applied to me.

Go Yohan was different from me.

“Ahem, ahem.”

Go Yohan, who had strangely cleared his throat, straightened his posture and sat next to me. The heavy weight pressed down on the flimsy plastic chair, making my body sway slightly along with it. When would they replace this trashy chair? All schools that only save money are like this. I should have just forced myself to go to a private or self-governing high school. I unconsciously swayed and lowered my head to look at Go Yohan’s thigh.

Go Yohan’s leg trembled slightly.

“The bell’s about to ring, should we go up?”

His voice was subtly trembling. I continued to look at his legs as I replied,

“Let’s.”

As I expressed my agreement, a long arm suddenly wrapped around my shoulder. Cold flesh, as if hit by a chilly wind, embraced my nape. Go Yohan’s scent stung my nose. Truly a bird trapped in a cage. That was the thought that suddenly occurred to me, trapped in his long arm.

And my thoughts continued, turning back to Shin Jaehyun. I suddenly realized his mistake. Go Yohan, like a ghost, noticed my body trembling with realization and asked,

“Why?”

“Huh? Oh, nothing, just something suddenly came to mind.”

“What thought?”

His hand, which had slipped down my shoulder from his arm around me, lightly tapped my chest. It was so natural I couldn’t tell if it was a joke or genuine. I curled the corner of my mouth again and lied.

“Just, I was thinking of suggesting we go back to the classroom together now.”

Not at all. I was thinking of Shin Jaehyun. Shin Jaehyun had cunningly evaded my question, but if I pieced together the words he had uttered from my memory, it really meant he had insulted Go Yohan.

What? So my words were true?

I realized that I had thrown a bigger bait than I thought.

It truly was a case of honeyed words and a sword in the belly. This disgusting gray building was truly a cunning prison, rampant with betrayal and treachery. The Bible said it. Humans live on this earth suffering for their sins. If so, then male high school students were undoubtedly foolish repeat offenders who had not repented their sins. Especially the poor and uneducated ones. That meant they had no common sense.

If I had to pick the most senseless people in my life, first would be Han Junwoo, second Go Yohan, and third Kim Minho.

There’s a separate reason for mentioning Kim Minho. When I was eating with Go Yohan, there was a group that subtly approached. Most of them were Kim Seokmin and Lee Seokhyun. Sometimes Kim Minho and Park Dongcheol would join, following Kim Seokmin.

Go Yohan’s words were true. When I asked who he ate with, he just said he ate with the guys sitting next to him. But thinking back, the guys who could sit next to him were roughly fixed. Kim Seokmin, Lee Seokhyun… Of course. The reason I didn’t immediately recall them was simple. I didn’t know these guys would be so shameless.

Kim Minho and Park Dongcheol still seemed like idiots when I thought about them. Was Go Yohan’s power that good? But I soon realized my foolishness.

What was the difference between them and me?

I, too, had clung back to Go Yohan. Wow, self-loathing washed over me. So, to others, I, Kim Minho, and Park Dongcheol were no different.

“Kang Jun, hi.”

And as if to prove my thoughts, Park Dongcheol awkwardly smiled and waved his hand as soon as he saw my face. I was a little shocked and couldn’t close my mouth. Was I really the same as that guy? While my mind went blank, Kim Minho sat next to me. What, why is this guy sitting here?

“Yohan, you, you bastard, you’re walking alone again. It’s a pain in the ass to find you.”

He didn’t just happen to sit there. So I was even more flustered. Kim Minho had deliberately sat next to me. He had specifically walked around the table to sit next to me, across from Go Yohan. And he even talked to me as if we were close.

“Ah, damn, there’s so much kimchi. Isn’t there?”

Didn’t he clearly get rejected by Go Yohan in an embarrassing way? Yet he was as persistent as poop clinging to a goldfish. So, did Kim Seokmin and Lee Seokhyun abandoning Kim Minho mean they were just pretending it never happened?

“……Indeed. There’s quite a lot.”

No, absolutely not. Especially guys with bad tempers like Kim Minho don’t forget such debts. Yet Kim Minho acted as if nothing had happened. Kim Minho half-rose and grabbed his chair. The screeching sound of the metal chair dragging across the fake marble floor loudly cut through the conversation.

“But doesn’t our school kimchi taste like iron? It has a sharp taste every time I put it in my mouth?”

“It’s probably because it’s from China? Would the principal use domestic ingredients for school meals? He’s just pocketing the money.”

It wasn’t me who answered. I was busy trying to maintain a neutral expression, showing as little aversion as possible. Kim Minho’s breath, approaching closely, was unpleasant. Kim Seokmin, who had somehow sat next to Go Yohan, piled rice high on his spoon and answered Kim Minho’s mumbled question, who was sitting furthest from him. He truly was a pacifist.

“Seokmin, don’t use difficult words, you bastard. Damn it, love Korean, you son of a bitch. What’s ‘in my pocket’?”

“It means he’s pocketing money, you idiot.”

“Damn it, what? Idiot? Don’t talk nonsense, you wanna challenge me to a grades showdown?”

A piece of crushed white rice flew out of Kim Minho’s mouth and landed on the messy table. Even if I didn’t want to, I couldn’t help but frown. If they were going to shout like this while talking, they might as well sit closer together. While grumbling, I tried to judge the current situation by their seating positions.

The unconscious is a signal that reveals hidden thoughts. Most of these signals appear through the body. The most representative is the seating position. Go Yohan didn’t participate in this conversation, merely observing with one arm draped over the back of his chair. Nevertheless, he was at the center of this table. He even ate his food casually with just one hand. And Kim Seokmin’s sausage next to him also, without exception, went into Go Yohan’s mouth.

“Huh? Go Yohan, what are you doing?”

“You weren’t eating it, so I thought you didn’t like it.”

Go Yohan bared his teeth and grinned. And naturally, his eyes turned to Lee Seokhyun’s sausage, who was sitting on the opposite side.

“Hey! What do you mean I don’t like sausage!”

“What? If you liked it, you should have eaten it before someone else took it. Now it’s been stolen.”

“Ah, what are you talking about? This bastard isn’t eating his rice, just eating sausages. What a thief.”

“I don’t like brown rice.”

This was said by Go Yohan, who had easily taken Lee Seokhyun’s sausage with his chopsticks, widened his eyes, and put the food in his mouth. And then the metal chopsticks went back to Kim Seokmin’s school meal.

“It’s a buffet, a buffet.”

At Go Yohan’s joke, Kim Seokmin kept calling him a son of a bitch, a son of a bitch.

Kim Seokmin tried hard to block Go Yohan’s renewed invasion but was completely stripped of his food. Go Yohan’s chopstick skills were truly fast and accurate. In addition, Go Yohan playfully twisted Kim Seokmin’s wrist, which he had thrust in front of his face.

“Ah! Damn it, that hurts so much!”

“Well, who told you to shove your pig’s trotters in front of my face? It ruins my appetite.”

“What appetite, you son of a bitch. Look at that rice you haven’t touched a single grain of and talk.”

Kim Minho made a threatening gesture with his hand and chided Go Yohan. What Go Yohan did in response was truly shocking.

“Oh yeah? Then you eat it all for me.”