Eighteen’s Bed Novel Completed - Chapter 87

There’s no place with stronger temptation than a computer lab. But it was unlikely that in this large computer lab, teachers wouldn’t have a way to easily catch unruly students messing around. I thought there would be, but I didn’t expect there actually to be one. I hesitated for a moment, then carefully clicked on the program that looked suspicious to anyone.

As soon as the program window popped up, over 40 more windows appeared. Just as I expected. My gaze shifted between the three high school students and the bright monitor. Only one of the windows was active. I moved the mouse, still keeping my eyes on them. Click. As soon as the sound rang out, a roadmap photo appeared on the screen.

Only then did I shift my gaze to the screen. The location they were laughing at was directly opposite my neighborhood. And the screen showed, as expected, an old concrete wall with a rusty blue roof and cracks running through it.

What is this? This old house.

“Whoa, crazy, what is this? Is this even a house?”

“Kim Minho, that bastard, he was a total pauper, wasn’t he?”

Suddenly, Park Dongcheol burst out laughing. On closer inspection, he was holding an attendance book. Come to think of it, Kim Minho and Park Dongcheol were in the same class. It suddenly occurred to me that our school’s attendance book even had the students’ home addresses written in it. That’s why teachers usually didn’t entrust the attendance book to students. Park Dongcheol must have gotten his hands on it somehow.

“I knew he was poor, but I didn’t know he was this poor. Isn’t this bastard in the same boat as that Han Taesan guy? And he was acting all high and mighty?”

“This son of a bitch borrowed thirty thousand won from me and never paid it back.”

Park Dongcheol said, holding up the attendance book with a swaggering voice.

“Wow, Kim Minho’s really something, isn’t he? Isn’t this bastard a thief?”

To my surprise, it was Kim Seokmin who defended Park Dongcheol. He wasn’t a pacifist, but a timid politician. I felt my blood run cold. I was certain. The hand gripping the end of the mouse trembled slightly. It was the moment when the suspicions I had accumulated earlier turned into certainty.

These bastards are the culprits who wrote ‘Deposed Queen Gang’. It’s clear. It must be them. It’s definitely these bastards.

“We should report him to the police. Kim Minho, this bastard, he hasn’t paid me back since last year.”

Lee Seokhyun let out a low laugh.

Somehow, I felt like I shouldn’t be hearing this conversation. I instinctively felt a strong conviction. I absolutely had to get out of here without being caught. I shouldn’t have gotten involved. Blaming myself foolishly, I subtly lowered my body. Again, I quietly moved the mouse and turned off the computer. Instantly, the monitor turned black, and a message saying “Standby” appeared. And then, I realized my mistake and screamed inwardly.

“Kang Jun, you idiot…!”

I frantically reached out my hand, desperately trying to grab the speaker connected to the computer.

But it was already too late. I had forgotten that computers nowadays usually shut down quietly. Had I become an idiot from constantly racking my brains? I knew how old and sick the computers in the school’s computer lab were. The problem was that the speaker was inside the glass window of the teacher’s desk. It would take 10 seconds, 9 seconds, 8 seconds, 7 seconds… until I could reach it by putting my hand inside.

Following the short music descending from high to low, the screen darkened. I bit my lip hard as I straightened up from my crouched position, where I had been trying to turn off the speaker. What a crappy thing to happen. I thought I was lucky today, damn it. Am I really having a run of bad luck?

I swallowed the rising annoyance. My regrets passed with my gulping saliva. Right, what good would it do to cling to something I’d already messed up?

As I straightened my back, the three of them were looking at me. I raised my hand as if nothing was wrong.

“Hi.”

“…”

“…”

“…Uh, hi.”

It was Kim Seokmin who awkwardly raised his hand first. I decided to set a clear goal. What would their reaction be if they found out I was eavesdropping on their gossip? I didn’t want to get involved in a headache-inducing situation with no benefit, but this is how things turned out. So I should have abandoned this personality trait beforehand. It’s my nature. There’s nothing I can do about it.

The alternative was Kim Seokmin, the pacifist who dislikes fighting. This guy is a selfish neutral who wants to keep every situation peaceful. He’s selfish because he’s neutral in any situation. He wants a middle ground for both victims and perpetrators. Kim Seokmin’s peace comes from avoidance. It was obvious that his avoidance would help me.

“The homeroom teacher asked me to turn off the computer. The teacher always asks me to do this and that whenever they see me.”

“Ah…”

“The door will be locked soon, so you guys should probably head out too.”

Their glances collided in the air. I leaned forward, trying to appear as relaxed as possible. I shouldn’t criticize them here. Then they’ll take my moral advice as an attack and perceive me as an enemy. That’s just how men are. I can’t escape that instinct. Especially if they think I’m on the same level as Park Dongcheol.

“How did you guys end up here?”

“Oh, well, Seokhyun and I had a class here.”

“Ah, I see.”

I opened my mouth and nodded. I deliberately slowly shifted my gaze to the attendance book. I saw all three of their gazes follow the attendance book. Park Dongcheol, noticing something, awkwardly hid the attendance book behind his back. As if I wouldn’t recognize it. He was openly holding it in his hand for me to see just a moment ago, so what’s with hiding it now? He seems to have low intelligence, anyway.

“Then…”

I expected them to immediately pick a fight and cause a ruckus, asking if I had snooped. But they acted like people caught red-handed by a tattletale.

Kim Minho, you’re more amazing than I thought. Indeed, even when Go Yohan told them to abandon Kim Minho, these guys kept an eye on Kim Minho until the very end, and the fact that they didn’t remove Kim Minho from their group even after that incident proved Kim Minho’s value.

Kim Minho was different in Go Yohan’s standards and in their own world. Good heavens. I, who had arrogantly looked down from Go Yohan’s position, was lightly hit on the back of the head. Before I was almost abandoned by Go Yohan, I was acting like a fool. Who was I to look down on these bastards? That’s why I got hit on the back of the head. How stupid.

I turned my gaze towards the door and continued speaking. Should I pretend not to know and leave, or should I make it obvious that I saw everything?

“You guys too, listen carefully in your next class…”

Just as I had been so engrossed in Han Junwoo that I didn’t notice the downfall around him, the same thing was clearly happening again. Right. I always saw the world through the standards Go Yohan created. But there are also standards for when Go Yohan is not present.

Muscle pig Kim Minho. Although all his fat was made from instant food, considering Kim Minho’s height, that fat became an overwhelming presence. Kim Minho was a pig even taller than Han Junwoo.

“See you later.”

And everyone would know, without asking, who was the best at playing seesaw in this messy school. Kang Jun, the bat. The guy who miraculously sniffs out the scent of a loser and grovels to find the scent of a winner. The mama’s boy who pours his academic intelligence into politicking. That’s how Kang Jun lived an easy life.

That Kang Jun decided to pretend not to know the situation and leave.

“I’m going.”

“…Uh, goodbye.”

But did Kang Jun really live an easy life? With a smaller build than others and a face that looked good on the surface but was often ignored by others? If I wasn’t careful, I would have just become their cash cow, providing funds for them to play, or a so-called “homework vending machine.”

I heard the air escaping from my air-filled slippers. The door was open anyway. I just needed to step over the threshold. But the reason I was dawdling like this was…

“Hey, Kang Jun.”

I was waiting for Lee Seokhyun.

Surely, surely Lee Seokhyun would speak to me. Because, unlike the pacifist Kim Seokmin, Lee Seokhyun was a planner who used his head to gain an advantage. He would want to be certain. I didn’t stop my act. I turned around as if surprised.

“Why?”

“Are you going to tell?”

Lee Seokhyun asked, half-turned. The three of them already seemed certain that I had heard. Do they know what I saw? Someone like Lee Seokhyun probably would. And I knew well that my answer here was the most important thing.

“What? To whom?”

“You heard everything, you bastard. Are you going to tell Kim Minho?”

Wow, Kim Minho. Kim Minho had a talent for fear-mongering politics, unexpectedly. Or maybe his size was his talent. I thought that if they were insulting Kim Minho, calling him a pig and so on, they wouldn’t care if Kim Minho found out. Then why did they insult Kim Minho in the first place? What’s their intention? Or at least be careful. Anyway, I can’t understand it.

“You know Kim Minho and Yohan aren’t on good terms these days, right?”

“Oh, I see.”

“Well, you might not have known since you’re always studying, but we also have some grudges against Kim Minho.”

I disparaged their incomprehensible power struggles, praised Kim Minho’s wild political ability in my own way, and gripped the edge of the sliding door. Two paths appeared before me: blackmail or alliance.

“Dongcheol has been fed up with Kim Minho’s tyranny for a long time too… What are you going to do?”

Park Dongcheol seemed to have chosen the path of alliance. No, wait, have they become a small nation offering tribute, something to chew on happily all day? As expected of someone who boarded Go Yohan’s ship before Han Junwoo’s downfall. Come to think of it, Park Dongcheol and I were indeed quite similar in level. It made sense that I was treated like Park Dongcheol. I closed my mouth and made a thinking sound.

“Hmm…”

It was so quiet that I could hear the clock ticking. Even though the bell for the next class was about to ring, no one got up from their seats. Looking at the eyes of the three people staring at me as if they needed a definite answer, cold sweat naturally formed on my palms. Right. I was also putting on an act.

“You know what?”

But I don’t want to be Park Dongcheol.

My pride won’t allow it. I don’t want to be called Park Dongcheol 2. It’s annoying. If anyone’s going to be called 2, shouldn’t Park Dongcheol be called Kang Jun 2? So, I absolutely refuse to choose paths discovered and chosen by someone dumber than me. Even if it’s a ridiculous path, I won’t take a path created by someone inferior to me.

“Don’t worry. Anyway, even if I tell, there’s no evidence to believe it, is there? Would Minho even believe me?”

So the path I chose was abandonment.

How refreshing this felt!

I walked down the quiet hallway, mentally ringing the already rung bell again. The bewildered expressions of the three people were truly comedic. How could they be so funny?

These narrow-minded, stupid fools might have envisioned a scenario where I, like Park Dongcheol, would fawn over them and join in their gossip, becoming a ridiculous extra. How foolish. As if I would ever take such a path. I repeat, my pride will never die.

“Ha, serve them right.”

I express my gratitude to Shin Jaehyun. Although I can’t understand his values, it was Shin Jaehyun who taught me the option of abandoning first. Shin Jaehyun is subtly suspicious, but one thing is certain: he’s smarter and kinder than I thought. ‘Don’t choose anyone,’ he said.

I decided to interpret his words about not having close friends to avoid discrimination in my own way. It was my attempt to understand Shin Jaehyun. The result of my values was ‘abandon before being abandoned.’ It’s no different, is it? The idea of not choosing anyone in order to choose someone, when you think about it, means ignoring the desperate desire to be chosen.

Naturally, I recalled the gossip I heard when I was eighteen.

‘Kang Jun, the leech who sticks to Go Yohan and never lets go.’

Ugh, bullshit.

What could I expect from those idiots who smoked heavily with germ-infested hands that hadn’t been washed in the bathroom, and mercilessly trampled on someone laid out on a chopping board?

I think I know why Shin Jaehyun is always so confident. It’s because he has no sin. If there’s no group, there’s less sin to carry together. I ran my hand through my hair with a refreshed feeling. I should have done this sooner. I stopped walking forward and looked up a little.

Class 3-1. I quietly closed my eyes and thought.

Everyone says it. The end of high school is a time for choice and focus. They said it was time to identify my strong and weak subjects and delve into them. In short, it was about choosing subjects that would help me and those that wouldn’t. I blocked out everything visible and recalled the subjects I needed to choose and focus on.

According to my life’s criteria, Go Yohan was an unnecessary subject for me. Thinking that, I let out a quiet giggle in the empty hallway.

“Haha, it’s funny, really.”