Eighteen's Bed-Chapter 26.2

I looked at my watch. Today was Go Yohan’s back-to-back lecture. There were still two hours left before his class ended. Maybe I should just go home first. Standing alone, I suddenly had a brilliant thought.

"Should I sneak into his class?"

Now that I think about it, I’ve never seen Go Yohan in class before. There were no overlapping classes. What floor was his Humanities class on again? Was it the 3rd floor? I quickly turned on my phone and hurried toward the shortcut to the Humanities building.

I had to slip in during the break to avoid being caught by the professor...

I guess I was in too much of a hurry. My foot caught on a protruding paving stone.

"Ah!"

Luckily, I didn’t fall. But as my body jerked, a sharp pain shot through my already sore back. The phone in my hand fell to the ground. The phone bounced and slid down the slope. Oh no, not now. I couldn’t even gather myself and ran down to get it. My lower back felt like it was going to collapse.

"Ah, damn, shit..."

I bent over, groaning. Damn it. The phone, which had already shrunk in my sight, finally collided with someone’s shoe. That someone bent down and picked it up. Then, they stood in front of me, who was hunched over holding my back, and handed the phone to me.

"Ah, thank you..."

I thought it was a kind person, but when I looked up, it was a flustered Kang Suhyeon.

"..."

"..."

"I... um..."

"..."

"Your grandfather... I’m glad he’s feeling better... so... that’s good, right?"

Kang Suhyeon quickly brought the phone in her other hand to her ear. Then she pressed her own phone, which wasn’t even on, to her ear and pretended to have a conversation. What kind of weird freak does this? She even mouthed "I’m on a call. I’m on a call," avoiding eye contact. I forced a smile and said:

"You could just go back. I’ll cover for you. You said you liked your grandfather, right?"

"No! No! Grandpa! I’ll hang up! I’ve hung up. Let’s go. We don’t have much time before the assignment’s due, right? Ah, grades are important! They are, right? Let’s go! The café in the Humanities building?"

"..."

What a useless person. I pouted, reluctantly looking at the Humanities building in front of me. If it wasn’t for the grades... I rubbed my aching lower back, wishing at least my body wasn’t in pain.

Kang Suhyeon hadn’t brought anything for the assignment, but she was annoyingly good at throwing in obstacles. She had been so excited at the start of the semester. I compared her past eagerness about assignments to how she was now. The conclusion was clear. She didn’t like the topic. That much was certain.

Without much care, Kang Suhyeon quickly skimmed through the notes and pushed the paper away, then suddenly said something. The evidence for her feelings came out much quicker than expected.

"I don’t think your friend fits the topic. How about changing it to someone else?"

"Now?"

"Girls don’t like those violent guys."

"..."

"Don’t tell him I said that, okay? Keep it a secret? Got it? If you understand, promise me with a pinky swear."

I don’t want to, you asshole.

I couldn’t bring myself to say no, but I made it clear by refusing to offer my finger. But Kang Suhyeon grabbed my wrist and forcibly linked my pinky. Just that act alone made my frustration boil, but this time, she forcibly opened my hand and tried to slap her palm against it.

"Hey!"

Are you out of your mind? I pulled my hand back through my wrist in a panic.

"Stop it! That’s disgusting."

"Copy it for me, scan it too! Hurry up! I’m so anxious I can’t stand it."

"I won’t say anything. I swear. Just please don’t get so close to me."

"You promised, right? You promised! If you don’t keep it, you’ll go bald!"

"Disgusting. Gross." I rubbed my hands on my pants where I had brushed against Kang Suhyeon. I didn’t even listen to what Kang Suhyeon was saying next. My mind was consumed with a desperate wish for the semester to end as quickly as possible.

Maybe noticing that I wasn’t paying attention, Kang Suhyeon suddenly grabbed my arm and shook it forcefully.

"Ugh… Aaah!"

"Ah! Sorry!"

My muscles, tightly tensed, screamed in pain. My body, which felt like it was crawling to school this morning, cried out in agony. As if it wasn’t hard enough, Kang Suhyeon had to drag me into this meeting today. I imagined killing Kang Suhyeon in my mind, but kept my expression neutral on the outside.

"Sorry, I think I slept wrong yesterday."

"Eh."

Kang Suhyeon smiled with a sly face, clearly not believing my words.

"You don’t need to lie in front of me."

"What? I’m not lying."

"Forget it. So, let’s change it from Go to Kang, and do it on a ‘perfect man’ instead. How about it? We’ll turn a boring, awkward guy into someone women will find satisfactory and present the process and results during the presentation."

"…Wait, are you talking about me?"

"Of course not!"

Kang Suhyeon proudly thumped his chest like a gorilla. Since I’ve had experience with him, I couldn’t trust him recklessly.

"I'm Kang, you know."

"…"

Oh, right. Our surnames are the same.

I looked at Kang Suhyeon cautiously. Well, what woman would pick Kang Suhyeon? Probably a volunteer or someone with unique taste. If I went along with him for the presentation, it was obvious that there wouldn’t be any results. There was no visual impact. I shook my head in resignation.

"Sorry, but that’s not going to work."

"Why?"

"…I’ve… written too much on the report."

Actually, I had written one page. But it worked on Kang Suhyeon. It seemed like he was worried, especially since the mid-presentation was approaching. I was relieved to see him start to give up. I was really glad.

"If that’s how you feel, then I can’t help it, but me? I’m fine with it."

"Yeah, I see."

I didn’t ask for the reasons since I didn’t care much.

"I can read faces, you know."

But Kang Suhyeon seemed like he really wanted to say it. Faces, too? This is just ridiculous.

"That kind of face, not so great. You’re not exactly handsome, are you?"

"…"

I received the files Kang Suhyeon transferred via USB and closed my laptop. I couldn’t bear to hear more of what he was saying; my ears felt like they were rotting. Still, there was an external image to maintain. I had to remind myself that Kang Suhyeon and I had only known each other for a little over a month. I’m someone who gets shy easily, so, out of habit, I was always polite to him.

"Once you’ve read the materials, that’s enough. Make sure to show the professor our communication during the next class. If not, our grade will get docked for not meeting. I have to go to my next class now, so I should probably head out."

"Huh? Don’t you have another class?"

How the hell does he know? Creepy bastard.

A chill ran down my spine. How did he know? The words that were about to pop out of my mouth were on the tip of my tongue. I mustered up some strength and replied as sweetly as I could.

"I heard we’re making up for the class we missed a few days ago. Attendance isn’t affected, but it’s good to sit in."

"Well, I guess I can’t help it!"

Kang Suhyeon slammed the table with his palm. Though he didn’t look like it, the model student who had only ever studied was deeply impressed by my enthusiasm. He even slapped my behind in encouragement. The pain shot through my lower back like his fingers were scratching with nails, and I had to bite my teeth to suppress the pain.

Shithead.

After shaking Kang Suhyeon off, I sluggishly headed toward an empty classroom. It was more worthwhile to study for the exam during the empty period than waste time talking with him.

But of course, the classroom I found was one with stairs inside, so I had to awkwardly climb them. But what could I do? The only available empty classroom in the building where Go Yohan had his class was here.

Slowly making my way up, I carefully took my seat and pulled out my laptop. I had to check out the idea Kang Suhyeon had suggested.

"Hmm."

Go: Violent and has a sharp tongue.

Face is just okay.

Taller than me, which annoys me.

Has a dirty personality, a devil, a cruel devil.

Probably a delinquent during school (troublemaker).

If someone gave him chocolate on Valentine’s Day, he would find out who it was and publicly humiliate them.

Causes trauma in others.

My ears are ugly.

Even in college, they’re surrounded only by people with money and no manners, just like themselves (except for Jun).

They openly ignore those who are inferior to them.

“......”

The sourc𝗲 of this content is frёeωebɳovel.com.

It was still nonsense after a second look. Maybe I should just get an F and retake the course.

‘Treat your teammates as partners, and embrace each other’s flaws. That’s what marriage is about. If you ask to change teams or decide to go solo after the set period, you’ll be considered to have misunderstood the course entirely, and you’ll receive an F. You won’t be allowed to retake the course either. Why are you looking at me like that? Surprised? Well, that’s marriage life for you.’

That’s right. No retakes. This is insane. I should’ve just skipped the orientation. But I couldn’t just ask them to remove me because I didn’t like them. I felt like I was about to die. I slowly scrolled up and then down, closing my mouth.

Maybe I should change direction. Yeah, if I change my perspective, Kang Suhyeon’s point makes sense. We should study Go Yohan, not worship him. I scratched my nails on the keyboard before closing my laptop again.

“......First, I should focus on preparing for the other exams.”

My muttering echoed in the classroom. I quickly pulled out my major textbook and pen from my bag, flustered by the embarrassment.

After a while, I was memorizing my book, and when I glanced outside, the sunset was already setting. How did time pass this fast? I looked down at my book and realized I had already read half of it. This was a pretty long textbook. And I’ve read this much already? Has this much time passed?

I quickly reached for my phone, which was turned face down, and saw "7:20 PM" and "32 missed calls." All the calls were from Go Yohan.

“Hey.”

“Hey.”

“Jun.”

“Hey.”

“Jun, are you ignoring my calls?”

“You really want to die, don’t you?”

“Where are you?”

“Hey.”

“Hey.”

“What are you doing, Kang Jun?”

“Where the hell are you?”

“Are you at school?”

“The one I just sent was a joke.”

“I tried to delete it, but it wouldn’t go away.”

“Jun.”

“Why aren’t you picking up?”

“Is something wrong?”

“Do you want me to come pick you up?”

“We should eat dinner together, right?”

“Let’s eat dinner together.”

“Yeah?”

“Jun.”

“Are you... angry?”

“......”

Every time I checked the accumulated messages, a heavy sense of guilt piled up. By the time I checked the last message, I had already hit my knee a couple of times with my fist.

“(Hand)(Crying emoji)(Hand)(Upward arrow)(Downward arrow)”

“(Heart)(Heart)(Heart)”

Why did I put it on silent because I didn’t want to be disturbed? This habit of putting my phone on silent and never turning it back on had caused this mess.

I quickly shoved my laptop and textbooks back into my bag and selected one of the missed calls, pressing the call button. Before the second ring, the call was already connected. It was a bit of an awkward speed for me, who was in a rush to get my bag and run down the stairs.

Even then, before Go Yohan could say anything, I shot off words like a machine gun.

“Yohan, I couldn’t pick up because I was focusing on studying for the test. Did you wait long?”

At first, Go Yohan didn’t respond. It was so quiet that I, scared, was chewing on my lips, and his first words were unexpected.

-What were you waiting for? We didn’t make any promises.

That’s true. I stopped on the stairs.

“Where are you? I’ll come to you. Are you at home? Let’s have dinner together. I’ll pay.”

-You don’t have more money than me, yet you’re trying to solve things with money.

“Are you at home?”

-I’m at school. I’ll come to you. Where are you?

“I... I’m in Humanities Building 201. Where are you?”

I asked casually, but there was no answer. I took my ear off the phone, puzzled, and when I looked at the screen, the call had already ended long ago. Wow, this... asshole. It wasn’t even an appointment, and I was the one waiting for him, yet he just cuts it off like this.

Staring at the dark screen that had already turned off, I sucked my lips into my mouth.

I took a few steps back and sat at the desk in the classroom. Pressing my palm hard on my lower back, I recalled the ten sentences Kang Suhyeon had sent me. Yeah, Kang Suhyeon did well in his studies too.