Eighteen's Bed
so for a bit of background information, the mc is pretty and comes from a family with money (not like ceo level but they are rich) but he is somewhat neglected by his parents who aren’t home most of the time. still, he’s very motivated to do well and get good grades. this is not explicitly stated, but i’m pretty sure the mc has some form of social anxiety (or just anxiety in general), as he tends to overthink a LOT. korean society is also heavily judgmental and there’s a lot of importance put on fitting in socially (speaking as a korean herself), especially in school where students are under a LOT of pressure. its also worth noting that while this novel tends to heavily dramatize high school life, i feel like in the perspective of the mc (an anxious teenager) its honestly not too far off from what he may personally be going through. anyway, background information is over. as for the novel itself, the mc has a unrequited crush on his best friend (NOT THE ML! NOT THE ML! NOT THE ML!), who’s kind of a piece of shit and the typical bad boy. he’s part of his best friend’s cliche. a new student transfers (from like the country side i think) and the mc’s best friend bullies him but is also secretly interested in him. it’s the typical “i like you so i’m going to bully you’ type shit. this pisses the mc off and makes him jealous, but the mc is the type to put on a mask and hide how he truly feels so the mc pretends to be nice to the new guy, unaware that he’s causing the new guy to fall in love with him as well. this, in turn, makes his “best friend” jealous. it’s one whole fucked up love triangle. meanwhile, the ML is another popular kid who runs his own clique, as typical of high school. he’s the son of a priest and he’s well known for wearing rosary beads on his wrist (if you’re looking at fan art and see a good looking dude with black hair and rosary beads, chances are the artist is drawing him). from what i recall (this may or may not be correct) the ML has had mild interest in the mc since before the start of the novel. this stemmed from when the mc (who internally very competitive with the ml when it comes to grades) writes a little note/joke on the ML’s english papers after he did bad on one exam. It makes the ML realize that the MC is different than what he had thought. while the whole love triangle bs is happening and the MC’s best friend is slowly become distant/angry with the MC, the ML slowly starts to become friends with the MC and absorb him into his clique. the ML is psychopathic and secretly a whole weirdo (can you tell i don’t like him? lmfao) but slowly he worms his way into the MC’s heart. there’s this whole subplot about how the ML’s family doesn’t like him, but i don’t recall exactly the specifics - the ML lies to the MC about his family purposely ostracizing him, but later on the MC finds out this is a lie via the ML’s sister. I think it was actually that they were scared of him, but this may be wrong. anyway. things get more blurry for me from here - I’m pretty sure i know what happens next but i don’t quite recall why they happen, so take this with a grain of salt. the MC and the ML exact revenge on the MC’s crush (by outing him? i think? don’t recall) and at some point both the new guy and the MC’s ex best friend and ex crush both drop out of school. there’s a misunderstanding between the MC and the ML (i think the ML makes a move on the MC, and there’s this whole situation where the ML thinks the MC is like looking down on him or something idk) which makes the ML ignore the MC in school. then the MC gets ostracized from his classmates and bullied. at some point, the mc is like “fuck this, i just realized none of this matters and i don’t actually care about any of you guys, im just trying to get into college” and he stops pretending to be nice and stuff. (love that for him!) the ML also comes to realize there was some sort of misunderstanding between them and he tries to get close to him again (there’s a whole standing out in the cold scene and everything lol). mc is like…. no…. and tries to forget about him but they reunite in college (unfortunately) and slowly find their way back together (ugh). this was a really shitty summary LOL hopefully someone has a better one
Shitasaki Kara Koi