Stat Increase, Endless

After a long stretch of deliberation, I settled on Stat Increase.

There were plenty of reasons behind the choice, but the one that weighed heaviest was my working theory about the Balance Game itself — the sense that whoever ran it was, on the whole, friendly toward me.

Every penalty I'd taken so far had hurt, sure, but stacked against what I'd gained, they felt more like spiteful little pranks than genuine punishments. And the options could even be broken. The only permanent penalty still hanging over me — the ban on masturbation — was something I could crack later, and cracking it would come with a reward. That was the same Balance Game staff that had personally recommended Stat Increase. They'd recommended it back when I was torn between that and acquiring a brand-new trait.

This time the alternative was Trait Enhancement. Even a rough comparison made a new trait look better than upgrading an existing one, so if I was ever going to pick Stat Increase, now felt like the right moment.

"That's it?"

The message was so absurdly short that I waited a beat, half-expecting something more to drop.

…

Apparently that really was everything.

Just as I'd predicted, my Taste stat had gone up. From C to SSS. Roughly five full ranks, if I was counting right. The delivery had been bare-bones, but the content itself was anything but ordinary.

Isn't SSS usually the ceiling?

C was commonly treated as average. One single boost had vaulted me straight to SSS.

Max-level territory…

It was an increase, all right — just one with no hard cap attached. Suddenly the recommendation made perfect sense.

The thrill lasted about three seconds before I started wondering what the hell a maxed-out sense of taste was actually good for.

…

"Fuck."

Any stat going up was better than nothing, but why did it have to be Taste? Strength, Agility, Intelligence — something people actually thought of when they heard the word "stats" — would have been so much better. And the more I turned it over, the more I suspected that pushing Taste to the absolute limit wasn't an unqualified win either.

Ding!

I pulled a pack of chicken breast from the fridge, microwaved it, and took a bite.

"Huuuh…"

With my sense of taste fully awake, the food's shortcomings hit me with merciless clarity. The one mercy was that my preferences themselves hadn't changed. I'd worried that a supercharged palate might lock me out of ordinary food entirely, but that wasn't the case. Better taste and a changed palate were two different things. The spectrum of flavors I could pick apart had widened dramatically, sure — but the meals I already liked hadn't suddenly turned to ash.

No real side effects, then. On the flip side, one existing ability had just been cranked to the extreme.

Taste Change.

Until now, I'd never had the vocabulary — or the sensory resolution — to render flavors in real detail. I'd always figured a true gourmet who'd eaten every delicacy under the sun would make this skill terrifying. And now that was exactly what had happened.

The first test subject for the upgraded ability came to mind immediately.

Ding-dong!

A little past ten at night. Under normal circumstances I'd already be winding down at home, but I made a very short trip downstairs — straight to the door of Jin Hayun's apartment — and pressed the bell.

"…Oppa?"

She must have checked who it was, because the door opened at once. She was still in her work clothes; clearly she'd just gotten back from her shift.

"Mind if I come in for a bit?"

"Huh?"

"I said I'd give you a reward."

"H-Huk… right now?"

"You don't want it?"

"…Come in."

I'd been inside her place once before, so there wasn't much novelty left. The atmosphere felt unchanged. Comfortable enough by now, I walked straight in and sat on the edge of her bed. Hayun perched beside me, tense.

"Are we doing it now…?"

"Yeah. Give me a second."

The method wasn't all that different from how I'd crafted her personal finger-flavor before. Raising my Taste stat hadn't magically given me the words to describe what I was doing — that much was obvious — but the flavor I assembled in my head was so much sharper and more complete that even I could feel the difference.

"Done. Lie down here."

I patted my thigh.

"Huh?"

"When we're finished, fingers hurt like hell. Better to use somewhere ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠with more meat on it."

"It works the same here…?"

"Try it with your tongue and you'll know."

I hiked one pant leg up enough to bare the skin. She looked skeptical, but she followed the instruction — sprawling forward and burying her face against my thigh.

Lick.

"H-Hup…!"

Sluuurp— suck. suck.

One taste was all it took. She started licking and sucking in a frenzy. If I'd let her go at my finger in this newly intensified, addictive state, the thing would have been shredded. She wrapped both arms around my thigh, pressed her nose in, and kept going — roaming across fresh patches of skin as if every untried spot tasted even stronger.

"Mm—"

She was so far gone she started climbing too high; I blocked her head with a hand and she slid back toward my knee instead. A dirty thought flickered through me. I crushed it.

Not because luring her this way felt unfair or wrong.

Still… the first time should be with my Ajeong…

This might have been a chance to break the masturbation ban, but it wasn't urgent, and I wasn't about to trash something more important just to force an option open.

Lick—

Sluuurp—

"Heeeeek…"

While I wrestled with myself, Hayun was lost in my thigh. Every so often I felt the edge of her teeth — hard enough to leave marks — but she never actually tried to bite. Ten minutes slipped by before I noticed. I'd meant to keep it shorter, but thinking had eaten the time.

"Stop."

"Suck, suck…"

"Get up. Now."

"Nnngh…"

She clung to my thigh and refused to let go. I tried peeling her off; I even flicked her forehead. She ignored all of it and kept licking.

Poke—

"Ehk! Hahk!"

I had no choice. I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠went for both sides of her waist. One jab of a fingertip got a reaction; I followed it with light, teasing ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠strokes, and she made a weird little sound and finally scrambled up off the bed.

"I told you to stop. Why don't you listen?"

"Hnn… just a little more!"

"No."

The air had gotten a touch too warm. I stood up fast.

"You're leaving already?"

"I've got to go sleep."

"Heh… can I sleep over tonight?"

"…"

I blanked for a second — then I caught what she was really after and answered calmly.

"So you can suck on me all night?"

"Hehe…"

"See you at the café."

"Sleep well!"

I left her place in a hurry and headed home. I'd been seeing Hayun's face every day lately, but saying "see you tomorrow" still felt strangely awkward.

"Hwaaaaah…!"

Jin Hayun collapsed onto her bed the moment her shift ended. She only worked two days a week, but earning money was never easy. Sundays were worse — Woohyun wasn't there. The emptiness went deeper than just being one person short on the floor. Part of it was that she'd started the job to follow him, but that wasn't the whole story.

A Sunday at Ice Bean without Woohyun meant four hours alone with the boss. Perfectly ordinary. And yet that ordinary setup felt wrong to Hayun.

The owner of Ice Bean. As far as Hayun could tell, the boss felt something for Woohyun that went well past employee and employer. The "I have a nephew, so it's just habit, it was a mistake" excuses — no amount of habit explained putting your hand on someone else's ass. And ever since Hayun had stepped in that one time, being alone with the boss had turned painfully awkward. The boss had clearly figured out that Hayun was after Woohyun too.

"…Still. Boss has never sucked on Oppa's finger, right?"

He'd even come to her place once. Which meant that someday, maybe, it wouldn't stop at fingers.

"Nnheheh…"

She had no idea how his finger could taste like that, but maybe love was the kind of feeling that made impossible things possible.

If I could fall asleep sucking on Oppa's finger right now, that would be perfect…

Ding-dong!

"Ehk…!"

The doorbell shattered the quiet she'd been luxuriating in. At this hour, with no one ever having visited before, fear would have been the normal reaction — but somehow expectation flooded up instead.

"Gulp…"

Caught between hope and nerves, she checked the intercom. The resolution was terrible; she couldn't make out a face. But through the blurry silhouette, raw handsomeness still came through.

Our hearts are linked!!

Afraid he'd leave, she bolted to the front door and threw it open. Sure enough, Woohyun was standing there.

"…Oppa?"

She played it like she hadn't known it was him.

"Mind if I come in for a bit?"

"Huh?"

She would have said yes to anything — even moving in starting tonight — but playing hard to get was basic strategy. She'd read it in a manga.

Then he reminded her about the reward and walked into her room. Maybe because he'd been here once already, he sat right down on the edge of the bed like he owned it. She approached carefully, settled beside him, and waited.

"One second."

He asked her to wait — maybe he needed to steel himself too. So it wasn't only her who was nervous. That thought was comforting.

"Done. Lie down here."

"Huh?"

She'd assumed he'd offer his finger. The setup was… different. He'd hiked his pant leg to bare his thigh, and there was no mistaking what that meant. Come to think of it, the first time it hadn't been a finger either — it had been his palm. She'd thought any hand would do. Apparently ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the whole body worked.

But why the thigh, of all places…

He'd said a meatier spot was more comfortable. Was that really the reason?

Lick—

Same flavor, just as expected…

Sluuurp— suck. suck..!!

She couldn't pin down exactly what had changed, but something definitely had. It was so much better.

Suck— slurp. lick—

Whatever his intentions were, she forgot them completely and lost herself in his thigh. Working her way across the whole surface, her gaze drifted, almost on its own, toward a certain place.

"Hwaaaaah…"

Even thin shorts couldn't hide that presence.

That's… that, isn't it…

She thought of the manga panels where a heavy pillar of flesh got laid across a girl's face.

Soon, me too…

As if entranced, she climbed higher along his thigh.

Thud..

Ah…

She looked up. Woohyun was shaking his head — no.

…

That was clearly a positive signal. So why was he saying no? She couldn't figure it out.

Sluuuurrp…

Disappointing, but for now she'd stick to the thigh. Next time she'd study the male leads' psychology through her manga collection. She was going to need the help of some erotic manga.