The Remote Pleasure Sharp

"Haaam."

On Wednesday, I woke up feeling refreshed for the first time in a while. Truthfully, I'd been laid up sick for some time. This past Monday, after receiving oral from Ayoung at the student support center, my entire body had felt drained and my head had throbbed. Probably because I didn't exercise regularly and then suddenly went through something like that.

I stretched my arms overhead, feeling invigorated. Ever since that encounter with Lee Ayoung, nothing unusual had happened. I was gradually settling back into my peaceful routine. At first, every time I ran into her at work, I'd get uncontrollably excited without meaning to. Yesterday, when one of the office staff handed out canned coffee, just watching Ayoung lift hers made me hard right there. Luckily the counter hid my lower half, so no one noticed, but it had startled me quite a bit.

'Have I turned into a total pervert?'

I scolded myself, yet suppressing the stirring desire proved difficult. Anyway, leaving my still-sleeping roommate behind, I got ready for class. I had a basic psychology lecture after lunch. As a business major with an interest in psychology, I'd signed up for it as an elective.

After washing up and grabbing my textbook, I left early with plenty of time to spare. Staying in the dorm made it easy to head out late, but I wanted a good seat, so I departed ahead of schedule.

“Hyung, heading to class?”

My roommate, Kim Taeyoung, woke up and asked me in a friendly tone. Normally dorm rooms were four-person, but I'd paid extra for a two-person room. That meant Taeyoung was my only roommate.

“Yeah. What time's your class today?”

“I have a free period. Is that your only class today, hyung?”

“That's right.”

“Then after you're done, let's watch some anime together. This season's new shows are pretty solid. Great voice cast too.”

“Uh... sure, sounds good.”

I left the room and started toward the building where the basic psychology lecture was held. All around me, Nuri University students passed by with their own destinations in mind. Among them were plenty of pretty girls whose eyes naturally drew my gaze.

'Our school has a lot of female-heavy departments like social welfare, nursing, and English, so there are especially many female students...'

Not only were there many women, but compared to other universities, there seemed to be more attractive ones too. That was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠why Nuri University sometimes got nicknamed Nuri Women's University.

While glancing at the passing female students, I soon arrived at my destination. I entered the second-floor lecture hall. It could seat about fifty people, and quite a few students had already claimed seats. I quickly walked to the back row by the window and sat down. Unlike other places, the chairs and desks here weren't attached as one unit, which made it relatively comfortable. I couldn't understand what idiot had thought combining chair and desk was a good idea. I preferred lecture halls with separate two-person desks like this one.

I took the farthest left seat in the back row by the window. I placed my bag on the chair to my right, pulled out my textbook, opened it, and started killing time on my smartphone. A few interesting news articles caught my eye.

[Girl group '4S' tops charts for three consecutive weeks with new song.]

'4S's new track is pretty good.'

4S was a girl group whose members' names all started with S: Seol-hee, So-hye, Su-a, and So-young. Among them, I liked Seol-hee the most—the maknae and the tallest.

'Huh? Quite a few people showed up.'

Looking up from my phone, I noticed the lecture hall had filled up considerably. Strangely, though, the seats right in front of me were empty.

'Must be a coincidence?'

I wondered if people were avoiding sitting there because they didn't like me. Just then, a group of girls entered the lecture hall.

“Let's check out that new pasta place after class.”

“Yeah. The interior looked really pretty.”

The four girls instantly captured my attention.

'It's Kang Dahyun.'

I wasn't great with names, but I remembered hers from the group. During a previous lecture, when the old professor called attendance, I'd noticed her responding to “Kang Dahyun.” While stealing glances at her beautiful figure during class, I'd seen her answer the roll call. Long black hair reaching her waist, lightly tanned skin, a single mole near her left eye. Tall and slender, she always wore high heels. Even at a glance her figure was striking, and the heels made her look like a model. That skin tone and the mole were what gave the sexy Kang Dahyun her distinctive charm.

'She looks even sexier today...'

Kang Dahyun wore tight light-wash jeans and tall boots today. Her top was a black off-shoulder blouse. A handbag hung from her shoulder while she carried her textbook in her hand.

'Did she grab the textbook from her locker?'

I stared blankly for a moment before hurriedly turning my head back to my phone. I didn't want her to think it was weird if our eyes met. Pretending to scroll through my screen with what felt like an awkward motion, I could hear their voices getting closer. Then they took the four empty seats right in front of me, pairing up.

Kang Dahyun sat diagonally across from me by the window, on the aisle side. Sneaking glances while pretending to look at my phone, I saw they were dressed like they were heading out for the evening.

“Let's grab pasta, then coffee at a café and chat before heading home.”

“Sure~ How long does it take by subway...?”

Nuri University was located on a mountain, so transportation wasn't convenient. It would probably take quite a while to reach Hongdae or Gangnam by subway. Besides Kang Dahyun in her well-fitting jeans, the short skirts on the other girls kept drawing my eyes to their legs.

'I should just focus on my phone. If they catch me staring, it'll get awkward...'

I tried to steady myself and keep my gaze on the screen. Yet for some reason the display had been stuck on the same news article for the past five minutes and wouldn't scroll.

Before long, class began. The elderly professor's basic psychology lecture started. He explained his knowledge in a simple, easy-to-understand way, but my eyes kept drifting to the legs of the girls sitting in front of me. The girl directly ahead wore a short skirt, which made it hard not to look. Truthfully, Kang Dahyun sitting diagonally gave an even clearer view of her legs, but since she wore jeans, there was no bare skin to draw my gaze. I only occasionally stole glances at the girl in front's exposed legs while admiring Kang Dahyun's natural figure and how her jeans hugged her.

She seemed uninterested in the lecture, busy chatting on PapayaTalk with someone. Smiling softly as she talked, she looked like she was messaging either a very close friend or a boyfriend.

'No one behind me, but someone else might see, so I have to be careful.'

I worried whether anyone was watching me ogle Kang Dahyun and her friends' legs. It wasn't an unfounded concern. The professor's gaze occasionally swept over me, and the male students stealing looks at Kang Dahyun's figure also glanced my way from time to time. Obviously, if anyone caught me staring at their legs, weird rumors could spread through the department, so I had to stay cautious.

Still... my eyes ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠kept getting pulled toward the bare legs of the girl in front. Then I noticed Kang Dahyun, while using PapayaTalk, accidentally bump her mechanical pencil and send it tumbling to the floor. The pencil rolled across the ground until it stopped right in front of my desk.

That was when it happened.

'A quest!'

I shouted inwardly. Yet the quest description made no sense. As usual, the explanation was extremely unhelpful. Still, since I'd never lost out on a quest before, I intended to complete this one. Besides, picking up a pencil was something even a six-year-old could do.

I immediately pushed my chair back and stretched out my leg. While Kang Dahyun and her friends chatted, I carefully rolled the pencil toward me with my toes until it was under my desk. Then I quietly picked it up. I'd been cautious, but in reality it took less than five minutes from accepting the quest to finishing it.

A soft light briefly flashed from the pencil in my hand.

'Hmm...?'

I examined it from every angle, but it still looked like an ordinary mechanical pencil. I couldn't figure out how to use it. According to the description, pressing the back end would emit a powerful signal, so I felt a slight urge to try it. There was no reason to hold back, so I pressed it.

-Click.

“Hngh!”

-Thud!

The moment I pressed the pencil, a sudden sound came from the front. I instinctively looked up. It sounded like a chair scraping and someone gasping. Yet when I scanned the entire lecture hall, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. The professor continued lecturing calmly as before, Kang Dahyun's friends were still whispering among themselves, and Kang Dahyun had her head buried deep, as if she had suddenly started studying hard.

'What was that? Did I imagine it?'

I tilted my head. The pencil had simply clicked ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and popped back up to its original state. I couldn't tell what the “powerful signal” mentioned in the description actually was. Lowering my head again, I studied the pencil and, out of curiosity, decided to press it once more.

-Click.

I looked up and checked the lecture hall. Still nothing happened. Everyone continued with what they were doing, and Kang Dahyun had her head buried even deeper. It seemed she wasn't studying at all—she was trying to sleep.

'Ah, what the... Is it a dud?'

I'd had high expectations for the quest, so the disappointment was hard to hide. This one was probably a bust. While lost in that disappointment, I unconsciously fell back into an old habit from playing computer games. Whenever I got lag, I'd get annoyed and spam the F5 key while staring at the monitor. Thinking this quest was a dud, I irritably started rapidly clicking the back of the pencil in my hand.

-Click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click click.

“Hnnngh! Hah! Haaah!”

-Crash!

Suddenly, a loud ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠noise erupted right in front of me. More precisely, it came from the seat diagonally ahead—where Kang Dahyun was sitting.