With the Sexy Noona During Exam Period (2)
The person who tapped my shoulder was Soyeon noona.
I instantly flipped my phone to the lock screen and smiled as if nothing was wrong.
"What's up?"
Soyeon noona leaned in close and whispered quietly.
"There are people all around us. You want to look at that kind of stuff here?"
"......."
Busted. I wanted to crawl into a hole and hide.
'At least it was Soyeon noona who caught me, I guess.'
If someone else had seen it, I would've genuinely wanted to die.
Soyeon noona smirked and curled her finger.
"Come on out. I'll buy you coffee."
"...Yep."
I was sleepy anyway. I followed noona out of the lecture hall.
*
"Noona, where are we going?"
She said she'd buy me coffee, but we ended up leaving the building entirely.
Soyeon noona blinked at my question as if wondering what I meant, then answered.
"I said I'd buy you coffee?"
"Yeah, I got that, but why outside the building...? Are we leaving campus to drink it?"
"Ah, you don't know, do you."
Soyeon noona nodded as if she finally understood.
"We're going to the campus café."
"What? It's open right now?"
"Limited 24-hour operation during exam season. Sales are good. So a lot of students take breaks there while studying."
"Whoa. I had no idea."
I'd been pulling all-nighters for three days already, and this was the first I'd heard of it. No wonder people who left their seats studying would be gone for twenty minutes or more at a time—they were resting at the café.
When we got to the café, there were more people than I expected.
It was a completely different atmosphere from the lecture hall steeped in heavy silence.
Everyone was gathered in small groups, chatting away. Well, mostly griping about not wanting to study and worrying about grades, but still.
"What do you want to drink? You can order anything."
"Really? Then I'll take a Pink Drink with Strawberry Açaí Full Caffeine Refresher, venti size..."
"You wanna die?"
"I'll have an iced Americano, tall size."
"...You could at least order a Java Chip Frappuccino or something. Uh, venti size."
Soyeon noona said that while sneaking glances at me.
She'd said I could order anything, then changed her tune, and now she apparently felt bad about it. She's the one buying, so why's she walking on eggshells.
I chuckled and shook my head.
"I'm honestly fine with an Americano. I was joking."
"You sure? Don't go saying I'm stingy later."
"Hey, I won't."
Honestly, looking at our incomes, if anyone should be buying, it's me. I might not look it, but I make a lot more than your average college student working a part-time job. Sure, I hadn't taken any freelance commissions for a while because of exam season, but my bank account was pretty stacked.
"I'm gonna hit the restroom."
"Okay, see you in a bit."
While Soyeon noona was in the restroom, I picked out a couple of cake slices for dessert. Maybe because it was the crack of dawn, almost everything was sold out and only two were left. The fact that any were left at all meant they must restock them periodically.
'...Should I get both?'
I'd already binged hard earlier in the day.
So I felt a little guilty, but on the other hand, what was the point of holding back now?
'Need to replenish sugar to study.'
Nothing to be done about it. This was a choice for academics.
I ordered both slices of cake.
"I'll bring these out with the coffee, right?"
"Yes, that's right."
I grabbed the vibrating buzzer and found a seat off to the side.
Soyeon noona came out not long after, and the buzzer went off.
"I'll go get it."
"Thanks."
When I came back with the coffee and cake slices, Soyeon noona's eyes went wide.
"What's with the cake?"
"My treat."
"No, I said I'm buying. You should've said something if you wanted some."
"Huh? You literally shut me down earlier because it was expensive."
"Th-that was..."
"Heh. I'm kidding, kidding. Don't worry about it."
I cut a small piece of cake and ate it as I spoke.
"You gave me the jokbo, noona. Every subject, even. Thanks to that, I think my scores are gonna turn out well. This is my way of saying thanks."
"Oh, yeah?"
"Well, I wanted to eat it too. So don't feel burdened or anything."
"...Okay. I'll enjoy it, then."
To an outside observer, making a fuss over cake slices that cost less than 10,000 won might seem silly, but this was probably the standard reaction for your average college student. Even with a part-time job, how much can you really earn while keeping up with school?
'I'm just a special case.'
Once again, I felt grateful to have a constructive hobby.
...Is drawing R-18 illustrations constructive? Eh, whatever, it made me a lot of money.
Soyeon noona suddenly spoke up.
"Your personality seems to have changed a bit?"
"My personality?"
"Yeah. You seem a little brighter than before. Kind of more at ease, maybe?"
"That's a compliment, right?"
"Of course it is. You look way better now."
A faint smile tugged at the corner of my lips.
I really was changing, steadily.
Since we were on the subject, I asked in more detail.
"What was I like before?"
"Hmm. I think your personality itself was similar before, but... there were times you'd get self-conscious out of nowhere. You seemed kind of timid, too. Well, 'before' is only a month ago, I guess."
"I don't seem that way now?"
"I think so? Even just you messing with me earlier shows it."
These were changes I hadn't really consciously recognized myself.
Having an objective third party confirm that I was changing in a positive direction put me at ease somehow.
But I couldn't just be purely happy about it—I had to keep in mind that the person saying this was Soyeon noona.
"Part of it might be because it's you, noona."
"...Huh? Because it's me?"
"I got a lot more comfortable around you during the group project."
A project meant for five people, handled by just two of us. Just finishing it would've been a miracle, but didn't we go all the way to Itaewon to film because we were gunning for an A+? That was the first time in my life I felt something like camaraderie.
But for some reason, Soyeon noona's expression after hearing that was strange. Her face flushed red, her eyes narrowed, and she glared at me.
"Honestly, this guy is so lecherous..."
"Huh?"
"I knew it from the moment you were looking at pictures like that in the lecture hall."
"N-no, that was...!"
The mortification I'd been trying hard to forget came flooding back in an instant. Ah, shit, why'd she have to see that there. This was all because of that back-angle photo.
I averted my gaze, realized both cake slices had vanished, and stood up.
"W-well, we're done eating, so let's head back."
But Soyeon noona didn't let me off that easily. She kept teasing me even on the way back to the lecture hall.
"So young and already this depraved."
"...You're only a year older than me."
"A year is a lot. More importantly, be honest with me. You've got an exhibitionism kink, don't you? Last time too, and now again in a public place... total pervert."
Now she was even dragging up what happened during the Membership Training (MT).
Why's this noona suddenly acting like this?
I couldn't just sit there and take it, so I launched a counterattack.
"You keep calling me a pervert and lecherous, but noona, you're the pervert. You were the one who seduced me first, in the first place..."
"Wh-when did I ever seduce you? I told you, you're not my type."
"Not that. You seduced me into doing it during the group project. Pretending to be drunk and all."
"I-I was genuinely drunk back then, okay?"
"Wow, liar. I totally know you were acting."
"I was seriously drunk."
Soyeon noona lowered her voice and pinched my forearm.
But I'm not scared of Hana either, you know?
I kept running my mouth.
"Anyway, you were the one who said let's have sex first, weren't you? You said that if I was having sex with Areum without dating her, then I could do it with you too."
"......."
Noona went quiet.
I glanced sideways and saw her hanging her head, face bright red.
Seeing that made me feel a little sorry, so I added something.
"Uh, um. Well, I did it because I wanted to do it too, though."
"...It was good?"
"I wouldn't have done it if I didn't like it. So we're even. Let's just agree we're both perverts."
I wrapped up the topic there. It wasn't a fight with a clear winner or loser to begin with.
But then, all of a sudden.
Soyeon noona grabbed my arm and linked hers through it. And then she said this.
"S-so, what's up. Is your exam studying going well?"
"Huh? Yeah, I guess? Thanks to the jokbo you gave me."
I felt like I'd said that already, why's she asking?
"The questions change every year, so it probably won't follow the jokbo exactly. Anything you're having trouble with?"
"Not really..."
I stopped mid-sentence and shut my mouth.
Because noona pulled my arm in even tighter. Her chest pressed against my forearm.
"...If there's something difficult, I could teach you."
"Uh, um. Now that I think about it, I am a little worried about tomorrow's exam... I'd be grateful if you taught me."
Before we knew it, we were near the lecture hall.
Soyeon noona unlinked our arms and spoke in a suggestive tone.
"I've got the first-year textbooks at my place. Wanna come over to my place and study?"
"Hmm. The lecture hall is kind of uncomfortable anyway. Right?"
At that moment, we were of one heart and one mind.
"I'll grab my bag and come out."
"Me too."
*
The street by the campus back gate was the off-campus housing village for Cheonggwang University students.
It ranged from proper houses to Type 2 neighborhood living facilities and illegally remodeled studio apartments—the variety was wide.
Lee So-yeon was living on her own in a communal residence with a reasonably clean exterior, but it was a bit far from campus, so it took quite a walk to get there.
The two of them moved in silence.
Lee So-yeon was in the middle of regretting her actions.
'Ah, I'm crazy. Couldn't hold it in!'
She'd deliberately cut things off, so why was she dragging him back to her studio apartment again?
But for someone regretting it, her footsteps were pretty urgent. She even seemed somewhat light on her feet.
'Geez, I've been so busy I haven't even masturbated.'
This was all because of pent-up sexual frustration. Saying she was focusing on her studies, she hadn't just skipped masturbating, she hadn't met any men at all, and now her libido was boiling over.
'Why'd this guy have to be looking at that in the lecture hall.'
Truth was, from the moment she'd spotted Kang Cheol-jin looking at R-18 illustrations, her lust had been quietly stirring. The intense memories from a month ago had resurfaced.
"......."
Lee So-yeon sneaked a sidelong glance at Kang Cheol-jin. His face was a bit leaner than a month ago. The strong-featured impression that had been buried under soft flesh was starting to emerge.
So did that make her heart flutter?
No, not at all.
'Seriously, not my type.'
She'd thought it before, but Kang Cheol-jin's looks and build were far from her taste. Her type was pretty boys with slender face lines. As for build, she preferred lean bodies that made clothes hang well, not broad-shouldered frames like Kang Cheol-jin's.
Honestly, just looking at his outward appearance, Kang Cheol-jin didn't register as a man to her at all. He was that far removed from her taste in men. If she hadn't witnessed him going at it with Pi Ah-reum during the Membership Training (MT), she probably never would've felt any sexual desire toward him.
But she saw it.
She saw Pi Ah-reum wailing.
And she'd been the one to seduce Kang Cheol-jin first and went all the way to having sex with him.
Facial preferences? Preferred body type? His looks don't register as a man?
Her rational feelings were definitely that.
But her libido was a separate matter.
His face and body type aside, his massive package alone felt infinitely male to her.
So she'd gone and done it again.
"...Come in."
Defeated by carnal desire, she'd pulled a man into her home.
And Kang Cheol-jin.
"Noona."
"Mmph."
He responded to her expectations more perfectly than she could have ever hoped for.