Denial
In my studio apartment, I sat there without a word, crushed beneath the oppressive atmosphere of the two women staring down at me.
“After making me worry like that yesterday, you didn’t reveal your identity, didn’t send a single message, and now you stroll in this late. Don’t you think that’s too much?”
“...How long did you plan to keep us sitting here? My back... it hurts so much...”
Seo-hee fixed me with that razor-sharp glare while Chae-yun, forced to remain in the same posture for hours, couldn’t even straighten her spine properly.
“I was wrong. Completely wrong. But first, just listen to what I have to say.”
I apologized to the pair who still radiated anger, then pulled an apple from my bag before they could start complaining again. Two clear bite marks marred its surface. I held it up for them to see.
“Do you know what this is?”
“...It’s an apple.”
“Yes. An apple.”
“....”
Had I asked the wrong question?
“No, explaining it properly will take a while...”
To help them understand, I laid out everything that had happened that day. Finding the overgrowth and the pursuers. The hallucination ringing inside my skull. How that voice had warned me, letting me dodge crisis after crisis. The glowing fruit I’d tracked down by following it. The power the fruit had given me. I told them every last detail, then looked up, shifting my gaze between the two women sitting on the bed.
I’d hoped they might have a plausible answer.
“...A glowing fruit?”
“We’re born from ‘flowers.’ You’re saying a fruit the size of an apple grew from something that small?”
They clearly had no idea what it was.
“...Still, I can tell it isn’t ordinary. How could a piece of fruit generate enough energy to run a machine that big? And it gave you new powers on top of that.”
“From what you’re describing, a voice that warns you of danger and the ability to leave someone else’s brain completely defenseless both appeared overnight?”
“Yeah. I heard the voice yesterday too, but I brushed it off as my imagination...”
The room grew quiet again. They were each lost in their own thoughts.
“Still, this is acceptable, isn’t it?” Seo-hee spoke first.
“It is, but it isn’t entirely good.”
“Why?”
“Because now they know it can parasitize men too.”
I figured that part couldn’t be helped. At the time, my only thought had been that I had to take the fruit hidden inside that machine.
“The good news is they probably won’t attack for a while.”
“Something they don’t understand has shown up. Judging by the personalities of those bastards we’ve seen so far, they won’t move first unless they can solve the problem perfectly. That’s what you’re saying?”
“That’s exactly what I was going to say...”
Chae-yun gave Seo-hee a wounded look for stealing her line.
“Then we can breathe easy for the time being... that’s allowed?”
“Yes, I think so. We still can’t just play around like last time, though.”
“Rest for a while and practice your new abilities. I’m heading out first.”
Practice my abilities. I had already started, but... I smiled, thinking about the two-week “friendship game” I would be playing with the professor starting tomorrow.
“...He’s already used it on someone, hasn’t he?”
Seo-hee put on her coat, stood up from the bed, and gave my face a quick glance. She waved to Chae-yun and stepped out the door.
“Oh, that’s right. You live with us now.”
“Now we can do it every day~♡ Oh, right, oppa.”
Chae-yun smiled with wicked intent and beckoned me closer. I leaned in, offering my ear.
“Why? What are you up to now?”
“...Did it feel good with the overgrowth?”
Startled by the sudden whisper, I pulled my ear away and stared at her. The way she grinned and slowly licked her lips with her tongue told me everything I needed to know.
“..You did that on purpose...”
The next morning I sat in the lecture hall, sunlight pouring across my desk as I stared out the window. I was sure I had slept properly yesterday, yet exhaustion clung to me. The cause was probably listening to a lecture in a different classroom right now.
Just how many times had we done it yesterday...? I couldn’t even remember the exact number.
Tired as I was, sleeping through this lecture wasn’t an option. Today was the one I looked forward to most.
“Hui-ju, when doing croquis, don’t try to draw every detail right away. Start by capturing the large shapes...”
Professor Han Hui-ju. The very professor I had met only yesterday, who had unfortunately become my newest sacrifice. She continued the lecture with admirable resolve, stealing secret glances at me. I had already known she would be watching me even before class began.
Time to start, then.
I slipped my hand into my pocket and toyed with the small remote. The moment I nudged the switch upward, an entertaining scene unfolded in front of me.
“Professor, here.”
“This is...”
“It’s exactly what you’re thinking. Insert it and then give the lecture.”
The small white object. Chan-woo handed me the vibrator I had only ever seen in adult videos. Shame at being sexually toyed with by a student set my face on fire.
“Enough. What exactly do you gain from doing this?!”
“....”
The humiliation that had built up past its limit finally forced sound from my throat. When he heard the near-sob in my voice, his smile vanished. The sudden change in mood made me flinch despite myself.
“..Were you embarrassed to put it in yourself, Professor? Then I’ll help. Lift your skirt and take off your panties.”
“That’s... ngh...”
I forced my unwilling hands to move, slowly raising my skirt. With one hand I slid my panties down to my thighs. Chan-woo crouched in front of my exposed crotch, saying nothing, simply staring.
It was so humiliating my hands shook and tears spilled from my eyes.
“The professor’s pussy really does have that mature look.”
“..Hiiik...!!”
His rough hand stroked my pubic hair and the sensation startled an embarrassing sound out of me.
“Then I’ll put it in.”
The unpleasant feeling of something forcing its way into my most sacred place made me frown. Tears continued rolling down my cheeks.
“...Done. You should go teach now. Stop crying or the students will notice something strange.”
The rotor suddenly began a faint vibration.
“Mmph...!!♡”
I clapped both hands over my mouth to trap the moan triggered by the sudden sensation between my legs.
Im Chan-woo... I glanced back at him in the rear seat. He was flipping pages and fiddling with his pen as if he knew nothing.
How had I ended up like this...? The strange fullness inside me made me clutch the hem of my skirt and squeeze my thighs together.
“Professor?”
“....”
A student in the front row called out to me.
Had they noticed something odd? Surely not.
“Ah, sorry. I was thinking... I’ll continue the feedback. Next is...”
The instant I tried to call the next student’s name—
Bzzzz—
“Eung-hoot?!♡”
The vibration surged in strength exactly when I tried to speak. A gentle wave of pleasure crashed over me and my legs buckled like a sandcastle dissolving in the tide.
“P-Professor, are you all right...”
“I-I’m fine♡ I’ll... continue...”
I haven’t been discovered yet. Please. I have to hold on...
“...No, that’s not...”
It didn’t feel good. I was only surprised. That was all.
“Ah... aah...”
I didn’t want to, but my head turned toward the students on its own.
“..Professor.... are you.... okay?”
“Please...”
Please. No...
“Don’t look at me..”
The throbbing pressure turned my vision pure white.
Was that what they called an adult’s endurance? I was a little surprised that the professor continued the lecture with more composure than I had expected. Well, it was only this much, after all.
I slipped my hand into my pocket again and used the remote to cut the rotor’s power. The professor immediately glanced back at me once more.
...She wasn’t completely unaffected, it seemed.
Her eyes, clouded with anxiety and disgust, no longer held the tears from before. She appeared to have suffered a heavy shock. Was it self-loathing at how her own body was gradually being devoured by pleasure? Pure revulsion toward the monster inside her head? Or was some of it directed at me?
As her brain was being eaten away, her mind and her remaining humanity slowly consumed along with it, what could she possibly be thinking? I twirled my pen and listened to the now-empty lecture, imagining the answer.