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Join the ServerThe warm sunlight poured down from a cloudless sky.
The languid midday air, saturated with spring energy, was soft and tender.
Like the leaves of roadside trees turning vivid green, the colors flowing across the campus became even clearer under the sunlight.
It was the start of a new week and also Monday, the day of the liberal arts class.
After finishing my major courses in the morning, I headed to the humanities building with my friends.
The moment I entered the classroom right on time, I scanned the room for traces of Lee Rayoon.
“Ah, there she is!”
I immediately spotted the wide, Pacific-like squared shoulders and the small, light brown head like a celebrity’s.
Lee Rayoon, who had arrived early today, was sitting two rows ahead of me.
Her clean nape was visible above the neat collar of her checkered shirt.
“Now, continuing from last time, let’s take a closer look at sexual deviance.”
The professor’s clear voice signaled the start of the lecture.
While the class on social norms and uncontrolled human desire continued, I poked my mechanical pencil lead against my notebook, lost in other thoughts.
‘I need to make a good chance to talk to Rayoon today. Even if I look a bit clingy, if she says she’s busy like last time, I have to make sure we set up a next appointment.’
“In this way, excessive sexual commodification encourages distorted sexual perceptions across society and can lead to negative outcomes that alienate the affection people experience in real relationships.”
“……”
“Then let’s wrap up today’s class here, and spend the rest of the time talking about the group assignment.”
There was still a little over twenty minutes left in class, and I wondered why she was ending it so early.
As soon as the words ‘group assignment’ came out of the professor’s mouth, the students who had been slouched like wilted bean sprouts straightened their backs.
They suddenly lit up with intense interest.
“As you all know, instead of a midterm exam, we substitute a group assignment.”
“……”
“The topic is free. It can be anything from what we’ve covered in class, or even something broader about our society’s sexual culture, or narrower, any topic that expands our thinking about relationships.”
“……”
“You will create video content that captures this critical awareness, and along with PPT materials, you will present in class two weeks from now.”
Video content, PPT, and presentation materials, all within two weeks?
Whoa, that’s a seriously tight schedule.
Hwang Byeongyeol, sitting beside me, wiggled his fingers and suggested we work together.
For me, beating a game was more important than getting an A on a group assignment, so I thought it’d be better to work with people I already knew.
“The class s*x and Society focuses not just on sexuality but on the fundamental human need to form relationships. Understanding our desires better and thereby building smooth relationships with others aligns with the core competency of this class, so in that sense, I will assign group members randomly.”
“……”
“Since teamwork is an important evaluation criterion, form good relationships with your new teammates and work hard! This assignment reflects 80% of your grade, so both the presentation and the content need to show signs of effort and completion to get a good evaluation, hehe.”
As soon as the professor finished speaking, sighs burst out from the audience.
Pretending not to hear them, the professor cheerfully displayed the group assignments on the projector, telling us to use the remaining time to meet and greet our teammates.
Grumbling voices full of complaints erupted here and there in the murmuring classroom.
“Random? Is that even a thing? With 80% weight, the group assignment score is basically the final grade. What if I end up doing all the work alone?”
“Actually, if we do well on this, we barely need to worry about the midterm and final, so it is a honey of a class, but…”
“No, successful relationships with others are all good, but why does it have to be in a university group project? Before that, aren’t we going to learn a deep skepticism about human selfishness?”
I nodded along as Hwang Byeongyeol and Yu Hanna went back and forth.
In real life, group assignments never went smoothly.
The memory of staying up all night doing a group project that I ended up almost doing entirely by myself was still terrible.
But this time, I didn’t think I’d have much time to invest in the notoriously tough group assignment either.
I glanced at the slides, thinking, ‘If this keeps up, I’m going to end up as a free rider.’
Group 5: Jo Hyunsu, Lee Rayoon, Yeon Wooju, Jang Heeyeon
“Oh my god, you’re in the same group as Rayoon!”
It was Yu Hanna who blurted out the excited remark, not me.
She looked at me with an envious gaze, since I’d ended up in the same group as Rayoon.
It was a bit of a lucky accident, but I was also quite pleased with the unexpected fortune.
As I walked toward the table assigned to Group 5,
“Wooju sunbae, we’re in the same group?”
A voice soft as milk chocolate pierced my ear.
A radiantly handsome guy in a salmon-colored checkered shirt with a clean black plain tee underneath greeted me.
“Rayoon!”
Perhaps because I’d been so distracted by Kang Taeyang for a while, Rayoon, who was facing me with the same calm and composed face as always, looked like a fairy.
I waved my hands wildly, the joy rising from the depths of my core.
Rayoon looked at me silently, then let out a small laugh.
“Why are you reacting so intensely? You’re embarrassing me.”
“I guess… I’m just so happy to be in the same group as you for such an important assignment?”
“When I look at you, Wooju sunbae, you actually have a surprisingly silly side.”
Rayoon shook her head slightly and sat down by the window.
Her white, neat face, bathed in the spring sunlight, was serene.
Last time, she had definitely seemed to subtly avoid me, but today there was no sign of that at all.
Maybe I had overreacted?
Though, she might have just not been feeling well that day.
“Oh, Lee Rayoon.”
A woman with a tightly tied ponytail and a dark green cap worn backwards approached us.
Was she also our teammate?
The woman stared at Rayoon with curiosity, but the gaze was teetering on the edge of rudeness, making me, who happened to be standing next to her, feel oddly uncomfortable.
“Wow, if she looks like this in person, no wonder she’d become famous on SNS.”
“Um…”
After a brief pause, Rayoon nodded, and the woman naturally gave Rayoon a face rating (?).
But her interest in Rayoon lasted only a moment; as soon as a Twitter notification popped up on her phone, she started furiously tapping the screen.
She quickly immersed herself in her own world, as if me and Rayoon had become invisible.
“What is this group? All the good-looking ones gathered together.”
Finally, a short, stocky man appeared.
Judging by his mature appearance, he seemed to be a few years older than us, a senior.
The man glanced at Rayoon and me, then made an outright dissatisfied face.
[System – Sudden Quest: “Group Assignment Thanos”]
You have been assigned to a group in group assignment hell. Successfully lead the cooperation of the group assignment villains and obtain an A grade on the assignment together with the target character Lee Rayoon!
(Success reward: Lee Rayoon affection +20, greatly increased chance of entering the main quest)
My mouth fell open at the system window that appeared just then.
So this was the grand plan the system had been drawing all along.
I had been thinking of the group assignment as no big deal and was just glad for the chance to get closer to Rayoon, but now I snapped back to attention.
Jo Hyunsu (26): Discharged as army sergeant. Returning student. Group assignment villain 1
Jang Heeyeon (21): Fan account admin for a top idol. Group assignment villain 2
I blinked and looked over our teammates again.
Perhaps because the quest had been activated, a brief description of the characters had been added to the newly appeared system window.
With all of them being unusual from first impressions, and on top of that being labeled ‘villains’…
Of course, I had a feeling this would be a fairly rough quest.
“My name is Jo Hyunsu. I’m a senior in sociology, twenty-six years old.”
“I’m Jang Heeyeon, a sophomore in business administration.”
We only gave brief introductions, but why did I feel so uneasy?
I hope it’s just my imagination that black auras seem to be radiating behind them.
“You kids these days, you’re all obsessed with easy credit and have no sense of purpose about actually learning something. As a sociology student, this phenomenon is just deplorable.”
“……”
“Anyway, that’s enough. I’m your senior by a lot, so I’ll take the lead. Be grateful you ended up in a group with me.”
As soon as Rayoon and I finished introducing ourselves, Jo Hyunsu, who had taken a big sip of his latte, started acting all high and mighty.
It was of course thanks-worthy that he voluntarily took on the role of team leader, but I could feel an odd attempt to establish a hierarchy.
Seeing the gradually darkening expressions on Rayoon and Jang Heeyeon’s faces, I wasn’t the only one who felt that way.
“Yes, sunbae!”
Taking advantage of the awkward silence, I was the only one who answered out loud.
Rayoon, who had stepped back, quietly nodded, and Jang Heeyeon was busy looking at her phone, scrolling Twitter.
Guys, I understand that a bomb has dropped on our group and you don’t want to be proactive, but at least answer together…
“Let’s decide on a topic first. Anyone have any ideas?”
Once again, an awkward silence hung over the table.
Jo Hyunsu, arms crossed at an angle, scanned all three of our faces with a displeased expression.
As a sociology major, he probably had more good ideas for a s*x and Society assignment than we did, but he seemed intent on establishing strict discipline, fitting for an ex-sergeant.
“How about we talk about dating violence?”
Just as I was fidgeting, uncomfortable with the tension, Rayoon spoke up first.
I turned to her, half surprised, half relieved.
“Actually, violence in relationships isn’t just physical violence, but also includes psychological abuse and coercive demands. I think there are many cases where neither the perpetrator nor the victim is aware of it.”
“……”
“The professor told us to broaden the topic beyond s*x and think about relationships in general, so it might be good to look at various patterns that appear between couples, who are in the most intimate relationships. Since timeliness is also an evaluation criterion, I think this would satisfy that well.”
Rayoon continued calmly.
Wow, I’d only heard she was amazing, but it wasn’t baseless gossip.
Of course, we had briefly touched on s*x and violence in class, but it was amazing to see her think so broadly.
“Wow… Rayoon, you’re really smart.”
Even though she was my junior, I admired her purely.
But regret washed over me almost immediately.
Jo Hyunsu tilted his head sideways and, as if waiting for that moment, raised an objection to Rayoon’s opinion.
“Oh, but I don’t really like that one.”
“……”
“It’s not like we’re treating all people who date as potential criminals, but especially male students would find it offensive. And look, since peer evaluation is also a criterion, this topic would work against getting extra points.”
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