Why Do Idiots Keep Falling for Phishing?

The season of cold winds. A certain day in November. A single text message changed my life.

October 29, 2026. A studio apartment in Seoul, South Korea.

"Ha... fuck, seriously... rejected at the document screening again...?"

Thud—

Deflated, the young man slouched back in his chair in front of the computer and propped his feet up on the desk.

"Haaah... shit... that damn In-Seoul university bullshit..."

Pathetic. Infuriating. Hopeless.

In-Seoul, In-Seoul, IN-SEOUL!!!!!!!!!!!

"Plenty of kids who graduated from regional schools work hard too..."

The young man cursed the world. No — he cursed South Korea.

South Korea had two regions. One was the capital, Seoul. The other was every provincial backwater outside it. Seoul refused to acknowledge the existence of anything beyond its own borders, and so the country came in exactly two flavors: Seoul people, and provincial people.

Kyungpook National? Pusan National? Ask the students who were born and raised in Seoul about even the regionally famous universities, and this is the answer you'd get.

The young man resented this social system. It wasn't as if he'd skipped studying in high school — he'd worked fairly hard, hard enough to stay near the top of his class. And yet he still couldn't get into a university in Seoul. In the end he'd attended a reasonably well-known school in the provinces, graduated, and come up to Seoul clutching his inflated dreams.

That stretch alone: three whole years. In the past three years, he'd written well over a hundred job applications.

Why? Why?

He'd won his share of competitions in high school. He'd won his share of competitions in college. So why? Why the hell was he getting cut at the document stage?

Looks? Honestly, he wasn't handsome, but he wasn't a squid either. How did he know? Because back in high school and college, he'd still gotten his fair share of girls making moves on him.

So what was the conclusion? Paper qualifications. Pedigree. Yeah — that was it, exactly it.

Failed at the first ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠document screening. In March, in April, in the extra postings in May. And now, in the fall recruitment round, the exact same thing. Conglomerates, mid-sized companies — he hadn't gotten into a single one.

The reason... he wanted to know the reason. If something was lacking, he'd fill the gap. He'd work harder.

"So just give me a damn chance, you bastards!!!!!!!!!!!"

The young man spat out his boiling frustration as profanity — and at that very moment—

Ding—! You've got a text—!

"...Huh? Why does Dad's phone have an alert tone like that...?"

The notification sound was some dusty relic he'd never set himself. He sat up, grabbed his phone, and a moment later—

"Ha... right, thanks a ton for the interest. Thanks!!! Delete!!"

As a matter of course, the young man deleted the message without even opening it. And yet, somehow—

"Huh?"

"What? No, fuck, I didn't even open it and you're hacking me like this?"

"No, fuck off... I'm not doing anything with it!!!!"

"No, hold on—"

He was going out of his mind. Ready to jump out of his skin.

Hacking. A perfect hack. A Hypnosis System? Give me a break. The moment curiosity got the better of him and he opened that app, his phone would probably turn into a zombie unit in some scammer's bot farm.

"Who do you take me for, an idiot...? Haa... guess I'd better factory reset this thing."

He ran through everything he could think of on his own. He was actually pretty sharp with computers and digital stuff, so he went straight for a factory reset — but the result was the same.

"It won't delete... ugh, this is filthy. Absolutely filthy. If I ask them to replace my phone, all hell's going to break loose..."

A son who'd been unemployed for three years. Parents dutifully looking after that same son. Phone prices ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠these days were genuinely eye-watering, so much so that simply asking for a new one felt like a sin.

But what could he do? A phone that had already been compromised was beyond saving.

"Haaah..."

In the end, having resigned himself to losing the phone anyway, the young man opened the app.

"There's nothing in here worth stealing, so whatever. What even is this?"

His bank balance was a measly 300,000 won. And there were no security cards or other financial credentials registered on the phone at all.

"What is this thing? A hypnosis app? What, now scammers hypnotize people through phones? Incredible. Truly incredible."

Phishing techniques grew more sophisticated by the day. But no matter how you sliced it, you couldn't hypnotize a user through a phone — and so, eyes brimming with curiosity, the young man launched the app.

"What is this? It's a game?"

When the app launched, what appeared was a screen straight out of a video game, crowded with multiple windows.

"Well... might as well poke around before I ditch the phone. Not like I have any money to blow on microtransactions."

Judging there was nothing in his life worth fleecing, the young man tapped [Run Tutorial] — and in that instant—

FWOOSH—!!

The notification window on the screen swelled larger and larger — until it hung right there before the young man's own two eyes.

"No way... a hallucination...?"

A hallucination. Yeah. That was the only word that could make sense of what was happening. Or rather, it was the only explanation he could offer.

"Register... a hypnosis target?"

Rather than trying to understand the impossible, the young man — as if under some spell of his own — began tapping the screen.

This was... actually possible? How? How did it have their personal information and their locations??

"D-don't tell me... it's real...?"

Gulp—

The hallucination... was steadily becoming reality.

Information that couldn't possibly be known unless this was real. And how? Even if some phishing syndicate were god-tier, real-time location tracking?

"Either it's real... or the scammer is a raving lunatic...?"

One of the two. But the scales in the young man's mind tipped heavily toward the former — because no matter how he thought about it, the latter seemed impossible.

Of course, every phishing scam begins with the doubt 'surely not?' — but his thought circuits were already half-broken anyway.

And so the young man selected the target closest to him: that woman, the one who had made his life the hardest.

"Content...? Range?"

The young man moved his fingers as the tutorial prompted. For range, he selected [Long-Range], and for the hypnosis content, he typed this:

[Come to me right now, strip naked, get down on all fours, and apologize for everything you've done.]

The moment he finished writing and pressed [Complete], another notification popped up immediately.

"Uh...?"

The young man could do nothing but blink at the window floating before his eyes — and then!

"Huh? That's it? What? What's supposed to be different?"

The message said the hypnosis was complete. But nothing had changed. No further messages appeared, and no visible change...?

THUD THUD THUD—!!!

"Wh-what...? Don't tell me...?"

Just as he was about to write it all off as a crock of shit, he heard knocking at his door and turned his head. And with a uneasy what if stirring in his chest, he opened it — and in that very moment—

Creak—!

"Young man in 202, I have something very important to discuss. May I come in?"

"Y-yes? Ah, yes... c-come in."

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

The young man couldn't ask a single question. Couldn't argue a single point. She had really come. His landlady had come, exactly as he'd written.

'D-don't tell me...?'

Only then did he remember what he'd typed. He closed the door and turned around — and in that instant—

Sliiide— shhk—!

"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

His landlady, cheeks flushed with embarrassment, undressing.

That woman — the very embodiment of viciousness, irritation, and full-blown hysteria — was right now...

"M-ma'am... what are you doing right now!!!!"

"I'm sorry, young man."

"Excuse me?"

Shocked, the young man shouted at her and tried to stop her, but it was useless.

Sliiide— drop—!

'Oh, oh God---!!!'

Kim Sukja stripped down to nothing right before his eyes, completely naked — and then dropped to her knees, prostrate, and began to apologize.

Jiggle—

"I think I've been far too awful to you all this time, young man. I'm truly sorry... truly sorry. Could you ever forgive me?"

"Wh-what is even happening..."

The young man couldn't believe this moment was real.

This was reality. Right before his eyes, his landlady — naked, her massive breasts and heavy hips swaying — was prostrate on the floor, begging for forgiveness.

"Good grief..."

"I'm so sorry... please forgive me..."

"O-okay, I forgive you... so please, put your clothes back on and go home now."

"Mm... thank you, young man."

It was an utterly bewildering moment, and he wanted nothing more than to hurry his landlady back out the door. The moment he accepted her apology, she slowly rose to her feet, dressed herself right in front of him, gave a small smile, and shuffled out.

Clunk—!!

And so she was gone, and the young man, left alone—

"What... what the hell even is this...?"

An app that couldn't be deleted no matter how he tried. An app installed without his permission. An app installed while he'd done absolutely nothing.

This app wasn't...

"It wasn't phishing... is this a novel...?"

He accepted that it was real.

Gulp—

His Adam's apple bobbed on its own, and the hand clutching his phone began to tremble.

Rattle rattle rattle—

And then, a moment later.

Grin—

"Keh-heh, kkkkhhhh...!! This is actually real, isn't it!!!!"