Simulation First
"Hah… hah…."
The second I stepped through my front door, the tension bled out of me and my legs started shaking. My heart was hammering so hard my breath came short and ragged on its own.
"Holy shit… I was actually terrified…. Fuck… damn it… hah…."
The curses spilled out of me without thinking. It wasn't like I'd almost died, but my heart was thrashing like I was about to drop dead any second.
"Hoo… hah… hah… haaah… haha…!"
I kept breathing, forcing my pulse to settle, and little by little my body started to calm down. The moment the tension finally let go, laughter burst out of my mouth.
"Haha… haah… damn…."
I hadn't even properly started anything yet, but a raw, electric thrill was already coiling through my entire body. Was the dopamine dumping this hard already?
Either way—I still hadn't really begun, but I'd managed to get Nabi's phone number. For now, at least. Just for now. That alone was a major score.
The only thing I'd known about Nabi before this was a single fact: that the woman living next door, Kang Hyunji, was the total freak Sect girl Nabi. But that alone wasn't enough to lock down my prey for good. With just that one piece of information, there were still plenty of ways she could wriggle free.
Think about it. Even when you live in the same villa, most people have no idea who their next-door neighbor even is. And even if they do, in a modern society where individualism is the default, you usually just know a face and a name. Nobody knows anyone else's personal business or private information, and nobody has a reason to.
And in that environment, I'd gotten Nabi's phone number.
You might wonder what you can even do with a phone number. But in 2024 South Korea, one phone number is enough to dig up almost everything. Hell, messenger IDs auto-register off it—you can start peeling back someone's entire identity from there. So yeah. Huge score.
I checked Nabi's number again in my contacts.
010-XXXX-XXXX
Not an easy number to memorize—but I had a feeling I'd end up memorizing it whether I wanted to or not. Because the owner of this number was about to become my jotjip.
Of course… nothing was locked in yet. Nobody knew how this was going to play out.
Creeeak.
The metal chair in front of my desk—the one with the monitor on it—squealed the second I sat down.
"Hoo… okay. Think…."
I muttered to myself and slowly sank into thought. Time to run the simulations. Inside my head, every scenario I could possibly imagine. I'd bought myself a little time—I needed to map out as many possibilities as I could before anything actually happened.
But… there were too many variables.
"Ugh… my head…!"
It was already starting to throb. Still, it had to be done. If I prepared for the worst-case scenarios, I could at least keep my life from going completely to hell.
I closed my eyes and started picturing what would happen once I stepped into Nabi's place.
"Ah… thank you so much for yesterday…! You left so fast I didn't even get to say it properly."
"Come on, it was nothing. Super simple fix—took no time at all."
"Haha… still… I really appreciate the help."
Awkward as hell, but I keep the small talk going, trying to loosen the atmosphere somehow. But… the timing is impossible to find. How the hell do I even open this… how…
"Since you're already here, let me make you some coffee."
"Oh! That'd be great. Haha."
Why is this turning into such a warm, friendly vibe… I can't find a single opening…
She comes back with the coffee and sets the cup down in front of me on the tray.
"…."
"…."
Nothing but awkward silence.
Tick.
Slurp.
"Gulp… ahem."
I take a sip of the warm coffee and clear my throat against the awkwardness. I have no idea what to say… Do I just go for it right here? I consider it on impulse, but the courage won't come out of my mouth.
"Have you lived here long?"
"Ah… yeah… a few years now?"
Uh… wait… what…?
Suddenly the conversation is sliding into everyday small talk…. Panic hits me from the inside. In the end I never even bring up the Sect stuff—we just chat about what we do for work, where we're originally from, all that pointless crap, build a little rapport, and then I go home….
"No… no…!! If it goes like that, I get nothing—absolutely nothing…!"
I shook my head hard left and right, forcibly shattering the pure-romance path my imagination had drifted into.
"The situation itself wouldn't get worse… but if it goes that way, it could still fuck me later…!"
The photos of Nabi's Blow profile and her face were still sitting on my phone, intact. Say I stupidly picked the pure-romance option with this woman. And then—just hypothetically, just maybe—things went well. We got close. And then she happened to see those photos on my phone…?
Then I was genuinely fucked. Romance or whatever—handcuffs on my wrists, straight to the police station, life over, direct route to hell. And more than that, it wasn't even the path I wanted.
Kang Hyunji? Beautiful. Yes. Her body was attractive as a woman, too. I'm not usually into rating people like livestock, but if I had to—she'd easily crack the top five percent. Honestly, the kind of face that makes you curious about dating her whether you want to or not.
But that wasn't what this was. I needed to keep my head straight.
"Again… think it through again… This time I go in hard from the start…!"
I closed my eyes and rewound to the beginning, laying the scene out in my head once more.
"Hyunji."
"Uh… yes?"
I walk into her place, kick off my shoes, step into the living room—and before I even sit down, I call her name and stop her cold. First strike wins. Better to hit hard and pin this bitch down early than let the awkwardness slide into pure romance.
"…Nabi. Right?"
"….Excuse me??"
I ask her deliberately polite, probing, casual. She answers loud. Her voice trembles—just barely. She's a little rattled. Even answering right away, she's trying hard not to show it. Maybe that's why there's this faint note of forced outrage in her reaction.
Doesn't matter. I already know Kang Hyunji's real identity.
"Come on, why are you like this. You know. Nabi."
"…I have no idea what you're talking about right now?"
…Oh, look at this?
She fires back hard on purpose, putting anger into her voice. The second she heard the name Nabi, she must've felt something was off. And still, the Nabi in front of me is acting like she's not. Too bad for her—it's written all over her face.
"Hey. Drop the act."
".. Did you just talk down to me?"
Huh…?
The atmosphere is starting to go sideways. Her wording and tone are getting sharper. I get that she's trying to shut down anything related to Sect however she can, but…
"…Yesterday, while I was fixing your PC, I found something interesting…."
"Ha… unbelievable. Get out. Just get out."
"…What?"
I ask again, thrown off.
"I said get out. What even is Nabi. And who the hell do you think you are talking to me like that."
There's a clear tremor under the hard edge she's forcing into her voice. She's trying not to look like she's been caught, but it's obvious. On top of that, she latches onto the fact that I dropped the formal speech and tries to change the subject.
"Look at this photo."
I can feel myself losing the momentum, so I yank out my phone, open the gallery, pull up Nabi's Blow profile picture, and shove it right in front of her face.
"….So? So what the hell am I supposed to do about it?"
…Wait??
This isn't how it's supposed to go…?
"Huh… Sect girl Nabi's identity is about to get doxx—"
Beep. Beep. Beep.
She ignores me, unlocks her phone, and dials someone.
"Hello. This is XX Villa in XX-dong."
She called the cops. If I leave that alone, I'm fucked.
"Fucking hell, are you insane!!"
Thud!!! Thud-thud!!! Bang!!
Panicking, I throw myself on top of her, lunging for the phone. No time to think about front or back—the situation is that urgent.
"Kyaaaaaaaaah!!!!!!! Somebody help me!!! Help me!!!"
She screams like a madwoman. At that point, the whole villa showing up is only a matter of time.
"Ah… this is actually fucked…!"
Probably the worst-case scenario I could even imagine. But even in that run, I still hadn't gone hard enough. The hesitation was the problem.
And….
"Something's missing…."
Something I could use to blackmail her with. Something was missing. Think…. Think…. I had to remember it….
"….Ah!!"
Right. Nabi's provocative tweet. The one where she basically begged someone to fuck her. That was what I needed. Whether it would actually work as leverage, I didn't know—but I had to screenshot that tweet first.
What I was about to do was wrong, no question. But at least with that, I could dump the blame onto Nabi. No—no need for a long speech about it.
Gaslighting.
I'd never done anything like this in my life, and I genuinely hated this kind of approach…. But I didn't have a choice.
Before I could forget, I unlocked my phone, opened the Blow app, and hunted down that provocative tweet of hers.
Scroll. Scroll.
I swiped down through Nabi's Blow feed, and the tweet packed with those baiting lines popped right up.
Click.
"Okay. Screenshot."
That gave me one more tool for blackmail. For now, that level of prep would do….
Last thing I needed was mind control. I had to harden my resolve. That was the only way I was going to fuck that Sect girl Nabi.
I'd never imagined myself doing shit like this in my entire life. But leaving a Sect girl sitting right in front of me and being too stupid to take her was worse than just going for it.
Blackmailing Nabi and fucking her….
I… am a bastard.
From this moment on, I am a complete piece of shit.
And from this moment on, the girl next door—Kang Hyunji—is Nabi, the Sect girl who got caught and became my jotjip.