< Episode 1 > Succubus System (1)
“Minsuk-ssi.”
“Yes.”
He immediately responded to the voice that seemed strict just by hearing it and lifted himself up.
“There’s a lot of trash on the warehouse floor, could you sweep it up?”
“I’ll take care of it right away.”
Responding calmly to the task that had become part of his routine, he left the break room, receiving sympathetic looks from those around him.
The day he was discharged from the military.
He left home with only the modest salary he had painstakingly saved, putting every bit into savings accounts.
Leaving a home that had been a battleground of daily quarrels since his childhood had been a long-held aspiration since his student days.
Without any particular trouble after the military discharge, he headed to a region in Seoul, far away from home.
Since he had decided to live on his own, he wanted to live in a clean, well-to-do neighborhood rather than a shabby one.
Given the expensive housing prices in Seoul, he couldn’t even afford the deposit for a studio apartment with his military savings, so he settled for a 250,000-won-per-month goshiwon (tiny living quarters).
In any case, his housing was taken care of.
The next issue was finding a job.
At the age of twenty-two, with only a high school diploma and no particular certifications, finding a proper job seemed out of reach.
During his job hunt, after spreading out resumes that had hardly anything on them and attending interviews, he received a call from a large department store nearby.
When asked how long he planned to work, he answered that as long as he wasn’t laid off, he intended to keep working, and he was hired immediately without an interview.
The salary was quite generous compared to the minimum wage, the working hours were reasonable, and the location was close.
Being a regular employee in a major corporation meant certain bonuses and holidays were guaranteed, which was much better than most small-to-medium enterprises.
Of course, he wasn’t hired for an office job; it involved loading and unloading in a warehouse, but the conditions were much better than part-time jobs like parcel loading or day laborer positions at distribution centers.
But why was he chosen?
Even if the job only required physical labor, with conditions like these, there should be plenty of people who wanted it, and they’d normally hire someone with at least some experience.
The reason became clear before long.
His team leader, a woman assigned to the logistics department, seemed to have a hobby of singling out a person to relentlessly give a variety of menial tasks, making life difficult.
According to the senior colleagues, a good number of people had quit due to the unfair treatment they received from her.
This time, it seemed he had become her target.
‘It’s so damn cold.’
As mid-November approached, the chill in the air intensified day by day.
The inside of the break room was warmed by a heater, and sweating from loading and unloading made the cold bearable, but being sent outside to sweep just as his body was warming up made him feel inevitably cold.
Although he had many complaints, he kept them all to himself.
After all, daily conflict at home had been about money, so if he was paid well enough, he was willing to tolerate this level of injustice.
At least given his credentials, getting a job with better conditions than this was almost zero unless he set out to sea to catch shr*mp.
“When you’re done cleaning, report back. I’ll come to inspect if it’s done properly.”
“Understood.”
It’s just a place that’s going to be dirty again once the next delivery comes in with boxes, tape, plastic wrappers, and other debris.
Normally it’s a spot that everyone cleans together once at the end of their shifts, so being told to clean it alone, especially during break time, clearly felt like harassment.
Despite not feeling anything in particular on the surface, it wasn’t like he was entirely unaffected.
There were feelings that should be naturally sensed: the irritation and unfairness, the futility that made him want to throw everything away, and…
‘Envy.’
God, to be in such a position of power.
Deputy Warehouse Team Manager Yoo Seoryeon. The reason she could act so irrationally with no repercussions was clear.
Rumor had it that she was the daughter of someone high up in the management of the national chain department store… a director, maybe? Anyhow, she was apparently influential enough to parachute into her position of team leader, and she seemed to be in a position where she could comfortably push people around and dismiss someone if she wanted.
It was unclear why the director’s daughter was hassling people in a warehouse, but the prevalent guess among the employees was that she couldn’t be in the store because of her problematic personality.
Even though she was the team leader and supposed to supervise, the fact that she was the only one in the logistics team always immaculately dressed in formal office wear while casually wasting time also bolstered such theories.
While letting his thoughts wander with various random musings, he finished cleaning.
Having swept up the visible trash and dust, it should be good enough.
He stood in front of the women’s break room located in a corner of the warehouse and knocked on the door.
“The cleaning is done.”
Technically it was a women’s break room, but Seoryeon was the only woman in the logistics department, so it was practically her private room.
After delivering his message and waiting a bit, Seoryeon emerged.
Seoryeon shivered slightly at the cold outdoor air, looked around briskly, and then said:
“It looks good enough. Just move the piled-up items to the inner warehouse and take your break.”
After that task is done, the new delivery will arrive, and that will be time to leave for the day.
Essentially, she was telling him not to rest.
“Understood.”
“…Get back to work.”
Without showing any particular reaction on his part and responding curtly, she went back into the break room.
Soon it will be time to clock out.
It may not be a break, but as long as his mood wasn’t too bad, he could take it easy—she typically didn’t micromanage as long as the work was done somewhat lazily.
“Thanks for your hard work, everyone.”
Once the end of the work day arrived and the final cleanup was done, he changed clothes and left.
Friends lived in other areas, and with no significant hobbies to speak of, as always, he walked back to the goshiwon with moderation in mind.
Exiting the elevator into the lobby, he inadvertently locked eyes with an impassive gaze from behind the counter.
‘She’s pretty nice to look at.’
The woman at the reception counter was quite beautiful.
In her usual plain black tracksuit, with her hair tied back modestly, she didn’t seem to have much interest in her appearance, but that didn’t affect her inherent attractiveness.
She’s also a resident of the same goshiwon and handles administrative duties. Her name is unknown.
A fellow resident. The receptionist. That was all he knew about her.
He nodded in greeting as usual, and she reciprocated with a nod before returning her attention to her studies.
‘Girlfriend, huh.’
Occasionally, when he saw her, he’d think about relationships.
A pretty girlfriend. Isn’t that what every guy desires?
He too wasn’t completely disinterested in romance, but given that he was just a high school graduate with neither a decent home nor a stable job, it would be fair to assume that no woman would want to date him.
Since he was utterly pessimistic about marriage, to begin with, considering a relationship was almost as good as giving up for him.
Returning to his room through the hallway, he took off his jacket, collapsed onto the bed, and mused.
“Should I sign up for the gym?”
It was an issue he had been considering recently.
Although he was extremely tired after work, he was still capable of exercising and wanted to maintain the physique he had built in the military.
Anyway, all he had for hobbies was watching YouTube or playing games.
Pondering whether to sit at the computer as usual, he pulled out his phone from his pocket instead.
“Let’s see.”
He didn’t dislike exercising, and since his body was nearly his only asset, going to the gym didn’t seem like a bad idea.
After giving it some thought for days, he finally decided to look into it.
“Huh?”
When he turned on his phone’s screen as usual, there was an unfamiliar app in the corner.
“Succubus System?”
He definitely wouldn’t have forgotten such a name; it was an app that was not in his memory at all.
“Is this a hack?”
Even while thinking so, he started the app.
[Welcome to the Succubus System.]
[User synchronization has been completed.]
The layout of the application was simple.
[Owned Energy: 50,000P]
[Target Search (Range: 20M)]
There was no other content.
[Energy can be acquired through sexual pleasure resulting from contact with the opposite sex. The functions of the app will be enhanced depending on how much energy you have.]
Tapping on the energy showed an explanation.
“What is this?”
It took him a moment to comprehend it.
In a nutshell, it meant that by having sex with a woman, you earn energy.
Succubus. It wasn’t an unfamiliar term.
A demon that sucks a man’s life force. That was the extent of his knowledge.
Next, he tapped on the target search.
[Searching for a target……]
[The search has been completed.]
It took about 10 seconds for the search to complete.
Once the loading screen disappeared, profiles consisting only of photos and names were listed on the screen.
They were all women.
Most were people he’d seen coming and going at the goshiwon.
Residents from the same floor and the one below were visible, as well as people working at the building’s restaurant, convenience store, and café.
Particularly noteworthy was a receptionist he encountered daily in the lobby.
[Name: Kim Min-ah]
When he touched the photo, it expanded.
Indeed, she was beautiful.
Pale skin, a straight nose, and slightly sharp eyes combined with her usually expressionless face exuding a strange charm.
[Would you like to select this target? Yes/No]
What happens after selecting?
With a growing curiosity and anticipation, he pressed Yes.
[The currently available function is Hypnosis.]
[You can adjust the target’s common sense and emotions.]
[The energy required will increase depending on the target’s discordance and resistance to the altered common sense.]
“Hypnosis?”
The unexpected term made a myriad of ideas surge in his mind.
It’s a thought that any man probably has at least once: what if they had powers like invisibility or hypnosis, methods of using such abilities.
[Please enter the contents of the hypnosis.]
What should he say?
Suddenly, it’s all too clear just how foolish humans to be.
Despite not believing it, he found himself quickly typing, driven by a ‘what if’ hope.
[Resident 722, Choi Minsuk, is in love.]
A straightforward message.
Even as he laughed at the absurdity, he hit the confirm button, and a new window popped up.
[10,000,000P is needed to apply this hypnosis. Would you like to apply it? Yes/No]
[You do not have enough energy to apply it.]
“Uhm…”
Free energy was given at 50,000, but to apply hypnosis, 10 million was needed.
He didn’t know what the value of 50,000 represented, but it meant she would have to feel almost 200 times the discordance and resistance against what he was capable of doing.
“Isn’t that obvious?”
Honestly, what did Kim Min-ah know about him? She might have memorized the names and faces of the residents as the receptionist, but that would be the extent of it.
To suddenly fall in love with someone whose name and face they barely know? Obviously, the sense of discordance has to be substantial.
“Let’s start with something simple.”
[I feel like eating a hamburger.]
[1,000P is required to apply this hypnosis. Would you like to apply it? Yes/No]
“This one is much cheaper.”
Suddenly craving a hamburger isn’t strange at all.
Since it’s not particularly odd, it requires less energy to make it happen.
“Then…”
[I feel horny and my body is getting hot.]
[6,000P is required to apply this hypnosis. Would you like to apply it? Yes/No]
This too was reasonably priced.
The part about lust isn’t something that would be felt as strange either.
He added the phrase ‘I want to have sex with anyone’ to the message.
[1,000,000P is required to apply this hypnosis. Would you like to apply it? Yes/No]
The price spiked.
Feeling lust is one thing, but wanting to have sex with just anyone seemed out of place.
“…This is interesting.”
It feels like strategizing a game.
Trying different settings to clear a goal with the lowest possible value—like playing a game.
Giddily, he exper*mented with various contents, everything from bizarre ones like wanting to steal, to slap the man in room 702, to wanting to fly, and serious settings that might lead to sexual interactions with her.
After testing a multitude of settings, he struck a compromise that seemed to achieve his target.
[The receptionist at Eunseong Goshiwon is providing a sexual frustration relief service to male residents.
The service fee is 60,000 won per session and does not include sex.
At first, the receptionist found the service distasteful but came to understand that other goshiwons implicitly offer similar services, and proceeds are fully given to the management, as a service merely for retaining customers.
While not liking it, she accepted it because she needed the money and had to save on room fees by taking on receptionist duties.
The service operates by tenants sending a text with their room number and ‘service request’ to the receptionist’s number, after which the receptionist will visit the room to proceed.]
The critical points were ‘money’ and ‘part of the receptionist’s duties.’
Being in a goshiwon meant being financially strained was a given, so hypnosis regarding the need for money required only 100P.
There was no reason to relieve someone else’s sexual frustration, but using the excuse of ‘as a part of goshiwon’s service,’ the sense of discordance was reduced, and using money lessened the sense of resistance.
The more money required for each session, the less energy needed for hypnosis, but 60,000 won hit precisely 50,000 points, so he set it at that.
He wanted to add various other details, but there was a character limit, and when he tried to overturn her memories or common sense or progress to sex, the points skyrocketed, so he had to give those parts up.
[50,000P is required to apply this hypnosis. Would you like to apply it? Yes/No]
[Hypnosis has been applied.]
“Did it work…?”
He wasn’t sure.
Closing the app, he took out the receptionist’s number he received when moving in and sent a message saying ‘702, service request.’
There was nothing sexual about the content, so if asked, he could easily brush it off.
But there was no need for that.
[I’ll be right there.]
She replied.
Really? Is it true?
A single text sent his heart racing.
Shortly after, he heard someone walking down the corridor and knocking on the door.
Upon opening the door, he found Kim Min-ah standing there with an overt expression of discomfort.
“…Please come in.”
“Yes.”
Contrasting with the brief, chill reply, Min-ah entered the room without hesitation.
“So, the service….”
“Payment first, it’s pre-paid.”
“Oh… Can I make a transfer?”
“That’s fine.”
He hadn’t put in ‘pre-paid’ as a setting.
Parts that he hadn’t set were filled in dynamically in the easiest way possible.
“Please tell me your account number.”
Immediately, he transferred 60,000 won to the account number given by Min-ah.
Kim Min-ah checked her phone for the notification of the deposit and let out a short sigh.
“Take it off.”
“Oh, right.”
Should he take off the top too?
After a moment of hesitation, he only removed his underwear, exposing his half-e***t penis.
“Huh…!?”
Min-ah’s eyes widened as she caught sight of the exposed penis…
