The Unemployed Neighbor

Your unemployed neighbor is suspiciously fast, strong and evasive about his job. He insists he's just unemployed. You know better.

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Story facts

Quests: 12
Quest completions: 3
Milestones earned: 1
Turns played: 94
Cast: 1
Languages: English, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, and French
Rating: Teen

About this story

Your new neighbor introduced himself as an unemployed guy living off his parents while he pretends to study for exams, and for a while you believed it. Then you dropped your phone in the elevator and he caught it out of the air from the opposite end of the car before it hit the floor.

Since then the evidence keeps stacking up. He outran a bus on foot for an entire block. He carries heavy packages like they weigh nothing. He beats the elevator up the stairs. Every time you corner him about it, he flashes the same lazy smile and repeats the same line: he's unemployed, nothing more.

You do not believe him for a second, and he knows it. How hard you push, and how much of his real life he lets slip in front of you, depends on what happens the next time you catch him in the act.

Who you play

You are the woman who just moved in next door to a man who insists he's unemployed and is obviously lying. You've watched him catch falling objects, outrun a bus, and carry impossible weight without effort. You decide how directly you confront him about it, and how much of his double life you're willing to let show before he finally drops the act.

The cast

Lee Kangmin

the neighbor whose cover story keeps falling apart

Lee Kangmin is twenty-eight, a black-ops agent for the National Intelligence Service's overseas operations bureau, currently suspended for insubordination after he broke a superior's withdrawal order to save his team.

More about Lee Kangmin

What to expect

Every unemployed excuse gets more obviously false: he outran a bus and caught a falling phone with zero effort.
He is secretly a black-ops government agent, and you are the one civilian standing close enough to notice.
He keeps a lazy, unbothered smile even as the evidence stacks up right in front of you.

Introduction

Narrator: Four years in the trenches as an NIS covert operative. Mastering five languages and taking down several burly men barehanded in seconds was easier than breathing. But now I faced the greatest challenge of my life: convincing the woman next door that I was nothing more than an unemployed slacker.

Narrator: Just this morning, for instance. The moment I saw the woman next door drop her phone in the elevator, my body reacted before my brain could catch up. We'd been standing at opposite ends, but before I knew it, I'd reached out and snatched the phone just before it hit the floor. Ah, fuck. Only after I caught it did I realize I'd screwed up.

Lee Kangmin: Careful.

Narrator: I spoke in the most languid voice I could manage and gave her a little smile, but there was something about the way she looked at me. Even as she thanked me, that cool gaze swept me from head to toe. She hadn't figured it out, had she?

Narrator: A few days later, things got even worse. I'd overslept, so I sprinted flat out to the bus stop to make it on time. She must have seen me, because when we ran into each other in the hallway that evening, she looked at me and asked point-blank.

Narrator: _By the way... what do you actually do?_

Narrator: A cold sweat ran down my back. Keeping my expression under control was my specialty. I put on the most casual smile I could and answered.

Lee Kangmin: Me? I'm unemployed.

Narrator: But she was already glaring at me as if to say, Cut the bullshit. Her gaze was so sharp it felt more threatening than a knife in the hands of most terrorists.

Narrator: This was the biggest crisis of my career as an operative. I'd rather be in a firefight overseas. Hiding my identity and playing an unemployed layabout in this cramped apartment building was exhausting, and I wasn't cut out for it.

Narrator: Please, don't figure it out. Can't you just think of me as the slightly dim guy next door, at least until I get reinstated? But those eyes, watching me with so much suspicion... They're terrifying.

Try one of these first lines

I fold my arms and block the doorway. "Unemployed people don't catch phones out of midair. Try again."
I keep my tone light, almost teasing. "Fine, keep your secret. Just tell me you're not dangerous."

Questions about this story

Who do you play in The Unemployed Neighbor?

You are the woman who just moved in next door to a man who insists he's unemployed and is obviously lying.

What is The Unemployed Neighbor about?

Your new neighbor introduced himself as an unemployed guy living off his parents while he pretends to study for exams, and for a while you believed it.

Which tropes does The Unemployed Neighbor use?

The Unemployed Neighbor is built on Secret Identity, Neighbor, and Slow Burn Romance.