Diminishing Returns

I rummaged through several apps—notes, social media, emails—but there was absolutely nothing to fish out. It was so completely clean that I couldn’t comprehend why the system had offered this smartphone as a reward.

“Huh?”

Then, when I casually tapped the phone app by mistake, I discovered an unexpected fact. There was a log of consistent calls with a single person spanning over a very long period of time.

‘Baek Seohan had someone like this in his life?’

The last record was from half a year ago. The contact wasn’t frequent, but they had exchanged calls strictly once a month without fail, making them seem exceptionally close. Even so, it was strange that the number wasn’t saved under a name…….

Then again, considering that the names saved on his original phone only consisted of Secretary Choi, Baek Jaehyun, and maybe three or four others, it wasn’t entirely unfathomable. I carefully shifted my thumb over to the phone number displayed on the screen.

The moment I pressed the call icon, the ringing tone began to echo. And in less than three seconds.

–Se-Seohan-nim!

A bizarre voice leaked from the other end.

–Seohan-niim, why are you only calling me now……. Sniff, I missed you so much!

For a moment, I was completely at a loss for words. It was only natural that the person on the other end was a stranger. I didn’t know much about “Baek Seohan’s” personal relationships, and even the few things I did know were entirely hints thrown at me by the system.

The person who answered the call possessed a thick, low-toned voice. But it wasn’t exactly mature or dignified, so it was likely a male around a similar age. Just hearing that first sentence gave me a rough outline of his profile.

Though the display of aegyo that followed was something I could never have anticipated.

–Seohan-nim?

The moment I heard him attach “-nim” to the end of every sentence, my stomach turned. After listening to the voice in silence for a short moment, I firmly slammed the end call button.

“……I know nothing about this.”

I don’t know any man who acts cute while calling out Seohan-nim, Seohan-nim. I didn’t hear a thing. Trying my best to soothe myself, I powered off the phone and shoved it inside the bedside drawer. Tucking it away at the very bottom where it couldn’t easily be seen was the maximum amount of consideration I could offer.

My head hurts, so let’s just sleep. Too many things happened today. Just as I let out a deep sigh and threw my body flat onto the bed.

Ring-ring.

The phone began to ring furiously.

“…….”

[Lee Dohun]

The moment our contract was finalized, Lee Dohun had demanded that I hand over the phone I had confiscated from him previously. However, there was no way I could know about the trivial details that occurred before I possessed “Baek Seohan’s” body.

<I don’t is. it know where>

Because I had answered so boldly, he had directed an incredibly suspicious glare my way. In the end, I had to rely on the system’s help to locate Lee Dohun’s belongings that “Baek Seohan” had stashed away. Seeing his savage gaze fixed on me, clearly believing my initial denial was a lie, almost made me die of frustration.

‘It’s not like I can tell him the truth either!’

Anyway, the moment I placed the phone in his hand, I received his number in return. I remembered how his eyes had darkened for a split second when he confirmed that his number wasn’t even saved on my device.

I could understand it to some extent. Even though “Baek Seohan” had betrayed Lee Dohun, the two had used to meet frequently at one point. I think I even felt a tiny shred of pity for him.

‘I shouldn’t have given it to him.’

If I knew he would behave like this, I wouldn’t have handed it over. Staring with a weary expression at the phone, which seemed to be screaming at me to pick up immediately, I answered. A flat voice drifted from the speaker.

–Turn off the light.

‘……Is this son of a b*tch for real?’

He wasn’t kidding when he said he would make me attend to his needs. I had distanced myself from him because he kept ordering me to do this and that whenever I was nearby, but now he was using the phone to run me ragged with errands at any given hour.

An intense urge to smack Lee Dohun on the back of his head welled up inside me. Of course, it was nothing more than a passing delusion that would never come to fruition.

What made me even more annoyed was the system’s irresponsible behavior.

Since the original “Baek Seohan” would never have fetched water or turned off lights to serve Lee Dohun, my synchronization rate actually increased every single time I fulfilled a request. That was the solitary reason I could suppress my rage whenever I got heated over Dohun’s tyranny.

[Synchronization Rate has increased by 0.1%!]

[……An error has occurred.]

[Synchronization Rate has decreased by 0.1% ( ᵕ ᵕ̩̩ )…….]

That was, until I witnessed this utterly absurd phenomenon.

“Why is it dropping!”

I wanted to scream right in front of Lee Dohun’s face immediately, but using the single thread of reason I had left, I retreated to my room to let out my shouts. It was a voice drenched entirely in unfairness and fury.

[To Lee Dohun, the user is no longer perceived as ‘Baek Seohan.’]

[Please find another method to raise the Synchronization Rate (ʃƪ 〉3〈)!]

Once upon a time, the system had mentioned that in order to raise the synchronization rate, the perception of the people around me had to distance itself from “Baek Seohan.” Meaning, the rate would increase the more vividly they recognized the differences.

Which meant that for Dohun, who had already completely separated “Baek Seohan” from my current self, this particular method no longer worked.

“……This is absolute garbage,” I lamented softly.

Surviving was proving to be truly exhausting.

“……I can finally breathe.”

I exhaled a sigh with enough force to expel all the resentment that had accumulated over the past few days. After starting this sudden cohabitation with Lee Dohun and being thoroughly overworked for several days…… finding peace of mind was as simple as him stepping out to visit his grandmother.

Since I had frequently provided assistance through Secretary Choi after uncovering the details, the situation wouldn’t be too bad. I didn’t know exactly how “Baek Seohan” had spun the story, but his grandmother believed that Seohan and Dohun were living together in a shared apartment.

<Tell Why a and brat call? come doesn’t down ever face he his in once show that to while.>

I had even heard those words when I went to visit her exactly once. It was only natural that Lee Dohun hadn’t called. At the time, he was locked up securely in the basement of my house.

Seeing a face devoid of even a single grain of suspicion made my conscience prick sharply. The best I could do in this situation was to offer help so that she wouldn’t fall into a difficult predicament, at least until I could safely send Lee Dohun away.

<I’ve Dohun-ssi’s been checking from grandmother on time time. to up>

Upon hearing that, Lee Dohun’s eyes grew so deep that it was impossible to discern what he was thinking, but I didn’t particularly care. It was closer to me appealing to him that since I was putting in this much effort, he should please stop running me ragged.

‘Won’t things be a bit better than before?’

Spinning my internal wheels of hope, I took a few sips of the coffee inside my mug. It was a relaxing solo hour that I hadn’t enjoyed in a long time, but unfortunately, I couldn’t fully savor the mood. Because one incredibly bothersome matter still remained.

Right before Lee Dohun walked out the door, I had casually thrown a question his way.

<By among any anyone chance, changed completely? is know, people personality suddenly the there whose you>

Suffering from Lee Dohun on the inside and harassed by Jin Yeon-oh on the outside, my days were increasingly hectic. Nevertheless, I was exerting a great deal of effort to track down ‘Extra 328’ using the information obtained from the system.

Asking Lee Dohun that question was driven by the exact same motive.

‘Since we are technically close right now.’

I couldn’t gauge what standard of criteria the system meant by ‘someone close to you,’ but since Lee Dohun had been living under the same roof for quite a while now, I thought he might fall into this category. That was why I had watched his expression and subtly probed.

<Are introducing you yourself?>

The response that returned made the back of my neck ache. Seeing how the corner of his mouth tilted up so vividly, it felt like I was being openly mocked. No, it was definitely a mockery.

‘Just who on earth is it?’

This fruitless questioning wasn’t limited to Lee Dohun. I had asked Secretary Choi, Baek Jaehyun, and even Jin Yeon-oh, but despite my endeavors, I hadn’t laid my hands on a single clue.

‘Who else is supposed to be close to Baek Seohan?’

In the first place, “Baek Seohan’s” social circle was incredibly narrow. Now, when I tried to think of anyone else close to him, absolutely no one came to mind. The thought that what I assumed to be a decisive clue was actually a dud brought a massive wave of emptiness washing over me.

“Haaah.”

In the end, a heavy sigh leaked out of my mouth. The synchronization rate wouldn’t rise, I was getting thoroughly scammed by Dohun, and there was zero progress in finding the bastard who cut in line. Nothing is going right these days, absolutely nothing.

Just then, the phone I had turned face-down on the table buzzed, causing me to turn my head. The sender was Secretary Choi, and the recent vibration was an email he had sent. His signature business-like tone, which subtly walked on eggshells around me, was fully melted into the text.

[The articles you mentioned have been handled, and…….]

I skipped over the words that followed without hesitation. There were far too many useless tangents. The articles were taken down, the lawsuit was underway, and he had firmly nailed down that there would be no leniency. That was the gist of it if summarized roughly.

“What is this?”

The peculiar thing was that an unidentified attachment had arrived along with the text. Narrowing the space between my brows, I clicked on it. My expression instantly rotted away.</I’ve>