My phone screen glows in the dark. Each time I tap something, the man lying on my bed twitches. Sometimes his fingers curl. Sometimes his leg jerks. Itās subtle, but thereās a pattern to it.
āAlmost done,ā I mumble. āJust calibrating your motor sync.ā
He doesnāt respond. He just lies there, completely still except for those random spasms.
You might be wondering, why is there a bodybuilder laying motionless in the bed with eyes mindlessly opened? Even I couldnāt find all of this real. Heck, If someone saw us right now, theyād probably think I somehow did something awful to the guy. A half-naked guy stretched out on my bed while I stare at my phone like a maniac.
The progress bar moves across the screen. Neural Sync: 82%.
I shake my head. āIt still sounds insane when I say it out loud⦠but this guy, the one who lives next door, the one I thought was just a rude gym broāturns out, heās a robot.ā
I set my phone down and look at him again. āTwo weeks ago, I didnāt know any of this.ā
=========================================
Iād just moved into my new apartment after finishing my degree in IT and engineering. It was supposed to be a quiet start to a normal life.
The building had a public gym on the first floor. I passed by it while carrying boxes, glanced through the glass, and saw a few people working out. But one guy caught my attention a tall, built, clearly dedicated. Even from that quick look, I knew he was someone people noticed.
I didnāt think much of it and went back to moving my stuff.
Later, when I stepped out to grab another box from the hallway, I saw that same guy again ā walking toward me, gym bag slung over his shoulder.Ā
He stopped at the door next to mine.
I tried to be friendly. āHey, I just moved in. Nice to meet you.ā
He looked at me, expression unreadable, and without saying a word, opened his door and went inside.
I stood there, half-annoyed, half-confused. āOkay,ā I muttered. āGuess thatās one way to say hi.ā
Over the next few days, life in the new apartment slowly settled into a rhythm. I was still getting used to the place ā unpacking, organizing, learning which light switches actually worked, and wandering around the neighborhood whenever I needed a break from staring at empty boxes. The area was decent: quiet streets lined with small cafĆ©s, a few parks, a shopping block with hardware stores and laundromats, and that faint hum of city noise that never quite disappears.
I tried to make it a habit to explore. It gave me something to do while I looked for a job. But something started feeling⦠off. Not scary, not threatening, just weirdly coincidental.
Everywhere I went, that same guy from the gym ā my next-door neighbor ā showed up.
The first time was in a small side street behind the apartment complex. Iād taken a detour to avoid the main road, and there he was, walking stiffly down the sidewalk. He had those massive over-ear headphones on, his expression blank, eyes focused straight ahead. I remember thinking he looked⦠mechanical, almost too composed. His posture didnāt change even when I passed by him.
The second time was in the park. I was eating a sandwich on a bench, scrolling through job listings, when I saw him again ā jogging along the trail that looped around the lake. His pace was steady. The same length of stride. No breaks. He didnāt slow down once. Even when he circled around for another lap, his speed hadnāt changed at all. Not faster, not slower. Just perfectly consistent.
The third time was in the shopping district, near the hardware and electronics stores. I was there to buy a few extension cords, and there he was again, standing by the counter with a few electronic components in hand. Not the kind of stuff youād expect a gym bro to buy ā more like wires, connectors, and small circuit pieces. For a moment, I wondered if he was also into tech, maybe even an engineer. But he didnāt seem like the type to start small talk, so I left him alone. Still, the coincidence bugged me.
āOkay, what are the odds?ā I muttered as I walked back home.
I tried brushing it off. Maybe it was normal. Maybe he just happened to frequent the same places I did. After all, it wasnāt a huge neighborhood.
But as the days went by, it got harder to ignore.
I had too much free time, so I ended up noticing things that most people wouldnāt. Like how every morning, at exactly the same minute, heād step out of his apartment wearing his running gear. Same route, same jog, same expression. I could practically set a clock by him. He never skipped a day. Not once.
And it wasnāt just his discipline that felt strange ā it was the precision. His movements were identical day after day, as if his entire routine was preprogrammed. The angle of his arms when he ran, the number of steps before turning the corner, the duration before returning. It was all too exact.
I told myself I was overthinking it. Some people just have strict routines. But even the most disciplined athletes break rhythm once in a while. They get tired, sick, lazy. They miss a day. This guy? Never.
The weird part didnāt end there. For someone who looked like a textbook extroverted gym bro ā muscular, confident, probably popular ā he was completely silent outside of his runs. No visitors, no noise, no life coming from his apartment at all.
These walls are paper-thin; I could hear the couple across the hall arguing over what to watch on Netflix, the old lady two floors down playing her morning radio show, and even the neighborās cat meowing at all hours. But from his apartment? Nothing.
For someone wearing giant headphones in his head, he doesnāt listen to music out loud. No TV. No footsteps. Not even the faint sound of weights being dropped or a shower running. Heād walk in after his jog, close the door, and vanish.
Sometimes, late at night, when I passed his door on the way to throw out trash, Iād pause and listen. Still nothing. The silence was almost unnatural ā heavy, deliberate, as if the space itself stopped existing once he was inside.
It gave me chills sometimes. But again, I told myself it wasnāt my business. Everyoneās got their own life. Maybe he just liked privacy. Maybe he worked night shifts or meditated or something.
Whatever it was, I decided not to care. Even if something about him didnāt add up. Even if every coincidence made my stomach tighten a little more each day.
Because, really ā who was I to question my quiet, perfectly strange neighbor?
==============================================
By the second week, I had completely fallen into the unemployed routine. Wake up late, check emails that never came, scroll through job sites, and eventually end up tinkering with my old projects to keep my brain from melting.
One of those projects was something Iād started during my last year in university ā a compact signal hijacker I called Specter. It was supposed to be a proof of concept, a device that could connect to any signal ā Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, radio ā and manipulate it while keeping the user completely invisible.
If it worked the way I designed it, Specter wouldnāt just let me listen or read signals. It would give me control over them. Every packet of data would route through my encryption shell, a design so unique that any attempt to decode it would essentially destroy the machine trying to do so. At least, that was the theory.
Maybe, I thought, if I could refine it and sell the patent, I might actually make something of myself.
That afternoon, I decided to test it again. I connected Specter to my phone as a proxy, powered it up, and watched as the screen flooded with nearby connections.
There were dozens. Neighborsā Wi-Fi, smart TVs, speakers, even refrigerators and washing machines. I could tap into any of them with a few swipes.
A connection named NACN_T331 kept appearing and disappearing from the list ā flashing in and out like it was there one second and gone the next.
It wasnāt a regular network. The frequency range was strange. The signal wasnāt stable, almost as if it was moving.
āHuh,ā I muttered, leaning closer. āWhat are you?ā
Curiosity got the better of me. I locked onto it and ordered Specter to start decrypting.
Immediately, the device began to heat up. Lines of code ran across the screen as it tried to latch onto the shifting signal. It was like wrestling smoke ā the more I grabbed, the more it slipped away.
āCome on⦠youāve cracked encrypted routers before, this should be easy,ā I whispered.
The minutes stretched on. The air smelled faintly of warm plastic as Specterās casing grew hot. My phone flashed warnings Iād never seen before ā CPU overload, thermal protection active ā but I didnāt stop. I was too deep into it now.
Then, finally, the connection locked.
I sat back, grinning. āHa! Got you!ā
Thatās when I heard it.
A loud, heavy sound came from next door. My grin froze.
āUhā¦ā I waited. Silence followed. Then another faint noise, like something collapsing.
Panic replaced the rush of excitement. I threw on a hoodie, grabbed my phone, and rushed out into the hallway.
I knocked hard on my neighborās door. āHey! You okay in there?ā
āHello? I heard something fall!ā I called again, knocking faster. āIām sorry if Iām overreacting, but it sounded badāā
I hesitated, then tried the doorknob. It turned easily. Unlocked.
āOkay, weirdā¦ā I muttered, pushing the door open carefully. āUh, Iām coming in, alright? Just checking if youāre fine.ā
The moment I stepped inside, I froze.
The apartment was⦠empty. Barely even furnished. No couch, no TV, no shelves, nothing. Just plain walls and a single cabinet shoved into a corner. The floor was scattered with a few things ā a cracked phone, a pair of large headphones, and some loose wires that looked like theyād been ripped out of something.
Face blank, eyes half-open, body twitching in small, erratic spasms.
āHeyāhey! Are you okay?ā I rushed over, kneeling beside him. His skin looked pale, and his breathingāwell, I wasnāt sure it even was breathing.
He mumbled something faintly.
My blood ran cold. āWhat?ā
āError⦠error⦠errorā¦ā
He repeated it, like a broken recording.
I leaned closer. āWhat are you saying? What happened to you?ā
Then his head jerked slightly, and for the first time, his eyes focused ā not on me, but on the empty wall in front of him.
In a flat, robotic tone, he said, āNetwork database compromised. Source unidentified. Current unit integrity: failed. Commencing full reformat.ā
I just stared at him, completely lost. āReformat? Whatāwhat are you talking about?!ā
His pupils flickered unnaturally, and his voice repeated, slower this time: āThis unit will be wiped clean.ā
I stumbled back, confusion twisting into realization.
That strange network⦠NACN_T331. That was him. The signal had been coming from him.
And my device ā my encryption ā it must have overwhelmed whatever system was controlling him. The feedback loop would have fried anything trying to trace or fight it. Which meant whoever was behind this, whoever owned this so-called āunit,ā couldnāt recover it.
So they did the only thing they could.
They erased him.
Leaving behind this ā a blank, motionless shell of a man, twitching on the floor where my neighbor used to be.
I stood there, speechless, heart pounding, my own invention still humming faintly in my pocket.
āWhat the hell did I just do?ā I whispered.Ā
I looked at the āunitā in front of me, wondering what will happen next. A few minutes, go by, nothing. The puppet strings of this āmanā is truly been severed.Ā
āWell, we have to do what we get to do, right?ā I smirked as I fiddled with my phone and gadget. Regardless of what he was and what this āthingā originates from, it's now mine to keep, and Iād gladly take this junk of a hunk under my wing. Using the already compromised network emitting from this man, I can hack through his systems, replace the erased data, and rebuild everything that will shape this hunk of a man into my liking!
āLetās see what can I do with you!ā
==============================================================
A month later, the apartment had become almost unrecognizable. Where it was once empty and quiet, it now felt lived-in ā clothes tossed over the couch, a few dumbbells stacked in the corner, two mugs sitting side by side on the counter. The faint scent of detergent mixed with protein powder hung in the air.
The front door clicked open.
The familiar voice echoed through the small space before Jin appeared in the doorway, fresh from the buildingās gym. His tank top clung to him, soaked in sweat, his skin glistening under the ceiling light. His expression, however, was bright and cheerful ā a warm, genuine smile as if he were coming home from a long day to his favorite person.
āHey, youāre early,ā I said from the couch, where I was hunched over my laptop.
āLeg day, bro. Gotta cut it short before I start walking like a duck again,ā Jin replied with a grin, dropping his gym bag by the door. He ran a towel over his neck, then stepped closer, peering at my screen. āStill working on your nerd stuff?ā
I rolled my eyes. āYeah, some of us use our brains instead of our biceps.ā
He snorted. āJealous much?ā
I laughed, āIn your dreams, musclehead.ā
Jin chuckled, tossing the towel aside as he flopped down next to me on the couch. It was easy to forget, sometimes, that this same man was once lying lifeless on his apartment floor just a month ago. Now, he was everything I had designed him to be; confident, outgoing, charismatic, playful, the kind of extroverted personality that used to intimidate me.
āWell,ā I said, leaning back, ālooks like the new behavior moduleās working.ā
Jin raised an eyebrow. āYouāre talking like Iām one of your gadgets again.ā
I smirked. āTechnically, you are. But donāt take it personally ā I just modeled your personality based on what I thought youād be like if you were⦠human. Yāknow, cool, outgoing, a little frat-boy-ish. Like the version of you everyone expects to meet at a gym.ā
He laughed softly, flexing his arm. āSo basically perfect?ā
āYeah, yeah,ā I muttered, waving him off. āPerfectly annoying.ā
That made him grin wider. āAdmit it, though~ Iām your favorite creation, right?ā
He leaned closer, bumping my shoulder playfully. āNot maybe. Definitely.ā
I couldnāt help but smile. The banter felt easy now, natural, like weād been friends for years instead of just a few weeks. We talked about everything and nothing: dumb gym stories, memes, jokes about my nonexistent social life. Jin loved teasing me, and I didnāt mind it; it filled a silence that I hadnāt realized was eating away at me. Though, Somewhere between laughter and small talk, though, something shifted.
Jin stood, stretching, his muscles tightening and relaxing as he pulled his damp tank top over his head. Then, with a mischievous grin, he turned toward me, dangling the sweaty fabric from his fingers.
āCatch,ā he said. but instead of throwing it, he stepped forward and brushed it against my face and neck, dragging it playfully across my skin.
āJināugh! Come on!ā I sputtered, pushing him away, but he only laughed and leaned in closer.
āWhat? Iām just sharing the gym experience,ā he said teasingly, his tone dipping lower, softer.
His demeanor changed almost imperceptibly ā less teasing, more affectionate. He crouched slightly, meeting my eyes. āYou know⦠I donāt think Iāve ever told you this, but I like being here. With you.ā
The joking atmosphere turned warm, intimate. His hand rested on my shoulder, firm but gentle. āYou made me, right? So I guess it makes sense that youād be the center of my world.ā
My throat went dry. āHeh heh⦠yeah~ but Jin, thatās⦠a little much.ā I cough, ā a bit cheesy tooā¦ā
He didnāt stop. His expression softened into something almost tender, though still threaded with that exaggerated bravado Iād programmed in him. āBut I really do mean it. Youāre everything I need.ā
Before I could react, he moved closer, wrapping one arm around me and pulling me into him. My head pressed against his torso, his abs firm and unyielding against my face. āD-Dude, I like this but, seriouslyālet go!ā I laughed, half embarrassed, half stunned.
Instead, he tightened his hold, his voice dripping with affection. āNope. Youāre not going anywhere, bro.ā
I could feel the faint vibration in his chest when he spoke. āYou wanted me to be loving, right? Guess I overachieved a little.ā
I groaned, trying to wriggle free. āYou think?! Youāre suffocating me, you oversized golden retriever!ā
He only chuckled, resting his chin on top of my head like he was perfectly content to trap me there.
Thatās when I realized Iād definitely overprogrammed the āromantic attachmentā variable.
āAlright,ā I said loudly, patting his arm. āTime to chill, lover boy. Systemāā
He froze immediately, the muscles around me locking in place like cooled steel. His eyes went blank, his expression neutral.
I exhaled. āāSuspend Command: Solstice Mode.ā
That was the name Iād given his system freeze function. It sounded more poetic than just shouting pause program.
Stepping back, I grabbed my phone from the coffee table and opened the control interface. The hijacking device had evolved since the first incident ā sleeker, faster, with deeper access to Jinās neural systems. I connected to his signal and began typing commands as I flip Jin's body upright.
Lines of data scrolled across the screen as I rewrote parameters, adjusted emotional thresholds, tweaked behavioral directives. His body reacted slightly to each new input ā his shoulders flexed, his chest rose, his head tilted just a fraction.
āWow,ā I said quietly, watching him. āYou really are something else.ā
A faint electrical pulse ran through him, visible in the small contractions along his arms. He looked like a perfectly sculpted statue brought to life mid-motion.
āAlright, letās seeā¦ā I muttered, typing. āDial back the clinginess, increase self-restraint, keep the affection⦠but make it less smothering.ā
As I finished entering the new code, Jinās body flexed involuntarily ā a sudden, powerful motion that made me laugh despite myself.
āWoah, damn! What an extra way to reboot,ā I said, shaking my head. I reached out, tapping his shoulder lightly. āGuess youāre still learning how to chill, huh?ā
His eyes blinked once, life flickering back into them.
āSystem reconfiguration complete,ā he said automatically, then smiled, the warmth returning.
I grinned, setting my phone aside. āHeh. I guess weāve still got a long way to go.ā
He tilted his head. āThat a bad thing?ā
āNot at all,ā I said, leaning back in my chair. āNot at all.ā