Chapter 1: The Scammer's Psychology.
The sky was overcast, as if a thunderstorm could descend at any moment. However, Haruto's heart was pounding rapidly because he was on the roof of a thirty-story building. The reason he was there must be traced back to three days prior.
Three days ago, Haruto saved a little boy in the process of delivering food. A reporter happened to be nearby at the time. Because he was worried about the delivery, Haruto spoke loudly to the reporter.
Just like that, as the matter fermented online, he inexplicably became a focal person on the internet. Afterward, a person claiming to be an agent came to find Haruto, introducing himself as Sato. He was a dedicated agent for some major company and wanted to develop Haruto into an internet celebrity to earn big money.
Perhaps because Haruto was an orphan, he was very wary of such matters, so he did not believe Sato's words at all. In recent years, all sorts of scam information have become frequent. All kinds of people get scammed, including many who are smart, but they still fall for it. This proves that scamming methods are also improving.
At this moment, a senior who led Haruto onto the path of being a food delivery guy was also there. He also seemed to be a blogger with tens of thousands of followers. He also saw this man who called himself an agent.
This senior of Haruto's was named Tanaka. Haruto usually called him Tanaka-san. He was a middle-aged man of forty or fifty and always looked out for his juniors. He would explain all the ins and outs to them.
For instance, how to avoid getting cheated, or how to handle situations where a delivery is taken by someone other than the buyer—these small things were all taught by this senior, so Haruto trusted him greatly.
Seeing Tanaka arrive, Haruto greeted him, saying, "Hello, Tanaka-san." Tanaka also responded to him. At this moment, as if just seeing the other person, Tanaka said, "Yo, Sato-san, what brings you here? How did you take a fancy to someone from our team?"
Sato said, "Isn't it because I saw a new internet star? I was thinking that if I could help him rise, then my status in the company could also rise to another level."
Tanaka said, "This is a good thing, Sato-san. Agree quickly. I also used to not understand the intricacies of being an internet blogger until Sato-san helped me, after which I became a blogger with ten thousand followers."
Haruto wavered with excitement. Could it be that a pie had really fallen from the sky for him? Was this possible? Could the lottery's grand prize have really landed on him? He could not help but feel a sense of doubt.
Sato said, "Do you think a pie fell from the sky onto your head? How could such a thing happen? Of course it's because of the online response you caused that I came to you. Could it be because you're handsome?"
Haruto was silent.
Sato continued, "Look, I'm friends with your senior here. If you don't believe me, can you still not believe your Tanaka-san?"
Haruto was silent for a moment then said, "Naturally, I believe Tanaka-san."
Seeing that the time was ripe, Sato then had Haruto sign a contract. To prevent being scammed, Haruto carefully examined the specific contents of the contract but did not find anything strange.
Afterward, Sato asked Haruto to pay a deposit. He immediately became wary. What was this, he had to pay money? Couldn't this be a scam!
Seeing Haruto's vigilant, widened eyes, Sato said, "Don't be afraid. Your Tanaka-san is here; let him be your guarantor. Furthermore, this money is to prevent you from getting famous and then switching to another company. In that scenario, our company helps you with advertising and promotion, only for you to succeed and then cheat the company. That is why this condition exists."
Haruto hesitated, because he thought this could be a scam, but Tanaka was there.
Tanaka said at this moment, "Don't be afraid. I'm here, what are you afraid of? Don't you know me, Haruto?"
As these heavy words landed, it was like the last straw that broke the camel's back, causing Haruto's defenses to collapse. So he asked, "How much is this deposit?" Sato said, "It's one hundred thousand."
Haruto immediately intended to back out, saying, "I don't have that much money. All my savings combined only total thirty-one thousand nine hundred. And I still have a mortgage."
Sato's voice turned serious. "Without a deposit, that won't do. Unless you sign a sell-off contract with our company. A sell-off contract. To put it simply, if we make you famous, you must work for our company and obey the company's commands. After that, you will have to give the company eight-tenths of every profit from your livestream e-commerce."
Hearing this, Haruto immediately became displeased. He didn't have the money to begin with, and now Sato was saying that if he didn't have money, he had to sign a sell-off contract. How could he possibly agree to such an outrageous contract?
Just as the drums of retreat were sounding again in Haruto's heart.
Tanaka said, "Don't be afraid. You put up thirty-one thousand nine hundred, and I'll help you with the rest."
Haruto said, "What? Tanaka-san, you'll help me pay? How can that be okay? And after all my savings are gone, I won't even be able to eat. My salary won't be paid for another seven days."
Tanaka said, "It's fine. You can eat on me for the next few days. It's not as if I'm doing this without any motive. After you become famous, you have to bring me along and help me gain followers."
Hearing that Tanaka had a motive for helping him pay the rest, Haruto's heart felt slightly more at ease.
At this moment, Sato said again, "How about I leave my ID card with you as collateral? What are you afraid of? Seriously. This is modern society, who would dare to engage in fraud?" With that, he slapped his ID card down onto the table.
Haruto looked at the name on it; it was correct, and the picture matched. The ID number was also local.
He felt that nothing would go wrong, because after all, Tanaka-san had been his mentor for a year. He still understood Tanaka-san's character; he was a very careful person, it was just that he only saw him a few times a week. Every time they met, Tanaka-san would treat him to a drink or something.
After making up his mind, he paid thirty-one thousand nine hundred yen, and Tanaka-san covered the rest. Seeing that Tanaka-san had completed the transaction with him, his heart felt even more at ease. He felt this might be a real story, like a talent scout discovering a tomorrow's star among the common folk.
On the second day, he immediately called Sato's phone number, wanting to see what the company's procedures were. He discovered it could not get through at all. He immediately started to panic and quickly called Tanaka-san's phone. He found it still could not get through.
He knew he had probably been scammed, but how could this be possible?
In his anxiety, he made countless calls. It always showed no answer. He knew there was no luck involved, no accident had occurred; he had been scammed.
In the afternoon, he immediately reported it to the police and found some surveillance recordings of their faces. He handed over the ID card and the phone numbers for the police to see.
The police took one look at these records and roughly understood the course of events. An officer came to speak with him. "These two guys are repeat offenders because their methods are very similar. And every time they strike, they change locations."
One of them will get familiar with people one to two years in advance, and usually buy cigarettes and alcohol for his colleagues. The reason he is often not seen is that they are running multiple operations.
They arrange several identities for themselves. They will scam many people at once, finishing all the scams on the same day. Then the two of them will change locations to continue their fraud.
The excuses for scamming are varied. Of course, his situation is one of them, but it was not a case that genuinely sparked heated online discussion. They manufactured it themselves.
"For example, an old man falls on the street, and after someone helps him up, they are led step by step into an abyss named greed, which in reality is fraud. Because these two guys have a deep understanding of psychology, they will grasp the weaknesses in people's hearts, and so on and so forth."
"These two guys use the trust between people to commit fraud. They are the scum of the scum, the trash of the trash."
"They have already committed more than a dozen such cases across the country. Just yesterday, two other people came to report a crime, also involving these two scammers, which is why I was able to produce this report so quickly."
"Their appearance is different each time. Of course, the difference is not major; if it were too different, they would be easily recognized. And they are adept at using psychological tactics, often doing this."
"They often scam several people at once because they will analyze who has a higher probability of being scammed. That ID card is also fake, so fake that the ID number can be looked up on a phone, and the person will not be found."
After hearing these words, he was dazed for a moment, then he asked the police officer, "Can you find them? Can the money be recovered?"
The police officer was silent for a moment. "Cases like this are very difficult to recover from, because they leave no information behind. With only a face to go on, finding them is like searching for a needle in a haystack. But the police will continue to investigate this case, please rest assured." After saying this, the officer left, perhaps wanting to give him a quiet space.
He was silent for a while. Then, in a daze, he walked out of the police station. He bumped into a person but said nothing and continued walking forward.
That person cursed, saying he didn't watch where he was going or something.
After spending a night lying on his bed with his eyes open, he made his decision. He glanced at this small room; it had taken him a full year of delivering food to afford this humble abode in this big city, of course, on a loan.
He put on the suit, tie, and leather shoes that he only wore when interviewing at large companies, treasuring them as he put them on.
Don't fear a rogue who knows martial arts; fear a rogue who understands psychology.
On the roof of the thirtieth floor of the house he bought with a loan.
He stood at the edge of the rooftop, looking down at the crowd below, which looked like ants. Some people who were watching to see him make a fool of himself were loudly egging him on, saying "Jump, jump, if you don't jump you're not a man."
Someone was using a loudspeaker while livestreaming on their phone, saying "Jump, jump quickly."
At this moment, he, who had never felt the warmth of family, could not help but want to cry. What a filthy world this is.
Anyway, he is an orphan; if he dies, no one will be sad for him. Oh God, if you really exist, please do not let me come to this filthy world again.
After saying this last sentence, he jumped, back facing down. At this moment, he saw a patch of white cloud, as if shining with light, amidst the large expanse of black clouds in the sky, so conspicuous.
In his final moment, he wondered what this was.
Because the entire process took less than ten minutes, the fire department had not yet arrived, so there was no inflatable safety cushion. He fell directly to the ground.
The tranquil river flowed slowly, when suddenly, a series of small bubbles appeared on the water's surface. Looking closely, it was actually a baby struggling in the water, its small mouth releasing one bubble after another, as if it were his desire for life.
His eyes revealed helplessness and fear, but his hands flailed powerlessly, trying to grasp a thread of hope for survival. However, the river mercilessly engulfed him, his body gradually sinking, and the bubbles became fewer and fewer.
This scene was heartbreaking, as if one could hear his faint breath disappearing into the river water.