Chapter 1

1: 1

The first day I moved into my new place, a strange mark showed up on my doormat.

I wiped it away without thinking, but the next day it was back.

Through the security-camera feed, I watched the old woman next door standing on my doormat, scraping dead skin off her feet.

And her dog was peeing right on it.

I couldn't stand it and rushed out to have it out with her, but she brushed me off.

"Don't be so ungrateful. Dead skin off a long-lived person carries longevity bacteria."

"My Baby is a pedigree dog. Her pee is a gift, the greatest good luck you'll ever get!"

I always pay a grudge back, and ten seconds feels too slow.

You've dumped it on me. Your reckoning has come.

1

I turned right around and posted screenshots of the security footage to the residents' group chat, flagging it for the property manager.

"Unknown person casing the area outside my door. Property management, please come up immediately to assist with an investigation."

A few minutes later the chat was buzzing.

"What unknown person? That's Hope from 301!"

"Young lady, you don't even know your own neighbors?"

"They say a close neighbor beats a distant relative. Kids these days have no respect for anyone."

"What's my neighbor doing outside my door?"

I played dumb.

"I checked the footage. She comes by twenty or thirty times a day."

"And brings a vicious dog to pee here too. Has to be a thief casing the place and marking it."

"I'm warning all of you, be careful!"

I dropped the warning into the group chat.

"What is property management even doing, letting people like this into the community!"

"You don't want your management fees anymore, is that it?!"

The same people who'd just called me disrespectful flipped their tune on the spot.

The second their own interests were on the line, their true colors came out.

For a while property management said nothing, and I frowned in spite of myself.

Was the property management on a new place really this useless?

"Knock, knock, knock!"

Someone was at the door.

"Ms. Lawrence, it's property management, Asher Finch. Are you home?"

So instead of replying to the message, they'd come straight up.

Pretty fast response time, actually.

I hurried over and opened the door.

"Ms. Lawrence, you're the one who posted in the residents' group, right?"

"That's right. I reported the situation."

Before I could finish, Asher cut me off.

"That old Mrs. Chavez next door fainted, thanks to you. Passed out cold."

"The ambulance is on its way. You'll be covering all the costs."

"And the two of you will still have to work out compensation afterward."

"What? Fainted?"

"So you're not here to help me deal with the problem. You're here to hit me up for compensation."

I let out a cold laugh, pushed out the door, and started shouting.

"How did she suddenly faint?!"

A few gawkers had already gathered outside the door next door.

I elbowed through the crowd and looked.

Old Mrs. Chavez was slumped against a property staffer with her eyes shut.

"Ms. Lawrence, there you are, finally."

"Auntie Chavez called us and said you were cursing her out in the residents' group."

"The more she talked, the more worked up she got, then she let out a cry and went quiet."

"We rushed over and there she was, lying right here by the door."

"This whole thing started because of you. You have to answer for this old woman!"

The guilty party crying first, and putting on an act for me.

You came for me first, so don't blame me for being ruthless.

"Oh dear, has she really fainted?"

"I studied Chinese acupressure for a while. Let me try."

I crouched down, reached out, and gave a hard twist right at her waist.

Her left eye flickered, just a little.

Now I knew.

I kept pressing hard on the pressure point while playing it up.

"You know, I've heard that when an old person fakes illness, the sickness demon latches right onto them!"

"They don't have long left to live!"

"And their children get struck by bloody disaster!"

"Oh, of course, I don't mean you, Auntie Chavez!"

"Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey." I spat three times with a smile.

The one on the floor slowly opened her eyes.

"Ohh, what happened to me…"

"Auntie Chavez, you're awake! The acupressure worked!"

The property staff gently helped old Mrs. Chavez sit up.

"You gave us all such a scare."

"Since she's come around, there's no need for the ambulance."

I signaled to Asher.

Hope Chavez lifted her eyes and glared at me, vicious.

"You little tramp! You've been here a few days and you're already causing trouble! Posting my photo in the residents' group!"

"I, Hope Chavez, am the only ten-star civilized resident in this whole community!"

"Open your beady dog eyes and take a good look!"

She jabbed a finger at the plaque beside her doorframe, black letters on a red background.

"Ten-Star Civilized Resident."

"Would I ever be a thief?"

"That's right, Grandma Chavez was voted a civilized resident by the community!"

"Nobody's ever seen this girl before, and she's making trouble the moment she moves in. She's no good!"

The gawking crowd couldn't tell right from wrong.

"Oh dear, then I've made a mistake. I didn't see clearly who it was."

I pretended to apologize, then turned and asked sharply.

"So kindly explain this for me."

"Yesterday at five in the morning, you wiped the soles of your shoes on my doormat."

"After six, when you got back from grocery shopping, you scraped the mud off your cart tires on my doormat."

"At six thirteen in the evening, you let your dog pee on my mat."

"And at nine twenty at night, you scraped the dead skin off your feet on it!"

I counted off, one by one, every disgusting thing she'd done these past few days.

As I did, I pulled out my phone.

"Let's call the police and ask them what exactly you'd call this behavior."