Episode 1 of The Apartment Job introduces PARK HAE-GANG (Ji Sung), a former gang leader who now operates HK Group, an investment company that secretly runs an exclusive illegal gambling business for wealthy clients. Despite the operation's success, Hae-gang's carefully balanced world is thrown into crisis when a powerful police commissioner demands 10 billion won in exchange for protecting his organization and securing the release of Yong-man, the man who raised him like a son. With only three months to raise the money, Hae-gang is forced to search for an opportunity bigger than anything he has attempted before. While looking for solutions, Hae-gang crosses paths with KANG HA-RI (Ha Yoon-kyung), an aspiring lawyer who secretly struggles after repeatedly failing the bar examination. Desperate for money and determined to hide her situation from her family, Ha-ri reluctantly agrees to help Hae-gang by posing as his fake bride during an elaborate scheme. Although the arrangement begins as a simple business deal, the two quickly discover that they make an unexpectedly capable team. The breakthrough arrives when one of Hae-gang's wealthy gambling clients, known as 'The Lizard,' reveals that he has been secretly siphoning money from an apartment complex's massive construction reserve fund. Realizing the reserve fund could solve all of his financial problems, Hae-gang devises an ambitious plan to infiltrate the apartment community by running for the residents' association and gaining access to the hidden fortune. However, he soon learns that influential businessmen, corrupt officials, and powerful residents are already fighting over the same money. As Hae-gang assembles his loyal crew and begins laying the foundation for the operation, the episode establishes the apartment complex as the center of a much larger conspiracy involving corruption, political influence, and greed. By the end of the premiere, what began as a desperate plan to steal money evolves into the beginning of an unpredictable heist that will pit Hae-gang against some of the most powerful people in Seoul.