Wren looked at the ceiling of his room while the fan blew at his face.

’Nyx is a devil.’ He thought.

What kind of System made the user do that to their stepmother’s belongings in her own room and on her own bed?

He had sat there for a full minute afterwards just staring at the wall, genuinely questioning his own life decisions one by one but he also couldn’t deny the fact that he had made money from it, quite a bit of money actually and the system had immediately generated new missions which meant this was just going to keep going indefinitely.

He was going to have to make peace with being a completely shameless individual at some point... Might as well be now.

A tab appeared in front of his face.

[Host, you will be in more compromising situations than this going forward. Significantly more. I suggest you get used to it sooner rather than later. Consider this your warm up. Now... would you like to see your new missions?]

Wren blushed but nodded regardless.

He had finished all three missions in a single day which had to count for something, hopefully it meant the rewards were proportionally higher. A new mission screen unfolded in front of him and he sat up slightly to read it properly.

[SIDE MISSIONS]

[Make Cara laugh genuinely three times in one outing]

[Time Limit: Tonight]

[Reward: 1,000 Credits]

[Hold a target’s hand for longer than five minutes without her pulling away]

[Time Limit: 5 Days]

[Reward: 1,000 Credits]

[Note: Extra credits awarded if contact continues past the five minute mark]

[Make Priya seek you out first after the rooftop incident]

[Time Limit: 5 Days] 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

[Reward: 900 Credits]

[Get Cara to stay out past midnight on your date]

[Time Limit: Tonight]

[Reward: 3,500 Credits]

[Get Diana to cook you a private meal... just the two of you, no Zoe]

[Time Limit: 3 Days]

[Reward: 1,200 Credits]

[Get a Handjob from a woman in a committed relationship]

[Time Limit: 10 Days]

[Reward: 6,000 Credits]

[Buy New Clothes]

[Time Limit: 2 Days]

[Reward: 900 Credits]

...

Wren blinked as soon as he saw them. Most of these were pointed directly at Cara... making her laugh, holding her hand but getting her to stay past midnight?

’How the hell am I supposed to get a married woman with a kid to stay out past midnight?’ He jabbed at Nyx. ’This isn’t Bostara. There are no clubs here. Not that I’ve ever been to one but still... how?’

[Figure it out Host.]

’Helpful.’ He thought dryly.

He scrolled down to the Handjob mission and read it twice then a third time just to confirm he was reading correctly.

’Ten days.’ He thought. ’How is anyone supposed to know someone well enough in ten days for them to put their hands around your—’

[Host, This town is full of people. A significant number of them are in unhappy marriages, your options are not limited to your current targets and besides, failing a side mission carries no punishment.]

Wren looked at the 6,000 credits attached to that mission and his throat went a little dry.

’I’ll see what I can do.’ He thought. ’For now, I want to see Cara.’

[Good idea. Showing up before your date demonstrates interest and since you’ll be going out anyway, the clothes mission is worth knocking out today too.]

Wren nodded and unplugged his new phone from the charger on the desk beside his bed.

He fumbled in the drawer for his sim card... he still hadn’t put it in the new Andrex Pulse 12 since buying it at Sparq the day before.

He found it between two receipts and pressed it into the side slot with a soft click. The empty network bar filled up immediately as a verification tab appeared on screen.

[Verify your identity or your phone will be locked out completely]

[Recovery ID ___________]

[Date Of Birth ___________]

[Photo Of Your ID Card — Tap to snap]

This was a standard security measure in case a sim got stolen, though nobody went after sim cards these days since credit card details were worth considerably more.

The Recovery ID was four personal digits that only the owner knew with no document attached, it was recoverable if forgotten but there was a fine as you would have to reset it. He tapped in his details and held the ID card up to the camera.

[Loading...]

[Welcome Back, Wren!]

The tab dismissed itself cleanly then every notification that had been sitting in the queue came through at once.

He stared at the screen.

About 400 missed calls from Leah. Give or take... he scrolled and lost count somewhere around the two hundreds. There was also a handful from Joel.

A lot from Brett, more than he expected from Brett honestly. And some from Charlotte... she didn’t have his number but he had saved hers from when Leah passed it along just in case.

Apparently she had done the same at some point. The group chat had hundreds of unread messages and some were from today.

Wren let out a long sigh.

All he had wanted to do was check if the money from his father actually came through.

He didn’t hate any of them.

Charlotte was just being honest... at the time he genuinely had nothing going for him and she said so plainly at her apartment door without softening it. Brett was one of the most decent people he knew and deserved a girlfriend who wouldn’t humiliate him the way the last one did, the videos had circulated for months and Wren still remembered how dark that period had been for him.

Joel was extra but Wren understood it better now... he wouldn’t be comfortable either if his girlfriend had a close male friend spending that much time around her though the phone call had been excessive and the accusation had stung but the insecurity underneath it wasn’t entirely without reason.

And Leah... he cared about her, he genuinely did but she needed to focus on her own relationship instead of tracking down someone who had already moved on.

As for Charlotte, She could go fuck herself!

He left the group chat, blocked their numbers, blocked the backup numbers and even blocked the third set just to be safe.

He blocked Charlotte separately and felt something close to peace settle over him afterward. Wren put the phone face down on his chest and stared at the ceiling for three seconds before he picked it back up because he still needed to check the bank.

He opened the Bostara United Bank app. The 100k from his father sat right there in his account like it had been waiting and the transfer note read:

[— For Business, Love Dad]

He stared at it for a moment.

Love Dad? The man who couldn’t pick up the phone to tell his own son he was getting remarried? Who passed messages through Ryan instead of calling Diana directly? Who didn’t even come for his own graduation or any of his school events for that matter?

Wren rolled his eyes.

’Fuck you... Fuck you man.’ Wren thought then sighed. ’Nyx, open the System Bank.’

He wanted to see the money he worked for.

...

[System Bank]

[Full Balance → 8,950 Credits]

[Withdrawal Tax: 1% — 90 Credits]

[Spendable if fully withdrawn: 8,860 Credits]

[Would you like to Withdraw?]

[From the System Bank you can purchase shares and stocks the System has flagged for growth. Visit the [Stock Market]?]

...

Wren blinked.

’Nyx has a stock market?’

[Of course I do. I am not only built for NTR, Host. The Business features are fully operational... You will receive complete access after completing 20 System Missions. Tee hee~ Goodluck.]

He rubbed his temple.

Twenty missions? He had done three in one day so the pace was clearly there. The stock market was genuinely interesting... the idea of the System flagging specific stocks before they moved was the kind of advantage that didn’t exist anywhere else.

He would look into it properly once today’s date was done. Right now he had a date tonight and clothes to buy before then.

’Withdraw everything.’ He thought.

The System balance drained and a notification appeared on his phone.

[Bostara United Bank: You have received 8,860 Credits from NXSYS-339433. Available balance updated.]

He sat up and looked at the number properly and a smile came onto his face without him deciding to put it there.

’This is money I worked for.’ He thought.

Doing part time work all through college in Bostara he hadn’t made 8k in a single day.

None of his friends had either. Joel came close sometimes but that was family money flowing through, not earned.

Brett had a part time gig at a print shop that paid decently but nowhere near this and Wren had earned this.

In the most undignified way imaginable, yes but the number in the account didn’t care how it got there and neither did he.

He reached into the drawer and pulled out his headphones, connected them to the Pulse 12 and scrolled until he found something with the right energy.

He put them on and let the music run.

He hummed as he crossed the room and pulled the wardrobe open. The situation inside was as bad as he remembered from yesterday. Most of his trousers were completely done... too short at the ankle, too tight across the thighs and none of them built for the body he currently had.

He pulled them out one by one, held each against himself for half a second and tossed them onto the bed without ceremony.

By the end of it the bed was buried under clothes he could no longer wear and he had found exactly one pair of oversized shorts that Leah had bought him two Christmases ago as a joke gift. It was supposed to be comically baggy on him at the time and now they fit like they were made for him.

Wren stared at them for a second and then put them on. He put them on with yesterday’s shirt, phone in his pocket with headphones still on and volume up.

He was nodding his head to the music as he stepped out of the room.

By the time he reached the top of the stairs he was moving his shoulders too with one hand trailing along the wall as he went down.

He wasn’t in any rush for the first time since arriving in Harlow and it felt good... The Lodge needed work... The missions needed completing... The date was tonight... but right now he was just a man with money in his account and music in his ears going downstairs.

’I got paid~~!!’

He reached the bottom of the stairs and glanced over toward the kitchen.

Diana was there this time, standing at the counter with her back to him, humming something quietly to herself as she moved around the kitchen.

She hadn’t heard him come down and he was about to announce himself when she turned around and looked at him with complete seriousness on her face.

"Wren, have you seen my panties anywhere? I’ve been looking everywhere and I can’t find them."