Wren stood casually at one end of the reinforced iron table and at the other end stood his first contestant in the Handshake, which happened to be the sweating man that had just lost brutally to the bearded champion mere moments ago.

The crowd was packed tight around them with the neon lights falling onto their bodies as they cheered loudly.

’I just have to win against three people in thirty minutes...’ Wren thought, taking a deep calming breath.

That didn’t sound so hard... ’Though when I had wanted to go out for some simple drinks with Cara, this had definitely been the absolute last thing I was expecting. I guess a night out is just different for everybody.’

Wren finished the thought, shaking his head slightly. He glanced over his shoulder at Cara and she was standing near the front of the crowd with a flushed face and flashing him two enthusiastic thumbs up, she looked fully invested in his impending victory.

Meanwhile, the burly, bearded man who had just won positioned himself directly on the side of the table, acting as the self-appointed referee.

"Should I say the rules for the Harlow Handshake?" he asked loudly over the music.

"Sure..." Wren said, he didn’t know the rules... He knew that this used to be a game the time when he was a kid, he never thought that it would turn into a club activity.

The man nodded sagely.

He then reached into his tight jeans and pulled out a highly creased sweat-stained little notebook from his back pocket and Wren’s eye twitched in profound disbelief.

’Do these people seriously not know the basic rules for their own bar game off the back of their heads?’

The bearded man loudly cleared his throat, squinting at the smudged ink.

"The rules of the Harlow Handshake are as followed! Starting off, the two contestants must enter the proper arm wrestling position."

Wren, as well as his sweating opponent, stepped closer to the table, planting their elbows firmly on the iron surface.

The man then continued after flipping a page.

"You will need to clasp your hands properly then, the real contest begins! You will arm wrestle with absolute poker faces. If even one of you drops your poker face... if you grimace, smile, or show pain then the match is instantly lost! Winning three matches in a row against three different challengers will let you change your title to the Iron Breaker, and you’ll win a free round of Midnight Bourbons for your entire table!"

This announcement made the crowd around them cheer wildly, rattling the nearby glasses. The man pocketed his notebook and then looked between them, asking the two of them if they were ready to which the two men silently nodded.

Then, the bearded man brought his hand down sharply and yelled.

"Begin!"

Immediately, their hands were locked tight and it became a desperate, straining fight to bring the other person down.

The other man grunted with his face instantly locking into an unmoving mask as the veins in his neck popped.

He threw his entire body weight into his right arm, pushing with everything he had.

’Wait, this doesn’t actually hurt like I thought it would...’ Wren blinked while staring at him blankly.

He could clearly see the man pushing against his own arm with absolute maximum effort in a desperate attempt to win the battle, but the force pressing against Wren’s muscles just wasn’t as strong as he had anticipated. ’When I saw those thick veins bulging all over their hands earlier, I was really thinking they were like... very strong.’

[Hehe Host~ Did you really think your muscles were just for show? You don’t have a six-pack for no reason! Now, let’s impress the married women! Heheheheeh~]

’I think you’re way too excited for this, Nyx...’ Wren thought dryly.

Still effortlessly maintaining his flawless bored poker face, Wren simply flexed his bicep. With a single, sharp twitch of his wrist, he slammed the man’s hand down violently into the iron table.

CLANG!

The cheers abruptly stopped for a single stunned moment as the crowd processed how fast the match had ended then, the noise rose again, a deafening roar with everyone shouting.

"Wren the Obvious!"

The bearded referee cleared his throat, clapping Wren on the shoulder, and announced that Wren had successfully gotten past the first round.

The guy that lost staggered back into the crowd, holding his bruising palm and cursing under his breath and he was immediately pushed aside by another person.

This new challenger had neatly combed brown hair and thick-rimmed glasses looking like a nerd.

"I am Oliver, The Calculator!" The young man said as aggressively flexed his muscles even though the guy looked exactly like a stereotypical nerd, he had a freakishly jacked right arm for some unexplained reason.

The bearded referee turned and asked Oliver if he was excited for Round 2. Wren nodded at the referee, saying that both of them should just prepare.

The nerd-looking guy, Oliver, grinned cockily at Wren. "I have gotten several win streaks before on this table and—"

"Start!" the referee barked, cutting Oliver off.

Immediately, they clasped hands. Wren didn’t even give him a fraction of a second to apply pressure. He simply rotated his shoulder and brought Oliver down instantly, pinning his knuckles to the iron with a sickeningly loud smack.

Oliver stared at his pinned hand in utter shock, his poker face completely shattered before he slinked away defeatedly into the shadows of the club.

Wren stood up straight looking down at his own right hand.

’Does that mean I’m officially overpowered now?’ Wren thought with a small grin fighting to appear on his face.

It had barely been five minutes since he had been issued the mission by Nyx, so all he needed to do was to beat the very last contestant to clear the board.

To his surprise, the same burly, bearded guy who had been acting as the referee walked over to the contestant side of the table rolling up his sleeve.

He raised his hands, looking into the crowd for someone to referee the final, high-stakes match.

Surprisingly, Cara stepped forward, stumbling slightly but catching her balance, she pumped her own hand into the air.

"I can act as the referee!"

The bearded man grinned.

"Thanks, Cara the Drunk." He then turned to the table, locking his massive calloused palm perfectly with Wren’s.

Wren, however, had entirely different thoughts running through his head as he stared across the iron table.

’Why do these women in this town act as if they aren’t married?’

It wasn’t in a bad or scandalous regard, but seeing Cara acting like this... loud, competitive, and completely uninhibited in a dark club, he would absolutely never expect her to be a married woman with a teenager and the exact same logic applied to Diana; she behaved like a cute, easily flustered high school girl half the time.

It wasn’t bad though. it was pretty cute honestly.

However, he was violently knocked out of those distracting thoughts as Cara slammed her hands on the edge of the iron table.

"I want a clean match boys with no cheating!"

Cara brought down her hand like an executioner’s axe. "Go!"

Wren and the bearded man whose title was Gus, The Destroyer clasped hands and immediately, the pressure hit Wren’s palm like a brick wall.

Wren instantly knew he had to actually take this serious.

Gus was a completely different beast than the first two. As soon as the match started, Gus twisted his wrist, applying a massive amount of lateral pressure that actually made the tendons in Wren’s forearm stretch.

The crowd erupted, the noise deafening as people started cheering wildly for "Wren the Obvious!" while the other half of the room began violently cheering for "Gus the Destroyer!"

Cara was leaning over the table with her face flushed as she screamed for Wren to hold his ground.

Slowly, agonizingly, Gus’s hand began dipping a bit toward the iron.

The sheer exertion was immense, but both men were fiercely staring at each other, starting to forcibly maintain their blank poker faces despite the strain but Gus was a veteran at this game. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

He suddenly shifted his footing, using his entire core to pull back.

Wren’s hand dipped a lot, inching dangerously close to the iron surface and Gus’s eyes gleamed with impending victory.

But Wren dug his boots into the polished wood floor. His black tank top clung to his sweating torso as he clenched his arm muscles.

He fought back with a sudden explosive burst of force entirely overriding Gus’s leverage. With a brutal, fluid motion, Wren slammed Gus’s hand completely down into the table.

BANG!

The iron table actually rattled on its bolts and the crowd went absolutely feral, the sheer volume of their cheers shifting instantly as they began chanting a different name.

"Wren the Iron Breaker! Wren the Iron Breaker!"

’That’s much better than Wren the obvious...’ Wren thought with a sigh.

Gus, still rubbing his wrist on the other side of the table, nodded respectfully to Wren.

"I have to admit, City Boy, despite how you look, you are really strong. If you continued your arm training in this town, then—"

However, Gus was abruptly interrupted by Cara.

She pushed through the cheering crowd, taking a tight hold of Wren’s hand and aggressively dragging him away from the table.

"We won~ So let’s get our free drinks!"

[Ding!]

[Limited Time Mission has been completed...]

[Win 3 rounds of the Harlow Handshake within 30 minutes to establish dominance]

[Time Limit: 30 minutes]

[Reward: 7000 Credits]

[The 7000 credits have been deposited into your System Balance! You received a Bonus of 1000 credits for finishing it so quickly.]

...

"Hic..." Cara let out a small, highly undignified hiccup as she poured up yet another cup of liquor from their table’s private bottle.

She slumped slightly in her leather chair, resting her chin on her hand.

"Wren, what time is it?"

Wren pulled out his phone with the bright screen illuminating his face in the dim club.

"It’s 11:23 PM..." he replied.

After that, she tilted her head with her blue hair falling over her eyes.

"Are you... having fun?"

To which Wren casually bobbed his head left to right, unconsciously mimicking her somewhat wobbly movements.

’After the Harlow Handshake, we really did a lot of activities together...’ Wren thought, feeling the alcohol.

There were a surprising amount of club activities in this place, especially ones that predictably produced free drinks as rewards.

’As long as we stay here past 12 AM, I would easily finish the last mission for the night though, I’m not really worried about that anymore.’ Wren thought, taking a slow sip of his own drink as he remembered the entire reason they were still drinking at this pace.

The legendary ’Tofu guy’ had still not shown up yet, and Cara was stubbornly waiting for him to defend her title.

’But... will she even be able to functionally drink in this state? We’ve done so many high-stakes activities for free drinks... I genuinely wonder why I’m not passed out yet—’

"Wren?" she asked softly and Wren blinked, snapping back into reality and looking across the small table at her.

She smiled with her eyes looking glassy.

"Did you hear me, I asked if you were having fun?"

Wren immediately leaned forward with his elbows resting on the sticky table. "Yes, I am. Honestly, this was way more interesting than the time I had spent in the city clubs."

Cara beamed with a warm smile crossing her flushed features. "It is my pleasure. I am really glad that you are enjoying our time together."

Cara then slowly turned her head, looking out over the dimly lit dance floor.

The heavy, thumping house music that was playing earlier had transitioned into something much more romantic.

Couples, especially the males had confidently put their hands low on the waists of the women, pulling them close as they began to slow dance under the violet neon lights.

She looked back at Wren, who was briefly lost in his own thoughts again, and placed a hand under her chin with her eyes dropping to his lips.

"Hey, Wren..." Cara murmured. "Want to danc—"

She was violently interrupted as the music abruptly stopped completely.

The heavy double doors of the club swung open, and a man with a massive, prominent gut stepped confidently into the establishment.

Immediately, the people near the entrance began loudly cheering, "Tofu The Great! Tofu The Great!"

Tofu didn’t even pause.

He immediately marched straight across the club, stepping right up to their table and then he looked down at Cara crossing his thick arms. "You are Cara the Drunk, right? I challenge you to a drinking competition for the board!"

Cara slowly sat up straight. She looked at Wren, then looked up at Tofu before coughing into her hand.

"Challenge accepted Tofu..."

Wren just stared at her before slowly raising a hand to facepalm.

’This won’t end well, will it?’ Wren thought, letting out a long weary sigh.