"Ugh."
I made a silent promise to myself: no more playing high-ranked quests for now. First, I needed food.
Glancing at the clock, I saw it was already past 11 p.m. I’d started using the VR headset just before 3 p.m., which ant it had been over eight hours since my last al.
"Tonight, I’m finishing this for sure."
Yesterday, I’d been too exhausted after eating to attempt the Hailey quest and ended up crashing instead. As luck would have it, today was a morning-class day, so I’d rushed to school right after waking up. Now, with lectures finally over, I told Jake and Mike I was heading ho and made a beeline for my place.
Unlike yesterday—maybe because Mike was around—Jake didn’t cling to too much and let go without a fuss.
I whipped up a hearty al, scarfed it down, and slipped on the headset. Lately, I’d noticed I was spending more ti with this thing while awake than asleep. Without hesitation, I clicked "Start" on the Hailey quest.
Pop—
"Hm?"
I’d assud the quest would pick up in that motel room from yesterday, but what greeted wasn’t what I expected—though it was familiar. My eyes blinked open to a scene I’d seen before.
It was an office. My office.
Rustle—
This ti, I didn’t panic. Instead, I casually adjusted my posture, sank into the chair, and scanned my surroundings. The clock read 1:38 p.m. Lunch break was over.
"Manager, here are the planning team’s docunts!" a chipper voice called out.
"Oh, thanks. Just leave them there," I replied smoothly.
I had no clue what the papers were about, but I took them from the employee and stacked them haphazardly on one side of the desk. Soone else would deal with it, right? Probably.
"Oh, wait a sec..."
As I absentmindedly fiddled with the computer, sothing caught my eye. A new detail stood out. The date was displayed clearly on the screen.
In every quest so far, date-related info had either been missing or too garbled to make sense of. But not this ti.
"October 22...?"
There it was, in small text at the bottom right of the monitor: October 9, 22. Today was April 23, which ant this was about seven months in the past.
"Holy crap. This actually happened back then."
It hit —higher-ranked quests felt more real, more grounded. Seeing a past date like this was a shock. A ga tied to reality? Honestly, calling it a "ga" felt off from the start.
"Manager Hailey, didn’t you have morning classes today?" a voice piped up behind .
"Uh, yeah. You’re right... I’ll catch up with you later," ca the reply.
The chatter from the employees snagged my attention. "Manager Hailey" probably ant Hailey—or Hailey, as I knew her. I glanced over my shoulder, and sure enough, Hailey’s desk was empty. Not like she’d just stepped out—she didn’t even seem to be around for work yet.
"Now that I think about it, why’d it start here?"
"Hey, oh! There you are, Manager!" a voice called out.
"Oh, sorry I’m late! My body’s just not cooperating today," Hailey replied with a weak laugh.
"No worries! Catch you later!"
The coworker who’d co looking for her spotted Hailey walking in from a distance, flashed a grin, and headed back to their desk.
Watching Hailey shuffle toward her station, it clicked. This mont was the day after we’d gone drinking and spent the night together.
How did I know? Simple.
Her clothes were the sa as yesterday’s. That food stain on the chest of my shirt from the bar—where we’d hooked up—was still there, faint but unmistakable.
"You’re here?" I said, testing the waters.
"Oh..."
Hailey froze, visibly flustered, like she didn’t know what to do with herself. She stood there stiffly, hesitating as if she’d forgotten how to sit.
"See you later," she said with a forced smile before plopping down at her desk and firing up her computer. She didn’t respond to —like she understood my words but chose to pretend she hadn’t heard them.
"Hm."
Was one night of sex not enough to break her seven-year attachnt? Hailey was ignoring , acting like she wanted to erase from her mind.
"Do I need to go a few more rounds?"
It seed like the most logical answer. She’d been all over last night, completely lost in the heat of it. A few more nights like that, and she’d have no choice but to fall for this body—my body.
Still, I wasn’t sure how many more tis it’d take. Last night, I’d pushed her to the brink—she’d passed out from it. But seeing her brush off like this today made think it’d take more effort than I’d planned.
"Manager, you okay? Maybe take the day off..." a concerned voice floated over.
"No, I’ve got stuff to finish by today. You good? I got so sleep and woke up feeling way better," Hailey replied.
I could hear her chatting with her team in the background. Her voice was softer, steadier now. Listening to that calm tone, I couldn’t help but picture the wild, desperate moans she’d let out last night.
That quiet voice of hers? It was probably still recovering from all that screaming.
"So, what do I do now?"
I knew I had to do sothing with Hailey, but I had no idea what. I’d thrown everything I had at her last night—or so I thought.
....
...
..
.
"Wow, that was rough."
Hands down, this was the toughest quest I’d ever tackled. The Hailey quest kicked off at 1:38 p.m., and for hours, nothing happened—no events, no triggers, just a slow crawl through ti.
It wasn’t until after 6 p.m., when most of the office workers started heading ho, that the day shifted.
Up until then, I’d been bombarded with work-related questions and phone calls—stuff I had zero knowledge about.
If it was just an employee asking sothing, I could brush it off, but the external calls? Pure torture.
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