Chapter 19: The Adult Toys Floor
Recruit 3 new employees.
Floor 3 unlocks.
Corner — Adult Toys Store opens.
I read it over and over again. The message that the quest was completed. That the quest had been to recruit three new hires. That recruiting three had unlocked the third floor. And that the third floor just had to be an adult toys store.
"What the hell is this?"
I hadn't even known there were quests. Hell, no one had bothered to guide me through it.
I closed my eyes and recalled the last system alert I'd seen.
A new life for the unfortunate you.
You are now the manager of the convenience store in front of the brothel district.
That was it. No matter how many times I replayed it, that was all there was. My memory wasn't the greatest, but those lines were crystal clear. The shock of being transported here was still vivid. Thinking back made my head spin again.
And with it came her face—Se-rin—the one I'd thought I'd forgotten. Damn it all.
Anyway, the third floor had opened. The floor I'd thought would stay locked forever had unlocked with Dmitri's recruitment. There had been some hidden quest all along, huh? This damn system did whatever it wanted. Sending me here on a whim. Handing out quests on a whim afterward.
"Manager, are you alright?"
Dmitri noticed my paling face and asked with concern.
"It's nothing. Keep working. I'll head upstairs for a bit."
"Sure thing."
"If anyone comes from the lake, call me down from the second floor."
"Got it."
Anyway, I had to check it out. Adult toys. Just the name made my face heat up. Was it okay to have stuff like this in a convenience store? Then again, was it even okay for a convenience store to exist in a fantasy world to begin with?
"Sigh. What's the point of overthinking? As long as it sells."
That was when a thought flashed through my mind.
Wait. Our living quarters are on the second floor. Doesn't that mean customers would pass right by on their way up? Should I even open this?
...Or so I thought, when right in front of me—
"What the hell?"
A passageway I'd never seen before appeared. I pulled aside the curtain-like fabric barrier, revealing stairs leading up. It definitely hadn't been there. The only empty wall between the beverage and snack aisles—where there'd been solid wall before—now had stairs. A long vertical slit in the fabric was marked boldly with a red "19," announcing itself as the adult zone.
"Ha, so that's why it was empty."
News to me. Had to be the stairs to the third floor. No worries about overlapping paths with the living quarters, then. I parted the fabric curtain and climbed the stairs.
Pink lighting bathed the steps, giving off an unmistakably sleazy vibe.
"Whoa."
A whole new world dazzled my eyes.
The third floor adult toys store was packed with stuff that was embarrassing just to look at. What was there? Do I even have to say? Vibrators in every color for starters. Onaholes in weird shapes, dildos of all sizes, cosplay outfits, and things that barely qualified as onaholes.
Famous Pussy Zone. This area was a sight. Realistically molded women's genitals on full display, in all sorts of varieties.
The SM section had whips, candles, handcuffs, and all sorts of tools.
Women's Only.
"Whoa."
Huge dildos women would love, nipple stimulators, and more. All kinds of wild stuff. Things that made you think, "Oh, this exists too?" There was a ton of it. Staring at the adult toys store, I realized just how clueless I'd been. A whole other world.
"Heh... shit, what is all this."
Okay, I could get this much. It was an adult store, after all. People came for the naughty stuff. Made sense. Even back in my old world, these sold like hotcakes. I could wrap my head around it. Honest desire and all that. As the manager of a convenience store in front of a brothel district, I could handle this. I'd been dragged to the brothels plenty, seen it all without end. Me, who frequented them, getting embarrassed? Ridiculous.
Then my eyes caught a fabric-covered space. Hidden away like it held something you weren't supposed to see from outside.
Fantasy Zone.
Fantasy, huh... What the hell was inside? My instincts screamed that opening that curtain would reveal the abyss. In an adult toys store, a curtained-off section? It piqued my curiosity. How extreme did it have to be to warrant a separate zone here?
"This feels ominous. For real."
I peeked behind the curtain for a second.
"......"
And closed it again.
"Definitely... tentacles, right?"
I'd glimpsed tentacles at the entrance. Too dark to see inside, but it was obviously packed with worse. Felt like I'd cracked open Pandora's box by mistake. No way I was going in there. Ever.
"Adult toys store... Guess I'll have to manage this myself."
No way in hell was I handing it to Sylvia or Elena. Absolutely not.
Catching my breath, I headed back to the men's section.
"Hmm..."
A lot here. Flesh-colored silicone onaholes to start, even X-branded onahole cups.
"This too, huh."
We sold overseas beer and cup ramen from the real world—why not onaholes? There were silicone tits with pussies attached too.
"Whoa... this feels real."
Squishy. The silicone was incredibly soft. Not quite like real skin, but tantalizing in its own way.
Even onaholes with photos of familiar-faced women. Modeled after a porn star I'd owed a lot to back in the day.
"Never thought I'd see that face here."
I stared at the Japanese actress's face for a moment, then put her onahole back on the shelf.
As I examined the products, one caught my eye.
"What's that?"
A lone onahole occupied its own pedestal display. Nestled on a velvet cushion like it was calling to me. Unlike the others, vacuum-sealed in packaging, this one had no box, no wrap, nothing. An unpackaged item on a solo display? The light shining on it brightened as I approached. Sparkling. Blindingly so. And as I got close, a whiff of real woman's skin hit my nose—not the silicone scent of onaholes, but actual flesh.
"They even nailed the smell. Demo unit?"
No other products around.
Consumable
A special reward item granted upon opening Floor 3.
"......"
The alert popped up. Different from the others.
I touched the onahole with my fingertip. Squishy.
"Huh?"
Not silicone? What? It felt just like...
"Real human skin?"
Impossible to mistake for silicone. Squishy and soft in a way only real flesh could be.
And as I kneaded it a few times—
The onahole quivered in my hand.
"What the—?"
Skill: Link — Designate a target to link the onahole with.
To designate, make contact with the target's mana.
Linked target's sensitivity increases 5x.
Once designated, the target cannot be changed.
"Heh."
Handing out something like this as a floor-unlock reward. I looked at the onahole trembling in my hand. So sensitive it'd probably make her cum from a light tap.
"Not bad."
An item worth using someday. I pocketed the magic onahole.
"Think I've seen enough for now..."
Dildos for women could wait. Just looking at this stuff was mentally exhausting.
"Head's spinning already."
Sealed until opening day.
Heading down to the first floor, I heard a commotion.
What? Customers fighting? No way Dmitri did something stupid, right?
"What the hell are you?"
"I'm the part-timer the manager hired. What about you?"
"Me? I'm Robinson, the boss's favorite little bro, you bastard! And the boss hired you? Bullshit! That guy's picky—won't even hire talented guys like me easy! You? Ah, boss!"
Dmitri and Robinson were at the entrance, baring teeth and squaring off. Why are you two fighting?
"What are you idiots doing?"
"Boss! Hear me out! This thief's acting like he owns the place!"
"Manager! Who the hell is this guy? Says he's your brother, but you don't look alike at all!"
I stared at the fools fighting over something ridiculous.
"You're both right. Dmitri's my new hire, and Robinson's my close bro."
"......For real?"
Robinson's eyes bulged in disbelief.
"Yeah."
"Then why didn't you hire me, boss? I work way better than this loser!"
"If I hired you, there'd be fights in the store. That's why. Not 'cause you're lacking."
"Oh, really?"
He looked all intellectual, but he was surprisingly simple. Honest to a fault, maybe. For a back-alley thug, he had a soft side.
"Anyway, what's up?"
"Ah, boss. Scorpion's all sorted."
"No loose ends that'll cause trouble?"
"Nah, they're all straightened out. Won't pull any crap here."
"Good work."
"No biggie! Brother's duty."
But it couldn't all be good news. Otherwise, he'd have sent the newbie skinhead instead of coming himself during lake business.
"Something happened?"
"Well..."
Robinson glanced at Dmitri, sidled up, and lowered his voice.
"Looks like those Scorpion guys are tied to the Magic Tower."
"Magic Tower?"
"Yeah."
"Solid proof?"
"Yep, rock-solid."
"The whole Tower involved with that gang?"
"Not the whole thing, but..."
Robinson hesitated, then continued.
"It's someone connected to that part-timer Sylvia."
"What?"
Things were getting interesting.