Beep beep beep.

I quickly opened my eyes and jumped out of bed, almost forgetting to turn off my alarm. A quick shower and cup of coffee later, I was already out the door and headed to Hiroi’s office.

“Ah, you’re up early, Mike!” said my boss with a cheerful smile. He was sitting in his office looking through paperwork.

“Early? Isn’t this when I’m supposed to clock in for work?”

“It’s Saturday, Mike.”

Every muscle in my face drooped. “Oh.”

“But since you’re already here, why don’t you take your paycheck? Here.” He pulled an envelope out of his desk and handed it to me.

I slowly walked over to him and took it. “O-oh! Thanks!” I looked over the check and counted the digits. Before a smile could properly form on my face, I felt a pang of guilt. “Hold on, I heard what you said to that mafia guy. If you can’t afford to pay him, then I shouldn’t be accepting money from you.”

“Don’t worry about it, Mike!” Hiroi flashed me a smile, but he wasn’t looking straight at me. He couldn’t. “This amount won’t make up the difference. And besides, they’ll probably come up with some kind of alternative payment plan. I doubt anyone they’re shaking down can afford them, so it’s not like they have much choice.”

“Right.” I hesitantly nodded. “Thanks.”

“What for? That’s your pay, you earned it!”

I thanked the old man again and made my way out of the office. I had the whole day to myself and not much to do with it, beyond preparing for tomorrow’s interview.

“Wait, how am I supposed to cash in a check when I closed my old bank account?”

----------------------------------------

I rolled into the parking lot and stopped my car at an open space, getting out and staring at the building before me. The phone book in Hiroi’s office listed several banks, so I’d picked the most generic sounding one and drove on over.

Atlantic City Bank was a peculiar building, in that it was massive yet humble in its presentation. Simple stone stairs led to a plain concrete facade and stainless steel doors that fed into a surprisingly small bank floor.

Off-white tiles covered the main hall, with vomit-green sofas dotting the waiting area as several tellers sat behind a row of wood-paneled counters to the side. The entire building was utterly devoid of customers except for me, resulting in the sensory deprived men and women in uniform staring at me as if they were a flock of harpies who’d spotted vulnerable prey.

The smell of cheap air freshener wafted through the room, causing me to force back a cough as I powered through the respiratory assault and shuffled my way to the first available attendant. A young woman looked at me with a half-hearted smile and addressed me with a nod, ready to take on my request.

“Hi, I recently moved here and I’d like to make an account,” I said with my own polite expression, the spread of my lips making it nowhere near my eyes.

“Of course, sir,” replied the teller, her own friendly grin looking just as shallow. “Could you please provide me with your ID and proof of residency?”

I handed over my driver’s license and one of the forms I’d just filled out at the apartment complex. I simply stared ahead as the young woman began to look at the information and fill out her own set of paperwork.

The lukewarm smile had fallen from her face and was replaced with a diligent frown as she dutifully made quick work of the task at hand. Soon enough, she was finished handling her side of the paperwork and handed back my documents along with another form I hadn’t seen before.

“The last step is for you to fill out this paper, sir. Here’s a pen and make sure to print your name in all capital letters in the small square boxes.”

“Thanks,” I replied nonchalantly as I took the form and began to fill it out with one of the blue ballpoint pens in the plastic mesh cup beside me.

The pen was out of ink. And so was the next pen I fished out. And the one after that.

“Hey, I think all of the pens are-”

The attendant’s frown had grown. It wasn’t diligent, this was the look of someone who was deeply perturbed by the world around them, someone who’d lost all control of their life. Oh hey, it was like looking into a mirror!

“Uh, is everything alright?” I asked concernedly. As soon as the words left my lips, I knew I had made a mistake.

The woman dropped her voice into a low whisper and leaned over the counter. “It’s everything!” she exclaimed. “This job, my boss, and my entire fucking life!”

I looked towards her awkwardly as she began to pour her heart out, not really sure what to do. I still needed an account, and I felt way too awkward to switch counters now. And I couldn’t tell her I wasn’t interested in her problems, especially now that her eyes were beginning to mist over. I mean, I wasn’t that big of an asshole!

“My boss is demanding my husband have sex with our special clients! He works at a different branch, so we’ll both be punished if he doesn’t!” she said with a whimper. “Demotions, pay cuts, and bad hours. Or worse!”

“Wh-what?” was all I could muster as a quick response. After taking a second to let my brain reboot, I decided to elaborate on my original question. “How the hell does your boss get away with something like that?! Don’t you have someone else higher up to report her to?”

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“You’re pretty innocent, you know? Hasn’t your boss tried to have their way with your spouse? It’s a pretty regular thing, and even my boss’ boss is in on it! But… I guess I’m the innocent one for thinking that it wouldn’t happen to me.” The attendant covered her face with her hands as she burst into tears.

“Hey, hey, take it easy,” I replied in my best soothing tone, hovering my hand above her head while making awkward patting gestures. My god, was I really out of my element here. Why couldn’t there be an attribute or Skill for dealing with this kind of shit?

The other attendants simply looked forward despite how the entire bank should’ve been able to hear her. Those bastards.

“Bu-but, there’s one bit of good news,” the attendant continued, removing her tear-soaked hands from her face to look at me. “She said that if I can offer up someone who looks close enough to my husband, she’ll let him take his place!”

“Well, that’s a positive, I guess,” I replied, looking away from her while thinking of what god to start praying to, because after living in this world for a week, I was starting to get good at picking up on these kinds of cues. I knew exactly what she was going to follow that up with.

“And you do happen to look a lot like him.”

Whoop, there it was, baby! So what do I win? A trip to Hawaii? Oh, maybe a brand new sports car! Or how about being cast as the main character in the latest budget porno?

“Do you think maybe you could take my husband’s place? I swear, the special clients are super attractive and definitely would be your type!”

I sighed while mustering my best deadpan, directing it right at the bank teller. It didn’t last long however. Her running mascara and sniffles broke me before I could get a single word out. The straight, horizontal line made by my lips fell into a frustrated frown and my shoulders sagged in defeat.

“I… I’m sorry. I want to help you, but I don’t really feel comfortable having sex with strangers,” I sputtered. My face contorted into a wince as I braced for her reaction.

Even more tears began to fall from her cheeks. Before she could let out a wail, her eyes widened. She grabbed my cheeks and spun my head to the left to the front door.

“Look!” the attendant desperately squeaked. “That’s one of our special clients! I told you she’s hot! Isn’t she hot?!”

Walking into the bank was a woman holding a briefcase. She wore a familiar gray pinstripe suit, purple tie, and white fedora. She saw me and looked into my eyes while licking her lips. Hers were filled with hunger.

My own eyes widened as I looked at her. I began to shake, but soon took back control of my body. My eyes narrowed into a leer as the woman made her way into the back through a staff-only entrance.

“Wow, you must really be into her!” exclaimed the attendant. She’d let go of my face and I turned back to her hope-filled face.

“So. This is a mob bank,” I said in a staccato whisper, punctuating every syllable as I tightly clenched my fist.

“Y-yeah, it is,” the attendant replied. Her voice had dropped back down to an equally quiet volume.

I was ready to turn around and march out of the building, but the look on the woman’s face made my rage evaporate. But seeing her wipe away her tears with a tissue filled that space back up, but with indignation on her behalf instead.

I barely leveled up since two days ago, and I definitely wasn’t ready to dismantle a fucking mob bank! But I had to at least try. I had to! And to that effect, I had an absolutely insane idea that might not work, but there wasn’t much else of a choice. Let’s fucking go…

I took a deep breath as I directed my indignation into an inquisitive glance focused on the young woman, all of the force of my Charisma gathered behind it.

“I can’t imagine that your other coworkers are fine with this, right?” I asked. “Did they all get blackmailed too?”

“Yeah,” the bank teller replied with a slight nod. “All of us hate it, but there’s nothing we can really do, so we just take it. I mean, we’re on the lowest rung around here, they could easily replace any of us if we decided to quit! I’ve talked to the others on break or outside of work, and all of us feel this way.”

A wicked grin began to spread across my face as I looked back at her with sharp eyes. “You know, if all of you feel that way, then you have more power than you think.”

“What do you mean?”

“Think about it, if all of you work together, then there’s nothing you can’t accomplish! And since all of you are on the same page about this, doesn’t that just make things easier?”

“E-easier?” asked the teller, hesitation in her voice. I chalked it up to the fear of her employers.

“Of course!” I replied, excitedly. I felt like Newton when he discovered gravity, or the founding fathers when the British surrendered, or even a kid who realized he was getting a new video game for his birthday! The sheer adrenaline flowing through my veins forced my lips to part in an almost manic smile. “But it requires everyone to come together for this.”

“I-I see,” she said, still looking unsure of what I had planned.

“What I need from you is to gather all of the employees and have you all meet together somewhere. Is there some kind of free hall or enclosed space where we could do this?”

“There’s one place I know, let me give you the address. It should be empty tonight.”

“Well that’s convenient! Yeah, this should work.”

“What should we wear?”

“Wear?” I looked at her in confusion before returning a standard response. “I mean, whatever’s comfortable, I guess.”

The teller looked down and blushed slightly. “Of course, what else would we wear?”

She was acting strange, but I put the thought aside as I basked in the joy of showing up the mob for the first time. “Oh! And have everyone bring their spouses!”

“Our spouses?!” she squeaked.

“Of course! Teamwork makes us stronger, right? And your husband also works at the bank too, so it’s especially relevant to him as well.”

“O-of course. Yeah, it is relevant to him too, I suppose.”

At this point, I could see the other tellers lean over to listen in to what we were talking about. They also hosted looks ranging from mild concern to great amusement. With what I had planned, that was the kind of reaction I expected.

“Well, that should be everything,” I said with a smile. “Before I get going, could I get some water? I’m really thirsty.”

“Of course!” she repeated once final time, before turning around and heading towards the break room. “It’s the least I can do as thanks.”

“Perfect, thanks!”

As soon as the attendant was out of sight, I grabbed the forms I’d filled out and brisk-walked out of the bank.

There was no way in hell I was handing over my info to the fucking mob like that! I just hoped my sudden disappearance wouldn’t change anyone’s minds about the meeting tonight.

Working together, these bank employees would be able force their boss’ hands and get themselves better working conditions, one free from being used for sex by the mob. And I was going to help them do that, help them unionize!

It was only when I was already halfway to my apartment that I realized I hadn’t told them what my plan actually was. Oh well, I was sure that Charisma let me tell them everything they needed to figure it out.