Chapter 5: The Economics of Child Slapping
Leon staggered home, his face throbbing with the accumulated anguish of two dozen slaps. The moment he reached his apartment, he didn't bother with the lights; he just collapsed onto his bed and immediately fell into a deep, merciful sleep.
When he woke up, a single, horrible realization pierced the fog of exhaustion: he still had to slap twenty children and then be slapped back by them (Quest 3 and Quest 7).
An evil idea is born.
A slow, malicious grin—the kind usually reserved for cartoon villains—spread across his bruised face. The key, Leon realized, wasn't social confrontation; it was economics.
First, he addressed the pain issue. He opened the System and navigated immediately to the Skill Shop.
SKILL SHOP (The Slap System)
Rubber Face (Passive): 1500 RSP
Description: Absorbs the majority of blunt, open-hand trauma. Pain and bruising severely reduced.
"Rubber Face," Leon whispered, his eyes gleaming. He checked his balance: RSP: 1010.
"Damn it! Still short!"
He knew he couldn't face the children without this protection. He had to complete Quest 4 and 8 (the Landlord's Aunt and Daughter) for another 1000 RSP. He risked life and limb, successfully completing that horrifying double-slap and double-slap-back, narrowly surviving Aunt Helena's '30% power' return blow. The resulting RSP total was 2010.
He immediately purchased the skill.
[Rubber Face (Passive) purchased. RSP: 510]
With his new, pain-dampening face, Leon set out under the cover of dusk. His target was a dark stretch of park near a less-used metro stop, where he knew several street vendors and homeless people often gathered with their children.
His method was simple and transactional. He approached a group of ten children sitting together.
"Attention, small humans," Leon announced, his voice sounding strangely hollow through his 'Rubber Face.' "I have a proposition that will be financially beneficial to your entire enterprise."
He pulled out his entire supply of savings—five crumpled ten-dollar bills. He addressed the group. "I need to slap you all, and then you all need to slap me back. Do this, and you each get five dollars."
The children, initially suspicious, looked at the crisp dollar bills. Five dollars for a slap? It was the easiest money they'd ever been offered. They happily nodded, forming an orderly, if confused, queue.
Leon worked quickly. He delivered twenty light slaps: ten for Quest 3 (Slap 20 Children) and ten more for the other halves of the children present.
Then, he stood ready. The children, eager for their payday, slapped him back with the joyful abandon of kids hitting a piñata. Thanks to Rubber Face, the blows registered as dull thuds. He barely flinched.
[Quest 3 Progress: 20/20] Complete! Reward: 500 RSP
[Quest 7 Progress: 20/20] Complete! Reward: 500 RSP
Leon paid the children, gave a weary salute to the System, and walked away, RSP: 1510.
Buoyed by success, he attempted the same trick with a group of four women sharing a bench.
"Ladies," he said, holding up a five-dollar bill. "I will pay you to participate in a brief, non-violent slap exchange."
A notification immediately flashed red in his eye:
[QUEST DECLINED: Target parameters not met]
Requirement: Quest 2 (Slap 5 Women) and Quest 6 (Slap Back 5 Women) requires targets whose perceived beauty is above average.
Leon slumped. "The System won't let me pay poor women for a meaningless slap?! It's enforcing a beauty standard for my assault quests?!"
He felt genuine, frustrated sadness. He didn't have the courage to slap a stranger he found attractive. He spent the rest of the day aimlessly wandering, racking his brain for a new strategy.
The only thing he knew was his routine. As the sun set, he went to the coffee shop, exchanged a few weary words with Maya, and then went home and immediately fell asleep, still stuck on Quest 2 and 6.