With a purpose in my stride, I rushed to get ready. Fortunately, my barebones apartment had almost everything I needed, which included clothes that fit my new body and basic toiletries. However, I made the unfortunate discovery that there wasn't any food in my fridge or cabinets. 'Guess I'm going hungry for the day.'
Making my way to the door, I threw it open and found myself standing outside on a metal staircase leading to the alley below. Walking down the stairs, I looked up and down the alley situated behind an old brick building that was sitting on a corner, based on how it was positioned and how the alley wrapped around the back.
Going to the right, I walked around until I reached the brick-laid sidewalk and then the front of the building, 'Well, at least I don't have to commute anymore.'
It turned out that my apartment was directly atop the Grillhouse, which was definitely abandoned, judging by the thick layer of dust over the windows, the trash piled up on the doorstep, and the weeds creeping up around the foundations. 'Wonder what the inside looks like.'
I grabbed the front door handle, expecting it to be locked, only to hear a loud click as the deadbolt slid open, allowing me to open the door. Chalking the anomaly up to weird heaven magic, I stepped inside.
With the dirty windows, barely any sunlight made it inside, but already I could see the piles of trash that lay forgotten in dark corners and the layer of grime caked onto every floor tile. Making my way cautiously into the back, I eventually found a group of light switches on the wall next to a pair of swinging metal doors leading into the kitchen.
Flicking each switch on, the lights on the overhead fixtures flicked to life and were also covered in a thick layer of dust, but they generated enough light to let me see the full extent of what I was dealing with.
'This alone is going to take me all day,' I lamented with a sigh before steeling my nerves and pushing aside the doors to enter the kitchen. Surprisingly, the first thing I noticed wasn't how dirty the kitchen was, but its layout.
The entire space was centered around a massive brick firepit that acted as the main cook surface with a large seven-foot by five-foot, cast-iron grill. And attached to either side of the grill were two large slate slabs at the perfect height to act as work stations. There was also a heavy-looking drying rack suspended above the grill by four equally heavy-looking chains.
'Well, I guess it isn't called a Grillhouse for nothing.'
Besides its namesake, the kitchen looked pretty standard with stainless steel counters and storage racks that were unfortunately stocked with spices that I had imagined had long gone stale and bags of flour and rice that would attract all sorts of pests.
Walking into the kitchen, I strayed near the grill and just so happened to graze my finger across the brick and mortar. A tingle shot up my arm, making me reflexively pull my hand away, but before I could look back and see what had shocked me, there was a flash of golden light, and I looked over just in time to see a leather-bound scroll appear out of thin air above the grill.
'What the…'Before I could even finish the thought, the scroll turned into a beam of light that shot forward and slammed into my chest, making me stumble back out of shock, even though the scroll had no physical force behind it.
[You have claimed the property deed for [Abandoned Grillhouse]. You can now access the Property Management Page at your convenience.
[Property: Abandoned Grillhouse]
Type: Commercial [Restaurant]
Tier I: Upgrade cost [$35,000]
Maintenance: $2500
Max Capacity: 0
[Employees]
Waitstaff: 0/2
None
Kitchenstaff: 0/1
None
[Furniture (+)]
None
[Appliances (+)]
Hearthstone Grill: +5% to cooking speed, +10% quality of all grilled recipes
[Menu]
None
[Recipes]
None
[Order Ingredients: $0]
Y/N
[Would you like to enter Chef Mode?]
Y/N
'What the hell am I looking at?'
[This is a Property Manual, which allows you to view all the information you need for the related property. For your restaurant, this is where you can also buy upgrades such as furniture, like seats and tables, to increase your max capacity, and decor, which will make your rating rise faster, which you need to attract high-paying customers. There are also appliances that, beyond actually requiring them to cook certain recipes, can provide passive bonuses to help your kitchen run smoothly, especially when you start hiring other cooks, which you can manage under the employees tab.]
'Okay, that all seems straightforward and the menu and recipe tabs are self-explanatory, but what about the last two options?'
[Order ingredients will allow you to instantly buy all the produce and food items you need to create any dish you want. Though I suggest you use Chef Mode first, which will send your consciousness to another realm where you can experiment with any possible combination of ingredients for free, so you don't have to waste your money. Also, while you're in this mode, time in the real world is frozen, so you don't have to rush through the creative process.]
'Well, that certainly makes things a lot easier,' I thought as I dismissed the window, 'Though I should probably clean up before buying anything or trying to make an entire menu.'
Resuming my search for cleaning supplies, I eventually found a small closet shoved in the very back of the kitchen that was surprisingly well stocked with rags, mops, brooms, buckets, and every kind of surface cleaner one could think of. Arming myself with a roll of trash bags, a broom, and a dust pan, I decided to work from the outside in.
Propping open the front door, I pulled on a pair of gloves and started bagging the larger pieces of trash that had accumulated over the years, random pieces of scrap metal and wood, plastic bags, and broken glass from bottles and random windowpanes.
'It's like people turned this place into the town dump.'
When I finally managed to clear the entrance, I had filled nearly ten industrial trash bags, but despite the physical effort and the blistering summer sun, I had barely worked up a sweat or felt the slightest bit of fatigue.
'Can I even sweat anymore, now that I'm not human?' I wondered as I hauled the last of the bags into the garbage bin in the back of the restaurant. Dusting off my hands, I pulled up the quest prompt with a thought and checked my progress.
[SimQuest: Grill Master I]
Objective: Prepare [ Abandoned Grillhouse] for opening!
1. Clean restaurant, exterior, interior, and kitchen [1/3]
2. Buy 5 [Small Wooden Tables] from the property manual [0/5]
3. Buy 4 [Fuax Leather Booth] from the property manual [0/4]
4. Create a menu with at least ten food items [0/10]
5. Hire 1 waitstaff [0/1]
Reward(s):
1. +2 Skill Points
2. +2 Development Points
3. +1 Perk Points
4. +$2000
'One down, two more to go.'
In the beginning, cleaning the interior was identical to the exterior, as I filled trash bag after trash bag with broken pieces of furniture, old rusted utensils, and broken plates. But once I could actually see the floor, I realized that my work wasn't anywhere near done.
A thick, caked-on layer of grime covered every square inch and even the gaps between tiles. My first thought was to grab a mop and bucket of hot water, but with the amount of leverage I needed to break up the residue, I would have been there all day. So I changed up my tactics, switching out the mop for a stiff-haired broom and adding soap to the bucket of water.
The change was noticeable right away as my first stroke with the broom pushed away a wave of dirty suds to reveal clean black and white tiles beneath, 'I couldn't even tell that the tiles were two different colors.'
Cleaning the floor was a multi-step process, as first I had to switch between breaking up the layer of filth with the broom and mopping up the dirty water, before going back over the entire room with another round of water and soap to make sure everything was actually clean.
Leaving the floor to air dry, I busied myself with the windows, dusting them off before wiping them down, finally letting some natural light into the restaurant. I did the same to the old light fixtures, and by then the floor was completely dry, letting me sweep up the last bits of dust and dirt.
Clean restaurant, exterior, interior, and kitchen [2/3]
If the trend was anything to go by, the kitchen was going to be hardest to clean up, and a closer inspection of its overall cleanliness proved that my assumption was correct. Not only did I have to get rid of the rotten and expired food cluttering up the shelves and refrigerator, but the floor needed to be scrubbed down along with the workstations. The grill was also in desperate need of some TLC, with bits of charred food clinging to the cast-iron cooktop and a small mountain of ash and charcoal from all the previous fires sitting within the hearth.
Strangely, I wasn't exhausted or frustrated imagining the mind-numbing menial labor awaiting me. While I was no stranger to work, I had never felt so fulfilled from seeing the fruits of my labor, 'I guess this really is my paradise.'
Using my tried and true method, I cleared out the bulky items first, throwing them out back, before cleaning out the hearth, which took a while as the fine ash particles would go flying everywhere if I moved too quickly. Once those two tasks were done, I set about scrubbing down the entire kitchen, working my way quite literally from top to bottom, starting with the hood vents clogged with oil and grease from years of food service. From there, I moved to the shelves, then the prep stations and grill, before finishing with the floor. And when I scrubbed up the last bit of dirt from the tiles, a small notification flashed across my eyes.
[You have completed the following Objective(s)]
1. Clean restaurant, exterior, interior, and kitchen [3/3]
The notification was then followed by an intense wave of euphoria that rushed through my body like I had just injected pure dopamine and serotonin directly into my veins. The high came on strong and fast, but instead of crashing, a smooth energizing buzz cleared my mind, vanishing any mental fatigue that had been building up from the otherwise slow task. 'Wow, I could get used to that.'