My Questrewarding System

Chapter 004 – 24 Hours Later

*****

"Janitor, please come here quickly, my daughter has vomited in ward 05. Her bed needs to be cleaned!"

Williams, who had thought he was finally going to rest after almost being worked to exhaustion since he had made the deal with the stern matron, one of the only two nurses in the hospital, was suddenly awakened from the nap he was just about to take.

With his head pounding intensely with a headache, Williams, who was sitting on a bench in the reception, having his first break since he started working that day, groggily opened his eyes.

'My determination that death is preferable to life is still the best,' he sighed weakly to himself and quickly ran to where he was being called.

...

"What took you so long!"

It was an irate man who greeted Williams.

"I’m... I’m sorry," Williams quickly apologized to the man who looked like he would beat him if caution wasn’t exercised.

Well, he couldn’t blame the man, though, for his anger.

The small bed in the ward was currently covered with the filth of vomit, and the patient was a very frail-looking five-year-old girl who was trembling hysterically as she was held by her father, the irate man while waiting for the bed to be cleaned.

Williams sighed and quickly put on his gloves, then With his cleaning supplies, he moved toward the bed that could make one throw up all the meals they’d had due to how repulsive it was and started working.

Williams had lost count of how many times he had thrown up at the start when he had just begun this work, but the more he did, the more he started treating everything as routine.

Before today, even when all seemed hopeless, Williams would have definitely rebuked it if someone had ever told him that he would one day do a disgusting job like this.

Even now, Williams couldn’t help but pity the resilient people who do this sort of job.

He not only had to clean vomit but also blood, feces, urine, and many repugnant substances.

One might wonder why he was the one who did all the work; it was simply because there was no other cleaner in the hospital.

Yes, the hospital always had an endless stream of patients, but for reasons unknown to him and the people who shared the information with him, it no longer received any funds from the government, and now, it was only being managed by three people: a doctor and two nurses who volunteered themselves without receiving payment.

It was when Williams heard this that all the doubts he had against the stern woman disappeared.

Apart from revenue from medicines and the supplies used, treatment was mostly free in the hospital, and it was the doctors and nurses who had to use their money to cover many expenses.

...

Back to the present.

Before long, Williams finally finished cleaning the bed and changed the sheet, Then with the father, they quickly returned the little girl to bed.

"Don’t worry, baby, you will be okay. I swear by my life that even if I had to rob the bank, I must make sure you will be okay," Williams heard the irate man promise as he stored all his equipment and walked out of the ward.

On his way out, he encountered the stern matron walking in.

As usual, since Williams knew her, she only nodded her head slightly to Williams without showing any expression, but Williams couldn’t be bothered by that as he was soon summoned again from another ward to clean feces.

Like that, Williams worked throughout the 24-hour' time agreement made between him and the system.

During this time, Williams experienced many things.

He saw pitiful patients, rude patients, patients at the brink of death, patients who had been conversing but died in the next moment, and many more things he had never thought or imagined in his life.

He wasn’t allowed to sleep due to being summoned incessantly into the wards to clean.

Even meals, thankfully that Williams was now accustomed to skipping meals most of the time during the day, he went completely fasting throughout the 24 hours, and he didn’t even consume water at all.

Honestly, he was advised several times, even by the stern matron, to rest for a few hours, but seeing how pitiful most of the patients were, and how extremely hardworking the doctor and nurses were, convinced him to continue working.

By the time the one-day period, which was revealed to Williams by the system, came to an end, he was completely drained both physically and mentally.

'You said I’ve completed the mission?'

Williams, who had already learned how to communicate his thoughts to his so-called system, which he had gradually subconsciously accepted as real, asked blankly as if it was difficult for him to believe.

[Yes, host. You have successfully fulfilled your first quest of being a hospital janitor for twenty-four hours without any breaks.]

Williams, " _ "

"Plea… please, could… could you help me clean the poop quickly? I… I can’t stand much longer again.”

Williams was abruptly awakened by an extremely feeble voice.

Glancing at the standing elderly slim man who looked like he would collapse any moment, Williams quickly apologized and hastily changed the bedsheet that was soiled with foul-smelling feces, he carefully assisted the elderly man back to the bed and wished him a swift recovery before he went to dispose of the bedsheet in the furnace that would incinerate it.

'What's next?'

he asked as he carefully discarded the glove in his hand into the furnace as well.

[For the host to receive his reward for completing the quest.]

'Hmm?'

Williams was slightly puzzled.

'Didn't we only agree that you would help him settle the bill? Is there another reward?'

The system, _

[Host, have you forgotten my name and purpose?]

Williams, "_"

He went blank for a moment and pondered before he eventually understood.

'Quest rewarding system... a system designed to provide rewards for quests?'

[Bingo! The host got it right.]

In response, Williams only rolled his eyes and clicked his tongue against his mouth.

'What’s my reward, then?'

He asked as he went to wash his hands, something he had lost count of doing since he became a janitor, but in the next moment, his hand became stuck on the tap opener. It was as if Williams suddenly didn’t know how to open the tap, which he had already lost count of opening that day.

'Could... could you please repeat yourself?'

[For completing the quest of being a hospital janitor, the system has been awarded 1QR point and 10 million dollars, which will be credited into the host’s account shortly.]

'I... I...'

Just at this moment, something vibrated against Williams' body.

Quickly fumbling about, he took out an old, buttoned cell phone that he hadn’t known was previously with him.

For a brief moment, he was confused as to how it hadn’t been lost or damaged in the ocean, but that wasn’t his concern.

Pressing a single button, Williams saw the message, but in the next second, the cell phone fell from his hand, pounding against the floor and breaking into pieces, but Williams couldn’t react.

'This... this was a... was a dream, right?'

[Has the host accepted my existence now?]

But before Williams could respond, the call that had now become something he was accustomed to rang.

"Please, janitor, your attention is needed in ward 14."

'I...'

Blankly, Williams put on new gloves, carried his cleaning kits, and then made his way to the ward, surprising the system.

[The host doesn’t have to do this anymore, right? The quest is already completed.]

Alas, Williams was too lost at the moment to react.

His current actions were only instinctive due to what he had been doing nonstop for the past day.

But just as he was about to enter the ward from where he was called, he saw the stern matron blocking his way.

"Your one day is already completed. You should leave it to me. You are free to go."

Williams was awakened by this, and then he gazed carefully at the woman to check if she wasn’t joking, but no, she wasn’t.

"What... what about my bills?"

"Forget it."

Williams watched as she waved him off, then now in a janitor's uniform, he watched as the matron turned around to enter the ward to do the cleaning job.

"I..."

Williams suddenly hesitated greatly.

"Where is the nearest bank to this hospital? I’d like to make a monetary donation."

"Huh?"

The matron paused for a moment, then she looked back and studied Williams carefully.

Truthfully, she sensed the air of extraordinariness he exuded, although his attire and everything about him spoke of poverty.

"Don’t do that, you should instead use your little money to take better care of yourself," she stated coldly, not mincing her words at all.

Well, it wasn’t that Williams was angry with her. He had already learned enough about her to know how straightforward the woman was.

"These people are truly the unsung heroes of this world," Williams sighed, then he rushed away.

"What a kind young man," the matron suddenly looked back after Williams had gone, and a smile appeared on her face, then not thinking much, she continued inside.

As for Williams.

'You, of course, know what would happen if I was told at the bank that the alert was a scam or that there is no such money in my account, which has been empty for the last five years, right?'