There are all sorts of games out there in the world.
Games like the AOS title that's held the top spot in PC bang popularity for ages, the FPS games that have been loved just as long, simulation games where you manage a village or even an entire nation, dating sims where you romance virtual characters...
But beyond those popular genres, there are a few games that make you think, "Wait, a game like this exists?" Things like hiking games blatantly designed to piss people off, maps with some country's president's photo slapped on them turned into a "strip" mode, or games where you just stare at a rubber duck floating aimlessly on water for five hours straight...
And the game I was playing right now was one of those "unique" ones.
-Splashhh...
"......"
The character on my monitor gripped a hose spraying water, blasting away at a disgustingly filthy place. I swiped the mouse to control the character and adjust the spray direction, and the grime wherever the water hit washed away cleanly.
-Drip drop.
"Ah."
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙Foreign Substance Type: Blood
The hose, which had been blasting away the gunk so satisfyingly, hit a dark red patch and couldn't push forward anymore. A message popped up in the top left of the monitor, identifying the type of crap blocking my path.
"Tch."
-Click. Click.
I hit the Tab key to open the character's inventory, then moved the mouse down to hover over the "Detergent" item.
⚔ STATUS ⚔[Detergent (Blood)]: A cleaning solution with excellent effects for removing bloodstains!
I clicked to use the right type of detergent, and the dark red stain that had stubbornly withstood the fierce water jet finally washed away clean.
'Kuhhh...'
It was just dirty gunk getting wiped away, but an indescribable sense of refreshment washed over me. Even though I wasn't actually cleaning real trash—it was just happening on the screen.
"What a weird game."
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙'Super Wash Simulator.'
Commonly nicknamed the "Cleaning Game," this title was exactly what it sounded like: control a janitor character in the game and clean various locations. That was it.
No cute characters, no flashy graphics, no satisfying action thrills, no intricate puzzles. The goal was simply to use various cleaning tools to scrub away filth from all sorts of places.
Why play a game like that? Hard to say. Something about watching the dirt vanish from the screen just brought on this strange sense of satisfaction.
-Sploosh!
As those thoughts crossed my mind, lava blocked the character's path. Why lava all of a sudden? Because the spot she was cleaning right now was the crater of an active volcano.
'This is kinda brain-breaking...'
Maybe because it was an old game by now? After tons of updates, it had expanded beyond simple locations to places like ancient ruins, Antarctic bases, moon outposts, or deep-sea caves—any kind of spot imaginable, all ready for cleaning.
You might want to ask why bother cleaning those places... but there's no real story to explain it, so players just roll with it.
-Sploosh!
I pressed forward, sending the character into the lava. Obviously, shoving a mere janitor into lava would kill her... but...
⚔ STATUS ⚔[Janitor's Shoes (Lv. Max)]: Shoes designed to let you walk through all sorts of contaminated zones.
With all my gear leveled up to the max limit, my character could stroll through lava or even outer space. Not just the shoes—hat, mask, every cleaning tool was at max level.
Finally, after freely traversing the lava, the character scrubbed the last contaminated spot spotless. A results screen popped up with the cleaning summary, and "cleaning wages" in in-game currency flowed into the inventory. Not that I needed it with everything maxed out.
'Time to sleep?'
A quick gaming session before bed, with that refreshing clean feeling—yeah, I'd sleep like a baby tonight.
I set the mouse down, stretched for a bit, and was about to hit ESC to quit when the in-game mailbox suddenly flashed.
'Hm? What's this?'
The mailbox only lit up for patch notes occasionally... maybe?
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙[New Update!] -New map "Demon God's Ruins" added! Try cleaning a fantasy "dungeon"! -Shop update! All sorts of new items added to the shop! -Story added! A storyline has been created in-game! Uncover the secrets of the "Super Wash Simulator" world!
"Whoa... what the hell is all this?"
How long had it been since a major update like this?
New map... new gear... and even a story? Well, story might not matter much. It was a cleaning game, after all.
Compared to the past year's "updates"—just collab events with other games or comics adding event maps—this patch note was shocking.
Sure, it was relaxing, but I'd been glued to the same game for so long that boredom was creeping in... but I couldn't pass this up!
-[Updating... 05%]
I immediately headed to the game's homepage and downloaded the prepared update. While it ran, I logged into the "Cleaning Game Gallery," a community site still hanging on with a small but dedicated crowd.
📰 Breaking NewsMajor Update Hits the Gallery lol📰 Breaking NewsNo expectations for the story at all. Upvote if you agree.📰 Breaking NewsMade a women's bath cleaning map. Rate it pls.
As expected, the community—which had been dead quiet for months—was buzzing with activity for the first time in ages. I clicked into the most eye-catching "women's bath cleaning map" post and quietly upvoted it, then dove into the hot-button thread that caught my interest.
📰 Breaking NewsTitle: Major Update Hits the Gallery lol Damn these devs. Always just doing collab events, thought updates were dead for good, but they came back swinging lol. They're out hitting up streamers for promo rn. Will Cleaning Game rise again?💬 Comments— Anon1They updated? What's in it?— Anon1 Reply↳ ReplyDumbass lazy fuck. No fingers? Search it yourself or go here: http:****.***— Anon2What the hell is "tsundere insult" lol— Anon3Can this game even blow up? It's just cleaning.— ReplyYou play it too.— Anon3 ReplyI don't.— ReplyThen why come to the gallery, asshole.— Anon4What's the shop update? They only sell cleaning tools and gear anyway?— ReplyThere's customization for cleaning vehicles too. Probably more of that.— ReplyCharacter customization would be nice. Tired of the mask all the time.— Anon5Instead of this crap, fix the multiplayer bugs ffs.— ReplyBugs?— ReplyCan't matchmake.— ReplyWtf who plays multiplayer in this shit game. I don't clean my own room, why clean someone else's mess.
"Hm..."
Lots of speculation about the update contents. The handful of diehards still playing were hoping this would propel the game back to popularity. Any leaks on the actual update details?
I skimmed through posts until I found what I wanted.
📰 Breaking NewsTitle: Map leak posted. (Photo) Not the full thing, just partial, but goddamn it's huge. Biggest map yet by far? Concept is "dungeon," and you can see traps and stuff, tons of fantasy armor and swords. But the environment is insane. Gotta have full-max gear or you'll die on entry?💬 Comments— Anon6Fuck, full max gear required? Who does that?— ReplyYeah. Even clearing every open map only maxes like 2 gear pieces.— Anon7Rewards for replaying cleared maps tho. Gotta farm repeats?— ReplyFuck. Boring game gets even worse with grinding. No way.— ReplyShop updating too. Prices dropping maybe?
"I did it."
Was that hard? Just repeat the final map 100 times or so and gear maxes out. Collab maps give good rewards too.
-[Updating... 66%]
'...God, why is this taking forever?'
I chuckled at the community posts for a while, then checked the update progress, wondering if it was done. Nope, crawling along.
'File size isn't that big, why...'
I'd hoped it'd finish so I could peek at the new map... no dice.
'Guess I'll leave it running and play tomorrow.'
Tomorrow was a holiday too, plenty of time... yeah, bed. Leave the update on.
"Yaaawn..."
Maybe because I'd planned to sleep anyway, but after the sudden update hype and messing around, drowsiness hit hard.
I climbed into bed, computer still on, looking forward to tomorrow.
'...First, prove full-max gear... ah, screenshot the map when it opens and dive in... zzz...'
Unable to fight the overwhelming sleepiness, I closed my eyes.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇-[Updating... 96%]-[Updating... 98%]-[Updating... ■■%]💥 ERROR! 💥◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
And at some point, my eyes opened.
"...Huh? Where am I?"
Sky-blue janitor uniform. High-pressure cleaner blasting water to remove gunk. And all the other cleaning gear.
With everything equipped, I blinked in confusion.
📜 MAIN QUEST 📜
Clean the 'Demon God's Ruins'!
📍 Current Contamination: 100%
🎁 Reward: One Wish
"What the hell is this?"
A dream?