RED LEDGER

Ward 9, after dark

Port Solace is a wet harbour city where every ship's cargo comes ashore. Ren Hale lost his father's bar on Harbour Road to a six-month dock strike, a partner who emptied the till, and a bank that said no three times.

Then Kade sat down under the last lamp still burning. Polite, patient, always pays cash. He had bought every bill Ren owed and turned them into one number: $35,000. He slid an envelope across the bar: the lease on three rooms upstairs in Ward 9, a heavy key, and the login to the last tenant's NightLink page. A small house that does its business late.

Twenty-eight days. Four Sundays. Every Sunday at eight, Kade climbs the stairs with coffee and opens the ledger. Pay what's due, or the interest starts to bite. Come up short twice and the keys go back to him.

Run the night

• NightLink - the phone in your pocket runs the house: listings and prices, paid boosts, booking requests to take or turn away, and reviews that can make or sink a week.
  
• Her terms - sit down with each woman and settle the cut, the room, overnights, and whether you are allowed to watch. Lowball her and she walks.
  
• Ask, don't order - some nights she's tired, some guests she won't see. Hard lines never move. Soft ones you can push for the cash, and she may take it. She will also remember.
  
• Peek or listen - stand under a busy door and hold to look: through the crack, the mail slot, the transom, a mirror, the light under the door. Or just listen. Every second you watch, the hall stands unattended and suspicion climbs.
  
• Keep the house standing - change the sheets, fix the leak in 203, answer the one-star reviews, and keep the landlady, the platform and the street from turning on you.

The street and its people

By day Ward 9 is yours to walk, and every errand costs a piece of a day you won't get back. The 24-hour store glows like the inside of a fridge. Tan's kway teow stall stays lit until the last cab. Uncle Goh keeps promising to fix your fourth step. There is a café, a coin laundry, a capsule hotel, a card room where Fong deals twenty-one, a taxi rank, and a pier where the dock crews get paid on Friday. Eight House, the competition, wants your regulars.

Every hour has its own light and its own people. After close, supper is at Tan's.

Six women, six reasons

Nobody here is a prize. Each woman came to Port Solace with her own debt, her own price and her own way out.

• Mika, 26 - works the till at the 24-hour store. Sharp tongue, soft heart. Sweet is extra.
  
• Yuna, 31 - knows the trade better than you do, and brings her own lamp because your bulbs are an insult to skin.
  
• Katya, 28 - short on rent and cramming for a hospital-administration exam. No watching. Ever.
  
• Oksana, 32 - divorced, shrewd, and she brings two regulars of her own. Her first week is a test.
  
• Hana, 27 - an ex-hostess who laughs too loud and says yes too easily.
  
• Irina, 36 - the veteran. She picks the man. If she decides you are worth it, she has one phone call to make for you. Only one.

There are no affection meters. They remember what you did: the night you let her rest, the guest you sent away, the Sunday you put the money first. It changes what they call you, who comes up to the loft after close, and who is still there at dawn on day 28.

Features

• A 28-day management story with a full prologue - about 2.5 to 3 hours for a first run, made to be played again.
  
• Ten endings shaped by everything at once: the debt, the house, each woman's memory of you, the kind of boss you became, and your name on NightLink. The richest ending is not the best one.
  
• Anime pixel art in a neon, rain-soaked harbour city - 640x360, scaled pixel-perfect to 1080p and beyond.
  
• Animated peeks that change as the month goes on.
  
• Typewriter dialogue with a voice blip for every character, and an original synthesized soundtrack.
  
• Streamer mode, an "Intimate scenes: Show / Fade out" option, text speed, reduced motion, key rebinding and three save slots.

All characters are adults. The rest stays behind the door.