Stalker 2: Just Business Quest Walkthrough Guide

Stalker 2 features numerous side quests, many of which include optional objectives. Completing these optional tasks often makes the primary objectives easier to accomplish, and the Just Business side quest is a great example of this. Helping NPCs in Stalker 2 is almost always rewarding, and this quest is no exception. In this guide, we will explain how to start the Just Business side quest and provide step-by-step instructions to help you complete it.

How to Get the Just Business Quest in Stalker 2

To start the Just Business side quest in Stalker 2, you will need to speak with the underground barkeep. To find this location, head south from the Toad vendor. This vendor not only sells items but also buys broken weapons, making him a useful stop along the way. Keep an eye out for walls marked with “6ap 100” signs—they will guide you to the right spot.

Eventually, you will come across an entrance leading underground. Follow it, and it will take you to the bar. If you have progressed far enough in the main storyline, you may recognize this area from a mission where you were tasked with speaking to Richter.

Inside the underground bar, you will find a couple of Freedom faction members hanging around, along with the barkeep himself.

How to Complete the Just Business Side Quest in Stalker 2

The Just Business side quest gives you two objectives: infiltrate the bandit base, and locate the missing Freedom members. While you can head straight to the bandit base and skip dealing with the Freedom group, taking the time to complete this optional task can make your journey far smoother.

Doing so grants access to a secret tunnel and a rare artifact—an item that is otherwise challenging to obtain in Stalker 2.

Related: Stalker 2: The Forge of Progress Walkthrough Guide

Finding the Missing Freedom Members

To reach the Freedom group members in Stalker 2, you will need to head northwest from Rostok. It is a long trek to the Red Forest, which you can only access after crossing the Yaniv region.

To make the journey manageable, ensure you are never encumbered—or else it will take much longer to get there. Along the way, you might encounter Bloodsuckers or, worse, get caught in an Emission storm with no shelter nearby.

Once you arrive at the parking area, your objective is to find Carl, who is located inside the locker room.

NOTE: Be aware of a potential bug that might prevent Carl from being immediately visible. As you approach the lockers, you should see a Heal Carl Clinch interaction prompt on the ground.

Healing Carl will consume one Medkit from your inventory, so make sure you have at least one before starting the optional objective to find the missing Freedom members as part of the Just Business side quest.

After you heal him, Carl will give you a key to access a tunnel that provides a direct, discreet route to the Warehouse, where the bandits are hiding.

The tunnel entrance is located on the second floor, marked by a white door with a white light at the end of the hallway. While this shortcut lets you avoid detection on your way to the Warehouse, the tunnels are riddled with acid anomalies.

If you have a good detector, like the HILKA detector, make sure to equip it as you navigate the tunnels. There is a valuable Ciliate Artifact hidden here, which is a great find during this side quest.

Get Inside the Bandit Base

As you progress through the tunnels, you will eventually reach a ladder at the end. Climbing this ladder will bring you to the Warehouse, where the next phase of the Just Business side quest begins.

Your primary objective here is to eliminate all the bandits and then take down a mutant known as the Pseudogiant. You will find the Pseudogiant inside a container within the Warehouse.

To locate it easily, look for a container marked with yellow paint and a wooden box near it, which also has a few yellow paint markers.

Climb the containers and you will reach a container with a lot of wooden boxes. Use your knife and break all the boxes, then jump further down. Doing so will trigger the Pseudogiant’s escape from the container and it will rush towards nearby enemies.

Once the Pseudogiant emerges from the container, you can use it strategically by luring it toward the bandits and letting it attack them. To do this effectively, keep energy drinks in your quick-access slots to maintain your stamina as you guide the mutant. This tactic can make clearing out the bandits faster since the Pseudogiant does most of the work for you.

However, be cautious—if you get too close to the bandits, the Pseudogiant will target you as well. While this method weakens the mutant as it takes damage from the bandits, it also poses a risk if you are not careful.

After the bandits are dealt with, you will need to kill the Pseudogiant yourself.

Once it is defeated, loot its corpse to collect the Electronic Collar. While the collar is not required to complete the Just Business side quest in Stalker 2, it plays a role in another quest called In the Name of Science.

Just Business Side Quest Reward

Once you are done eliminating the bandits and the Pseudogiant mutant, head back to Rostok and interact with the Barkeep. He will give you the Sphere M20 Helmet as a reward for completing the quest.

That is everything you need to know about how to get and complete the Just Business side quest in Stalker 2. For more tips about the game, we recommend you check out How to Fix Hot on the Trail Bug, How To Use Console Commands, and How To Fix Bunker Not Opening Bug in Just Like the Good Old Days Mission in Stalker 2 guides.