PRMG 01

Chapter 1

Director: Goyo, there is a coach position open. Come anytime.

SGY: Player-nim, this is News Sagon from Day News. Could I possibly get an interview…?

When I turned on my phone screen to check the time, a notification for an unread message appeared.

It had been so long since I retired as a professional gamer, yet they were still calling me “Player-nim.”

The director should have given up by now, but he kept contacting me persistently.

I looked down at my hand for a moment.

Four years ago, after the accident, my hand looked perfectly normal on the outside and caused no problems in daily life.

I just couldn’t continue my career as a player.

With a familiar motion, I quickly swiped away the notification and left only the live streaming push notification.

It was the broadcast time of my favorite M-tuber.

I had no time to waste on messages I wouldn’t even read.

I turned on my computer and immediately entered the live broadcast.

I donated first.

My nickname and donation message appeared greatly on the chat window.

The M-tuber smiled brightly and called my name.

“Gunbam-nim, welcome!”

[Gunbam: Hello.]

My greeting was quickly buried under the enthusiastic messages from other viewers.

[PleaseSaveMePleaseSaveMePleaseGetMeOutICantClearThis]
[Icantdoitanymorehehehehihihihihikikikik]
[ImSorryImSorryImSorryImSorry]
[ImDyingImDyingItHurtsAhAhItHurtsItHurts]
[End?ingHowDoIGetTheEnd?PleaseEnd]

The M-tuber I liked did not have many viewers.

Only a few dozen people watched, but perhaps because everyone was a dedicated fan, the chat was much more active compared to other broadcasts.

Another unusual thing was that usually, in small internet broadcasts, viewers easily became friendly with each other.

But here, nobody cared about anyone else.

They were only busy telling the M-tuber what they wanted.

But I actually liked that.

Because there was no unnecessary attention, I felt more comfortable.

“Gunbam-nim, I was waiting only for you.”

[Gunbam: I was waiting for your broadcast too.]

More than anything else, I genuinely liked this M-tuber.

I smiled shyly while sending the message.

I debuted as a professional gamer at nineteen and built a decent career before retiring.

It was a forced retirement because of an accident, and becoming unemployed overnight was extremely boring.

So I searched for something to relieve my boredom and started playing games.

I became addicted to various online games, and later turned my attention to package games.

From AAA games to indie games, I played everything without discrimination.

Then I discovered an indie game that perfectly matched my taste.

After staying awake for two nights and seeing every ending, I naturally searched for other games made by the developer.

That was how I accidentally found the developer’s live broadcast.

That happened two years ago.

After becoming a loyal viewer of the developer, I gained an incredible privilege.

I was able to test games that were still being developed.

Since he was a one-person developer, all of the games were indie games with pixel graphics.

However, because of the creative settings and stories, I could become more immersed than with any other game.

The genres were all different, so they never felt repetitive.

On top of that, every game was connected inside one huge world.

The so-called Archive World.

For two years, I spent enjoyable times inside his world by test-playing the games he gave me.

Wondering what kind of game he had made this time, I typed in the chat.

[Gunbam: The game you gave me before was really fun.]

“As expected, Gunbam-nim was able to see the true ending.”

How did he know I cleared the true ending?

I blinked for a moment.

But since he probably knew that I always stayed up all night and cleared every ending of every game he gave me, it wasn’t strange.

I pushed away my doubts and asked.

[Gunbam: What game is it today?]

Among the crazy amount of chat messages pouring in from viewers, the M-tuber somehow picked out mine and smiled.

“Hmm, there is no game today.”

Then he suddenly brought his face close to the camera.

His face filled the entire screen, and I unconsciously leaned back.

The M-tuber whispered with eyes shining from the lighting.

“There won’t be any games from now on either.”

My heart dropped.

“No games?”

For someone like me who had enjoyed countless games thanks to this M-tuber, it was a sudden disaster.

Unlike me, who froze in shock, the M-tuber looked unusually excited today.

Anyone would think he had won the lottery.

[No?Game?NoGame?CanWeLeave?GetMeOut?]
[IWantToLeaveImSorrySaveMe]
[AlreadyOver?Boring.]
[FinallyFinallyKillKillKillKill]

The viewers’ chat exploded after his shocking announcement.

I barely moved my fingers among the overflowing messages.

[Gunbam: That’s disappointing…. May I ask why?]

“Because it’s finished now.”

The M-tuber spoke with a very relieved voice.

“Thank you for everything until now. It’s thanks to Gunbam-nim.”

Was he saying he would stop streaming completely?

Would he continue making games?

Or would he quit development too…?

It was common for one-person developers to stop making games because of various circumstances.

But it was such a waste.

He was a developer with unbelievable talent.

Even the viewers of this broadcast loved his games so much.

‘Couldn’t he release a few through early access or something?’

Knowing that he already had several highly completed games, I bit my lips.

I started typing to ask more details, but my fingers stopped.

It was impossible, but…

I felt like my eyes met the M-tuber’s through the screen.

The M-tuber stared directly into the camera and stretched his lips into a long smile.

At that moment, a warm sensation spread out, and my nose started bleeding.

“Ugh…”

My eyes burned, and a painful headache split my head apart.

Was it because I stayed up all night and watched the broadcast right away?

While I stood up briefly to find tissues, a voice reached me.

“Gunbam-nim is the best viewer I have ever met. Gunbam-nim can do it. I found you and confirmed it.”

I finally found tissues, covered my nose, and looked back at the screen.

The M-tuber was still staring directly into the camera.

“From now on, I guess I will become Gunbam-nim’s viewer.”

Everything he said made no sense.

I pressed my nose and typed with one hand.

[Gunbam: I don’t understand what you mean.]

“I’m looking forward to it. I really waited for such a long time. So, so, so, very long.”

At this point, there was no way I could not realize the M-tuber was acting strangely.

He didn’t seem drunk.

Could it be drugs…?

As a longtime viewer, I was about to type that he should end the broadcast.

Then—

“Then, shall we begin now?”

He called my name.

“Han Goyo.”

A name I had never once told him.

“Huh?”

The moment I opened my lips, the entire world distorted.

The ordinary room that had been normal until just now became stained with strange fluorescent colors and twisted as if melting.

Along with a cheerful notification sound, a system window appeared in front of my eyes.

‘Han Goyo’ has made his name known in Akasha!

Current Recognition: 0.01%

Unknown system windows rose up and covered my vision.

I checked the final system window before losing consciousness.

You are the system of the planet ‘Earth’.

A string sound echoed through an old speaker.

The noise mixed between the long-drawn notes irritated my ears, making me frown.

I groaned and opened my eyes.

A scene I had never seen before appeared before me.

An interior filled with colorful decorations.

A wall painting with a cute character drawn on it.

Stacks of toy package boxes piled as high as a Christmas tree.

No matter how I looked at it, this place was extremely far from my one-room apartment.

It looked like some kind of toy factory.

Pressing my temples because of the faint headache that remained, I looked around again.

A large sign with round, cute typography was hanging.

It was very familiar.

I read it aloud without realizing it.

“<Happy Smile Factory>…?”

I hurriedly looked at the character wall painting I had briefly seen earlier.

Welcome to Happy Smile Factory!

We are toy friends who will make you happy.

Let’s all shout together! Happy Smile!

The children’s toys with cute messages written on them were smiling happily.

Cold sweat soaked my back.

Because <Happy Smile Factory> was…

A game created by the developer I liked.

Did the developer kidnap me and lock me in a place similar to his game?

It was the most believable theory I could think of.

But it made no sense.

Who would kidnap an unemployed former professional gamer?

It was completely useless.

Frozen by this unrealistic situation, I slowly stood up from the floor.

“…Wow.”

While getting up, I looked at my clothes and let out a hollow laugh.

I was wearing the work uniform from <Happy Smile Factory>.

On the bright green uniform was a name tag with the Happy Smile mark.

Employee: Gunbam

I scratched the embroidered name tag with my finger, but it was firmly attached.

I searched through my pockets in case there was anything useful, but there was only dust.

Instead, a flashlight was hanging from my waist.

This was exactly the same beginning as the game.

“This is crazy.”

A curse naturally escaped my mouth.

I covered my face with my hand.

<Happy Smile Factory> was the first game made by the developer that I played.

The story was about a player who woke up inside a toy factory and had to discover his lost memories and the hidden secrets of the factory before escaping.

The problem was the toys.

The toys here hated “adults” greatly.

Therefore, they tried to eliminate the adult who entered the factory without permission.

In other words, the player.

So, if this situation continued like <Happy Smile Factory>…

I had to escape from the factory while avoiding murderous toys.

Someone crazy enough to prepare a factory of this size would definitely have prepared killers wearing toy costumes.

What should I do?

I tried to abandon normal thinking and follow the mindset of a crazy person.

First, I thought it might be good to approach this like playing the game.

Because according to the game, the objective was escaping the factory.

I carefully moved across the lobby.