Chapter 2
I was just as shocked as the person in front of me. There were two reasons.
The first reason was Mo Hae-in.
Mo Hae-in was one of the main characters appearing in the Archive universe, a world setting that connected the creator’s games together.
Archive was a story that began when a disaster suddenly struck Earth one day.
At 12:00 AM on February 29, Korean Standard Time (KST), a meteor shower poured down across the entire world.
It was a meteor shower that had never been predicted through astronomical observation.
The suddenly created meteor shower was like a festival of lights. Humans admired the beautiful sight, but…
It was a disaster that came from outer space.
The disasters that crashed onto Earth hatched in random orders and forms, creating spaces of another dimension.
The spaces were similar to another world, and rules like those in games were established inside.
It had a structure where people collected items, completed quests, and cleared them like a game.
If they failed to clear it within a certain amount of time, the disaster would explode and transform the surrounding area into the same form as that disaster.
It spread an infectious virus that mutated both living things and non-living things.
It was something impossible to explain with modern science.
A true disaster.
Humans believed the disasters from outer space were a trial from God and named them “Trials.”
With the appearance of the Trials, humans also awakened special talents.
Some people became able to see system windows.
They were called “Qualified Ones,” and they could clear Trials through the system windows.
Players awakened as Qualified Ones in the world of Archive and entered various Trials.
Each time they entered a Trial, they played a game of a different genre.
Mo Hae-in was a soldier belonging to the Trial Response Agency, an external organization under the Ministry of National Defense of South Korea.
Captain Mo Hae-in, an elite member of the Agency, appeared inside Trials to help players or sometimes appeared after the ending to have conversations with them.
I had only seen her as a pixel character until now, so seeing her move and breathe right in front of my eyes was something I could not help but be shocked by.
And the second reason was the system window.
‘Mo Hae-in’ is a registerable character.
Would you like to register?
Looking at the system window emitting a blurry light, I remembered the last thing I saw before losing consciousness.
[You are the system of the planet ‘Earth.’]
A message that only the Qualified Ones of Archive could see.
The thing generally called the system, which guided quests and provided various notifications during Trials.
I was that system…?
This was something I had never experienced even after playing countless games in Archive.
Nothing made sense, but there was one possible guess.
Maybe…
I had entered the game world.
Like the game possession stories that often appeared in subculture.
The headache that had finally calmed down after barely handling this overwhelming situation started throbbing again.
For now, I ignored the suspiciously glowing registration system window.
I could not just register something when I did not even know what it was.
After I continued ignoring it, the registration system window slowly disappeared on its own.
I thought it was finally gone, but suddenly, a new window appeared.
‘Han Go-yo (Gunbam)’ has entered <Happy Smile Factory>!
◆ <Happy Smile Factory> Main Quest: Clear the factory of killer toys with the True Ending.
You have entered your first Trial as a system.
You must prove the system’s ability by clearing the True Ending.
Quest Success: Survival!
The result of failure is unknown.
However, you have a feeling that something unpleasant will happen to the loser.
…
What kind of crazy nonsense was this?
After checking the system window, I did my best to control my expression.
While trying not to show anything strange, I heard voices nearby.
“Second Lieutenant Park, there wasn’t a request to enter Haspak, right?”
“There absolutely wasn’t. I checked several times.”
“Then he must be a civilian.”
Click, click.
Mo Hae-in moved the claw on her hand and looked at me.
Her left arm had a plastic toy arm attached to it.
The toy arm with a claw like a crane machine claw was an item obtainable in <Happy Smile Factory>.
It was also the same thing that had just strangled my neck.
The system window that appeared before my eyes and the toy arm were both at a level that could never be made with special effects.
While I was dizzy from the realization that this was truly inside a game, Mo Hae-in looked me up and down.
“Interesting?”
When she tilted her head, her short hair moved slightly.
I knew why she was suspicious of me.
It was extremely rare for civilians to get caught up in regularly managed Trials.
There were mercenaries who accepted requests to clear Trials, and smugglers who secretly entered because they wanted items obtained from Trials.
But someone entering alone like this was almost unheard of.
Trials were literally trials.
Since you had to risk your life, entering with at least two people was the basic rule for backup.
Smugglers usually entered in groups of around fifteen people because their equipment was inferior to that of the government or private companies, so they made up for it with numbers.
Of course, since I had played the game, entering alone was normal for me.
Anyway, if I just stood still, I probably would not receive good treatment.
I made a frightened expression.
“Um… where is this place…?”
The confusion I felt right now was genuine, so I did not even need to act hard to make a convincing expression.
Mo Hae-in, who seemed to be weighing me and judging me from every angle, raised her eyebrows.
Then she gave an answer that would have made me faint if I truly had been an ordinary civilian who knew nothing.
“A toy factory where murderous toys roam around.”
At her bold answer, I gasped.
The man standing beside us chuckled.
“It’s true that there are killers, but don’t worry. We’ll get you out safely.”
He showed me his military ID.
“We’re soldiers.”
“Trial Response Agency…?”
“It’s under the Ministry of National Defense, but it was created recently, so you probably don’t know about it.”
Since civilians’ memories would be erased after leaving the Trial, they could say whatever they wanted.
I nodded at the man’s words while examining their uniforms.
Employee: Sand
Employee: Sample
Mo Hae-in wore an orange work uniform with the name tag Sand, while the man wore a yellow work uniform with the name tag Sample.
However, Mo Hae-in’s name tag was slightly different.
The smile printed on the tag was not smiling.
The mouth was a straight line instead of a curve, making it an unnatural shape for <Happy Smile Factory>.
The smile on the name tag was a kind of life counter.
In <Happy Smile Factory>, or Haspak for short, players were given three chances.
Whenever they made a fatal mistake, the smile’s expression changed.
From a happy smile to an expressionless smile, and then to a sad smile with the corners of the mouth turned downward.
The sad smile state was the final chance.
If you made a mistake there, it was immediately game over.
I could not believe a character like Mo Hae-in had already lost one life at the beginning.
“May I ask what that loud sound earlier was?”
I asked in a timid voice while watching their reactions.
Honestly, I wanted to ask what kind of crazy thing they had done, but unfortunately, I did not get an answer.
“Civilians don’t need to know.”
Mo Hae-in coldly cut off my question and took something out of her inventory before throwing it to me.
I caught it without thinking.
It was the same toy arm that Mo Hae-in was wearing.
“Equip it.”
At Mo Hae-in’s words, the man’s expression twisted with irritation.
He seemed unhappy about giving a valuable item to a clueless civilian.
It did not matter to me.
“Thank you, but I’m fine.”
Because I had no intention of accepting the item anyway.
“I don’t know much about this place, so wouldn’t it be better for the experts to use it? I’m also scared.”
I said the flashlight attached to my waist seemed enough and clenched my fist, saying I would just follow behind them.
The man looked satisfied with my answer, while Mo Hae-in narrowed her eyes as if looking at a strange person.
The reason I refused the item was because of the True Ending.
The endings of Haspak were numerous, and the conditions for seeing the True Ending were especially difficult.
‘First of all, I must not equip the toy limbs obtained in the game.’
As you progressed through the game, NPCs gave the player toy limb items one by one.
Because it looked like they were necessary for the game, players naturally equipped them.
They were extremely convenient items, but if you became greedy and replaced all your limbs with toys, the Bad Ending would immediately appear.
The ending where you became a toy employee of Haspak and worked in the factory forever.
Mo Hae-in should have known this much.
But seeing that she had equipped a toy arm, it seemed she did not know about the True Ending.
For now, I decided to follow Mo Hae-in and the man while meeting the conditions for the True Ending.
Not only because of the strange threat from the system window.
‘If I can only see one ending, it has to be the True Ending.’
I was a strong supporter of happy endings.
In games, the True Ending was usually the same as the Happy Ending.
Whenever I played Archive games, I always finished with the True Ending after seeing every ending.
I felt comfortable only after ending the game while watching the characters become happy.
‘I’m also curious about that man.’
I had pretty good memory.
Since I loved Archive, I remembered most details unless they were extremely minor.
But the man called Sample was someone I had never seen before.
Not inside the Trial.
Not even in the cookie video after the ending.
It was not especially strange.
People died inside Trials, became trapped forever, survived but were infected by the virus and isolated.
Any of those things were common.
The man called Sample was probably a character who disappeared from the Archive world before I even noticed him.
Mo Hae-in stared at me and spoke.
“Second Lieutenant Park, you equip it.”
“Yes!”
The man quickly accepted the toy arm and attached it to his right arm.
When he placed the item over his arm, his human arm disappeared and was replaced by a toy arm.
He clicked the claw proudly.
“If you want to live, just follow behind me.”
Mo Hae-in clicked her tongue without saying anything and walked ahead.
I followed behind her together with the man.
While walking, I quietly moved only my eyes to the side.
Smilely was embedded in the wall.
Smilely was the main toy of <Happy Smile Factory>.
The colorful plastic toy doll had the same claw arm as the items provided to players.
When entering the factory, the first NPC you encountered was Smilely.
Unlike the mass-produced toys that were normally 15 cm tall, NPC Smilely was about 1 meter in size.
Almost the size of a small child.
Later, I would fight Smilely, but right now, I only needed to exchange some dialogue and receive the toy arm item.
I had no idea why it attacked them and even caused someone to lose a life.
Judging from Mo Hae-in’s bad mood, I guessed the man had made some kind of mistake.
Smilely’s head was stuck in the wall, and its toy arms and legs hung loosely on the floor.
A crackling mechanical voice came from Smilely.
“Sm-Smiley-welcomes-you-all-to-Ha-Happy-Smile-Fac-tory-we-will-be-happy-happy-…”
It was not a pleasant sight.
I had grown somewhat attached to this NPC while playing the game, so seeing it half-broken in real life bothered me.
It felt like Smilely might appear in my dreams tonight.
Unlike me, the man and Mo Hae-in did not seem to care.
The man approached me with a friendly smile.
“Should we introduce ourselves? I’m Park Seong-gyeon. Call me Second Lieutenant Park.”
“Han Go-yo.”
“That person is Captain Mo Hae-in…”
“Second Lieutenant Park. Did you come here for a picnic?”
“I’m sorry.”
Park Seong-gyeon quickly apologized and shut his mouth, but he rolled his eyes with dissatisfaction.
Seeing his attitude, I roughly understood why he was a character I did not know.
He must have caused an accident and died in the Trial.
If I was unlucky, today might be the day he caused another accident.
While Park Seong-gyeon walked ahead with a stiff expression, I bent down while pretending to tie my shoelaces.
At the same time, I picked up a handful of candies scattered around.
The candy wrapper had a hexagonal nut shape drawn on it.
Nut Candy: Click-click, repairing toys….
Nut Candy was a recovery item in Haspak that could easily be found throughout the map.
It was said to taste like nuts when eaten, but unfortunately, I could not try it myself.
It could only be used while wearing a toy arm or leg.
I passed by Smilely and quietly dropped the candy onto its claw-shaped hand.
