Chapter 10
Before I could answer, he asked another question.
“How much do you know?”
And then he asked again.
“Why do you know it?”
He threw out questions one after another, but he did not wait for my answers.
The wall collapsed.
Like a wave of video footage, the collapsing wall changed into a new form. It surrounded me in a large, round shape like a hemisphere.
Before I knew it, I was released from the chair and standing on a circular platform.
The hemisphere surrounding me was no longer showing the world. Instead, it was reflecting me.
Various screens displayed different versions of myself from different angles.
“There should be nothing that I, the All-Knowing One, do not know.”
Samra walked along the edge of the circle surrounding me.
“Then why?”
His hologram-colored eyes remained fixed on me.
“Your existence is unknown.”
Even so, he tilted his head.
“Yet you are clearly human.”
Samra leaned his head back.
From the point where his gaze reached, the screens changed as if ripples were spreading across the surface of water.
Following his gaze, I saw the ‘past me’ appearing on countless screens.
Me during my time at the orphanage.
Me during elementary, middle, and high school.
And…
Me when I was a professional gamer.
I saw myself smiling while holding a championship trophy in one hand, with the other hand wrapped in tape.
My mind went blank.
I could not understand what I was seeing.
If I had entered a game world, if I had entered the world of Archive, then shouldn’t the characters obviously know nothing about my past?
Whether I came from an orphanage or whether I used to be a professional gamer…
There was no way they could know those things.
A new truth struck me.
Could it be…
Right now, this place…
Was not the Korea inside the game, inside Archive.
‘Is this… the Korea where I actually lived?’
My head felt numb.
The vague distance I had maintained while thinking this was a game world suddenly disappeared.
Before I could even process the truth, a system window appeared with a ding.
◆ Epic Quest: Close 3 Trials within one month.
What is this…
You have discovered the hidden truth.
The world you thought was a game is actually an event that has secretly been occurring in your reality.
As the system of planet ‘Earth,’ you must work to stop the Trials.
To do so, you must close 3 Trials within one month.
*Currently closed Trials (0/3)
(Warning! If the quest fails, your limbs will be severed! If successful, your limbs will remain intact.)
I tightly closed my eyes.
After taking a moment to calm my breathing, I opened them again, but the system window was still there.
Clear 3 Trials with their true endings within one month.
If I failed the quest, my arms and legs would be cut off…?
It was difficult to dismiss it as nonsense when I could still vividly remember Park Seong-gyeon’s head exploding right in front of me.
Besides, the reward was absurd.
Keeping my limbs was apparently the reward for success.
Even while my mind was overwhelmed by the unbelievable facts pouring in all at once, I could not help but feel dumbfounded.
‘This is practically a quest without a reward.’
As if responding to my complaint about its cruelty, another system window slowly appeared.
The final reward Han Goyo will receive upon completing all Epic Quests.
So there was something.
I waited for the next system window, wondering just how far it would go.
‘s body will recover to its most perfect state.
I read the words displayed on the system window.
Then I read them again.
A faint tremor ran through my hand.
I forcibly controlled my gaze, which was trying to move on its own, and clenched my fist to hide the shaking.
“……”
Samra tilted his head and carefully observed me.
I barely pulled myself together.
Then I asked about the thing I needed to confirm first.
“…What month and day is it today?”
“It is March 8th.”
“20XX?”
“Yes.”
“When did Captain Mo Hae-in enter Haspac?”
“March 7th.”
Samra’s pupils repeatedly widened and narrowed like a camera lens.
He was collecting data about my physical reactions.
“It is also the day Captain Mo Hae-in discovered Han Goyo.”
This year was a leap year, so the day I watched the creator’s livestream was February 29th.
Until March 6th.
There was a seven-day gap.
I had no memory of where I was or what I did during that time.
“When did the Trial begin…?”
“Four years ago, on February 29th.”
That was around the time I retired from being a professional player and became unemployed.
I started playing the creator’s games two years ago…
I tried gathering the scattered pieces of information that seemed close enough to reach but were still floating apart.
However, nothing came to mind right away.
“Han Goyo.”
Samra noticed that my condition was not good and changed his attitude.
The screen panels that had been surrounding me, creating pressure, all disappeared.
Instead, what appeared was a pleasant outdoor cafe in the afternoon.
On an empty terrace table, there were two cups of iced Americano and desserts.
The restraint suit I had been wearing had also changed into ordinary casual clothes.
Samra pulled out a chair for me and invited me to sit before sitting across from me.
I stopped my thoughts from running wild and grabbed the iced Americano on the table.
The feeling of the cold liquid flowing down my throat was painfully realistic.
But this was not real.
The place I was in was Samra’s virtual space.
Samra had been created based on an android item obtained from a sci-fi themed Trial.
Perhaps because his true nature was an item, Samra gained the ability to create virtual spaces similar to Trials.
Inside this space, Samra was like a god.
He could create and erase anything.
Anyway, thanks to the fake iced Americano, I managed to calm down.
Why exactly I had become the system was still something I could not understand.
I was not someone great enough to carry a grand position like Earth’s system.
I was closer to an ordinary person who prioritized saving his own life above all else.
There should have been countless amazing people capable of carrying out a noble sacrifice.
So why was I chosen?
‘It would be better if they changed me now.’
I waited for a system window, hoping for a change, but nothing happened.
I swallowed a long sigh.
Then, like the ordinary person I was, I decided on the most urgent goal in this situation.
Keeping my limbs.
‘Completing all Epic Quests is something for the distant future… I’ll think about it later.’
I did not even know how many quests would appear or what kind they would be.
I looked at the android sitting in front of me.
From the very beginning, when I mistakenly thought I had fallen into the world of Archive, I had decided that I had to go to the Age Administration and meet Samra.
Because if there was only one being I could tell everything that had happened to me and ask for cooperation…
It was Samra.
The android, which was probably recording information about me in real time even now, was a huge database containing everything related to Trials.
Created using science from a world far more advanced than Earth’s, Samra collected information that even humans could not perceive.
The machine that drank coffee like a human slowly smiled.
“I believe you need my help.”
He spoke as if he had already gained the upper hand.
However, I did not need ‘help.’
“No. I don’t need that.”
Samra raised his eyebrows in surprise.
I made a proposal to him.
“I want to make a deal. Are you interested?”
“Interested. What are you offering?”
“Information about the Trials.”
“Information about clearing true endings, or items?”
“No.”
At first, I had considered giving him that kind of information.
Because the thing Samra needed most right now was Trial learning data.
Samra could not enter Trials.
He could only obtain information through suitable candidates.
However, too many candidates either died inside Trials or survived but became infected.
The cases where people cleared Trials normally were mostly already-known Trials with established strategies, and candidates had no reason to take new risks in Trials where the solutions were already known.
That was why Samra could not obtain new data.
Even though he hacked into and collected information from other countries, the absolute amount of Trial-related data was still fundamentally insufficient.
But trading away the clear information I possessed felt uncomfortable because of what happened in Haspac.
‘The process was strange, the items were strange, and I cleared it using colored blocks instead of the existing ending.’
I also suspected that if I revealed everything I had, I might get exploited.
I needed to keep something for myself in case things went badly.
So the information I would trade to Samra instead was—
“There is someone who knows about the Trials… about everything.”
The creator.
After reaching this point, I could not help but become curious.
What kind of existence was he to create games about the Trials?
And why did he choose me?
I could roughly guess that he selected me as a candidate to stop the Trials and trained me through Archive in the form of a game.
But I could never be completely certain.
Because of what I saw at the end.
He had said strange things to me with an excited expression.
“From now on, I guess I’ll become Gunbam-nim’s viewer.”
“I’m looking forward to it. I’ve really waited for such a long time. Too, too, too long.”
Giving me a grand mission like becoming Earth’s system…
It felt a little…
Like he was not completely sane.
Anyway, I needed to track down this creator.
The problem was that I could not remember him clearly.
I remembered the games he gave me vividly.
I remembered the conversations we had during the livestreams.
But the creator’s face…
I could not remember it at all.
It was completely black, as if someone had painted over it.
As if it had been intentionally erased.
But Samra would be able to track him down based on the information I provided.
“…Interesting.”
Samra leaned slightly closer.
“What does Han Goyo want?”
“Your unconditional cooperation.”
Along with tracking down the creator, I planned to secure a safe position within the Age Administration through Samra.
Samra’s judgment held absolute influence within the organization.
If he vouched for me, I could escape accusations of being a national disaster threat.
Of course, if there were other ways to use Samra, I intended to request his cooperation actively.
“Unconditional…”
Samra trailed off and pointed at the Age Administration uniform he was wearing.
“I cannot do anything that harms humanity.”
“I know.”
“What do you know?”
“Even without your contract with the Age Administration, Samra is originally someone who tried to save his own world.”
He had tried to save the world he belonged to inside his own Trial.
The lights in Samra’s already sparkling eyes suddenly began shining intensely.
I was considering asking him if he could turn off the lights in his eyes when Samra covered them with his hand.
When he removed his hand, his eyes had returned to normal, and Samra smiled.
“I am even more interested in the information Han Goyo can bring me. As long as it does not harm humanity, I accept. Let us make this deal.”
Over there, I’m on humanity’s side too.
I mean, I’m literally Earth’s system right now.
Being treated like a villain was a little upsetting.
But I kept that thought to myself because I could not say it out loud.
I extended my hand to Samra.
“Then please take care of me.”
As Samra lightly shook my hand, his pupils repeatedly expanded and contracted rapidly.
It felt like he was zooming in and examining every part of me.
There probably was not much information to record from an ordinary handshake.
Anyway.
I had gained a good ally.
It was not a bad start.
I explained the existence of the creator to Samra in detail.
I left out the fact that I had become the system.
I only told him that I had played the games created by the creator for two years and was forcibly transferred to Haspac at the end.
I also mentioned the seven-day gap in my memory.
While listening to my story, Samra searched the global network in real time to find information about the creator.
“There are some mentions, but nothing useful… It would be better if I could directly access the creator’s livestream.”
But I did not remember his face or name.
The first game I played, , was purchased through an online client that sold game software.
However, there was no trace of Haspac on that client.
Not even a record that I had played it.
Samra forcibly turned on my computer and remotely checked my files.
But there was no data fragment left behind.
Not only Haspac, but all the other games were completely gone.
There was not even a trace of deletion.
It was as if they had never been installed in the first place.
After finishing his search, Samra reached a conclusion.
“The creator is highly likely to be an extraterrestrial being.”
Since the Trials were disasters that came from outer space, it was a logical conclusion.
“First, I will investigate further and inform you. Would it not be better to leave now? There are people waiting.”
People waiting.
I already felt tired, but if I handled things well now, the future would become easier.
I obediently nodded.
The surroundings began melting.
Normally, Trial spaces changed into strange fluorescent colors like neon signs as they melted.
But Samra’s virtual space was different.
It shimmered with the same hologram-like colors as Samra and filled my vision with white light.
When I closed my eyes because of the brightness and opened them again—
I was back in reality.
Although the welcome ceremony was a little more intense than I expected.
“…Oh.”
I let out a short exclamation.
Laser pointers from sniper rifles were densely aimed at me.
