Chapter 5
Park Seong-gyeon moved his lips and let out a terrified murmur.
“W-what is this…. Why is this happening…….”
He stepped backward, trying to avoid the system window pushed right in front of his eyes, but soon his back hit the wall.
Even though he probably knew physical force would not work, he still waved his hands around, trying to make the system window disappear.
I approached Park Seong-gyeon while pretending not to know anything.
“Are you okay?”
“Gah!”
The trembling Park Seong-gyeon flinched and swung his pincer-like hand.
I had already predicted his reaction, so I avoided his attack by a hair’s breadth.
“Second Lieutenant Park Seong-gyeon!”
Mo Hae-in shouted with eyes that looked like flames were falling from them.
However, Park Seong-gyeon was already no longer in his right mind. He screamed and charged at Mo Hae-in.
“AAAAAH!!”
Normally, Mo Hae-in would have easily avoided him, but right now she was already avoiding Tarantella’s attacks and the note gimmicks.
“Ugh…!”
She clenched her teeth tightly. Red blood leaked through her closed teeth and flowed down the corner of her mouth.
With a toy spider leg piercing through her abdomen, Mo Hae-in endured the pain and swung the Black Moon Blade.
A long slash appeared across Park Seong-gyeon’s chest.
Park Seong-gyeon collapsed onto the floor, but the toy notes falling from the ceiling struck him repeatedly, leaving dents all over his body.
As the dissonant sounds continued and Park Seong-gyeon screamed, his body was dyed in colorful rainbow colors.
And then—
Crash.
He turned into toy blocks and scattered onto the floor.
He was dead.
‘He has three hearts, so he’ll revive.’
Since we had not reached a save point separately while coming here, he would probably revive in the lobby.
“Damn…….”
Mo Hae-in looked at me with shaking eyes.
She would soon receive a death judgment as well, and one of her hearts would be deducted.
Looking at the civilian left alone in front of the boss, Mo Hae-in’s eyes were filled with despair, frustration, and helplessness.
Mo Hae-in quickly spoke in a rapid stream.
“Listen carefully, civilian! Dying doesn’t mean you’re really dead. You revive again, so stay where you revive and wait. I’ll—”
But she could not finish her sentence.
Her body collapsed into toy blocks.
Seeing her worry about me made me feel guilty.
I’m sorry, Captain Mo Hae-in.
I’ll treat you better when you come back.
After reviving, she would prioritize protecting the civilian rather than chasing after Park Seong-gyeon.
I calculated the time it would take for Mo Hae-in, who would be waiting in the lobby for me to revive, to notice something was wrong and return to the laboratory.
Then I raised my head.
Princess Tarantella was looking down at me.
Ding!
A system window appeared.
◆ Main Quest: Calm down the angry Princess Tarantella.
All allies have died.
You are alone.
The only person who can face the angry spider is you.
You want to calm down Princess Tarantella.
To do so, you must win the battle.
The boss’s target had now changed to me.
Notes poured down from the ceiling, and eight legs rushed toward me.
The attacks came down chaotically, but they were not difficult to see.
This was a section I had cleared without a single death even in the game.
‘The movement is pretty good too.’
In trials, you were basically given the minimum physical ability required to clear them.
It was amazing how this body moved exactly according to my will.
“–!”
Tarantella, who had not landed a single attack, let out a high-pitched scream.
The start of Phase 2.
The falling notes disappeared, and Tarantella began shooting yarn webs in every direction.
The webs severely restricted the player’s movement.
If you got caught in one, you became completely unable to move and were attacked until you received a death judgment.
‘Can I still use the bug?’
I did not have much time.
I planned to attempt a playstyle that used a game error to clear it quickly.
Of course, the chance of success was low.
It worked in the game, but I had no idea whether it would work here.
I ran straight toward Tarantella.
The key was moving before the webs were fully installed.
I stepped on the eight legs and jumped upward, reaching the top of Tarantella’s head.
Ugh.
From where I stepped, I could see a mouth filled with countless sharp teeth only a handspan away.
If I failed, I would fall directly into that mouth.
‘But I still have hearts left, right?’
I jumped with all my strength toward the darkness of the hole in the ceiling.
Everything was pitch black.
My body, which had risen to its limit, slowly began to fall.
A faint chill spread across my skin.
The pain I would experience if I failed sent a cold shiver down my spine.
A short fall.
My feet touched something.
“Huah…….”
I breathed out the breath I had been holding.
I looked down.
Tarantella, having lost her target, wandered around in confusion before shooting out webs.
The bug that could only be used in Phase 2 was hiding on the ceiling platform.
If you waited on the ceiling platform, which should not exist, Tarantella would lose the target, perform strange actions, and eventually give the player a victory judgment.
Tarantella, who had been shooting webs only in one direction like a broken machine, raised all eight legs at once.
Then she spat out a cocoon, and the four-way split mouth closed, returning to a smiling face.
“—….”
A child’s crying sound flowed out.
The spider toy collapsed onto the floor like a broken toy.
The boss battle was over.
You have won the battle against Princess Tarantella!
I climbed down using Tarantella as a platform.
The cheerful chiptune music had now changed into a gloomy melody.
The cocoon Tarantella had spit out scattered into dust, revealing doll pieces.
They were the arms and legs of the Prince Doll.
I collected the doll pieces and placed them into my inventory.
“…….”
During that time, Tarantella did not move at all.
When I took out a Nut Candy and gently pushed it toward Tarantella—
Suddenly, her legs twitched.
She weakly clicked the pincers attached to the ends of her legs, trying to grab the candy, but she kept missing.
I unwrapped the Nut Candy and placed it where her mouth was supposed to be.
Her smiling face cracked open slightly, and she swallowed the candy.
Tarantella, who had been lying motionless until just now, seemed to regain strength and lifted her body.
The chiptune music also changed into a comfortable and peaceful melody.
Tarantella looked at me and raised her legs.
The spider climbed the wall with her toy legs and slowly disappeared into the darkness of the ceiling.
Only a yarn cocoon remained where she had left.
‘But I already obtained the doll pieces?’
I picked up the cocoon with confusion.
The yarn unraveled, revealing a small candy.
Volt Candy: Kkirik-kirik, upgrading toy….
It was the hidden item of Haspack, Volt Candy.
Volt Candy temporarily greatly increased attack power and physical ability.
Unlike Nut Candy, it could be used without wearing toy limbs.
It could only be obtained once in Haspack, and it was only obtainable through a secret quest.
It was also the hidden item I had planned to find before Mo Hae-in returned to the laboratory.
But Tarantella gave me Volt Candy……
A boss giving a hidden item was something that had never happened before.
The toys in Haspack hated adults.
In the true ending route, the toys did become friendly toward the player, but it was closer to simply “not hating them.”
Showing affection by giving gifts like this was impossible.
‘Come to think of it, Sad Smiley also asked me to become its owner.’
The words about being together forever were creepy, but technically, they were words showing affection.
I stored the Volt Candy and picked up the Prince Doll lying on the floor, attaching its limbs back together.
After placing the completed doll into my inventory, I additionally collected a triangular flask containing rainbow-colored liquid.
I walked forward while lost in thought.
‘If we assume there is another ending besides the true ending?’
When I reviewed my playthrough, there was only one difference.
My blood had gotten on Sad Smiley.
In the game, unless it was a specific event, items never became stained with blood just because you were injured.
‘First, I should do what needs to be done.’
Creating distance from Park Seong-gyeon and Mo Hae-in had required this difficult opportunity.
I did not have time to think deeply.
I left the laboratory and headed toward the next stage, the warehouse.
I scanned the Prince Doll’s eyes to open the warehouse door and entered.
There was a hidden area inside the warehouse.
It was a place that could only be found by collecting scattered sketchbook pages throughout Haspack, creating an item, and solving the clues based on that item.
The contents written on the sketchbook pages were as follows.
Unknown Paper #1
To save the sick princess, the prince summoned an evil demon.
Unknown Paper #2
The princess became healthy after gaining the demon’s power!
However, she became a terrible monster.
Unknown Paper #3
The princess trapped in the tower lived an eternal life.
The princess hated herself for becoming a monster and wanted to die.
Unknown Paper #4
However, no matter what she did, she could not die.
Forever….
Unknown Paper #5
The angry princess pushed the prince from the tower.
The prince shattered into pieces and died.
The princess envied the prince’s death as she watched his broken pieces.
Collecting all five papers transformed them into a fairy tale book item.
Unknown Fairy Tale Book:
A crude fairy tale book made by drawing pictures with crayons on a sketchbook. It looks like something made by a child.
And at the end of the fairy tale book, another page was added.
I want to die I want to die I want to die I want to die Kill me Kill me Kill me Die Die Die
It was the content that pierced through Haspack’s main story.
However, since I already knew all the clues obtained from the fairy tale book, I did not need to wander around the factory collecting pages.
Instead, I farmed the tarot card with the symbols from the fairy tale book—the crown and the tower—inside the warehouse.
Then I approached an old cabinet hidden in a corner where it was difficult to notice.
I pulled the door of the long metal cabinet.
Clank.
Only a sound came out, and it did not open.
It seems to be locked….
In the game, a system window appeared like this.
However, if you stubbornly tried opening the door more than ten times—
The cabinet door has broken!
With the notification sound, the door opened.
Now, instead of a notification sound, I heard the sound of the lock breaking.
Doll pieces spilled out of the opened cabinet.
They were all broken Prince Dolls.
I emptied the doll pieces, placed the completed Prince Doll and the items collected from the laboratory and warehouse inside the cabinet, and closed the door.
A shining light leaked through the gaps of the cabinet.
I waited until the light faded, then opened the door.
All other items had disappeared.
Only one Volt Candy remained inside.
‘Now I have two Volt Candies.’
An item I had never possessed two of before.
While considering the best way to use them, I opened the system window.
‘Park Seong-gyeon status window.’
When I checked his status window, there were no major changes except that he had used one Nut Candy.
Come to think of it, when I sent a message to Park Seong-gyeon earlier, I could see the system window.
Normally, other people’s system windows could not be seen, but since the message was created by me, perhaps I could see it.
‘But if I am the system, shouldn’t I be able to see everything from the beginning?’
As soon as I formed a reasonable question, a square appeared as if it had been waiting.
Your ability is insufficient.
Perhaps it was too bothersome to say the same thing again, so the response was extremely half-hearted.
I had found out what I wanted to know, so I ignored the system window’s lack of sincerity.
I prepared some things while waiting for Mo Hae-in to arrive soon.
There was a running gimmick that started from the warehouse and continued into the next stage.
Since I had to run while avoiding falling debris from the collapsing building, I cleared the obstacles in advance.
When I moved the final chair, Mo Hae-in appeared.
“Haah, you, how……”
She looked like she had run with all her strength and was gasping for breath.
Holding onto the warehouse door, Mo Hae-in blankly looked over my body from head to toe.
After confirming that I was completely unharmed, she clenched her teeth and approached me.
She was holding the Black Moon Blade.
The black obsidian blade was pressed tightly beneath my chin.
Looking up at me, Mo Hae-in asked.
“Civilian.”
“Yes.”
“Can you see the system window?”
