Chapter 6
Before I could even answer, she coldly spoke.
“Nut Candy.”
It was an interrogation, as if she was telling me not to even think about denying it.
Her words brought back a scene that had happened before.
“When I picked up this candy, it said it could repair toys.”
That was what I had said while explaining the collection of Sad Smiley pieces.
Only a qualified person could see the item description of Nut Candy, meaning the system window.
It was a simple logic.
But to me, the existence of the system window was so natural that I had made a mistake.
Mo Hae-in must have started suspecting me from that moment, and seeing that I was alive and well after being left alone, she seemed to have become completely convinced.
‘I’ll have to be careful from now on.’
Anyway, I had already decided to stop pretending to be an ordinary civilian.
Pretending not to know anything would make the True Ending difficult because of Park Seong-gyeon.
That was also why I dealt with Princess Tarantella.
I gave a somewhat vague answer.
“I think I can see them.”
“You think?”
“This is my first time experiencing something like this. A square message appears. Is that what you call a system window?”
“Yes.”
Mo Hae-in still asked while keeping the blade pointed at me.
“How did you deal with the spider?”
“I just avoided it.”
The tip of the spear poked under my chin.
I hurriedly added.
“I could see its patterns. I have pretty good eyesight.”
Mo Hae-in let out an absurd laugh.
“You defeated a spider with nothing but dynamic vision and reaction speed?”
“I thought it was similar to a game. I played it like I was playing a game. I like games.”
My eyes naturally tilted upward at the ends, so when I kept a blank expression, people often misunderstood me.
I tried my best to make my eyes look kinder and slightly lifted the corners of my mouth.
“And you said I wouldn’t actually die.”
“You’re fearless.”
I wasn’t sure whether that was an insult or not, but Mo Hae-in finally lowered her spear.
I rubbed the area under my chin where I had been poked earlier.
It didn’t seem like I was bleeding.
Mo Hae-in quietly stared at me.
“A qualified person entering a trial for the first time playing like this…”
She stopped speaking and closed her mouth.
“Let’s talk after we get out. What was your name?”
“Han Go-yo.”
“Call me Captain.”
“Yes.”
And then, because of what happened next, I immediately ended up calling her that.
“…Captain?”
Click.
Handcuffs were locked around both of my wrists.
They were special Trial Response Bureau equipment only given to those of captain rank or higher.
Qualified Person Restraint Handcuffs.
Unable to move my hands at all, I looked at Mo Hae-in with a startled expression.
Mo Hae-in touched the Black Moon Blade and warned me.
“Let’s behave, okay?”
“……”
I stopped asking questions without saying another word.
It seemed like gaining Mo Hae-in’s trust had already failed.
Instead of heading to the next stage, Mo Hae-in turned around.
“From now on, we’re going to find Park Seong-gyeon.”
Mo Hae-in opened a sealed door in the hallway between the storage room and the laboratory.
Behind it was a small space with an elevator.
Unlike the colorful exterior decorated like a paradise for children, the elevator was made of rigid, dull metal.
▼
The elevator only had a button to go down.
When she pressed it, the doors immediately opened.
The first thing I saw was huge red letters written on the wall.
NO CHILDREN ALLOWED!
The floor buttons inside the elevator were also the same as outside.
More accurately, there was only one huge button placed in the spot where about fifty buttons should have been.
Inside a long rectangle, countless digits were packed together.
B9999999999999999….
I tried counting the number of 9s but gave up.
Mo Hae-in spread her fingers wide and pressed the huge button.
A crackling announcement played.
“Gogo-going down. Chi-child, child, child cannot go. Go down. Go down.”
The doors closed, and the elevator began moving.
Inside the descending elevator, she crossed her arms while holding the spear against her forearm.
“You.”
She still seemed to treat me like a suspicious criminal candidate, but at least she was willing to talk.
I happily answered.
“Yes.”
“What do you think happens if you die here?”
When a player used up all their lives and received a game over, or when they equipped Cherry Pickers on both arms and legs.
The player became an employee of the factory.
“You become an employee working at the toy factory and can never leave.”
Mo Hae-in told me something I already knew.
But what she said next was something I didn’t.
“The place we’re going now has people trapped in trials… I mean, people trapped inside here.”
I had already seen what was beneath the factory in the game.
Down there, hundreds of employees wearing the same uniforms as the player worked hard making toys.
I searched every corner but found no events, so I thought it was just a hidden area the creator added as a joke.
An Easter egg.
But all of them were people trapped in trials?
I remembered how I had found the tiny pixel employees repeating the same movements while making toys.
I thought they looked cute.
The employees never got tired.
They never became sick.
They never suffered.
In the gloomy and dark underground factory, unlike the surface, they simply made toys happily with bright smiles that matched <Happy Smile Factory>.
I slowly swallowed and opened my mouth.
“Is Lieutenant Park Seong-gyeon there?”
“Lieutenant? No way. I’m going to strip that bastard of his uniform.”
Mo Hae-in rested her face against the Black Moon Blade.
Her cheek pressed slightly against the blade, and for a moment I forgot the situation and stared in amazement.
They said the Black Moon Blade never cuts its owner.
Even when she leaned her face against such a sharp spearhead, her cheek remained perfectly fine without even a scratch.
She lowered her eyes and moved her lips.
“He attacked an NPC right from the start, created a hostile relationship with the toys, and committed insubordination against his superior.”
“He doesn’t even have the ability to clear it alone and leave.”
So Park Seong-gyeon attacked Smiley.
And Mo Hae-in tried to protect it, losing a heart in the process.
I finally understood the identity of the noise I heard when I first woke up in the factory.
After dying once and reviving, Mo Hae-in had been dealing with Smiley, who had already become hostile.
That was why the veteran player was forced into the difficult Collapse Ending route.
“Until I clear the trial, this underground area is the only place where Park Seong-gyeon can hide safely without being attacked by the toys.”
I looked at her name tag.
The smiley face on it was now crying.
Mo Hae-in was close to game over.
“Isn’t that dangerous?”
“It is dangerous. But I can’t keep worrying about my back until I clear it, right?”
She was right.
Park Seong-gyeon could launch a surprise attack at any time.
Park Seong-gyeon had two hearts left.
Of course, equipping Cherry Pickers on all four limbs would immediately cause a game over, but unless Park Seong-gyeon had gone insane, he wouldn’t do that.
With three Cherry Pickers equipped, Park Seong-gyeon currently had the physical advantage.
Actually, I had prepared something too.
The Bolt Candy I had obtained while wasting time through a bug exploit.
If necessary, I planned to give the Bolt Candy to Mo Hae-in.
Explaining how I obtained it would be troublesome, so the best option was to defeat Park Seong-gyeon without using it.
Clunk.
The elevator stopped after reaching its destination, shaking slightly.
“■■ floor. Ch-child, child, child please do not get off.”
The doors opened.
But what greeted me was not what I expected.
A bright yellow face filled my vision.
Smiley…
A giant Smiley, large enough to fill the entire elevator entrance with its face, was waiting for me.
Its smooth plastic eyes, completely black without pupils, reflected Mo Hae-in and me.
Both of us stood frozen with our eyes wide open.
We couldn’t even scream.
We couldn’t even breathe freely.
It felt like one wrong breath would make us get crushed immediately.
In Happy Smile Factory, Smiley only became giant during the final boss battle.
The giant Smiley had difficult attack patterns worthy of a final boss, using its enormous body and various toys for wide-range attacks.
You needed to prepare properly before fighting it.
But why was it here?
This place was not supposed to have toys appear.
No.
Could I really say that anymore?
The game was already changing from what I knew.
Anything could happen now.
What I needed to think about wasn’t the reason.
It was how to deal with the giant Smiley in front of me.
“……”
Mo Hae-in slowly lifted her foot.
Then she stepped backward.
A careful movement.
The blue veins on her hand gripping the Black Moon Blade stood out.
Fortunately, even after Mo Hae-in stepped back, Smiley did not move.
She silently gestured at me with her eyes.
I tried to step backward just like her.
I tried.
Damn it.
Creak.
The elevator doors made an uneasy sound as they were forcibly pulled open.
Because Smiley had pushed its face inside.
That made it clear.
The person Smiley was interested in was me.
Cold sweat ran down Mo Hae-in’s temple.
The final boss of Happy Smile Factory was not an easy opponent, even for Mo Hae-in.
If she were alone, she might have been able to defeat giant Smiley with the Black Moon Blade.
But protecting a burden like me made it impossible.
The narrow elevator space also made things worse.
She couldn’t freely swing the large spear inside.
At this rate, Mo Hae-in might get a game over.
She didn’t know me.
But I knew her.
I didn’t want to see someone I had grown attached to while playing the Archive games end up becoming a factory employee.
So I decided to gamble.
I moved the foot I had stepped back with forward.
One step.
Mo Hae-in widened her eyes.
She looked like she wanted to shout at me immediately, but she only moved her lips because she didn’t want to provoke Smiley.
I took another step forward.
And another.
Smiley moved its face backward.
Then the elevator doors, which I thought were broken, started closing again with a clunk.
Crack!
Smiley ripped the elevator door apart with its claw.
Thanks to that, I could easily walk outside.
Though it would have been better if the doors had closed.
Smiley slowly backed away according to my walking speed.
As I moved forward, I took the Bolt Candy from my inventory and held it in my hand.
I quietly dropped it down.
Then I completely walked out of the elevator.
The underground floor that had been hidden behind Smiley came into view.
It was a space so enormous that it was hard to estimate its size at a glance.
The inside was covered in darkness, but I was certain it continued deep inside.
Dozens of huge machines were placed around, but the place was eerily silent.
All the machines appeared to be powered off.
And hundreds of employees.
The employees wearing colorful uniforms stood at attention with smiles stretched as wide as possible.
Even though there were so many people, not a single sound of breathing could be heard.
Because they were not really “people.”
The giant Smiley standing behind the employees looked down at me.
…It was a little scary.
A 15-meter-tall toy was an existence that naturally created pressure.
Still, it was okay for now.
Based on the kindness the toys of Happy Smile Factory had shown me until now, I concluded that Smiley would not attack first.
Smiley’s claw approached me.
I couldn’t feel any intention to attack, so I waited.
The claw grabbed my body like a claw machine.
I was lifted up like a prize doll.
Smiley brought me close to its face.
A mechanical voice flowed out.
“Smiley-welcomes-you-only-you-only-you-at-happy-smile-factory-we-together-happy-happy.”
Behind the mechanical voice repeating “happy happy,” I heard the laughter and cheers of children.
A chilling sensation ran down my spine.
The moment Smiley applied even a little strength, I would break apart like a block toy.
But strangely, I wasn’t very afraid.
Maybe because Smiley, like Mo Hae-in, was also an NPC I liked.
Even after reaching this point, I still wanted to finish with the True Ending.
It might be impossible.
But I wanted to keep trying until I succeeded.
“Smiley.”
I smiled at Smiley.
“Do you want me to kill you?”
The absolute condition required to reach the True Ending.
I told the final boss of Happy Smile Factory the wish it desperately wanted.
And waited for its answer.
