PRMG 09

Chapter 9

Beep—beep—beep.

The beeping sound announcing an error continued repeatedly.

Researchers fully equipped with protective suits and gear reported with tense voices.

“Third attempt failed. It has been determined as an error, and forced measurement is also impossible.”

On one of the monitors, a waveform that had never been seen before was being drawn. Fear spread among the researchers.

Ham Ji-wol, the head of the Research Analysis Department, checked the readings and quickly looked at Kwak Han-muk.

Kwak Han-muk waved his hand, signaling that he was still maintaining the restraint properly.

Ham Ji-wol carefully approached ‘it’ and replaced the attached patch.

It looked as if they were handling radioactive material.

‘It would have been easier if it was radioactive material.’

Thinking that, Kwak Han-muk looked through the glass window.

A murderous atmosphere filled the room, but the main subject sitting in the middle of it all was calm.

The man quietly sleeping while wrapped tightly in prayer beads seemed completely separated from the chaos surrounding him.

Kwak Han-muk rolled the beads on his wrist out of habit.

His prayer beads were a defensive item.

The prayer beads made of lightning-struck wood contained the power of lightning. Their length could freely extend, and within a certain range, they could even be separated and used individually.

They were most suitable for restraining and suppressing targets, but Kwak Han-muk used them offensively through all kinds of strange methods.

He rarely used their original function of restraint and suppression.

The reason was simple.

Because it was boring.

But what about earlier?

“Han-muk, restrain him.”

The moment Mo Hae-in gave the order, he immediately used restraint without hesitation.

It was a movement guided by instinct.

The feeling from that moment, when he moved only through intuition without even thinking, was still vivid.

“Hae-in. What exactly did you bring here?”

Kwak Han-muk shook his head as he spoke, but Mo Hae-in immediately denied it.

“I didn’t pick him up. He appeared in front of me.”

Mo Hae-in looked exhausted after reporting to the higher-ups without even having time to rest. However, her eyes were still shining.

The excitement of permanently closing the trial with the true ending was the only thing keeping her going.

“Is he human?”

“…I don’t know.”

The moment Park Seong-gyeon’s head exploded into golden fragments, Mo Hae-in had clearly witnessed it.

The change that occurred in ‘its’ eyes.

It was something impossible for a human.

Currently, all personnel of the Trial Response Bureau were investigating the existence called ‘Han Go-yo.’

Soon, Samra would begin its investigation as well, and then this thing would be analyzed.

Whether it was an infected entity infected by the trial virus, or whether it was something other than a human.

In truth, what Han Go-yo actually was did not matter to Mo Hae-in.

Whether she could use him or not.

If he could help her close trials with true endings, Mo Hae-in was prepared to accept him no matter what he was.

“Thank you for your hard work, Captain.”

She suddenly remembered the way he greeted her.

His slightly smiling face looked like an ordinary university student.

However, Mo Hae-in pushed that memory away.

The emotions she felt at that moment were genuine, but right now they would only interfere with her judgment.

While Mo Hae-in stared at the sleeping Han Go-yo without blinking even once, Kwak Han-muk, who had only been rolling his prayer beads, suddenly spoke.

“You said the trial NPCs showed a favorable attitude toward Han Go-yo.”

“Yeah.”

“Have you tried attacking Han Go-yo with Black Moon Blade?”

Mo Hae-in frowned at the sudden nonsense, but Kwak Han-muk was serious.

“No, I know it sounds fucking insane, but I keep feeling it right now…”

Even while saying it, Kwak Han-muk let out an awkward laugh as if he himself found it ridiculous.

“Our prayer beads.”

He looked at Han Go-yo.

“They want to release the restraint.”

Mo Hae-in opened her lips.

Kwak Han-muk pressed the prayer beads with his hand while staring at Han Go-yo.

Since earlier, his prayer beads had been making his skin tingle repeatedly, expressing their dissatisfaction.

Kwak Han-muk finally voiced the impossible theory weighing down his mind.

“Not only the trial NPCs… but the items might also be friendly toward Han Go-yo.”

“Ugh…”

I woke up while swallowing a groan.

A white ceiling came into view.

A hospital room, perhaps.

…I wanted to believe that was where I woke up, but the scenery in front of me was completely different.

The place where I opened my eyes was an interrogation room.

And I was wearing a restraint suit, tied to a chair.

‘This is seriously bad.’

The Trial Response Bureau belonged to the Ministry of National Defense, so trials were held in military courts.

But they were only military courts in name.

Because of their special nature, they operated separate military courts, and the trial process was independent.

In other words, if they simply said, “This bastard is a bad guy,” the military judge of the Trial Response Bureau could immediately issue detention or punishment.

The only fortunate thing was that my injuries had already been treated.

After confirming that the pain in my thigh had become much lighter, I suddenly became curious.

‘Come to think of it, why wasn’t Kwak Han-muk registered?’

A captain like Kwak Han-muk was an important character and had great abilities, so he should have been registrable.

But no system window saying he was a registrable character appeared.

You think character registration should be done carefully.

Because the currently available registration slots are only ‘3 spaces.’

You judge that it is still too early to fill one of the spaces with ‘Kwak Han-muk.’

Because he may escape your ■■.

You want to increase your abilities as a system as soon as possible.

You think it would be good to register ‘Mo Hae-in.’

A strict answer came back to my small question.

After roughly satisfying my curiosity, I ignored the system window as usual.

At that moment, the closed door opened, and a man wearing the Trial Response Bureau uniform entered.

“Hello, Mr. Han Go-yo.”

The man greeted me with a friendly smile and introduced himself.

“I am ■■■ of the Trial Response Bureau.”

I heard his name, but he was a character I did not know at all.

But what was his name again?

Even when I tried to think about it again, I could not remember the name I had just heard.

The man looked at me tied up like a cocoon and made a sympathetic expression.

“You must be very uncomfortable, right? If you cooperate, we will release you immediately.”

I was fully willing to cooperate.

After all, I had nowhere else to go.

‘This is where I get food, clothing, and shelter.’

Since I would become homeless if I left here, I tried my best to make the most innocent expression possible and answered.

“Yes. Please take care of me.”

The man sitting across from me checked his tablet for a moment before smiling.

“First of all… what does ‘Gunbam’ mean?”

I had been ready to answer immediately, but I ended up asking back with a stupid expression.

“Excuse me?”

“Gunbam.”

“Ah, Gunbam…”

I was flustered.

‘How am I supposed to explain Gunbam?’

Was this also some kind of interrogation technique?

Unable to figure out what to do, I blinked before hesitantly opening my mouth.

“It’s just Gunbam. You know, roasted chestnuts.”

The atmosphere became cold.

Wanting to appear as cooperative as possible, I gathered every explanation I could think of.

“My name is Han Go-yo, so you know the carol that starts with ‘Silent Night’? At first, I was called Gobam. Then I ate Gunbam with my friends, and from Gobam it became Gunbam…”

Wow, this was pathetic.

The more I explained, the more I felt like I was making things worse.

But stopping now would be even stranger.

“…It became my nickname. Since it was a familiar word, I often used Gunbam as my nickname online too.”

Even when playing Archive’s games, I always set my player name as Gunbam.

“So the name Gunbam means a nickname that you chose yourself?”

“Yes.”

“……”

The man fell silent.

But there was nothing else I could explain.

I wanted to stop talking about Gunbam.

‘Let’s move on to the next question.’

I was quietly waiting when he spoke again.

“The name of a trial represents the traits of the suitable person or holds some kind of symbolism.”

The man stared at me.

His eyes seemed to be trying to determine whether I was lying.

“And those names are all decided by the trials themselves.”

I learned that for the first time.

I thought everyone just chose their names like when starting a game.

Although I played Archive’s games seriously, the world-building explanations only appeared as bonus content after completing the endings.

As a player, there were naturally things I did not know.

“Cases where someone like Han Go-yo, who has no traits or symbolism, and even used a nickname personally chosen by themselves, have never happened in a trial. Not even once.”

The man handed me his tablet.

“In this Happy Smile Factory, there was another suitable person besides Han Go-yo whose name changed abnormally.”

The tablet displayed Park Seong-gyeon’s picture.

“Park Seong-gyeon was given a completely different name instead of the name usually assigned by the trial.”

In Happy Smile Factory, Park Seong-gyeon’s name tag had said Sample.

A system window immediately came to mind.

[‘Park Seong-gyeon’ is a registrable sample character. Would you like to register him?]

Sample.

And specimen.

It was such an obvious naming choice that it was practically begging me to notice.

From the moment Park Seong-gyeon entered Happy Smile Factory, he had been marked as a sample for me.

It was a reasonable selection.

Because the target was Park Seong-gyeon, I could choose execution without much guilt or hesitation.

However, I did not like the situation.

Because I felt the will of some existence that wanted me to develop my abilities as a system.

Anyway, the interrogation seemed to have already failed.

‘My trait and symbolism cannot possibly be Gunbam…’

As I became troubled, the man continued asking questions.

“Mr. Han Go-yo, you knew how to clear Happy Smile Factory with the true ending. Is that correct?”

“It was a coincidence.”

“Han Go-yo was extremely skilled during the boss battle and knew a new strategy method that even the Trial Response Bureau did not know. Through this, he achieved the true ending.”

The man gave a small laugh and finished his statement.

“…That was the report from Captain Mo Hae-in.”

“It really was a coincidence. It seemed similar to a game I liked, so I tried it once and it worked…”

“Why did Park Seong-gyeon’s head explode?”

The man interrupted me and asked.

It was a question already assuming that I had caused it.

I denied it again.

“I don’t know.”

The man let out a long sigh.

“Mr. Han Go-yo.”

“Yes.”

“I am telling you this because you seem unaware, but torture is legal in the Trial Response Bureau.”

I know…

I really know.

But I could not just admit everything.

To properly confess, I would have to say that I entered a game world, the world of Archive.

That was completely absurd.

‘Can I register that guy?’

I briefly imagined registering him and threatening him with execution.

A being that is not ■■ cannot be registered.

A system window suddenly appeared.

I lowered my eyes as if I was scared, trying not to reveal my awkward gaze at the square blocking my vision.

‘That damn colored block.’

I still could not understand why it hid things from me.

Then, as if it had been waiting, another system window appeared.

Insufficient.

Now it seemed even the system was tired of typing the six characters saying my ability was insufficient.

Soon, it might only send the first letters.

I was about to close the system window.

Then I looked at the colored block again.

■■……

Could it be…

Human?

The moment I thought of that word, a realization struck my mind.

One of the main characters of the Trial Response Bureau.

An existence created by South Korea to respond to trials using trial items.

Not human.

An AI system android.

I called out the man’s name.

“Samramansang.”

At that moment, the man’s face, which I had thought was completely normal until now, became clearly visible.

His face had been blacked out, as if someone had scribbled over it.

The moment I recognized the abnormality, the dark-colored Trial Response Bureau uniform changed into white.

The black paint covering his face smoothly disappeared, revealing his true appearance.

Hair and eyes that shimmered with holographic colors constantly changing depending on the light.

An existence with colors impossible for humans burst into laughter.

The dark interrogation room from before transformed completely.

A gigantic wall appeared, so tall that its height could not be determined.

It was a wall made by randomly connecting every kind of monitor panel, smartphone, tablet, and other devices.

In front of it, where every piece of information in the world played different videos, a chair without a backrest was placed on an unnaturally high platform.

Sitting on the chair, Samra looked down at me.

“How did you know, Mr. Han Go-yo?”