Chapter 04

My heart pounded, and the corners of my mouth kept curling upward before I even realised it.

An Easter egg? Or an ending route I’d never discovered?

Either way, it was something new in Happy Smile Factory.

To think there was still something I didn’t know in a game I’d played until it practically wore out.

I wanted to investigate every last detail immediately.

Realising that my current reaction was anything but normal for an ordinary civilian, I pressed my lips together to hide my grin.

Just then, Mo Hae-in finished her discussion with Park Seong-gyeon and noticed the Sad Smiley doll I’d carefully pieced back together.

Her eyes clearly asked, What ridiculous thing are you doing now?

Putting on an innocent expression, I explained.

“I-I found this Nut Candy, and it said it can repair toys. I know they’re just toys… but it looked like it would hurt.”

At my words, Mo Hae-in went expressionless.

Park Seong-gyeon burst into loud laughter.

“Haha! You’re way too soft-hearted. Wanting to fix a toy?”

He patted my shoulder.

“But being innocent gets you killed here, alright? Be careful. I can’t explain everything, but… this place is extremely dangerous.”

He deliberately frightened me by saying the toys might get back up and attack again.

I apologised once more.

Apparently satisfied after teasing me enough, Park suddenly looked into empty space and raised an eyebrow.

“Oh? Captain. The item description for this thing is kind of strange.”

He had read the Sad Smiley’s item description through his system window.

“U-Um… could we hurry up and leave? I really want to get out of here.”

Pretending to be terrified, I urged both Mo Hae-in and Park to move on.

I was worried they might interfere with the Sad Smiley doll.

I didn’t know whether the Nut Candy could actually restore broken toys, but since events seemed to be branching onto a different route, I intended to keep leaving candies behind.

Even if Sad Smiley wasn’t an NPC—just an item that played a recorded voice—I still left the candy there.

“It probably means something, but it’s already been cut in half. Since we’ve got a civilian with us, let’s just clear the stage first.”

Fortunately, Mo Hae-in prioritised finishing the trial quickly.

Now that she’d drawn the Black Moon Blade, she clearly intended to bulldoze through everything with sheer force.

A very fitting mindset for the Collapse Ending.

With a wide swing of her spear, she scattered rainbow-coloured blood into the air before glancing back at me one last time.

“Let’s go.”

“Yes!”

Park’s mood had completely recovered.

He kept admiring his hands.

At some point, he’d already replaced his left arm with another toy limb.

Mo Hae-in still had only one toy arm.

That was because she needed her other hand free to wield the Black Moon Blade.

If she hadn’t possessed the Black Moon Blade, she would’ve equipped both toy arms first.

I quietly observed the delighted Park.

In a Trial, obtaining new items was directly tied to survival.

It wasn’t strange to be happy after getting another item.

Still… something feels off.

Both Mo Hae-in and Park had cleared Happy Smile Factory multiple times.

Although unexpected variables had appeared, once Mo Hae-in drew the Black Moon Blade…

…clearing the Trial was guaranteed.

No question.

So was it really worth getting that excited over one extra toy arm?

“You’re pretty young. University student?”

Park’s question interrupted my thoughts.

“Yeah.”

At twenty-four, saying “university student” was probably the simplest answer.

“Former professional gamer forced to retire because of an injury, currently unemployed” was far too long a story.

“What about military service?”

“Not yet.”

Actually… I’m exempt.

There was no reason to explain that either.

“So how’d you end up here?”

“I just… fell asleep, and when I woke up… I was here. I can go home, right?”

“Of course. Just trust your big brother.”

He said that while repeatedly clacking his pincer-like fingers together.

Honestly, he looked like someone who was about to cause trouble at any moment.

Fortunately, the conversation ended as we entered the second area—

The Laboratory.

Unlike the dazzling fantasy landscape outside, the laboratory was a ruined facility of exposed steel beams and shattered stone.

It looked completely out of place inside a toy factory.

The room was filled with biological research equipment instead.

Main Quest

Awaken the Shattered Prince

The Shattered Prince sleeps within the toy factory’s secret laboratory.

To awaken the sleeping prince, you decide to gather his scattered pieces.

Pretending to inspect the room, I secretly glanced at the quest window.

Prince doll fragments were hidden throughout the laboratory.

The final piece could only be obtained after defeating the area’s first boss.

Using his extendable toy arm, Park effortlessly shifted collapsed debris aside and quickly located one fragment.

Meanwhile, Mo Hae-in solved a puzzle displayed on a computer monitor, obtaining a key.

Carrying the limbless prince doll, she unlocked the sealed laboratory door.

Beyond it—

A large warning sign reading RESTRICTED AREA hung over another entrance.

Inside stood a massive shattered glass tank.

Judging from the still-flowing liquid, it hadn’t broken very long ago.

Rainbow-coloured fluid poured endlessly from the cracked container.

The exact same colour as the blood of the toys.

Drip.

A drop of liquid fell from the ceiling.

I wiped my damp cheek with the back of my hand while wondering how surprised I ought to look.

Then I slowly looked upward.

“H-Huh?!”

I stumbled backward in panic.

Park laughed.

“Haha. Relax. We’ll kill that thing in no time.”

A gigantic hole stretched into darkness high above us.

Something enormous descended from it on thick yarn webs.

A giant toy spider.

Its eight legs were made entirely of toy building blocks.

Its head was a smiling face with four pairs of eyes.

A doll no child should ever receive as a toy.

The first boss of Happy Smile Factory—

Princess Tarantella.

“Our Captain just needs one swing from the Black Moon Blade.”

I glanced sideways at Park.

His eyes were fixed greedily upon the Black Moon Blade.

That hungry look triggered a forgotten memory.

…Ah.

Park Seong-gyeon.

Now I remember.

Just then, another system message appeared.

You think it would be helpful to have an example in order to better understand what “System” and “Registration” mean.

Fortunately, you’ve found a suitable example right in front of you!

“Park Seong-gyeon” is a character eligible for registration.

Would you like to register him?

The timing couldn’t have been more perfect.

Without hesitation, I answered.

Register.

Registering “Park Seong-gyeon (Sample)”…

Whenever you cleared a game in the Archive, a post-credit scene would play afterward.

Usually, it showed the player speaking briefly with Archive characters after leaving the Trial.

Occasionally, however, you could freely move around South Korea within the Archive world.

I almost always visited the Trial Response Administration.

Once, I entered Mo Hae-in’s office there and found an official report regarding a fatal incident that had occurred during a Trial.

One of her teammates had attacked her in an attempt to steal the Black Moon Blade.

Mo Hae-in responded by cutting him cleanly in half.

The report stated:

…This incident was initiated solely by Lieutenant Park Seong-gyeon’s independent attack.

The victim’s counterattack has been confirmed as an immediate response to a premeditated assault.

Considering the following:

1. The incident occurred during a boss battle.

2. There was no time for calm judgment due to the chaotic circumstances.

3. The victim herself sustained severe injuries.

The response is therefore judged to constitute legitimate self-defence rather than excessive force.

Despite involving a death, the verdict ruled it self-defence.

Mo Hae-in received nothing more than a written warning and a brief suspension.

The attacker named in that report…

…was Park Seong-gyeon.

Since his name had appeared only once in passing, it made sense that I hadn’t remembered it.

Looks like the incident happened during Happy Smile Factory.

The toy limbs obtainable here granted inhuman strength and absurd attack range.

And today must be the day he planned to make his move.

Park had obtained the toy arms before Mo Hae-in.

His plan was likely to steal the Black Moon Blade, then either kill Mo Hae-in or transform her into a factory employee to commit the perfect crime.

That would almost certainly interfere with the True Ending.

Besides…

I didn’t appreciate someone trying to kill one of my favourite characters.

And if he killed Mo Hae-in, there’s no way he’d leave a witness like me alive.

Which meant…

I had no intention of letting him live freely either.

Registration complete!

You wish to inspect your sample’s status window.

Something about the system messages still felt strange.

Back in the game, they had always been perfectly ordinary.

Nothing more than standard tutorial prompts.

But now…

It almost sounded as though the system were pretending to speak my own thoughts aloud.

Maybe that’s connected to me becoming the System itself.

For now, our goals aligned.

So I decided to play along.

I opened Park’s status window.

Park Seong-gyeon’s Status.

Park Seong-gyeon (Sample) ♥×3

Employee of Happy Smile Factory

Items:

• Cherry Picker (3)
• Nut Candy (12)
• Flashlight (1)

The information was painfully sparse.

The moment I felt dissatisfied, another system message appeared.

You are dissatisfied with your own simplistic and pitiful abilities as the System.

You decide you should continue developing your powers.

Apparently, improving my own abilities would unlock additional information.

I looked more carefully through the available data.

Three hearts probably represented three lives.

As for the items…

“…?”

The Cherry Picker count was three.

But Park had only obtained two during this Trial.

There was only one explanation.

He’d brought an item over from a previous run.

Normally, unless special circumstances applied, the Trial Response Administration strictly prohibited using items earned during earlier clears of the same Trial.

Just like banning equipment from other Trials, the rule existed to minimise unpredictable variables.

Every item recovered after clearing a Trial was carefully inspected.

Ownership defaulted to the Administration.

There was no legitimate reason Park would personally possess a Cherry Picker.

Meaning…

He had acquired it illegally.

He risked that because of Mo Hae-in.

I became certain.

Today was the day Park intended to betray her.

As the System, you wonder what influence you can exert over “Park Seong-gyeon (Sample).”

You wish to inspect the entries beneath his items.

I followed the prompt.

Only two options appeared.

Message

Execution

Just two.

Neither gave me any clue what they actually did.

The safer choice was obvious.

I selected Message.

You consider what message to send to “Park Seong-gyeon (Sample).”

Wait…

Does that mean I can literally display system windows for him?

Before I could think further—

An old computer in the corner of the laboratory suddenly powered on.

A cheerful chiptune melody echoed throughout the room.

An 8-bit boss theme.

Princess Tarantella’s battle had begun.

The smiling face split apart into four sections, revealing countless rows of razor-sharp teeth.

“────!!”

An incomprehensible shriek burst from its mouth, tearing at my eardrums.

At the same moment, toy musical notes rained down from the hole in the ceiling in perfect rhythm with the music.

That mechanic only appeared on the Collapse Route.

Mo Hae-in sliced through the falling notes while blocking attacks from all eight spider legs.

Watching the Black Moon Blade dance through the air…

Park slowly opened both pincer hands wide…

…then quietly closed them.

Click.

A faint metallic sound mixed with the music.

While I’d been reading the system messages…

Park had secretly equipped his third Cherry Picker—

to his leg.

Using the toy leg, he launched himself into the air.

Leaping through the rain of falling musical notes…

He stretched out his pincer…

Straight toward Mo Hae-in.

At that exact instant—

I sent him a message.

A system window appeared directly before his eyes.

lol

The sudden window blocked his vision.

His attack wavered.

Instead of striking Mo Hae-in…

…his pincer merely grazed her shoulder.

She narrowly avoided being thrown directly into Princess Tarantella’s gaping jaws.

“Park Seong-gyeon! What the hell are you doing?!”

Landing awkwardly, Park stared blankly into space.

He cursed under his breath and immediately tried to attack again.

But halfway through raising his arm…

He froze.

lol

lolol

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

His face disappeared beneath countless overlapping system windows.

The colour drained completely from it.

Every single one…

…was a message I’d sent.