A Laughable Transmission

My heart raced, and a smile tugged at the corners of my lips.

Was it an Easter egg? Or an ending route I'd never seen before?

Either way, this was a brand-new Happy Smile Factory.

To think there was still something I didn't know about a game I had played to death!

I wanted to dig into it and uncover every secret right this second.

Knowing my reaction was far from that of an ordinary civilian, I pursed my lips to hide my grin.

Just in time, Mo Hae-in finished her discussion and noticed the Sad Smiley I had pieced back together.

As she shot me a look that clearly asked what on earth I was doing, I offered a naive explanation.

"Well, when I picked up this candy, it said it could repair toys. Even if it's just a toy, it looked like it was hurting."

Mo Hae-in's face went blank at my words, while Park Seong-gyeon burst into a hearty laugh.

"Haha! You're a soft-hearted one, aren't you? Wanting to repair a toy."

Park Seong-gyeon patted my shoulder.

"But innocence is forbidden here, okay? You have to be careful. I can't explain in detail, but this is an extremely dangerous place."

He tried to scare me, warning that the toy might stand back up and attack.

I apologized to him once more, acting contrite.

After teasing me to his heart's content, Park Seong-gyeon suddenly stared into the air, his eyes widening.

"Uh, Captain. The item description for this is a bit strange."

He was reading the item description for the Sad Smiley through his system window.

"Um, excuse me, but can we please go quickly? I want to leave."

I urged Mo Hae-in and Park Seong-gyeon to move on, pretending to be terrified.

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

I didn't know if broken toys could actually be restored with Nut Candy, but since it seemed to trigger a different route, I planned to keep leaving candies for them.

Of course, the Sad Smiley was just a doll item with recorded voice lines, not an actual NPC, but I left the candy anyway.

"There might be some meaning to it, but it's already been cut in half anyway. We have a civilian with us, so let's focus on clearing this first."

Fortunately, Mo Hae-in focused on a quick clear.

Now that she had drawn her Black Obsidian Halberd, she seemed intent on brute-forcing her way through to finish it in an instant. It was a thought highly fitting for a Collapse Ending.

Whoosh. Mo Hae-in swung her halberd in a wide arc to shake off the rainbow-colored blood, gave me one last glance, and turned away.

"Let's move."

"Yes, ma'am!"

Park Seong-gyeon's mood had instantly improved. Constantly checking his hands, he had already swapped his left arm for a toy arm as well.

Mo Hae-in still had only one toy arm, which was necessary to wield the Black Obsidian Halberd.

If not for the halberd, she would have equipped the items on both arms first.

I watched the jubilant Park Seong-gyeon closely.

Since farming items in a Trial was directly linked to survival, it was only natural to be happy about quickly acquiring additional gear.

But something is off.

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

Even with the current anomalies, clearing it shouldn't be difficult now that Mo Hae-in had drawn her Black Obsidian Halberd.

In fact, a clear was guaranteed.

So I wondered if getting just one more toy arm was really enough to make him that ecstatic.

"You look young, Goyo. Are you a college student?"

I temporarily set aside my doubts and answered Park Seong-gyeon's question.

"Yes."

Twenty-four was usually college age, right?

Explaining that I was a retired pro-gamer due to an injury and currently unemployed was too long of a story.

"Have you served in the military?"

"Not yet."

Actually, I'm exempt...

There was no reason to explain that in detail either, so I let it slide.

"How did you end up in here?"

"I just went to sleep, and when I opened my eyes... I can go home, right?"

"Of course. Just trust your big bro."

He clacked his claw hands as he spoke. He looked highly suspicious, like he was about to cause trouble at any moment.

Fortunately, before the conversation could go any further, we entered the second area: the laboratory.

Unlike the glittering, fantasy-like exterior, the laboratory was a ruin of exposed broken stone and steel frames.

It was filled with all sorts of equipment that seemed fit for biological research, completely out of place for a toy factory.

I glanced sideways at my system window while pretending to look around the laboratory.

We had to find the pieces of the prince doll hidden all over the place, but to get the final piece, we had to fight the first boss.

Using his elongated toy arm, Park Seong-gyeon cleared away the collapsed debris and found a doll piece in an instant, while Mo Hae-in solved a puzzle on a computer screen to obtain a key.

Holding the limbless prince doll, she unlocked the laboratory's sealed door with the key.

Beyond the door, which bore a massive "Restricted Area" sign, lay a shattered glass tank.

As if it had only recently been broken, rainbow-colored liquid was gushing out of the cracked tank.

It was the exact same color as the toys' blood.

Drip. A droplet fell from the ceiling.

Wiping my wet cheek with the back of my hand, I pondered what gesture would best convey appropriate surprise. Then, I slowly looked up.

"Gasp...!"

As I hurriedly stumbled backward, Park Seong-gyeon burst out laughing.

"Look at you, getting all scared. We'll take that thing down in no time."

A massive, bottomless hole was pierced through the ceiling.

Out of the darkness, a giant toy spider descended on a web made of yarn.

The spider, whose eight legs were entirely made of toy blocks, had a smiling face with four pairs of eyes.

It was a spider doll far too grotesque to ever be sold as a children's toy.

This was Happy Smile Factory's first boss, Princess Tarantella.

"It'll be over in a flash once our Captain Mo swings her Black Obsidian Halberd."

I glanced at Park Seong-gyeon. His eyes were brimming with greed as he stared at Mo Hae-in's Black Obsidian Halberd.

That glistening gaze jogged a forgotten memory.

Ah... Park Seong-gyeon. Now I remember.

Just then, a new system window appeared.

It was perfect timing, as if it had read my mind. This time, I didn't hesitate.

Register.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

When you play games from the Archive, a post-credits scene plays after the ending.

In these post-credits scenes, the player—having emerged from the Trial—usually has a brief conversation with an Archive character, though sometimes they would move to a different location.

In those cases, they would wander around the Republic of Korea within the Archive.

I had mostly visited the Sidae Agency.

I had stopped by Mo Hae-in's office there and read an official document regarding a verdict on an incident that had occurred inside a Trial.

It was a fatal incident that occurred when a teammate who had entered the Trial with her attacked Mo Hae-in, coveting her Black Obsidian Halberd.

Mo Hae-in had sliced the teammate who attacked her in half with her Black Obsidian Halberd.

Even though it was a fatal incident, self-defense was recognized, and her punishment was light—just writing an incident report and a brief suspension.

The teammate who had attacked Mo Hae-in back then was indeed Park Seong-gyeon.

Since his name had only appeared in a single passing line in the document, it was no wonder I hadn't remembered it immediately.

So he caused trouble in HasPack.

The toy limbs obtainable in Happy Smile Factory granted superhuman strength while simultaneously providing immense reach.

And it looks like today is the day he plans to make his move.

Park Seong-gyeon planned to secure more toy arms before Mo Hae-in, steal the Black Obsidian Halberd, and commit the perfect crime by either murdering her or turning her into a factory worker.

His actions were highly likely to interfere with achieving the True Ending.

I also didn't like the fact that he was targeting Mo Hae-in, a character I actually liked.

Besides, if he's going ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to kill Mo Hae-in, there's no way ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠he'd leave me, a witness, alive.

Therefore, I had no intention of letting Park Seong-gyeon off the hook either.

I'd been thinking this for a while, but the tone of the system windows was bizarre.

In the original game, the system messages had an extremely normal tone.

They were just standard system messages guiding the player, like in any other game.

But now, it was acting as if it were speaking on behalf of my own thoughts.

Is this related to the fact that I've become the System?

For now, since our goals aligned, I decided to play along.

I checked Park Seong-gyeon just as the system prompted.

Park Seong-gyeon status window.

The details I could check through the system were incredibly simple and meager.

The moment I felt dissatisfied, another system window popped up immediately.

It seemed to imply that other options would unlock as my stats grew.

I carefully examined the sparse details.

The heart times three must represent his lives, and the items...

"...?"

The count for the toy limb item, Cherry Picker, was listed as three. But Park Seong-gyeon had clearly only obtained two so far.

There was only one answer.

He had brought in an item he obtained from a previous clear of Happy Smile Factory.

Unless there was a special exception, the Sidae Agency prohibited using items obtained from previous runs, even if it was the exact same Trial.

This was to minimize variables within the Trial, similar to the rule banning items from other Trials.

Furthermore, the Sidae Agency inspected all items acquired after clearing a Trial, and those items fundamentally belonged to the agency.

Since there was no reason for the Sidae Agency to hand a Cherry Picker over to him, he had undoubtedly smuggled the item out illegally.

He must have taken such a risk because of Mo Hae-in.

I was now absolutely certain that Park Seong-gyeon was going to cause trouble in Happy Smile Factory today.

I did as prompted and checked the options written below the items.

There were only two, and I couldn't even begin to guess what either of them did. For now, I selected the less intimidating one: Transmission.

Could it be that I can force a system window to appear in front of Park Seong-gyeon?

As I was guessing how the function worked, the screen of an old computer sitting in the corner of the laboratory flickered to life, and a cheerful chiptune melody began to play.

The 8-bit BGM signaled the start of the boss battle with Princess Tarantella.

Tarantella's smiling face split open in four directions, revealing rows of tightly packed teeth.

"----!"

An incomprehensible, ear-splitting shriek erupted from its gaping maw.

At the same time, toy musical notes began raining down from the hole in the ceiling, perfectly synchronized with the fast-paced music. The musical note toys were a gimmick that only appeared in the Collapse Route.

Mo Hae-in sliced through the notes while defending against Tarantella's eight attacking legs.

Staring at the Black Obsidian Halberd that moved as if dancing, Park Seong-gyeon spread his claw hands wide and slowly closed them.

Clack. A faint noise cut through the chiptune music.

While I was busy checking my system windows, Park Seong-gyeon had equipped a third Cherry Picker on his leg.

Using his right toy leg, Park Seong-gyeon leaped into the air.

Just as he jumped through the falling musical notes and extended his claw hand to strike Mo Hae-in—

I sent a Transmission to Park Seong-gyeon.

I saw a system window pop up right in front of him.

The sudden system window blocking his vision threw off Park Seong-gyeon's aim.

His claw hand missed Mo Hae-in, merely brushing past her shoulder.

Mo Hae-in, who had almost been shoved straight into Tarantella's mouth, roared.

"Park Seong-gyeon! What the hell do you think you're doing?!"

Landing unsteadily on the ground, Park Seong-gyeon wore a dazed expression.

Muttering a curse, he immediately tried to swing his toy arm again.

But he froze mid-swing, his hand raised high in the air.

Park Seong-gyeon's face turned pale as it was completely obscured by system windows.

They were the Transmissions I had sent.