My heart raced, and the corners of my mouth kept lifting on their own.

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

Either way, this was a new <Happy Smile Factory>.

There was still something I didn’t know about the game I’d played until I was sick of it!

I wanted to tear it apart and dig through every corner right this instant.

I knew my reaction wasn’t exactly normal-civilian behavior, so I pressed my lips together to hide my smile.

Right on cue, Mo Haein finished her discussion and spotted the Sad Smiley I’d assembled from the pieces.

I put on my dumbest face and explained to her, whose look clearly said what the hell did you do now.

"Well, uh, when I picked up this candy, it said I could repair toys with it. Even if they’re just toys, I felt bad leaving them broken."

At my words, Mo Haein’s face went blank. Park Seonggyeon burst out laughing.

"Haha! You’re a soft one, aren’t you? Wanting to fix them up."

He patted my shoulder.

"But no being soft here, alright? Gotta be careful. Can’t explain in detail, but this place is dangerous as hell."

He tried to scare me, saying the toys might get back up and attack.

I apologized to him again.

Satisfied that he’d properly shaken me up, Park Seonggyeon’s gaze drifted to the air, and his eyes went wide.

"Oh, Captain. This item description’s a bit weird."

He’d read the Sad Smiley’s item description through the System window.

"Um, sorry, but can we hurry up? I want to get out."

I pretended to be scared and urged Mo Haein and Park Seonggyeon to move on.

I was worried they might touch the Sad Smiley doll.

I had no idea if Nut Candy could actually restore a broken toy, but since things seemed to be progressing along a different route, I planned to keep leaving candy out.

Of course, Sad Smiley wasn’t an NPC — it was just a doll item with a recorded voice. But I left the candy there anyway.

"It might mean something, but we already cut it in half. We’ve got a civilian with us — let’s clear this first."

Luckily, Mo Haein focused on a quick clear.

She’d already pulled out the Black Moon Blade, so it seemed like she planned to brute-force her way through and end this in no time. A fitting approach for the Collapse ending.

Vwoom — Mo Haein swung her spear in a wide arc, flicking off the rainbow blood, then glanced at me one last time before turning away.

"Let’s go."

"Yes ma’am!"

Park Seonggyeon was in a good mood again. He kept checking his hand — he’d already swapped his left arm for a toy one.

Mo Haein still had only one toy arm, because she needed the other for the Black Moon Blade.

If not for the Blade, she’d have equipped items on both arms first.

I watched Park Seonggyeon carefully as he celebrated.

In the Trials, item farming was directly tied to survival, so being happy about grabbing extra gear fast was natural.

’But something felt off.’

Mo Haein and Park Seonggyeon had cleared HapFactory multiple times.

There was a variable now, sure, but with Mo Haein pulling out the Black Moon Blade, clearing wouldn’t be hard.

No — it was guaranteed.

So was getting one extra toy arm really worth that much excitement?

"You look young, Goyo. College student?"

I set aside my suspicion and answered Park Seonggyeon’s question.

"Yeah."

Twenty-four was usually college age, right?

Explaining that I was a former pro gamer who retired due to injury and was currently unemployed would’ve been way too long-winded.

"Military?"

"Not yet."

Actually, I’m exempt...

No reason to get into that either, so I let it slide.

"How’d you end up in here?"

"I just fell asleep and woke up here... Can I get back home?"

"’Course you can. Just trust your hyung here."

He clicked his pincer fingers together. The guy looked ready to cause an accident any second, and I didn’t trust him at all.

Luckily, we entered the second zone — the lab — before the conversation could continue.

Unlike the sparkling, fantastical space outside, the lab was a ruin of shattered stone and exposed steel beams.

Various devices that looked more at home in a biology lab than a toy factory were scattered around.

◆Main Quest: Wake the Prince in Pieces.

In the secret lab of the toy factory, the Prince in Pieces sleeps.

You decide that you must gather the scattered pieces to wake the sleeping prince.

I pretended to look around the lab while glancing at the System window.

I needed to find the prince doll pieces hidden around the room, but to get the last piece, I’d have to fight the first boss.

Park Seonggyeon used his extendable toy arm to move rubble and found the doll pieces in no time. Mo Haein solved a puzzle on a computer screen and obtained a key.

She picked up the limbless prince doll and used the key to open the locked lab door.

Beyond the door marked with a large "RESTRICTED AREA" sign, there was a shattered glass tank.

The break looked recent — rainbow-colored liquid was still gushing out of the cracked tank.

The same color as the toys’ blood.

Drip. A droplet fell from the ceiling.

I wiped my wet cheek with the back of my hand and considered what gesture would properly convey surprise. Then I slowly looked up.

"Gasp—!"

I stumbled back, and Park Seonggyeon let out a snort of laughter.

"Scared? Don’t worry, we’ll take that thing out in no time."

A massive hole of unknown depth gaped in the ceiling.

From the darkness, a giant spider toy descended on a yarn web.

All eight of its legs were made of toy blocks, and its smiling face had four pairs of eyes.

A spider doll that was definitely not suitable for selling as a children’s toy.

HapFactory’s first boss — Princess Tarantella.

"Our Captain’ll swing that Black Moon Blade and it’s done."

I glanced at Park Seonggyeon. His eyes were full of greed as he stared at Mo Haein’s Black Moon Blade.

That glint triggered a memory I’d forgotten.

’Ah... Park Seonggyeon. I remember now.’

A new System window appeared.

You think it would be nice to have an example to figure out what ’System’ and ’Registration’ mean.

And lo and behold — you’ve found a perfect example right in front of you!

’Park Seonggyeon’ is a registrable sample character. Would you like to register?

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

’Register.’

Registering ’Park Seonggyeon (Sample)’...

When you clear an Archive game, a cookie video plays after the ending.

The post-credits scenes usually show a short conversation between the player who escaped the Trial and an Archive character, but sometimes the location changes too.

In those cases, you get to walk around South Korea within the Archive.

I usually visited the Trial Response Agency.

I’d stopped by Mo Haein’s office there once and read an official document about a verdict on an incident that happened inside a Trial.

A team member who’d entered the Trial with her had attacked Mo Haein for the Black Moon Blade, resulting in a death.

Mo Haein had cut the attacking team member in half with the Blade.

...This incident was triggered by Lieutenant Park Seonggyeon’s unilateral attack, and the counterattack by the attacked party was confirmed as an immediate response to the preemptive strike.

1) The incident occurred during a boss fight.

2) Due to the chaos at the scene, the attacked party lacked the time to make a judgment call.

3) The attacked party was also seriously injured.

Considering the above factors comprehensively, the attacked party’s use of force is judged as self-defense, not excessive response.

Even though it was a death, self-defense was recognized, and the punishment was light — just filing a report and a short suspension.

The team member who’d attacked Mo Haein was Park Seonggyeon.

He’d only appeared in one line in the document, so it made sense I hadn’t remembered.

’So he caused an accident in HapFactory.’

The toy limbs you could get in HapFactory granted superhuman strength and incredible range.

’And today looks like the day he’s going to cause that accident.’

Park Seonggyeon seemed to be planning to get the toy arm before Mo Haein, steal the Black Moon Blade, then kill her or turn her into a factory worker for the perfect crime.

His actions had a high chance of interfering with the True Ending.

And I didn’t like that he was messing with Mo Haein, one of my favorite characters.

’Besides, if he kills Mo Haein, there’s no way he’d leave a witness like me alive.’

So I wasn’t going to leave Park Seonggyeon alive either.

Registration complete!

You feel like checking the sample’s status window.

I’d been thinking about this since earlier — the System window’s tone was weird.

In the original game, the System window had a perfectly normal tone.

Just your standard system message guiding the player, like in any game.

But now it was acting like it was speaking my thoughts for me.

’Is this related to me becoming the System?’

For now, our goals aligned, so I decided to go along with it.

I checked Park Seonggyeon as the System window instructed.

’Park Seonggyeon status window.’

— Park Seonggyeon (Sample) ♥x3

— Employee of <Happy Smile Factory>

— Items: Cherry Picker (3), Nut Candy (12), Flashlight (1).

The information I could check through the System was very simple and sparse.

The moment I felt dissatisfied, another System window popped up.

You are dissatisfied with your own simple and sparse abilities.

You decide you must hone your abilities as the System.

It seemed like I needed to grow my stats before more categories would unlock.

I examined the meager list more closely.

The heart times three was probably a life counter. The items were...

"...?"

The Cherry Picker count — the toy limb item — was three. But Park Seonggyeon had only gotten two so far.

There was only one explanation.

He’d brought items from a previous HapFactory clear.

Unless there was a special reason, the TRA banned using items from previous runs of the same Trial.

Same reason they banned using items from other Trials — to minimize variables.

Also, the TRA checked all items acquired after clearing a Trial, and those items were basically TRA property.

There was no reason to hand Cherry Pickers over to Park Seonggyeon, so he must have gotten them illegally.

’He’s doing something dangerous because of Mo Haein.’

I was certain now — Park Seonggyeon was going to cause an accident in HapFactory today.

You are curious about what influence you can exert over ’Park Seonggyeon (Sample)’ as the System.

You want to check the additional categories below the items.

I did as instructed and checked the categories beneath the item list.

Message

Execution

Just two. And I had no idea what either of them meant. I picked the less intimidating one first — Message.

You think of a message to send to ’Park Seonggyeon (Sample).’

Wait — could I actually pop up a System window in front of Park Seonggyeon?

As I was guessing at the function, the old computer sitting in the corner of the lab flickered to life, and a cheerful chiptune melody played.

The 8-bit BGM announced the start of the boss fight with Princess Tarantella.

Tarantella’s smiling face split into four directions, revealing rows of packed teeth.

"——!"

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

At the same time, note-shaped toys began falling from the hole in the ceiling, keeping pace with the rapidly intensifying music. The note toys were a gimmick that only appeared in the Collapse route.

Mo Haein sliced through the notes and blocked Tarantella’s eight attacking legs.

Park Seonggyeon watched the Black Moon Blade move as if dancing. He spread both pincer hands wide, then slowly closed them.

Click. A faint sound cut through the chiptune.

While I checked the System window, Park Seonggyeon had equipped the third Cherry Picker on his leg.

He leaped into the air using his right toy leg.

He jumped between the falling notes, reaching out his pincer hand — just as he was about to attack Mo Haein.

I sent a message to Park Seonggyeon.

A System window appeared in front of him.

lol

The sudden window blocking his vision made Park Seonggyeon’s hand waver.

His pincer missed Mo Haein, only grazing her shoulder.

Mo Haein, who’d nearly been thrown into Tarantella’s mouth, shouted.

"Park Seonggyeon! What the hell are you doing?!"

Stumbling as he landed, Park Seonggyeon wore a dumbfounded expression.

He cursed under his breath and tried to swing his toy arm again.

But his hand froze mid-lift.

LMAO

LMAOOOO

LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Park Seonggyeon’s face turned blue as the System windows flooded his vision.

They were all messages from me.