I'm a young god, won't you raise me?

Chapter 2: Chapter 2

I was just as stunned as the other person. For two reasons.

First — Mo Haein.

Mo Haein was one of the main characters in the Archive, the connecting world that linked the creator’s games together.

The Archive was a story that began when a calamity suddenly struck Earth one day.

At midnight on February 29th, KST, meteor showers poured down across the entire world.

Meteor showers that had never been predicted by astronomical observation.

The sudden meteor showers were like a festival of light. Humans marveled at the beautiful spectacle — but...

This was a calamity from outer space.

The calamity that crashed to Earth hatched in random order and form, creating spaces from another dimension.

Those otherworldly spaces had rules set up that were nearly identical to games.

The structure was just like a game: collect items, complete quests, clear the stage.

If you didn’t clear it within a set time, the calamity would explode and mutate the surrounding area into the same form as that calamity.

Spreading an infectious virus that mutated both living and non-living things.

It was a calamity in the truest sense — inexplicable by modern science.

Humans considered the calamity from space a test from God and named it the ’Trial.’

With the hatching of the Trials, humans also began to bloom with special talents.

Beings who could see the System window appeared.

They were called ’Adaptees,’ and they could clear Trials through the System window.

In the Archive world, the Player bloomed as an Adaptee and entered various Trials.

The setup was that each time you entered a different Trial, you played a different genre of game.

Mo Haein was a soldier in the Trial Response Agency, an external agency under the Republic of Korea’s Ministry of National Defense.

Captain Mo Haein, an elite of the TRA, would either appear to help the Player during a Trial, or show up at the ending to talk with the Player.

A character I’d only ever seen in pixels was now alive and moving right before my eyes — of course I was shocked.

And second — the System window.

[’Mo Haein’ is a registrable character. Would you like to register?]

I stared at the System window glowing with a hazy light, and recalled what I’d seen right before losing consciousness.

[You are the System of planet ’Earth’]

A message only visible to the Archive’s Adaptees.

The thing that guided quests in Trials and sent out various notifications — what they called the System.

I was that System...?

This was something I’d never experienced even after playing countless Archive games.

Nothing made sense, but I had one strong guess.

Maybe I’d fallen into the game itself...

Like that game-possession thing that shows up all the time in subculture media.

The headache that had barely subsided started throbbing again at the sheer absurdity of the situation.

For now, I ignored the suspiciously glowing registration window. There was no way I was registering something I didn’t even understand.

When I kept ignoring it, the registration window slid away on its own.

I thought it was finally gone — but then a new window popped up.

◆ Han Goyo (Roasted Chestnut) has entered <Happy Smile Factory>!

◆ <Happy Smile Factory> Main Quest: Clear the murderous toy factory with a True Ending.

You have entered your first Trial as the System.

You must prove the System’s abilities by achieving a True Ending clear.

Survival upon quest success!

Consequences of failure are unknown.

However, you have a feeling that something unpleasant will happen to a loser.

...What the hell is this.

I did my best to keep my expression under control after reading the System window.

While I was trying not to show any weirdness, I heard voices talking.

"Lieutenant Park, no entry application for HapFactory, right?"

"Absolutely none, ma’am. I checked multiple times."

"Then it must be a civilian."

Click-clack. Mo Haein moved her claw hand and looked at me.

Attached to her left arm was a plastic toy arm.

The toy arm with a claw like a crane game — it was an item you could get in <Happy Smile Factory>, and it was also the thing that had just choked me.

Between the System window that had appeared before my eyes and the toy arm that was way too high-quality to be special effects makeup...

While I was dizzy from the realization that I was really inside a game, Mo Haein looked me up and down.

"You’re kind of strange?"

She tilted her head, and her bobbed hair swayed.

I knew why she was eyeing me suspiciously.

It was extremely rare for a civilian to get caught up in a regularly managed Trial.

There were mercenaries who took commissions to clear Trials, and smugglers who snuck in coveting the items you could get from them — but almost nobody entered alone like this.

A Trial was a trial in every sense.

You had to risk your life, so entering with at least two people for backup was standard.

Smugglers had worse equipment than the government or private companies, so they usually came in groups of a dozen or more to make up for it with numbers.

Of course, for me, who’d played it as a game, solo entry was the default.

Either way, I got the feeling I wouldn’t be treated well if I just stood there. I put on a scared face.

"Um... where is this...?"

I was genuinely confused about the situation, so the expression came naturally without much acting.

Mo Haein, who’d been weighing me on some mental scale, raised an eyebrow.

Then she gave an answer that would’ve made me faint if I were a civilian who really didn’t know anything.

"A toy factory full of crazy murderous toys."

I gasped at the blunt answer, and the man next to me snickered.

"It’s true there are killers, but don’t worry. We’ll get you out safe."

He said ’we’re soldiers, after all,’ and flashed his military ID.

"Trial Response Agency...?"

"Under the Ministry of National Defense. It’s new, so you probably haven’t heard of it."

He was saying whatever because apparently civilians’ memories got wiped once they left the Trial anyway.

I nodded at the man’s words while checking their work uniforms.

[Employee: Sand]

[Employee: Sample]

Mo Haein wore an orange work uniform with ’Sand’ on her name tag. The man wore a yellow one with ’Sample’ on his.

But Mo Haein’s name tag was a little different.

The smiley face on her tag wasn’t smiling.

Its mouth was a straight line instead of a curve — a shape that didn’t suit <Happy Smile Factory> at all.

The smiley on the name tag was a kind of life counter.

In <Happy Smile Factory>, or HapFactory for short, you got three chances. Every time you made a fatal mistake, the smiley’s expression changed.

From happy smile to blank face, and then to sad smile with the corners of the mouth turned down.

The sad smile state was the last chance.

If you messed up there, it was game over immediately.

I couldn’t believe a character like Mo Haein had already lost a life this early.

"What was that loud noise just now?"

I asked in a timid voice, as if testing the waters.

Honestly, what I really wanted to ask was what the hell she’d done — but unfortunately, I didn’t get an answer.

"None of a civilian’s business."

Mo Haein cut me off coldly, then pulled something from her inventory and tossed it at me.

I caught it on reflex — it was the same type of toy arm Mo Haein was wearing.

[Cherry Picker: You can unleash the power of Happy Smile! Let’s have a happy time together!]

"Put it on."

At Mo Haein’s words, the man’s face twisted with irritation. He clearly didn’t like the idea of giving a valuable item to some clueless civilian.

Didn’t matter to me.

"I’m okay."

I was going to refuse the item anyway.

"I don’t really know what’s going on, so shouldn’t you experts use it? It’s kind of scary too."

I said the flashlight at my waist would probably be enough, and clenched my fist to show I’d follow along from behind.

The man looked satisfied with my answer. Mo Haein narrowed her eyes like she was looking at some weirdo.

I refused the item because of the True Ending.

HapFactory had multiple endings, and the conditions for getting the True Ending were especially tricky.

First, you weren’t supposed to wear any of the toy limbs you get in the game.

As you progressed through the game, NPCs would give you toy arm and leg items one by one.

Players would naturally equip them because it ’seemed’ essential to the game.

They were incredibly convenient items — but if you got greedy and replaced all your limbs with toys, you’d immediately get the Bad Ending.

The ending where you became a toy worker at HapFactory and worked in the factory forever.

Mo Haein should’ve known this much.

But seeing her wearing the toy arm, she probably didn’t know about the True Ending.

For now, I planned to follow Mo Haein and the man while meeting the True Ending conditions.

It wasn’t just because of the System window’s weird threat.

If I can only see one ending, it has to be the True Ending.

I was a hardcore happy ending fan.

In games, the True Ending was usually the happy ending.

Even when I played Archive games, after seeing all the endings, I always finished with the True Ending.

I couldn’t rest easy unless I ended the game seeing the characters happy.

I’m curious about that man too.

I had a pretty good memory.

As much as I loved the Archive, I remembered even the small details — but the man with the nickname ’Sample’ was new to me.

I’d never seen him in any Trial or in the cookie cutscenes after the endings.

It wasn’t that strange.

Died in a Trial, trapped forever, or survived but got infected by the virus and quarantined. Either way, it was common.

The man named Sample was probably a character who’d disappeared from the Archive world before I even registered him.

Mo Haein stared at me and spoke.

"Lieutenant Park, you wear it."

"Yes, ma’am!"

The man quickly took the toy arm and equipped it on his right arm.

As soon as he brought the item over his arm, his human arm vanished and the toy arm took its place.

He clicked the claw proudly.

"If you want to live, just follow me."

Mo Haein clicked her tongue without a word and walked ahead.

I followed behind her alongside the man. Quietly, I moved only my eyes to the side.

A Smiley was embedded in the wall.

The Smiley with a smiling face was the main toy of <Happy Smile Factory>.

The colorful plastic toy doll had the same claw hands as the items provided to players.

When you first entered the factory, you’d encounter an NPC Smiley — but unlike the mass-produced 15cm toys, this NPC Smiley was 1 meter tall.

Like the size of a small child.

You’d fight the Smiley later, but for now it was just exchanging a few lines and getting the toy arm item.

I had no idea why they’d attacked and even lost a life.

Given that Mo Haein didn’t look too happy, I guessed the man had messed up somehow.

The Smiley, its head embedded in the wall, had its toy arms and legs dangling limply on the floor.

A crackling mechanical sound came from the Smiley.

"S-Smiley — welcomes-you — to-the-ha-happy-smile-factory — let’s — be-happy-happy-together—..." freewebnσvel.cøm

It wasn’t exactly a pretty sight.

I’d gotten kind of attached to that NPC while playing — seeing it half-broken in person bothered me.

Like I felt the Smiley would visit my dreams tonight.

Unlike me, the man and Mo Haein didn’t seem to care. The man spoke to me with a friendly smile.

"Should we introduce ourselves! Park Seonggyeon. Call me Lieutenant Park."

"Han Goyo."

"That person is Captain Mo Haein..."

"Lieutenant Park. You on a field trip?"

"Sorry."

Park Seonggyeon apologized quickly and shut his mouth, but rolled his eyes in annoyance.

Seeing that, I had a pretty good idea why I didn’t know his character.

He must’ve caused an accident in a Trial and died.

If he was unlucky, maybe the day of that accident was today.

While Park Seonggyeon walked with a stiff face, I bent down like I was tying my shoelaces.

I scooped up a handful of the candies piled up here and there.

Candies with a hexagonal nut shape drawn on the wrapper.

[Nut Candy: Clickety-clack, repairing toys...]

Nut Candies, easily found all over the map, were HapFactory’s recovery items.

They supposedly tasted like nuts when eaten — but unfortunately, I couldn’t try them myself.

Because they could only be used while wearing a toy arm or leg.

As I passed by the Smiley, I casually dropped a candy onto its claw-shaped hand.