Free Web NovelChapter 3: Chapter 3
’Maybe Smiley could help with recovery too, since it’s a toy.’
It was a kind of insurance.
I was in the middle of fulfilling the true ending conditions — I couldn’t afford to make enemies of the toys.
"What are you doing?"
"Ah, sorry. Just tying my shoelaces."
I hurried after Park Seonggyeon, glancing back.
"..."
The candy on Smiley’s palm was still there.
The only difference was that the mechanical sound had stopped.
Looked like it hadn’t done anything.
We passed a long corridor painted with murals introducing HapFactory’s toys and came to a large plastic door.
Dozens of small levers in various colors lined the walls and ceiling on both sides of the door.
"Lieutenant Park. Right side."
Mo Haein reached out with her forceps. A plastic chain unspooled with a rattle and grabbed a lever on the ceiling.
She pulled down the colored levers on the left wall and ceiling in rapid succession.
Park Seonggyeon took the right wall and ceiling, lowering his levers.
Normally you’d look at the color pattern on the floor to figure out which levers to pull, but they’d already memorized the pattern. They were clearly familiar with HapFactory’s layouts.
Click. The last lever fell into place, cheerful music played, and the plastic door swung open.
Mo Haein and Park Seonggyeon strode inside without hesitation.
This was where players started their first shift as factory workers.
Sorting toys that came down the conveyor belt — an easy task for a first job.
But unlike the two leading the way, I slowed down.
Because.
"C-Captain."
"...The pattern’s broken."
Clank. Clank. Clank. The lights came on from the outside in, gradually revealing the dark interior.
The music that wrapped around the space was cheerful but somehow sinister.
The toys that should have been spinning quietly on the conveyor belt were all on the floor.
Staring at Mo Haein and Park Seonggyeon with their glossy eyes.
Ding!
A notification sound rang out as a system window appeared.
◆Main Quest: Survive the Murderous Toys.
The toys will not forgive the adult who attacked Smiley.
You decide you must survive, evading the enraged toys.
’Why’d you have to go and beat up Smiley...’
I swallowed a sigh internally and crept toward the safe zone.
The Trial Response Agency, being a government organization, applied strict rules to Trials.
The most important rule was ’no unnecessary contact with NPCs.’
It was to minimize the risk of viral infection through contact.
The Trials that came from space carried a peculiar virus.
If infected, the body would mutate and develop a strong aggression toward humans.
Mo Haein, a soldier of the Trial Response Agency, followed the rules meticulously.
Today was probably the first time she’d preemptively attacked an NPC. She might have expected some story changes, but not to this extent.
The route Mo Haein was currently on was the Collapse Ending route — the hardest difficulty.
By attacking Smiley, the first NPC to appear, she’d made every single toy in the factory hostile to the players.
The players would be attacked by toys in every stage, and at the end, they’d escape the burning factory for the finale.
The text that appeared at the end of the Collapse Ending was especially chilling.
<Happy Smile Factory> has collapsed.
Smiley was hacked to pieces and thrown into the flames, but even so, it could not die.
Smiley will become a terrible nightmare and come for the player again...
I still remembered that ending vividly.
’But the Collapse Ending route connects to the True Ending route, too.’
If I played it right, I could maintain my position as a clueless civilian and still see HapFactory’s true ending.
As I recalled the Collapse Ending, a child’s voice rang out over the music as a guide announcement.
"It’s the adult who bullied Smiley. A-dult. The boring adult."
Hundreds of toys stared at Mo Haein and Park Seonggyeon, swaying their bodies in time with the music like they were warming up.
Left, right, left, left, right...
"We want to make the adult fun."
"But already adult. A-dult. A-a-a-dult. No. Don’t like. Not fun."
"Aha!"
Cymbals crashed and children cheered.
"We found the answer. Make the adult small!"
"Small. Small. Small. Like a child. Like a-a-a-a child. Small. Small."
"Pieces. Pieces. Pieces. Pieces. Pieces."
Mo Haein shouted.
"Civilian!"
Park Seonggyeon, who’d been swaying his head left and right like the toys, snapped back to attention.
He swore and reached out with his forceps, grabbing my waist and lifting me onto the conveyor belt.
"Stay put if you don’t want to die!"
Meaning he wouldn’t save me if something happened.
"Yes sir!"
I answered Park Seonggyeon with vigor and swallowed a sigh internally.
The conveyor belt registered players as toys. It was a safe zone used to avoid attacks in HapFactory.
But there was something neither Park Seonggyeon nor Mo Haein knew.
On the Collapse route, the conveyor belt was useless.
"Turning the adult into a child, staaaart!"
The guide announcement ended with the sound of children’s laughter. The toys that had been swaying shot up like popcorn and lunged.
Mo Haein extended a toy arm toward the ceiling.
Hanging from a pipe running across the ceiling, she sliced the air with her human hand.
A blade made of obsidian appeared.
Mo Haein’s item — the Black Moon Blade.
The Trial Response Agency recommended clearing a Trial using only items obtained from that Trial.
Using items from other Trials had a high chance of causing variables.
But this was an emergency, so she’d pulled out the Black Moon Blade.
’Whoa...!’
Even in the midst of the tension, I was awed internally.
I was seeing Mo Haein’s Black Moon Blade with my own eyes. Right in front of me.
I watched her fight like I was spellbound.
Park Seonggyeon swept toys away with his forceps while shining a flashlight on them with his human hand.
The toys caught in the light stopped moving for a moment.
Mo Haein didn’t miss the opening. She cut the toys down with the Black Moon Blade.
The toys sliced by the long blade screamed sounds like children’s cries and bled rainbow-colored blood.
I wanted to keep watching, but unfortunately, I didn’t have time.
I tore my eyes away from Mo Haein with effort. Then I ran across the conveyor belt, dodging the lunging toys.
I had no items, but avoiding attacks wasn’t hard. I knew the attack patterns.
The way the toys swayed their bodies when the music first started — that was the hint for the attack pattern.
Having seen every ending in HapFactory, I had all the patterns memorized like the rotten veteran I was.
I sprinted across the conveyor belt, quickly scanning the toys rampaging all around me.
New toys were being added from the production pipes — it was a total mess.
But finding what I needed wasn’t hard.
A 15-centimeter mass-produced Smiley doll. Black Edition.
Among all the garish primary colors and fluorescent toys, the pitch-black doll was hard to spot.
But it was essential — I had to get it for the true ending.
I reached my arm through the toys.
"Ghk...!"
A hot sensation grazed my arm. An apron-wearing pony doll had cut my forearm with a plastic kitchen knife.
But I managed to snatch the black Smiley.
Smiley Black Edition: The one and only Sad Smiley in the world.
I ran across the conveyor belt again and arrived at a pile of package boxes stacked like scenery behind the production machines.
Among the boxes packaging various toys, one was particularly large.
It was the package box that should have contained the NPC Smiley.
Now it was empty, thanks to Mo Haein attacking Smiley earlier.
The box was meant for a meter-tall doll, so it could fit a full-grown adult.
I crammed myself into the package box.
It looked a bit pathetic...
It was fine when it was dot graphics, but actually doing it was a little embarrassing.
Anyway, settled in the package box, I watched Mo Haein and Park Seonggyeon through the transparent vinyl.
They were almost done cleaning up the toys.
If I delayed any longer here, the true ending might be out of reach. I quickly checked the Smiley doll.
Even though every second counted, I froze.
’It’s smiling?’
The Sad Smiley doll was smiling.
Like its name, Sad Smiley was supposed to have a crying expression.
But there was no way I’d grabbed the wrong doll.
In this garish toy factory, Sad Smiley was the only achromatic toy. freewebnσvel.cѳm
As I examined the doll, I noticed my blood had gotten on it.
When my forearm was cut, blood had splattered — but the black color hid it, so I hadn’t noticed.
I wiped the blood off belatedly, but Sad Smiley was still smiling.
It was suspicious, but I had no time to deliberate.
I pressed Sad Smiley’s belly. A recorded, melancholy child’s voice came out.
"Please make Sad Smiley happy."
In the original game, two choices would appear.
- Ignore it.
- Ask what to do.
But there were no choices here, so I had to say it out loud.
"What do I have to do to make you happy?"
Then Sad Smiley would give me a clue to the toy factory’s secret...
"Become Sad Smiley’s owner."
...it said.
"Stay together forever. Together is fun. Fun is happy. Forever. For-ev-ever. Forever. Forever. Foreverrrrrr..."
CRACK!
The Sad Smiley in my hand split in half. Black blood splattered across my face.
"I told you to stay put, civilian."
Mo Haein stared at me, the Black Moon Blade stained with rainbow blotches hanging at her side.
I stepped out of the box, holding the half of the Sad Smiley doll that was left.
The vinyl of the package box I’d been hiding in was also cut in half, so I could get out easily.
Everything around me was rainbow-colored.
"I told you not to move on your own!"
Park Seonggyeon scowled and shouted.
I’d been dazed for a moment by Sad Smiley’s strange behavior, so I was a beat late in responding.
"Sorry. I was on the conveyor belt like you said, but the toys were attacking, so I had to dodge..."
"You were attacked even on the belt?"
Mo Haein and Park Seonggyeon’s expressions turned serious immediately.
While they conferred briefly, I found the other half of the Sad Smiley that had been knocked away.
I placed the two halves together and set a Nut Candy on top.
I stared blankly down at Sad Smiley’s smiling face.
Oh dear, an unexpected situation. Truly...
My heart was pounding from sheer excitement...!
