Chapter 9

Beep— Beep— Beep—.

The error tones continued sounding repeatedly.

Researchers completely outfitted in protective suits and equipment reported in tense voices.

“Attempt number three failed. It has been determined to be an error, and it has been confirmed that even forced measurement is impossible.”

One of the monitors displayed a waveform that had never been seen before.

Fear began spreading among the researchers.

Ham Jiwol, Head of the Research Analysis Division, who was reviewing the values, quickly turned her gaze toward Kwak Hanmuk.

Kwak Hanmuk waved a hand to indicate that he was still maintaining the restraint properly.

Ham Jiwol cautiously approached ‘it’ and replaced the patch that had been attached to it.

It looked as though she were handling radioactive material.

‘I wish it were radioactive material.’

Thinking that, Kwak Hanmuk observed through the glass.

The atmosphere was heavy with tension.

However, the protagonist of all that remained calm.

The man sleeping peacefully, completely wrapped in rosary beads, seemed to be one step removed from all the commotion surrounding him.

Kwak Hanmuk absentmindedly rolled one of the beads of his rosary, as was his habit.

His rosary was a defensive item.

Made from byeokjomok wood and infused with lightning energy, it could extend freely and, within a certain range, even separate into multiple sections.

It was an ideal item for restraining and subduing targets.

However, Kwak Hanmuk usually used it in extravagant ways as an offensive weapon.

In fact, he rarely used its original function of restraint and capture.

The reason was simple.

Because it was boring.

But what had happened a little while ago?

“Hanmuk, restrain him.”

The moment Mo Haein gave the order, he launched the restraint technique without a second thought.

It had been an instinctive movement.

The feeling from that moment, when he acted purely on intuition without passing through reason, was still vivid in his memory.

“Haein. What the hell did you pick up this time?”

When Kwak Hanmuk asked while shaking his head, Mo Haein answered immediately.

“I didn’t pick him up. He appeared in front of me.”

Mo Haein had submitted reports to her superiors without even having time to rest.

Her face looked exhausted.

However, her eyes were shining intensely.

The only thing keeping her standing was the euphoria of having permanently closed a Trial through a True Ending.

“Could he be human?”

“…I don’t know.”

At the moment Park Seonggyeon’s head exploded into golden fragments, Mo Haein saw it clearly.

The change that occurred in ‘its’ eyes.

Something impossible for a human being.

At that moment, all available personnel of the Trial Response Agency were investigating the existence known as Han Goyo.

Soon Samra would begin a formal investigation.

Perhaps then they could discover what he truly was.

Whether he was someone infected by a Trial virus.

Or whether he was a non-human existence.

In truth, Mo Haein did not care very much what Han Goyo was.

Only one thing mattered.

Could he be used?

Or not?

If he helped close Trials through True Endings, Mo Haein was willing to accept whatever he was.

“You worked hard, Captain.”

Suddenly, she remembered the way he had congratulated her.

That faint smile belonged to a completely ordinary university student.

But Mo Haein pushed that memory out of her mind.

The feelings she had experienced then had been genuine.

However, now they only interfered with her judgment.

While watching the sleeping Han Goyo without taking her eyes off him for even a moment, Kwak Hanmuk, who had been toying with the rosary beads, suddenly spoke.

“You said the Trial NPCs showed a friendly attitude toward Han Goyo.”

“Yes.”

“By any chance, did you try attacking him with the Black Moon Blade?”

Mo Haein frowned at the absurd question.

But Kwak Hanmuk was completely serious.

“No, I know it sounds fucking crazy, but my rosary keeps feeling it.”

Kwak Hanmuk let out a disbelieving laugh, as if he himself couldn’t believe what he was saying.

“It wants to release him.”

Mo Haein slightly parted her lips.

Kwak Hanmuk pressed the beads of his rosary while watching Han Goyo.

For a while now, the rosary had been giving him small chills on his skin, as if expressing its dissatisfaction.

Finally, he voiced the impossible hypothesis that had been weighing on his mind.

“Not only the NPCs of the Trials…”

“…Even the items might be favorable toward Han Goyo.”

***

“Ugh…”

I opened my eyes while suppressing a groan.

I saw a white ceiling.

It looked like a hospital room.

…That was what I would have liked to think upon waking up.

But reality was completely different.

When I opened my eyes, I was in an interrogation room.

Moreover, I was wearing a restraint uniform and was tied to a chair.

‘Now I’m really screwed.’

The Trial Response Agency belonged to the Ministry of Defense, so trials were held in military courts.

But this could barely be called a trial.

Due to the organization’s special nature, they had their own courts and completely independent procedures.

In other words.

“This bastard is evil!”

And the Agency’s military judge could imprison or punish you immediately.

At least there was a small piece of good news.

All my injuries had been treated.

Noticing that the pain in my thigh had decreased considerably, a question crossed my mind.

‘Come to think of it, why can’t I register Kwak Hanmuk?’

Someone like Captain Kwak was an important and powerful character.

He should be registrable.

But the system window had never appeared.

You think you must proceed cautiously when registering characters.

You currently possess only ‘3 registration slots.’

You consider it far too early to use a slot on ‘Kwak Hanmuk.’

There is a possibility that he may escape from your ■■.

You wish to increase your abilities as a System as soon as possible.

You think it would be a good idea to register ‘Mo Haein.’

A simple question received an extremely strict answer.

Since my doubt had already been resolved, I ignored the system window as usual.

At that moment, the closed door opened.

A man wearing a Trial Response Agency uniform entered the room.

“Hello, Mr. Han Goyo.”

The man smiled kindly as he introduced himself.

“I am ■■■ of the Trial Response Agency.”

Although I heard his name, he was a character I did not recognize at all.

But what had he said his name was?

No matter how hard I tried to remember, the name I had just heard would not come to mind.

The man looked at how I was wrapped up like a cocoon and put on a sympathetic expression.

“It must be very uncomfortable, right? If you cooperate properly, we’ll release you immediately.”

I fully intended to cooperate.

After all, I had nowhere else to go.

‘They are literally my solution for lodging, food, and survival.’

If I left here, I would become homeless, so I tried to put on the friendliest expression possible and replied.

“Yes. I look forward to working with you.”

The man sitting across from me briefly checked a tablet and smiled.

“First of all… what does Gunbam mean?”

I was prepared to answer immediately.

But I ended up giving him a stupid look instead.

“Excuse me?”

“Gunbam.”

“Ah, Gunbam…”

I panicked.

‘How the hell do I explain Gunbam?’

For a moment, I thought it might also be some kind of interrogation technique.

Not knowing what to do, I blinked several times before answering hesitantly.

“Well… it just means Gunbam. You know, roasted chestnuts.”

The atmosphere turned cold.

Trying to appear as cooperative as possible, I explained everything I could.

“My name is Han Goyo. You know, like the Christmas carol Silent Night. At first, people called me Gobam. Then one day I was eating roasted chestnuts with some friends, and Gobam turned into Gunbam…”

Wow.

That sounded pathetic.

The more I explained it, the more I felt I was ruining the situation.

But stopping halfway through would have been even stranger.

“…And that’s how my nickname changed. Since it was a familiar word, I ended up using Gunbam quite often as a username online and things like that.”

Even when I played Archive, I always used Gunbam as the player’s name.

“So Gunbam is a nickname you chose yourself?”

“Yes.”

“……”

The man fell silent.

But there was nothing else I could explain.

I wanted to move on from the Gunbam topic as quickly as possible.

‘Let’s go to the next question.’

While I waited obediently, the man spoke again.

“The names assigned within a Trial reflect a Compatible’s characteristics or possess some kind of symbolism.”

He stared directly at me.

It was the kind of gaze meant to detect lies.

“And all of those names are assigned by the Trial itself.”

It was the first time I had heard something like that.

I had always thought everyone chose whatever name they wanted, just like when creating a character in a video game.

Even though I had played Archive extensively, much of the world’s information appeared as bonus content after finishing the game.

It was inevitable that there would be things I didn’t know.

“There has never been a single case where a name without any special characteristic or meaning, and one personally chosen by the user, was used inside a Trial. Not once.”

The man showed me the tablet.

“During [Happy Smile Factory], there was another Compatible besides you whose name underwent a change.”

A photograph of Park Seonggyeon appeared on the screen.

“Park Seonggyeon received a completely different name from the one the Trials had normally assigned him.”

I immediately remembered Park Seonggyeon’s identification badge in HasFac.

Written on it was:

Sample.

And I also remembered another system window.

[‘Park Seonggyeon’ is a registrable sample character. Would you like to register him?]

Sample.

It was such an obvious name that it practically screamed:

“Please notice it!”

From the very moment he entered HasFac, Park Seonggyeon had been marked as a sample for me.

The choice had not been bad either.

Precisely because it was Park Seonggyeon, I was able to choose the execution option without guilt or hesitation.

However, I did not like the situation.

I could clearly feel the will of some existence that wanted me to develop my abilities as a System.

In any case, the interrogation seemed to be going poorly.

‘I can’t exactly say that my characteristic or symbolism is Gunbam…’

While I was becoming increasingly uncomfortable, the man continued questioning me.

“You knew the method to complete [Happy Smile Factory] with the True Ending. Correct?”

“It was a coincidence.”

“Han Goyo displayed exceptional skill during the boss battle and knew completely new strategies that even the Trial Response Agency was unaware of. Thanks to that, he achieved the True Ending.”

The man smiled slightly before finishing the sentence.

“…That was what Captain Mo Haein reported.”

“It really was a coincidence. It reminded me of a video game I liked, so I decided to try a few things, and it just happened to work…”

“Why did Park Seonggyeon’s head explode?”

The man interrupted me.

And asked the question as though he had already decided I was responsible.

I denied it again.

“I don’t know anything about that.”

The man let out a long sigh.

“Mr. Han Goyo.”

“Yes.”

“Perhaps you still don’t understand, so allow me to explain. Torture is legal in the Trial Response Agency.”

I knew that…

Believe me, I knew that perfectly well…

But I couldn’t confess so easily either.

To do that, I would have to tell the absurd truth that I had entered the world of Archive from a video game.

‘Can’t this guy be registered either?’

For a moment, I imagined registering him and threatening to execute him.

Then a system window appeared.

Entities that are not ■■ cannot yet be registered.

The window appeared suddenly.

To avoid letting him notice where I was looking, I lowered my gaze and pretended to be frightened.

‘Damn black blocks.’

I didn’t understand why it hid certain words.

Then another window appeared.

Insufficient.

Now it didn’t even bother writing, “Your abilities are insufficient.”

It only sent a single word.

At this rate, it would eventually communicate using only initials.

I was about to ignore the window.

But then I looked again at those black blocks.

■■…

What if it meant human?

The moment I thought of that word, a revelation hit me like a hammer.

One of the main characters of the Trial Response Agency.

An existence created by South Korea using Trial items to fight the Trials themselves.

He was not human.

He was an artificial intelligence android system.

I spoke his name.

“Samra Man-Sang.”

At that instant, I could clearly see the face of the man who until then had seemed completely normal.

His face was covered by a black stain, as if someone had scribbled all over it.

The moment I perceived that anomaly, the dark Trial Response Agency uniform turned white.

The paint covering his face gently disappeared.

And revealed his true appearance.

Hair and eyes shining with holographic colors that constantly changed depending on the light.

An existence with colors impossible for a human being.

That existence smiled.

The dark interrogation room disappeared.

In its place appeared a gigantic wall whose height seemed endless.

A wall formed from countless monitors, smartphones, tablets, and screens of every kind connected to one another with no apparent order.

Each displayed different images from around the world.

In front of that wall stood an absurdly high platform.

On top of it was a chair without a backrest.

Seated high above, Samra looked down at me.

“How did you figure it out, Mr. Han Goyo?”