Chapter 123
When playing Archive games, my basic goal was always to see every single ending.
Even endings I disliked, I collected them all without exception, playing meticulously to uncover every hidden element of the game.
The same went for The Cell X.
Neither the warden nor the guards were my type at all, but I still saw every ending.
I remembered the things I had done as a guard.
I had carried out quests involving cruel actions without a shred of emotion.
There were many quests where the Security Chief’s favorability soared because he was pleased with my performance.
I was the Security Chief s most loyal and reliable subordinate and comrade.
"Roasted Chestnut! You are the perfect guard. I cannot imagine this prison without you."
To the point where he promised that if he ever ascended to the position of warden, he would definitely keep me by his side.
If you asked whether I was always miserable during that entire process...
That wasn’t the case.
There were certainly moments where I felt pleasure.
I have vivid memories of feeling a rush of satisfaction when a play went exactly as planned or when a quest was handled cleanly.
But that was a game.
It was enjoyable precisely because it wasn’t reality.
Even the brief pleasure I felt had completely vanished once I discovered the game’s hidden story.
I steadied my breathing, which was quickening from tension.
The Security Chief read the emotions flickering across my face, and notifications of rising favorability popped up repeatedly.
He was becoming convinced that his dream had not been a vain delusion.
I think I now understood why the Security Chief and the other guards had raised their favorability the moment they saw my face.
Just like the Security Chief, the other guards had seen Guard Chestnut in their dreams, and that was why they felt affinity toward me.
It felt as if the world was going dark before my eyes, but I couldn’t just admit it submissively.
I opened my mouth to create some kind of loophole to escape.
"...I didn’t know the Security Chief possessed such a vivid imagination."
Ignoring the notification windows obscuring my vision, I asked him.
"Do you mistake dreams for reality?"
The Security Chief let out a smirk the moment he heard my words. He spoke with an unusually generous attitude.
"I didn’t believe it at first either. I was closer to being skeptical."
Then, he leaned toward me.
"But I heard the voice of God."
Octopus tentacles...?
In that moment, various thoughts flashed through my mind.
There had been mentions of octopus tentacles since the new guard training center.
Neo was a resource with infinite potential, and a stepping stone provided by God for the new era of humanity.
Since there was even a prayer room, the guards received religious education, and the Security Chief and the guards possessed a fanatical faith in their god.
And their god, the octopus tentacles, was already intervening in the Trial.
It had already swapped my medical officer’s weekly schedule.
It was entirely possible for it to exert influence over the Security Chief, an NPC who served it.
But before that, a fundamental question remained.
How does an NPC remember ’Roasted Chestnut’?
I pushed my thoughts a bit further.
There had been three instances so far where a being of the Trial knew ’Roasted Chestnut’ from the game play.
1. The butlers of 3Clean.
In 3Clean, the setting itself was that NPCs remembered the player’s previous runs.
At the time, I was shocked that the butlers remembered Roasted Chestnut, and I couldn’t understand how reality and the game could intersect.
And the master of the mansion who commanded those butlers...
Was the Outer God, Dominic, a being no different from a horrific calamity.
2. Edel from Call of the Void.
Just before the ending, she called me ’Roasted Chestnut’ instead of a lamb.
However, she hadn’t fully recalled ’Roasted Chestnut.
She had merely muttered it as if in a subconscious trance.
At that time, the ones by her side were me and Dominic.
Dominic had killed and revived me several times; since he had interfered with the system, he likely used the power of a god.
3. The creatures and guards of The Cell X.
Here, the octopus tentacles are revered as God.
The creatures and guards didn’t remember all of my plays like the butlers of 3Clean did.
However, through the medium of dreams, they revived parts of the memory of a specific play.
There was a difference between the role of a medical officer and a guard, but it was clear that both were plays I had performed in the game.
3Clean, Call of the Void, The Cell X in all of them, NPCs remembered ’Roasted Chestnut’.
The form of the memory differed, but they shared one definitive commonality.
It was a god.
Based on this, I could deduce one fact.
’In a Trial where a god exists, there is a probability that NPCs will remember the plays I’ve made. ’
Of course, Dominic wasn’t physically present in the space of 3Clean.
But since the butlers clearly recognized their god and master, it could be seen as him ’existing there’.
Once I thought this far, a fact I had only ever guessed at suddenly felt close at hand.
If so, the game plays I did weren’t just illusory data...
Could they be seen as having actually existed at some point?
Isn’t that what it means to exist in someone’s memory?
The moment my thoughts reached that conclusion, I felt a sense of vertigo.
For a split second, it felt as if my breath was blocked.
I stopped thinking.
Because it was a ■■ that I could not yet handle.
I shifted the direction of my thoughts.
The Security Chief was continuing to build favorability toward me by recalling memories through dreams.
Even so, he must have believed that dreams and reality were separate.
But this time, because the octopus tentacles sent him the ’voice of God, he had become fully enlightened.
’Wait a minute.’
I slowly opened my lips.
"Security Chief, you aren’t a member of the clergy, so how did you hear the voice of God? Couldn’t it be an auditory hallucination caused by Neo?"
The Security Chief stared at me.
It was a gaze that seemed to know I was trying to use a shallow trick.
Even though his eyes were hidden behind a metal mask, it felt that way.
"He always watches over me closely."
The moment I heard the answer, I was certain.
’The Security Chief is a servant of the octopus tentacles.’
The voice of God he mentioned was likely a similar type of message to the ones I send to registered individuals.
The octopus tentacles hadn’t just changed my mission; it was sending messages to its own servants.
This is driving me crazy.
I didn’t even clearly know what kind of being the god was, and now that a crisis had suddenly pushed up to my chin, it was maddening.
I quickly racked my brain.
There was at least one precedent I could compare this to.
Call of the Void, where I met Dominic.
Back then, I couldn’t execute a proper strategy.
Because of Dominic’s influence, the options in the system window changed arbitrarily, and the major NPCs didn’t act the way I knew they would.
The current situation was similar, but there was one big difference from back then.
I wasn’t the only one who had entered.
’Could it be that the others’ missions have all changed like mine?’
I could hear the sound of the plans I had established breaking in real-time.
Cold sweat trickled down my spine.
"Roasted Chestnut, I know how wonderful a guard you are."
The Security Chief pretended to persuade me calmly.
It was obvious that if words didn’t work, he intended to resolve the situation in another way.
I reminded myself once again that I hadn’t entered this place alone.
And also, what would happen if I failed to clear this with a True Ending.
Feeling the weight of the pudding slime on my shoulder, I called out to him.
"Security Chief."
I curled the corners of my mouth up slightly.
"Actually, I wanted to be a guard too."
The Security Chief stared at me in silence, as if telling me to go ahead and speak.
In front of him, I spoke as if lost in sentiment.
"I... don’t remember the dreams well, but from the first moment I saw you, Security Chief, I felt a vague sense of longing. I even thought it would be great to work under someone like you."
"I’m also interested in the god you believe in. If I had the chance, I wanted to have faith. Since God is watching over me closely, there’s no reason not to believe, right?"
I stopped talking for a moment, took a deep breath, and let it out.
After a heavy sigh, I continued in a decidedly gloomy voice.
"But the reason I left the training center and acted as a medical officer... there is a reason for that."
"Reason?"
The Security Chief asked briefly.
I hesitated for a long time, as if I didn’t know what to do.
"Roasted Chestnut. Speak."
Only when the Security Chief reprimanded me did I open my mouth, as if I had no choice.
"Actually, I am..."
And closing my eyes tight, I confessed.
"A spy planted by the newly appointed Warden..."
At my declaration, neither the Security Chief nor the guards behind him could hide their momentary shock.
I carefully opened my eyes again and pretended to gauge their reactions.
"The Warden has a hold over my weakness, so I had no choice but to follow orders."
The Warden wanted the prison to be filled with his own people.
Thus, he had forcibly placed me in the medical officer position, and I added that after coming here, I became afraid after seeing how immense the Wardens power and influence actually were.
From here, the most important part began.
I very carefully brought out a provocation.
"Since the Security Chief is... the second-in-command, after all."
The moment the words left my mouth, the air around us turned sharply cold.
Blinking, I quickly corrected myself as if I had made a mistake.
"Ah, I mean in terms of rank. I am well aware that the one with the actual power is you, Security Chief."
Absolutely not.
Right now, the Security Chief was losing the power struggle within the prison.
Despite the fact that he was second in both rank and power, I spoke as if it weren’t the case at all, as if the Security Chief were the greatest.
"That’s why I can’t become a guard right now. But!"
I smiled amidst the metal masks staring at me.
"I’ve thought of something."
And then, I told him about the so-called ’Plan for the Security Chief’s Brilliant Future’.
It was a method I wouldn’t have used if the favorability of the Security Chief and the guards hadn’t been high.
But at this level, it was worth gambling on.
As expected, the Security Chief and the guards paid close attention to my words.
"I understand. It’s not a bad plan, but..."
The problem was that the Security Chief’s suspicion level was also not low.
"I should have some insurance for myself as well, shouldn’t I?"
Clink. The sound of glass meeting a steel table echoed.
A vial containing a neon-green liquid rolled forward and stopped in front of me.
I swallowed a curse inwardly.
The guards approached and untied my ropes.
I reached out and gripped the vial.
At that moment, the pudding slime wiggled and slid down to my hand holding the vial.
He looked up at me and spoke.
"You may drink it."
I saw a blue light that sparkled even more brilliantly than Neo.
While feeling slightly dazed, a pleasant voice gave me calm advice.
"Haven’t you already done this once? The second time will be even easier. Perhaps it won’t feel like anything at all."
Dominic’s voice scattered languidly.
"Because the young god is growing."
I downed the Neo in one gulp.
[Favorability 100 has been achieved!]
***
Won Tae-beom frowned deeply as he looked at the pastoral schedule given to him.
He checked the daily changing pastoral schedule and performed the corresponding missions; until now, he had been given missions befitting a correctional chaplain.
Things like managing the prayer room, hearing confessions, or officiating ceremonies.
Since they weren’t much different from the work he had done in his previous vocation, performing the missions was easy.
As Han Go-yo had requested, he had been closely observing the events occurring in relation to the god of this place, but...
▸ Wednesday
☐ Brainwash the medical officer.
☐ Brainwash the medical officer.
☐ Brainwash the medical officer.
☐ Brainwash the medical officer.
He couldn’t even begin to guess what was happening.
He knew Han Goyo caused anomalies in the Trial, but experiencing it firsthand made it almost unbelievable.
While he was staring at the pastoral schedule, the door to the prayer room swung open with a thud.
The act of bursting in without a single knock made him think of Kwak Han-mook, but a completely unexpected person appeared.
A man in a white mask strode into the prayer room as if it were his own home.
".....CEO Cha."
As soon as Won Tae-beom called him, CEO Cha immediately threw out his business.
"The Warden’s daily schedule has changed to ’hanging out in the prayer room’."
It seemed the other side’s missions had also changed strangely.
Since it was related to the prayer room, he seemed to have come to check with the correctional chaplain first, but he too had been hit by a bolt from the blue.
Won Tae-beom answered curtly.
"I know nothing about it."
"Oh, really?"
A short silence passed.
Kwang!
Won Tae-beom swallowed a hollow laugh as he blocked the white blade with his gauntlet.
He had put on the gauntlets just in case, and he was right to do so.
A force strong enough to make his arm tremble was transmitted through the sword.
If he were pushed back even a little, the blade would slice through him.
CEO Cha asked in an indifferent tone.
"You still don’t know?"
"I told you I don’t know."
It was just as he was answering while glaring at CEO Cha.
Bang!
The prayer room door opened with a sound even louder than before.
Won Tae-beom immediately turned his gaze.
Kwak Han-mook was there.
He let out an "Oh," whistled, and casually closed the door as he walked in.
"Director Cha, stop throwing your temper."
CEO Cha didn’t even respond, but Kwak Han-mook persisted.
"I’ve come to deliver a message from Trainee Han."
Only then did CEO Cha slowly turn his head to look at Kwak Han-mook.
He was still pressing Won Tae-beom down with the Great One Tathagata.
Kwak Han-mook grinned and spoke.
"Trainee Han says he’s teaming up with the Security Chief."
Just as Won Tae-beom, who had no clue what he was talking about, was becoming flustered.
Kwak Han-mook dropped a bombshell of a statement.
"He says he’s going to kick CEO Cha out of the Warden’s seat."