Chapter 42
I looked down at the metal hand touching me, then back at Je Hyun-oh.
"Are you saying... the butlers lied to me?"
Instead of answering, Je Hyun-oh stepped inside.
I closed the window for him.
He leisurely took a look around the room. His movements were relaxed, like he was out sightseeing. He didn’t seem to have any intention of answering my question.
While Je Hyun-oh inspected the guest room, I tried to make sense of what he’d said.
It wasn’t easy.
Every time I’d entered a Trial before, I’d always told myself that this was reality now, that it might be different from the game I’d played. But this time was different.
They were NPCs from the game I’d played.
NPCs I’d talked to dozens of times across countless Clean3 playthroughs.
Neither the Cat Butler nor the Rabbit Butler were the type to lie. They had no reason to, either. Why would they go out of their way to lie and keep me trapped in the mansion?
The butlers did seem to like me a lot, but that was a separate issue.
They’re people who keep work and personal life separate.
I kept my thoughts to myself. Once I got through the week and made it out of Clean3, this would all resolve naturally. I didn’t want to argue with Je Hyun-oh and end up looking like an idiot.
Just as Je Hyun-oh finished examining the guest room —
THUMP. THUMP. THUMP. THUMP.
Heavy sounds came from outside the door.
Footsteps like a giant walking, followed by someone’s desperate scream.
"KYAAAAAAK! HELP! NO, IT HURTS, UGH...!"
The scream cut off abruptly. In its place came a wet, grinding sound — like someone chewing meat.
The creatures had begun their activity.
The creatures were forms the mansion created to efficiently consume its offerings. The more cleaners the creatures devoured during the night, the more brilliantly the mansion would shine the next day. Sometimes, if too many creatures spawned, the butlers would clean them up or give the Player a quest — that was the Boss Monster extermination.
The cleaners assigned to the East Wing’s third floor seemed to be getting mowed down by the creatures like leaves before a broom. They appeared to be trying to fight back, but it wouldn’t be easy. At night, the cleaners’ vision narrowed and darkened. Plus, they clearly had no idea how to deal with them.
Attacking blindly was pointless. Unless you used the right strategy for each creature, their health recovery far outpaced the damage you dealt.
Of course, if you had enough raw power to overwhelm all of that, it’d be a different story.
Like the Lieutenant Colonel.
I’d been staring at the door. I turned to look at Je Hyun-oh.
He was slowly clicking his metal hand. He seemed to be holding back the urge to burst out and tear the creatures apart. Still staring intently at the closed door, he slowly shifted his gaze.
"What should we do, Goyo?"
His voice, tinged with the sound of metal, asked me.
"Want to escape?"
"...What escape method are you thinking of, Lieutenant Colonel?"
"Kill all the butlers."
"..."
"If that’s not enough, kill the creatures too."
That certainly seemed like a way to be escaped. Following his method, we could probably clear it somehow — but it definitely wouldn’t be the True Ending. My rescue had nothing to do with the Clean3 world to begin with.
Even at this point, I wanted to see the True Ending. No — I had to see it.
If I failed this Clean3 run, it would be physically impossible to close the remaining two Trials in the time we had left. The Special Task Force would only assign Four-Star and above ranks, after all.
A throbbing phantom pain shot through limbs that had never once been severed. I rubbed my wrist unconsciously as I spoke.
"I think... I can get the True Ending."
Je Hyun-oh’s eyes narrowed.
"I’ve gathered information from talking with the butlers. It’s not confirmed yet, though."
"You want me to wait?"
"Yes. Give me three days."
I calmly persuaded him to focus on the True Ending instead of the rescue quest. Je Hyun-oh looked at me as if to say, Go on, let’s hear it.
I continued explaining quickly.
"Lieutenant Colonel, could you relay a message to the Captains for me? Since I’ve become a butler, I don’t think I’ll be able to contact you or the Captains easily."
During the day, the other butlers would likely be by my side, and I had work to do. At night, I needed to stay quietly in my room to avoid suspicion. After explaining my situation to Je Hyun-oh, I told him what needed to be done now.
"Please kill the cleaners. More specifically — let them be killed by the creatures."
Even as I said it, I realized how cruel it sounded. I quickly added a justification.
"Ah, all the cleaners brought here are violent criminals. In the Clean3 story, it’s set up so that only the protagonist gets tricked into coming here without knowing..."
But even as I made my excuse, I realized something.
Je Hyun-oh standing before me, and the Captains who weren’t here right now — none of them cared whether the NPCs were guilty or not. To them, NPCs were just NPCs.
"...Still. So I’ll leave it to you. Only the Lieutenant Colonel and the Captains should remain as cleaners."
"By when?"
"The day after tomorrow night, ideally."
If the cleaners died too quickly, it would look suspicious, so I planned for it to happen over three days. Meanwhile, I intended to gather as much information about the Master as possible.
This was a game whose ending had already been played out. My goal was to essentially create a DLC for Clean3 — an expansion pack.
If a DLC was truly possible... I was certain the Master, who still hadn’t returned home, was the key to the new ending.
"Which area were you assigned to, Lieutenant Colonel?"
"East Wing garden."
So he was in charge of maintaining the ornamental trees. Trimming trees was something even a metal hand could handle easily enough. Zeta the Footman had assigned Je Hyun-oh to an area that suited him well.
As expected of a Footman chosen by the butlers.
The guy clearly knew what he was doing. At any rate, if Je Hyun-oh was in the East Wing garden, communication would be easy.
"I’ll send you messages every night. Please come find me."
I’d communicate with the Captains through Je Hyun-oh, and let him know if there was anything that needed to be done. This seemed like the easiest method.
After roughly summarizing the situation, I told Je Hyun-oh the Captains’ assigned areas and asked him to find Mo Haein first if possible.
"Done?"
"Yes, that’s it."
Even inside a room, staying too long was dangerous. Just as I was about to send Je Hyun-oh out, I remembered a question that had been nagging at me ever since I entered Clean3.
"Lieutenant Colonel. Can I touch the metal part, just once?"
His eyes crinkled, as if he found the request amusing. Then he readily held out his hand.
Careful not to touch the blade, I very cautiously picked up the tip of the metal hand. The sensation against my skin was cold and hard. I gently applied pressure, but there was no sign of it bending at all. Completely different from the Rabbit Butler’s metal ears, which had bent under my touch.
I let go and spoke honestly.
"The butlers’ heads look like they’re made of the same metal as yours, Lieutenant Colonel."
At that, Je Hyun-oh’s eye-smile deepened.
"Not the same."
So they were similar, then?
I wanted to ask more, but Je Hyun-oh had already put his goggles back on.
He winked at me, then threw open the guest room door.
Standing in the hallway was a bisque doll in the shape of a little girl in a dress. The cute porcelain doll twisted its head 180 degrees to look at Je Hyun-oh. The moment it confirmed its target, it began backing toward him.
"Thump... thump... thump... thump!"
Every time its tiny feet hit the hallway floor, the surroundings shook as if a giant were stomping around. And as the bisque doll rapidly approached, Je Hyun-oh charged at it even faster.
He shot forward like an arrow, swinging his metal hand with glee.
Just once.
CRASH!
With a single gesture, the bisque doll shattered into pieces.
Crunch, crunch.
Stepping on the porcelain shards, Je Hyun-oh swung his hand through the air a couple of times, looking disappointed.
I should’ve told him not to kill too many creatures.
But Je Hyun-oh needed to enjoy his hobbies a little to stay sane in this place. I didn’t stop him. Not that he’d listen even if I did.
He’d probably play around as he pleased, then find his way to the Captains.
I closed the door and went back inside the room, heading for the bed. The fatigue I’d forgotten about suddenly washed over me.
I flopped onto the bed, blinking slowly with drowsy eyes.
I’ll just close my eyes for a bit, then get back up.
I still needed to check the item Samra had given me.
But I fell asleep immediately.
—
When I opened my eyes, it was already morning.
I scrambled up and straightened my rumpled clothes. After quickly getting ready for work, I opened the door — and there stood the Rabbit Butler, one hand raised as if he’d been about to knock.
"Roasted Chestnut. Good morning."
He waved the raised hand gently in greeting.
"Good morning."
I smiled back.
The Rabbit Butler tried to lead me to the dining hall.
"Eat."
"Ah, I’m okay. I think I ate too much dinner last night."
I didn’t feel hungry at all. I felt like I could even skip lunch at this rate.
"Then want to go to work?"
"Yes!"
I answered enthusiastically.
The Rabbit Butler led me toward the main building. Even though the cleaners must have been devoured in plenty overnight, the mansion didn’t seem much different. It should have been gleaming and polished — strange.
When we reached the main hall, all twelve Footmen were gathered. They stood in two rows of six, with the Cat Butler positioned before them.
All twelve Footmen looked identical — same appearance, same height, same build, as if they’d been copy-pasted.
The Footmen are shorter than the butlers.
The Footmen were about 2 meters 30, and the butlers about 2 meters 50. And based on the mansion’s structure, I estimated the Master was probably around 3 meters.
Does higher rank mean taller?
I wondered if I’d grow taller if I officially became a butler. My current height was certainly inconvenient for working in this mansion in many ways.
The Cat Butler, who had been pacing back and forth in front of the Footmen with his hands behind his back, spotted me and hurried over.
"Roasted Chestnut!"
He handed me a paper newspaper.
Startled by the sudden appearance of such a classic medium, I reflexively scanned it.
’Day News?’
The newspaper’s name felt familiar. Below it, a large headline and article caught my eye.
"Uh..."
But it was almost entirely covered in square colored blocks.
Just as I was panicking, the Rabbit Butler poked the corner of the newspaper with his finger. A small article printed in the corner of the front page — this one I could read.
<CLEANING COMPANY SPACESHIP SHOT DOWN BY UNKNOWN ATTACK!>
A spaceship belonging to the cleaning service company ’Clean! Clean! Clean!’ was shot down while operating on a regular route.
The spaceship was attacked by an undetected high-energy missile. The hull fragmented in a massive explosion immediately after the attack, and all employees on board were killed.
The mastermind behind this attack has not yet been identified.
Currently, ’Clean! Clean! Clean!’ has suspended all new cleaning reservations, and has also halted spaceship operations for the return of dispatched cleaners.
The article was about the spaceship that was supposed to come pick us up — hit by a missile and blown up.