Chapter 46
I don’t remember exactly what I was thinking the moment Rabbit Butler spotted me.
My consciousness had been hazy for a while by then.
I think I was still feeling wronged up to that point.
I couldn’t understand why no one would listen to me, why they had to cause such a massive disaster.
True Ending, my ass. Now we couldn’t even get out of Clean3 peacefully. Tied up in the Bead Rosary, I agonized alone over how to salvage this mess.
Then the East Wing exploded, and I snapped back to reality.
"...?"
The moment I realized my mind was clear, I was met with debris flying in every direction.
Watching the building burst apart like a brilliant firework, I finally understood how abnormal my actions and thoughts had been up until now.
I’d firmly believed I was fine, but at some point I’d started prioritizing the mansion.
Even when looking for ways to reach the True Ending, I’d tried to choose options that benefited the mansion.
There was no reason for that.
Just gathering information about the Master would’ve been enough.
But I’d gone out of my way to include the part about feeding the Cleaners to the mansion.
I’d even felt loyalty toward it.
Why would I?
I liked Clean3, and I liked the butlers of Clean3, but not enough to swear loyalty.
I had no idea why it happened.
As I stood there confused, a System window blinked open before my eyes.
It appeared so urgently that the notification sound — ding — only rang after the window was already up.
’Han Goyo (Roasted Chestnut)’ has entered <Clean! Clean! Clean!>!
◆<Clean! Clean! Clean!> M!!!AIN! QU!!E!!ST!!: !!!!ESCAPE!!!!
Escape!Run!Escape!Run!Escape!Run!Escape!Run!Escape!Run!Escape!Run!Escape!Run!Escape!Run!Escape!Run!CanYouRun?Escape!Run!Escape!Run!Escape!Run!
It had been a while since I’d seen a System window.
Not that I was glad to see it. It was just spouting useless nonsense again, as usual.
If I could, I would’ve done it already.
If escape or running were possible, I’d have done it ages ago.
Giving me a quest to do the impossible.
Throw in some exclamation marks and weird formatting and that’s it? Disappointed.
I silently cursed the System window, but no additional windows appeared.
It gave me a quest, but apparently no real solution.
I hadn’t expected one anyway, so I just let it go.
I wanted to tell Captain Kwak that I was back to normal, but the Bead Rosary had my mouth sealed shut. There was nothing I could do.
Anxious, I watched the butlers and Je Hyun-oh.
The butlers were using a weapon I’d never seen before, firing a massive beam of light at Je Hyun-oh.
Even to the naked eye, that beam was clearly no joke — and yet Je Hyun-oh took it from both sides and survived.
His shattered Goggles rolled across the floor.
Je Hyun-oh’s eyes flashed wildly. He was just as out of his mind as the butlers.
We’re screwed.
At this rate, it wouldn’t end until either Je Hyun-oh or the butlers died.
Even if Je Hyun-oh won, he’d take enough damage to be immobilized for a while.
And there was no guarantee the Captains would come out unscathed in the process.
With a large-scale battle like this, they could easily get caught in the crossfire and injured.
Honestly, "injured" was putting it lightly. If we were unlucky, they’d just die.
I thought and thought.
Even if I stepped in to mediate, there was no way Je Hyun-oh — let alone the butlers, whose mansion had just been destroyed — would listen to a word I said.
No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t come up with a way to turn this around.
Except one.
I chose the last option, the one I really didn’t want to take.
If I fill all three Registration slots, will I get a useful ability?
The moment it read my thoughts, the System window frantically popped up.
In the face of absolute crisis, you have had a positively genius idea!
Your judgment is beyond words — astonishing, magnificent, and ice-cold!
This is because proceeding with the ’Registration’ you have been putting off will bring about remarkable progress.
What kind of ability will I get?
You feel anxious, not knowing what the future holds.
However, I am certain that if you proceed with ’Registration’ and fill all three slots, you will surely gain a good ability to resolve this predicament.
It didn’t seem to want to tell me. Or maybe it didn’t know itself.
I hesitated one last time.
But there really was no other way.
Fine. I’ll do the Registration on the off chance it works.
If filling all three slots, which it had been screaming about, didn’t produce any meaningful change, I planned to permanently revoke the System window’s right to speak.
I threatened it internally — saying I was giving it its first and last chance — and the System window, as if afraid I might change my mind, quickly threw up a square window.
Would you like to register ’Mo Haein’ and ’Kwak Hanmuk’?
I hesitated for a moment.
I had no idea what would happen once I registered them, and doing it while tied up in the Bead Rosary felt a bit off.
But then the Rosary that had been sealing my mouth loosened and slid off.
I thought Captain Kwak had untied it for some reason, but my body was still bound.
"Captain Kwak..."
The moment I called him, he flinched — so it didn’t seem intentional.
After Captain Kwak confirmed I was back to normal and I was safely released from the Bead Rosary prison, I started with an apology.
"I’m sorry, Captain Kwak."
It was a decision I had to make, but I still felt bad.
Especially because I had no desire to hold the Captains’ lives in my hands.
I registered both of them at once.
’Register Mo Haein, Kwak Hanmuk.’
I thought it might take a while since there were two people, but the Registration completed instantly.
As if it had been waiting for this moment.
Registration complete!
A strange feeling washed over me.
It was different from when I’d registered Je Hyun-oh.
Back then, it felt like a kind of liberation.
Now, it felt like...
An omnipotent sensation, as if I could do anything.
’Han Goyo (Roasted Chestnut)’ has completed the tutorial. A new name is granted.
’Han Goyo (Little Lamb)’
The System window cascaded open.
I stared at it, eerily calm.
A massive golden roulette appeared.
You acquire a new ability.
The roulette began to spin.
It was fast enough that following it with my eyes was difficult.
But I’d never failed to draw what I wanted.
What I need most right now.
The roulette’s needle stopped exactly on the slot I wanted.
You have acquired ’Divine Protection’!
The moment I got the ability, I used it immediately.
’Divine Protection on Mo Haein, Kwak Hanmuk, Je Hyun-oh.’
A translucent veil of dazzling gold draped over Kwak Hanmuk.
He flinched at the sudden veil settling over his head.
The same golden veil covered Mo Haein, and Je Hyun-oh too.
As soon as Je Hyun-oh saw the veil falling over his head, he moved quickly, trying to dodge.
No chance.
’Prohibition on Je Hyun-oh.’
I immobilized him and forced the veil over his head.
Despite his resistance, once the veil was on, he went quiet.
He tried to touch the veil covering him with his metal hand.
But the veil, made of light, wouldn’t be caught by metal.
His sharp metal blade sliced through the veil a couple of times — futilely.
The veil rippled on its own even though no wind was blowing, like an aurora, or a halo.
Once I’d cast Divine Protection on all three, the strength drained from my entire body.
The intense euphoria that had been dominating me vanished, leaving me with a slight chill.
My body swayed a little, but unlike last time, my nose wasn’t bleeding and I was relatively okay.
Panting, I looked at the butlers.
I wonder if it’ll have any effect.
There were buff-type abilities that temporarily increased the damage of registered individuals, but I’d chosen the defensive-type ability, ’Divine Protection.’
I couldn’t very well give a buff to Je Hyun-oh, who was on the verge of rampaging, nor could I buff the Captains and send them into a dangerous fight.
Most of all, I didn’t want to watch the butlers die right in front of me.
So I chose ’Divine Protection.’
My reasoning was that if their attacks were blocked by my ability, the butlers’ attention would shift from Je Hyun-oh to me.
At least I might get a chance to talk, even once.
Of course, they might shoot a beam at me instead of talking.
But I was sure they wouldn’t.
Because they want something from me.
Their reaction, however, was far from what I’d expected.
"..."
The butlers stopped attacking Je Hyun-oh.
They lowered their spear blades and just stared blankly at the golden veil.
Why?
At that moment, I felt a clear emotion from them.
Nostalgia.
It didn’t fit them at all, and I couldn’t understand it, but...
That’s definitely what it felt like.
As their gazes lingered, the eerie aura radiating from them subsided.
Their floating bodies slowly descended to the ground.
A short spark flickered, and the spears in their hands vanished.
Rabbit Butler and Cat Butler, having completely dropped their combat stance, looked at me.
I was thrown off.
Because the ’chance to talk’ I’d braced myself for was supposed to be against bloodthirsty butlers.
Facing butlers whose killing intent had completely drained away was completely unexpected.
With the butlers’ hostility gone, the golden veil over Je Hyun-oh and the Captains faded and disappeared.
Je Hyun-oh tracked the fading traces of light with his eyes.
He, too, had gone quiet.
"...Butlers."
Neither Rabbit Butler nor Cat Butler said anything — they just stared at me — so I spoke first.
"I’ll find the Master for you."
Their metal mouths parted, revealing the inside slightly.
With their mouths hanging open in a daze, I said it again.
"I’ll find the Master and bring him home. So please let me and the Cleaners out."
Now that I’d regained my senses, I could judge the situation objectively.
The butlers had recognized me even as the mansion was being attacked.
Putting me above the mansion, which should have been their top priority — that couldn’t be explained by simple favorability.
It meant I was connected to something more important than the mansion.
And to the butlers, there was only one thing more important than the mansion.
Their ’Master,’ who hadn’t come home for a long time.
An abnormal absence.
It was clear something had happened to whoever this Master was.
After a long search, the butlers had finally located their Master, but they were bound to the mansion and couldn’t leave.
They couldn’t just ask anyone for help, not knowing what had happened to their Master.
And then I appeared.
Someone the butlers could trust, with the ability and freedom to find their Master.
From the butlers’ perspective, they must have decided they absolutely couldn’t let me go.
"...Can you really find him?"
Rabbit Butler asked.
I answered without hesitation.
"Yes."
Though there was a slight flaw in that answer.
I could find him, but I hadn’t set a deadline for ’by when.’
I was going to keep entering new Trials, so eventually I might reach a Trial I hadn’t played in Archive’s games.
If the butlers’ Master was there, I could tell him to go home.
It was a vague, distant future.
But either way, the mansion and the butlers were beings that would disappear once the Trial closed.
Even if I never ended up meeting their Master, there would be no way to verify the promise.
My promise was essentially a white lie.
Still, there was one reason I made it sound like I’d definitely keep it.
Because in our final moments, I wanted to part ways seeing them with hope — at least a little — instead of anger and curses.
"...It was the same when we first met, but you."
Cat Butler gave a faint smile.
"You never cease to amaze us."
The butlers approached me.
Then, in front of me, they knelt on one knee.
"We will not forget this kindness."
"For as long as the universe exists. Eternally."
Cat Butler held out a ring to me.
The moment I took it, a System window appeared.
<Clean! Clean! Clean!> Cleared!
- Eternal Memory Ending.
I knew it instinctively.
This was the True Ending.
With a heavy heart, I looked at the butlers.
At those who would soon disappear.
But.
"..."
Why.
Why?
I hurriedly looked around.
There was nothing.
By the time I noticed, there was only darkness.
Everything had vanished. But the butlers remained.
Something was wrong.
A chill raced through my body.
"Roasted Chestnut. No — should I call you Little Lamb now?"
Rabbit Butler slowly stretched his mouth into a grin.
"You’ll definitely be able to find the Master."
Cat Butler grinned the same way.
"We’ll be waiting for the day you return home with the Master."
"I’ll be waiting, Little Lamb."
The world, filled with darkness, melted away into neon.
I was pushed into a new Trial.