Chapter 112

The robot’s hearts—its lives—numbered only three.

And now all three hearts had turned gray.

That meant all they had to do was throw the robot into the incinerator and the tutorial would end.

This was a tutorial, right?

A tutorial is supposed to be guidance for learning something.

That’s why it should be detailed, friendly, and not have too high a barrier to entry.

It should show the way forward and make you feel engaged.

But when someone you’re playing games with decides to set it to some nightmare-level difficulty because it sounds fun, you just have to accept it.

Especially when viewers have placed mission bets on it.

It’s an inescapable fate for streamers.

Looking at it, there seemed to be options to adjust difficulty in the middle too, which was good.

Though that only applied to other users.

He had no intention of changing from nightmare difficulty.

“Let’s drive it that way for now.”

“Alright.”

Seo-jun kept an eye on the robot as he moved toward the incinerator.

The robot, destroyed to the point where even a toy repair center would wave their hands and refuse to take it, was currently looking down at what had once been its scraper.

At this rate, it might actually start crying.

-Lmao we’re sorry

-Hurry up and go dark and protect my money!

-Phase 2 better be really fucking hard!

The mission fund had risen to two million won.

Must be because it was a million per head.

“Are you going to watch the pattern first this time too?”

“Yeah, let’s play it safe.”

“That’s the way.”

“Should we try making the hook easier to catch like before?”

When Seo-jun went past the enemy and hooked his grappling hook to pull, the enemy’s body would inevitably turn around.

Then Tae-woo could just throw more safely without any interference.

Of course, before it had been easy to hook without interference since the arms were one piece and could only move back and forth, but Phase 2 might be a bit different.

But they’d figure it out as they went.

-How much more are you going to spoon-feed him!

-Excessive protection harms a child’s independence…

-You need to make them independent early so when they face real setbacks and despair later, they can get back up……

-Everyone’s gone crazy because it looks like the mission will succeed! Lol

Seo-jun ignored the chat and observed the robot.

It seemed to compose itself and become angry again, glaring with fury.

Now it would probably roll forward quickly.

Seo-jun walked forward in advance to meet it.

The biggest difference in Phase 2 was that while it had become harder to scrape up trash, its arms and hands had gained much more freedom of attack.

Whirrrr.

The robot rolling on its wheels charged quickly at Seo-jun and immediately swung its arm.

Seo-jun lightly jumped to dodge.

Ducking was out of the question since it swept the blade too low.

It wasn’t an attack worth dodging to the side, and backing away would put him in range for too long.

The robot struck diagonally with its opposite arm. Seo-jun, who had been floating in midair, was right in that path.

Nightmare difficulty indeed.

If he’d just jumped habitually and then double-jumped, he would have been helplessly hit while stuck in midair.

Seo-jun kicked backward through the air.

“Wow!”

That’s why you use the minimum movement necessary and save your options.

As soon as he landed, the robot launched its next attack.

The timing was designed to be tight enough that you’d get hit if you just went “huh?” without learning the pattern.

And this was his first time facing an enemy this huge.

Naturally, of course.

But there was no problem.

-Whoa lmao

-His movement is insane

-That’s really your classmate? What the hell were you doing instead of learning from him?

As Seo-jun dodged the massive enemy’s attacks with double-jumps and acrobatic skill, Tae-woo’s viewers who were seeing Seo-jun for the first time were amazed.

Watching him improvise and dodge like that every time was the peak of physical prowess.

And Seo-jun’s chat was business as usual.

Seo-jun’s performance wasn’t much different from before, except he wasn’t holding a sword.

If there was a difference.

-Ugh I want to see him holding a sword

-Someone give him one

-If he had a sword he would have parried 150 times and finished this by now lol

-It’s nice seeing the streamer when he can’t counterattack!

There was nothing he could do about what the system didn’t allow.

Time to wrap this up.

The enemy struck down vertically and Seo-jun dodged with just a slight movement, then signaled to Tae-woo as he jumped up.

Naturally the opposite blade came toward Seo-jun to block him.

Because the enemy’s attack was coming from the front, it looked difficult to double-jump and get over the enemy, but Seo-jun kicked off once more.

He put different force into his foot than before to slowly rotate his body, allowing Seo-jun to dodge diagonally just as the blade passed by.

Then he put strength into his core and rolled his body forward while firing the grappling hook.

Time to finish this.

After all, it was still Phase 2—it’s not like its lives had increased again.

Clank.

The grappling hook caught perfectly and Seo-jun pulled hard to turn the robot’s body.

With an added comment.

“If it were me, I would have cut the rope with my blade.”

-Clean

-Hard to move like that in midair

-LOL cutting the rope would be cheating

-Let’s fight by the rules

1 second.

2 seconds.

The robot’s body turned around and Tae-woo, who had received the signal, ran up with perfect timing.

“Take this!”

Clank.

Nightmare difficulty was nothing special.

Seo-jun spoke gently to soothe the robot.

“Now you have to go, right?”

Moving slowly toward the incinerator.

-Scary as hell

-Robot fight back! Get up! Cut the rope or do something!

-We need Phase 3, Phase 3 is necessary

It was disappointing for the grateful viewers who had placed mission bets, but what greeted them wasn’t Phase 3.

* * *

When Seo-jun and Tae-woo dragged it to the incinerator, its body moved automatically.

Seo-jun and Tae-woo spread apart to both sides while pulling the rope to shove it in all at once.

Whether their strength was mismatched or it was intentional, the robot’s body spun as it went into the incinerator.

The incinerator’s interior was a sharply dropping downhill path with a cliff appearing at some point, and if the robot fell like this, there seemed to be no way back up.

Thankfully, despite being dizzy from spinning, the robot managed to catch its blade on the door frame (it couldn’t grab with its hands) and held on without falling.

For a toy, its survival instinct was impressive.

“We saved its life.”

Seo-jun made a brief observation of the scene.

And Tae-woo understood perfectly.

“Right. If we hadn’t helped and its arms were still one piece, it wouldn’t have been able to grab the door frame and would have fallen straight into the fire pit.”

-LOL

-Insane psycho duo LOL

-Why did he fall! Lol

-So shameless

The robot looked like it could climb back up on its own if only Seo-jun and Tae-woo weren’t interfering.

Its body had regained freedom.

So just when they were wondering if they should push the robot now, Tae-woo’s character spoke.

[Hmm. Should we push?]

(＼ ／)

The robot’s expression, which had been full of anger, had somehow become pitiful.

(T△T)

The toy shook its head and dropped what seemed to be tears or oil.

Seo-jun’s character spoke.

[Oh. It’s kind of cute, isn’t it?]

[Are you crazy?]

It was cute.

[It’s the one that suddenly charged at us as soon as it saw us.]

[Well, that’s just how this world is. A world where you can only live according to what’s predetermined, what you’re made for. Charging at us was probably just following its given mission. Hmm. Should we spare it?]

[You’ve really lost it.]

[We can just get a promise that it won’t attack.]

[Sigh. Fine, do whatever you want.]

[Hey, want us to give you one chance?]

The robot nodded.

Seo-jun was quietly listening to the narration while Tae-woo looked around.

“Seo-jun. I think we need to back away a bit.”

Since the people who had thrown it in were standing right in front of it while it was desperately trying to survive, the robot couldn’t put proper strength into climbing out, Tae-woo judged.

Seo-jun said.

“Then if we stay here, will it fall?”

“Progress probably won’t continue.”

“Ah.”

-Ah what the hell lol

-LOL

-Straightforward

-Yeah this is how you should beat the streamer

“No, I do have things to say too. From what I can see, the protagonists of this game seem to have really devilish personalities, you know? So my character might have said that to give hope and then take it away. I might have had that intention……”

[‘Hyungnim’ donated 30,000 won!]

[Stop making excuses]

“Yes.”

Seo-jun shut his mouth and backed away.

-Beating him with money isn’t bad either lmao

-The only way we can beat this streamer

-What about poor viewers with no money to donate? T_T

The robot struggled and climbed up.

Then it approached them with a smile, spreading both arms wide to express gratitude.

(^ ^)

The boss battle was over.

Was it really ending with reconciliation?

Well, considering the narration from before, it wasn’t completely incomprehensible.

Something about following orders?

What kind of world was this?

“Well then, let’s head to that wall where the marker appeared.”

A green marker had appeared on the lower part of the wall next to the entrance where the compression robot had come from, and Seo-jun and Tae-woo headed there along the circular wall.

The compression robot followed behind them.

It didn’t attack.

It was okay for its attitude to change this much just because they spared it?

Though fighting and then stopping when one person is about to die and saving them to become friends is a classic trope.

When they reached the marker, the compression robot quickly moved past them to the front.

Art said.

[Don’t go through the main entrance? Your friends are sleeping there?]

The robot nodded.

[What? Did you gain some ability??]

[No. I was just guessing. So there are friends there…… where do we exit then?]

[Hmm. The protagonist went straight to that exhaust port through the rope, but we couldn’t reach it. Probably because we were split into two?]

[Try combining into one.]

[But before that, I want to test something. I know a secret passage. I had it planned as an easter egg later.]

[Planned? Then would it exist?]

[Yeah. This compression vehicle was also something we’d only thought up as a setting without actually creating the game file, but it exists. So the secret passage might exist too.]

[Sigh. We don’t know, it was probably just you alone. Anyway, try looking for it.]

Seo-jun placed his hand on the wall with the green marker.

Then the wall moved like precision machinery and created a small opening.

The compression robot saw this and clapped beside them.

Clang! Clang!

Sparks flew.

“We’re going!”

Tae-woo said goodbye to the robot first and went into the opening, and Seo-jun followed him inside.

The secret passage was narrow and low enough that they couldn’t lift their heels.

After walking a bit like that, they could see the end of the passage, and Tae-woo, who had been leading, suddenly stopped.

Seo-jun went beside him and asked, immediately understanding why.

“Why?”

“Ugh. I almost fell while spacing out.”

A cliff was greeting them.

“This is probably for us to use, right?”

“Yeah.”

Tae-woo pointed to a rod hanging on a rope in front of them.

There were rings on both sides where they could hook their rope, and this part was glowing green.

Seo-jun and Tae-woo fired their grappling hooks to hook them there and pressed what looked like a button on the wall.

Whirrrr.

With the sound of pulleys turning, they rose quickly upward, and where they arrived.

Tae-woo shouted.

“Ahhhhh!”

Squeak?

There was a mouse?

-???

-Why are you screaming?

-It’s just a normal mouse? LMAO

-What the hell lol

And Seo-jun, who had been watching the scene, grinned.

So that’s why he’d been talking less since earlier.