A Genius Gamer's Final Conquest

A specialist in game walkthroughs across all genres, a Mutuber with one million subscribers: Kim Gongryak. The label that always followed me was "naturally gifted." But in truth, blood-sweating effort was hidden behind that word.

To push my understanding of a game to its absolute limit, I searched for every scrap of information, practiced based on it, and repeated the process until I succeeded. I cut back on sleep and skipped meals, immersing myself entirely in the game just to record a walkthrough. Doing this would yield one completed video within a week. This was my job.

"Whew. That's another one done."

Once again, I had successfully recorded and uploaded a flawless walkthrough video. It was a recently released, highly popular game, so the lack of available information had made it tough, but dumping endless hours into it made it possible somehow.

I should check the reactions while I eat. I sat down at my desk with some food. Eating the hot meal from its plastic takeout container, I checked the comments.

I had been worried since it was a hot, newly released game, but fortunately, the reception was good.

"Whew." Only now could I finally relax. Even though a lot of time had passed since I started Mutube, the audience's reaction was always terrifying. This industry was one where a single misstep could ruin you in an instant. An industry where you never knew when you would rise or when you would fall.

My reason for starting such a risky Mutube channel was simple. I had loved games since childhood, and I had a knack for digging into things obsessively. In that sense, a game walkthrough Mutube channel was my true calling.

However, even if it was my calling, not everything about it was enjoyable. No matter how much time passed, the subscribers' reactions were always frightening, and I was often gripped by anxiety, worrying about what would happen when I grew older. Even so, I couldn't give up. This was what I could do, and what I had to do.

"Oh, I'm already done." Lost in thought, I had been moving my chopsticks unconsciously, and the food was gone in a flash. I gave the empty container a quick rinse, threw it in a trash bag, and sat back down in front of my computer.

Maybe I should check more comments.

"...Romance Fantasy: Somire Edition?" Even the name sounded weird. Was it some kind of dating sim?

"Oh, they're a donor?" Normally, I would have ignored it just from the bizarre title alone, but since they were a donating subscriber...

Should I at least look it up? I searched for it on Goggle. Just to find some reviews or information.

"Hmm..." This game was highly popular among female users. A reverse harem game featuring male characters with all kinds of distinct personalities. Along with their unique traits came exceptionally handsome looks.

No wonder it's popular. Even as a male gamer, I could see it was a decent game, so it must be even more appealing to female players.

I checked the forum for Romance Fantasy: Somire Edition, commonly known as Rosoge. There was no better place to gather information. As soon as I entered, the posts caught my eye.

"Huh?" The reactions were somewhat strange. Was it not just a normal dating sim? To find out more, I searched for Rofanso on Steem.

"What the..." It was a Soulslike game, completely unrelated to the title Rofanso or the keyword "reverse harem." A game where you had to learn by dying, and clear by dying again. On top of that, it had the bizarre mechanic of recruiting the male leads as party members to progress through the walkthrough together. In short, it was a game with absolutely no pedigree.

No, a Soulslike targeted at female users? Unless they were hardcore gamers, even men who loved games recoiled at the Soulslike genre. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠The difficulty was extremely high, and it was a genre that could only be cleared after repeating countless failures.

In short, it was like this: you die to gain the male leads' favor, you die to get involved with them, and you die again to build a reverse harem. I could see why that subscriber had requested a walkthrough for this game. They wanted to collect the characters, but the difficulty was so atrocious that they couldn't see the ending themselves, which must have been incredibly frustrating.

Until now, I had faced and conquered games of all genres. Unlike my passionate early days, I now recorded walkthrough videos with the mindset of just doing a job. But looking at this bizarre game, a competitive fire was somehow ignited within me.

"It's been a while since I felt this spark." I immediately purchased Rofanso. The price was 55,000 won. While it was installing, I visited the online community galleries to gather various pieces of information. What to watch out for in this game, where to find hidden pieces, and so on. Fortunately, there were strategies and clear videos uploaded by existing players, which were of great help. And then, the installation finished.

"Let's do this." Time to clear this bizarre game. Time to record a walkthrough video for these people.

It had been a week since I started playing Rofanso. I hadn't slept properly, hadn't eaten, and hadn't rested. This game was...

It was incomparably harder than any other Soulslike game.

"This is driving me crazy." Perhaps because it had a trickier and more unfamiliar system compared to conventional Soulslikes, it wasn't easy at all. Fortunately, I had managed to kill Franche Decartes, the boss of the standard routes, and made a video out of it, but the final true ending was the real problem.

The conditions for the final true ending required keeping every single male lead alive, clearing all hidden sub-quests, and obtaining every single hidden piece. On top of that, a new boss appeared.

It's been a really long time since I've encountered a game this difficult. Perhaps because I was hitting a wall for the first time in a while, my heart was pounding. If you judged it purely by its gameplay mechanics, it was a total piece of garbage, but it was strangely addictive.

Sure, everything up to this point was fine. The unfamiliar system, the high-difficulty conditions to see the ending—I could yield a hundred steps and accept all of that. But...!

"Agh, please!" The Crown Prince of the Empire and the young Duke who were hired as party members were truly enough to make me swear out loud.

The core of Rofanso was the party. Since the player's character, the protagonist Somire, could only provide support, the male leads who acted as damage dealers and sub-supports were crucial. But the Crown Prince and the young Duke, who were the core of this party, refused to listen to orders and moved entirely on their own, driving me absolutely insane.

"Wow, it's been a really long time since I've been stuck like this while recording a walkthrough." My concentration was slipping, so I lit a cigarette.

*Inhale.* With a soft exhale, a savory aroma drifted out, and a cloud of white smoke obscured the monitor.

"Did I miss something?" Just in case, I went back to the gallery to check the character traits that had been revealed so far. First, I checked the crazy bastard of a Crown Prince.

"No wonder he pulled that kind of crap." His penalties combined hot-temperedness, frenzy, and an inferiority complex to form a triple crown of disaster. He already looked unappealing with his yellow curly hair that looked like someone had dumped instant ramen on his head, but seeing his penalties made him even more detestable.

"Sigh..." Next was that trash of a young Duke.

I knew this bastard would be like this too. The duo of the trash young Duke and the crazy Crown Prince. They were just simply insane. "The Trash" and "The Crazy Bastard." I didn't know who came up with those nicknames, but they were spot on. By the way, I was the one who came up with them.

How on earth was anyone supposed to see the final true ending with characters like these? In fact, even in the gallery, which was filled with users who had played this game for a long time, there was not a single person who claimed to have seen the final true ending.

"Tsk." There was no need to complain about their character designs one by one. Now that I had confirmed their traits, I just had to execute the walkthrough. And it would be an absolutely perfect one. This would probably be an ending that only I could show.

Just as I was about to resume the game. "Ah." I hadn't checked the traits of the newly appeared final boss. A boss with a crazy level of difficulty. I checked his traits.

"Whoa." No wonder. It wasn't difficult for no reason. Hundreds of patterns. Health that didn't seem to decrease no matter how much you hit him. An overwhelming S-rank combat power. On top of that, he didn't even have a penalty.

"The developers are just straight-up psychos." Can you really call this a female-oriented reverse harem game...?

"Whew." I calmed my racing heart. Once I set my mind to beating a game, my personality wouldn't let me rest until I saw the end.

Get a grip. Every game is designed to be beatable. Now that I had confirmed the traits, things were starting to fall into place. All that was left was to complete the walkthrough. I resumed the game. The save point was right before the final boss.

I immediately baited the Crown Prince and the young Duke into charging forward in excitement. As expected, the two of them rushed in together. I assigned all the sub-male leads to support them, leaving only my character, the Saintess, in the main force.

The male leads, charging at the final boss, were overwhelming him with numbers. The situation was good. If we kept this up, it was a clear. *Gulp.* My saliva went down heavily from the tension, making me feel as if I were swallowing a stone.

"Now, all that's left is..." Evading all the attacks from the surrounding mobs. Since this walkthrough relied heavily on raw mechanics, it might be a problem when explaining it to others, but that could be solved by teaching them the patterns and what to react to.

*Click, clack, tap, click, clack.* My left hand on the keyboard and my right hand on the mouse ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠moved in a dazzling blur. I dodged the swinging swords with rolls and blocked incoming arrows with a shield. In Soulslike games, rolling was an invincible technique if timed correctly. I had just parried and evaded every single attack using nothing but rolls and the basic shield skill.

In front of me, the male leads were fighting the final boss while protecting one another. If I could just keep supporting them while dodging every pattern, we would clear it.

"Please, please!" Cold sweat poured down from the intense concentration. My fingers and wrists had no time to rest. And then.

I had finally defeated the final boss.

"Nice, nice!" I broke into a victory dance, completely swept up in the ecstasy of a successful walkthrough. I was now the only player among all the users of this game to have seen the final true ending.

But then. "Huh?" Right after clearing, the state of the final boss in the cutscene was a bit strange. His gaze seemed to pierce right through the monitor, staring directly at me. He opened his mouth.

A voice that sounded as if it were whispered directly into my ear. Goosebumps broke out all over my arms in an instant.

"What the...?" The cutscene ended just like that, and a message popped up.

I had just gone through hell to see the final ending, and now they wanted me to play a hidden route? "No way." Hidden route my foot. I'd do it later for YouTube promotion if people requested it after I uploaded the video. I closed the game with a satisfied feeling. Since the walkthrough was a success anyway, I was planning to get some sleep, but...

"What's wrong?" My computer wasn't responding. "Did it overload because I kept the game running for too long?" This damn game was even overloading my PC. I decided to just leave it on and go to sleep. I was far too exhausted to try and fix it now.

"Just need to send the video to the editor first..." I sent the recorded video to my editors. With this, my job was done. The editors would handle the rest and upload the video.

"Ugh." *Flop.* I buried my face in the bed. Slowly, my eyes began to close...