Chapter 112
Chapter 112
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 112
Chapter Title: Launch — Identity (2)
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Three days turned out to be shorter than he thought.
He realized this the moment he understood he hadn't made much progress in the story, thanks to getting sidetracked.
Seok-hoon asked himself.
‘What did I even do?’
And he answered himself.
‘I mined iron.’
Seok-hoon looked at the village he had built with his own hands.
Anyone could tell it was a mining town.
The farmlands produced just enough food to keep the workers from starving, and all other infrastructure was built to be mining-friendly.
Even the religious facilities were the same.
—Angel! I'm praying for a good blacklight iron haul today, too!
The town's priestess had a 'Prayer' function.
It was a feature that mainly gave positive buffs to the game's life skills and adventure content.
Seok-hoon had used this function solely to increase the drop rate of blacklight iron.
As a result, perhaps.
‘My gear got too good.’
Seok-hoon's E-40 had become a menacing black knight, clad in glistening dark armor.
Seok-hoon glanced at the clock.
Only about six hours of the holiday were left.
‘I can beat it.’
According to community users who had already cleared the game, the main story itself wasn't very long. They said that with sufficient gear, it was possible to clear up to the final chapter in six hours.
Seok-hoon would be even faster.
He had already completed some chapters, and besides that, his item level was just too high.
‘Let's go!’
His prediction was correct.
The mobs fell like flies.
Even if he fell into a trap, the damage was so reduced by his armor that it barely tickled.
It was what you’d call a steamroll.
Nothing could stop Seok-hoon.
Not even Su-jin!
Seok-hoon's E-40 walked.
Through forests, grasslands, shabby villages and mountain ranges; past them to small cities, noble estates and slums, and then.
—A criminal!!!
The final chapter: the imperial castle.
—Seize him! Seize that criminal!
The judges who had passed judgment on E-40 in the prologue chapter cried out.
Knights with expressionless faces swarmed E-40.
But it was useless.
[Expressionless Face acquired.]
[Stern Face acquired.]
They were just more materials.
Seok-hoon thought.
‘Huh, if I melt the knights' weapons, will I get some blacklight iron?’
He was a monster consumed by blacklight iron.
In fact, until that moment, Seok-hoon hadn't thought deeply about the final boss.
The narrative had been the reason.
E-40 embarks on a journey to discover what he will become.
Along the way, he meets countless people, saves their lives, and gradually establishes a single goal.
To save those suffering under the laws of this land.
Because everyone E-40 met had suffered from the faces that dictated their fates.
To Seok-hoon, the final chapter was simply the resolution of that story.
Perhaps the strongest enemy yet would appear.
Or perhaps the horribly selfish emperor, as depicted throughout the in-game story, would be the boss.
He was just making such guesses, and…
Rumble—
That's why when the throne room doors opened, Seok-hoon was taken aback.
—So you've come this far.
“Huh?”
The final chapter was a sadder story than Seok-hoon had imagined.
* * *
It’s funny how a sense of unease only makes sense in hindsight, the clues clicking into place the moment you realize what’s wrong.
This time was no different.
Only after entering the boss room could Seok-hoon recall the points that had felt strange.
‘Come to think of it…’
Why did the girl in the forest have the smile that was called the 'Emperor's Symbol' throughout the game?
Why did the empire's retainers treat him, who possessed a smile, as a mere criminal and try to harm him?
And putting it all together,
‘The smile in the forest…’
How did the imperial knights find it?
So suddenly?
Now, the answer was clear.
‘Miso was the emperor. Pulling the strings from behind.’
The dialogue confirmed it.
The subtitles that appeared with the voice-over were, word for word, Miso's reasoning.
—Here, I am the enemy you must defeat. Go on, plunge your sword into my heart.
—I must not live. As long as I exist, the empire will never fall. You've seen how terrible that is, haven't you? That must have been the meaning of your journey.
—But I cannot die by my own hand. Look, the wound from when I was stabbed in the forest that day has already healed. It's because of this smile.
Immersion in a drama is perfected through understanding.
And understanding is deepened through complexity.
Miso, who smiled with such pure innocence.
And Miso, who smiled while asking to be killed.
The contrast was stark, and the completed puzzle, with all its pieces in place, took the form of regret.
—It wasn't like this at first. The order granted by the faces allowed everyone to be happy in their roles. The problem was time. It has been stagnant for so long that the entire nation has begun to fester.
It was now revealed that the emperor of the empire had never changed from the very beginning.
Seok-hoon understood it from a system perspective.
It was because of the option attached to the smiling face.
[Smiling Face: Upon reaching 1 HP, revives once with 70% HP restored.]
That was the symbol of resurrection.
Therefore, Miso must have suffered in that position, reviving again and again for as long as the empire had existed.
The cinematic now focused on E-40.
He cannot speak.
But, as always, he expressed his emotions through his actions.
Shaking his head, his body trembling, clenching his fists, E-40 eventually, slowly, drew his sword.
It was in that moment.
—…Thank you.
Miso thanked the one who was about to kill her.
Whoosh!
Her head snapped back.
Her body floated up, and a giant clock with ten arms, and strings from its fingertips, began to move Miso like a marionette.
Da-da-da-dum!
An orchestral score, and,
Ha! Ha! Ha!
Dozens of voices, grotesquely tearing through the air.
That was when the screen returned to the battle scene.
Amidst it all, one thing captivated Seok-hoon's senses.
Among the many ominous expressions, one stood out—a small, soft, and plaintive breath.
*Hmph, hmph, hmph.*
It was the voice of a little girl.
Seok-hoon didn't assign any meaning to it.
He just felt it, instinctively.
That was Miso's voice, crying for help.
‘This is…’
*Identity*, he thought, would have a sad ending.
The battle began.
* * *
The final boss battle had three phases.
Phase 1, which consisted of simple physical attacks; Phase 2, which mixed in simple magic like beams and waves.
And Phase 3, which unleashed gimmick-based dark magic.
Phases 1 and 2 were easy.
Seok-hoon's stats were just too good.
If hit by a physical attack, he could just trade blows.
He could also just tank the simple magic.
But Phase 3 was not.
‘Damn it!’
Was this a reminder that final bosses are never easy?
There was an instant-death pattern.
Even if it wasn't an instant kill, it was loaded with percentage-based damage skills that ignored defense.
Only then did Seok-hoon remember a forgotten fact.
‘Cheon Yeon-ho, you son of a bitch!!!’
He remembered that Rewind's final bosses had always boasted a horrific difficulty.
Seok-hoon fumed as he continued to play.
Thump!
Thump!
Thump!
The BGM swelled.
The sound effects blared, and the clock's movements grew more frantic.
Miso swayed precariously, hanging pitifully like a branch in a typhoon.
Seok-hoon’s eyes were fixed on one thing.
It was Miso's face, which cracked more and more as her health bar depleted.
‘…It’s that thing.’
It was a self-homage.
In that moment, Seok-hoon recalled the final boss of *Hellic 2*, Nabi, whose body had cracked with each phase.
A sudden wave of sadness washed over him.
Nevertheless, his hands moved diligently.
This was his sixth try.
The mechanics themselves weren't too difficult once you understood them, so Seok-hoon finally managed to end Miso's suffering.
Craaack!
The face shattered.
The clock, too, shattered like glass and scattered into the air.
Thud—
The screen switched to a cinematic.
E-40 tossed his sword aside, ran to Miso, and pulled her into an embrace.
She spoke with a blank face.
—…Thank you.
Another thank you.
—…Now go, be happy, wherever you are.
The voice acting must have been good.
With no other clues, just from the voice alone, he could feel Miso's sense of liberation.
The cinematic lingered cruelly on Miso's fading breath.
Zoom in. The camera began to close in on the two of them.
A sense of exhaustion washed over Seok-hoon.
From the thought that he had cleared the game, or perhaps that this was how their story would end.
“Agh…”
It was then.
Click—
E-40 removed his own face.
Seok-hoon's eyes widened.
There was a reason for it.
‘It spread?’
Because beneath the face E-40 had removed, another smile had already formed.
In that moment of realization, memories came rushing back.
‘…That’s right!’
Smiles are contagious.
Just as Miso had said in the prologue, and just as E-40's journey had shown.
Any face, any life, can become a smile if it yearns for happiness.
So it made perfect sense for the smile to spread to E-40's face!
And one more thing!
‘The option!’
[Smiling Face: Upon reaching 1 HP, revives once with 70% HP restored.]
Seok-hoon, who had been slumping, shot bolt upright.
In a tense moment, E-40 placed the smile on her face, and….
Thump— Thump—
A heartbeat echoed through his headset.
She was alive.
A small shiver ran down his spine.
—…Huh?
For the first time, E-40 spoke.
He let out a bewildered word, as if he had only just realized a smile was on his own face.
—A smile…?
The entire process was seared into Seok-hoon's mind.
And when E-40 finally burst out laughing, “Haha,” Seok-hoon's heart swelled in his chest.
What words could describe the catharsis of seeing fragmented, seemingly meaningless clues come together at a dramatic moment to turn tragedy into comedy?
The corners of Seok-hoon's own lips twitched upwards.
E-40 lifted Miso into his arms.
And then he started to run.
—Haha!
As he left the imperial castle, ran down the road, and headed for the forest, the screen panned out.
It began to show numerous locations, and the people in them.
Plink, plink. Various faces began to fall off.
Just as it had happened to E-40, to the people he met on his journey, and to Miso in the end, smiles appeared on their faces.
Seok-hoon could now define this story.
‘Smiles are contagious.’
*Identity* was a long story, built from beginning to end to convey that one message.
Satisfied, he watched the credits roll.
The text scrolled endlessly, showing different parts of the Oltor Empire.
And at the very end,
Chirp! Chirp!
Amidst the sound of birds, the forest appeared, along with Smile Village, which had now become a mining town.
—…I'm, I'm alive.
Miso said, staring blankly at the village.
Then she asked E-40.
—What should I do now? I, I don't know.
At the end of a life lived only to die, Miso, finally liberated but not dead, was confused about what she should do.
E-40 smiled at her.
He answered her in a clear, boyish voice.
—Whatever you want.
The moment Seok-hoon let out a small "Ah!" of realization.
—That's what we were all born to do.
E-40 reached out his hand.
Miso hesitated, then took it.
—…Right. I forgot.
The credits ended with the long, lingering sound of their laughter.
Finally, the Special Thanks scrolled up with a single message.
[And, you.]
The mining town obsessed with blacklight iron.
Somewhere within it, the story of a spreading smile had come to an end.
With a fairy-tale ending, saying, 'And they lived happily ever after.'
Otakus are weak to narrative bookends.
Seok-hoon was an otaku, and he was very weak to this kind of framing.
His chest felt tight with emotion.
[Entering Smile Village.]
It wasn't over.
*Identity* didn't push for a New Game+.
It simply dropped E-40 into the village he had built and urged the story forward.
Seok-hoon curiously took control of E-40.
He reached the cabin in the woods.
—Welcome! I'm Miso, a member of the village watch! I'll turn anyone who messes around into fish bait!
There, she was not an emperor, but the girl that E-40 and Seok-hoon knew.
Only then did Seok-hoon realize.
‘It's an epilogue.’
This meant that *Identity*'s true story began here, in the epilogue, with 'the story of how they lived happily ever after.' This was Part 2 of *Identity*.
His overall assessment.
‘It's good.’
As far as Seok-hoon was concerned, this was a good game.
Not more, not less—just a good game that made you smile gently, like the message within it.
Soaking in the afterglow, Seok-hoon opened the community forum.
And he wrote a post.
『IdenIsGodGame: The best game of the year is Identity.
Refute this and you have 300 butthole hairs.
BloodlordOfBangbaedong: Facts.』
*Identity* was beginning to soar.
* * *
It wasn't a particularly grand story.
A very classic, fairy-tale narrative, and a somewhat dramatic happy ending.
But that alone was enough for *Identity* to solidify its Metacritic score in the eyes of the users.
That's how faithful it was to the fundamentals.
And that's how well it unraveled universal emotions in the form of a story.
No one dislikes a story about finding happiness.
And no one dislikes a story that affirms them, telling them they can be anything.
A relatable story, after all, is one that resonates in any culture.
One week after launch, its OpenCritic score finally broke 90.
It was around then that users who had hesitated to buy due to the risk of a new IP started jumping in.
『IdenIsGodGame: Is Iden getting GOTY this year?!?!?!』
The domestic scene was in a festive mood.
In truth, the reception for *Hellic 3*, Rewind's first AAA title, had been somewhat divided, so its spectacular revival sent users into a state of what you might call national pride.
『
WannaQuitJaehee: It's almost a guarantee, right? But if it does, would this be Korea's first AAA GOTY?
└ OneMoreMoveKing: Didn't Hellic 3 win one of the big five awards?
└ YeonhoLuvDog: That wasn't The Game Awards!』
The atmosphere was solidifying around The Game Awards, or TGA, as the definitive standard for GOTY.
The award users wanted for *Identity* was the ultimate first place: a TGA.
Of course, there were also quite a few opinions that its performance so far wasn't enough to reach TGA.
These opinions were mainly held by a group classified as 'Rabbit Princesses'—the hardcore gamers.
『FutureIsDim: This fucking game has nothing to do
(screenshot showing 100 hours of playtime)
Ran out of content in 100 hours
PoppyLetsGoForAWalk: Have you no shame… ^^』
There are people who play for 20 hours a day and expect the game to stay fun forever.
And 'FutureIsDim' wasn't the only one who had clocked 100 hours of playtime a week after launch.
The world has plenty of strange people, and just as many who considered 100 hours a basic requirement and posted screenshots to prove it.
But fortunately for them, there was one thing.
There was a way to enjoy Act 2 of *Identity*, the epilogue, even more.
And a week had passed since the launch.
『BloodlordOfBangbaedong: Mods are out!!!』
The modders had begun to release their creations.