Chapter 44
Chapter 44
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 44
Chapter Title: Hidden Ending (2)
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An expression of extreme confidence.
That’s how some had described Hellic 2’s aggressive marketing, and Studio Rewind proved their confidence was not misplaced with their sales figures.
In the first three days, they sold a staggering 1.03 million copies.
Considering the demo version sold 300,000 copies in its first month, it might not seem like a huge jump, but in absolute terms, it was a number that far surpassed the realm of indie games.
After all, wasn't an initial sales figure of 1.03 million explosive even for a AAA title?
Of course, factors like the accessibility of online platforms and the respect shown by Alid Russo played a significant role, but sales were sales.
It was impossible for it not to make the news.
『Korean Game Hellic 2! Shakes the World!』
Korean-made, the world, shakes.
It was the kind of word choice that would be labeled "nationalistic pride." However, back in 2011, these were keywords that definitely resonated, and the community reveled in such news.
『(Chat) CherryLipsHeejae: Hellic article is up!』
The post with the link rose to the top of the recommended list.
No one commented that the article was an exaggeration.
It was only natural.
They were all people who had enjoyed Hellic 2.
『
EnjoyingHellic2: If I had to pick just one game I've played in my life, I think I'd pick Hellic 2... I don't even think about Zodiac anymore.
└ ILoveSpaceWars: ?
BloodlordOfBangbae: The story was insane. The twist was absolutely crazy...
└ zZGodHand: I cried...
└ CrystalClear: After your first playthrough, the lingering emotions make it hard to start the next one right away lol
└ SweetBElfGuy39: More than that,,, I was,,, so focused,,, I had to,,, sleep first,,, ^^
S2PoppyS2: My predictions were completely wrong ㅠㅠ It was a twist I never saw coming!
└ EnlistmentPostponed: That's why I think it was even more fun lmaooo』
Around this time, a peculiar trend started in the community.
『Kuksinanayo: I'm back after a while, what's all this fuss about Hellic 2? Is the ending really that amazing?』
When a returning user asked that, everyone started giving the same answer.
『
EnjoyingHellic2: If you're curious...
└ BloodlordOfBangbae: You should buy it and find out, right?』
You could call it a kind of psychological compensation.
During the closed beta, how much humiliation had they suffered at the hands of 'CrystalClear' and 'James Han'?
Of course, one could say they were just faithfully abiding by the developer's no-spoiler policy, but wasn't it also true that they had acted quite smugly?
Having been on the receiving end, their resentment had built up.
In such situations, it was human nature to think, "I can't be the only one to suffer."
『(Chat) EnjoyingHellic2: T_T
(Chat) EnlistmentPostponed: T_T』
Posts that thoroughly grated on people's nerves appeared in every question thread.
『(Chat) Kuksinanayo: ...Just you wait. I'm going to buy it and play.』
And that, in turn, led to more sales.
『(Game) Kuksinanayo: Hey hey hey hey is this the end? I'm really desperate here!!!』
It was the same thing everyone said the moment they first saw the ending and tried to process the lingering emotions.
The returning 'Kuksinanayo' also asked the same question.
However, no one could give a clear answer.
『(Game) CrystalClear: Has anyone unlocked the hidden route yet?』
Even though the game officially had one more ending, and even though the developers had released it as part of an event, no one had managed to reach the hidden ending yet.
This was despite it being a full week since the release.
『(Chat) EnjoyingHellic2: Ughhh... one week left for the event...』
The reason was obvious.
The final boss fight against the Warden lasted only three minutes, the difficulty was extreme, and it consisted of just three counter patterns.
To find the path to the hidden route within that fight, without any hints, was an incredibly difficult challenge.
Countless people had tried and failed.
As the yearning for a different ending grew stronger, so did the players' impatience.
Two other changes occurred during that week.
First, as players completed more playthroughs, the amount of available information increased.
『(Guide) EnjoyingHellic2: Sword - Swiftness, Iai Alice Build
(Guide) BloodlordOfBangbae: Potion (Giantification) + Striking, Barbarian Alice Build
(Guide) EnlistmentPostponed: Sword - Power Strike + Potion (Attack Speed), Drunken Alice Build』
Second was the emergence of various analyses and memes as the ending slowly became common knowledge.
『(Chat) CrystalClear: So basically Alice is a 3-meter-tall maniac who uses her mom as a weapon, right?』
In-game memes.
『(Chat) zZGodHand: Alice was reincarnated and became happy.
(Image of Yeon-ho cosplaying as Alice to attract customers)
She became a middle-aged man, but she's happy...』
Memes using images.
『(Chat) CherryLipsHeejae: Made a cheeseburger.
(Image of a homemade burger)
It's salty, like Alice's tears...』
Even food trends.
The highlight, once again, was an analysis post by 'S2PoppyS2'.
『(Analysis) S2PoppyS2: Rewriting my story analysis after my 7th playthrough
I've returned to redeem myself! After playing the full version, I found that there's a lot of information hidden in the in-game tooltips!
There were quite a few tooltips that felt different when I thought of the protagonist as Butterfly, not Alice!
The tooltips for Giantification and Miniaturization in the potion route were especially big clues!
(Screenshot)
The tooltip for Giantification says, 'I wanted to be a big person. I thought I would become one.' This must be a reflection on Butterfly's deteriorating life. Of course, looking at this alone, you could say it's Alice's dream.
But when you connect it with the 'Miniaturization' tooltip, the meaning changes!
Miniaturization has the tooltip, 'Sometimes I realize what a small person I am. Especially when I'm in a crowd.'
Giantification and Miniaturization were a pair of items that represented the connection between Butterfly's reality and her dreams!
Also...
·
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...So, the name of the beach, revealed only in the final boss fight, is the Hell of Grudges.
Perhaps it was Butterfly's life—a life she couldn't live without resenting someone, a life she couldn't live at all and thus had to die—that dragged Alice into that hell.
It's actually a very bitter story.
Depending on your interpretation, it could be a religious story like my previous theory, or it could be a story that tragically shines a light on the life of a poor single mother!
This part hasn't been officially confirmed, so it's hard to say for sure hehe』
The comment reactions were mostly from people reminiscing about the first ending and feeling sad.
That was the nature of tragedy.
It hurts all the more because a desperately desired dream is never fulfilled, yet you accept it because the story finds its completion through death.
Even while knowing that such a story is narratively complete, it becomes all the more memorable because it makes you dream of a fairy-tale happy ending.
And so, all the discussions led back to one point.
『(Log) CrystalClear: Record of failed hidden ending attempts』
In the end, they clung to the one remaining hope.
They craved for the other path, hidden behind a veil, to be a happy ending.
It wasn't just a national sentiment; the same was true in North America.
『Kissme: Hidden route failure log
Dadbom: Doesn't seem to be related to pattern combos
Luka: The Warden has a health bar. Maybe it's connected to that?』
The North American community was also equally saddened by the sad ending.
Analysis posts similar to what 'S2PoppyS2' had done using the in-game narrative tooltips became the accepted theory, and everyone pushed forward, searching for a path to a possible happy ending.
Of course, success was a distant prospect.
The path was too long, too harsh, and too dark.
Nevertheless, they didn't give up, and among them was one such person.
『Luka: James is streaming!』
It was one of those cliché and childish, yet welcome, tropes.
『On Air: Not ending the stream until I find the hidden route.』
The one who was once a villain returning as a hero.
***
The chat was on fire.
『Luka: James! You're back!
Kissme: You found it, right? Huh? There's a way, right?
Hellic2joy: I believed in you! You're the only one! You're our hero!
Dadbom: What took you so long!』
James, his eyes a little hollow, grinned.
"You were all cursing me out before, and now you're pretending you waited for me? And you, the third one, don't type in Korean."
『Hellic2joy has been banned for 10 minutes.』
After lightly establishing order, James spoke.
"I haven't found the method. I'm still looking. That's why I started the stream."
He rubbed his dry face.
How many hours had he slept in the past week?
Right, barely around 30 hours.
And even that was just catnaps when his body couldn't take it anymore.
James let out a dry laugh, realizing just how obsessed he was with this game.
The words came out after a moment.
"I couldn't figure it out on my own. So I decided to borrow the power of collective intelligence."
What appeared on the screen was a notepad document organizing posts from the communities.
He had scraped every post from both Korea and North America, and some of the sentences had strikethroughs.
"The crossed-out parts are things I've already tried and failed. There are still about a dozen I haven't tried."
However, he didn't think it would end with just these.
James knew just how meticulous Yeon-ho was.
"If none of these work, I'll start taking suggestions. The event ends in a week, right? Let's go for it."
*Swoosh*—
He started the game.
The button he pressed was different from before: Load game.
The viewers were stunned by the screen that appeared.
『Dadbom: ...27th playthrough?』
He had downloaded the full version and, in one week, reached his 27th playthrough.
It was clear.
The staggering number of playthroughs showed that James had speedrun every single one, focusing only on reaching the final boss with an optimized route.
"I rushed through thinking there might be a clue during the chapters. Now I'm sure. There's no method in the middle of the chapters. We just have to deal with that part where we fight the Warden."
So, the method was to return to the save point right before clearing the game.
"I'm going to try several routes."
James opened the build window.
All weapons were unlocked, and he hadn't allocated points to any route.
That's right.
He had reached the final boss with just the basic slingshot.
And now, he was about to create a build solely for the hidden route.
Hellic 2 offered an advantage for multiple playthroughs.
Once a route was unlocked in a previous playthrough, you could unlock it again directly with just points, without needing to go through the preceding steps.
In other words, a wide distribution of points was possible.
The way to leverage this advantage was none other than an 'optimized build.'
He could pick only the necessary items from different routes and place them in the quick slots, vastly expanding his combination possibilities.
『DoDorian: ...Wow.』
It was a moment that showed James's tenacity.
What kind of build James would showcase for the final boss fight alone would be a spectacle in itself.
The viewers grew excited.
James casually dismissed their reactions and said,
"Alright, let's head in."
Whether that damn happy ending actually existed, or if he would have to grieve over yet another sad ending.
"If it's just another bad ending, I swear I'll go to Korea and put a hole in that Cheon Yeon-ho's head."
He gritted his teeth and entered the beach.
Fifteen attempts later.
[Returning to save point.]
All the methods he had prepared had failed.
Hidden Ending (2)