Nightfall - Hidden Route (6)
Yujin didn't bolt from this spot. Instead of fleeing, he had made the firm decision to fight the Ruler himself. The viewers watching the stream weren't cheering wildly. Worry was written all over their faces.
"No matter how you look at it, this is insane… Why not just run? It's so much better to just dip out."
"Yeah, chuck 500,000 won away and bounce. How the hell is one supposed to win a fight with a monster this size? lol lol lol"
"Yuria literally told him to run! It's obvious the game's in escape mode. What kind of boss fight is this anyway?"
That's exactly how it felt.
The vast majority of the people watching right now were fans of Yujin. They had fallen hard for him after he somehow crushed Ariandel in the tutorial with those impossible stats. They knew his background better than most, but even they saw facing off against the Ruler sitting right in front of them as pure madness.
Put everything else aside. How could anyone beat a monster that's way bigger than any normal mountain just by winning a fight? It made zero sense on paper.
They were here to see Yujin's heavenly physique, not watch him die a pointless death in the worst way possible.
That was when the mood in the chat started tipping hard toward "back out, Yujin." Donations and everything else got ignored.
"Hyung, what do you think? Can you do it? I think you should just retreat like the viewers are saying. It looks like a straight-up escape event is already running."
Even Winter, who was watching, thought fighting something like that was straight-up crazy, so she told Yujin to fall back first.
"Well, you only learn by fighting. Short or long, you can't tell until you try."
But when Yujin kept saying he wasn't retreating for even a second, Winter finally understood. He had zero intention of backing down from this spot. Not even a millimeter.
'…Yeah, of course. This guy's always been like this since he was a kid.'
That half-dazed look in Yujin's eyes made him impossible to reason with. It was one of the hard lessons they had learned over and over again from all the bloody sibling fights when they were younger.
'Well, honestly I'd rather he didn't run too, but…'
Even if it was just a tactical retreat, running away like a coward with the boss staring you down in the face was one thing. Fighting until the bitter end knowing you couldn't win was another. Which one would get the viewers hyped? It was obvious, right?
'…And crazy as it sounds, I've gotta say, my brother's been way more reliable lately.'
The way he was acting now made even conspiracy theories feel believable.
So what exactly did Winter have to do right now? Only one thing.
'Create the perfect situation.'
Right now, Yujin and Winter were basically the same ship, same fate. Whatever happened, it had to play out on his terms.
Since he had already bet everything on the long-shot outcome, she figured she might as well max out the payout if he actually won.
Winter did the math in her head in an instant, then looked at Yujin's face and gave him a small, careful nod.
"If you say so, there's nothing I can do. Honestly, I think it's worth a shot. After all, you did take down Ariandel from the tutorial—the one nobody's ever beaten before."
"No;; that's completely different!!"
"Ariandel was at least a human shape. This thing is a full-on back-mountain monster lol lol lol"
"Anyone who's done Nightfall runs more than twice knows what happens when the insanity stat kicks in. It's like the game literally breaks your brain lol lol lol Can anyone even kill the boss like this? And it's the Ruler?? Impossible lol lol lol"
"😂 Right now, try first-person view on the server. You'll get the real insanity side effects lol lol lol If you're curious, go try it right now lol lol lol"
"😂 Really? I'm logging in right now to test first-person view!!"
First-person view mode let viewers feel exactly what Yujin was feeling—every sense, every heartbeat. A bunch of people who tried it came back and dropped their reviews in the comments.
"Ugh, that was gross lol lol lol lol The insanity stat is no joke lol lol lol I almost went insane trying first-person view lol lol lol"
"😂 I didn't even last ten seconds but I think I peed a little lol lol"
"😂 From someone who's done first-person view, this isn't a server problem at all… Even the game's creators can't fight like this. It's just broken lol lol lol"
The stream of surrender comments from everyone who had tried first-person view was insane. No normal person could stand there like that, let alone fight a boss.
Even if it was Yujin, who had reached god-tier physical stats!!
"Hmm, is that so? Then how about you guys make a bet with me?"
"A bet??"
"Winter's words are giving off some creepy vibes lol lol lol"
"Just like how you promised to donate 500,000 won to hyung earlier, why don't you donate to him too? Of course, assuming he wins the boss fight like that guy said."
"Why us??"
"No way, we're not getting anything out of this bet. Why would we even do it?"
Winter's proposal got cold reactions from the viewers, so she smirked.
"Hmm… You guys scared of losing the bet or something?"
"Haaaa?? What the hell did you just say?"
"Cancel that. The thing you said just now…!"
"No, wait. You guys were all screaming earlier that hyung could never win. Now that I actually bet, you're all backing out. If it was a guaranteed loss, why wouldn't you do it?"
"Winter global taunt sssttch"
"This kind of provocation actually hurts pride lol lol lol lol"
"Now that I think about it, this is actually safe money lol lol lol lol I'll just pretend I'm getting scammed and take the bet lol lol lol"
So the viewers, half-joking at first, some actually fell for it, and one by one they started donating.
If Yujin lost the fight with the Ruler, they'd get their money back—no loss. If he actually won, they'd just get a crazy show and wouldn't care that the donation was wasted!
"'SafeBread' donated 10,000 won."
"'NotGivingYourMoneyNoWay' donated 5,000 won."
"'InsteadOfNewYearMoney' donated 20,000 won."
The flood of donations came so fast it looked like a wave.
Individual amounts weren't huge, and not that many people were betting, but the sheer number of viewers made the total stack up into something massive.
[Current reserved donations for Winter: 4,485,000 won.]
"…4.485 million won?"
Winter felt her heart racing hard when she saw the number way above what she expected.
'I figured at best it'd be around 100,000 won…'
Even though they were trying to reach 30,000 viewers, the donations were still coming in from tiny groups of people, yet the total was already this ridiculous.
'If I add in the 500,000 won from the guy who promised to donate earlier…'
The bet was already on 500,000 won.
Now if she factored in the massive payoff if Yujin actually won, the real amount he could walk away with would be impossible to put into words.
'Well, the most I can do is max out what I can handle.'
She had already bet everything on Yujin, so she might as well push the payout as high as possible.
Now all she could do was wait for him to win the bet.
Objectively speaking, her chances were extremely low.
But why did her chest feel like it was about to explode?
Winter unconsciously placed her hand over her pounding heart and thought to herself.
'Maybe… I don't think Yujin is going to lose this bet at all.'
****
"…In the end, you have chosen to fight. You know perfectly well how slim your chances are."
Even after Yuria gave him her honest advice, Yujin still refused to retreat, so she whispered right into his ear like she was scolding him.
"Sorry. But if I retreat from here, my future self is definitely going to regret this choice."
After all, it wasn't every day you got 500,000 won handed to you like this.
At Yuria's shocked reaction, she blinked twice, then looked at him with pure admiration.
"Oh, I see. I was being too naive. Master has made this decision for the sake of all humanity living on this planet!"
"…Huh? What?"
"Don't pretend you don't understand anything. If the Ruler succeeds in completely opening a dimensional rift and invading our world, the whole continent—not just Arkham—could be wiped out. Master is sacrificing his own body and burning it to stop that from happening, aren't he?"
'…Actually, it's just because of the donations.'
But she didn't need to burst his bubble, so Yujin just quietly nodded.
"My master, the last hunter who wishes to protect humanity. Even though the odds are infinitely low, I respect your noble judgment. For that reason, I beg you from this spot."
"…Shoot down that arrogant evil god of Arkham's nightmares and bring it to the ground."
"Yeah, just leave it to me."
Yujin gently placed the Yuria perched on his shoulder onto the ground and whispered in a very small voice.
"Actually, this is a secret, but I've done something like this a few times already."
After all, saving humanity was nothing new for a guy with his experience.