Streamer Soma (2)
After Yujin uploaded a video about the hidden route on his MuTube channel, the internet caught fire all over again.
Streamers everywhere fired up their live broadcasts the moment they saw the information he had released, while ordinary gamers started posting proof that they, too, had successfully entered the hidden route one after another.
Just like that, Yujin was no longer the only person progressing through Nightfall’s hidden route.
That did not mean, however, that everyone was suddenly playing the way he had shown on stream.
There were two decisive differences between Yujin’s play and the play of everyone who entered the hidden route later.
First: Yujin had received the Holy Sword Omega (Ω) from Yuria, while everyone else received nothing better than Alpha (α) or Beta (β) at best.
Second: to Yujin she had transformed into a cute little doll body and declared she would help him on his journey; to everyone else she never showed anything of the sort.
For the people who had watched Yujin’s stream and dreamed of performing just like him, it was an extremely disappointing turn of events.
At the same time, people were forced to realize all over again just how incredible the feats Yujin had accomplished truly were.
It wasn’t as if people had zero intuition. They still didn’t know the exact conditions, but it was easy enough to deduce that Yuria’s reaction and the type of holy sword she handed over changed according to the player’s performance inside the game.
So then… just how massive an achievement had Yujin pulled off on his very first stream, his very first playthrough, to draw that kind of reaction out of Yuria?
While the internet was in an uproar with every possible theory about the hidden route, a sudden stream announcement made the flames burn even higher.
Syme was a streamer whose main content was game guides and analysis. In the past he had thoroughly dissected the hidden elements and secret pieces of the Dark Ring series and explained them so clearly that even regular viewers could easily follow along, which had made him famous.
Now that same Syme had declared he would tear apart every element related to Nightfall’s hidden route, so of course expectations skyrocketed.
And when Syme began his special hidden-route analysis stream exactly as announced, viewers poured in from every direction like a swarm of clouds.
“Hello everyone. I’m Syme, the man who digs up every truth like a psychometrist! Today’s stream is going to be an in-depth analysis where we thoroughly dissect the currently trending hidden route of Nightfall!”
“Alright, alright, everyone calm down. I know full well that if I suddenly say I’m going to do an in-depth analysis of the hidden route, you’ll all look at me with suspicious eyes. But everyone, who am I? Am I not the top virtual-reality game analyst in the country, Syme?”
“Well, no matter how much I talk, if I don’t have clear evidence no one will believe me. That’s why this time I’ve prepared evidence so you can all be completely convinced!”
With that, Syme connected to the internet and opened his mailbox for everyone to see.
The name sitting at the very top of the inbox was none other than—
“Everyone, please calm down. The only reason I exchanged emails with Ecclesia-nim is one thing: to gather solid evidence on the exact conditions for obtaining Holy Sword Omega in the hidden route. Soma-nim is such a special case that I can’t speak carelessly about him, but through Ecclesia-nim I can collect objective data.”
As he spoke, Syme brought up a presentation packed with analysis tables and graphs one after another.
“After comparing and contrasting data from Ecclesia-nim, various streamers currently progressing through the hidden route, and about a hundred of my own subscribers, I was able to confirm it with certainty. Why everyone except Ecclesia-nim failed to obtain Holy Sword Omega and failed to gain the puppet’s favor.”
“According to my analysis, the difference between Ecclesia-nim and everyone else wasn’t anything special. It was simply the number of deaths they suffered before entering the hidden route.”
Every viewer reacted with pure disbelief at Syme’s words.
Games made by Powell Software—the Dark Ring series and Nightfall—were fundamentally infamous for their absurd difficulty. Unlike other games, even killing a single trash mob made you break out in a cold sweat, and for boss fights the standard strategy was to die several times while learning the patterns.
So of course players of Nightfall inevitably experienced countless deaths before clearing the game.
And yet the type of holy sword you received and Yuria’s reaction supposedly changed based on how many times you had died right before entering the hidden route?
“Honestly I find it ridiculous too… but it’s certain. Because while other streamers and subscribers entered the hidden route after dying at least a hundred times, some as many as three hundred, Ecclesia-nim had only died five times.”
Of course Ecclesia had also died around a hundred times challenging Ariandel in the tutorial, but that was strictly tutorial content and didn’t count.
When Syme even presented various statistical materials and graph numbers as evidence, the viewers could no longer deny reality.
They simply poured pure, unfiltered hate onto Powell Software for stuffing something like that into the game as a “hidden element.”
“Honestly, if your goal is just to enjoy the hidden route story and collect the secret achievements, you don’t particularly need Holy Sword Omega. According to the information Ecclesia-nim sent me, when you look at overall damage output the Magic Bullet Gun is actually far stronger than Holy Sword Omega.”
In other words, any user who already had the specs and weapons good enough to enter the hidden route didn’t really need Holy Sword Omega in the first place.
“Meaning the type of holy sword you receive and Yuria’s reaction are nothing more than an easter egg aimed at highly skilled players. My conclusion is that it doesn’t differ much from a regular hidden achievement in essence.”
As he spoke, Syme’s face filled with genuine admiration.
“But honestly… all I can feel is awe. At this point in time, the only person capable of carrying Holy Sword Omega and progressing through the hidden route together with Yuria is Soma-nim.”
Syme’s body trembled for a moment, then he suddenly leaned in and whispered to the viewers as if sharing a secret.
“So I came up with a hypothesis. What if Soma-nim actually got hit by a truck or something and went to another world? And if he learned some insane swordsmanship or martial arts over there… then everything suddenly makes sense, doesn’t it?”
At Syme’s completely absurd nonsense, every viewer burst into laughter.
And just as it had always been throughout human history, the prophet’s correct opinion was buried just like that.