“Identity?”
“Identity?” An irresistible aggro pull that he couldn’t ignore. Hanbit tapped the title with his finger.
Black Dragon Identity Speculation.txt
I realized this while watching Roper’s stream nonstop yesterday. It’s gotta be one of these guesses below for sure.
1. Former RP developer (Team Zero). The info dumps match, and the way he plays makes it seem totally possible?
2. Special forces guy from a big corp player. As we all know, corps don’t share shit. So he’s grinding the ultimate pioneer squad with all the intel he’s hoarded.
3. The original novel’s author. This one’s the most likely. Black Dragon mentioned reading a webnovel called Erport during his stream. Title fits, circumstances line up—pretty much confirmed. (But I couldn’t find it.)
-What a load of bullshit, and so damn long;
-If ex-dev, the admins would’ve banned him already, you psycho.
-Special forces lololol fuck
-Nah, special forces? Nah, he’s a hitman for hire.
└For real lol
-Webnovel actually exist? Or just cap?
‘Effort’s appreciated, but...’
Hanbit, the man himself, scratched his head. Even if he straight-up said he’d gone through regressions, possessions, and reincarnations, they’d just call him crazy. Better to let them speculate wildly. A webnovel that didn’t exist in this world would never turn up in a lifetime of searching.
Bzzz-
Right then, his phone vibrated. It was Yeonwoo.
(Hanbit hyung!)
The voice boomed the second he accepted the call. Hanbit pulled the phone away from his ear and lowered his voice.
“That hyung’s dead.”
(Come on, just check the RP community quick! It’s blowing up with stuff about you!)
Yeonwoo breezed past the familiar jab, buzzing with excitement.
“Already saw. Viewers spiking today, right?”
(Duh! We’re talking tens of thousands locked in!)
“My ear’s gonna fall off.”
A chuckle escaped at the sheer hype in his voice. His stream blowing up was a win, so yeah, Yeonwoo had every reason to be pumped.
(Oh, hyung. Wanna meet after work? Got stuff to talk about.)
“Talk?”
(I’ll fill you in when we meet. Dinner together?)
Random pitch, but Yeonwoo wasn’t the type to suggest something pointless.
“Where?”
***
“Hey.”
Hanbit clocked into the office, tossed out a greeting, and slumped into his seat. His mentor Lee Minho had messaged that he was off at R&D. No one to chat with, then.
Flip-
He snuck out the materials Minho had given him and started reading. Tough stuff, but Minho’s notes were so thorough, he could follow it fine.
“Hey.”
A voice called from across the room. The team lead, brow furrowed deep.
“Intern punk. Get your ass over here already?”
Looking pissed. Hanbit stood, stashed the papers, and walked over.
“Yes, team lead.”
“Move it! This a school field trip?”
“Sorry.”
No point expecting reason from a guy just venting spleen. After the apology and a beat, the team lead chucked a card at him.
“Go grab coffee downstairs.”
Basic errand. Hanbit caught the card and met his eyes.
“What kind?”
“Americano for everyone here. Minho didn’t tell you?”
“...Sorry. Slipped my mind. On it.”
Sensing Minho might catch heat, Hanbit threw in another apology and turned away fast.
“Tch.”
The team lead’s tongue-click and piercing glare followed. Childish, blatant hostility was easier to handle than the sneaky types who hid their shit.
Ding-
Hanbit bought the coffees at the first-floor cafe and rode the elevator back. But...
“Figure it out yourself, you prick!”
For some reason, the team lead was yelling at Minho.
“Team lead, with my workload right now, there’s no way I have time for...”
“Back in my day, I worked ten times harder. Barely slept an hour a week. Don’t blame the workload for your lack of grit.”
“...”
Minho shut up under the one-sided tirade. The team lead eyed him like trash and slammed a stack of papers on the desk. Too hard—they scattered everywhere, fluttering to the floor.
“Whatever. Get it sorted into a report by the day after tomorrow. Got it?”
“...Yes, sir.”
Minho bowed his head and bent to gather the mess. Hanbit dashed over, set down the card and coffees, and pitched in.
“It’s fine. I got it.”
“Faster together.”
Ignoring Minho’s protests, Hanbit scooped papers quick. The team lead sneered down at them.
“Birds of a feather, huh.”
He yanked a coffee from the holder, stood, and stormed out. The other employees didn’t even glance—routine bullshit.
“All done.”
“Thanks.”
They finished up and headed back to their desks.
“...”
Minho stared blankly at his dark monitor, face lost in thought. Hanbit glanced at the paper stack.
‘Definitely said Record Project on there.’
He’d spotted RP multiple times on the scattered sheets. From the scraps, it looked like the company was developing something RP-related.
Tick-
Time slipped by in silence till lunch. Everyone but Hanbit and Minho had bailed.
Confirming they were alone, Hanbit spoke first.
“Sunbae, that task from the team lead—is it RP stuff?”
“Huh? How’d you...”
Minho blinked, startled mid-work.
“Sorry. Glanced it while helping with the papers. Thought this company wasn’t into RP?”
“...Wasn’t at first, but things changed. Decided to dev RP gear.”
“Gear?”
Enk Technology made semiconductor parts—no direct game ties. But jumping on RP’s massive cash cow? Obvious move. Late to the party compared to other corps, even.
‘Clearing the game’s a no-go now.’
Clear RP, claim ownership—but two years behind the frontrunners. Smarter to bet on gear long-term.
“But handing design tasks this early? R&D should wrap first.”
“Came down to all depts, including us. Play RP ourselves, find tech improvements and fixes fitting our roles.”
“...Find improvements?”
The absurdity felt unreal. Modern science couldn’t even crack RP gear’s principles yet. Departments hunting fixes? Total nonsense.
“I’m swamped lately, no time... This sucks. Sorry, but I won’t be able to cover for you as much.”
Minho sighed deep, genuinely apologetic. Seeing his despair, a thought hit Hanbit.
‘Something in the gear too?’
RP’s secrets weren’t just one or two. If the gear hid something, this could be his shot. Civvies couldn’t touch the tech side anyway.
Decision made, Hanbit eyed his downcast mentor.
“Want me to help with that?”
***
Out of work, Hanbit bused home. Destination: tonkatsu joint by his place.
“Hyung!”
Yeonwoo had snagged a table in the private room. Hanbit sat opposite and ordered first.
“What, no sleep?”
“Got four hours. But check this.”
Yeonwoo, face weary, plunked his smartphone on the table. Call log packed with unknowns.
“This streamer-corp life?”
“Yup. Top solos hitting me up personally, tons of inquiries anyway.”
He scrolled, eyes gleaming as he explained. Hanbit sipped water, ignoring the names.
“Worth all this?”
“Hell yeah. Anyone with eyes’ll wanna buy low. You’re cheapest now.”
“Cheapest my ass.”
Weird phrasing, but point clear. These callers weren’t community randos—pure profit chasers.
“Oh, big corp scout too.”
“Big corp?”
The words perked him up. Yeonwoo smirked.
“Yeonhwa Gaming. Got two pioneer squads. Newbie pay probably hits 100 mil won.”
“...Damn, that’s generous.”
100 mil salary—symbolic for rookies. Beyond standard corp pay, really.
“Just me? Or us both?”
“Pfft, you solo. I don’t want that. Anyway, Yeonhwa Group—Yeonhwa Electronics is big, but they’re dumping cash into RP too...”
Hanbit watched Yeonwoo ramble. Off vibe, awkward phrasing. Sincere pitch, but hiding something.
Scrape-
He stood and closed in.
“Whoa, hyung, what? Hold up.”
Weird tension—Yeonwoo panicked backpedaling. But Hanbit grabbed first.
Crunch-!
“Gah!”
Hanbit bear-hugged his torso—a pro wrestling lock from his isekai days. Extreme stretch, basically.
“Juyeonu.”
“Hyung! Let go and talk!”
“Think I don’t know you after all this time? Spill it proper.”
“Fine! Fine, just... loosen up!”
Clunk-
Mid-interrogation, the door flew open. Server with a cart froze, staring.
“Uh... I’ll come back.”
Roll-
She shut the door quick after spotting the grapple.
“Wait!”
Hanbit released and chased. Cleared the misunderstanding, food got set—then talk resumed.
“Build-up’s done. Main point.”