Chapter 19
Chapter 19
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 19
Chapter Title: Yuuri's Torchless Torment
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Odin's Son—now to be called Odin's Daughter—this game billed itself as a hardcore action RPG.
To break it down in more detail, it was a hardcore-rhythm-competitive action-open-world-RPG... the labels went on forever, so overseas, folks just called them Odin-likes.
This Odin-like series had earned fervent support from core gamers worldwide as a masterpiece, but its sales had been steadily declining despite the fame.
Time waits for no one.
Asgard Software knew better than anyone that elements like Afterimage and countless other deep-dive mechanics were turning into barriers to entry as the years passed.
Especially the new director—a former fanboy (who'd quit due to COVID fallout in the original timeline)—was resolute in his stance.
In the end, they decided on sweeping reforms. To align with global trends, Odin-likes began gradually lowering their difficulty.
Old habits die hard, though—they couldn't quite scrub away the subtle whiff of shit lurking in the shadows.
Still, the experimental Tyr: Odin's Son, which lowered the entry barrier, proved a success. Feeling its impact, Asgard made another bold call.
This time, they flung the gates wide open.
It wasn't without pushback from the core fanbase, of course.
The director just bulldozed through with dogged determination, steamrolling endless criticism and mockery like a rhinoceros charging ahead.
Especially when Modern Controls were first announced—the backlash was massive.
Even inside the company, fearful voices grew loud, but the director didn't waver.
"In the end, change is inevitable if the game is going to have a long run."
They'd just have to weather the clashes between veterans and newbies!!
Honestly, the fights were way worse than expected, and even the director got a bit rattled.
But he didn't show it and pushed forward silently—and it paid off.
In the end, the conflicts simmered down to a manageable level.
As a PvP game, that intense drama probably fueled the hype anyway.
Like that, when clashes erupt between vets and newbies, game companies usually side with the newcomers. Can't let the playerbase wither away, after all.
Modern systems rolled out that way, inertia got toned down, and open-world difficulty got adjusted too.
Sure, there were pervs hunting for hardcore mode, but that was irrelevant to most players.
Tutorial bosses weren't meant to be beaten anyway, and the underground cave drops in difficulty if you just bring a torch.
Even with designs like that, folks who still plunge into hell fall into two camps.
One's the twisted old-timers like Jicheol with walls of salt.
The other's content-hungry streamers.
"What a fucking trash game!! Total dogshit!! Trash junk garbage game!!"
Virtual YouTuber Yuuri heaved for breath.
On her grayed-out screen, her character lay pathetically crumpled.
A feeling too complex to put into words tapped at her head.
It wasn't just anger—her mind was blank. But it wasn't numbness either—her mood was utterly foul.
Her avatar twitching in the screen corner mirrored her tangled emotions perfectly.
With her mic silent from speechlessness, viewers were too busy cracking up at the avatar to notice. Moments like this made dumping cash on it worthwhile.
Clinging to that comfort, she pulled herself together and kept talking.
"...Hoo. Wait, there was a lever right by the door, wasn't there? And I pulled it?"
"Fuck, what kind of game is this!!"
"No fuck, I installed a 60,000-won AAA title, so why does it reek like a 6,000-won turd?"
"...I'm dizzy for real."
Yuuri squeezed her eyes shut and slumped.
VTuber Yuuri was a newbie, but streamer Uri was a grizzled vet of the internet broadcast scene, specializing in soul-crushing games.
She'd played countless titles and suffered through irrational missions plenty of times.
Veteran general-game streamers like her inevitably dabbled in indies.
And in those depths lurked garbage games seemingly designed to shatter human decency.
Vases. Horse racing. Cats. And more.
Those trials had tempered her mental steel.
So even when weird missions popped up, she secretly relished them.
Perfect for editing clips when content was scarce.
Mission payout? Nice bonus. Fail? Still gold for edits. Cold calculus.
She'd smugly accepted the mission and chucked her torch with heroic flair.
And now?
Rage boiled over; her hands shook, breaths came ragged.
Edits and payouts were long forgotten.
This wasn't about easy or hard.
This game was dead serious about screwing people over.
"Ha... haa... fuck. My head hurts. Isn't this insane? Should I just grab the torch?"
"Don't fucking add more, you bastards!!"
"This really the early game? Can I just roam in whatever order I want?"
"You've got a track record with me though"
Yuuri gauged the mood from chat.
Quit now? Force it or bail?
She peeked deeper into the cave.
The pitch-black dungeon brimmed with malice.
Having seen it, remembering that filthy map layout, facing another two hours? Bleak.
Even a game-devouring fiend like her hesitated here...
But chat's vibe said dumping cold water now would tank the stream for hours.
She weighed it out.
Mental damage from that nightmare dungeon vs. backlash from rage-quitting.
Her streamer career. The pricey avatar.
Quick phone check: YouTube. Hanami's new vid popped—a destructive thumbnail, views already nuts.
'Ah... if only I had a whale viewer like that.'
Couldn't stall forever.
Forcing cheer, she headed back down.
Her reluctance shone through. The suffering ahead was all too clear—did this feel right?
"A ladder breaking? Where's your conscience...!!"
Her veteran instincts never missed.
If she were a normie without years-honed crisis-dodging, she'd be cursing devs out by now.
Still, dying nonstop led to insights.
At first, no-light run was just showbiz, but devs balanced around it too.
Even in dim glow, object placement and alley widths showed care.
'Dare to shield? Here's a custom fuck-you'—or so it felt.
No utterly bullshit sections, though.
Designed to progress with persistent headbutting.
Her soul-game scars weren't for nothing; she slogged forward through endless deaths.
"Traps hidden so deviously. Jump to dodge? Why two traps?"
Traps predicting post-jump landings.
"Quiet makes it scarier, you know? Why nothing hap— what the hell?!"
Slimes crawling ceilings, dropping on heads after long crawls.
"Wait!! I see torchlight!!"
Finally, distant flames flickered.
"This is it!! This is me!! Thanks for the feast!!"
Premature celebration?
Excitement narrowed her view?
She missed the enemy rising behind.
Even as its weapon sank into her skull.
Another red message, who-knows-which death today.
Unable to face it, she squeezed her eyes shut.
Couldn't bear opening them.
Her character would be back at the cave entrance.
Yuuri drew a long breath.
"Mi... mi..."
This insane game!!
"...This insane game!! Shitty game!! Absolute trash!! Batshit crazy game!!!! 2020 Game Awards J.O.A.T. winner...!!!"