Chapter 9 : A , dancing , shit – game genius (8)

“LMAOᄏᄏᄏᄏ”

“Wait, you didn’t even know this would work?ᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏ”

“This chat is killing me”

“It actually worked, I can’t believe thisᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏ”

Leaving behind “WokeUpSilverHair’s” very human reactions in the chat,Stage 2’s arrows and the anti-gravity zone started to shrink far below them.

As Rydel tilted the camera sideways, the scenery around them blurred past.

Like some kind of glitch, the three bald-headed characters spun and soared upward through the air.

“Waaah! Nice!!”

Rydel clapped her hands, still dizzy from everything that just happened.

She wasn’t entirely sure what was going on, but one thing was clear — they had really just skipped several stages.

“…But, uh… where exactly are we going!?”

Their characters, each stuck with dozens of arrows and boosted with insane momentum,showed no signs of slowing down as they rocketed skyward.

“We passed Stage 5… 6… no, we’re past Stage 7 already…”

Only when they neared Stage 9 did the speed finally begin to taper off.

And then—THUD!

All three characters slammed into a surface.

Not the ground — the starting point of Stage 10.

It looked messy, sure, but it worked.

They had landed straight on Stage 10 in one single ridiculous leap.

Rydel stared at the screen, stunned.

It was as if this whole thing had been planned from the start.

By perfectly using the knockback from the arrows and the reverse gravity,they had just traveled from Stage 2 all the way to Stage 10.

“Stage 10 entry achievedᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏ”

“Y’all just skipped the whole gameᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏ”

“This is insane… truly insane…”

“Is that even possible!?”

“We’re witnessing history hereᄏᄏᄏ”

The chat exploded.

If this had been pure luck, maybe people would’ve brushed it off as a fluke.

But no — “WokeUpSilverHair” had called it ahead of time.

They said, “I think we can skip a few stages,” and then they actually did it.

That couldn’t be coincidence.

“Wait a sec… no way…”

Cold sweat trickled down Rydel’s back.

“That first time we hit the wall… that was on purpose, too!?”

When they had first entered the reverse gravity zone,all three of them got hit by arrows and were immediately sent crashing into the wall.

At the time, Rydel had just assumed it was a mistake.

I mean, who would think getting smacked into a wall was a deliberate strategy?

“But… we all landed in a safe spot, didn’t we?”

In this kind of “pot-style” game,where there’s no save or load feature,how you fail often matters more than how you succeed.

Every mistake determines where you’ll have to restart from —and falling all the way back to the start is always the worst-case scenario.

But when they hit the wall earlier, they’d landed safely.

“Now that I think about it… that was probably planned.”

And what’s more, “WokeUpSilverHair” had said they were just testing things out:“I wasn’t sure what would happen if we got hit by the arrows, so I tried it out.”

“Turns out even a slight touch sends you flying.”

If they were telling the truth, this was their first time playing this stage.

So naturally, they wouldn’t have known how far the knockback would throw them.

That’s why they tested it — to measure the knockback’s strength.

And when you get hit by multiple arrows at once?

The force stacks up.

Not just one or two, but dozens of arrows.

Three characters, each hit by over a hundred arrows combined.

It was only natural they’d take off like a rocket.

This wasn’t just stage skipping — this was practically going to the moon.

[Rydel: Hey, hold on]

[Rydel: Why did we get hit by those arrows mid-run, though?]

Even on the second attempt, both Rydel and Delbung3 got hit by one arrow each.

It slowed them down significantly, though they didn’t get knocked out of bounds.

Was that also part of the plan?

Or just a rare slip-up from “WokeUpSilverHair”?

“LMAO we cleared the stage but why’d we get hit thoᄏᄏᄏ”

“I save you from drowning, and now you’re asking where the reward is?”

“Delbung, let’s not abandon your conscience, man.”

“No, I swear, I’m just genuinely curious!”

Rydel shouted with an aggrieved expression.

She had no intention of starting a fight.

She was just seriously wondering — if every move so far had been intentional, why did they need to take those hits from the arrows mid-run?

[Rydel: You played brilliantly, I’m just really curious;]

Just in case anyone misunderstood her intentions, Rydel quickly added another line in the chat.

“Wow, Delbung’s so humble!”

“Delbung’s kinda adorable, isn’t she?”

“EEEEEE”

“You guys are the ones who told me to ask…”

As Rydel’s face flushed with frustration, a new chat message popped up.

[WokeUpSilverHair: There was only one window to clear the stage without getting hit by the arrows.]

[WokeUpSilverHair: But if we avoided all the arrows, we wouldn’t get the reverse gravity boost in the final section.]

[WokeUpSilverHair: On the other hand, if we waited for the reverse gravity, there’d be no way to dodge the arrows.]

[WokeUpSilverHair: So by having one of you take an arrow and slow down a bit, we managed to time it perfectly with the reverse gravity turning ON.]

[WokeUpSilverHair: That’s why I made you take those hits.]

“…So you’re telling me you calculated even that?”

Rydel mumbled in disbelief.

To sync their entry with the exact moment reverse gravity activated,two of them had to get hit and slow down just enough to match the perfect timing.

A normal run wouldn’t have allowed it — so WokeUpSilverHair deliberately disrupted their timing.

“???”

“What did I just read?”

“Is that even a legitimate strategy?”

“No way this wasn’t a lucky fluke… that timing’s insane.”

“What is this person, a supercomputer? How do you even calculate that!?”

It hadn’t been a mistake from the start.

Even the moment they all got hit within a second at the beginning —that was WokeUpSilverHair’s calculated setup for their aerial launch.

“Has anyone ever played this game this well?”

WokeUpSilverHair’s skill went far beyond just being experienced.

From Stage 1 onward, they’d carried the team with plays no one could have expected.

At first, Rydel thought they were just a veteran player.

But this wasn’t something you pulled off just by playing a game for a long time.

Just like how some people stay stuck in the lower ranks no matter how many hours they put in,others rise to the top ranks right from the start — powered by sheer talent.

Talent.

If there was one word to sum it up, that was it.

“Delbung looks so defeated right nowᄏᄏᄏᄏᄏ”

“Big respect to Rydel for recognizing the wall of talent”

“Hang in there, Delbung…”

“Delbung used to flex her gaming skills a lot thoughᄏᄏᄏᄏ”

Maybe her frustration showed on her face.

Rydel was, after all, a professional gaming streamer.

Her chat often teased him, but she took pride in her skills.

But after seeing this kind of overwhelming talent firsthand , She couldn’t help but feel a little hollow inside.

“No — no, the game’s not over yet! I’m all warmed up now, so I’ll really show you what I can do!”

“Warming up (4 hours later).”

“Even if she’s bad at the game, at least she’s got a good attitude.”

“We’re rooting for you, but… let’s be honest, you’re probably gonna get carried again.”

“Hey! High-end sports cars take a while to warm up too, you know!”

No matter how she felt, Rydel knew it wouldn’t do any good to let those emotions show.

It wasn’t like WokeUpSilverHair had done anything wrong.

“Why am I even feeling like this?”

Rydel was a bit startled by her own reaction.

Sure, she was a skilled streamer,but there were plenty of other players better than him.

Professional gamers, retired pros turned streamers, and even casual players with insane skills — She’d watched them play, admired them, and been inspired by them.

She’d gotten frustrated when losing to other streamers in matches, sure —but she never actually disliked those opponents.

So why was this different?

Why did it feel so bad to lose to someone she’d never even heard of before?

“…This is the same feeling I get when I run into hackers.”

In the current era of VR gaming, cheating was almost extinct.

Advanced anti-cheat programs had made hacking nearly impossible in mainstream games.

But every once in a while, cheaters still slipped through the cracks —especially in smaller, less regulated games.

Every time Rydel encountered one, it left him with this same sickening feeling.

The feeling of someone breaking the game’s rules and ruining the experience for everyone else.

And now, deep down, a part of him couldn’t shake the suspicion —that maybe WokeUpSilverHair’s plays were too perfect to be real.

The discomfort and emptiness Rydel felt deep in her chest — that’s where it was coming from.

“I don’t think they’re a hacker, though.”

She couldn’t be sure, but WokeUpSilverHair didn’t seem like a cheater.

Besides, the game was still new — there hadn’t even been enough time for someone to develop cheats yet.

Even for an indie game, there’s usually at least some basic anti-cheat protection.

Sure, some low-level hacks that blatantly mess up the game might show up early on —but a cheat as precise and flawless as this?

That would take an insane amount of time and effort to create.

And no one would put that much effort into a game that was only trending temporarily.

“Actually, creating something that sophisticated might be impossible in the first place.”

Rydel had encountered plenty of cheaters over the years —and no matter how advanced their hacks were, there was always something off.

But with WokeUpSilverHair?

There was none of that.

No weird, unnatural movements.

No obvious signs of manipulation.

“I know that. I get it… but still…”

Even though her rational mind knew they weren’t a hacker,every time she thought about WokeUpSilverHair’s gameplay,it was hard to believe they were even human.

That subtle sense of dissonance — that’s what was making him feel this way.

“Honestly, even with hacks, this level of play might not be possible…”

No matter how skilled a player was, it was normally impossible to outmatch a cheater.

There were hardware limits like input speed and the natural reaction time of a human being.

But watching WokeUpSilverHair’s godlike performance made Rydel wonderif maybe, just maybe, even those limits didn’t apply to them.

“Come on, it’s just an indie game. I’m overthinking this.”

Rydel shook off her thoughts and forced himself to focus.

Zoning out like this during a live stream?

Total rookie move.

When you’re streaming, you focus on the stream —that was a rule Rydel had followed ever since she clawed her way up from a no-name to a mid-tier streamer.

“Alright, time to get serious. You guys know the real winner’s the one who takes it home in the final stretch, right?”

[‘RydelLoveDog’ has donated 10,000 won!]

Rydel, you know this is a co-op game, right?

[‘DarkDelbung’ has donated 10,000 won!]

If I ran into that player in a PvP game, I’d probably quit gaming entirely.

“Probably would’ve quit streaming too.”

“Don’t leave us, Delbung!”

As Rydel desperately tried to stoke her fighting spirit, the donations started rolling in.

“I’m not quitting! I’m not ending the stream!”

The financial support snapped Rydel back to reality.

Determined to end things on a high note, She turned her focus to the final stage.

“But… uh… what the hell is that?”