MSS 10

Malicious Snipe Streaming (10)

How long can a human play a virtual reality game?
I’d never seen any data on it, but one thing was certain.

Kyunwang, 20 hours straight.

If you move your whole body while fighting for 20 hours, the brain becomes so exhausted it slips into delirium.

“……Everyone, how much longer until the ending?”

「With your skills? Maybe 3 hours?」
「Yeah, about 3 hours left I think」
「Could even be faster, lol」

“That’s a lie! You said 3 hours left for Taurus, and 3 hours left for Aries too!”

「Lmao it’s a hidden route~ have a drink~」
「I actually never played this game!」
「Sphinx-nim, your face looks scaryㅠㅠ please smile」

I was sure of one thing.
Compared to the malicious viewers occupying my stream, I wasn’t even close to being “malicious” myself.

“I’m too tired, can’t go on. I’ll just take a short break.”

As I tried to log out, the chat filled with disappointed messages.

But really, what choice did I have?
In this state, with my eyes half-shut…

「SniperKingSphinx donated 100,000 won!」
▶ Ding-dong~! Your energy drink has arrived!

“Oh my~ SniperKingSphinx! One hundred thousand won! Thank you! Suddenly I feel energized. Let’s continue right away.”

I closed the settings menu instead of heading to the title screen.
I stood up sharply and looked toward my next destination.

「Instantly cured」
「That’s financial healing ㅋㅋㅋ」

Was the exhaustion fake?
No.

But the number that appeared alongside that 100,000 won made my eyes snap open.

(Viewers: 8,245)

Honestly, I was baffled.

Why so many?

Even if it was the first hidden route in 3 years, this was more than expected.
Did all the other streamers stop playing Beast?

「NewViewer3 donated 1,000 won!」
▶ Sphinx-nim I’m new, can you explain the hidden route story?

“The story? In short, Victor died.”

「??」
「?」

“Then he drove away his savior, followed the one who killed me—Aquarius—and is now gathering strength.”

「NewViewer3 donated 1,000 won!」
▶ ㅋㅋㅋ Just hearing it makes it sound like absolute trash

Sorry, but I hadn’t lied.

No matter how everyone in chat praised it as a perfect masterpiece, I had been dragged into a hidden route with no normal ending.

「Don’t listen to the streamer」
「If you want to understand, go to the story commentary broadcasts」

Commentary broadcast?

I pulled up the live site, confused.

Among the many streams, I saw several with the “God of Star War” tag.

[The Hidden Route Revealed After 3 Years! God of Star War Story Commentary]
(Viewers: 2,208)

[Hidden Route came out! Let’s peek a little. (I’ll stop if told not to)]
(Viewers: 818)

What the hell was this?

Even after seeing it, I couldn’t believe it.
They weren’t streaming their own gameplay.

Several streamers were broadcasting my stream on their channels.

「Lmao what are these people」
「They’re literally showing Sphinx’s stream on their own」
「Shamelessㅋㅋㅋ」
「They dare do this to Malicious Snipe Sphinx? Hope they’re ready for consequencesㅋㅋ」

I waited a moment, then noticed one of the streams nervously fumbling after my face—looking displeased—appeared on their screen.

「Dalmong donated 10,000 won!」
▶ Sorry Sphinx-nim, I sent you an email asking permission but got no reply… is it okay if I restream?

It was a familiar tactic from my army days.

Take action first, report later.

「ㅋㅋㅋ what bullshit」
「How is he supposed to reply during a live stream?ㅋㅋ」
「Asking now is too late…」

Sure enough, I saw the permission email in my inbox.
I smiled.

“Oh~ Dalmong-nim, thank you for the 10,000 won! Sorry I missed your mail. Feel free to restream.”

I peeked at her stream.
Her tone in the donation message was polite, but on camera her face was twisted in annoyance.

—“Damn it, I told you, I sent the email! Why are they freaking out? Sphinx-nim already said it’s fine.”

Yikes.

I quickly closed her stream.
Chat exploded in “ㅋㅋㅋㅋ”.

「So funny ㅋㅋㅋ」
「Restreaming without a word and acting all righteous lol」

I could see why viewers were angry.

20 hours of VR gameplay was like 40 hours on PC.

All the highlight moments I fought to create through sheer exhaustion…

Other streamers were using them for their own content.

Still, Dalmong was the polite one.
The male streamer “StrongBulldozer” hadn’t even sent a permission email.
He was still just rebroadcasting my stream, shamelessly.

「Why not just deny them permission?」

Some chatters called me a pushover, but they didn’t understand.
You don’t look at a single tree. You look at the forest.

“Don’t be too harsh on the restreamers. As long as you guys know it’s my stream, that’s enough. Let’s push on to the ending.”

「Wooo」
「God-like attitude」
「Wait is the screen just glowing?」
「Malicious Snipe Sphinx actually tolerating this?」
「ㅋㅋㅋ this guy’s got a good mindset」
「Followed^^」

Malicious sniping isn’t for just anyone.
You fight the big shots, not rotting nobodies.

「EmperorSwordSentToHellBySphinx donated 1,000 won!」
▶ ㅋㅋㅋㅋ Don’t worry, this is the guy who sent Emperor Sword to hell. The ones in danger are the thieves restreaming him^^

“Now, let’s focus on the game. Let’s hit the ending fast!”

The little event had cleared my foggy mind.

How much longer until the ending?

I’d defeated 9 of the Zodiac bosses. Three remained.

Gemini, Capricorn, Aquarius.

That meant…

“Maybe I really can finish in 3 hours.”

I walked on.

The once-blue sky was now gone, replaced by cosmic black. Stars clustered above Victor’s head.

“The map detail’s changed. A boss is coming.”

Inside the temple, I encountered a new figure.

「“There’s still time to undo everything, Victor.”」

A man of shadow stretched his hand toward me.

「“Take my hand. I promise you the throne of the universe.”」

His body contorted, writhing as if something inside begged to escape.

「“Save me, Victor…”」
「“Re… remember the path of the stars!”」

What the hell was this story?

Was this what they meant when they said the mid-late game was weak?

「StarWar9thPlaythroughNewbie donated 1,000 won!」
▶ Holy crap, all the foreshadowing just came together. Legendary.

「ㅠㅠ」
「ㅠㅠㅠ」
「My number one game of all time」
「I doubted you, Aquarius…ㅠㅠ」

“What? So only people who cleared the ending know the story? Can’t you explain it to me too?”

「You’re supposed to cry here, Sphinx-nimㅠㅠ」

“Cry? I don’t even get what’s happening!”

「StarWar9thPlaythroughNewbie donated 1,000 won!」
▶ The normal ending is to take the Black Hole’s hand and ascend as king of the universe

“Then why the hell don’t I even get the choice? Screw it, I’m just gonna beat him up.”

The fight with the “Black Hole” boss begins.
Unlike other bosses, he mirrored my own fighting style, using powers of the constellations I had collected.

I realized his gimmick.

“So you’re an AI that learned my patterns?”

That’s right.
The devs had built the perfect golden balance—final boss as the mirror of the player.

But there was one flaw.

I was too damn tired to keep up.

He stole my constellations one by one.
The pressure mounted.

At last, he drew Sagittarius’ bow.

Now was my chance.

I sprinted forward, not even dodging.

The Black Hole loosed his arrow—

And missed completely.

Because in real life, I’d always been terrible at shooting.

[Starforce “Cancer” activated.]

I summoned the crab’s claws and slashed his neck clean off.

“Black Hole, cut!”

Relief washed over me as his head rolled.

But then—

「StarWar9thPlaythroughNewbie donated 1,000 won!」
▶ Lmao is this a phase 2?

No please, not that.

Yet, at the last moment, Aquarius appeared.

Sealing the Black Hole inside her massive water jar, she restored the sky.

「“Universal Star Victor. Welcome to the Path of the Stars.”」

Victor and Aquarius shed tears together.

I didn’t understand their emotions, but I understood their joy.

「That final cutscene was insane」
「These devs hid this ending for 3 years?ㅋㅋ」
「Scary thing is—without this streamer, it would’ve been remembered forever as a trash game」
「My light, my love, Shin Yu-seong…」

「StarWar9thPlaythroughNewbie donated 1,000,000 won!」
▶ Da Pink Sㅠㅠ Thank you for the world’s first hidden route clear. Kyunwang bonus!

“Oh my! StarWar9thPlaythroughNewbie, a million won! Thank you!! After the cutscene ends I’ll bow with Victor’s body!”

The Path of the Stars?

For me, it was this donation.
This was my path of joy.