Who is Shen Nuo really? Five Theories

 Enigma05:

Maybe he does have some connections; I mean how did 13 pop up out of nowhere? Also without that yellow intro thingy on top of his head like the other NPC’s. I’m sure he’s got some support from the Prince and maybe empress but he’s not gonna reveal everything to LMN; may actually put her in danger. But I’m nearly 100% convinced he’s the or a big cheese in that company irl and a few other characters are real too. 

Okay the bird in the latest episode is driving me bonkers. ML’s undercover but he and Thirteen could send for a super fancy rare bird. That feels like he has access to a prize shop or something of the like in game. 

Thirteen was supposedly with him and got separated from each other start of the game. How much you want to bet he got dropped in as a player during that horse chase scene with the officials. Than his first mission was to free Thirteen.

 YouToon:

Okay the bird in the latest episode is driving me bonkers. ML’s undercover but he and Thirteen could send for a super fancy rare bird. That feels like he has access to a prize shop or something of the like in game. 

Thirteen was supposedly with him and got separated from each other start of the game. How much you want to bet he got dropped in as a player during that horse chase scene with the officials. Than his first mission was to free Thirteen.

He’s def got connections that regular players don’t. The bird, the land deeds, finding whosever responsible for whatever without too much searching. I think he’s got a lot more stuff he’s able to access than the average player. Which lends even more credibility to him being the owner or designer of the game. We’ve only got 6 episodes left. How are they going to finish this game wise and irl? 

 Katalian:

Yeah I'm worried that there isn't enough time left to have a proper wrap up of things at this rate, unless it ends up being extremely simple, which would be disappointing

Yeah a rushed ending would suck. However, they’ve done a good job finishing off small arcs relatively quickly. She’s got the business. He’s on his way to getting close enough to find evidence against the baddies. At the rate other arcs have finished they could have all of that done by episode 24-25. My hope is the last episode is primarily in the real world, but we will see.

I read a comment that suggested the opening credits give away the larger plot arcs and they thought it looks like she goes back to the real world and than comes back to help the ML fight the dragon. So maybe we’ll get real world stuff sooner and only have a few minutes wrap up at the end. 

As long as the ML isnt an NPC, I can take it.

 Katalian:

Ugh, I am not happy with the vague ending :( 

I dont hate it. Oddly the special episode ruined what felt like a very thoughtful ending even if it wasn’t my preferred ML scenario. I mean by end of episode 26 we are sure he’s an NPC, but she grew strong enough through his love and the love she developed for her crazy game family that she could face going back to a real world without them. Thats a meaningful character arc.

I like the special episode confirms their future but if they went this route I really wanted at least an episode or two in the real world showing what their lives are like and verifying they can connect outside of the heightened game scenario. Plus we received no verification of how his participation in the game worked.

I think if they’d shown those last few scenes and the special episode scenes in linear order instead of jumping around, it would have worked better despite lacking any time spent together in the real world. 

Agreed those are the biggest clues. I definitely strongly thought he couldn’t possibly be an NPC and only really accepted he was in that last section of episode 26 where his character disappears, reappears and the screen goes white. 

That might be another reason the special episode while great for giving us an HE feels so half baked and unsatisfying: the last episode made us unconsciously accept one truth about him over 30-40 minutes. Than in one minute they flip it all upside down and give no explanation aside from “CEO.” 

That is the answer for alot of plot conveniences alot of time in dramas, but this show feels like it deserved more. 

 deedee2344:

Yes, this show really deserved more. I can only imagine that it came down to censorship or something beyond the director's control, hence the discombobulated ending. If it was more coherent, like the rest of the drama, it would've been an absolute masterpiece.

Fully agree if the editing and pacing of the ending including the special ending were done like rest of show it would have been a masterpiece. 

It is weird how there is this line that you can learn and grow from games but they dont want people escaping into games so they always have to feature this return to real life ending. But in a show like this based on a novel where that didnt happen, they also never seem to invest in building up the real world the person came from to support why we should be happy they returned to it. That this show did leave me happy she returned was impressive but it still faltered in depicting anything truly meaningful about reality.