my take on the theories :)) its a bit long sorry

also idk if its a mistake from the author but i just dont understand why jaeseob wants hyungshin's and yeontaek's tapes if him and hyungshin supposedly gave up during the early start of the game. it doesn't make sense. unless he's looking for it to destroy it?? idk

i trust the author idk she just lwk so goated so im putting my faith in that she knows what shes doing

this theory? https://www.mangago.zone/home/mangatopic/18390003/

"first, bada could have just been an easter egg placed by the actual game developers"
- that still doesnt rule out the possibility that he himself is a game developer. The fact that “he’s programmed to be a horror fanatic” only explains how he behaves NOW as an npc. it doesnt address who he might have been before ending up in that role. and there's also the author's note that Bada's major is computer engineering. of course that doesnt automatically mean he's the developer but it does make the idea a lot more plausible than if he had no connection to tech at all. it at least opens the door for the theory that he couldve had some involvement with the game like whether as a developer, someone with access, or someone who understood the system well enough to get trapped inside it in the first place. but then again there's also the possibility the author dropped that info on purpose. it could be an actual hint pointing toward a deeper connection with the game or it could just be a red herring meant to make us readers CONSIDER the possibility that he's the developer. either way, the fact that it was mentioned at all makes the theory more reasonable not less

"second, the theory that bada is a beta tester doesn't explain why he appears on a motorcycle at the start to give his cousin his bag, warn them and then leave."
- this part still doesnt contradict the theory. It only shows what his programmed behavior looks like after he's already in NPC mode. He's simply following the scripted NPC role the system assigned to him.

+ Id like to add this person's supporting theory:
Hello, i want to expand on your beta tester theory. Im not exactly sure how it works but in games theres always like closed beta test 1 and cbt 2 and a bunch of different testing sessions. Maybe Bada was one of the first beta testers which was before they decided to give the players the ability to k!ll the killer and other stuff that idk, the killing is the only thing i can think st the top of my head. And then after the devs added more stuff that the player could do, there was another batch of beta testers and those are the rest of the crew with doha and stuff.

Another thing to point out is that if these programmers in this setting have the technology to put real people into a video game, it's not implausible for a person to have their conscious placed into a npc role and then assumedly break out of it.

I will say a lot of these bada being human theories come from the cope of wanting bada to be real, but it's pretty fun and have merit to them.

okay so the "him and hyungshin supposedly gave up during the early start of the game" info was from Yongtaek right? Im sure we can trust him but we also have to realize that in both YT's and JS's "testimonies", when theyve had their tapes inserted, all point to the fact that SC manipulated them. So this means that the info from YT about HS and JS removing the tapes could be misleading. Its possible that SC made YT believe that they removed their tapes bc they couldnt take it anymore when in reality SC was the one who manipulated them and removed their tapes in the first place.

- YT's pov: SC used Bada to convince YT to insert a tape (to become a player again)
- from SC himself: he tricked Doha and removed his tape to secure his own survival
- JS's pov: SC manipulated them to remove their tapes
- and us reader's pov: he ejected Bada's tape just so he could mess with Doha

the point is all of these lead to SC being a manipulative antagonist. and also "i just dont understand why jaeseob wants hyungshin's and yeontaek's tapes"... dont forget about what the first thing that JS did and said when he got his memories back. he hit SC and said "if seongchan's your enemy, im glad to be here". clearly he has a grudge on SC and that his comrades (maybe allies should be the better word?) are HS and YT, maybe thats why he wants to get their tapes. i mean i dont really know how else to explain it, but if i were in JS's shoes id also become protective and make sure my trusted friends are safe/doing good. id also want to get their tapes back to "revive" them.

what sticks out to me tho was when JS said "I shouldve known since he began harassing his cousin to relieve his rage. I know he's just an npc, but-" harassing him how? and rage from what? this also adds to why he removed bada's tape. it wasnt just to mess with doha but also a form of his "harassment to relieve his rage". but again, rage from what? YT also mentioned before that Doha and SC has some tension between them but he didnt go much into detail bc it was also unclear to him. im sure that has some connection with what JS said. im kinda sure the details of that conflict between Doha and SC will be the big reveal for this season

nah its more like we've already been misled by an unreliable narrative once, so im not taking everything at face value anymore. Sure there's a possibility Bada could really just be an npc but im also open to and enjoy making theories for the opposite possibility. bc when it comes down to it, the players are just as clueless as we are (they don’t fully know why they’re in the game, they’ve had to learn how to play as they go, and their memories have been tampered with in one way or another throughout the gameplay) bc we have SC (and possibly Doha bc we all know how sus he could get just to achieve his goal) manipulating events from the start

Posting this here because I had a mini light bulb moment while responding in the comments:

DOHA IS NOT COMPLETELY AGAINST BADA KNOWING THAT HE IS AN NPC
In the previous chapter, he didnt stop Bada from inserting the tape. If he truly wanted to prevent it, he couldve just easily just killed Bada and removed his tape so he'd forget that whole round, But Suujin why is he pretending he doesn’t know Bada, and why is he stopping Bada from talking to others? Thats because he knows Bada is smart and naturally inquisitive, like he could start questioning things, piece things together, eventually rediscover that he's an npc. And Doha doesnt fully trust how the current Bada would handle that revelation. That's why he's withholding information and keeping this Bada isolated. He trusts the previous Bada more bc that version of Bada knows Doha best and has bonded with him longer and on a deeper level. which is why, again, in the previous chapter, he wasn’t actually against Bada remembering he was an npc if that tape truly belonged to him.

"I shouldve known since he began harassing his cousin to relieve his rage. I know he's just an npc, but-"
What Jeoseob said really stands out to me bc harassing Bada how? and rage from what? this also adds to why he removed bada's tape. it wasnt just to mess with doha but also a form of his "harassment to relieve his rage". but again, rage from what? YT also mentioned before that Doha and SC had some tension between them but he didnt go much into detail bc it was also unclear to him. maybe this has some connection with what JS said

omg i LOVE ur takes so much!! idk i feel like an idiot adding up to ur theories but the rage could probably be come from the endless times they tried playing the game?? or what if bada already knew who sc was (like he's actually manipulative), given how perceptive he is (??) he tried warning the others?????

this is very true!! i love the theories that u post, i recognize u i think from the last season finale with that doc u shared bc we talked a little abt our theories back then and u shared a doc. sorry that is so random lmao but i remember the day that the season finale came out bc of how crazy that plot twist was

yes!! someone also had a similar theory that JS caught on SC's real motives thats why SC removed his tape before he could alert other. I also think its very possible bc it makes sense. BUT it made me think... if JS is right that SC was the one who removed his tape, then why didn’t SC remove Doha’s tape also? Why target JS (and probably HS and YT) but not Doha? If SC's concern was about getting caught, why was Doha's tape also not ejected? If we were to compare them all, wouldnt it be Doha who's the sharpest and most capable person to stop SC with his motive?

this is also why i find it weird. YT mentioned that Doha and SC constantly clashed and had a falling out. It that was true, why was SC putting up with Doha so much so that he didnt remove his tape? (also vice versa, why didnt Doha remove SC's tape). the only time SC decided to remove Doha's tape was when he "needed to secure his own survival". Wouldnt that mean that, up to that point, they needed each other? Badly enough to overlook their conflicting personalities and work together despite all the tension. But why do they need each other? For info? What kind of info tho? I think they definitely know something more about the game than everyone else.

okay this is off-tangent and a very wild theory (even im not confident about it. it just suddenly popped in my head lmao) but what if Doha and Seongchan were also involved in making the game? And Bada too (bc he's the only with tech background among all of the characters) And somehow Bada messed up something about the game like idk maybe thats what caused them to get stuck in the game (and also caused Bada to forget his memories) hence why Seongchan is "harassing his cousin to relieve his rage"

nah that might be too wild haha