Who is Shen Nuo really? Five Theories

…aside from a Radish.

Be advised this thread will contain spoilers. 

Im enjoying trying to guess who our ML is and how much he really knows about the game world and our FL. To that end, I wanted to open up this discussions thread to consolidate theories and scenes that support those theories. I did not come up with all of these. I read them in comments and here.

Ending Thoughts:

Now that drama is over I will advise future watchers that his identity is not clear or confirmed until the special episode. The drama very much suggests he is one thing up until the last scene of the show. Than the special episode flips it. I am not spoiling that ending here. But it may get spoiled in later comments. Enjoy :) 

Main Theories: (more to be added) 

• Theory 1: NPC character that has an interesting backstory designed to complicate and enrich the players game. 
  • Update as of episodes 15-16: we now know what that backstory is. Ill favored illegitimate son of a Duke whose legitimate sister is the Empress. He’s working undercover at Emperor’s behest to investigate corruption in this county which is ruled by a Marquess who is known for his greed. 
• Theory 2: Developer or worker of game testing it and observing our FL‘s experiences.
• Theory 3: Another beta tester who appears to be playing a martial arts adventure RPG vs the FL farm sim game.
• Theory 4: A hacker who has broken into the game and can’t reveal himself to those watching the beta test. 
• Theory 5: He’s a real person exactly how he appears and this world is real. Somehow FL has been transported to another world via the game. 
  • This seems unlikely given transmigration is not approved but plenty of dramas employed the parallel world theory, so its possible.

Sub Theories:

• For Theories 2, 3 and 4: For some reason he doesnt know he’s a player/real person and thinks he’s his character. 
  • Suggested maybe there is a glitch in the game causing him and potentially other players who we know as NPCs to forget themselves. 
• For Theory 1: if he is an NPC, than the game may force the player to engage with him because if the player does right by his storyline, they’ll easily earn the 1000 gold tael objective when reaching the end of his storyline.  
• For Theory 1: if he is an NPC, his character is based on a real world person our FL will encounter at the end. 
• For Theory 2, 3 & 4: Other NPCs are players too. Thirteen and maybe either of the cousins.
• For Theory 2: FL’s game parents are based on ML’s real world parents.

For Theory 1, I am concerned his first comment about pain could be explained away by being a royal who hasnt been through tough situations before. 

Also, many scenes where our FL slips about the real world are played so he could be a real world person not revealing themself or a game character not sure who to respond because its outside their parameters. 

The way the game forced her to pick him up also seems suspicious. That is what happens when a necessary NPC is met. Maybe the show’s name is also the game’s name. In which case the FL’s initial theory about him being a game supplied boyfriend may be correct. 

I think it's obviously not #1, he clearly is an outsider to this world. Either the creator or another tester, or some other kind of production member that snuck in.

I'm starting to wonder if this is really a game, or actually some kind of Assassin's Creed thing where they have actually been transported to the past/taken over a past person's body.

There are times when the FL seems to forget this is a game, which makes me wonder if the "NPCs" (if  this really is a game) are people who tested or were involved in previous iterations and slowly forgot who they really are.

There's definitely something going on with the ML....I think he's not supposed to be here, that he's investigating something much larger than it seems....idk, maybe something nefarious regarding the purpose of this "game"? Or perhaps a hacker who snuck in, coding his own assistant in the form of Thirteen? I wonder if the reason he hasn't told the FL who he is, is that he's trying to also fool the people watching her experience.

@cursedbyapollo: yeah the fire scene and the part where the game made her pick him up read very NPC to me. However, Katalian’s idea that real people are getting sucked into the game and forgetting who they are would be a great way of explaining him and making the emotional attachment our FL has formed with some of the other characters more meaningful. 

 Jennyry Moon:

Wow i am more confused about my theory now after reading all these? but my belief is he most probably is not a hacker otherwise him appearing again and again for FL to save him at the start wouldn't happen. He could be an outsider coz he said - i cannot believe i met u here'. Maybe he is a developer and the game is faulty coz its changing on its own (the corruption & all) so he came to find the fault and fix that coz its just supposed to be a farming game. 

I don't want to believe him to be an NPC coz then my cp would be in the game only?, its so saddening for fl to fall for an npc.

Me too! Im still 50/50 on him being an NPC because of the odd scenarios above, but I really want him to be a real world person.

I hadnt considered that the game glitched at the start so maybe he’s there because more glitches surfaced after our FL went back in the second time. How bad would that be for their game?

 YouToon:

Theory 2: Developer or worker of game testing it and observing our FL‘s experiences.

With this one I don't quite see how it is possible, because if he is the developer, he should know all the inside details of the game, like where Black Tiger Fortress is without needing the clues given. Shouldn't he be able to know where it is because he made the game... Therefore, it makes me think that he cannot be the developer. I could be wrong, but that is where my brain just went. 

But then it would also work with the sub theory and he forgot his identity, but then shouldn't he react whenever FL mentions something about real life, inside of not questioning it?

I think he's either the creator or designer of the game because when the actors themselves did promotional little videos before hand, Joseph was always in a suit. So that gave me the impression plus his overall personality in the game and reactions to her modern talk that he's not an NPC at all but someone in her real world. He's just very invested in the game. 

 YouToon:

Thats a clue I didnt even think about. And yeah, he’s invested in the game so much that he’s either truly the NPC or he has a reason in the real world to want it to go well. Being the developer does match that. I had started to doubt it a little because of some points others made above about him not knowing where the bandits were. But pulling out all those household registras makes me rethink that because his character set-up is he’s undercover and does not have government contacts. So how did he get those so quick? 

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.