How were you supposed to figure out that oybpxf jvyy abg snyy vagb cvgf vs gurl'er chfurq ol na vpr oybpx ivn n fgne ? I stumbled upon it while hopelessly trying random stuff lol. Figuring out the rest was very logical and satisfying though :D
The left side is meant to be a clue for this. But you're right, you just have to think that it's worth trying (or deduce that it's definitely impossible if you can't do this).