orvdiscrepancies

[orvdiscrepancies]

Discrepancy #58.5

This fact is not in the webtoon and I think for good reason.

[ORV Webtoon, Chapter 16]

I did NOT need to know that this is where the poison fog in this scenario is from-

[orvdiscrepancies]

Okay addendum, I'm a little stupid. Literally the next few lines is Dokja waking up because the scene of Joonghyuk is a dream he is seeing.

[ORV Novel, Chapter 16]

So, yes I was right, this scene is not in the webtoon. But I also didn't include the entire scene.

ANYWAYS- This provides even more interesting context into the story. Yes, everything about Joonghyuk is still relevant. It's still the same idea. This just provides more context for how Dokja's powers work. This is the first instance we get of Dokja's Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint Level 3 (I think) skill.

Dokja is unconsious (asleep), Joonghyuk is thinking about him, and so Dokja is seeing Joonghyuk. What's fascinating is that it's happening before Dokja has even unlocked that ability. As far as he's concerned, there is no out of body experience and what's happening with Joonghyuk isn't even real.

Additionally, this scene continues with Dokja acknowledging that this is all real and stuff.

But yes I acknowledge my stupidity. Always feel free to point out my stupid mistakes.

Discrepancy #58

This scene isn't in the webtoon.

[ORV Novel, Chapter 16. Still don't have my phone]

I looked for this scene for a bit and I can't find anything that matches it. The closest I can find is this scene from Episode 13 in the Webtoon, but this doesn't line up with the actual timing, composition, or topic of the scene-

[ORV Webtoon, Episode 13]

On one hand, I like this perspective into what Joonghyuk is thinking. It is an interesting perspective shift considering how we've been pretty much following Dokja this entire time and all our information about Joonghyuk's past runs has been from Dokja. I like how it shapes his mental perspective for the third run. I don't think we get much of how his brain is working before we get to that movie theatre side quest, so I actually like this a lot. For some reason, my brain wouldn't process the fact that after only 2 rounds, Joonghyuk develops his Regression Depression so it felt like it came out of left field. But with this perspective shift, it just frames it better and provides that build up.

On the other hand, I'm trying to figure out where this is happening. I need like a timeline written out to show me when things are happening. It might be because I haven't touched ORV in a hot second, but I think I would benefit from an overly obsessive timeline that maps out every single chapter. I'm not doing it, but you know-

Also it’s my 19th birthday :)

[orvdiscrepancies]

Discrepancy #58

This scene isn't in the webtoon.

[ORV Novel, Chapter 16. Still don't have my phone]

I looked for this scene for a bit and I can't find anything that matches it. The closest I can find is this scene from Episode 13 in the Webtoon, but this doesn't line up with the actual timing, composition, or topic of the scene-

[ORV Webtoon, Episode 13]

On one hand, I like this perspective into what Joonghyuk is thinking. It is an interesting perspective shift considering how we've been pretty much following Dokja this entire time and all our information about Joonghyuk's past runs has been from Dokja. I like how it shapes his mental perspective for the third run. I don't think we get much of how his brain is working before we get to that movie theatre side quest, so I actually like this a lot. For some reason, my brain wouldn't process the fact that after only 2 rounds, Joonghyuk develops his Regression Depression so it felt like it came out of left field. But with this perspective shift, it just frames it better and provides that build up.

On the other hand, I'm trying to figure out where this is happening. I need like a timeline written out to show me when things are happening. It might be because I haven't touched ORV in a hot second, but I think I would benefit from an overly obsessive timeline that maps out every single chapter. I'm not doing it, but you know-

Also it’s my 19th birthday :)

[orvdiscrepancies]

Discrepancy #57

Interestingly, Dokja would have settled for taking 90% of the profit from the contract.

[ORV Novel, Chapter 15. I don't have my phone on me right now so this is a screenshot from my laptop]

For the record, instead of using percentages, the novel uses a ratio, but it's the same thing. 9:1 would be 90%.

This isn't mentioned in the webtoon because it just moves on with finishing the contract without any more commentary from Dokja, which makes sense. I just think it's interesting that Dokja would have given up at 90% rather than pushing for the full 100%. I mean, he still would have been getting a huge profit and be overly rich, but I think it's more interesting to see what compromises he would be willing to make. He didn't expect to get 100% and he was fine with 90%.

Y'all miss me? I feel like i have the ao3 author curse but for this tumblr

[orvdiscrepancies]

Discrepancy #56

There are more clauses to the contract in the novel than there are in the webtoon.

In the novel, there are at least 10 clauses to the contract:

[ORV Novel, Chapter 15]

Whereas in the webtoon, there are only four:

[ORV Webtoon, Episode 15]

To be fair, clauses 5-9 aren’t mentioned, so I can assume they don’t matter. And Dokja seems to agree with pretty much everything except clause 4. And having all 10 on there is a pain for readers.

But I kinda wanna know what the other 5 clauses are. Just out of curiosity, yk?

[orvdiscrepancies]

Discrepancy #55.5

Bihyung and Dokja’s relationship is so antagonistic, but it doesn’t have to be.

I know I’ve said it before, but it’s true. When you think of Bihyung and Dokja’s relationship in ORV, it’s usually boiled down to Dokja scamming Bihyung. Which, yeah, in terms of the number of coins and stuff, but this is a give and take relationship.

If you remember, in return for Dokja to be a partner of Bihyung’s channel, Bihyung will be the Dokkaebi King. So there’s no reason for either party to openly antagonize each other.

Which leads me to the point:

When Dokja buys the mucus and thorns he needs, Bihyung immediately reminds Dokja that there are no refunds.

[ORV Webtoon, Episode 14]

Now, either I’m just a sad bitch, or Bihyung is actually saying this in a derogatory way. The fun thing about reading is that no one can tell you otherwise. Because to me, this feels like when someone is passive aggressively judging you.

Let’s move on to the novel:

[ORV Novel, Chapter 14]

Now, again, to Bihyung these items are really random and useless. He doesn’t think Dokja will win.

But if Dokja dies here, then Bihyung won’t be Dokkaebi king. It is in his best interests that Dokja survives this altercation. So he tries to offer Dokja a different weapon that he can use to actually win and survive.

And then, when Dokja declines, he back off. Because he is TRUSTING Dokja. Dokja was smart enough to know the ins and outs of the system. If Dokja thinks he can win with these weird objects, then sure. Bihyung does mention in the novel that there are no refunds, but he seems more apprehensive than judgy.

I like how the novel writes their relationship. It’s more “Dokja is smart” and not “Dokja is a scammy bastard.”

[orvdiscrepancies]

Discrepancy #55

Dokja did not, in fact, threaten Bihyung to open the Dokkaebi bag.

On the webtoon, he says he did:

[ORV Webtoon, episode 14]

But he just… didn’t-

The scenes are moved around a bit, but when Dokja asks Bihyung to open the Dokkaebi bag, Bihyung kinda just does it.

[ORV Novel, Chapter 14]

What I’m seeing is that the webtoon makes the relationship between Dokja and Bihyung feel more like brothers that always argue rather than Bihyung being a business partner scammed by Dokja.

I could be reading it wrong but their relationship seems more civil in the novel than the webtoon. I can’t decide which I like better, honestly.

[orvdiscrepancies]

Tell me this isn’t just Joonghyuk and Dokja’s kid.

I’m just saying- I know nothing about this series but it’s a little sus ◑.◑

[orvdiscrepancies]

I do agree with you there. I know it’s the same with a lot of anime too. You have those flashbacks that get boring to the point it becomes a meme (cough cough- BNHA-).

And I get that there is a level of reader attention, but I also think that while they are increasing reader attention, they are decreasing reader comprehension. Not in a mean way, but just because of the changes they are doing.

Changing it so that the reader can remember, especially in these early chapters where you kinda gotta beat it over the reader’s head until they understand the power system, is important in a webtoon setting where the episodes are so spread out. However, because of these changes, we lose the impact of Namwoon’s death and we lose the context of how the constellations reacted to Dokja’s decision.

Neither decision is wrong, it’s just how adaptation works. I did a lot of research about this in my research project, so I get it. A lot of these discrepancies are based on reader impact rather than genuine criticism lmao.

I think someone did mention that s-class hunter does have that episode and I just completely forgot to check it out.

And another thing is that I am very early in the adaptation of the webtoon. That art style changes over time and so does the story direction. As a writer, I find it fascinating how this story evolves in both mediums. The novel authors get more sure of their story as chapters move forward and the webtoon artists get more sure in their adaption process.

I feel like if they wanted to get both the reader attention and the story in there, they’d have to trust their readers to be at least a little hooked. They average 3-4 episodes a month. By episode 4 of the webtoon, Dokja has figured out his speed reading skill, Namwoon is on his emo bullshit, and there’s been an explosion. That’s pretty good development. By episode 6, that’s almost 2 months. Most people, if they aren’t interested, probably aren’t going to follow a story for 2 months regardless of cliff hangers.

Using just the Namwoon example, I feel like there are ways to have that emotional impact with Namwoon without splitting it up. I think that Namwoon’s dramatic realization that he’s going to die, begging Dokja, and then dying with Dokja just staring blank faced would have been a great cliff hanger. Would they have to shift some things around, yeah. But it retains that emotional impact that doesn’t hit as hard in the webtoon.

As for the sponsor selection, I feel it was redundant. Just plainly- later on in that same episode I mentioned, episode 14, Bihyung mentions the fact that Dokja didn’t choose a sponsor.

By having the results of the sponsor selection be earlier, in chapter 8, it creates foreshadowing. We know that this is a huge moment in Dokja’s plan but we don’t fully understand why. It also clues us in more on how Dokja feels about this whole thing. It shows that he really isn’t as calm and collected as the webtoon kinda portrays him to be. He has doubts about his choices sometimes.

I think if could have been handled something like this:

Dokja lets the time run out on the sponsor selection, brief comments from the constellations, move on. Fast forward to episode 14 where, guess what, it comes back. Dokja is trying to sell his worth to Bihyung and Bihyung says “blah blah blah is this why you didn’t choose a sponsor??” This would be where you maybe add in the reminder. Maybe Dokja takes a second to be like “yeah I did do that but also was that really the right choice?” Get that mental dilemma in there, you know.

Discrepancy #42

This isn’t adapted into the webtoon:

[ORV Novel, Chapter 8]

To me, this seems like the parallel (or at least a tangent) to the scene I talked about in Discrepancy #41. It’s our first real ‘interaction’ with the constellations and gives us a glimpse of what they’re like.

Something to point out: ABFD is having a tantrum, as expected.

But mainly I wanna point out Dokja’s internal dialogue. From the webtoon point of view, it seems like he is 100% confident in his plan to become a constellation. Which makes sense. We’re seeing it from a third person perspective so it does look like he’s absolutely confident.

I like that his dialogue in the novel has that hint of doubt. He’s questioning if it’s the right decision and trying to rationalize his choice. He’s still confident, but it just kinda humanizes him the way he’s a bit doubtful.

It’s fine to have a genius main character that is a step ahead of everyone else, but it’s also okay to make that character sometimes doubt themselves. This was Dokja’s first big step into his path for the next 10 scenarios. It’s reasonable to question if it’s really the right decision. I know I do that all the time lmao.

[orvdiscrepancies]

Discrepancy #54

This scene is different in the novel and webtoon.

To catch you up to speed, Dokja has proposed the idea that he could catch the attention of both groups of constellations and keep that attention.

Here’s how it goes in the novel:

[ORV Novel, Chapter 13]

Versus the webtoon:

[ORV Webtoon, Episode 14]

I think it’s interesting how differently Bihyung is portrayed. Bro has zero chill in the webtoon and it’s hilarious.

I also think that the conversation Bihyung has with Dokja in the novel is interesting. It puts Dokja’s situation into perspective. As a reader, we get into the habit of just trusting that things happen. “Oh no, Dokja got eaten by the serpent! It’s okay. He’ll figure it out because he’s the main character.”

ORV subverts this system. We won’t know it until Dokja dies for the first time, but he *can* die. He’ll come back. He’s hard to kill and stay dead. Like a damn cockroach.

But the writer is the one who dictates this world, and we come to expect certain truths. The main character can’t die and stay dead. The plot always works out. A romance story always has a kiss and an action story always has a big battle scene. These expectations can be subverted, but it’s the basic formula for the stories we are used to.

So when reading ORV, we are really only looking at the issues from Dokja’s perspective. He won’t die here. The novel is too long for him to die in the first 20 chapters.

By including how Bihyung sees Dokja’s situation, it puts everything into perspective. It shows us how the constellations and the dokkaebi really think about the incarnations—about Dokja.

We may have story line expectations, but the constellations don’t. It’s an interesting plot device.

[orvdiscrepancies]

Piggybacking off of this, they added a scene in Episode 14 of the webtoon to explain what happened.

[ORV Webtoon, Episode 14]

What’s interesting is not only do Webtoon readers not have the reactions from the constellations, but they’re finding out so much later than novel readers do.

In the novel, it’s one full sequence, even if it’s split by a chapter break. Dokja lets the time run out and then we get the reactions and Dokja explains how it’s basically a trap, like in the screenshots from my og post.

But in the webtoon, we don’t know what happens at the end of the sponsor selection until a few episodes later. We miss the real context as to why Dokja didn’t choose a constellation.

The novel and webtoon touch a bit on it again in Chapter 13 and Episode 14 respectively, but I still preferred how the novel did it. There was no reason to put it off since it doesn’t even add suspense.

Discrepancy #42

This isn’t adapted into the webtoon:

[ORV Novel, Chapter 8]

To me, this seems like the parallel (or at least a tangent) to the scene I talked about in Discrepancy #41. It’s our first real ‘interaction’ with the constellations and gives us a glimpse of what they’re like.

Something to point out: ABFD is having a tantrum, as expected.

But mainly I wanna point out Dokja’s internal dialogue. From the webtoon point of view, it seems like he is 100% confident in his plan to become a constellation. Which makes sense. We’re seeing it from a third person perspective so it does look like he’s absolutely confident.

I like that his dialogue in the novel has that hint of doubt. He’s questioning if it’s the right decision and trying to rationalize his choice. He’s still confident, but it just kinda humanizes him the way he’s a bit doubtful.

It’s fine to have a genius main character that is a step ahead of everyone else, but it’s also okay to make that character sometimes doubt themselves. This was Dokja’s first big step into his path for the next 10 scenarios. It’s reasonable to question if it’s really the right decision. I know I do that all the time lmao.

[orvdiscrepancies]

Discrepancy #53

Dokja calls Bihyung weak in the novel.

[ORV Novel, Chapter 13]

I mean- it’s true. He is weak. It’s just funny that it got left out in the webtoon.

[ORV Webtoon, episode 14]

It does pose an interesting question for novel readers, a question that’s left out in the webtoon. If Bihyung is a weak Dokkaebi, just how strong are the powerful ones? Bihyung is so strong and overwhelming when we first meet him. Then we’re told a few chapters later that he’s weak.

By leaving that out of the webtoon, it kinda degrades Bihyung’s character, like I mentioned in Discrepancy #52. This line that Bihyung is the weakest puts our first meeting with Paul into perspective.

Paul is a powerful Dokkaebi. Remember how he just pushes Bihyung around? That doesn’t mean as much in the webtoon because we think Bihyung is powerful until we meet Paul. This is the magic of foreshadowing.

Discrepancy #53.5

In the novel, Dokja asks Bihyung if his Korean patch is working, like shown in the first screenshot.

In the webtoon, the English translation, Dokja asks Bihyung if his English patch is working.

[ORV Webtoon, Episode 14]

I just think it’s interesting what they change to accommodate the English readers.

[orvdiscrepancies]

[Story discussion]

Do you think when Bihyung closes the channel, it closes ALL of it? Or just the part of the channel following Dokja?

I know I’ve asked about the logistics of the Star stream broadcasting before, and a few people explained it to me. To be honest I kinda just smiled and agreed because I still don’t get it. There’s something about it that just doesn’t make sense in my monke brain.

But like imagine if it shuts off the whole channel. Like constellations are just watching the others and suddenly it goes silent. I would be so upset.

[orvdiscrepancies]

Discrepancy #52

Dokja blames the constellations in the webtoon.

In the novel, Dokja says that Bihyung can’t kill him because he’s having too much fun.

[ORV Novel, Chapter 12]

In the webtoon, he says it’s because the constellations are having too much fun.

[ORV Webtoon, Episode 13]

This creates an interesting discrepancy.

To webtoon only readers (aka me before I started this blog), it’s assumed that Dokja is basically the star of Bihyung’s stream. And we’re not too wrong, he is kinda the star of the show. But these lines in the webtoon make it seem like Bihyung would kill Dokja if he could, but because the constellations want him to stay, he won’t. It’s all about the constellations. Especially in the next few panels:

[ORV Webtoon, Episode 13]

But in the novel, it changes the context. This line makes sense in the webtoon, but it makes even more sense in the novel.

If, like it’s stated in the novel, that Bihyung refuses to kill Dokja because Bihyung is having fun, not because of the constellations, it makes more sense why he’s not having fun streaming.

In the novel, it’s a combination of Bihyung is bored and the constellations are demanding, which adds more to Bihyung’s character. Remember, we are introduced to Bihyung as this omnipresent character. We don’t think of him as someone with actual feelings, we don’t tend to for characters portrayed as the villain or are inhuman. But the context that’s added in the novel about how Bihyung is having fun almost humanizes him in a way.

It’s no longer about him just being cruel because that’s his job, it’s now about him being cruel for sport. It’s the same concept of running the genocide route in Undertale. Theres no moral reason to other than curiosity and boredom. That’s Bihyung. And that’s a side to Bihyung that the webtoon is missing out on.

It’s just one difference, and yet it changes how Bihyung is perceived.

[orvdiscrepancies]

Discrepancy #51

These lines aren’t in the novel.

[ORV Webtoon, Episode 13]

This isn’t much a discrepancy as it is a story discussion I’m branding as a discrepancy. Because in all honesty, it doesn’t add much to the story. It’s just a cool line for Dokja to say.

What it does do is get my silly little nerd brain to think about Dokja’s plan.

At the end of chapter 11, when Dokja is thrown into the serpents mouth (I fucking give up trying to spell that every time), he ends that chapter with:

…Damn, I have to use that method after all.

That line isn’t in the webtoon and I didn’t think it mattered but that bit me in the ass, so here I am.

In both instances, Webtoon and novel, it’s giving the reader the implication that Dokja planned for this. In retrospect, we know what he was planning. We know he eventually weasel a contract out of Bihyung that makes him filthy rich for the price of not signing with a constellation.

These lines serve to clue the reader in on that fact. Great. Discrepancy over.

This is where the story discussion starts. Because what was Dokja’s plan if he didn’t get thrown in?

Obviously, convince Joonghyuk to ally with him, but what about the contract? What about the scam? This was his plan b, so what was his plan a?

And how the fuck did he even know about this? Did Joonghyuk fling himself into a serpent? WOS is a weirdly descriptive novel from what I can gather, and ORV does a good job of integrating the weird ass knowledge in WOS into useful information for Dokja. But how in the world did it ever come up-

I kinda just want a copy of WOS so I know what the fuck is going on and where Dokja is getting his ideas. Because some out of the ballpark shit just happens and we just have to accept it as Dokja’s plan.

[orvdiscrepancies]

Discrepancy #50

The time it takes the ichthyosaur to secrete acid is different.

“But OP it’s probably just a translation error”” “OP I thought you said you’d stop focusing on these-“

Shush. This one is a big deal.

In the webtoon, the time Dokja says for an ichthyosaur to produce acid after ingestion is 3 minutes.

[ORV Webtoon, Episode 13]

(Also the spelling of ichthyosaur is different but who cares. It’s a hard word to spell either way)

In the novel, it’s 3 HOURS.

[ORV Novel, Chapter 12]

That’s a huge difference! Think about everything that takes place between the time Dokja gets thrown into the ichthyosaur.

He bargains with Bihyung, gets a contract made, buys shit off the Dokkaebi Bag, and prepares himself. Go look at how long that sequence is. He can’t do all that in 3 minutes!

We make take 3 minutes to read it, but Dokja is not getting all that shit done in the time it takes for me to listen to a pop song. I don’t care how good he is at what he does, he can’t possibly do that.

This is why we read carefully, people.

[orvdiscrepancies]

Discrepancy #49.5

@zi-ara pointed out that [Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint] level 2 is portrayed differently in the novel.

In the webtoon, we get flashes of Joonghyuk’s memories but there’s no indication as to why (referring to the same images above). They’re just there- and it’s not uncommon for comics to do things like this.

In the novel however, we know it’s actually because ORV level 2 gives Dokja the full mind reading experience. He can actually see people’s memories too. And zi-ara is right. That is a significant change.

I feel like ORV level 1 is the reading of an action only. ORV level 2 is being in the character’s head and hearing whatever goes through it, thoughts and memories alike. And ORV level 3 is full embodiment of that character.

I mean obviously it’s just different levels of reading. Third person, third person omniscient, and first person. I’d argue it never reaches second person POV until they all know that Dokja is reading their minds and they start actively talking to him through it, but until then it’s just third person omniscient.

See, I completely glossed over that. Hold me accountable people (*_ _)人

Discrepancy #49

Dokja actually uses [Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint] lv.2 a lot more in the novel.

It’s been a hot second since I had a discrepancy-

In the webtoon, Dokja explains pretty much exactly how he and the others survived the first scenario without much prompting other than Joonghyuk’s first question.

[ORV Webtoon, Episode 11]

The discussion is very divided. Dokja speaks and then there’s a sequence of Joonghyuk thinking things through.

Meanwhile, in the novel, Dokja uses the context clues from his ability to figure out the right thing to say.

[ORV Novel, Chapter 11]

It’s more back and forth until the end where Joonghyuk has his fun existential crisis.

I actually like how Dokja is actively using what he hears from other people’s minds to aid his own intentions. It’s like having a play through guide in a dating sim; figuring out what to say to get your desired response. It also makes more sense this way when Dokja’s ability forcibly shuts off due to heavy immersion.

ORV is an amazing ability, as we know, and he’s already used level 1 the way it was intended. This second level isn’t just so he can hear people’s thoughts, but also so that he can orchestrate the reactions he wants.

I just like how it’s done in the novel better.