#‘but isn’t he kdj too?’

[melonnade]

Kim Dokja & You, The Reader: A 51% Kim Dokja Character Analysis

Disclaimer: this is mainly an analysis of my own personal feelings while reading the epilogue, although I’m sure this is also applicable for other ORV fans too.

51% KDJ is our narrator. It’s the part of KDJ that loves Ways of Survival, and KDJ first and foremost is a reader to us; that’s how he introduces himself, after all, in the very beginning of ORV. That’s the whole premise, even. One man manages to successfully navigate the apocalypse all because he’s read a book about it. 51 feels genuine and authentic to us in a way that the third-person narrator 49% KDJ, who has lost all interest in TWSA, doesn’t. 49, in comparison, feels like a pale facsimile. 49 can’t be the actual Kim Dokja, because the Kim Dokja we know is on the subway narrating the book to us.

And so as the reader, when 51 is stuck on the subway, it feels like the real KDJ has been left behind. 49 is just an avatar, after all. The actual KDJ isn’t there to experience life after the scenarios with his companions, and that’s why it’s so heartbreaking. Surely, after everything he’s gone through, doesn’t KDJ deserve to be happy?

Here’s the thing: even before falling into the coma, 49 being able to spend time with KimCom still doesn’t feel like a happy ending. There’s a falseness to it; it doesn’t sit right. During the picnic, Yoo Sangah has a conversation with Han Sooyoung; she asks HSY if she really thinks that the other companions haven’t noticed that something is off about Dokja. But then she continues:

“That person is also Dokja-ssi. Doesn’t matter how much percentage he is made out of, there’s no doubt that he is Dokja-ssi. Dokja-ssi who journeyed together with us.”

Yoo Sangah asked her. “Is there any meaning in deciphering which one is really him?”

(Chapter 521)

This raises the following question: who really is Kim Dokja? YSA makes a good point here; 49 has all the important memories that KDJ shared with them, and it’s impossible to truly know 100% of a person, so isn’t it enough that they still have the 49% that matters?

But as a reader, you’re left feeling unsatisfied like HSY because you know that the 49% avatar isn’t really him. Of course it isn’t enough. The 49% of him that’s there isn’t the same KDJ that we know; that one is stuck on the subway.

But that’s not quite right either. Because the KDJ on the subway, as genuine as he feels, is still only 51% of him. We as the readers are like YSA in that respect; we can’t truly know all of KDJ either. KDJ the first-person narrator is different from KDJ the companion, and as the reader, there’s this fundamental distance between our world and his that we’ll never be able to comprehend.

So you’re left looking at 51 thinking, “This is the one that matters! Come get him off the subway!” If you’re me, you might even be looking at YSA thinking, “How can you be happy like this?! This isn’t a happy ending!”

But in reality, you’ve fallen into the same trap. The only part of KDJ’s story you can really know is the parts that he tells you, and as an unreliable narrator, you know he’s leaving things out. Sure, you also know his backstory and his internal monologue. You might even think you can comprehend him the best as his reader, but really, there’s this line between character and companion that we can never fully understand. This line mirrors his own initial experiences with Yoo Joonghyuk; at the start, YJH is only ever a character to him until he learns to see him as a person.

Basically, what I’m trying to say is that we don’t know 100% of Kim Dokja either. In the epilogue, Kim Dokja is split into two parts: 49, the part that his companions know, and 51, the part that we know. The part that’s been telling the story. ORV is so brilliant because it engages with us, the reader, as part of the story too. We further its thematic arcs through engaging with it; KDJ is to us as YJH is to KDJ, and that line between character and personhood is further exemplified through this. There’s a sort of hypocrisy there, in criticizing YSA, if, like me, you really only wanted 51 to be happy again.

HSY and YJH’s character arcs make me go wild because they recognize that nobody can ever truly know 100% of a person. They don’t care; they want all of him back anyway. This is all just to say ORV truly is the greatest found family love story ever written.

[evanescentdawn]

THE FAKE DATING WIP LIVES AGAIN. also I can’t with these two. screaming. these btches r so funny. I love their dynamic so fcking much. I love writing them so much. I loveeee writing them so much I LOVE WRITING THEM SO MUCH also han sooyoung!!!!! I love u so fcking muchhhh SHES SO <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 TO ME

“Stop laughing,” He says, irritably, holding the ice to his bump. 

“No,” Han Sooyoung says as she continues to laugh and makes a sandwich with his bread, using his butter knife and his groceries that he brought. He has never known another ungrateful person. No, that’s wrong. He knows Yoo Joonghyuk. 

He has never known another pair of ungrateful people, Kim Dokja rephrases.

At least, she makes a sandwich for him too. Though she stuffs it in his mouth instead of giving it to him like a normal person. 

“So what’s the plan?” Kim Dokja asks as he eats it. It’s mediocre. 

“We date.” Han Sooyoung says. 

“Yeah I got that but what’s the plan.” 

She looks at him. “Have you not dated before — sorry wrong question — do not know what dating is — sorry wrong —” 

“I know what dating is,” He interrupts. 

[briebysabs]

I find it fascinating how much orv makes Kim Dokja and Yoo Joonghyuk live by the constraints of “reader” and “protagonist”. Like KDJ wants to see the ending but at the same time, he doesn’t and wishes the story would never end. Not simply because he loves this story but because he needs it like oxygen; TWSA gave him a purpose. He was its reader for 13 years and you notice KDJ never talks of what he’ll do after the scenarios until towards the end. There’s even a moment between him and Sangah where he ponders what he would’ve done if the novel never became reality. If he read the ending, closed his phone, and went back to his apartment. He contemplates if he would’ve killed himself, KDJ knows at least the sad truth that he wouldn’t have befriended Sangah. He’d never reconciled with his mother, he was getting laid off from his job in two days. From 15 to 28 TWSA was the only lifeline he had so think about it. What becomes of a reader when the story is over? One can discern, based on SP and OD’s conclusion, it is to find a new story. But Kim Dokja couldn’t bear to do that. To continue on, he needed to be a reader.

Lee Sookyoung wrote her novel to gain income for KDJ’s living but also to paint herself as the murderer. To sink the lie into KDJ’s head that she was the one wielding the knife. If the traumatized 12-13 years old Kim Dokja knew he killed his father by accident and his mother took the fall for him, KDJ would’ve killed himself. No doubt the guilt would kill him so LSK felt as though she had to do this. So that KDJ’s self-hatred would be aimed at her instead. She made her son a reader of his own life. It temporarily saves him, gives him some time but KDJ is still given a label “a son of a murderer”. His trauma was publicized and hyperfocused on, he was bullied excessively for it. That book is one of the factors that led to his first suicide attempt. So it doomed him.

HSY wrote TWSA to keep Kim Dokja alive. A desperate attempt to save a kid with one foot prepared to leap off a cliff. What else could she have done? She created characters that KDJ could aim his self-hatred at: Kim Namwoon, Anna Croft, the constellations, Nirvana. She made him a reader of a character’s life. Made him inject YJH’s essence through his veins like an IV drip. Of course, Kim Dokja wants Yoo Joonghyuk to be happy in the end. That is the main driving force between so many decisions he makes but where does leave him? The whole reason he attached himself to TWSA was because this protagonist was suffering too. But he kept on living round by round so surely, they could live through their shitty lives together. If the TWSA ended on that train, KDJ would truly be alone and might’ve killed himself. So what happens, the novel comes to life and gives him even more time. But because of that, later down the line KDJ will make the choice to become the Oldest Dream, a watcher for all eternity. Yes, KimCom’s world needed someone to dream for it to exist but even if that wasn’t necessary ... .do you think KDJ would have enjoyed a happily ever after discovering he was behind all their pain and tribulations? The guilt might’ve killed him, we saw some of that with his visceral reaction to OD. So it doomed him.

Kim Dokja has to be a reader.

Yoo Joonghyuk was created for Kim Dokja. This isn’t a shipping statement, this is just a fact. I think it’s foolish to believe that is all there is to his character, he’s his own individual and his journey throughout orv is keeping his autonomy and gaining agency. Outside of what he’s written to behave like or KDJ’s will for him. But his life’s purpose is to keep Kim Dokja alive. HSY wrote each of his regressions to save this one person. And this is where the 0th turn YJH comes in because he makes the decision to regress. He was happy in his world, that is true but he couldn’t truly rest because something was missing. Everything was idle, every day was peaceful after saving the world. But while yeah, KDJ was reading his story as always…he wasn’t being the protagonist. YJH needs to do something, he needs a goal to accomplish so he gives himself one. He regresses for three reasons: To meet his sponsor aka his reader Kim Dokja. To find out his purpose, what he was made for….which is to save Kim Dokja. And finally to fulfill his sense of self which is being a protagonist. Reaching self actualization and being an active force in the world around him. So fast forward when Kim Dokja’s fragments are scattered across the universe and the scenarios are over, why is it surprising that YJH falls into depression? Why is it surprising that he goes to HSY in the museum and seriously asks her to end his life? What becomes of a protagonist when there’s no one to read his story? What use is there for him? So of course he’ll be the one to venture on this suicide mission to space, hopping from one worldline to the next, grasping onto the fragile hope that KDJ can come home.

Yoo Joonghyuk has to be a protagonist.

[weirdsht]

I really love characters with the tendency to bleed and be some human sacrifice. Tysm kdj and krs. 😭 i have a new idea altho I'm not sure if somebody's already done this. Cale and the group with someone who coughs out blood everytime they spill spoilers from the tcf novel? Like she's been transmigrated/reincarnated (whatev you desire (⁠^⁠^⁠). Bro is trying to help so bad bc they hate war so they do it subtly and carefully (imagine having to be careful with your wording, I can't even--) but can't help but shit out blood sometimes or most of the time cos they forget and get frustrated

Forgive me for i love miserable characters...

Hardbound (Paperback pt. 2) - Cale x Reader

notes: I decided to link it to another oneshot I did before because I think it fits. I hope that's okay!

tags: blood, like the whole fic is blood, heavy cursing, Cale might be ooc, NOVEL SPOILERS (near the end of book 1)

English isn’t my first language so there will be grammatical errors

Pls don't repost my work anywhere without my permission

Constructive criticisms and any kind of interaction are more than welcome

Requests are open and welcome

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Paperback Navigation Masterlist

Crimson, the colour of Cale’s hair.

That was the colour Cale can see right now. However, he is not looking at his hair.

“Ugh!”

Instead, he was looking at the blood dripping from your mouth.

“Stop speaking. This is not good for you.”

“Why not? You cough up blood all the time. Why can’t I do the same?”

You joked lightly but Cale didn’t like how weak your voice sounded. Indeed, he always coughs up blood. Especially whenever he overuses his ancient powers. But the blood he coughs up is dark red. Dead blood from his regeneration powers cleansing his body.

Not the vibrant crimson blood dripping from your chin. Blood from a beating heart, a sign of vitality as Eruhaben would say.

“I need to continue, you need to know about this. We must hurry up so just- ugh… so just listen.”

When you told Cale you were going to pull a “World Tree-nim and a Cale combo”, he didn’t know what he expected. 

It certainly wasn’t you trying to give out spoilers from your beloved book and coughing out copious amounts of blood.

“There will be monsters. Ones too hard to– Ugh! Fuck! I’m sure you understand what I mean.”

Drip

“That’s two out of five. Those things will be in a pit. It’ll look like statues, you will also see… you will also see an altar there…”

Drip

Drip

“You don’t need to speak anymore. Please, the rest of us will figure it out.”

“No, no. I’m fine really… Bear bastard, you know who it is, hostages. He’ll– Ugh!”

Drip. Drip. Drip

“It’s Tasha’s people. For a summoning– Fuck that one really hurts! I'm trying to speak as vaguely as possible already, what the hell…”

“Please… I’m going to tape your mouth shut if you don’t shut up.”

Drip

Drip

Drip. Drip. Drip

“I’d like to see you try. The tape won’t stick with all– with all this blood.”

“Haaa”

“Enough jokes. The fourth and fifth ones are connected. In Endable, watch out for bears and black– watch out for black mages. And avoid– Shit! Avoid using instant. But I'm not sure if it's… if it's possible… I need to speak… to speak to Raon. The last spoiler is for him– ugh..!”

Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip.

Cale wanted to refuse. He wanted this to end.

At first, it was just from your mouth.

The blood that is.

Then it started dripping from your left eye. Naturally, your right eye was next.

Then your nose. Then your ears.

Before the commander knew it, your entire face was covered with blood. He tried to wipe it, but they were dripping so quickly that it did nothing.

Cale doesn’t know how are you still conscious. He isn’t even sure if you’re still breathing. That was why he wanted you to shut up. That was why he desperately wanted this to stop.

But it can’t

Cale can’t refuse nor can he end this.

It was because you already made up your mind. And since you did, there’s no stopping you now.

So he gets Raon. Warned the toddler that the sight inside the room would not be pretty, but he must listen. Because their futures are resting upon the words you are about to say.

Upon the words written in your beloved book.

“Human…”

“I know… If you can’t listen I’ll listen for you and rely on the message.”

“No… I’m great and mighty. Because I’m great and mighty I shall listen to this conversation myself.”

Raon flew over to where you were. Placing himself on your lap as he uses his stubby paws to hug you.

“Ah, it feels comforting to have such a great and mighty being comforting me. But you’ll get blood on you– Ugh..!”

Drip. Drip.

The black dragon didn’t care about the blood. He just hugged you tighter at the sound of you coughing up more blood.

“Raon Miru-nim remember this well. Things might get messy and despite my meddling things might still go awry. So I’m telling you right now. In Endable, Cale might become incapacitated to fight– Fuck! Ugh, I promised to not curse in front of you…”

Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip.

Drip…

Drip..

“It will be hard, you will need to do everything yourself, without Cale. In fact, you will have to do his job– ugh… but you must do well. Remember, the first thing you have to do is have Mila-nim on standby. She can heal him.”

Cough

Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip

“I want to say more… but I’m reaching my limit…”

Raon tightened his hug and you weakly reciprocated it. You aren't sure if the wetness you feel in your shirt is from your blood or the dragon’s silent tears. Nonetheless, you still tried to hug Raon tighter.

In the meanwhile, Cale was already calling for servants and healers to attend to you as soon as you admitted your limit. His voice was laced with unusual panic. It made the others who didn’t know what was happening move with urgency.

“Raon-nim…”

“Yes?”

“You are strong, smart, great and mighty, always remember that.”

You weakly stroked Raon’s back, trying to comfort him in advance for the things about to come.

“Young master what’s going on–”

Beacrox and Ron stopped in their tracks when they saw the condition you were in.

“Ahahaha, you guys are right on time. I think… I’m going.. To…”

You couldn’t even finish your sentence for you already fell unconscious. Your body dangerously swaying to fall off from your sitting position on the couch. Luckily, Cale was nearby and managed to catch your falling body.

Cale glanced at you, then he glanced at the open book on the table.

As usual, he couldn’t see what was written on the pages. He could only see the cover title at the front and the synopsis at the back.

But that doesn’t stop him from hating that damned book that put you in this state.

If only you haven’t read that book before coming here.

If only there wasn’t a restriction placed on you by that damned book.

If only…

“Fuck, after this war is done I’m going to try and burn that shitty book one way or another. I don’t care anymore if it’s your favourite.”

note: in case it wasn't clear, the placement of the drips signifies how fast the reader's blood was gushing out

[lialox]

Your thoughts on Joonghwa ? (Og TWSA Specifically)

Omg is this because I said I was on the het side of the fandom in a tag earlier today? 😭 I feel like I cursed myself

OG TWSA specifically hmm…

I hate to break it to you anon but, in a series of mindbending meta foolery, Joongwha did not truly exist in TWSA. 

Hear me out!!

TWSA starts on YJH’s third turn. 

It was in the 0-2nd turn where they had an ‘official’ relationship, getting married, having a kid, etc. 

But you see, none of those turns were ever written. Meaning, it only existed in KDJ’s imagination, and was messed with a lot by him in canon. There’s a quote that’s something along the lines of “since it wasn’t written, I can interfere as much as I want”. I do believe KDJ still pushed YJH in the right direction up until the 2nd regression based on his line of thinking there.

So I can’t actually comment on Joongwha specifically OG TWSA

In the actual TWSA, his relationship with Lee Seolwha was only mentioned. (Unless I’m remembering this wrong) There was never an established couple dynamic that was described. They were never depicted as lovers, but rather as a “it’s okay to be single because Yoo Joonghyuk is single too and he struggles in his love life just like you even tho he’s hot as fuck” for the number 1 yjh kinnie of all time to be able to relate to.

As far as I know, there isn’t a single chapter in TWSA where they’re actively in a relationship.

Joongwha in the OG TWSA to me, is a plot device.

There was never any substantial romance between them since that was not TWSA’s sole reader’s genre. So, they never really bonded in the way lovers do, but were more like very close companions that found it convenient to be with each other. 

Did they love each other? Absolutely.

In the way yoohankim or Joongdok does? Not even close. 

Yoo Joonghyuk loved her enough to let her go in his subsequent turns, but knowing how he’s like with other people…

YJH kept crawling back to HSY to hand her his life, over and over again, in every life.

YJH choosing a literal hell of eternity for KDJ. Plus a million other jd things you already know about.

It just really speaks to me about what love, trust, and devotion really means to him as a person.

Not to mention YJH was happy for her when she got into a different relationship and had a child with another man in one of his later regressions in TWSA. But really? YJH, the PETTIEST person in kimco, happy for someone he truly loves? Content to love someone from a distance?

NO!!! (That’s HSY’s thing)

YJH gets bitter and pouty when Doksoo yap all by themselves (their convo is heavily filtered half the time). He’s clingy. He’s 33% yearning. He is the kind of guy who—when he really truly loves, will do so by your side at all costs!!!

Side note — When I heard that YJH had a child in the 2nd turn my first thought was 🤨 damn he’s supposed to be good at all games so how is his pull out game this WEAK?? Because in NO conceivable way would anyone think it’s a good idea to intentionally get pregnant during the literal apocalypse. YJH really had to do some Star Stream gymnastics to even get the privacy to bang (unless they were into ‘that’) but they couldn’t figure out birth control??

[runningoncaffeine]

I’m just gonna go on a fucking rant, might make zero sense but I have to get this out of my system.

Fourth wall right….let’s all gather and sit around, head bowed, hands under our chins, deep in thought about this shit right here

KDJ says that the Fourth wall makes it so that he perceives reality as separate from fiction of stuff that was mostly related to TWSA.

Yeah, makes sense.

Just think of this…we know that 4thwall protects him from the effects of ‘fiction’, grounding him in ‘reality’ and helping him make calm, sound, rational decisions. We also know that the Wall shakes and thins when faced with said ‘reality’

Now, here’s another thing we know about Dokja—he likes to see everything through a reader’s eyes, viewpoint if you will

One of the first things we find about him interacting with others is with Sangah and he immediately puts her into a story and gives her a role. He’s been doing this shit since before the scenarios and the apocalypse and all. So we can assume that he’s done this like almost all his life, being the ‘reader’ and seeing others essentially as characters—until they interact with his little bubble.

As it would happen, the people who interact with him and his bubble aren’t exactly very welcoming or nice most times but that aside, here’s what I’m rambling about

If you think about it, the first attributes and skills people get are related to what they were already good at and stuff

So fourth wall is essential a powered up version of KDJ’s dissociative tendencies. It’s a coping mechanism.

Him being a ‘reader’, not intervening in anyone’s story, only reading and forming opinions

Because the last time he played a major role and defeated the villain, the consequences weren’t pretty and he didn’t get the happy ending. Even after his mother ‘reread’ it to him, the ending wasn’t one he liked

The pre-apocalypse version of 4thwall (and his generally tragic life) kept him from being anything more than a ‘reader’ to other people’s lives

But this is not going to be satisfying at all —we know it, Dokja knows it, 4thwall knows it—Dokja craves to be something more than a ‘reader’

But his life is realism, he prefers fantasy novels. His story is a bore compared to the other ones he sees

And “it’s not too bad, being a reader”

Can’t we say that the 4th wall was protecting him from reality than fiction? In his mind, he’s always seen life as stories, whatever genre they were, they were always stories and the fourth wall kept them as stories….

*sighs heavily* yeah, this isn’t going out of my head anytime soon…just Dokja and his trauma….excellent…

[scarlet-cookie]

Doksoo short angst fic (51!KDJ and “HSY”)

Based on the third part of this post by @lialox

[Kim Dok ja]

The fourth wall’s voice came in and out randomly, as if it was also running out of things to converse about.

Which regression turn was it, now?

I couldn’t remember.

I closed my eyes. A blurry vision of Yoo Joonghyuk sleeping soundly on a quiet night with his companions surrounding him came to mind.

He was asleep, huh..

My sight returned back to the empty subway. 

I thought about Yoo Joonghyuk’s companions around him again.

…

Deep down, did I wish my companions were here, as well?

It would hurt them.

My stories were still slowly floating out the window. Perhaps, by the end of this turn, I would truly forget all of my memories.

A tingling sensation began to creep up my chest. It was a thought.

[N ot a go od ide a]

The fourth wall spoke, as if knowing in an instant what I was going to do.

I let out a faint chuckle.

“But if I don’t do it now, will I ever be able to say those words again?”

The comments I wanted to make on the Ways of Survival one last time.

I slowly drew in a deep breath.

[Bookmark “Director of the False Last Act” has been activated!]

The memories I recalled about Han Sooyoung. Both of the one I knew, and the one who saved me. Tls123. The memories I had of them began to slowly float up to the surface of my consciousness.

“Who do you think…”

“A very big baby..” 

“You, you…”

“You better read it…”

“Even if it’s over three thousand chapters…”

Some memories I recalled vividly, some I weren’t sure if it was just my imagination. Nonetheless, all those moments began to converge into one single avatar.

A figure slowly materialized in front of me. A tiny portion of my stories sank into that figure.

A young woman of short stature, her dark hair flowing down to just about her shoulders. A beauty mark beneath her right eye. The white coat that fitted over her body. 

I stared up at that figure’s dark eyes.

[Due to the “Most Ancient Dream”’s blessing, the skill’s application period has been changed to infinite.]

I wished this moment could last forever, too.

“Hey, why are you crying!?”

The avatar behaved exactly like how I expected Han Sooyoung would. She removed the lemon candy sticking out of her mouth and shoved it hurriedly down her pocket. She then picked out another one from somewhere.

“Hey..”

That lemon candy wasn’t forcefully stuffed in my mouth. Instead, she simply bent down and handed it to me.

One of my hands was still holding onto the phone, and the other was covering my face. Han Sooyoung’s concerned expression deepened.

“Tch.. guess I’ll have to do it myself.”

She carefully unwrapped the candy and waved it over my mouth.

“Say ahh.”

Was it because I looked like a child now? I couldn’t help but get slightly annoyed. Nonetheless, I decided to play along.

I opened my mouth as she placed the candy on my tongue.

The lemon candy had no flavor.

Han Sooyoung threw herself onto the seat next to me with a thud, patting my hunched over back softly.

[The fourth wall is shaking!]

[The fourth wall is shaking..]

[The fourth wall…]

After a while, the messages slowly disappeared. Maybe that guy decided to go away for a while.

“What’s wrong, huh?” Han Sooyoung asked, snapping me out of my short trance. She looked down at the phone in my hand.

“You’re reading it again?”

This time, instead of sounding annoyed, she sounded rather gleeful.

I nodded softly. “Yeah.”

Han Sooyoung smirked.

“It was a really great story, isn’t that right?”

The phone I held fell onto the cold floor with a soft thud. Tiny pieces of glass broke off from the screen, but I couldn’t care less.

I’d said something like that before, didn’t I..?

I nodded again, biting down on my dry lips.

“Yeah.”

“What do you think about it?” 

I couldn’t stop myself now. The words began to flow out of my mouth like water bursting out of a broken dam. The words I’d always wanted to tell her, the author. The comments I could no longer write. 

As I kept rambling on and on, her expression shifted along with my energy. She laughed when I got upset, and sarcastically consoled me at the parts that saddened me. 

One thing was consistent, though.

She would smile whenever I mentioned I loved this story more than anything.

I couldn’t tell how much time had gone by. I kept talking as my stories kept floating away. Is this what they mean when they say “time flies by when you’re having fun”?

I’d stop at certain points to catch my breath. Whenever that happened, I’d notice our reflection on the subway window. A young woman with a child whose clothes are too large for his body, both wearing the same white coat like a bring-your-parent-to-school day silly getup. Han Sooyoung would notice what I was seeing, too.

“You look horrible in that.”

But in my eyes, all I saw was a child talking away happily to his guardian.

I smiled.

“I know.”

As the time kept going by, I began to grow tired.

Of talking.

Even though I still had a million more words to say to her.

Han Sooyoung’s soft hand rested on my head, hastily brushing away my loose hair. Without another word, she pulled my small head down to rest on her lap.

There was no familiarity in this feeling. It was strange.

“Sleep, Kim Dokja.” She muttered, slowly removing her hand. My legs were still folded up on the seat awkwardly. She shook her head, as if disappointed. “Stretch your legs!”

I did as she told, letting my legs stretch along the seats. I remember counting the seats each time I was in this position. Originally, it was roughly five seats. Now, it was barely three.

Her dark eyes glanced at me again.

“Seriously…” she grumbled. “Do you need a lullaby or something to sleep? Why am I asking this.. but you’re a child, after all.”

She seemed to direct that last line as a joke.

I shook my head.

Han Sooyoung chuckled to herself, resting her chin on the hand that wasn’t caressing my head.

“Of course you don’t. You’d listen to stories. And only one, for that matter. How stubborn..”

Then, she began recounting the tales of Ways of Survival.

Did Han Sooyoung used to do this?

I had asked myself that question numerous times over since the moment I began talking to “Han Sooyoung”.

If the avatar was truly generated from my memories, then..

Then…

Then how could she be doing things I don’t even expect her to do.

My thoughts came to a halt when she began to recount my favorite part.

Whatever it was, I’d rather relish this moment, even if it’s just for a second more.

I slowly fell asleep listening along to her voice.

…….

When I woke up, the subway was empty again.

I must’ve unknowingly deactivated the skill when I was asleep.

In the dream, I continued to watch Yoo Joonghyuk’s regression turn.

But this time, “Han Sooyoung”’s voice accompanied me.

The author that originally breathed life into this world.

Just to keep a single person alive.

I stared down at my hands, the ends of it still breaking away into the distance.

My stories were leaking out at a much faster pace than before.

[Sl e pt we ll?]

The fourth wall’s voice returned. 

I couldn’t answer it.

In a way, it must’ve been one of the best night’s sleep I’ve ever had in my life.

I opened my mouth to say something, but no words came out.

The fourth wall sighed.

[St i ll c ry ing]

…….

Han Sooyoung, who was now in the 1865th turn, was standing guard for the other companions as they slept out of exhaustion. She stared up at the night sky, trying to find the star that shone the brightest.

Just now, she had a rather silly thought, that perhaps that guy would’ve created another avatar to accompany himself in that train. Maybe that avatar would look like her. Maybe that avatar would be patient enough to listen to his ramblings about the story he loved the most. Maybe that avatar would’ve taken care of him in her stead, at least for now.

She felt a small tear forming at the corner of her eye.

“What am I thinking…” 

She shook those thoughts off.

“But that guy would definitely do such a thing.”

[skylark325]

Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint Read Through

Ch 32-52

Beginning: Ch1-10

(I think this was my favourite read through so far XD)

I pushed to punch this asshole's face. I didn't understand. This wasn't the 'third regression' Yoo Joonghyuk that I knew.

>KDJ: Look at me YJH, look into my eyes. *grabs his shoulder* This isn’t you. Get the fuck out of this safe zone so I can be safe.

I was bleeding from minor wounds and the shoulders struck by the grolls' horns were red with blood.

>Reading it in the novel feels so much worse than the manhwa for some reason 😭

"You can become much stronger with me than with him. You still won't go?" "Yes. I won't." "…Stupid kid."

>oh he’s so mad lmfao

"I only use it on men." "Oh my."

>…Dokja buddy let me hold your hand when I say this. You are a homose- *gets run over by a car*

"I know what I know. Of course I don't know. I'm just talking to myself."

>…huh?

If my guess was right, our damn regressor would be on the 'sunfish route¹'.

>WHOOP he said the thing!

"Hey, why are you talking to Heewon-ssi but ignoring me?" "Uh… that, I'm a bit weak to older females."

>I…IS EVERYONE IN THIS BOOK QUEER?

[The constellation 'Demon-like Judge of Fire' likes your desire to rehabilitate a fallen friend.]

>Oh I bet she does

"I saw it in a book when I was a child." "When you were a child?"

>I love Gilyoung with all my heart but he can be so suspicions sometimes

I thought of how Lee Hyunsung's eyes would shine with loyalty towards me and already felt warm.

>AWWWW

Mjolnir was lightly lifted by Lee Gilyoung's hands. Lee Gilyoung swung the hammer around before looking at me.

>So Gilyoung is Thor, k ok cool

[The constellation 'Secretive Plotter' hates spoilers.]

>DUDE SAME

A novel reader recently spoiled something huge in my comments and I wanted to tear my hair out like WHYTFBNHGGBBN

In fact, sunfish were very durable creatures. They died because they were vulnerable to stress, not because they were weak.

>someone get this man a therapist. wont that save the world? some stress balls and anti-depressants and he’ll be unstoppable.

"Alone?"

「 I… 」

"What did I come here for if you are alone?"

>i love this scene so much 🥹

"It sounds like you know a lot." "I know him the best in this world."

>That’s…Dokja you’re making this too easy

"I came here because of you! Why are you alone? We are together!"

"No, wait a minute."

"I've always been around you! Don't lose hope! Think of the child!"

"That isn't what I…"

>HAHAHAHA I’M DYING

"…Indeed. Don't worry, I'll give him this love letter!"

>lmaooo i love this scene holy shit XD

"I am Yoo Joonghyuk."

>oh here we go

"But Yoo Joonghyuk-nim should've realized it from your past regressions. Even if you have an outstanding miracle, you alone can't fight against the disasters that will come."

>The first grader is trying to teach the guy with a phd in yjh lmao

–Then tonight will be a hot night?

–H-Hot…?

>Poor Hyunsung someone protect this man 😭

These jerks, they only got the cute side of Yoo Joonghyuk in the beginning…

>EXCUSE ME????? CUTE?????? DOKJA MY MAN GET UP

--------------------------------------------

Next: Ch 53-73

Previous: Ch 21-31

Beginning: Ch 1-10

[mhaynoot]

so i went into orv with full shades on, didn’t even read the blurb or anything, I just saw the cover art, the bridge scene and some high school au art and was oh they’re so cute! tbh i literally saw images of the bridge scene so i don’t know how i completely missed the fact that there was a webtoon but i did and so i downloaded the epub version first and started reading with 0 expectations except maybe a shounen rivalry

ahh this is a power fantasy, first person, game cliches and all the action tropes of dungeons. i think this is similar to the other thing I was reading (solo levelling) oh huh so he’s a lazy office worker guy who only reads and is about to be laid off? not the worst backstory, i wonder what op power he’s going to get!

i was very very unquestioning of the story, i didn’t really think about much beyond trying to puzzle out surface level power stuff. like i was just fully trusting everything kdj's said in his internal narration. the protagonist is always right, yeah? he’s the omniscient reader’s viewpoint after all. just look at him explaining his acts of good with ulterior motives, look at him being cut throat and saying he's a villian.

"what a self aware protagonist!" i say obliviously.

hyprocrite he calls himself and i cheer.

orv plays into the genre tropes and cliches so well, i was completely blindsided by the gradual build up to all the revelations i just never expect for it to ever answer.

so in the beginning i’m casually rooting for him on as he beats up and outwits his abusive boss, his old bully, as every adversery bows before him in a very power fantasy way. his first death is a brush off, it is inconsiquential, he brushes it off, i say “ah this type of protagonist!”

actually lets talk about his first death for a bit. like kdj literally dies, but his own narration treats it as an inconsequential, small death. ignore it. don’t worry about it, look kdj isn’t worrying about it either! his fourth wall skill is negating the effects that’s why he’s so blase about it and that’s not totally concerning at all, don’t think too hard about it. this is just a power fantasy remember?

until the gaps between his actions and words started appearing even in my very guillable eyes.

I ask, “why do you want to save shin yoosung so much? wasn’t it just hypocrisy?”

kdj narrates:

The omniscience was a curse. Knowing someone's heart meant always deceiving someone.

my worldview starts shattering bit by bit and then the characters around him mourn each death and i startling start mourning too, grieving in a way i wasn’t able to understand for each death and each time he starts this painful cycle of violence and survival and salvation.

it takes a whole month to finish reading the novel. i laughed, cheered, smiled and cried so hard at so many different points reading. orv has become a part of me in a way i never expected.

i love this story.

[kdj-225]

Hellooooooo :DDD

It's me :DDD

Would you write something about alpha!YJH x beta!KDJ if you write ABO? 🥺

If not, maybe smthn with Joongdok and Biyoo? 🥰

Thank you for opening asks!! ❤️❤️❤️

here you go!! it's short, but I hope you like it even a lil bit! 🥰💜💜

==== ※DO NOT REPOST / HOST MY WORK ON OTHER APPS OR SITES

“I don’t know why they still bother confessing when everyone knows you’re taken.”

Yoo Joonghyuk didn’t say anything, though his expression was enough to show his annoyance at Han Sooyoung’s nosiness.

Eighteen, and yet, adulthood couldn’t come sooner. There were still the undeniable shackles of high school education before he could properly work; in addition, he had to deal with the unnecessary socialization that came with it.

He just didn’t understand why people kept confessing to him when he was firm, time and again, on the fact that he isn’t interested. It had nothing to do with looks, fame, personality, or gender preferences—he just didn’t want anyone in that way. Not when he already has a pack of his own, and not when he already has his hands full with a particularly stubborn beta who couldn’t seem to keep away from trouble.

“Right, there’s Lee Seolhwa,” chimed a familiar voice, its owner popping out from the corner he’d been hiding in.

Speak of the devil.

Kim Dokja, shameless with his own eavesdropping, smiled that vapid smile of his as he looked to the distance where his recent admirer had bade their embarrassed farewells. Then he looked to Joonghyuk, mouth opening as if to say something, until he got interrupted by a harsh smack on the arm from one frustrated Han Sooyoung.

“Hey,” Dokja complained. He made a show of looking pitiful as he rubbed his arm, and half-way succeeded into looking pathetic. “There’s no need to be so violent, is there?”

“Only if you stop being an unnecessary matchmaker, Kim Dokja,” Sooyoung retorted, jabbing a finger against Dokja’s chest. “You’re lucky you’re a beta so you don’t have to deal with Joonghyuk’s stench as much, but it’s all. Over. You. Do you think I enjoy watching you make a fool of yourself—”

“Enough,” Joonghyuk cut in, grabbing Sooyoung’s wrist and lowering it before she could poke at Dokja again. “And there’s no such thing.”

“Tell that to my Alpha nose, Yoo Joonghyuk,” Sooyoung sneered.

“Your dysfunctional nose, you mean.”

“Why you—!”

“You’d have his scent too if not for the fact that your Alpha scent is strong enough to drown his out,” Dokja pointed out. He was unabashed in mentioning it, even when both Sooyoung and Joonghyuk gave him equally murderous glares in response. “You hang out with us just as much. I only have his scent from proximity.”

“...that’s how it is when you sleep in the same bed, huh?”

“Please stop making things up that people might misunderstand.”

[yellowocaballero]

Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint: YJH Commits the Improbable and Reads a Webnovel

Don’t be weird. Don’t be weird about this, Dokja. I hurriedly went back to the novel myself, reading it next to him. Reading a novel next to somebody…that was like reading it together, wasn’t it? 

It wasn’t together. But it wasn’t separate. It was a strange and obscure connection, one where you said nothing but were linked by a shared experience. It meant something when two people experienced the same thing. Especially this.

Somebody else experiencing this…it was like they were experiencing me. Why had he sat down next to me? Why had he stared? Why did he talk to a stranger like this, ask questions so intently? Why would he go so far as to ask about the book, read it beside me? Did he like it?

With a strange and obscure wonder, the man said, “This isn’t even good.”

Well. That was a natural reaction.

When I'm trying harder than usual to nail a difficult character then I write a lot of side shit in order to try and lock them down. Obviously everybody in ORV is hard as fuck to write, so I decided to write a quick scene as a character study for KDJ & YJH to try and nail their voices. I think this was written right after the divorce arc.

Super short 3k encounter under the cut.

I noticed the man sitting down next to me immediately, but it took far longer to notice he was staring at me. He hadn’t even turned on the computer - he just stared at me, completely shamelessly. It was another few minutes before I finally worked up the courage to fully turn my head to look at him. 

I had noticed from the corner of my eye, but he was an unrealistically attractive man. The punk black shirt, canvas pants, and dangerous black boots suited him well. It made me want to forgive him for staring at me. I didn’t quite forgive him. 

“Is there something you need help with?”

Maybe he had seen me here several times and mistook me for a library expert. I was, in a few ways. Mostly not. You’d think that guys who spent as much time as I did at the library would be some sort of well-read genius. I just read webnovels on the computer. It was my ideal location, since there was a computer and it wasn’t home. My webnovel and isolation was all I asked for. I didn't know who I was asking, but there had to be somebody.

The man somehow hadn’t anticipated the question. He wasn’t big on blinking or moving, which wasn’t a great trait in creepy library men. He took a long few seconds before answering. It wasn’t a tremendously difficult question. I knew it: the more attractive a man was, the stupider he became. Maybe that explained myself?

“What are you reading?” 

Question with a question. The man had a deep, bassy voice, but there was an awkward wobble to it. I hurriedly switched tabs to a news site. “Nothing.”

“You seemed intent.”

“Why would you notice that?” I asked flatly. I could play this game too. “And why were you staring?”

“I wanted to know what you were reading.”

He didn’t seem that curious. Maybe the question was a nicety, meant to open me up towards selling me sharp knives or something, but anybody who would say a nicety like that wouldn’t stare at me for ten minutes first. 

“Just a webnovel.” I knew I sounded defensive, but you could only hear the exact same thing for so long. “Fantasy. It’s not fanfic or anything.” I paused a second. “I don’t know what fanfic is. By the way.”

The man’s eyes skittered away, the nervousness blooming. He stared at my suddenly banal computer screen instead, as if I was stupid enough to show my cards and flip back to Ways of Survival. “What’s it about?” 

I couldn’t help but perk up a little. Was he seriously interested in that? This was beyond bizarre small talk. Better keep the explanation to two sentences. Play it cool, Dokja.

When was the last time somebody had actually asked what it was about? That girl in high school, maybe. When she was pretending to ask me out to get a giggle out of her friends. That reverse counted. 

“It’s a post-apoc regressor fantasy,” I said. Really cool. Wait. This guy was way too attractive to be a nerd. “Oh, a regressor’s a genre. It’s when the main character goes back in -”

“I know what a regressor is,” the man said tersely.

So he was a nerd? That seemed improbable. Attractive people didn’t have to become nerds, and nobody was a nerd voluntarily. “Sorry. Yeah, but it’s about a regressor who has to save the world from gods and demons. And a lot of other stuff. It’s mostly action. For a male audience.”

The man looked a little pained. Crap. I failed. C- in social interaction, Dokja. “Audience, huh.”

I stared at him blankly. “All stories are for an audience.”

“What about a story nobody reads?”

“So can I help you, or…?”

“Can’t a story be just for you?” The man suddenly seemed a little urgent, as if this conversation had tilted into an area that actually mattered. I thought I was the only one… “What about a story that you tell to yourself?”

I stopped and thought about it. I had thought about the topic before - a Dokja found it hard not to - but the thoughts usually walked a tired track of self-pity. But the man spoke sincerely, and some topics deserved a serious answer. The man waited for me to talk with growing impatience. Pushy. 

I decided to give the answer I had when his eyebrow started ticking. “People tell themselves their own stories when they’re trying to create an ending they want. As if framing your life as a romance means you’ll get married at the end. Life doesn’t really work that way, though…”

The man leaned forward a little, his urgency only growing. “What if it did?”

“That’s a hypothetical,” I said. “So it’s fictional. You just made fiction out of making fact out of fiction. That’s fiction at the end of the day.”

“If fiction was real, would it become reality?”

It was a question that was both very banal and very odd. “That only happens in isekais.” The man stared at me blankly. How did you know about regressors and not isekais? “You know. Americans call them portal fantasies. It’s a popular genre, there’s all kinds. Regressors, Returnees, and Reincarnators.” A little awkwardly, I added, “That’s, like, genre canon. See, my novel explains it.”

I opened up the webnovel tab, navigating instantly towards the line I was thinking of. It was pretty early in the book, while Yoo Junghyeok explained to Lee Jihye and Kim Namwoon that he was a regressor. As usual, the narration had to step in to explain the basics of the worldbuilding. It was always nostalgic to read the beginning of the novel: back when the worldbuilding wasn’t insanely convoluted. 

“ ‘In the cruel star stream, there are only three ways to survive’”, I read out loud, before something occurred to me. “Oh, the star stream is kind of like an evil apocalyptic Twitch stream. Gods and demons watch scenarios - that’s a sort of game where a bunch of people die - and then they watch people die, it’s a gory -”

“Like a Twitch stream,” the man said tightly. This guy was a huge fan of repeating what I said. 

I just shrugged. “It’s a metaphor. The novel’s about the entertainment industry and exploitation of -” the man’s face was becoming increasingly stormy, so I went back to the novel. “Right, here: ‘In the cruel star stream, there are only three ways to survive: bear regression, change into a returnee, or accept reincarnation. These are the strongest people. In this new and dying world, the weak will not survive.’” I looked back at the man, almost forgetting the casual act. “Cool, right? There’s lots of isekai elements - I guess you could say that there’s a sophisticated nature to it sometimes, this metatextual aspect? - but the story itself doesn’t really hit those isekai beats. MCs are meant to be relatable everymen, but you can’t really call Yoo Joonghyuk relatable. Oh, that’s the MC. He’s really morally gray, it’s that kind of story. He’s the kind of hero who always does his best but who’s constantly fucking up. He’s, like, on his 945th regression. Not great at the -”

“945th?” the man asked. If he was strangled before he was dying of asphyxiation now. 

I got it. “He’s a sunfish,” I said sympathetically. The man seemed like he was in too much pain to understand the reference. “That means he’s super easy to kill. But that’s mostly at first. He gets super badass later. One time he decapitated four -”

“This is funny to you, isn’t it?”

I stopped short. I couldn’t read the man’s face at all, but I felt very judged. And a little like I had disappointed him. “It’s not exactly a comedy,” I said awkwardly. “It’s just cool. It’s fun.”

“You didn’t look like you were having fun while you were reading it.”

Damn. Caught. I looked away, rubbing at the back of my neck. “Uh…yeah, I’d read that section, like, five times. It’s just comforting, I suppose.” For some demented reason, I felt the need to add, “You read it in class and you can pretend Yoo Joonghyuk would beat up your bullies for you. Or that he’d stand up for you against your - that kind of thing. He’s a hero. It’s not about watching the hero suffer. It’s about cheering for him when he wins. Um, I shouldn’t admit this, should I?”

But he didn’t look like he thought I was cringe. The man spoke quickly, as if he needed me to know before anything else. “He used to threaten his sister’s bullies. That’s the sort of thing he does. Did. As a child.” He paused a beat. “It’s why he started working out. They weren’t very intimidated. Or so it seems.”

I nodded eagerly, suddenly excited beyond measure. “That’s totally him! He just hides it behind that cool murder guy exterior. You really get it. You know, maybe you’d like - uh, nobody likes it, but it’s oddly compelling -”

“Sure,” the man said. I quietly exploded. “Pull it up on the computer.”

And for the very first time in my entire life, I sat next to somebody as they read Ways of Survival. I was practically vibrating. I couldn’t stop sneaking glances at his face, trying to suss out if he was enjoying it or not. He had skipped forward a few chapters, so maybe he wasn’t that interested - but he looked so intense - but he always seemed a little intense - another human being on this Earth was reading Ways of Survival! Was this a dream? I didn’t want to wake up. 

Don’t be weird. Don’t be weird about this, Dokja. I hurriedly went back to the novel myself, reading it next to him. Reading a novel next to somebody…that was like reading it together, wasn’t it? 

It wasn’t together. But it wasn’t separate. It was a strange and obscure connection, one where you said nothing but were linked by a shared experience. It meant something when two people experienced the same thing. Especially this.

Somebody else experiencing this…it was like they were experiencing me. Why had he sat down next to me? Why had he stared? Why did he talk to a stranger like this, ask questions so intently? Why would he go so far as to ask about the book, read it beside me? Did he like it?

With a strange and obscure wonder, the man said, “This isn’t even good.”

Well. That was a natural reaction. I wasn’t offended. 

“I don’t like to call stories good or bad,” I said philosophically. “Every story has something for everybody. Ways of Survival is a great story if you love it enough.”

“It could have at least been good.” The man leaned back, exhaling like he had run a marathon. “All of this…and it couldn’t even be good?”

This was basically expected. “The characterization is good,” I offered weakly. 

“Of course the people are good,” the man said irritably, as if this was a foregone conclusion. “But the book itself is embarrassing. The writing is awkward and choppy. The plotlines seem rushed and convoluted. And the regressor is completely unsympathetic.”

“Are you kidding? How can you be unsympathetic to a man with so much inner pain?” I had to roll up for my bias. If Yoo Joonghyuk had a million fans I was one of them, if he had one fan then the fan was me - he did literally have one, and it was literally me. “If I’d seen my loved ones die a million times I’d act cold too. He just loves people too much, so he pushes them away. It’s really deep. And he’s cool.”

The man looked away from the monitor, eyes flaring, and I had to fight the urge to retreat against that intense look. “How can you love a book that’s so faulty?”

All I could do was shrug awkwardly. “It’s pretty easy when it’s all you have.”

“There’s other books.”

“None of them are mine.”

The man’s eyes narrowed a little, his face tightening. “It’s a public book. What makes it yours?”

“I’m the only person who reads it.” This person was getting a little intense. It should have been awkward and uncomfortable - and it definitely was - but somehow I could only care about the fact that he wanted to read my book. It didn’t even matter that he didn’t like it. That had never happened before. “I suppose it’s the author’s too. But a book belongs to the audience, you know. The author can have every intention they want, but the people who read it decide what the book really is. No offense to the author or anything.”

“What if the book doesn’t have an audience?” 

Nobody had ever looked at me like this man looked at me. He was looking straight through me, as if I wasn’t even there - but he was looking at me as if there was nobody else in the world. It wasn’t comfortable. But it wasn’t uncomfortable either. Maybe that was just the nature of true things. 

“That’s a little sad, isn’t it?” I asked. “Every book deserves a reader.”

“Could be a crap book.”

“Is a reader not allowed to enjoy a crap book?”

“What about a crap person?” the man asked urgently. “Does a crap person deserve a reader?”

“I don’t know.” I could only shrug a little helplessly. I wish I wasn’t so helpless. This man was clearly looking for a certain answer, but I couldn’t parse it out. “It’s not about deserve. People are allowed to love crap people. Readers are allowed to like crap books. It’s not so different, I think…”

“It’s bad taste, though.”

“Isn’t that somebody’s own choice?”

The man was silent.

The air had grown awkward. I went back to the novel, abandoning the man to stare blankly at his own computer screen. I didn’t know why my own personality and a webnovel gave him so much to process, but Ways of Survival incited a lot of deep thoughts about the universe and the nature of humanity in me too.

I was on chapter 1,452 before the man finally stood up. He carefully pushed in his chair, reaching to straighten a nonexistent collar before letting his hand fall. 

“Thank you,” the man said. “This helped.”

He seemed sincere, and earnest sincerity was something one ought to accept. “You’re welcome. I don’t really know why, though.”

“Let’s say I needed closure on some things. The turnaround was worth it.” He glanced upwards, as if he was speaking to God. “But I’m not thanking anybody.” 

“If somebody does you a favor it’s polite to say thanks.”

“I would strangle that bastard before I thank him.” Bizarre sentence, but the man paused for a second anyway. “I Googled the top pro gamer in South Korea.”

I was caught off-guard by the subject change. “I don’t keep up with esports?”

“I didn’t recognize the name.”

“Neither…would I?”

“It was a relief.”

The man turned off the computer and stood up, as if the non-sequitur was the final and most important thing to say. I was still stuck on what esports had to do with anything. 

Wait. Something finally occurred to me. “You never said your name.”

The corner of the man’s lips twitched upwards. “Kim Dokja.”

“That’s not funny.” It was actually pretty creepy. How long had this guy been staring at me? “Hey, how do you know my name?”

“I know everything about you,” the man panned. “All of your secret fears in the dark. All of your love and hatred. I know you, therefore we are comrades.”

I stared at him blankly. “But I don’t know you at all.”

“That’s another story.” The man stuck his hands in his pockets, easily turning and walking away. “Until next time.”

Until next - “Hey! What does that even mean!”

But the man ignored me, and when he turned a corner and disappeared out of sight he may as well not have existed. I was left alone in that library, abruptly alone and lonely. In a lifetime of isolation I had never felt so abandoned. 

Desperately, insanely, I cupped my hands around my mouth and yelled as I could. “Come back! Nobody ever sees the mysterious stranger again!”

I wanted to see him again. I wanted more questions, more answers. I couldn’t allow this man to be a flash in a pan, a blinking light in the night before all grew dark. 

I wanted him to be a different sort of mysterious stranger - a friend you hadn’t met yet. One that kept his distance and could never come nearer until he eliminated all threats to his life. Some romantic stalker that loved me from afar. Even foreshadowing or a Chekov’s gun, a story where every element has its own meaning - one where strangers always reunited, and nobody disappeared forever.

If I wanted that story badly enough, would it happen? I was just Kim Dokja, a reader who would never write his own story by sheer nature. I had always been content with that. But in that moment, for the very first time, I wanted to create the story. 

No - I wanted to create the narrative. But that wasn’t achievable outside of fiction. Not for somebody powerless like me. The loser only grew powerful in fiction. Real life didn’t work like that. You had to have power to become powerful. Only powerful people wrote their own stories. And somebody like me could only become powerful in a shitty isekai. 

For a long time thereafter I wondered if I regretted that wish or not. Something as simple as regret ought to be easy to determine. But regret was one of those insidious little things, a sour thread that ran through every happy moment and curled around the sad ones. An emotion that stayed present in happy or sad circumstances, when you failed to obtain something you wanted or when you were never satisfied with what you had. 

But Yoo Joonghyuk had always made a pretty shitty mysterious stranger.

[moonlight-blue-rose]

Continuing with my screaming for the 1863rd round, so SPOILERS + this one is a little long

Ch 288:

Kdj petting yjh's head ahhhhesophjeapgsh

Good, it's the least he deserved after kdj broke his spirit in the last chapter

And Gabriel being reminded of herself and Uriel?? Pls tell me more, I'm listening

Pffff, I didn't expect this XD yjh completely obediently eating the soil lmaoooooo

Oh, but you don’t have the heart to kill your favourite protagonist, do you? You don’t have the heart to kill the person you’ve come to know and love

*vibrating in my seat* *sees the next chapter* awwwww it was just knw

Ch 290:

Han Sooyoung my queeeeeeeeennnnn

Doksoo’s back and forth is fun as always

Uriel, my love! I wasn’t expecting her to appear ahhhhhhh

Ch 291:

Ohhh, is this what the Forth Wall did? Giving flashes of memories to yjh? Sneaky sneaky if that is true.

But!!! Yjh saying Uriel's name softly, "like a child first learning to speak"... ahhhhhhh them!!!

Ch 292:

NOOOOOOOOOO I didn’t expect to be crying for both yjh and Uriel in this arc, you can’t do this ;-;

And oh sweetie… A world where Uriel isn’t a friend is so strange after spending so much time with the 3rd round Uriel.

1863rd hsy’s 'Predictive Plagiarism' sounds really interesting. And combined with her Avatar ability, she sure is terrifying

Once again I can hear my heart shattering. A world in which the ending is possible without sacrifices. Except one. One single sacrifice that nobody of this world would mourn. Only the original protagonist and no one else (Yoo Mia isn't here. She is gone, isn't she ;-;). I’m just (╥╯^╰╥) 1863rd hsy may not need yjh to reach the end but I want him to. Can’t you let him get away with it, at least once? Can’t he too, reach the end with everyone else? But even if he does, will it be worth it? In a world he has no one by his side, in a world he isn’t wanted? Oh Yoo Joonghyuk…

Hsy’s last words in this chapter feel so final, so unforgiving. The only feeling they induce is quiet despair (it wasn’t supposed to end like that)

Ch 293:

YES TELL HER SWEETIE

Okay, not the time for this but six-winged kdj sounds so hot…

Kim Dokja saved her,,,, It’s not his Uriel. Her fury against Yoo Joonghyuk is justified, he said,,, And yet, he didn’t have the heart to let her die… I’m just *ugly sobbing noises* (╥╯^╰╥)

Ahhh being surrounded by the people who look exactly like his colleagues, friends, and yet standing amidst strangers. It’s such a lonely feeling, the 1863rd round. I wonder, is this how yjh has always felt each regression?

Kim Dokja sounds so tired here. “What’s new about this story”, you wonder as you gaze at the broken protagonist. What’s so different about this world, when in the end, it ends the same. Someone has to die for everyone else to reach the end. But that’s the same as every other round, isn’t it? (╥╯^╰╥)

“They could never be the original” – I’m dying oahgsohsapoegg  KIM DOKJAAAAAAA

The original always holds a special place in a person’s heart… Maybe they don’t like the way the story was handled or the way it ended or some of the characters’ actions… Maybe they liked a lot of things and disliked an equal amount of them… But still, it’s the original. It’s the thing you fell in love with, the thing that gave you something to hold on to, something to cherish… Of course a reproduction could never surpass the original...

I can’t believe that he’s wormed his way into their group already… Actually, no. I can believe that. It’s Kim Dokja after all XD

He fought all alone,,,,

*Shaking 1863 hsy upside down* What do you mean he promised to die! What do you meannnnnn

TELL ME WHAT YOU MEAN BY THAT YOU CRYPTIC BASTARDS-

Ch 294

wheeze Poor lhs

He’s thinking about his kids!!! He wants to go back, even if he doesn’t admit it ;-;

Look at him praising yjh even now awwww

…. Kim Dokja… He really should stop being so mean with knw, poor guy

I’m having too many emotions rn helloooo. They are his friends! He cares! He wants to go back!!!! Ahhhh

Oh no. Oh no. I have one (1) fear

*screams into the void* I shouldn’t read this while sober *I say and drink a whole cup of tea ‘cause I’m sick rn* Honestly though, this part... Kim Dokja's desperation, effort, love, his resolution... I think this part will stay with me for a long long time...

It's just… this whole part to the end of the chapter. Kim Dokja tried. He tried so hard. He gave his best. He knows how this story is supposed to end. And once again, just like with 41st sys, he tried his best. He tried to find a way to change the ending.  I love him so much. God, I love him so much (╥╯^╰╥)

“It was an effort that perhaps no one would understand” *screams* *insert crying gif here*

ALSO ALSO, KDJ’S EYES BEING COMPARED TO STARS… AHHHHH

Yoo Joonghyuk listened. He listened. I can’t even explain how much this means to me, nor the way my heart is shattered on the floor right now (╥╯^╰╥) It was a story he didn’t know. It was a story written by someone who wished, from the bottom of his heart, for Yoo Joonghyuk’s happiness ahhhhhhhhh

This arc will be the death of me ahhhhh

[song-tam]

i am SO distressed right now what the fuckkkkk. i read a BUNCH of orv to pass time on a long plane ride and i think that was maybe not one of my best ideas……….. screaming sobbing punching the wall dramatically i hate this book so much

i’m right before they all group regress and Fuck. What The Fuck. i finally know what 51/49 means and can i go back to not knowing. what the fuck. and then,,,, yjh’s 0th turn???? if i continue to regress will i ever get to meet you again??????? that affecting the other world line??????????? and even before that too, with the oldest dream reveal,, FUCK. like i sort of expected it but it was still so devastating to read. and THEN. the quote that’s like “the oldest dream was the worlds most omniscient yet powerless god” or something. OW. i feel like i’ve been stabbed repeatedly. every time i type out another sentence in this ask i want to sob.

and then,,,,, his companions realizing something’s wrong. han sooyoung being the first to act on this because the kim dokja she knows best is the one that isn’t here. yoo joonghyuk choosing to regress (in both this world and the 0th turn) for that sliver of a chance that he’ll see kdj again. and the fact that kdj doesn’t consider even once that this might happen, that his companions would realize something was different. and this isn’t even something new! in all the times he sacrifices himself, he fails to truly acknowledge how much it affects the ones he cares about. he doesn’t comprehend (or is unwilling to comprehend) how much he is loved. his happily ever after doesn’t even include him, not fully — and i don’t think he believes he’s deserving of that happily ever after, either. he’s a reader. he doesn’t realize that this is his own story, too. goddddd i hate this book SO much (<- lying)

ORV ON PLANE RIDES SO REAL…….. tbh it’s such a Plane Book something abt being thousands of feet in the sky in a giant heap of metal while reading the most devastating piece of media to ever exist. what a vibe truly

WHEN I TELL YOU IWAS GAGGED AT 49/51. HONESTLY. kdj CONSTANTLY sacrificing himself to save his friends because these are the same people that have BEEN saving him since was fifteen fuck my life. god.

0TH TURN YJH IS SO INSANE the way it all comes back to those two. i literally could write paragraphs abt 0th turn they make me feral he guided him through all of it he got to see an ending where yjh got to live a long happy life and it’s what he was reading for the entire time im actually

oldest dream & kdj………….. tbh i think that must be so heartbreaking on both sides. kdj seeing his younger self and being so upset because at the end of the day it was him causing suffering for the people he loves most but oldest dream seeing his older self coming to fucking kill him and thinking that it didn’t get any better at all. he can’t even be loved by himself who else would love him then

YES HIS COMPANIONS GODDDDD the yoohankim of it all makes me SO sick actually. especially han sooyoung because hey he was supposed to be her reader. that’s what he promised her. instead she has a version of kdj that doesn’t even really read anymore and what kind of kdj is that? and yjh wanting to get kdj back because he was promised they’d see the ending TOGETHER and instead he doesn’t even have a full half of him. promises made promises broken to BOTH OF THEM fuck i’m unwell

kdj i hate you and your self sacrifice. i’m literally. exactly what you said tbh like he is loved!!!!!! and he doesn’t fucking realize it. but the thing is he would be dense to not know and that’s why 49!kdj exists in the first place bc he’s hoping that will be enough for them to just fucking sit still and live their lives. in his head he’s downplaying his importance which is why he gives them a fucking replacement

AUGHHH fine line between reader and protagonist and writer and the way all the roles are interchangeable and im. yeah. god

[briebysabs]

No one spoil me for future chapters I’ve been going back to compare parts of the novel to comic chapters I’ve read. And it is expected as descriptions and certain pieces of dialogue cannot make their way to a manhwa format. But you do end up almost with two different characterizations of the cast.

Translations also play a big role in this. And I don’t think it’s a problem really as it isn’t too different but it is undeniably noticeable. For instance, during KDJ’s funeral scene, in the novel he says how he wanted to shout for everyone not to mourn him. And how he felt strange seeing Yoosung cry and throw flowers on his grave. But in the manhwa, he looks at the whole scene pretty unbothered. Some of Dokja’s inner dialogue gets shaved off so he appears more cold. Another is during YJH vs. Nirvana, when Sooyoung is watching KDJ’s body.

In the comic, she only says “Are you really going to die like this? What if you’re 3rd place?” She notices he isn’t bad-looking and makes an off comment saying why is she’s worried about him. Then in a panel later in the chapter, we got the shot of her grinning while lifting his mouth. In the novel, it includes these lines but it gives Sooyoung a whole section to ponder on how KDJ is an ordinary person. How he’s struggling and is just like her.

It describes her expression as uncomfortable, between a smile and a frown. Then she does the mouth lift and says “It is really strange.”

So in one version she’s cocky and unserious. In another version, she’s very conflicted. I don’t plan on reading the ORV novel from the beginning when I catch up, instead I’ll continue where the comic left off. I don’t say this in order to discredit the webtoon, I love sleepy-C’s art so much and it’s super enjoyable. But even without looking at the novel art, the book and the manhwa give different vibes.

[lee-hakhyun]

from an outside perspective it’s really feeling like they’re emphasising kim dokja’s status as an eldritch god. like,,, you don’t feel it through orv because kim dokja himself has just enough knowledge from reading twsa to navigate, and on his own you can really tell how human he actually is, but. take things from a distanced perspective, and suddenly. suddenly, it’s azathoth and the outer gods of lovecraftian lore, played completely straight. i’ve heard enough people compare azathoth and kdj that i think i can say this much

you wanna know something i’ve thought about a lot regarding kdj and the oldest dream? about yjh becoming a terrorist, and how kimcom willingly went back into the fray, how they returned to the previous timeline - and how some people couldn’t comprehend their choices at first? it makes me think of that old trope of ‘going mad from the revelation’, how some people say that gazing upon this otherworldly being’s true form or ‘learning the truth of the world’ would surely make someone go mad.

go mad with what, though? insanity? or grief? because so, so often, one’s pain is incomprehensible to outsiders, and fail to understand how or why you lash out or break down. it’s a depressing pattern in real life, too. kdj goes mad with grief and self-hatred, learning the truth; kimcom take on the insane route of going through the apocalypse again just to reach the end; yjh is unable to heal, to cope with a world without the scenarios and without his companion to bear through it, and so he fights over the replica of the arc. from an outsider’s perspective, without the understanding that the people involved are all brokenhearted over truths only they know, it might come off as insanity. but it’s all just grief.

with that said, however, to have someone jung heewon KNEW, cruel as he was, replaced by someone from a world beyond - and to start singing the praise of someone else’s name? to say ‘i need to find them?’ how all of them look to one name that outsiders simply DO NOT KNOW, to hail this unknown person as important, as an idol, as… as a god…

the 41st turn before their version of shin yoosung travelled to the other worldlines is a forgotten story, and by orv logic forgotten stories are outer gods. in lovecraftian lore, the outer gods sought to wake the blind idiot god azathoth, who in orv is represented by kdj dreaming for ‘eternity’. also, the Outer Gods of orv (the one actually being called as such right now) see the side story - which is the ‘forgotten’ 41st turn, now being written in where once it was not - as their chance to finally be written on the wall. so it’s. it’s. this is just singshong taking their lovecraftian elements to their logical extreme

interestingly, however, kdj isn’t the only reader anymore, is he? orv places a lot of emphasis on communication and writing on the wall, but in the side story it could perhaps be interpreted as ‘trying to be read by one person in particular’. and then the readers that die are labelled as ‘kdj33’ or ‘kdj47’, reducing them to being ‘just a part’, but… they’re all different people. they’re all people who took in kdj’s story, thus his story becomes a part of their own - but only a part. i’ve said that before, but.

well, you can’t force your own narrative on to someone else.

han sooyoung tried that, actually, didn’t she? tried to get kdj back through ending the story early only to realize the hurt she was causing and backing off. you can’t always reach people in the way you want. that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t stop trying, but there’s also a point where you need to recede, to compromise. am i making sense? i have no idea where singnshong is taking this story, but i’m looking at hsy with lee hakhyun and ceokdj with the readers turned kdj fragments and the outer gods wanting their story written on the wall and. i feel like i’m starting to see a pattern. i could also be hallucinating, but i could also not be. i offer this for your consideration

okay i put this aside for a bit but yes. oh my god. eldritch kdj.. i had not heard about this before, but that's so interesting thinking about it through that lens. and in the side story, hsy forcing the memories of orv on jhw to try to break her.. the explict mentioning of han sooyoung being seen as a 'god' in that moment...

--

fun fact, if you don't remember! lovecraftian horrors are also mentioned as outer gods in orv

chapter 179. when talking with the devourer of dreams, kdj mentioned these modifiers

the fear of sarnath - bokrug

horror from the hills - chaugnar faugn

master of r'lyeh - cthulhu

--

now, adding my own thoughts - the pattern is identity. stories.

there's something wrong with everything in this turn.

the kkomas were cute. until it was revealed that they were dead readers. though.. is that not also kind of what the yoo joonghyuk kkomas are? they may have all been yoo joonghyuk, but their lives in that turn were their own. <- however. the difference here is that while the yjh kkomas were all 'yoo joonghyuk' these kdj kkomas were NOT. they all had their own lives before being brought to wos, and upon being killed and placed in the theater.. they lost themselves.. which is terrifying to think about. you die, and you're brought back to watch your companions go on without you, but you're not yourself anymore. you're kim dokja, who wants to continue watching the stories on the screen.

the transmigrated readers. until the latest chapters, we hadn't been shown the real effect of the readers possessing characters in this world (honestly, we were led to believe that most people transmigrated into 'extras' without their own story. but that's not true, is it?). cheon inho has no one close to him as far as we know (lol), but that's not the same for others. what about the people who knew the possessed characters? lee hakhyun realizes this in the latest chapter, that maybe him and the readers coming here were an additional disaster for the people that lived here.

lee hakhyun's problems,, he's constantly going back and forth on 'lee hakhyun' and 'cheon inho', and there's clearly something wrong with the way he sees himself... we know more about him that he does currently, and if he does find out. i don't think things are going to end well.

and of course. everything about kim dokja. his name is in everyone's minds, the readers are desperate for a source of hope and he has become that to them. kim dokja is being idolized. even before the scenarios, there were those using kim dokja's story in the same way he used yjh. it's not framed as a negative, if that's what you need to do survive, then you should always do what you can to survive, no matter what. but even when you borrow stories, you need to stay yourself. you are your own person.

there's a clear connection with all of these, and it's identity. who someone is, the way they're seen, their stories. what makes you yourself? stories make up who you are, and these outer gods want their own stories written down on the wall to define themselves. rep kdj wanting the readers to forge a new story, lee hakhyun discovering stories that were never told in orv.

right now, nobody's happy. time is running out for the outer gods, the readers have unwittingly destroyed others by taking over these 'extras', kimcom are still desperately searching for their star, our dear protagonist is continuing to doubt himself. and kim dokja is still watching.

...this is orv. not everyone will get their happy ending. their goals oppose each other. we can hope for the best, but that isn't going to happen.

[koipalm]

idea i had for post-scenarios, only kdj remembers

Kim Dokja collapses as soon as he gets to the bedroom.

He doesn’t even reach the bed before he stumbles to his knees, rubbing at his shoulder blades as much as he can from the uncomfortable position. The day had been difficult at the beginning, from being pushed on the train and spilling his coffee on an innocent bystander, to spilling some of his lunch onto his sleeves and having to change into a spare shirt, and then developing a pounding migraine as he accepted another strenuous project from his supervisor, and so the day had gone from bad to worse. Not to mention that he was going to have to work overtime in order to complete the report he had neglected for the past week, too busy otherwise to bother staying up later than he had to.

Now, he supposes, he’s paying for it.

Kim Dokja finally shrugs the white coat off his shoulders and lays on his stomach, unfurling his wings as much as he can in the cramped space. His apartment is still too small for his wingspan, and as much as he has tried to upgrade, he isn’t made of money. As Kim Dokja lies there, Biyoo crawls out of the collar of his coat and nudges his face with a marshmallow-like paw.

Ever since the scenarios ended, he’s the only one to remember anything. Aside, of course, from Biyoo, who has now grown into something resembling a long cat, except with stubbier limbs, a too long body, and a horn. She mostly just hovers around Kim Dokja now, and without any scenarios to start, she’s taken to following Kim Dokja anywhere and everywhere, despite the danger of a dokkaebi being seen outside. On one hand, it’s the same as how they were in the scenarios, which does bring him a sense of security, but on the other hand, if she’s seen, then he has a lot more questions to answer than just the one about bringing a pet to work.

At least he still has his dimensional coat she can hide in.

After a few more nudges from Biyoo’s paws, she gives up and crawls between his shoulder blades, sheltered by Kim Dokja’s wings to wait. This behavior is only part of his normal routine these days. If he didn’t have his achievements from the scenario, along with the presence of Biyoo, to hold onto, he might have thought that all of it was just a dream, or a very, very long hallucination. But he does, and he’s here now, and no one else remembers.

So he drags himself to the shower, slowly folding his wings away, and Biyoo enjoys a ride on his back.

After he gets out, Kim Dokja sits down at his desk with a cup of coffee and rests his head in his arms until it’s time to feed himself and Biyoo. Actually, it’s Biyoo nudging him awake, but since no one’s there, and he has no pride left in front of her, Kim Dokja just lifts her to his shoulder in thanks and trudges to the kitchen like a man on death row.

With the resources he has now, Biyoo doesn’t settle for anything less than the best, so Kim Dokja makes himself a quick meal of instant noodles, while Biyoo feeds on gourmet pasta and a side of chopped fruit. At this point, Kim Dokja thinks he spends more of his money on Biyoo than himself. (He’s fine with that.)

After dinner is done, and Kim Dokja has served himself another cup of coffee and more water for Biyoo, he collapses at his desk, only slightly more awake than he was earlier. 

But work has to be done, so he can continue to feed Biyoo and afford a space to sleep. Kim Dokja drags his laptop towards himself and settles in for a long night.

Yoo Jonghyuk is sure that he’s forgetting something. In his rush out the door after staying up late for a video conference, he only had time for a rushed shower and to dress quickly before he was out the door. Now, standing on the train, he ruffles around the pockets of his long jacket for his keys, heaving a sigh as he finds them in the right pocket, left there from the night before. His lanyard is around his neck, and his wallet in his back pocket, keys in hand, so what is he missing?

The train gives a lurch forward, and his hand on the overhead strap tightens as he endeavors not to knock into the woman next to him. The lights in the carriage to his right flicker, and the jolt of darkness travels, flushing black into the carriage before the lights regain brightness. To his left, lights flicker on down the line, the shade growing steadily smaller as it continues on. There are a few murmurs of complaints, but it’s a minor inconvenience at best.

Yoo Jonghyuk sighs through his nose and leans back, fishing for his phone from another pocket. His hand stops. Did he leave his phone behind?

In his haste to search through his pockets, a man from the car to his left passes through, murmuring an apology as he nudges Yoo Jonghyuk’s shoulder. He glances up with furrowed brows, but he only gets a glimpse of black hair, dark eyes, and long eyelashes before the man continues into the next car. When he shuffles through his pockets again for his phone, it’s in the front right one, exactly where he found his keys. The woman next to him, alerted by his shuffling in the quiet space, looks over from her phone and squints her eyes, short hair swinging as she glances between her phone and Yoo Jonghyuk again before shaking her head and going back to scrolling. She must have mistaken him for someone else.

The feeling of forgetting something does not lessen.

When he arrives at the studio, the first thing he does is grab his phone and scroll through his photos. He doesn’t take many of them, so it’s a quick task, but he’s sure he remembers someone on the subway, possibly an old companion. But before anything turns up, his manager arrives, and he stows his phone away, along with the feeling of uncertainty.

Pain sparks along sensitive nerves, stinging the muscles of his back as they contract and are forced to relax through sheer willpower. Kim Dokja forces his wings out of existence with a rough exhale and shrugs on his coat with jerky motions. He reaches behind his back to unzip the large pocket at his back, and with a sigh of relief, he flaps his wings back into existence in the pocket dimension. There’s limited space, but his other items are now stored in the other pockets so he has enough room to fit his wings. It’s still a close fit with the limited area, but it’s better than going without them for too-long periods of time. Adjusting the collar, he waits for Biyoo to float over and stuff herself ungracefully into another pocket on the inside, and with a small smile at her antics, grabs his things and heads for the door. Just… another day of work.

In this new old world, every day is even harder to manage than in the scenario. It’s difficult, holding the memories that he has in this peace. In some way, Kim Dokja thinks he was more suited to the scenario than he was to the simplicity of Earth’s everyday life. He could be brave there, he could be an enigma, an adversary, a hero, the puppeteer tugging the strings away from a streamlined fate. Here, he is only Kim Dokja again, a quiet, unimportant man with a somewhat tragic past but blank personality.

It grates, but knowing that his party is safe eases some of the tension. At first, he thought he was resolving the scenario to have his moment in the spotlight, out of a twisted sense of justice. In time, he and his party defeated the scenario for themselves, but also those who they cared for; those people that were counting on them.

And now they have completed their journey, and no one remembers.

After work, Kim Dokja steps onto the train with an overwhelming sense of deja vu.

Biyoo starts to poke herself out of her pocket to nudge Kim Dokja’s chest, and he snaps out of his stupor to pat her on the head inconspicuously. At least he has her; the tangible proof of his experiences, the last thing he could tear away from the scenario’s greedy hands.

To be completely fair, it isn’t like no one remembers; Biyoo does, even if she can’t express it very well. He curls his hand around Biyoo in his pocket, and she gives a sharp, playful bite in return.

The ride isn’t that long, but surrounded by so many crowding bodies and having to make sure Biyoo stays out of sight, it feels longer than it is. When Kim Dokja finally steps off the carriage, he can breathe again, and not only because he was worried for Biyoo. Stepping into train cars is now just waiting for something that will not happen; that should not happen. Despite this, Kim Dokja sometimes catches himself searching for familiar faces among the strangers in the train. He takes a second to stop and let the other passengers surge around him from the train car like a rock in the middle of a rushing current. Soon enough, his steps take him out of the dim into the sunlight, and Kim Dokja continues on, Biyoo a small and comforting warmth against his chest as she tugs her small body out of her coat pocket to press tiny paws into the fabric of his shirt. 

It’s starting to get dark outside, the light fading from in between buildings and through tall glass. At this point, not many things are able to scare him now. It’s not that he’s never afraid now, or that there’s nothing to fear from the mundane world. There is, but they all seem… smaller now, for all that he’s seen. Kim Dokja had always hoped that he wouldn’t become desensitized and haughty like most of the constellations, but it seems that he had no choice in it. It doesn't matter, in the end. He did what he had to, and the people that he cared for are safe, and the scenarios never started, never will.

Eventually, his steps bring him to the fountains outside the hotel, and the lights of the entrance are bright despite the fading day.

He’s let inside without fuss, and he walks to the elevators with the confidence of a tax collector on his last rounds. Of course, he barely has a fraction of the money he had in the scenario and no expensive watch or expensive clothes to bluff with. Looking down at his phone, he ignores the people in the elevator crowding themselves in to make room for him.