#old draft but i still agree with the thesis I think. maybe a slightly hot take cuz i know my interpretation of the ending is unusual lol

[orphiclovers]

For a lot of orv, the Big Bad Villains™ of the story are the voyeuristic Star Stream that gourges on 'stories' - the lived experience of people that they see as fictional. And depending on how far you, the reader, are willing to suspend your disbelief and buy into the more meta/fourth wall breaking elements, at some point you start getting feeling... that maybe YOU are the villain of the story. YOU are the star stream, the characters are trying to escape from YOUR gaze. It's a strange kind of guilt, and orv lets you stew in this feeling for 500 chapters.

But there's a problem. 'the characters are real people with real feelings and going through real suffering' is a fun concept and honestly the next logical step for an isekai'd into a novel story, it's explored to its fullest, but it's NOT a viable way to actually engage with fiction in real life. obviously.

so fuck, what do we do now? I think orv handles this question beautifully. It writes itself out of this corner by absolving you of your guilt.

No, yeah the characters WERE trying to escape from the Star Stream's gaze, but YOU are not a voyeur like the Star Stream. as a 'kim dokja fragment' this story was written for YOUR eyes and your eyes only. unlike the Star Stream, every single character in orv desperately WANTS you to read their story. they all wrote Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint™ togther, for you. you are not evil for having read it. I love you and I'm glad you survived etc.