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metanarrates · 3 months

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there are a LOT of things you can speculate about regarding what twsa was actually like as a novel but what's most interesting to me is that you can make the argument that twsa was an "unpolished" version of what orv is. it's a version of a similar novel that likely dealt with a lot of similar themes but was seemingly bogged down by poor structure, pacing, expository handling, and focus. (all of which are things that orv is shockingly excellent at.)

and of course, han sooyoung's novel, sssss-grade infinite regressor, is the "polished" version of the idea. it's well-written, probably well-plotted, and was successful enough to make han sooyoung rich and famous. we don't know what sssss-grade infinite regressor is like as a novel either, but we sort of get the impression that it's not very emotionally rich even if it is good on a technical level. han sooyoung herself doesn't seem intensely attached to it despite being proud of her work, and kim dokja of course doesn't hold it in high regard. (though of course he's a gigantic unreliable narrator and also a hater.)

what's interesting is that despite orv very strongly emphasizing the ways these works are flawed from the outset, orv itself functions as an argument in these works' favor. both twsa and infinite regressor are stand-ins for the "mass-produced" genre of webnovels. they are popular fiction, relying on a very familiar pool of tropes and clichés in order to deliver on a relatively predictable story to appeal to a wide audience. it's not a coincidence that they are so similar - both literally and in a meta sense, they are drawing on the same exact story-building and genre material. twsa is just the unsuccessful version, and infinite regressor is the successful one.

orv is what I would consider the most "impressive" version of the genre. it's well-structured, thrillingly plotted, interestingly written, has fascinating ideas and characters, and is even "literary" - that is, it has deeply considered themes and is often drawing from the realm of literary, postmodern fiction in order to express its ideas. a less sincere story would disavow itself from its pop-fiction origins and claim to be the best version of its genre. nothing else could be like it, so the worst versions of its genre wouldn't be worth considering.

but orv, while technically functioning as an argument that the genre can be "good" simply because it's a great novel that is deeply rooted in its genre, goes much further. it argues in-text that any sort of story, even those that are bad on a technical level or those that were somewhat cynically produced for a mass audience, are worth finding value in, simply because stories have meaning to their readers. the most uncritical reproduction of a genre's conventions can still mean something to someone who likes it. twsa, if it existed in our reality, would still probably be considered a very bad novel, but it wouldn't need to be polished up and turned into infinite regressor or orv in order to have value. orv itself is telling you that you should find value in twsa as it is, and by extension, every badly-done work of fiction that twsa could be a stand-in for!

#narrates #orv #all of this is Fascinating for in-universe texts to have as relationships to the actual text btw #scratching at the walls like I KNOW ITS THE POINT THAT WE CANT READ THEM... BUT I WANNA READ TWSA AND INFINITE REGRESSOR...

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currently-not-studying · 8 months

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I am fascinated by the ORV look on fatherhood. For now let's just look at Kim Dokja bc this post will get too long. Later: young dad Yoo Joonghyuk and joys of parenthood of Han Myungoh.

Kim Dokja and his 4 kids (Lee Gilyoung, Shin Yoonung, Bihyo, (arguably) Lee Jihye or puppy Lee Hyunsung)

So we have this guy who thinks he is unworthy of love and not a good role model trying to save children during the apocalypse. Someone who has no previous experience of good parenthood trying his best to give them what he never got. He gives them opportunity to grow, he trusts them to take care of themselves but also makes sure they don't face anything they cannot handle. But he also leaves them behind time and time again because it's not like they won't manage. It's not like they don't have anyone else so just because they loose him (and he will come back!) it isn't that big of a deal. Or maybe he knows it is but sees no other way and he will be back so they can get angry and clingy but for now he needs them to push through (but do we trust Kim Dokja to really consider how much he is worth to them?).

We have Kim Dokja as a son of an abusive father.

Even though this man shaped the whole story we don't see that much of him. We see his echos in the ways KD thinks of himself, of his relationship with his mother. He haunts the story the same way the abusing parents often haunt their victims all the way into the adulthood. The lack of self-worth, the need to separate yourself from your feelings to survive, to hide behind a wall - it seems like it started early. And we also see KD father in the ways KD is different from him. The bar may be on the floor when we are talking about someone being better than KD father but KD goes above and beyond. Even though he struggles with it it takes a lot to choose a different mind set when you were never offered alternatives, at least outside of stories you've read.

Which brings us to the other one of Kim Dokja's fathers. Hades. The book version of a father - a stoic, but loving man offering to fight for his child with a scythe and all the glory of the Underworld. Someone who will forgive you lying to him (normal) and then offer you a legion of soldiers (less so). If KD ever read about good fathers it could be someone exactly like this. And it's not realistic in the way KD is with his kids - it feels more like a wish fulfillment of a little child. A dream of a child beaten and berated by his own father to have someone who stands up for them, who forgives them and trusts them. And who ultimately dies for them.

Because both of Kim Dokja's fathers died. And both did that because of him. That's not fair. Hades did it for him. He saved Kim Dokja just like a father should. And on the other hand we have a father that had to die so KD could live, not because of some great curse or calamity. His death was the only thing that could keep KD safe from him. And even in death his shadow was there. KD mother had to leave him, his abuse at the hand of his extended family and children from school started.

So for me Kim Dokja on some level knows what he has: an experience of abuse. And he knows that in no way he wants to repeat that with his children. So he tries. He tries to offer them support, to be there for them, to forgive them. Just like a perfect, book version of a father would. But they're not in a perfect world and he isn't almighty. He still suffers from all those beliefs installed in him by the years of abuse which started at the hands of his first father.

In the end he is human in his constant struggle to break the cycle, to give those he loves his best and also in his failures.

#omniscient reader novel #omniscient reader's viewpoint #orv #orv kim dokja #kim dokja #orv analysis #omniscient reader analysis #orv theories #ari speaks #orv hades

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kimdokja-real · 11 months

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Sorry, but this needs to be said.

Reading the novel and seeing both insecurity and confidence from Kim Dokja, the fandom has really ripped him apart and done injustice to his character.

Like, I get Kim Dokja's insecurity and self-hatred and lack of self-love and all, but why is that the only thing the ORV fandom talks about?

Okay yeah, the epilogue is sad, Kim Dokja has a lack of self-love and self-worth, but he's not only that.

If Kim Dokja were just someone lacking self-worth and self-love, he would never have been able to get so far, he would have died in the train because he didn't care about himself enough to live.

Where's Kim Dokja's confidence, his meticulous planning, his cocky, cunning and manipulative nature without making him a submissive bottom?

I get it, it's kind of appealing and hot to see a vastly intelligent character like Kim Dokja be bottom, it's like some moe gap (I had a character like that in another fandom last time), but how about letting Kim Dokja top once or twice? No?

You're telling me this confident, sly, manipulative always knows what to do man will be bottom forever. No, I think he'd desire at least one or two times to be top. It's in his nature to be on top of things. It's shown clearly in the novel.

And he'd switch it around, just like he switched things around in the apocalypse.

Damn, it's such a waste. We have this precious, supremely intelligent character whom we can explore various sides of, for example we can explore both his lack of self-worth (submissive bottom) and how he desires things (dominant top), and have interesting fics on both, yet the fandom only sticks to the lack of self-love and lack of self-worth side and keeps him as a submissive bottom, calls that Kim Dokja, and actually think that's okay.

No, I really think it's self-projection of your ideals of some sort, that make Kim Dokja so embarrassingly out of character in the fandom.

Why can't we have Kim Dokja in character in the fandom? His character is so unique, complicated and complex and so interesting. Shouldn't people who love Kim Dokja want to explore the different aspects of his character?

Or is Kim Dokja too hard for the fandom to understand?

I've seen this treatment of a highly intelligent character before, Orihara Izaya from Durarara, whom was so vastly intelligent the fandom only knew how to write him OOC as some tsundere. He was a little shit who made people angry on purpose and manipulated them cunningly and intelligently, but the fandom loved him and wrote him OOC. And I loved his character, loved him as bottom and enjoyed those OOC fics but did not take them seriously. I loved him as bottom, wrote fics with him on the bottom, but I also wrote him as top, because no way a man is going to bottom forever, especially an intelligent man with complicated plans like him.

But even for Izaya, there were fans who preferred him as top and even if they made him cruel as top (drawing from his manipulative nature in a twisted way), his character still got to top in the fandom. His potential as top was over time, addressed in the fandom. I'm hoping the same thing will happen with Kim Dokja, for Omniscient Reader. ORV is such a complicated read, it's natural that the main character can be seen as both top and bottom.

Why can't we explore both the bottom and top nature of Kim Dokja's character, I don't understand.

#i'm a top kim dokja shipper #yet i can see him bottoming #why bottom kim dokja fans can't see him topping is something i don't get #kim dokja #dokhyuk #dokjoong #joongdok #orv #omniscient reader's viewpoint #top kim dokja #orihara izaya #even izaya got to top #why not kim dokja

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just-a-fragment · 1 year

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i don't want this to come off as pretentious or high-browy because that's exactly what this post is about but does anyone else get miffed when people like use orv as a pedestal to put down other works?

Don't get me wrong, its definitely valid to be very picky about the media you consume but, in my opinion, when you specifically make comments about how so-and-so is beneath orv. It defeats the message of the novel.

LIke, ORV isn't a masterpiece, you can argue how certain areas can be improved, but its also not trying to be a masterpiece. Its simply a gentle reminder that we need, especially at this time when its very easy to consume content mindlessly, to just be very appreciative of stories and genuinely try to have a connection with the author, protagonist, the themes and the message.

Also I think its implied in the novel that WOS wasn't that great either, so it's like counter-intuitive. Kim Dokja didn't survive because WOS was a masterpiece that can be meta analysed in different ways. He survived because he just wanted to have a connection, which is how stories were originally made, and what ORV is trying to tell us.

Don't get me wrong ORV is a very good novel, it's definitely worth reading and it matters a lot to me but I won't go out of my way to bring down other works of the same genre, especially when you don't know if that piece of work you called garbage saved someone's life.

#orv #omniscient reader spoilers #omniscient reader's viewpoint #orvrant #this got too long and too earnest #orv hot take ig #been wanting to vent abt this for a while now tho

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fandom-flight · 8 months

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Ok, chapter 454 now. Still 100 chapters out from the end, but we are moving T^T gotta say though, I think the Outer Gods are the first time the story doesn't seem to practice what it preaches? Everything else has been so clear– themes surrounding the blurry lines between writers, readers, and characters, the implication that stories connect us and impact us in very real ways even when they're fictional, all of these ideas saturate the story with examples and events that remind us of their significance. But the Outer Gods are a little different. They were supposed to be an allegory for empathy, I think. These are the disenfranchised, the stories that we don't think are worth telling, and I think the intent there is to say "no story is unworthy of being told, no matter how boring or difficult to understand. The stories that you create by living make up who you are, but they are not inherently worth less than a story considered conventionally interesting." This is best demonstrated when Yoo Joonghyuk #999 gives Kim Dokja that book that he deems "even worse and more boring than Ways of Survival," and this leads him to want to empathize and connect with the Outer Gods nearby. Additionally, the whole arc after that is supposed to be about giving the Outer Gods autonomy, and giving them the chance to tell stories in the Star Stream, but that's where the problem starts. Kim Dokja's job is to give the Outer Gods a role where they aren't just villains or extras, but he seems to barely make an attempt? Don't get me wrong, he does save a bunch of them from the Emperor constellations, and they are there in the final battle of that arc, but Kim Dokja never actually thinks of a way to involve them in the story, except as, you know, extras to be saved and collected. It's actually a problem that they don't have enough involvement in the story to fulfill his task, and instead of finding them ways to participate in the story, Kim Dokja's solution is for HIM to become an Outer God to clear the condition, and that's not making the outer gods a part of the story? In fact one of the Sun Wukongs calls out what I was thinking, which is that Kim Dokja doesn't really have the shared experiences to properly represent these guys (and honestly I'm not convinced that Sun Wukong did either, but that's a different tangent)

Up until this chapter, we've been given reason to want the Outer Gods to live and succeed, but the only Outer Gods who actually get to be characterized are the ones who were humans or constellations at some point. We never really get to see the Outer Gods that Secretive Plotter looks after actually be individuals, to the point where their dialogue is super simplistic, repetitive, and lumped together. In the story this kind of tracks because them being incomprehensible to people in the Star Stream is part of how they're being opressed and dehumanized, but I think this could have still been done better if we could have more average Outer Gods that we could treat as characters who the audience can relate to and get attached to. Instead, the Outer Gods who didn't used to be characters that we already like and care about are portrayed as one giant barely coherent collective, and a bunch of them are killed without really significant concern from the narration. In the Great War between Good and Evil, the Apocalypse Dragon kills a bunch of constellations, and I don't know who a lot of them were, but the narration names some of the modifiers of the people who were killed, and just this small detail makes me feel like there was some weight to their deaths. When the Living Flame torched Secretivr Plotter's forest, however, all these Outer Gods just get burned alive en masse, and the narration barely spares them a thought except for the squad watching them "say goodbye to their king" as they speed out. The story makes such a weird half effort to humanize the Outer Gods by having Kim Dokja start to feel bad for them and even having him call out how it was weird that the Ways of Survivial author never elaborated on their origin, but then the author of Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint seems to take a similar route by kind of continuing to treat them like expendable fodder. I wonder if this will change before the story ends, but right now it kind of feels like their arc is ending and we won't really be investing time in the Outer Gods other than Secretive Plotter and parallel universe Uriel from here on out...

#orv #orv reading #orv spoilers

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ryxkenkxgami · 2 years

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okay finished my first orv reread. i am still a broken person. actually i think it was worse the second time, knowing what was coming, so under the cut are just some thoughts...very disjointed. just very personal thoughts

for someone like me orv is indescribable. there’s a million other people with a similar story to mine - abusive household, bullied heavily in school, tried to kill themselves, found hope in a story they loved and held on to it until they could survive on their own. or maybe they couldn’t, maybe they kept holding on to that story to get them through everything.

i got lucky, in a lot of ways. my husband and i met when i was 14. his family took me in when i ran away from my abusive mother. i didn’t die when i tried to kill myself - all seven times, despite having permanent heart damage because of one of those attempts. when i was in that household, i was barely alive. and i got lucky because i found stories that resonated with me. games i loved, manga i couldn’t stop reading, anime that made me feel something. because of those stories, i was able to live. i was able to survive the horrific abuse my mother threw at me - all her insults, all the physical assaults, all of the control. i was able to keep on going because when i was alone, i could escape it. when i was reading, or playing video games, or watching something... i wasn’t me, on earth, hiding out with my dresser in front of my door in hopes my mother wouldn’t try to push past it. i was whoever i wanted to be, in whatever story i wanted. whatever story i found something in. when i say i really understand kim dokja, i really understand kim dokja. had i been left alone in my situation much longer... well, sometimes i think about if i would’ve done what he did, too.

but because of those stories, i was able to live to the point where i met kyle, where i could physically escape, where i finally could grow into my own person. i’m not joking when i say i wouldn’t be alive today if it weren’t for those stories. kyle helped me once we met, but for those first lonely years of my life?

kim dokja really resonates with me, more then any other protagonist, i think. and it’s not mean, the way the narrative treats him. it’s not cruel, the fact that he latched onto a story to survive. it’s a wonderful thing, and at the end, where they write a story of his life in order to save him once more...

i’ve had the understanding for a long, long time that people are never able to fully understand each other. that because we are different, we are living separate lives in our own realities, we can never meet each other fully. it was isolating, for a long time. this is a reason i’ve always loved twewy, since the first time i played it, btw.

but orv gives another perspective: that we are all made up of everyone who knows you. all of their thoughts of who you are, what you do, it’s all there to someone. and each of those parts combine to create a whole you. and even if they can never understand you fully, that doesn’t mean you matter any less. and i... find a lot of solace, in that. that if even if someone can’t always understand me, i am still someone worthy of their attempts. because i’m a person they love. a person worth knowing, even if it’s just that 2% difference.

and just... idk. orv is such a wonderful love letter to people like me. people who had nothing but the stories they could escape to in order to get through life. people who loved reading. who loved to listen, to hear, to consume. and the connections you can make through sharing a story with someone... it’s a way of understanding someone. you can understand someone a little bit better because of what a story means to them, how they interpret it, what they take from it. and you can use that to make friendships, lasting bonds, and it’s... a wonderful, beautiful thing.

so many of my most important relationships were forged over our shared love for a story, for a world that wasn’t our own. i know that’s the same for almost everyone in fandom. i love that orv is a celebration of that, the very thing that’s kept me going for so many years. i started writing fanfiction when i was 6, because i wanted to tell a story of characters i loved, even back then. and because of that... i am here. because of those characters, those stories, and those friends i made because of those stories, i survived. and i was able to live a so far, pretty fulfilling life.

idk. i’m just really glad. i love orv a lot. i’m glad i got to stay alive to experience it.

#mitzi.txt #/#////#/////#//////#idk man i just.#i love orv.#i love orv so much and it makes me feel like i belong on this planet #just so i can experience it #thats. pretty special. idk

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cathartically-kei · 10 months

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HI!!! im kinda bad at explaining but the 3 characters that jomeimei421 drew are Yoo Joonghyuck (buff guy with the scar) Han Sooyoung (the lady) and Kim Dokja (loser *affectionate*) from the ORV manhwa/LN!!!

the manhwa/webtoon is still on going and we have quite a ways to go before it's finished so if you're impatient then check out the LN (BEWARE IT IS LIKE 500 CHAPTERS) you can read the manhwa on Webtoon!!! but I rec that you read the light novel!!! i have a link to a google doc or a good website if you're interested) and i believe the English version is going to be published soon in not too caught up in the news

ORV is kinda hard to explain but basically, the premise of ORV is!!!!!!!!

There's this guy (kim dokja/kdj) who's kinda a loser, is average in life and works a lame office job. His passion in life is reading this web novel called 3 Ways To Survive in a Ruined World/3 Ways to Survive the Apocalypse (ways of Survival/WOS/TWSA) which has been updated every day for the last 10 years. Now you may be thinking, WOW! This novel must be so popular if it lasted 10 years!!! WRONG!!!! kdj is the only reader ANYWAYS... One day as Dokja is taking the subway home from work he realizes that today WOS is ending so he sends a comment to the author (TLS123) to thank them for writing WOS. TLS123 replays telling him they are thankful for his dedication to the series and as thanks sends kdj a gift (the entire novel sans the ending) right as kdj receives the email containing the novel (TLS tells dokja that it will now cost money to be accessed) the subway screeches to a halt and all the lights go out. A creature pops out of nowhere and tells them that from now on the world as they know it is ending. As it turns out the end of the universe is eerily similar to a certain web novel kdj has been reading for 10 years...

if you're good with a couple minor spoilers/hints plz continue if not..... STOP HERE

basically, WOS becomes reality and KDJ decides that because he is the only reader of WOS it's his job to make sure the book has its proper ending so he teams up with the protagonist (reluctantly) and they become "companions" (that is, if companions = Life and death partners and weird homoerotic tension between them) somehow along the way kdj gains a merry gaggle of devoted friends (and children) and they all collectively decide that if anything happens to kdj (and oh boy does shit happen) they will kill everyone in the room, each other and drag his sorry ass back into reality)

Anyways hope you decide this is worth your time and check ORV out :)

(my grammar kinda died @ the end so ignore that I thought there was a roach in my room but turns out it was just a cricket)

Oh thank you! This is a really good summary! I'm definitely going to check it out! ^-^

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shoukohime · 1 year

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hello!! this is the orv anon from before. i literally wrote like 5 paragraphs before deleting them in hopes of being more concise. kim dokja: i love him so much but he makes me so mad

idk how to describe it. but whenever we get glimpses of kdj's life before the scenarios started.. how he depended on this webnovel to continue living. and now how he sacrifices himself over and over to save these characters that he grew up reading about. the way he truly loves this novel and how heartbreakingly selfless he is. how he cant seem to fully understand how much his companions care about him. he drives me insane. 🫶

i would love to hear more of your thoughts on orv/kdj!! honestly this was scary to write bc ive seen so many big brain takes on orv but your response was so nice and you asked so :))))

Hello orv anon!! I'm so sorry, tumblr didn't notify me of your ask (or I simply didn't see it) and I'm sorry for the delay!! Your ask is so nice. I love to hear your opinions on orv!

Fully agree. I feel like kdj's self-worth is so low that he doesn't even fathom that other people might care for him, including his friends and companions. Maybe this is why he rarely calls them friends? Because he feels like it's necessary to keep a distance from them? etc. And I honestly love that about him. Yes, it's frustrating to read but also so entertaining. I know something you don't, kim dokja. you're loved, bitch!

Your previous ask made me pick the novel up again and I just read a super interesting passage/chapter in which the topic "he sacrifices himself over and over to save these characters he grew up reading about" was talked about. I'm not going to spoiler you but it's around uhm ch. 356 I think?

Thank you for the ask! 💞

#bokuaska

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khorale · 2 years

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Things I can’t wait to see in the webtoon (SPOILER WARNING FOR THE WHOLE SERIES)

In no particular order:

“Eat dirt, Yoo Joonghyuk”

Dokja scamming 50+ Constellations at the same time, gets marked for death, then continues to scam them for more money

“Come, Steel Sword.” Literally picks up Lee Hyunsung and swings him.

Secretive Plotter’s arc

Local Squid dies so much he gets adopted by the Gods of Death. They also tried to matchmake him with other characters, including Bihyung 😅

The mutual identity thefts between KDJ and YJH. One notable mention is the two of them conquering industrial complexes in each other’s name.

KDJ, YJH and HSY being the snarkiest trio

Journey to the West Remake, where there’s cannibal Murim dumplings, secret identites, and KDJ spending a whole paragraph describing how handsom YHJ is and if you’re not attracted to him then there’s something wrong with you

URIEL!!! HUIWON!! EVERYONE IN KIM DOKJA’S COMPANY. BADASS WOMEN AND CHILDREN! FULLY FLESHED OUT CHARACTERS WITH THEIR OWN MOTIVES AND GOALS!!!

Shin Yoosung and Lee Gilyoung being 100% down for murder

Chinese dress and garter belt

No matter which regression, every version of Yoo Joonghyuk will get sooooo attached to Kim Dokja

Our badass Queen Yoo Sangah grabbing Yoo Joonghyuk’s head and slamming it against a wall. She also briefly became God and trolls important Constellations.

The 0th round, the 999th round, and the 1863th round 😭😭

Finding out the truth behind tls123 (by the way, I heard that tls spells ‘god’ on the Korean keyboard. So it means god123. Take it as you will). Seeing why tls123 wrote the ‘Ways of Survival’ made me cry 😥

Kim Namwoon builds a Gundam

Have we discussed how messed up it was that KDJ’s own mother killed him (knowing he’ll survive) because she wanted to be the person he loves most? And she dislikes YJH because she’s the only one who figures out who KDJ truly loves the most?

Biyoo! The fluffiest, most adorable daughter/Twitch streamer

When KDJ dies for YJH, and nobody told YJH that Dokja can resurrect so he went crazy for a bit. He also called KDJ his companion for the first time. Honestly Dokja HOW COULD YOU MISINTERPRET EVEN THIS??!

The many times Kim Dokja’s Company went full yandere and locks him up to prevent him going off on another suicidal scheme

When it turns out that KDJ’s reckless and suicidal nature isn’t just for jokes, but stems from his low self-worth and inability to accept and recognize other people viewing him as someone worth protecting. When we get to see more of his backstory and realize that the freaking Apocalypse ends up being the happiest time of his life compared to what came before. In this essay I will-

The unpredictability of each scenario. The plot twists are amazing, and the story goes in very creative direction. And the meta and time shenanigans makes my brains hurt.

999th Uriel meets our Uriel and bluescreens after viewing all the shipping in this timeline

HSY constantly dissing on the Way of Survival’s writing

Secretive Plotter losing against KDJ and YJH because YJH’s wearing KDJ’s coat and he’s not 😂

#orv #orv spoilers #omniscient reader spoilers #omniscient reader's viewpoint spoilers #my posts

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generallypo · 4 years

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in all sincerity, kim dokja makes me happy and he deserves to be so too :^(

incoherent yelling and sobbing under the cut. these fEELINGS will not be contained aaauuunnghhh.

------

anyway i binge-read all 500+ chapters of ORV this week and i honest to god feel bad for this -- completely! fictional! aghhhh -- guy. in case you haven’t figured it out, the following is some spoilerly shit

i went in expecting a fun, brainless power trip fantasy for dudes with an isekai addiction. instead, it turns out ORV is actually a gigantic, self-deprecating prank on the entire genre itself. kdj plays more into the sad -- if high-functioning-- clown trope than the sexy, edgy, chuuni bastard type i was prepared to laugh at. there were -- gasp! -- female characters with personalities! parents (aka ADULTS who act like ADULTS) who actually survive and feature prominently! adorable children! a real sexy, edgy bastard! a power trio with amazing fashion! sexual tension and bickering! friendship! life and death bonding!

*breathes in deeply* fouND FAMILYYYYYYY.

like, yeah, the plot around the first few arcs seems a little aimless, but the buildup is worth. the world-building is pretty decent. there’s discernible effort put into the fight scenes, and i can appreciate that. but -- but! what i stayed for were the characters -- namely, the fantastic OT3 of KDJ, HSY, and YJH -- who come together despite their initial rivalries and end up saving each other’s asses, like, every other day. granted, the other characters don’t get as much focus, and they do fall into certain character tropes..

but a trope done well is nothing i would gripe about. every significant character in ORV has a coherent, and more importantly, respectful take on their respective trope. maybe it’s because sing-shong is actually a married couple, but all the interactions between even minor characters are a convincing blend of awkward rambling, suggestive humor, sharp remarks, and casual banter. in other words, this cast of mostly working adults (plus a teen and two kids) talks like working adults. the relationships built throughout the story are, frankly, some of most realistic of its genre. sing-shong has managed to craft a dynamic that undoubtedly brims with fluffy fondness all around, but also drips with sarcastic tension, with unspoken urgency, with a wariness that softens into sincerity over the course of many, many chapters. it’s the kind of progression that makes even stock characters read like more than just the 2-bit villain or comrade or love interest. here, we have relationships both straightforward and not, strained or otherwise, romantically-oriented as well as decidedly the opposite -- and then numerous others scattered along the spectrum with the freedom to shift either way.

it’s also an interesting point of note that our MC kdj actually does not end up with a stated romantic partner, much less a conventional heteroromantic harem. he gets teased about that fact from time to time, but it’s with less of the sleazy shonen locker room humor one would expect and more of the good-natured ribbing you’d find among friends or that one especially nosy auntie at the yearly family reunion. kdj is a grown ass man. in the background, i applaud his maturity, and he handles all the prodding like a champ.

so instead of finding and fulfilling his horny, he builds himself a wealth of loving family. yeah, there are beautiful men and women around him. yeah, they unequivocally adore him. but they’re also adults, and they have priorities, too -- which are not so much finding a way to bang kdj’s brains out and more so simply keeping the damn guy alive. this is truly not ‘oblivious mc with his thirsty, sex kitten harem’. it just so happens that a guy proves himself to be unflinchingly gentle and capable in an apocalyptic setting despite his broken self-esteem, and lots of people find that attractive, romantically and platonically.

it.. kinda makes sense? he’s a hard worker, thoughtful, and good with kids. kdj is the kind of guy you know would make a reliable partner, and anybody with eyes can plainly see and appreciate that.

and it’s not that our MC’s a total brick wall. in fact, it’s likely the opposite, and he’s just too darned repressed to admit it. from what has been implied, kdj does indeed recognize and accept love, or at least a primitive concept of it. i like to imagine that the kind of love that he ends up seeking out simply manifests itself more easily as acceptance and safety, as warmth and a home of people to return to every day. even better, the people who surround him know this, and they give him exactly that. it’s refreshing, and honestly, really sweet.

(as a side note, i really, really do appreciate the cosmic bi energy radiating off of kdj, who canonically earns the title of being loved by all and is all but in name married to yjh and hsy. he also respects women and small children and honestly anyone who isn’t total scum to him or his family. i respect that.)

but the happy stuff aside, you know it it just ain’t ORV without the generous screaming dollop of angst. admittedly, there’s self-sacrifice, injury, lonesome wandering, more sacrifice, some epic fighting, reunion and confrontation. all of it is a lot to digest, sure, but never does it feel entirely hopeless, or truly, truly heart-clenching. ORV, up until the final act, is a mostly light read. you relax in your chair, thinking that nothing beyond this point can disturb you.

yeah fucking right.

------

and then the beginning of the end arrives. when the squad finally break through to their ‘ending’, the scene that kind of breaks me is the reveal of the Most Ancient Dream. it ties so much thematically into the little tidbits that we get of kdj’s past, and it though it feels like almost a joke that the source of the goddamn apocalypse is a kid with bruises smeared across his skinny ass body -- it’s such a pathetic picture that it’s kinda poetic, actually. you’re left mystified but somewhat convinced, like a math problem explained halfway through. this.. child.. is a villain somehow, isn’t he?

and then 999th turn uriel speaks up, and she. just. hugs him.

[[You are this universe’s most powerless existence, aren’t you.]]

that. that gets me. kdj’s reaction immediately upon this revelation? absolute murder. seeing him essentially self-destruct upon realizing that all these people he’s surrounded himself with -- some who continuously proclaim their loyalty and affection for him throughout their journey, some who suffered eons of war and loss and trauma because of his existence -- not only forgive his younger self but smother him with unconditional acceptance and love is stifling, is too vulnerable and exposed and he simply can’t cope -- it’s so telling of his true mentality, of his crippling insecurity and crumpled sense of self-worth. kim dokja is a liar, through and through, so much that he fails, or perhaps refuses, to comprehend the veracity of others’ kindness and love towards himself.

by some miracle, the events at the end of the world somehow resolve.. or so it seems. there is a departing train, a liberated team of ex-gods, and a child rousing from his slumber. in the aftermath, i am left shaking. somehow, despite the ending having been (happily?) reached, there’s still another chapter ahead. what is this witchcraft?

------

and then ah, yes -- the epilogue arc. i teetered on the edge of being critical for a little bit there -- is that display of deus ex machina, of sad, self-sacrificing nobility a bit too egregious to be acceptable? is this some wild last let-me-yank-this-outta-my-ass plot twist to drag out the chapter count? i sincerely thought that the arc before it would have been the finale. i was wrong. thank god.

anyways, as an answer to the above: no, and no. i stake my firm claim on the belief that the epilogue arc was meticulously planned out well in advance of its release, confusing and time-warpy as it is. i liked it. tremendously. even if it entirely invalidates all of kdj’s supposed development (”haha lol yeah sure i won’t sacrifice myself or anything anymore guys don’t worry about me” -- KDJ, at some point because he’s a lying rat bastard). actually, our beloved MC disappears for a large chunk of this arc, and i think it’s great. in his absence, the other characters not only go absolutely fucking nuts, but they have to figure out this new problem on their own, even if the lure of peaceful complacency in the newly saved Korea might convince them otherwise.

and then the whole time paradox thing comes around. yjh goes to space, hsy saves the only life she can, and kdj grows up. the crew waits, holding onto their hope even if it bleeds them dry. sing-shong does a damn good job of illustrating their fraying calm, their lurking madness, the unseen but pervasive depression that seeps in from kdj’s absence. the kids lose their father, lhs and jhw lose their reliable leader figure, ysa loses a best friend and confidant, lsk -- as distant as she pretends to be from her son -- loses her only child. and then there’s hsy and yjh , who are essentially bereft of the other half of their existences. their pain is palpable, is grounded in the hopeless, gnawing frustration of an utterly meaningless victory. emotionally, ORV hits all the right -- if agonizing -- beats.

however, a story can’t sustain itself just through its pathos. i’m happy to say that ORV doesn’t drop the ball after the first milestone, and after all the hurt, the characters do leap straight back into action. even better, the plot holes actually do get patches, and the poetic cycle of writer, protagonist, and reader comes full circle by making use of all those supposedly throwaway characters from the myriad world lines.

at the end of the road, there is a distinct sense of unity, of a delicate but undeniable cohesion to the world lines and their origins. sing-shong lets us guess a little here at the finish, but there’s just enough information to feel hopeful. maybe there never had been a definite start -- or finish -- to the story of kdj company, and... that’s okay. everybody ends up where they were meant to be, where they fought and struggled to reach. it’s.. almost like a happily ever after, if we’re allowed to dream of that.

------

now, i realize, this was all an orchestrated maneuver.

i’ll take it.

to me, all of this work sounds like someone put some serious thought into this behemoth of a plot. it cements the entire original premise of the story. it suggests -- but never explicitly confirms! -- the possibility that breaking free of the cycle is possible through the exact same system that sustains it. it’s terribly interesting -- and inspirational! with all the dramatic revelations and life-threatening scenarios and the cast’s resigned acceptance of them that essentially make up ORV’s entire mood, there’s still that last hint of rebellious and righteous anger that lights up the whole damn nebula. it’s like the kdj company blasting away at the heavens just to yell into the nether: we’re not looking for the happy end, but the free one. stay alive.

it’s subtle, and yet it’s such an emotional gut punch. i came away with the most ruinous, frustrating, bittersweet sense of longing in ages. i pined. for these fictional darlings. god, i am weak.

so. yeah. ORV is pretty good. flawed, but ambitious and impressively thought out. i’m stoked that the webtoon is making pretty good progress, even if it’ll take an eternity and a half to meet that monstrous chapter count. i’m still gonna follow it. hell yeah.

------

(by the way the idea that secretive plotter and co are literally gonna take care of and raise baby kdj and spoil him and be the best friggin family a kid could ever want does things to me. protect him. he’s suffered too much. let at least one worldline’s version of him know happiness. and actually, aLL OF THEM DESERVE DOMESTIC BLISS TOGETHER IN A BIG OL MANSION WITH SUN AND FRESH AIR AND TENDER FAMILY MOMENTS UGH)

------

and there you have it, folks. you made it to the end. in the far, far distance, i’m cheering you on and crying my eyes out in gratitude. thanks for tuning in!

#omniscient reader #orv #omniscient reader's viewpoint #kim dokja #fanart #kdj happiness rights!#protect him!#let! him! have his big house! with everyone! he loves!#please!#long ass emotional screeching #look i can't do him justice with drawing but hell can i yell out my love for him :'^DD

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luxaofhesperides · 3 years

Text

in those long days until we’re together

yoo sangah loves all the time she spends with jung heewon. but the time they spend together is to little; such is the way of long distance relationships.

for ORV RARE PAIR WEEK 2021 @orv-week; day three, prompt: long distance relationship.

also on ao3.

. . . Call soon? the text reads when Yoo Sangah opens it. She immediately sends back a smiling panda sticker and hurries through the rest of her work so she can leave on time, if not a little early. They’ve both been busy recently, which means they haven’t had much time to talk, but Jung Heewon had set a day where they’re both free in the evenings to call and catch up. Yoo Sangah is grateful; often she worries about being too needy or clingy, holding herself back from asking for more no matter how often Jung Heewon assures her that it’s fine. She’s missed talking to her girlfriend recently, but didn’t want to demand all of her time and attention, so she kept quiet until Jung Heewon firmly set a time when they can ignore the rest of the world and just focus on each other.

There are three hours left before she can go home. She feels each minute passing by agonizingly slow. Her focus is shot, barely able to concentrate on all the files she has on hand that have to go out by the end of the week. She’s only half done, and while she’s sure if she focused and got to it she’s finish faster, Yoo Sangah is filled with restless energy that makes her walk away from her desk.

The break room is usually empty at this time. It’s just after the time most people finish their lunch and return to their work, so Yoo Sangah looks forward to making herself some tea and letting her mind wander without the pressures of deadlines stress her out.

She gets as far as pulling out a cup before she realizes she’s not alone. Kim Dokja sits in the back of the break room, in a corner people ignore because it’s out of sight from the door. He’s on his phone again, not moving and silent. Yoo Sangah can’t help but jump a little when she finds him, from the shock of seeing someone in the corner of her eye in a room she though was empty . Slowly, she lets out a breath and tries not to look to frazzled.

“Dokja-ssi,” she calls out, making him look up, “Did you want anything to drink?”

“No thank you,” he says as quietly as always. Had it been anyone else, she would have thought he was trying to end the conversation as quickly as possible. In fact, he sounds exactly as he does when he tries to end a conversation, but he’s not looking away which is the only sign that he doesn’t mind talking a little while longer.

Kim Dokja is really her only friend at Minosoft, where all the other men hit on her relentlessly and the other women keep her at arms length for one reason or another. He doesn’t hit on her, leer at her, or act rudely. He just keeps to himself and helpfully hands her salt when she’s upset so she can ruin people’s coffees. Yoo Sangah is glad to have at least one co-worker she’s on good terms and doesn’t actively dislike.

“Did something happen?” he asks, lowering his phone some more. It always feels like a victory when she manages to pull him away from that phone screen. “You look a little… flushed, I suppose. Distracted.”

Yoo Sangah can’t help but smile. “Oh, I’m video calling my girlfriend tonight. It’s been a while since we were able to talk.”

Here’s another thing about Kim Dokja: he’s not just her only friend at Minosoft, but also the only person who knows she’s 1) not straight and 2) in a relationship. She hadn’t even meant to tell him about Jung Heewon, but he was there and no one else was and she was happy that Jung Heewon wanted to be in a relationship with her, even if it was long distance. All Kim Dokja do was ask if she had a good night, and Yoo Sangah immediately told him about the lovely, strong woman who turned her attempt to socialize into a date, ditching the rest of her college friends, and about the second date she had on the weekend.

Kim Dokja, to his credit, didn’t even blink. Just congratulated her on her new relationship and made no mention of the fact that she was with another woman. Yoo Sangah grew fiercely protective of him that day, as had Jung Heewon, the first time she called while Yoo Sangah was still at work and got to talk to him for a few minutes.

“I see,” he says. “If you’d like me to take on some of your work so you can go home sooner…”

“Oh, no! I couldn’t ask that of you! But thank you for offering anyways. Are you sure you don’t want anything to drink?”

He shakes his head. “I’m alright. I’m on break for another ten minutes, and I’d like to finish reading this, so…”

Yoo Sangah nods at his polite attempt finish the conversation and focus on his phone again, and tries to make tea quietly as to not bother him. She lets herself smile freely as she waits for the tea to cool, then says goodbye to Kim Dokja, who awkwardly waves a hand at her. No one tries to stop her for a chat as she makes her way back to her desk, which is incredibly rare and incredibly lucky. It wasn’t a bad day before getting Jung Heewon’s text, but it certainly got better after it.

Somehow, she manages to finish the last few hours of work, only occasionally glancing at her phone, before she puts all her files away and gets ready to go home. As she’s walking to the elevator to leave, Yoo Sangah sees a couple of people from the corner of her eye perk up when they catch sight of her and start heading over. Please go away, she thinks and stares very hard at the elevator doors, trying to convey that she’s leaving and doesn’t want to talk. It doesn’t work.

Just as they reach her and one of them opens his mouth, Kim Dokja appears, sliding in front of them with ease. With how he’s looking at his phone again, it could be passed off as unintentional, just him not paying attention to his surroundings, but the way he carefully glances at her tells her that this was no accident.

People don’t really seem to like Kim Dokja, which Yoo Sangah finds strange. He’s just a little reclusive and awkward, but their coworkers either harass him or avoid him with all their might.

These two men become visibly uncomfortable and shift away from Kim Dokja. They look at her, then at Kim Dokja, then walk past them. As soon as they’re out of earshot, Yoo Sangah sighs and says, “Thank you, Dokja-ssi.”

He gives her a small smile. “It would be a shame to get stuck here when you have better things to do.”

The elevator finally arrives on their floor and the doors slide open. It’s empty, thankfully, and they both get in. Kim Dokja leans against the back wall, frowning as he reads… whatever it is he reads. Yoo Sangah decides it wouldn’t be rude to be on her phone, not talking, if it’s Kim Dokja she’s with. She opens up her chat with Jung Heewon and sends another text: I’ll be home soon! Let me know when you’re ready <3

Once on the ground floor, Yoo Sangah says goodbye to Kim Dokja as he heads towards the subway and she goes around the building to get her bike. The sun has set by the time she makes it to her apartment, but the sky is still light, all purple and pink. She takes a moment to admire it before she unlocks her door and kicks off her shoes.

The stress of the day falls off her shoulders and she takes a moment to stretch before going to her bedroom to change into more comfortable clothes.

She grabs her charger from her room and plugs it in the kitchen just to make sure her phone doesn’t die in the middle of the call. It’s been so long, Yoo Sangah isn’t going to risk anything cutting their time together short.

Her phone chirps with a notification and Yoo Sangah all but throws herself across the kitchen to open it.

Five more minutes?asks Jung Heewon, and Yoo Sangah quickly sends a nodding kitten sticker back. She rushes through grabbing ingredients and setting up her cutting board and frying pan in order to make fried rice, and keeps checking her phone to make sure she doesn’t accidentally miss Jung Heewon’s call.

Calling now!! comes another text that Yoo Sangah barely sees before her phone is ringing. She grabs it and accepts the video call, heart thundering in her chest as both their cameras begin to adjust to the lighting in their respective apartments.

“There you are sweetheart,” Jung Heewon says, smiling, “I’ve missed you so much.”

Yoo Sangah can’t help the shy smile that spreads across her face, cheeks flushing. “I can’t wait to see you in person again. Two more weeks, right?”

“Mhm. Two more weeks and you’ll get to have me all to yourself for four days.”

Yoo Sangah has been eagerly counting down the days for Jung Heewon’s next visit to Seoul, planning out dates and meals to cook together. The loneliness that cripples her the first few days after her girlfriend leaves is terrible, a feature of long distance relationships, but getting to be with Jung Heewon in any way she can is more than worth it.

She sets her phone propped up against a tall glass. “I’m going to make some dinner, so tell me about your week while I cut some vegetables.”

Jung Heewon shifts, getting more comfortable on her couch, and begins to talk about her job, her coworkers, the stray cats in the neighborhood that she’s been feeding; Yoo Sangah lets the soothing cadence of her voice wash over her as she cooks, listening attentively and trying to commit everything to memory so she can feel like she’s a part of Jung Heewon’s day.

They talk through her cooking, her eating, keep the call going even when both leave to take a shower and get ready for bed. It’s so nice to talk to Jung Heewon again, but it makes the empty space on her bed all the more obvious.

“I can’t wait to have you with me again,” Yoo Sangah mumbles, sleepy now that she’s in bed. She’s having trouble keeping her eyes open, and while she knows she should go to sleep since she has work tomorrow, she wants this call to keep going for as long as possible. She’s not ready to say goodbye. She’s never ready to say goodbye.

Jung Heewon rubs her eyes tiredly. “You look tired sweetheart,” she says, her voice low. The sound of it sends pleasant shivers down her spine, and Yoo Sangah can only manage a vague hum in reply. “Go to sleep. I’ll stay on the call until you sleep.”

“I don’t want to end it,” she says, stubbornly keeping her eyes open.

“I’ll call you again in the morning. I promise. Okay?”

That’s the smart thing to do, Yoo Sangah knows, and if she wakes up a little earlier than usual she can see Jung Heewon longer. Still, she doesn’t want to go to sleep and stop hearing Jung Heewon’s voice. She wants time to stop and let her have this moment to herself forever, without worrying about tomorrow or counting down the days until Jung Heewon arrives for just a few days. Their relationship is filled with longing and waiting, always separated and never able to stay together as long as they want.But there is no one she wants as much as Jung Heewon. She’ll do anything to stay with her.

“Okay,” Yoo Sangah says, “Goodnight. Two weeks?”

“Two weeks,” Jung Heewon promises. “I’ll be with you before you know it.” I hope so , she thinks, and closes her tired eyes, letting the sounds of Jung Heewon moving and preparing for the next day lull her to sleep. It’s almost like she’s there with Yoo Sangah.

Almost.

It’s enough for now.

#orv #omniscient reader's viewpoint #orv fic #jung heewon/yoo sangah #jung heewon #yoo sangah #my writing

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dokkaebiyoo · 5 years

Text

Omniscient Reader/Every Heart a Doorway au

Kim Dokja tumbled once

He was in high school, trying to escape. Escape his tormentors. Escape their words. Escape his mother and her overwhelming story and his relatives and their cold looks, their cutting reviews of his worth.

He was trying to escape, and he did (into a new world)

In this new world, everything is the same, but it’s Not. In this new world, familiar stories come alive and play out with real actors. Kim Dokja tumbles into a role, and plays his part with grace.

He makes friends -Companions. Suddenly it’s not just Kim Dokja: it’s Kim Dokja and Yoo Jonghyuk; Kim Dokja and Shin Yoosung; Kim Dokja and Lee Hyunsung and Lee Seolhwa and Lee Jihye. For the first time in years, he’s happy.

And then Yoo Jonghyuk dies.

After Yoo Jonghyuk dies, Kim Dokja tries to move through the scenarios as much as he can (he doesn’t want to, not without Yoo Jonghyuk) but what he ends up doing is moving through worlds instead. He’s given a sub-scenario no one else can see, and it leads him nowhere he wants.

Kim Dokja tumbles back, and suddenly it’s like nothing happened at all. He hears the whispers of those around him, making their own narrations about him: that he’s crazy, that everything is made up. After a particularly violent confrontation with a bully (the scenarios have *changed* him, molded him as the constellations wish. He hates the star stream) they whisper that he’s just like his mother. That he’ll end up killing someone soon (he already has, but they cry liar)

He learns to adapt -to mask. He pretends that everything was just a vivid dream (but he knows the truth. The story isn’t true, but it is the truth). He graduates high school, then university, and all the while he looks at doors as if one will be the one to take him Home.

Somewhere along the way he finds a star of hope in the endless night sky. Three Ways to Survive in a Ruined World, by tls123, an online author. What he reads within the text, it’s nearly too good to be true.

Yoo Jonghyuk, alive. Regression after regression, each time remembered (but never with Kim Dokja, his heart shattered). What Kim Dokja reads, he commits to his heart. The story of his life, torn away from him.

(Once, he messages the author. Just a few words, a vague line so as to not grow too much hope: “have you also crossed that Wall?”

He does not receive an answer, but tls123 personally messages back, “thank you, I hope you continue reading to the end” and Kim Dokja cries anyway)

Kim Dokja never finds the right door. He finds others like him, some find their door again, some don’t. Most want to go back. He turns 28, stuck in a job for a game company he only applied for because he wanted to help develop the kinds of games Yoo Jonghyuk remembered playing. Belated, one day, he realizes he’s the same age as Yoo Jonghyuk, and wonders what it would be like to meet again on equal footing.

He doesn’t wonder long, because within the week, he’s staring at Yoo Jonghyuk’s face again. Rather than tumbling, his Home has come to him.

“...Kim Dokja,” Yoo Jonghyuk surveys him, trying to read the story behind his aged features, the dark bags under his eyes.

Kim Dokja smiles.

“Yoo Jonghyuk, I have returned to complete what we both left behind.”

“Let us finish our story together.”

#omniscient reader's viewpoint #orv #omniscient reader #ying rambles

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kimdokja-real · 11 months

Note

I’ll contest that! (KDJ being confident)

KDJ is (from my view) a man with absolute conviction in his plans and interpretation of the novel. He’s been the sole reader of TWSA for thirteen years, he’s been drafting power charts and planning ways to beat the scenarios for over a decade, he lived for this story. If he knows nothing else, it’s TWSA.

To that end, during the novel’s events, he has the fourth wall dampening the scenario’s effects- certain scenes are emotionally charged and really cool to watch, definitely, but KDJ isn’t fully living in that moment, the fourth wall cushions the emotions. Delivering a presentation in reality is a lot more anxiety inducing than in the sanctity of your own head. This doesn’t detract from the previous point all that much and just adds a consideration that a KDJ without the fourth wall/dissociation would be stripped of his guard.

However! To say that KDJ has confidence in himself says two things, one directly and another by implication. To be more accurate would be to describe KDJ as confident but insecure. He has confidence in his interpretation, his decisions, his plans (arguably too much, as YJH repeatedly proves). His insecurity lies in his self worth. Funnily enough, I would also say that he’s overconfident in his perception on this level as well. He’s fully convinced that his life is worth less, that his companions won’t be too heavily impacted if he dies as long as he comes back, that despite YJH’s greatest trauma of the second round being Namgung Minyoung dying (even if he’ll be able to meet her again in the next regression) it won’t matter as much if KDJ is the one to die. He’s convinced that a person like him can’t be of value or worth loving. Calling this a matter of confidence is slightly funny, because this isn’t a matter of wavering confidence- this is a fundamental fact (to him) that underpins most of his decisions. He has confidence, and it’s almost completely separate from the question of his self-worth. It does make him interesting.

On the matter of bottom YJH I have little to say but that I agree. Also, that the potential of 1863 YJH thoughtlessly obeying KDJ under the influence of regression depression while KDJ takes care of him is underutilized in fanfiction. YJH likes having guidance, and it’s both very fitting for his character and very cute. Thoughts?

It's interesting to think he prepared for the scenarios while reading Ways of Survival, but I think Kim Dokja is so intelligent he actually didn't prepare at all. He just loved the story so much he remembered almost everything and used his information as tools to win the scenarios.

Even though he has the Fourth Wall dampening the effects, it's still reality, and no unconfident person would be stepping forth, breaking all the rules but winning somehow, and confronting the constellations in the sky in the apocalypse. But Kim Dokja so easily did that, which is kind of amazing.

He has confidence, and it’s almost completely separate from the question of his self-worth. It does make him interesting.

Yeah exactly, this is the very interesting thing about kdj. He's so set on his own perceptions due to his confidence, and it's like he confidently embraces his lack of self-worth.

I also think he doesn't see his impact on others is because he's a 'reader', a reader just reads, just takes in the information and reacts on their own, they have no impact on the characters in the story. That's why he can't believe Yoo Joonghyuk likes and even loves him (we don't even talk about romantic love here, I think he can't even believe Yoo Joonghyuk loves him platonically, that his favourite character grew to love and trust him), because to him Yoo Joonghyuk is the ultimate presence he can't influence. He hated, loved, cheered for, cried for Yoo Joonghyuk's story for 13 years, but he couldn't do anything about it. So to him he has zero impact on Yoo Joonghyuk, main character of Ways of Survival, as a reader.

I also think besides his (I theorize) romantic love for Yoo Joonghyuk, that's why he does so much for Yoo Joonghyuk and takes his important parts because he can finally do something to help Yoo Joonghyuk whom he watched suffering and in pain for years.

Of course while doing so, he ends up being the main character of the story, which he never imagined.

“Thank you for everything.”

[The remaining capture time is 3 minutes.]

The party members were running.

Lee Hyunsung, Jung Heewon, Shin Yoosung, Lee Gilyoung, Yoo Sangah, Gong Pildu, Lee Jihye…

They cried, screamed or were filled with deep anger. Everyone was coming towards me. My vision gradually diminished and all the characters became the landscape. I saw them and laughed.

「 Incarnation Kim Dokja will be killed by the person he loves most. 」

I had forgotten. All prophecies couldn’t be interpreted literally. In this Star Stream, people were stories.

[The constellation ‘Secretive Plotter’ is looking at you.]

[The constellation ‘Demon-like Judge of Fire’ is looking at you.]

[The constellation ‘Prisoner of the Golden Headband’ is looking at you.]

[The constellation ‘Abyssal Black Flame Dragon’ is looking at you.]

[The constellation ‘Maritime War God’ is looking at you.]

As the gazes of countless stars in the sky poured towards me, a story was running towards me.

“Ahhhhhh!”

Parents, friends and lovers were all stories.

[The remaining capture time is 2 minutes.]

This wasn’t the Ways of Survival I knew but—It was a story more wonderful than Ways of Survival.

[A constellation of a small planet is looking at you.]

[All the constellations on the Korean Peninsula are looking at you.]

It was my story. I laughed as Yoo Jonghyuk’s sword pierced my heart.

[Your fate has been realized.]

My body slowly sank down and Yoo Jonghyuk held onto me. “Kim Dokja.”

“It was a really great story. Isn’t that right?”

Yoo Jonghyuk stared down at me silently. I couldn’t find any words and just watched. It was as if I had always been meant to do this.

That's why I love this part so much, besides the romantic implication I theorized about.

(You can find it here if you're interested https://www.tumblr.com/bottomjoonghyuk/718023323739684864/omniscient-readers-viewpoint-is-a-romance?source=share, or https://bottomjoonghyuk.tumblr.com/post/718023323739684864/omniscient-readers-viewpoint-is-a-romance, it's a long analysis)

[The constellation ‘Secretive Plotter’ is looking at you.]

[The constellation ‘Demon-like Judge of Fire’ is looking at you.]

[The constellation ‘Prisoner of the Golden Headband’ is looking at you.]

[The constellation ‘Abyssal Black Flame Dragon’ is looking at you.]

[The constellation ‘Maritime War God’ is looking at you.]

As the gazes of countless stars in the sky poured towards me, a story was running towards me.

“Ahhhhhh!”

Parents, friends and lovers were all stories.

[The remaining capture time is 2 minutes.]

This wasn’t the Ways of Survival I knew but—It was a story more wonderful than Ways of Survival.

[A constellation of a small planet is looking at you.]

[All the constellations on the Korean Peninsula are looking at you.]

It was my story. I laughed as Yoo Jonghyuk’s sword pierced my heart.

[Your fate has been realized.]

Like this whole part, it's so epic for the main character of the story, Kim Dokja. The constellations, stars in the sky were looking at him and the main character of Ways of Survival, and his story of having been practically obsessed and loving the main character of Ways of Survival, is the one to kill him since Kim Dokja loves Yoo Joonghyuk the most.

This wasn’t the Ways of Survival I knew but—It was a story more wonderful than Ways of Survival.

This was so good for Kim Dokja. And his self-worth. He finally admitted that he's so great that his story (Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint) was a story more wonderful than Ways of Survival, because he's not just a reader, he's a participant, the main character.

It was my story. I laughed as Yoo Jonghyuk’s sword pierced my heart.

[Your fate has been realized.]

And like besides the romantic implication of 'one he loves the most', I feel like here Kim Dokja finally realized he's the main character of the story, killed in an epic way by the one he loves the most, and it's his story, so his laugh is kind of ironic.

But sadly after this, he seems to retreat again even though he practically impacted Ways of Survival with his action that it was updated and Yoo Joonghyuk was thinking about him there.

I think Kim Dokja is just a very confident person naturally and an extrovert, but the emotional abuse was so much that it almost permanently affected his self-worth. So it's a question of nature vs nurture, and nurture kind of won over which speaks of his lack of self-worth in himself, but he still has his confident nature which he shows in the apocalypse. And then he's ironic confident in his lack of self-worth, because confidence is in his nature.

The potential of obedient, a bit demure, trusting Yjh is very underutilized in fanfiction. The fandom has turned him into this rough, unforgiving, blunt, caring, top for Kim Dokja and I don't understand it at all. I know the fandom loves kdj but not only is it OOC, yjh deserves some love too. And KDJ taking care of YJH is more close to canon btw, he's also protecting and looking out for YJH.

Yoo Joonghyuk does like having guidance yeah, of course he does, he had to go through all the regression stuff alone, because he was the only one with it and the only one who knew. So he likes having guidance from KDJ, (there's one moment where he obediently hands KDJ his sword, his weapon man), and for once he's following someone not the other way around, which is fitting for the change in and evolution of his character and very cute.

#ask #kim dokja #yoo joonghyuk #dokhyuk #dokjoong #joongdok #orv #omniscient reader's viewpoint #bottom joonghyuk #bottom yoo joonghyuk #top kim dokja

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