Trashy

what can i even say? the story keeps getting better and better, more information leading to more questions and curiosity. soleum’s development, both physically and mentally, takes my attention hostage. this work adds variety to reading lists with common tropes, while telling and solving mysteries better than most.

story really picks up after 200+. before that is the setup and information. dialogue might be a bit repetitive (arendt ragebaits a lot), but a moral arendt teaches us is that actions speak louder than words; the characters show more than tell they care. my only gripe is that the play has ended, and i won’t see more of this beloved actor. i’m glad i was ever a part of his audience.

a modern mc that doesn’t go get an undercut? in all my novel reading years… pragmatic mc, showbiz themes, dungeon/scenario tropes. these are all spun well together and scratches some itches nicely. seol ha-woon has disabilities, and it’s refreshing to see such diversity. it serves as his backstory and how he continues to develop.

the mc’s system has a huge presence. it solves and creates goals for him, and personally, i’m not a big fan of systems that’s just a convenient extension of the protagonist, who i’m supposed to learn about through himself. when he’s not relying on it, he has to act as a composed, gracious, and mysterious ascetic, and surprisingly, he can always stay in character, despite being just an ex-gamer. i do suspect his facade is helped by the fact he’s puppeteering a corpse, seeing as he can’t feel hungry and his emotions are dulled, as evidenced by being mentally unfazed by critical wounds. i’m not quite sold on this reasoning though. however, there is some convincing motivation behind his survival, most of it being tied to his previous misfortunes and mindset, so he actually wants to live as sernuan lumiere. meanwhile, the side characters just seem like a means to an end for the mc. i’ve yet to see signs of meaningful connection. though, still too early judge.