#'it must be dokja's fault'

[pttucker]

'Death Scream is a demon curse. I haven't killed one yet who used that ability'. Yoo Mia's cheeks puffed up from beside him and she asked, "What is it Oppa?" "It's nothing." Yoo Joonghyuk hesitated for a moment before adding, "…It seems that guy is doing something bothersome again." "That guy?" "There is such a person." Yoo Mia watched her brother, who had spoken in a cold voice. There was a nuance different from usual in his voice. It was a small change, like a grain of rice, but Yoo Mia was able to perceive the change. It was because Yoo Joonghyuk was her oppa. "Are you referring to that ugly ahjussi?" "…" "Oppa looks happy when talking about that ahjussi." Yoo Joonghyuk was embarrassed when he saw his smiling sister and he replied sharply. "You are mistaken." "Is that so?"

Joonghyuk: "That guy" (affectionate)

CALL HIM OUT MIA

[ramblebrambleamble]

Somehow, several kkomas end up Loose in the Industrial Complex. Secretive Plotter zips them back up pretty quickly, but the whole time they were arguing loudly and incriminatingly with each other and now everyone knows who he is, but, more importantly. There is nothing he can say to anyone that will convince them that he is not, in fact, a conglomeration of gnomes in a trenchcoat.

[tls12lessthan3]

thinking about the spectre of kim dokja hovering over all of kimcom now. god their relationships during the epilogue are so heartbreaking to think about. they all have matching scars from the sword kim dokja saved them with whilst they were drowning. they all loved him so much and he's not here anymore. it's not any of their faults, really, but its hard not to hate yourself for it when you learnt so much about hating yourself from him. who else in the world can understand the mark this man left on them. who else in the world loves him like they do. how can they love each other when there will always be that missing space where he should be. how guilty they must feel when they do anyway. every time they get together, the thought hanging over their heads of 'this is what he sacrificed himself for'. how do you tolerate that.

[orphiclovers]

Hypothetically, let's say yjh and sp got into a brawl (not fight!! But brawl!!) And they are not allowed to use their powers, not transcend or murim martial arts, just pure physical fight with muscles, Who would win according to you?

You. Are asking me. To powerscale Yoo Joonghyuk. The Kim Dokja fragment resonance is at fucking 1000%. But alright, sure.

In canon when SP and YJH had their rival arc it came down to their stories, and in the end, the only difference was that 3rd had companions and SP didn't. The 'power of friendship' won, I'm being 100% serious. They even say it here.

Buuut you're asking me to ignore all the themes and magic powers like a true redditor and judge just by the circumference of their manly muscles. I can respect that.

I still think Yoo Joonghyuk is winning. Here's why:

1. YJH is actively going through the scenarios and honing his battle skills in real life and death situations every day. Even if SP keeps in practice with the sword (which I'm not sure he does often?) he is retired and no amount of training can replace real life. YJH's instincts will simply be sharper in this case.

2. SP relies on his powers a surprising amount. Yoo Joonghyuk has hard rules for himself that say 'no cheating with the system' - he trained in the time fault for a hundered years in the 2nd regression, he insisted on learning the actual murim swordmanship instead of buying a skill, he jogs in the epilogue to keep in shape where everyone else relies on stats.

SP doesn't seem to have this hangup. Anytime he's on screen he's using some kind of ability, even for dumb shit like summoning wine and pushing Kim Dokja out the door and slamming it with his mind. He has gotten used to these conveniences. I don't think he has a single conversation on screen where he doesn't use some kind of magic trick. The price for this must be that his actual skills get rusty (er than Yoo Joonghyuks. He could still beat every other incarnation's ass in a second, don't make a mistake. We're looking at the minute differences between two monsters here.)

If we're taking away even the passive stuff like outer god aura, which is the thing that makes him intimidating, the chances that he is just as good as YJH are suddenly not so great. So sorry, his ass is not winning.

I hope that answers your question. In any case, the problem in powerscaling is that who wins a fight in fiction is less about who is stronger but more 'which scenario serves the plot best in this moment'. It all depends on the kind of situation they're in or what kind of story the author wants to tell. <- Got a little too into this, have to briefly remind everyone that I still understand themes and plot. I promise I'm not a redditor!

[mybrainisoveractive]

Ahem ahem I present to you, not in any order, some words/phrases/ideas I associate with these fandoms (including things from fanfics & memes):

Percy Jackson- baby seal eyes

- Percy 'imma just insult the Gods' Jackson

- literally any demigod memes or/and water related memes (tho technically can be used for H2O)

Naruto- Sasugay

- that one drawing of Sasuke sitting with his fingers interlocked and just staring

-the bad timing pause effect on Sasuke (distorted body in an 'S' shape and arms in an inverted 'C' shape) with the caption 'I can see you! ' in a black box with the caption: S A S U K E he can see you'

White Collar - Neal NO!

- Mozzie making ridiculous theories

- crossover with Batman/DCU

Danny Phantom- little ghosty

- little baby man (LBM)

- literally anything green and/or glowy

- vivisection (AO3 tag)

- crossover with DCU/JLA/Batman

Merlin BBC (TV Show) - Arthur 'I must be lucky! ' Merlin 'hell no, that was me'

- clotpole (actually spelled 'clotpoll' outdated slang term for idiot/dolt)

- 'your Royal Pratness'

- Gay but Not Gay aka very very Close Platonic friends

- crossovers with Harry Potter (AO3)

Lout of the Count's Family (LCF) / Trash of the Count's Family (TCF) - Cale 'i want slacker life' , never really actually had the opportunity to Slack, half of which is his own fault

- Cale 'lemme just stab myself with a stick through my heart'

- ✨Misunderstandings✨

- 'cough cough.. oh shit there's blood'

The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System (SVSSS) - Shen 'I need to hug the thighs of the protagonist' Yuan

-Bingpup

- 'I can't be OOC!' That is Still OOC anyway

Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint - Self-insert Fanfic

- Kim 'im gonna sacrifice myself' Dokja/Kim 'im Yoo Joonghyuk' Dokja

- squid

- dumpling

- Sunfish

- regression

- existential crisis

- space time continuum

Jujutsu Kaisen (JJK) - death, death and dead

- Gojo aka the one with expensive eyes (and everyone simps for it)

Demon Slayer - Muzan 'he dies, she dies, everyone di- oh shit' Kibutsuji

Attack On Titans (AOT) - Eren 'im gonna kill all titans as revenge! But also..Like you know.. (✨becomes a titan✨)' Yeager

- Levi aka (also) the one everyone simps for (who is also a germophobe)

Case Closed (CC)/Detective Conan (DC) - teen ➡️ child

- teenchild blends in but still comes across murders and help solves it

- Teenchild also goes to teen-pretending-to-be-adult (dead dad)'s heist.

-Teenchild has crush on teen who is taking care of teenchild

- Teenchild is canonically called shinigami

Untitled Goose Game - a normal everyday murderous Goose

- 🪿 🔪

Batman- Furry Combat Brigade

- too many goddamn universes to keep up

- Bat 'i work alone' man/ Bat 'adoption problem' man

- alive ➡️ dead ➡️ alive

- Tim's lost spleen/ Tim Drake's Missing Spleen tag on AO3

Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) - war, war some more war

- Ironman vs captain America thingy

- wrinkled grape with stones

-Some time travel thing

-ironman with stones

Harry Potter - 'you are a wizard, Harry! ' 'you are a hairy wizard! "

- annual murder attempts

- 'did ya put ya name in da goblet of fire?!!?! ' Dumbledore asked calmly

My Hero Academia (MHA)/Boku no H��rō Akademia (BNHA) - we do not talk about the ships, there are no ships sailing anywhere, not today, not in my mind, especially not the weird ones, please

- weird powers

-how did some students get in class 1-a?

-some people simping for Aizawa (his neck? I think)

- midnight's death 😔

- Aizawa's leg

- Hawk's... Everything(sad boi)

二哈和他的白貓師尊/The Husky and His White Cat Shizun/Erha (2ha)- sad backstory

- similar to SVSSS but sadder (probably cause of the different povs)

- love triangle (I think?)

Alex Rider - child spy

- Bombs✨

-quite a lot of dead people for a teen book

-child assassin

-pickpocket

Special mention(s):

-Hellblazer #247 (John Constantine)

-badly explaining all of omniscient reader in 6 minutes (YouTube vid by ferd) (if you want to know about orv without being spoiled but confused)

- So This is Basically My Hero Academia (YouTube vid by JelloApocalypse)

[lizhly-writes]

joongdok or dokhyuk or dokjoong or whatever the fuck you want to call it.  half of a love confession fic, prompted by my wonderful orvcord friend, with two conditions: 1) kdj is in love 2) yjh is not. 

“I love you,” Kim Dokja says, out of the blue.

He tells this to you during a lull in the chaos, a quiet moment at the end of the world.  Another scenario cleared, another day done, nothing left to do but prepare for the morning ahead and the the troubles that might come.  The air is clear, crisp, and so is the sky, presenting an unobstructed view of the stars overhead.  

There is you, seated on thick, springy grass, diligently tending to the blade of your sword. There is him, standing with his hands tucked behind his back, staring far off into the distance.  In between you both is your own split second of disbelief, a shining moment of incomprehension that dissolves into thoughts of Coins and the favor of distant constellations – but no.  The channel is closed. The stream isn’t running.  The only reason to say it is for you.

A joke, at your expense – except the silence continues on, Kim Dokja making no attempt to brush it off.  A plot, exploiting your emotions – except Kim Dokja isn’t bothering to even make himself sound genuine, like he’d need to if he wanted you to believe it.  

He isn’t looking at you.  You look up from your sword, look at him, and he does not look back at you.  His gaze is distant, contemplative, as if he’s planning his next wild scheme to dominate some hidden scenario you’ve never heard of.  Like this, you can easily think you’ve misheard.  

This is perhaps the point.

I love you, he says, exactly like how you’d imagine he’d tell a secret.  Deliberately careless, carefully casual, so that the intent behind the action is lost altogether.  Thrown out in passing so you didn’t know that it was something to be kept close to the chest, set out as a seemingly insignificant, forgettable detail, so that when you screamed at him for not telling you, he could gesture at your previous conversation and say: there, I told you.  It's not my fault you forgot.  If you didn’t forget, well – it’s not my fault you didn’t understand what I meant.

The thought of it makes your fingers twitch; you think, idly, about cracking open Kim Dokja’s head and examining the contents, as if it would make any more sense to you if you saw it laid out and neatly organized before you.  

“That’s so violent, Joonghyuk-ah,” Kim Dokja says, like he can read your mind – exactly because he can read your mind.  After all, you’re thinking about him, aren’t you?

Things would be easier if it was the other way around.  If you could read his mind like a book, if you knew exactly what he was thinking, if you knew he was really thinking about you.  

“Kim Dokja,” you say, like a warning.   “What do you think you’re doing?”

Ignore me, says his tone.  It must have been the wind; pay it no mind.

Does he really think you can ignore something he says that easily?  He should know that you can’t.  He’s made sure of that himself from the very beginning, leaving you hanging for every scrap of prophecy and planning that comes out of his mouth.  You can’t break the habit now. 

“I’m just being honest,” Kim Dokja says, and now he looks at you, wry smile turning up the corners of his mouth.  “I’ve heard it’s generally good for your emotional well-being to examine how you feel out loud.  It’s cathartic.”

You can’t believe this. “You’re saying this is an emotional wellness exercise for you?”

Kim Dokja shrugs.  This is apparently the only answer he is willing to give you.

Irritating.  But then again, you already knew that.

[your--isgayrights]

not sure if this is what you had in mind but i was thinking maybe kdj and hsy meeting briefly earlier in life (at 20/22 years old or sth)? maybe having a misunderstanding or an argument over something trivial (like interpretation of a book or who should take the last lemon flavored popsicle in the store) and somehow still managing to reach some recognition or understanding of each other. years later they would forget about each other but still remember that bizarre situation sometimes. i have no idea if that makes any sense but i believe in your writing and massive brain and powerful swag. xoxo

Aaaaah, Exe I'm sorry if this isn't exactly what you asked for... I was just like... what if that time Han Sooyoung and Kim Dokja almost met in the epilogue went a little differently and like... haha...

The first part is basically copied and pasted from that chapter before the twist, so go read that first if you haven't!

Han Su-Yeong staggered and walked closer to Kim Dok-Ja. Several passersby brushing past her looked back in suspicion.

Kim Dok-Ja was now walking down the subway’s steps.

Kim Dok-Ja, with earphones stuck in his ears and reading something on his phone while walking downstairs.

She knew what he was currently reading.

“—!!”

She barely managed to shout, but her voice still didn’t come out. So, she desperately chased after him.

Because of the story you wrote, author-nim, I was able to survive until now. Han Su-Yeong was also able to survive while reading the sole reader’s words.

She managed to write the next part of Yu Jung-Hyeok’s life through them.

She was able to endure her boring and stuffy teen years, the days she never wanted to go back to, thanks to those words.

This train is bound for… She spotted Kim Dok-Ja standing on the platform, waiting for the next train to arrive. A person hiding within the small world crafted out of letters to protect himself was standing right there.

Kim Dok-Ja, who didn’t know anything about the apocalypse about to happen.

Kim Dok-Ja, who’d get to live on the expansive world of the ‘Ways of Survival’.

Kim Dok-Ja, who’d get to meet the protagonist he so longed to become.

Kim Dok-Ja, who’d become the ‘Demon King of Salvation’.

Kim Dok-Ja, who’d sacrifice himself multiple times for the sake of his companions, and as a result, came to the 1863rd turn and met her.

Kim Dok-Ja, who was destined to become the ‘Most Ancient Dream’, the price he paid for loving a certain story too much.

[Your mental state is crumbling!]

[The main body’s ego is regaining its control.]

[Your Fable is being extinguished.]

Her legs grew heavy, and her arms didn’t want to move anymore. Her body was gradually becoming not hers.

Even then, Han Su-Yeong wanted to tell him.

⸢To tell him that he was definitely not at fault for this story being born. And to tell him that the things he was about to experience were not his sins.⸥

Because, her past 13 years existed solely to say those words to him.

⸢To say that, though you have grown up while reading this story, there’s no need for you to become it.⸥

She barely managed to muster up her strength, her arm coiling in on itself and preparing for her one last willful action.

[Your ego will convert into the ‘subconsciousness’.]

As she set her weak, pre-scenario body into that final decisive movement...

The twenty six year old Han Su-yeong who knew nothing of the soon to come apocalypse, woke up thrusting her fist forward into the face of some guy on the subway.

She would've thought she was still dreaming, if it hadn't been for the feeling of his soft cheek slamming against the hard bone of his teeth under the force of her balled up hand.

'What the hell? Why am I doing this?'

Han Su-yeong most likely would have asked herself these things if she had any more time to think before her punch had landed.

She got her answer, though. Despite never asking her question, that reason she was looking for became clear as the man staggered off his balance.

He made a futile attempt to right himself before being knocked to the ground. The phone that he had been holding so close to his face clattering screen-side up onto the concrete of the subway floor.

That was when she saw it.

She only had to read a snippet of the words on that phone screen to come up with an explanation for her own actions at that very moment.

[There are three ways to survive in a ruined world. Now, I have forgotten a few, but one thing is certain. The fact that you who are reading this now will survive.

-Three ways to survive in a ruined world

Author’s words: Thank you so much for reading ‘Ways of Survival’ up to here. I will come back to you with an epilogue!]

'Ways of Survival.' 'Three ways to survive in a ruined world.'

...

Yes, there was no doubt that this guy sat on the subway floor rubbing at his cheek deserved it.

Some latent evil of the world must be working to Han Su-yeong's advantage, because none of the commuter passing by spared her a second glance as she sorted out her own motives. They simply dodged around her and the man she had assaulted moments ago.

If Han Su-yeong had to write some train of thought into their actions, she might imagine these negligent bystanders saw something like an overly dramatic lover's spat. Something personal that they ought not get involved in.

Were it not for the pervasiveness of such a cliche recurrent in physical altercations between men and women, maybe they would see it for what it was. A question of honor between authors.

Because Han Su-yeong was certain that was who this man was. An author who was so shitty that he had created an alt to try and hype up his terrible novel.

That was right... It was years ago now, but Han Su-yeong remembered that unsubstantiated accusation of plagiarism on her first published webnovel, SSSSS-grade Infinite Regressor.

This shitty guy had made an alt account that was so obvious... it was something 'Dok-ja,' like he wasn't even trying to pretend he didn't make it just to pretend to 'read' his own webnovel...

If that didn't prove it, then it was also clear from the comments that he had left on every single chapter. When she was reading them, Han Su-yeong had known that if she were such a bad author that she would have to have just one reader, the words that he wrote represented that perfect amount of reader to author engagement that she would have desired.

But that sort of relationship... it was unrealistic. Han Su-yeong had been an author for something like 13 years now, and she had never had such a relationship in her entire career.

So it was obvious that a reader like that could only be written by an author with those same desires that she held.

And then he even had the nerve to wander out of his self contained fantasy, accusing her superior work of plagiarizing his shitty one just to draw in more views and commenters.

So of course he had a lot of nerve to be rereading his own damn author's note right where she could see hi-

"Can I help you?"

Han Su-yeong felt all of the hot air she had been blowing herself up with to justify her current situation deflate upon hearing that voice of his.

The man she'd injured looked up at her with hollow black eyes. Eyes that perhaps had only seemed bright while being illuminated by a screen.

His voice was mild, too. As if getting punched in the face were something that was merely tiresome to him, instead of something to stir anger or indignity. The reactions that Han Su-yeong had been mentally preparing herself to butt heads with.

Nothing about his reaction seemed to ask Han Su-yeong for her motives. There was no race to find an explanation behind those hollow eyes. No bit lip, straining to come up with a turn of phrase to become an appropriately biting retort.

This guy wasn't an author.

...

Hey...

Why had she punched this guy again?

"Sorry." Han Su-yeong found herself saying, as her body deflated, extended arm going back to her side. "From the behind, you looked like my shitty ex."

She let herself fall into the cliche.

"Ah. I see."

Han Su-yeong hated the guy's expression, just then.

It was one that said, 'Well isn't that just my luck?'

But she couldn't help but watch, as this unlucky guy stood up and picked up his phone, brushing it off instead of himself, as if it were more precious to him than his own body.

And when that Dok-ja turned around, Han Su-yeong only saw his back for a second, before the sight of him was once more swallowed up by the uncaring world of the subway station crowd.

[dokkaebiyoo]

This is a snippet of a silly and fluffy touch-starved Kdj fic I wrote while on a car ride then forgot about and then found again. Idk if I’ll continue it but the premise is basically “the party piles heaps of affection onto a increasingly flustered Kim Dokja because they love him”

Some notes:

-this takes place in an au, either non-scenario au or post-scenario au where everyone lives regular lives again (sys and lgy attend school, ysa and Kdj still work together)

-Lee Gilyoung names everything Titano

—————

It starts with Shin Yoosung.

At 9:00 she posts to the “Oppress Kim Dokja” chat (made without his knowledge, of course):

[Shin Yoosung]: I think I made Ahjussi cry

[Shin Yoosung]: It was an accident

[Lee Gilyoung]: WHAT!!!

[Lee Gilyoung]: SHIN YOOSUNG!!!

[Lee Gilyoung]: HOW DARE YOU!!!!!

[Lee Gilyoung]: MEET ME OUTSIDE RIGHT NOW

[Yoo Sangah]: Gilyoung-ah, Yoosung-ah, aren’t you both in class right now? Stop texting.

[Han Sooyoung]: Wait no let them talk I wanna know how to make Kim Dokja cry

[Yoo Sangah]: ....

[Jung Heewon]: ....I’m muting the chat. It’s too early for this, don’t you guys think?

[Shin Yoosung]: Gilyoung’s so stupid. Why are you yelling at me? I said it was on accident, didn’t I?

[Lee Gilyoung]: Anyone who makes Hyung cry is the enemy >:(

[Lee Hyunsung]: Dokja-ssi really cried?

[Jung Heewon]: Not you too, Hyunsung-ssi

[Han Sooyoung]: weren’t you muting the chat? Let Shin Yoosung finish

[Shin Yoosung]: I don’t know if I want to now...aren’t you too eager?

[Han Sooyoung]: Ehhh, Kim Dokja is usually so blasé, isn’t it natural to be curious about what you could have possibly done to make that guy cry?

[Yoo Sangah]: I must admit I am also a little curious. Dokja-ssi didn’t even cry when Yoo Jonghyuk ignored him for a month cause he was jealous of Jang Hayoung.

[Jang Hayoung]: Hey!! It’s not my fault if I confess first. Besides, I didn’t even know Kim Dokja and Demon King of Salvation were the same person, does that really count?

[Han Sooyoung]: You guys are getting off topic. Shin Yoosung just tell us how you made that guy cry

[Shin Yoosung]: okay so Ahjussi normally drops me off at school, right?

[Lee Gilyoung]: Big deal he drops us both off at school!! >:U

[Shin Yoosung]: Yeah well today you had to go in early so it was just me and him, so take that!

[Shin Yoosung]: Anyway lately I’ve been complaining about the school cafeteria, so today Ahjussi gave me!! A lunch box!! He made it!!!

[Lee Gilyoung]: SHIN YOOSUNG I HATE YOU

[Lee Gilyoung]: HOW COME I DIDN'T GET ONE??

[Shin Yoosung]: you did :)))))) but you left before he could give it to you so now both of them are mine :)))))

[Lee Gilyoung]: I’m coming to your classroom during lunch and if you and my lunch box aren’t there I’m going to murder you with Titano XVII.

[Yoo Sangah]: If Kim Dokja has to leave work early again because you two are fighting I will be very, Very Disappointed.

[Jang Hayoung]: Oh shit I can hear the Mom tone

[Lee Gilyoung]: ....

[Shin Yoosung]: ....

[Shin Yoosung]: uh anyways, when I got the lunchbox I was so happy that I swung my arms around his neck for a hug and we both fell to the ground. Ahjussi didn’t even try to cushion the impact. He didn’t try hugging me back either

[Shin Yoosung]: a couple of minutes passed and I thought it was really weird he wasn’t saying anything so I looked at him and his head was turned to the side. He was trying to hide it but his eyes were really red and watery!! Like he was trying not to cry!!!

[Yoo Sangah]: oh, is it possible Dokja-ssi doesn’t like to be touched? He always seems kind of awkward at work and tends to avoid touching others.

[Lee Gilyoung]: Hyung always pats us on the head though?

[Jang Hayoung]: we’ve sparred a couple times with Master and Yoo Jonghyuk and he’s never looked uncomfortable even when Master sits on him until he yields

[Han Sooyoung]: Kim Dokja’s too much of a smug rat to be touch-adverse. One time I caught him tucking Yoo Jonghyuk into bed and he could keep his hands off him, stroking his head and acting disgusting.

[Lee Hyunsung]: so Dokja-ssi has tucked Jonghyuk-ssi into bed...

[Jang Hayoung]: why is that the thing you focus on?????

[Yoo Sangah]: but if Dokja-ssi isn’t touch-adverse, how come he was so close to crying with just a small gesture from Yoosung-ah?

[Han Sooyoung]: How should I know? We should test it, maybe if you or I cling to him like that he’ll cry again. Then we’ll really know if he hates touch even when it’s with two beautiful women

[Han Sooyoung sent and image]: knifecat.jpg

[Yoo Sangah]: ....

[Lee Hyunsung]: I’ll do it too!!!

[Jung Heewon]: this is getting out of hand...

[Jung Heewon]: Shin Yoosung, you said you hugged Dokja-ssi? For a long time?

[Shin Yoosung]: yes?

[Jung Heewon]: Have you guys considered that Dokja-ssi is just unused to positive physical affection and is very moved by it?

[Shin Yoosung]: .....

[Lee Gilyoung]: Hyung....

[Yoo Sangah]: oh my... now that you mention it, it probably wasn’t easy growing up when Sookyung-ssi was still incarcerated

[Lee Hyunsung]: So Dokja-ssi isn’t used to getting hugged?

[Jang Hayoung]: ? I don’t get it what do you guys mean?

[Han Sooyoung]: That guy??? Touch-starved?????

[Han Sooyoung]: That’s Hilarious

[Yoo Sangah]: Han Sooyoung

[Han Sooyoung]: ugh Kim Dokja has a line of admirers out the door. Just about everyone in this group chat would die for him, literally half of you guys would commit murder if he asked, and yet he still hasn’t gotten that he could have a human cuddle pile if he wanted, no questions asked?

[Han Sooyoung changed the title of the conversation to Kim Dokja is a loser]

[Jung Heewon]: ... Han Sooyoung has a point, Dokja-ssi never relies on us. Its pitiful that he’s not used to even Yoosung hugging him

[Lee Gilyoung]: We should help him!!

[Shin Yoosung]: I’m going to hug Ahjussi when I get home too!!

[Yoo Sangah]: I can initiate more contact when we’re together as well.

[Lee Hyungsung]: Will this really help Dokja-ssi?

[Han Sooyoung]: Who cares, I’m just looking forward to seeing him *squirm.*

[Han Sooyoung]: @Yoojonghyuk @Yoojonghyuk @Yoojonghyuk @Yoojonghyuk

[Han Sooyoung]: read that?

[Han Sooyoung]: you better make a move before one of us sweeps Kim Dokja off his stupid ass feet

Thus began, as Han Sooyoung affectionately named it, operation “Suffocate Kim Dokja (with Affection)”

[siderealmarch]

the lsh/anna croft naruto au absolutely nobody asked for

Anna Croft is long gone when Seolhwa arrives at the Yoo clan compound. So too are the lively family that once lived there; now it is only dust and blood and an unsettling quiet that greet her when she passes through the gates, past the broken security seals, to the house Joonghyuk once promised they would share.

For approximately eighteen seconds, she entertains the thought that the bodies may still be recovered. That Joonghyuk, her fiancee, is not entirely lost to her. Then she realizes what exactly the dust is, and she—doesn't mourn, exactly. A numb determination settles over her instead, heavy like a shroud. No, there is still so much work to be done before she can mourn.

"You seem to be taking this remarkably well," says Kim Dokja, through gritted teeth. This is the first time they've worked together—it's rare, after all, for Seolhwa's work to intersect with his, her being a medic and him being a paper pusher—but after three hours in his acquaintance, she can tell why all of her friends who are active combatants call him their favorite mission assignment clerk. Really, it's a shame his part-time job maintaining the village library seems to be his life's passion, or his near-encyclopedic knowledge of the continent's flora and fauna would have made him a great colleague in her old field.

 "Well," Seolhwa says, rummaging through her bag, "I've worked on worse deadlines before."

"Sure, but how much experience do you have treating unknown poisons in the field? They say the Insect King has the world's most dangerous collection of venomous insects, you know," Kim Dokja says. He's been more talkative the past eight minutes than he looks comfortable being—the price one must shoulder when one is too slow to dodge the snapping fangs of multiple brightly colored arthropods. "Everyone who's tried to collect his bounty before died a quick and painful death. I would know. One of them died while I was filing her mission report."

"Mm. Before I moved to this village, I was an assassin," Seolhwa tells him, "specializing in poisons. You'll be fine." Under his dubious look, she continues, "You might have seen me in your bingo books under the Ten Evils���"

"Oh! Page twenty-six, the Poisoner, flee-on-sight," he says, with flattering alacrity. And then: "What lead you to change careers and become a healer at the general hospital, Lee Seolhwa?"

She shrugs, taking care not to disturb the delicate vials in her hands with the movement. They clink against the lip of the thermos she's cradling in her lap, high and sharp, as she works. "Life can surprise you, sometimes. …Love can surprise you."

Kim Dokja nods after a moment, eyes unfocused. From the pain, Seolhwa assumes. "I think I get what you mean."

She hums. Offers him the thermos. "I need you to drink this now, Dokja-ssi. If I've done this right, it should counteract the venom currently running through your system."

"And if not?" he asks with a smile.

"Ah, you might die, I suppose. But your odds are much better this way."

Kim Dokja doesn't end up dying, but it's a near thing. Not even because of the venom; Seolhwa's improvised antidote is a complete success, as far as she can tell. (She'll still insist on a more detailed inspection when they get back.)

No, instead, the man nearly loses his life trying to coax their quarry to come home with him. Some switch in his head visibly flips when he sees ten-year-old Lee Gilyoung, and—well, Lee Seolhwa can't fault him for it, really, but she thinks she understands why he has the job that he does now. That, and his frankly atrocious physical conditioning.

[pttucker]

"…Will I keep getting smaller?" I stared at the crumbs of Stories drifting away outside the windows and asked. "Where are those Stories going off to, anyway?" ⸢To uni ver se's sub con scious ness⸥ "And where is that?" ⸢In a wor ld-li ne y o u ar en't con sci ous of⸥ The role of the 'Oldest Dream' was to imagine all of the world-lines. Even if I wasn't conscious of it, my subconsciousness was still continuously watching the world-lines. ⸢Tho se Stories wi ll be reb orn as ano ther Kim Dok ja⸥ "As another Kim Dokja?" ⸢Me ta phor ica lly spea king its li ke th at⸥

⸢Kim Dokja stared into the universe with no visible end.⸥ And now, I knew what my future was like. Every time I read something, I'd crumble away. My crumbling Stories would scatter to countless world-lines out there and become the 'gaze' that maintained this universe. I would lose all of my memories, and lose everything that I hold dear. And in the end, only the desire to see the 'next story' would remain in me. But, without that desire, this universe couldn't continue. This universe could only continue telling its story as long as someone was looking at it.

Okay, we're totally talking about ORV itself here, right? And possibly us?

Like, Dokja is fading away, but he's saying that things will only be maintained if "someone" is looking at it. He doesn't specifically say "so long as I look at it."

And the Fourth Wall is being open and vague at the same time, saying that it's a worldline he's not conscious of despite him supposedly being part of every worldline?

So it's something he's subconsciously aware of, and the novel has really been having a lot of conversations that could be pointing towards ORV itself these last chapters, not to mention moments here and there throughout the entire novel, so he may be subconsciously aware of it already.

Just like I think he's subconsciously aware of the fact that something has gone wrong in his turn and that's why he got such a bad feeling about leaving the 0th turn. Not to mention we literally just saw Sooyoung and Joonghyuk discover the in between space that is ORV itself.

So I'm wondering if Dokja could drift back to 49% just like Sooyoung drifted back to her avatar/vice versa (who Dokja thinks died and doesn't seem to consciously know has returned to a whole) and the story could be maintained by us reading it? Or maybe he's going to be "reborn" as the Kim Dokja of ORV, starting the cycle all over, just like how Sooyoung writing TWSA started the cycle...

Repeating story! Repeating story! Repeating story!

Or, as Sooyoung would say, a Neverending Story.

Also, ughhhhh, I knew Dokja was going to take it all to heart. Even though Sooyoung tried so very hard to tell him that it's not his fault, he didn't cause all this tragedy, Dokja is totally going on about "atoning" for the story by becoming one with it and basically disintegrating himself. Which is nothing new, but it is sad that despite his long journey, in his heart, he's still that same Dokja that makes me want to cry and throw him into the cuddle pile.

Not to mention, him asking "If I forget about everything… I won't feel this pain anymore, right?" 😭😭😭

And then wanting to read TWSA just one more time, properly, on his smartphone, just like he did all those years ago. 😭😭😭

Oh, and I guess I misunderstood previously. Dokja must have been reading the afterward of the final revised version and that is why it was all about Sooyoung. Lmfao this is what I get for reading too quickly, trying to see what happens in the next part. It even said that when he opened it, it was scrolled down to the bottom. I just figured it was like...the epilogue or something and thought it was weird that the epilogue of TWSA was about Sooyoung. 😅

Veeerrryyyy interesting that the final revised version is the first version Dokja read. Everything in this novel is just one big circle.

[pttucker]

That guy, why did he bring me here? ⸢(He's a being who witnessed the end of one world.)⸥ The 'Devourer of Dreamss' spoke as if it already knew what my question was. ⸢(What can compel a being who already knows of ■■ to throw himself back into the great cycle once more…?)⸥ In that moment, I recalled a certain moment in my life. It was a piece of my memory from a very long time ago. I was a young boy, sitting opposite my mother and reading a book resting on my lap. – Dokja-yah, please read it again. What would be the reason for an existence that knew the story inside out to read it again?

Hmmm

I feel like this adds to my theory of this entire story / this entire novel having played out before with no one remembering it (except maybe Secretive Plotter)? Because Secretive Plotter isn't rereading the same story, he's technically reading a new story if he's actually from the original TWSA.

Except Secretive Plotter also has said things like—

[I wasn't putting on a show. That guy from the 1863rd should've been a part of me originally. Just like all of you.]

and—

The 'Secretive Plotter' opened his lips. [41st. You are the most similar 'Yoo Joonghyuk' when compared to me.] "What an honour that is." [You'll soon die.] "Have we not come this far for that exact purpose?"

and—

"Finding his prey, protecting his pack, the distant goals he longed for – this wolf was achieving all those with the minimal amount of pain. Without losing anything in the process. The king watched this spectacle, and suddenly thought to himself." Slowly, so very slowly, a chill crept down on my back. "If this story is brought to its conclusion as it was, then what was the purpose of the life I've lived so far?"

—which makes me begin to wonder if all the Joonghyuks were supposed to be from the same story, except Dokja messed it up somehow and now Secretive Plotter is wondering what the point of him even going through it all was if the story has been corrupted / he doesn't like being broken into pieces. (Secretive Plotter literally says it's Dokja's fault so it's definitely something Dokja did.)

And part of me thinks that it at least somehow relates to Dokja having read TWSA. Or maybe to Dokja having come into "TWSA" when he should have stayed outside as a reader???

Maybe the thing Secretive Plotter needs Dokja for is to read the story and that'll somehow fix things? Put him back together with all the other Joonghyuks and thus essentially "killing him," or at least "killing" all the Joonghyuks that are supposed to be part of Secretive Plotter??? We've literally already seen that Joonghyuk can be split so maybe they can become one again? Oh my goodness what if Nirvana was right and Dokja must become one with all the Joonghyuks?

Though, which story Dokja needs to read is debatable.

...ORV?

I feel like I'm almost there in figuring things out but am either missing a piece or aren't connecting the right pieces so all my theories feel less like proper theories and more like throwing brain spaghetti at the walls and seeing what sticks.

[jitteryrunes]

#orv#they convinced one of the outer gods that the wrath of secretive plotter would be totally worth it to beam them down#(it was not)#'i'm pretty sure he was a whole entire man that one time'#'they must all voltron together when necessary'#it's all 666's fault really#if he didn't hog the phone so much and let the rest of them take a look then they wouldn't have to take drastic measures#in order to see for themselves what's going on#crucial that kim dokja does not see them and thinks that everyone is nuts for thinking that there are a bunch of miniature yjh impersonatin#a constellation#kimcom is like 'it explains a lot' and kdj is like 'it explains nothing!'#he will not believe it! look at yjh! he's right there! does that look like some kind of gnome to you?!!#secretive plotter is glad someone believes him but also kdj goes about it by waxing rhapsodic about yjh non-gnomeness and it's#REALLY annoying (embarrassing)#everybody needs to shut up forever

Somehow, several kkomas end up Loose in the Industrial Complex. Secretive Plotter zips them back up pretty quickly, but the whole time they were arguing loudly and incriminatingly with each other and now everyone knows who he is, but, more importantly. There is nothing he can say to anyone that will convince them that he is not, in fact, a conglomeration of gnomes in a trenchcoat.