#aaaah im excited im trying not to be bc of this genre but aaaaa its singshong thooooo

[fruiteggsaladit]

Omg I heavy.gasped Help I was just looking at wbtn and saw what appeared a Very Generic Regression Story and thought "Oh this looks like the Hina in my mind I like his eyes I'll give it a go just to look at the art and get some inspo for easy badassary" And then it turns out that SingShong wrote this!!!! The authors of Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint wrote this!!!! Holy shit!!! Fuck!!! Ok ok ok I'll read a lil of the comic more and then it's straight to the novel omg

Minor spoilers under read more if anyone wants to go in blind!! I wrote this when getting to the end of chapter 2 and wanted to read comments, and that's when someone had written (paraphrasing) "Ah, as expected of the authors of Orv!! This is awesome" Cue me, gasping with my whole head and throat.

The world after the fall:

I unexpectedly fell in love w the characters and the premise! Very typical, the modern world is invaded by dungeons (towers of pisa but they're straight and full of monsters) and people who get the Stat Window are allowed to enter the dungeons and climb/fight their way to the top together. And then it's made complicated bc at a certain level, they're awarded a Regression Stone.

A stone, which when consumed, will bring you right back to when the dungeons first appeared. If anyone reading this is unfamiliar with this genre, this isn't necessarily atypical, but it's treated usually like something very rare, that the protagonist is special because he (usually a he) exhibited some standard amount of heroics or cleverness or was just blandly fortunate when everyone else wasn't.

Interesting part #1: This stone isn't unusual. It seems anyone can and will eventually find a stone for themselves. Or, at the very least, it's not rare. After deciding that consuming the stone will likely separate you from the present in which you consume the stone, there seems to be a practice for the humans to keep a stone on their person, so if they believe they are about to perish, they can consume the stone and try from the beginning again.

It's almost stressed as a common item.

Interesting part #2: It's the choice to consume it that becomes significant. It's the choice to try again that becomes significant.

And it has an impact on those left behind.

The protagonist, Jaehwan, especially develops a dislike to those who choose to return to the beginning within the first three episodes. Two background characters are faced with monsters about to overwhelm them, and one apologises to the other as he consumes his stone. The other slumps to the ground, ready to die, but is saved by the protagonist's friend (Yunhwan my beloved </3 [sobbing emoji]) and Jaehwan, who extends stoic admiration for the 2nd background-character's choice to remain and die instead of regressing. (I presume: I didn't see that character having any stone, it's only by Jaehwan's lines that I could surmise that this character had or Jaehwan presumes he had a stone to regress with).

Interesting part #3: It seems like the story is going to focus on those left behind when others have their power fantasy of going back to a time and knowing what to do! Or, if Jaehwan ends up regressing after all, that it might be against his will? The latter isn't unusual either for this kind of story, but I'm really hoping not... On the other hand, SingShong might just have a little twist with that. They might have done something with this set-up that I'm going to like!

Interesting part #4: Honestly I fell in love with Yunhwan! I liked his smile and how the art stressed how powerful he was so Jaehwan isn't alone in being a badass, it kind of gave the feeling as if Yunhwan was the physically stronger one of the two and was second-in-command to Jaehwan, whose focus in their group was as a leader/strategist once their previous leader(s?) had regressed. The story wanted me to like this character because it likes this character, the main character genuinely values this character very strongly, and his life feels like it will be worse with the loss of him. My heart broke when they separated!

Initially I read the scene as Yunhwan fooling Jaehwan into thinking he was abt to regress by using a fake stone to make Jaehwan leave him behind in disgust so he could forge on ahead, but on reread, I realised that Jaehwan did realise. It's just that he also realised what Yunhwan had intended, and he wants to respect that Yunhwan wants him to go on without him... Or, that Yunhwan picked up the stone because if he'd had a regression stone, then he would have chosen to regress, abandoning Jaehwan. And Jaehwan realised this. And was hurt enough to leave Yunhwan to die alone, who also perhaps regretted showing this desire to re-do it.

Interesting part #4: How wonderfully this beginning stressed the nuances of someone leaving for a better life, how others were understanding of this at first and even made an agreement that if there were no options left, then it was fine to regress, but as time went on... the attitude changed, to one of derision or disgust, from the sense of abandonment that someone would choose to leave instead of potentially dying with them in the present, the here and now. ... And then!!! The very person who most clearly described this, which in any other series I'd read as "Ah, this is the attitude the author wants me to have so I, the reader, can feel justified in thinking everyone else in this work is stupid and my Gary Stue My Love can be gallavanting without criticisms; they expect me to be someone who wants to be in a power fantasy and only delight in feeling unquestioned, greaaaat" And then!!!

This character's only remaining friend, who was so close to joining him reach the top amongst all the others who very also so close, expresses in so quiet a way that he was tempted.

He was tempted.

He's about to die, and if he'd had a stone, he could have gone back and maybe in that world, had reached the top.

The interesting part #4 for me: how powerfully it embraced that desparate wish to re-do your life, but with the knowledge you learned through failures you'd rather not repeat. It didn't demonise the choice, it seemed to be actually aware that just bc the protagonist has an opinion, that the reader is actually kind of expected to go "well hey now I know why you feel that way but I feel like you're setting yourself up for failure by thinking so badly of those who choose to regress" and while this is normal for a story, it is not the case for this genre. Aaaaaauuuughg there were so many feelings so pragmatically and efficiently spoken there!

I'll have to read the novel or read further and hope Jaehwan can give me better insight to what was happening in that scene!! Auuugh im excited