#boys love webnovel

[roach-works]

Arthur Carrway, lord of the manor | Rich Merril, his secretary | Rafael Caro, an actor

sometimes you just gotta stay up late and make moodboards for your characters.

we're getting close to done on the next full-length novel, Run Aground, and i'm hype as all hell.

(the michigan fleet series can be found here!)

[deontoillogical]

Did you know you can create your own fan art? Here's a scene from chapter 2 of No Body Minds, Or: Transmigrating Into the Villain but He's Still There!!!

Kinda obsessed with the way I drew Akakios!??? (and Mars is so cute omg)

[anon-apple]

Hot Soup and Soft Bread 11

Table of Contents and Synopsis <- Chapter 10 Read on WordPress

Chapter 11: Instant Noodles with an Egg V

After driving back to his place, Qiuyan called Cunqu. Cunqu picked up. Qiuyan was lying on his stomach on his bed with both legs sticking up. He laughed with a “hehe” and said: “This is our first day together. Ge, if it wasn’t this late, I would have gone downstairs and beat a gong and some drums to announce this good news to the world.” 

Cunqu leaned against the backboard of his bed and laughed with him. Qiuyan kept dumbly laughing “hehe” from his end until Cunqu said he wanted to hang up and go to sleep. Qiuyan flopped upright like a carp leaping out of the water and reluctantly said: “Ah, you’re already going to sleep? Ge, how about I drive back to see you. You have to open the door for me.”

Cunqu said from his end of the call: “Go and take a cold shower to clear your head. You have to go to work in a few hours.”

Qiuyan replied “Oh” with dissatisfaction. Then he really went and took a cold shower.

The next day, Qiuyan brought a few dishes Cunqu liked and whistled as he walked up to the fifth floor. He didn’t help Liu Xiaoying set the table like usual, but instead just dropped off the meal boxes and immediately entered Cunqu’s room. 

Xiaoying turned her head to say something to him, only to see a few transparent plastic takeout boxes on the dining table. Qiuyan sat at the edge of the bed and pulled Cunqu into his arms. He happily asked: “Did you miss me?”

Cunqu couldn’t catch his breath in the tight hug. Qiuyan abruptly let go and fished out his phone to show Cunqu that he had changed his contact information to “Mine” followed by a heart emoji. He asked Cunqu what he thought. Cunqu nodded and said: “Mmh. Rather cheesy.”

Qiuyan grumbled: “How is it cheesy. This 'Mine' implies ‘My love’, you are ‘my love’, you know?” 

Cunqu laughed and said: “I’m getting goosebumps.”

During dinner, Xiaoying and Qiuyan chattered about unimportant matters as usual. Halfway through, when Xiaoying got up to get a ladle from the kitchen, Qiuyan suddenly turned and smacked a kiss on Cunqu’s cheek.

When Xiaoying turned back around, Cunqu was glaring at Qiuyan. The latter, shaking his leg, beamed as he passed him some shrimp with his chopsticks.

--

The night when Qiuyan headed back to his village to attend A’Shan’s wedding, Cunqu sat on his bed and stared blankly at his phone screen. Qiuyan already called him earlier and told him that he needed to spend the night in the village and couldn’t come to find him. After the call, he texted him the same thing. He ended his text with numerous “kiss kiss” emojis. 

Cunqu was a bit unaccustomed to not being able to see Qiuyan at night. When he was in a relationship in college, the two of them had the same major and their date location was always the library where they would bury their heads and study. It felt more like they were study buddies rather than a couple. Only when he had a problem he couldn’t solve, he’d turn and ask his boyfriend first. At this point, he could no longer remember who confessed to whom. But this type of relationship somehow managed to uneventfully last almost 2 years; it’s quite miraculous. 

Cunqu thought for a while and then sent a text: Did you arrive home?

Qiuyan didn’t look at his phone. He headed out late and when he arrived at the village, the pre-meal firecrackers had already been set off. Qiuyan squeezed into the banquet hall and found Qiu Xuemei between the ten bustling banquet tables. He called out: “Mom.”

Xuemei, crunching on some melon seeds, furrowed her eyebrows and asked: “Who are you? My son’s been missing for months, his whereabouts completely unknown. How come there’s suddenly this person calling me mom now?”

The people at her table laughed. Qiuyan naturally sat down next to her and pulled at her hand. “I’ve been busy.”

Xuemei replied: “Yes, I know. If the city didn’t have you driving their buses, the entire public transportation system would collapse.”

Qiuyan pointed at his dad who was playing Fight the Landlord to the side and said to him: “Zhong Baocheng can you do something about your wife. She’s all mocking and ridicule as soon as I walk up.”

Baocheng mumbled something and continued staring at the cards on his screen.

The windows of the banquet hall were covered with the cutout of the character ‘joy’; the food consisted of the common dishes for a village banquet. A’Shan’s wedding was extremely simple. He and his wife were from the same village; the two families’ homes were close enough that they didn’t even need to drive. So the steps that could be skipped were skipped. When A’Shan and his wife came out to make a toast, Da Yu followed them from behind and helped pour the alcohol and hold the glasses. 

After the banquet dispersed, A’Shan took off his suit jacket and draped it on one shoulder, then he handed Qiuyan and Da Yu each a cigarette. The three of them leaned against the wall in the banquet hall’s back garden and silently stared at the firecracker fragments all over the ground. A’Shan suddenly spoke up: “The days pass so quick.”

Da Yu said: “It feels like only yesterday when we were naked and catching fish with bare hands in a creek. But today A’Shan got married.”

A’Shan patted Qiuyan and said: “Ay, you guys know I’m not good with words. But I've been meaning to thank you two for all these years. If not for you two things, my heart and body probably won’t be able to grow up this healthily.”

Da Yu turned and asked Qiuyan: “Is he being serious or sarcastic right now?”

Qiuyan replied: “His thanks sure sounds like an insult.”

The three looked at each other and started laughing. After a while, Qiuyan put out his cigarette. He stood in front of Da Yu and A’Shan, cleared his throat, and said: “Just in time, let me use the opportunity of A’Shan’s joyful day and announce my own joyful news.”

Da Yu stretched out his hand towards him, gesturing a “do what you will.”

Qiuyan said: “Uhm, so I’m in a relationship.” After he said that, his face suddenly flushed red. Da Yu and A’Shan were about to clap, but Qiuyan continued: “I’m dating Zhou Cunqu.”

He rubbed his nose and jumped up a bit in happiness. Da Yu and A’Shan looked at each other and shrunk back the hands they were about to clap with.

This news was far too shocking. The next time Da Yu and A’Shan sat down at Liu Xiaoying’s dining table their eyes were still round with shock. They watched Qiuyan circle around Cunqu like a puppy. Finally, Cunqu washed his hands in the bathroom, wiped them dry, and sat at the dining table. And so Qiuyan finally sat down as well.

Qiuyan was too far over the moon to realize that suddenly learning that someone you’ve been good brothers with for over 20 years was dating another man was explosive news of the atomic bomb level. Da Yu, holding his rice bowl, finally let out a sigh and said to Cunqu: “Life is truly full of surprises.”

Cunqu looked back at him.

After dinner, Xiaoying headed downstairs to chat with her friends. The four of them were still sitting at the dining table. Da Yu said: “We don’t discriminate. It’s just that we’re a bit shocked. Our hair salon’s hairdresser A’Wen is also gay. Speaking of which, is it just me who’s not improving at work? I’m still left behind.”

Cunqu took a sip of water and slowly said: “You’ve studied for two years, but you are still washing hair. Maybe it’s not an issue with your skills but with your environment. Why don’t you consider a suitable trade school? Studying for a year should be enough.”

The Mulberry Garden brothers looked at each other, and they suddenly realized that the logic was this simple all along.

After they dispersed, Qiuyan hugged Cunqu in his room. Pressing his cheek against Cunqu’s, he said: “My boyfriend’s brain works so well.”

Cunqu flipped through the papers in his hands. A’Shan gave him the short story he wrote. Although he looked big and burly, he had actually been writing children’s stories in secret. Moreover, the stories were quite interesting. Qiuyan placed his head on top of Cunqu’s shoulder and looked at what A’Shan wrote: “A long long time ago, there was a little boy. The little boy turned into a tree bit by bit. At first, his arm turned into a tree branch, then his ears grew flowers. His parents thought he was a monster and abandoned him. The little boy continued to grow, and his body also slowly sprouted. Everyone called him a ‘tree-person monster.’ One day on his way to school, he ran into two little boys who also sprouted branches, leaves, and flowers. That day was probably the happiest day of his life. He knew that he wasn’t the only monster. The world had people who were born as ‘tree people.’ 

After many years, the little boy had grown into a towering evergreen tree, standing forever atop a scenic hill. The two other boys hadn’t. The branches, leaves, and flowers from before were things that they stuck onto their bodies. But they would visit the big tree every year, sit down at its roots, and chat for a very long time…”

A’Shan’s father had passed away very early on. His mother left the village after he finished kindergarten and never returned. Starting from middle school, he didn’t give money for the milk boxes between classes. Every day when it came time to get milk, A’Shan would hide beneath the ping pong table in the little playground. Qiuyan and A’Shan would shout and run to find him and insist on squeezing beside him underneath the ping-pong table. A’Shan knew they had milk boxes to pick up but they never drank their milk in front of him.

That day when he was leaving Liu Xiaoying’s place, A’Shan handed the story to Cunqu. Then he quietly said to Cunqu: “Ge, I feel like we are so lucky.” 

-> Chapter 12

[evadingreallife]

Get yourself a man like lee hyunsung

[welcometothejianghu]

Welcome to another round of W2 Tells You What You Should See, where W2 (me) tries to sell you (you) on something you should be watching reading. Today's choice: 死亡万花筒 / Kaleidoscope of Death.

Kaleidoscope of Death is a 2018 Chinese webnovel about two young men who fall in love while basically playing a whole bunch of horror-themed escape rooms that can for-real kill you.

This novel was gripping. I could not put it down. It started out fun and ended up ripping out my heart several times. It does a good job getting the ball rolling with a series of adventures in weird worlds, then turns into a meditation about grief and loss and what it means to have something to lose in the first place.

This is the first time I've ever done a book rec! I'm doing it in conjunction with a rec post for the Spirealm, and originally I was just going to do this as a bonus section for that post. However, I felt they both deserve whole different posts, because they both have very different things to recommend them. I also think Kaleidoscope of Death a 100% necessary read if you've seen the show, because it provides some context that the show simply cannot include -- but it's not a necessary read before you see the show.

Therefore, I'm going to give you five reasons I think you should sit down with this one, and not a single one of these reasons is going to assume you've watched the Spirealm! The book is great and deserves to be read on its own merits, and then if you then start watching the drama afterwards, so much the better.

1. All the Cross-Dressing

(Yeah, I'm going to punctuate this one with screencaps from the Spirealm, because otherwise it's just a wall of text.)

I'm not going to tell you why the male characters frequently dress and pass as women, since the book explains the practicality of it better than I could. You just need to know that they often do, and it's never not kinda hot when it happens.

When you first meet Ruan Nanzhu, it is as Ruan Baijie, a stunningly beautiful and noticeably tall woman. Lin Qiushi, our POV character who is extremely confused for a number of reasons, spends the first whole arc talking and thinking about Baijie like she's a girl. In fact, one of the cutest things about sweet, earnest Qiushi is that he clocks Baijie several times, and every time he's just like, oh, she's so flat-chested, how unusual for a girl, anyway...

And this isn't even just dressing up! Stepping into the door worlds changes you physically based on your clothing and cosmetics. Nobody inside looks the same as they do outside, and nobody looks the same inside as they did last time they were inside. The rules that govern these transformations aren't even clear to the characters themselves! So, you know, have fun with that.

I'm going to say it's not an out-and-out trans thing, in that we're not dealing with an AMAB egg who will crack someday. Ruan Nanzhu is a very male-identified, penis-having man! He's just also pretty entertainingly comfortable with performing whatever gender makes him the most fuckable person in any given room. Lin Qiushi is not so inherently genderfluid, however, which means that when his gremlin sort-of-boyfriend makes him pretend to be a girl, it's a completely different kink.

Therefore: If you like it in any way when boys dress up like girls, you owe it to yourself to pick up this one. And if you like a fandom that likes it when boys dress up like girls, baby, welcome to the world inside the doors.

2. Those boys GAY

This is a textual romance. Lin Qiushi and Ruan Nanzhu are in love. This is a danmei novel about how they fall in love. There is kissing and there are fade-to-black scenes that explicitly acknowledge that the two of them have sex with one another. We even know that Ruan Nanzhu (usually) tops. This s not just me pointing at them and saying gaaaaaaaaaay. This is actual gay.

And it is gay that takes its fucking time. They do not actually hook up until well over halfway through the book, but they are physically affectionate from almost the get-go. Ruan Nanzhu is such a trickster and a liar that Lin Quishi finds it hard to believe that anything he does is sincere, which leads to nearly lesbian levels of wondering if it means anything when a guy demands you kiss him on the mouth when he's pretending to be your girlfriend. Meanwhile, Ruan Nanzhu is over here being the Kate Beaton comic about sitting here consumed with lust all evening.

Even once they both acknowledge what they're feeling for one another, they don't get together right away. After all, they're playing a game of life and death where they lose friends left and right. Every time someone goes inside the door, there's a real chance they won't come out again. Is giving your heart to someone worth how much it will destroy your entire life when you lose them?

(Yes, says the book. Yes, it is worth it.)

The slow burn of their relationship is delicious, in part because the physical (though not sexual) aspects of it predate the romantic ones. It also has the fun hot-and-cold aspect where Ruan Nanzhu is incredibly affectionate inside the doors, then icy outside of them. Poor completely inexperienced, never-been-kissed Lin Qiushi does not know what to make of any of this. He can barely manage parenting a cat. He does not know how to handle a boyfriend who is also a girlfriend who is also (spiritually) a cat.

I also find it charming how much the gay part of it both is and isn't an issue. It's not that Lin Qiushi has a problem being in love with a man; however, the fact that Ruan Nanzhu is a man does mean the heteronormally indoctrinated and relationship-inexperienced Lin Qiushi takes much longer to realize what exactly those feelings he's having are. The book's world is one where heterosexuality is the assumed default, while queerness is unexpected but everybody's still pretty cool with it. Besides, no one's going to judge Lin Qiushi's gay yearnings, because who doesn't want to fuck Ruan Nanzhu?

3. HAKO ONNA HAKO ONNA HAKO ONNA

So as I was reading through @zintranslations' earlier chapters, I kept seeing translators' notes down at the bottom about being so excited to finally get to the Hako Onna arc. Okay, I thought, this is a lot of hype; I hope it doesn't disappoint.

Friends, it does not. This is the arc I was reading while screaming into a pillow. It's thirteen chapters long, tied for the longest arc in the book with the first door. It is a fucking nail-biter. It does the clever thing of taking all the things you've learned about what can happen inside the doors and combining them for a worst-case scenario.

The setup is pretty simple: There's a bunch of boxes. One has the exit. Most are empty. Some have things that help you. Some have things that hurt you. The more things you find that hurt you, the more things there are to hurt you. And you have to open the boxes.

All the door arcs are pretty well-written, so that you can more or less play along with their various adventures. Hako Onna, however, is exceptional. It's so complicated, but you can actually follow it. And you need to be able to follow it, because the multiple emotional gut-punches that happen in this arc all depend on understanding how the rules of the game have just been leveraged to fuck someone over.

Now I really want to play the board game -- which I was pleased to discover is a real board game! And speaking of board games...

sidebar: Betrayal at House on the Hill

I know this isn't technically related to the novel at all, but if you like board games, horror, and being incredibly dramatic, you owe it to yourself to try out Betrayal at House on the Hill.

It goes like this: You and several other horror-movie archetypes wander through a mansion, "building" it as you explore it, so the game layout is different every time. At some point (and it's based on so many random factors that you never know when it'll be) someone triggers a condition, and the haunting begins. All the players then get the rules of haunting explained to them -- except for one player, the one picked to do the titular betrayal, who gets a different set of instructions and becomes the antagonist. From that point on, the game is about either surviving or completing the haunting, depending on which side you're on.

I have played this game before with normal board game people, and they were like, eh, this is fine. I have also played this game before with theatre kids who RP and LARP, and we all had a fucking blast. So I'm going to warn you that you have to choose your crowd carefully. This is a game for people who do improv and voices.

4. The art of losing isn't hard to master

The book has a high body count -- higher than the show's, in fact, though that's related to how the book also has more characters than the show does. When you meet someone who can go into the doors, be careful how much money you'd lay on their survival.

Death after the doors comes so quickly, too. There's barely any time to say goodbye, if there's even any time at all. Often there's just a phone call telling our main characters that one of their friends or allies or enemies is gone.

Everyone who gets the chance to go through the door worlds is only able to do so because they're dying already. The more doors they pass, the more they get to kick that death further down the road -- but the more doors they enter, the more chances they take that they might die inside one. So really, none of the players can be that resentful of being forced to play a game that can kill them, since they're already playing it on borrowed time.

I will say, somewhat cryptically, that the book has a positive ending that leaves open the possibility for other positive things. The path to that positive ending, though, leads through some pretty wrenching takes on living through grief. It's not even all rah-rah and it-gets-better, either -- the text acknowledges many times over what it means to have someone that life isn't worth living without.

And that's maybe not what you expected from a BL horror adventure webnovel, but it's what you're gonna get! Ha ha!

5. What He Is

Which is the title of the first extra chapter, which is not extra at all, but is in fact a necessary explanatory piece that whacks you upside the head like a two-by-four and recontextualizes the entire story.

...Yeah, that's all you're going to get from me about that. You'll understand when you get there.

Have you put it on your reading list yet?

The way you have to read it is a little convoluted: @zintranslations has chapters 1-17 and 63-end + extras. Taida Translations has chapters 1-62. So no matter where you start reading, you're going to have to switch sites at least once.

There are also apparently Portuguese, Indonesian, Russian, and Spanish translations too? And the original Chinese webnovel, of course. And some audio dramas and subs linked to from this Carrd, which helpfully has other information, like content warnings for specific chapters, in case the horror aspect of the story gives you pause.

Anyway, once you're done reading it -- or even before you're done! -- you should absolutely go watch the Spirealm. I think it's clear from both rec posts that I definitely like the book better, but I appreciate having the drama to bring so many scenes to life, and I think the casting is great. Also, I don't think reading the book makes you like the drama less! Rather, I think reading the book gives you insight into the awkward and sometimes terrible choices the drama had to make to survive -- which in turn gives you the ability to see through those choices, on to what the show always wanted in its heart to be.

I do find it funny how "Kaleidoscope of Death" and "Death's Kaleidoscope" technically mean the same thing, but they sure read different, don't they?

[mentallyunstablethembo]

(this is a Shen Yuan-centric fic, it is the prologue (?) to an au that I'm working on! Thank you and I hope you enjoy!)

This starts like any other story.

Shen Yuan was born apart of a wealthy family, with loving, yet very busy parents, two older brothers and one little sister.

However, ever since he came out of the womb, he was weak and sick, his little soul already struggling to stay alive.

His heart was weaker than that of all of the other children, his lungs making it harder to breathe properly, his immune system struggling to keep up as his body rots and decays like a fresh carcass.

But none of that ever stopped him. He always did what he wanted, his weak body letting him have a lot of free time to do whatever caught his attention that day, his mind and hands usually occupied with something to do.

Shen Yuan was a bit of a loner, but that was fine by him, for he had everything that he ever wanted, that is, his siblings of course.

From the day he was born, his brothers always tried their best to be by his side, helping to raise him and spend time with him while their parents were busy with all of their work.

And ever since their little sister was born, Shen Yuan did the same for her as his brothers did for him.

Life was tough, but he did all that he could while constantly going in and out of the hospital, his passion for his interests only growing stronger.

He learned to play the guqin so that he and his erge could play sweet melodies together, sharing memories of wondrous songs and lullabies to soothe their souls.

He and his dage would then spend time together by playing different games such as weiqi, or 'go', as some people reffered to it. But they also enjoyed playing card games, especially uno, as Shen Yuan enjoyed the thrill of beating his siblings in the game, the satisfaction that he felt as he watched his siblings' distraught faces almost like a sweet nectar to his taste buds, it was simply addicting.

But it was with his meimei that he spent hours reading books and chattering about mundane things.

And it was also because of her and his erge that he picked up drawing and writing along the way as well, as he sought ways to bring their favorite things and ideas to life.

He loved his family dearly, and it was with their support and passion for his interests that he chose to study hard and become a literature teacher.

And he loved it too!

Teaching the next generation of students made him feel fullfilled, like he found his one and only purpose. And the kiddos loved him too.

Sure, he was a bit strict, and boy did he leave scathing reviews and seas of red on student essays, but it was fine!

They were high schoolers, they could handle it!

He taught them for a few years, the students loving him for his curious and excited personality, the way he at times was giddy to teach them new things in the most fun and interesting ways possible, with his classroom feeling comforting and fun due to his decor.

He adored teaching, and he adored the kids as well! And the kids adored him in turn. He wanted to teach for as long as he could.

Until he couldn't anymore.

The pain was all too much. His health was fine and stable enough for the past few years, and sure, there were a few times here and there when something happened, but other than that he was fine!

His decline in health was so sudden and unexpected, nobody could've seen it coming even if they wanted to.

One moment he was fine, teaching the kids like he normally would, and the next he suddenly blacked out as his body hit the floor.

He was suddenly stuck in the hospital again, constantly going in and out while his family tried to be there for him, everyone afraid of what was going to happen next.

By this time, Shen Yuan found the webnovel 'Proud Immortal Demon's Way'.

Curious, he decided to give the book a try, and stars did he fall in love with the story.

That is... Only the beginning.

The rest could burn.

Along with all of the nonsense the author put into it.

The story was good at the start, the world-building, fauna and interesting monsters being what pulled him in, until... It.. kind of spiraled out of control..?

Almost as if the author suddenly decided to say 'fuck it' and shoved his dick into the story, fucking up everything and making sure that all of it was coated in a nice sticky layer of nonsense and papapa scenes, destroying all that he ever created.

Shen Yuan did in fact leave scathing reviews on every chapter, yet also decided that he was bored enough to look closely through the story for any interesting lore, fauna or monsters, cataloging everything he found on the wiki, since that was what originally pulled him in.

He did have all the tine he could ever want, after all.

This journey took a while as well, so when the story finally finished, Shen Yuan felt a little bitter, upset at the way it ended while also deciding to just take a break finally.

... Only for the infamous author, also known as 'airplane shooting towards the sky' (a bit of a childish name, but who was he to judge?), decided to post all of his actual drafts, showcasing the backstories, all the peak lords, scrapped ideas and characters, places, and so much lore!

Shen Yuan wanted to print all of these drafts out, take aitplane out on a nice hang out session and then shove these pages down his throat. Or maybe just hit him with them. Repeatedly. On the head. Mainly so that his braincells that decided to each go their own seperate ways like a couple after a terrible divorce could come back together, because the other one 'changed' and they're 'doing it for the kids', and then hopefully beat the crap out of his non-existent pea brain. Maybe then would the author finally have a light light up in his head.

But of course, life hates Shen Yuan and so it decides to attempt its try at his heart, only to trip onto a panel of glass, shattering it as it failed miserably, because of course he would survive because his sister found him in time!

I would say 'good for him that he survived and avoided his death!', but Shen Yuan was, understandably so, very tired of life's bullshit.

He didn't go back to his home anymore, his condition so bad that he could only stay at the hospital.

His family visited him as much as they could, his sister always coming to visit after school so that she could hang out with him (and maybe get some help on her homework).

His erge would come by and stay for hours, the two would usually talk about the most mundane things, to their deepest wishes and most biggest regrets. They would talk about the future, if there were past lives, anything that crossed their minds as nothing was left unsaid between them. That is, until Shen Yuan's erge had to leave.

His dage would also come and visit him, usually spending their time together in comfortable silence, playing games or just watching movies together.

However, ever since Shen Yuan was little, there was always one thing that he liked the most about these horrendous situations.

He loved when his family would climb into the bed with him, whether it be his mother, sister or any of his brothers. But over the years, Shen Yuan thinks that his most favorite visits are with his father.

The man was always quiet, cold and distant to everyone, but so very gentle it sometimes ached Shen Yuan's heart. His father tried his best, tried everything and anything to ease the burdens that Shen Yuan had to carry, he did everything he could just like Shen Yuan's mother, but that wasn't why he adored the visits from his father.

Through the whole visit, his father would always hold his hand, listening as Shen Yuan talked about anything. And when Shen Yuan asked, he would also climb into the bed, his strong arms embracing his weak, yet so very soft child of his.

He would stay there for hours, as Shen Yuan's head rested on his chest, listening to his heartbeat.

In the end, however, it wouldn't be his father, or his mother, that would see Shen Yuan off.

His erge, his dear, beloved erge, would be the one to do so.

Shen Yuan was feeling so weak, so tired, as he was barely holding on, yet he still kept going for his family. It was one of those days where his erge would come and visit, but this time, he held a solemn expression when he looked at Shen Yuan.

Without a word, he quietly climbed into the bed with his little brother, holding him close as Shen Yuan's head rested on his chest, his fingers carding through his hair, careful to not tug on any of the tubes, cables or wires.

"You can go now", spoke his brother softly, tears slowly gathering in his eyes as he continued to pet his little brother's hair. "I'll take care of everyone, you can rest now."

And it was in this peaceful moment that Shen Yuan closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep, never to wake up as he was wrapped in the gentle hold of his brother.

His sould drifted away, finally going to sleep.

Or so he thought, but that is a story for the next time.

⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘

Author's note: this is for an au that I'm currently working on, it is only the start of the story and I really hope to write more for it! Hopefully...

Please keep in mind that I rarely write! This is my first time writing after like, what, at least a year or two? And even then, they were very short things that never saw the light of day, and were only shared with friends on discord.

I write only for fun, I do not write to be perfect or have the top writing style, and I quite don't care either! This is all only for fun and because I like it, so please keep this in mind!

My writing is not perfect and there will definitely be spelling errors, as english is not my 1st language and no matter how many times I re-read this, I still tend to miss said spelling errors-

With love,

- Onyx

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──

[orvdiscrepancies]

Discrepancy #4

The introduction to Lee Gilyoung is different.

In both instances, Dokja sees him and zones out, wondering what life would be like if his life was a different genre.

In the webtoon, Gilyoung is sitting across from Dokja on the subway. He’s alone, staring blankly with just his box and his net. Dokja is focusing on the grasshopper in Gilyoung’s box.

[ORV Webtoon, Episode 1]

What I find fascinating is that Gilyoung isn’t alone when introduced to the webnovel. He’s smiling with his mother (or who Dokja assumes to be his mother). Instead of an insect box, Gilyoung only has the net.

[ORV Novel, Chapter 2. Ignore the page break, it’s just how the PDF is on my phone]

I love this actually because I’m curious if it impacts Gilyoung’s character. When we meet Gilyoung in the webtoon, he comes off as a quiet boy who latches on to Dokja. There’s no evidence that he lost anything on that train. Sure, he’s traumatized, but he’s just standing alone with his crickets.

In the novel, Dokja observes him with who he presumes is his mom (idk if she actually is or not) and later on in chapter 4, Gilyoung is crying. Not staring blankly like W!Gilyoung is. He’s actually crying. Personally, I think it gives more depth to the character, but I also like how he’s depicted in the webtoon.

Again, I’m only about 6 chapters into the novel. I’m reading grouped episodes all at once and then going back because that’s much smarter lmao. But remember, I have read all of the webtoon up to episode 241.

[rusquared]

orv neuron got activated again:

dokja read a story for 10 years. that was almost a third of his life (i believe he is 28 at the start of the story). 10 years. graduating high school, making it to university, doing military service, landing an entry level job. imagine something being your constant across such a long stretch of time. i myself can't name any interests that persisted that long.

and his comments. god. hsy canonically didnt read very far but imagine if she did. a decade of a little boy's life shared in the comments section of an obscure, unpopular webnovel. (and another man's entire existence condensed into the 3149 chapters of that very novel.)

one of the extra stories reveals that sp has a book from the 4th wall library of all his comments (or perhaps a portion of them?). imagine reading that!!! its not expanded on v much in that story but jesus christ. 10 years of someone growing up with your story. 10 years of their own story. he grew up with his hero, his never-aging, immortal hero. he reached 28 while yoo joonghyuk remained frozen in time. AGH.

also sangah likely read it too. which makes me lose my mind even more. i need to make doksang art someday because what the fuck man. that's his best friend in the whole wide world who loves him.

[sun-and-moon-mushroom]

So, here’s my take on a soulmate AU:

Airplane-Shooting-Towards-The-Sky lives in a world where soulmates are real, so of course he wants to give his protagonist one, even though he’s never met the person who will make his own soulmark burn. He has a problem though — he also wants to write a harem for his protagonist and it would take all the drama out of it if his main character had a favourite! He comes up with a solution though, because in this world, soulmates aren’t necessarily romantic (although they often are), just people with their fates intertwined. There have been cases of soulmates who never got along, historical accounts of great rivalries, so why not make the soulmate of the protagonist one of the major villains?

Shen Yuan is one of those people lucky enough to have a soulmate, although his family often joke that he’ll never meet them if he never leaves his room. He’s obsessed with a truly terrible webnovel with surprisingly interesting monsters, and a protagonist that he loves (in a completely platonic way). The protagonist is actually the reason he started reading the book in the first place — he came across some fanart of him online and was struck by how similar the soulmark sitting on his exposed chest was to his own, almost as if they matched. It’s not the exact same, but soulmarks never are, each reflecting the one they mark while representing what links them. When it’s revealed that the main villain of the first part of the book, the one who spent years tormenting the protagonist before pushing him into a hell he spent years trying to escape… he’s disappointed somewhat. Sure, Luo Binghe has his harem, his hundreds of wives but… he couldn’t help but wish that he’d had a better soulmate.

Shen Jiu realises the mistake he’s made accepting a new disciple just because Ning Yingying had asked for it when he feels the soulmark hidden underneath his skin burn the moment the little beast gets close. It’s nothing he can’t tolerate, even as he watches as the boy gasps from the pain. He’s felt much worse when the brand was lowered over his own mark to make it ‘match’ the false one given to Qiu Haitang as a child to ensure her family’s status remained unquestioned. Even with the scar mostly erased by his level of cultivation, traces of it still remain. He refuses to care for this child — he’s lived his entire life perfectly fine without a soulmate, and the little beast will be better off the same.

Luo Binghe wipes tea off his face with his new disciple robes, already dirtied so soon after he got them, as the pain in his chest subsides. He doesn’t know what it was, he wasn’t sick or injured or anything like that. It almost felt like what he’d heard some people describe meeting your soulmate to be like — but Luo Binghe has never had a soulmate. The closest he has is an odd birthmark on his chest, but everyone knows that a soulmark is something else completely (when Su Xiyan sealed away his demonic heritage, she also sealed his soulmark) (when he stands on the edge of the Endless Abyss he’ll feel that burning pain again and know what it is).

[weeb-polls-with-pip]

Autistic Anime Boys Round 3 Match 9

Propaganda:

Haru -

"Haruka, ever since seeing a waterfall as a child, has had an extremely autistic fondness towards water. Enough so, that early on in the days of the fandom, we joked he was watersexual. He does indeed almost see all water as a person, and personification of things is common in autism. He constantly talks about how the water feels and what it feels like to swim in water, something that could be sensory for him. He also doesn’t like being constricted in how he expresses his love for water and even has something of a breakdown during the second season (eternal summer) at having to finally choose to become a professional swimmer or to keep swimming freely in the water he loves so much. Haruka is also very expressionless and somewhat monotone and has been that way since he was a child. His close friends are shocked to see him loudly laugh at one point due to being tickled. He very much masks his emotions, which during season 2 becomes a point of contention from his close friends as he won’t tell them what’s wrong. As I somewhat mentioned before, he doesn’t like change and does not adapt to it very well at all and the main problems for his character for much of the series is that he has trouble confronting change and accepting it and learning to live with it. Anywho, he’s a great character, in my opinion, and deserves to make it far in this tournament. Thank you for reading."

Kim Dokja -

"kdj spends over a decade reading a webnovel and uses it as a form of escapism. SPOILERS him reading this book and forming such a deep attachment to it is the cause of literally every event in the book. his wish to be part of the story turns him into the equivalent of a god, and at the end of the story, he turns into a god (again? sort of?) and goes on to spend tens of thousands of years reading and re-reading in order to allow time to move END SPOILERS also he's gay for yjh."

[lynn-tged-posting]

so i've been working through the tged webnovel (really, really slowly) (but im getting there!) (it's been REALLY fun i love their banter so so much i wish there was more of it in the webtoon)

and i keep thinking back to chapter 43, where lloyd is surveying the wetlands and arcos comes with him

i don't really have much new insight, i just think about their interaction in this chapter a lot, especially since it's one that doesn't show up in the webtoon adaptation

arcos going out of his way to spend time with his son, and making him a lunch that he knows his son loved, all as an unspoken apology

because "how could he", right? how could a father hate his son and only start to love him again when success has been found? that's so haunting to realize; that someone you loved so much, someone you raised and nurtured, someone you knew the favorite foods of and why, could become someone you hate. and then, the son you once raised, the son who became a stranger, went and grew up without you.

did i give up too soon? did i abandon my own son? ... what kind of father does that? ... right?

and so he does what he can to offer repentance. he takes time out of his day to engage with what his son is doing. he shows that he still remembers his son, the boy who would rather eat boiled eggs and tomatoes over any other dish. he offers it all in a basket, carrying the love he feels he should've given to lloyd a long, long time ago.

... and it's not even the original lloyd frontera who receives it.

we don't get to know what suho is thinking in this moment, but i think his silence speaks volumes.

... because "how could he", right? how could this fraud in another man's body accept this silent apology that isn't truly owed to him? this man, this baron, this father, is asking for forgiveness when he had every right to be angry with the original owner of this body. and he doesn't even realize, because how would he possibly know his original fate? only you do.

this wasn't meant for me ... right?

but suho doesn't reject him, either. he doesn't interrupt arcos, he doesn't leave. they sit together and eat boiled eggs with honeyed tomatoes in silence.

it makes me wonder what suho is thinking about, what he's feeling, what he's remembering...

because (and call me crazy, call me speculative) heaven knows the love language of an asian parent.

here's some cut fruit. here's your favorite snack. here's dinner. i've brought it here to you.

you're working so, so hard. i'll support you, i'll be here. don't worry about anything else, just keep growing.

i love you, i love you, i love you, attached to every plate.

"this was your favorite food when you were young. ... i should have given you as many boiled eggs and tomatoes as you wanted."

and again, it's a little bit of speculation from me, but i think that's why suho doesn't say no, why he lets arcos make this apology. it's a piece of what he misses most.

and so they both leave a little bit healed. "the basket was lighter on the way home. and albeit very slightly, their steps became lighter as well." it might not have been between the right souls, but it's a weight lifted nonetheless.

... all this to say that i am absolutely MOURNING that this didn't make it into the adaptation!!!

i understand that with comic adaptations, there are going to be some cuts to ensure pacing and workload stays reasonable, but this would've been absolutely devastatingly emotional (/pos) to witness visually,

because what would lloyd's (suho's) face look like? what expression would he make, can we visually see how he feels? and arcos, what does he see when he looks at his son? fatherly love and solemn regret, painted all over his face, what does that look like to the adapter? to the artist? to us?

and in general too, we lost the characterization and relationship of arcos to suho; i really, really wish it made it in :(

end post

[loosingmoreletters]

whats sctir?

anon I am sorry you’re gonna regret asking me this because currently it’s everything to me. so sctir is short for S-Classes that I raised. It’s a webnovel and comic currently being published! It’s technically speaking one of those dungeon crawler “oh suddenly dungeons appear all over the world and now people with magic powers fight in them to stop the apocalypse” stories but actually no, it’s not about that.

It’s about the most sweet perfect absolutely unhinged sibling relationship I’ve seen in ages. Sorry yunmeng bros, you got nothing on the Han brothers.

So we got our protagonist Han Yoojin! He’s the older brother and pretty much spent over a decade raising his five year younger brother Han Yoohyun because their parents were neglectful and then died. So my boy Yoojin dropped out of school to work and ensure his baby brother did not have to suffer.

Except sike! Dungeons appeared and Yoohyun awakened as one of the strongest people. And then pretty much immediately cut contact to his brother. Yoojin suffered as a consequence. You cannot make someone else the entire purpose of your life and then have them abandon you. He Goes Through it, eventually also awakens, but as the weakest rank. This continues for a while until Yoojin is caught in a dungeon where a much too strong monster shows up.

And who appears if not Yoohyun! Who dies for his brother if not Yoohyun?

Because turns out he cut contact to his brother because he didn’t want to endanger Yoojin! He kept an eye on his brother but didn’t interact with him because he was afraid to make him even more of a target! He loves his brother so much he decided leaving him was the onky way to keep him safe! Very much the thought process of a teenager who’s only ever had one person in his whole life to rely on! And then he dies in Yoojin’s arms! And Yoojin gets all these memories dropped on him!

Anyway, the monster dies and Yoojin gets the chance to travel back in time. So he does that to save his brother. Somehow this escalates into him adopting a bunch of murderous people who are all utterly obsessed with him.

King of that is Yoohyun who straight up has a “what if I fake your death and lock you up so you’re safe and can’t leave me” moment in canon (I am not paraphrasing here), but it’s fine because 5 minutes later they hug it out.

Anyway they are so special to me.

It’s a really fun story exploring dependencies as well as the power of emotionally available parenting. Please read it I need people to talk about it more.

[dragoncityinteriordesign]

Hey, Guardian fans! Got something here you might like!

And that something would be Kaleidoscope of Death (the 2018 gay webnovel) and the Spirealm (the 2024 drama based on it). You can read the more detailed rec posts for both Kaleidoscope of Death and the Spirealm (as well as for some other media, all of which you can read here), but I wanted to come in and do a specific post about why I think fans of Guardian would really have a good time with these two.

This isn't just my observation -- other people who are fans of both have commented on how they scratch the same itch. They're just similar enough to one another to feel familiar, which still different enough that nothing feels repetitive/derivative. It's also funny to me how much the relationship of Guardian the book to Guardian the show is like the relationship of Kaleidoscope of Death to the Spirealm. They're both spooky gay stories that lose a lot in the adaptation to television, but also gain a lot in the process, until it's hard to say which one is the superior telling of the story.

So I'm coming in here with an extremely quick, spoiler-free-as-I-can-make-them five reasons why fans of Guardian in particular might be inclined to enjoy this book/show combo.

1. These boys are not normal about one another

I know you love it when the boys are not normal about one another. Ruan Nanzhu (cunty, well-dressed, on the left) and Lin Qiushi (sporty, cat dad, on the right) are extremely not normal about one another.

(Guardian lucked out in that when the drama was made, shows hadn't yet started doing the bullshit of changing the danmei boys' TV names. Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei are Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei no matter where they are -- but these two are Ruan Nanzhu and Lin Qiushi in the book, and Ruan Lanzhu and Ling Jiushi in the show. I'm going to be using their book names just because I've seen them written more often and they look more correct to me now.)

There's a Reason they're together. Maybe they don't go back as far as Ye Olde Haixing, but rest assured theirs is not a random encounter. Also, just like in Guardian, the Reasons in the book and the show have some surface similarities, but play out very differently.

This is a slow-burn gay love story that's a freak4freak relationship featuring two completely different kinds of freak. Lin Qiushi is the only person Ruan Nanzhu's ever let get close to him. Ruan Nanzhu's the only person who's ever pierced Lin Qiushi's cat-loving veil of obliviousness. Theirs is the true love of being willing to burn down the world for the same person you love annoying the pants off of. They're hot-and-cold messes who can't live without one another.

Obviously, as in Guardian's case, the boys-kissing parts are textual only in the book, not in the show. But keeping them from kissing actually ends up making them way less normal about one another. Yes, tell the guy who's technically your boss to platonically call you "daddy." What's not heterosexual about that?

2. Fun horror(-ish)

Both books have fantastic worlds and weird metaphysical conflicts, where terrible and unsettling things happen. They have ghosts and ghost-like things that can scare you and even kill you. Both contain some really unsettling passages about gore, violence, and body horror, and both include at least a bit of background cannibalism from one of the party members.

...And both shows have had those elements totally nerfed by censorship. Just as the ghosts of Diyu become the aliens of Dixing, the mysterious door worlds of Kaleidoscope of Death become the eeeeevil American video game of the Spirealm. It's exactly as silly and nonsensical as it sounds, and I know you can laugh your way through how stupid the adaptation choices are, because you already have.

Does this destroy the horror of it? Eh, yes and no. No, because there are still fundamentally some horror-esque things going on. But also yes, because having all these killer doors be part of a video game is about as nonsensical as having a lot of aliens living in the center of the earth, and it all winds up being a bit ... well, silly. At least Guardian had the excuse of having to do a last-minute scramble; the Spirealm was committed to this from the start. (What the Spirealm also has that Guardian the show lacks is the occasional hilarious, perfunctory digression into how eeeeeeevil capitalism is, which is its own form of both cringe and comedy.)

The book is legitimately creepy, though. There were a couple points I found myself reading it late at night, right before going to bed, and thinking, hm, maybe I should not be doing this. I love it so much that I actually read it the first time, got to the very important information in the first extra, turned right around, and read it a second time with that new context. It's not so horror that a casual reader couldn't enjoy it, but maybe leave the lights on while you do.

3. We're not co-workers, we're found family.

You know how the SIU/SID crew is the best and the most wonderful and you want to pick them up and hug them all and put them in your pocket and carry them around with you? Yeah, it's likely you're going to have a similar reaction to the Obsidian members and their associated friends.

Both SIU/SID and Obsidian have similar qualities where they're organizations operating under the radar of normal society, doing jobs that do not respect 9-5 boundaries or lunch breaks, where things are dangerous enough that you have to trust your co-workers with your life on a very regular basis. But while only the Guardian ghosts live at headquarters, everyone in Obsidian shares the same house. They eat meals together, watch movies together, play board games together, hang out and read in the TV pit together, decorate the house for New Year's together, barge into one another's rooms together...

Did you love it when Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan wound up living in apartments conveniently across the hall from one another? You're likely going to feel a similar kind of way when Ruan Nanzhu immediately moves Lin Qiushi (and his cat!) into the bedroom across the hall from his own.

As with Guardian, the book has more characters than the show does, but that's because it's cheaper to write a new character than it is to hire a new actor. And it's also easier to write off a new character than it is to get rid of a main cast member, so the book and the show have slightly different lists of who lives and who dies, and when. Take my "be careful who you get attached to" warning seriously.

4. A similarly batshit television aesthetic

Okay, okay, so nothing will ever be like Guardian's thrift-store maximalist approach to set dressing. The Spirealm is more intentional about its choices, and less like all it can afford to do is to keep reusing the same dozen objects repositioned slightly. The Spirealm is what it looks like when you actually have all the money you need and still choose to decorate like Guardian did.

Because of the story's supernatural main conceit, a lot of the environments are bizarre, impossible worlds that do not rely much on petty little things like logic or accuracy or the laws of physics. They're basically dreamscapes, filled with things that don't make sense but also don't have to.

The whole thing is also beautifully shot. I know that a lot of the screenshots emphasize the extremely yellow Wong Kar-wai color grading that I honestly wish weren't there, but it's fine in context. Really, the framing, the motion of the camera, the composition of scenes -- it's just all lovely. I've been watching it with no sound or subtitles on to do screenshots, and I keep being astonished by how nice it is to just look at.

Shen Wei's clothing choices seem tame compared to the high strangness Ruan Nanzhu considers fashion. He'll see your arm garters and raise you a coat that somehow has three lapels. No, I don't know how it works either. But if you like seeing a beautiful bitchy man in bizarre outfits (and I know you do), the Spirealm's got you covered.

And are there inexplicable English-titled books, both generically fake and perplexingly real? Baby, you know there are.

The Spirealm's set design is ultimately not nearly as interesting as Guardian's is, but it's definitely more engaging than most. If you (like me!) enjoy pausing and squinting at the backgrounds of shots, this will bring you hours of scrutinizing entertainment.

5. Not not the same endings

By this I mean, the end of Guardian the book is to the end of Guardian the show as the end of Kaleidoscope of Death is to the end of the Spirealm. I don't mean the exact same things happen, and I can't tell you exactly what happens without spoiling some major things I don't think should be spoiled. What I do mean is that they feel very similar in the relationship between source and adaptation.

Now that I've said this, you're going to be thinking, oh, I know how it ends! No, I promise, you really don't. But when you finally experience said endings, you're going to understand what I mean. Xi Zixu, writing Kaleidoscope of Death in 2018, could not have been responding to the ending of Guardian the show, which was airing at the same time the novel was being released. However, I'd be willing to put down a not-small amount of money that the production team on the Spirealm was at least passingly familiar with Guardian. I don't think it's accurate to say the Spirealm's ending is a direct response to Guardian the show's ending, but I do believe it understands that it's contributing to a conversation to which the endings of both Guardian versions already belong.

And that's all I'm going to say about that! You'll get it when you get there.

bonus: kitty!

This is Chestnut. Chestnut is perfect.

I find it charming how much Xi Zixu, the author, loves cats. She talks about her cat in her author's notes. She waxes poetic about how great cats are in the prose. She has obviously chosen to make Lin Qiushi a cat dad for reasons of writing her own favorite personal traits onto her blorbos.

Of course Ruan Nanzhu is jealous of a cat. He's jealous of himself. He's a one-man jealousy machine when it comes to Lin Qiushi's affections. He's being so normal right now.

Have I convinced you?

Scroll down to the bottom of the rec posts I mentioned earlier to find all the information you need to read Kaleidoscope of Death and all the information you need to watch the Spirealm.

My final verdict is that Guardian the show is substantially better than the Spirealm, and Guardian the book is also better than Kaleidoscope of Death -- but by a much, much narrower margin. I don't even have strong feelings about which one of them you should experience first; I actually started the show, jumped to the book, read it while I was watching the middle episodes, and then finished the show, and even that broken-ass order was not a bad way to approach them. But be prepared to do both! You'll want to do both. Trust me.

Anyway, after you're done watching/reading, come find me at @thirteenthdoor, which is where I'm putting all my Kaleidoscope of Death/Spirealm analysis, reblogs, and shitposting. But only after, because I'm not being careful about spoilers at all over there.

See you in the doors!

[sunlighthroughthe-ashes]

ohhh, this episode. it had its humorous moments, but boy, did it hurt.

sol's grief and abject guilt is palpable throughout — you can feel it permeating everything; it's so tangible you can almost choke on it.

her raw pain and desperation, her devastation at discovering that she's the reason for sunjae's death — you can feel the debilitating effects of that realization settle like a dense cloud over both your own self and the entire episode.

normally i talk about the sheer power of byeon wooseok's gaze, but this time kim hyeyoon stole the show: even while she does her level best to stay away from sunjae, sol's eyes seek him out at every turn, and the pure concern and love and terror in her gaze is heartbreakingly beautiful to see. the wild panic in her face just smotes you completely.

theirs is a tenderness that cuts; you can feel the blood pooling under your tongue as you watch.

i am in awe of their utter devotion to each other: despite rejection and harsh treatment, sunjae is perennially aware of sol's presence; he's attuned to her smallest movements, there to save her at a moment's notice. and sol? this girl has traversed through time and space THRICE now to save him at whatever cost. she loves him more than life itself but is doing her damndest to stay away from him, and you can tell it's killing her to let sunjae think she hates him.

the grief and helplessness with which sol cries (almost childlike in her sorrow) and begs sunjae to stay away from her because she literally doesn't know what else to do or how else to help him was physically hard to stomach, but emotionally so impactful.

sunjae swallowing back tears of his own and apologizing instantly to get sol to stop crying is just a testament to how gentle and sensitive of a person he is, and how sincerely he loves sol. seriously, is there a boy in the universe who could possibly compare??? i don't think so.

also, sol singing 'sudden shower' to sunjae, effectively clueing him in to her status as a time traveler, was a stroke of pure genius on the writers' part: it was an elegant circumvention of sol's inability to talk about the future, a perfect juxtaposition of past and future meeting via shared memory, and deeply, DEEPLY romantic.

they kissed as per the legend! my hopes for a happy ending have been bolstered by this greatly, since the webnovel also ends with them being married. (tvn better not pull a 25/21 on us at the end. 😭)

(sidenotes: the grandma may be a symbol of omniscience. she had the watch in the very first episode, remembers sol being paralyzed, and kept the watch safe in this timeline as well. sunjae being in a coma instead of outrightly dying in 2023 after the attack is significant — if he manages to wake up once sol returns to the present, he'll have all his memories of the third timeline intact, which will make things easier, plot-wise. tomorrow's episode seems to be veering in an angsty direction as well, but fingers crossed that there are cute moments!!!)

[ineffectualdemon]

PIDW Mobing:

Someone definitely tells Bingge to "call of his dog" referring to Mobei and it comes with all the homoeroticism that implies

Their fight scene for dominance when Mobei swore loyalty was also homoerotically charged

Bingge plays with Mobei's hair while threatening people

This definitely has happened at some point in the PIDW universe if not explicitly in the webnovel though I wouldn't put it past Airplane.:

"Mobei?" Luo Binghe calls, leaning away from the wife his arm is wrapped around to gently curl those dark tresses around his fingers. The back of his warm fingers grazing against cold skin.

A slight huff of amusement hangs between them as startling blue eyes meet red.

"Yes Junshang?" The title is said respectfully if you do not know how to read Mobei Jun and the tiny expressions he makes. To Luo Binghe he sees the exasperation and almost fondness. It is not the simpering adoration of his wives but rather the shared amusement between two people who in another life, could have been equals.

But here and now one is owned and knows it. Even so, his master likes to remind him of his place.

Luo Binghe could not resist tugging on the hair caught between his claws, drawing a resigned, but obedient, Mobei to lean closer.

"Be a treasure," a loaded phrase for Luo Binghe to drawl in shared company and he enjoys the sharp look that gets him.

"Kill him for me?"

The hair is allowed to slip from his fingers even though the real leash is kept tight.

"Yes Junshang" Mobei Jun says before doing what is asked.

Just like he always did.

So loyal.

So obedient.

That's why dogs are better than wives.

Canon SVSSS Luo Bing-mei and Mobei Jun:

Luo Binghe: attack!

Mobei Jun: But I have. A lot. I'm tired. I want a little break :( You do it.

Luo Binghe: ok...do something??

Mobei Jun: my hamster needs exercise so I will send him out. Shang Qinghua! I choose you! ...ah look! He's playing! I knew he needed more exercise!

Luo Binghe: ....Shizun better show up soon. My subordinate's love life depresses me :(

AND

Luo Binghe: how do I get a boy to like me? :(

Mobei Jun: kick his ass

Luo Binghe: please don't say words

Anyway that's why I can only get into OG!Binghe and OG!Mobei for Mobing and not SVSSS versions

[gffa]

You start Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint with an intriguing concept. A webnovel about “Three Ways To Survive in the Apocalypse” that this shy nerd has been reading for 10 years and is the only one who has been reading it, is ending, and he’s kind of sad about it, because he’s loved it for so long, he’s tried recommending it others, but got shut down because nobody believed he wasn’t the author trying to promote himself, so he just gave up, he doesn’t really have goals in life, he doesn’t interact well with others, he’s socially awkward and quiet, he defines himself as having a “reader’s life”, someone who just observes the story, but then suddenly THE EVENTS OF THE NOVEL ARE REAL. The apocalypse is happening around him and everyone is freaking the fuck out and he is as well, like, what in the actual fuck, but he knows a few things to expect because he’s read all 3k+ chapters of the webnovel and you can see him start to piece things together when monsters are suddenly attacking and they’re being forced to kill each other and he manages to find a way out, with as little bloodshed as he can. You understand the shape of this 550 chapter story, you understand that it’s like ten novels worth of story, you understand that Kim Dokja is going to slowly become the protagonist of the story, even though the story already has a protagonist and you can feel his presence looming over the story and terrifying DKJ, they can’t meet yet, he’d be crushed by this guy, it’d ruin everything. But WHOOPS he does meet the protagonist of the story and gets hung out by his neck over the crumbling edge of a broken bridge and he has to scramble to desperately lie to the protagonist because he can’t reveal how he got his knowledge of the events that are unfolding around him or even let on that he’s aware of the protagonist’s story. He gets himself thrown off the side into a sea-monster’s mouth and told to survive if he really is worth saving and you understand the shape of this story.  You see the early events that will shape Kim Dokja into becoming his own protagonist, getting him slowly out of the “reader” role.  He uses his knowledge of the apocalypse to obtain the special magical items he needs and avoid pitfalls that would have hindered him later and makes deals that will benefit him the entire way.  You see the shape of the story unfolding. You go through a brief timeskip, he’s gotten stronger, he’s used his knowledge to become faster and more powerful than most around him.  You see him join a group of other survivors and have to go fight a bunch of monsters, including a major Tier 7 Demon, which he defeats with forewarned knowledge, and he is steadily growing UNHINGED while he does it, like this boy isn’t so much off his rocker as he is using it for kindling, he just casually slices up the Tier 7 Demon, but, h-hey, aren’t you going to finish it off? everyone else asks.

All right, you understand he’s kind of a little more unhinged a little sooner than you were expecting, but it’s not that--

..........uh oh, you think. Turns out, because Demons are subordinates of Demon Kings, if you kill one, you get cursed to witness something truly horrible, and, sure enough, cowardly rich business man type steps in to steal the kill and oh shit okay--

And you realize, ohhhhhh, oh shit KDJ probably did this on purpose, knowing business man would steal the kill, because the start of this sub-arc had him saying that he wasn’t as nice as he appeared and he wasn’t just here to save people, and also you realize he maybe wanted to punish that guy for the shit he’d pulled on someone KDJ liked and-- And then, after all this shit goes down, KDJ is just like:

And you realize he’s already there, he’s already this unhinged and dangerous and scheming, he still thinks of himself as a “reader”, but he’s weaponizing that position and you have NO idea what kind of batshit antics he’s going to pull out of his ass next and-- And you realize YOU ARE ONLY ON CHAPTER 22 AND YOU WONDER WHAT IN THE UNHOLY FUCK IS GOING TO BE IN THE OTHER 530 CHAPTERS IF WE’RE ALREADY THIS FAR ALONG. Anyway, please read Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint with me, it’s completely out of its mind in the best way, and you can start with the webtoon, it’s super pretty and the translation is very smooth, and come yell, “WHAT THE FUCK??” at every new batshit event this story is throwing at me.