#i need lee hakhyun to be happy

[gradually-watermel0n]

i finished s1 of the side story. how am i supposed to function as a normal human being now 😭😭

[k0fii]

The ORV side stories have always felt more grim, more doomed to me than ORV.

From the start of ORV, Kim Dokja's whole character of being a conman, the trickster who always ends up escaping inherently makes you feel hopeful. The next time he gets himself into some trouble, he might die sure but he'll always come back because the story has to continue and he's not the type to die like that. It happens over and over again - trouble arises, the odds are stacked against him yet he always comes out on top, always comes back.

It's purposefully written that way, the readers need to be hopeful so they can imagine that he does come back against all odds. The open ending can barely be considered one because the entire story is telling you that he will come back. Even if it's never said, you can perfectly imagine the image of papers flying around a Kim Dokja who came back, that same grin on his face and the light shining on his starry eyes as his companions surround him.

It's natural to question why the Side story was written when this ending was so perfect already and although I enjoyed learning that there was more content, I can't say that I also wasn't perplexed at first but now I think I understand.

Not every reader is the same, there are those who can only imagine the worst, that the odds will end up overcoming the characters one day.

And the side story has this element of odds overcoming the characters. The readers Lee Hakhyun fails to save, the doomed nature of the 41st worldline, the ORV cast still on their mostly fruitless search, the extras in a story much too large trying to prove their right to exist too - this world is far from the perfect worldline of 1865 and the mostly loss-less conclusion of 1864. In many ways, the worst case scenario tends to happen. It feels almost hopeless - and I think that this is also purposeful.

If this hopeless, doomed world can survive despite it all then can't you begin to imagine a happy ending? If somehow, the story continues to love you despite it all, then can't you love yourself too?

[nelkey]

alright. kinda random but i do have to ask. what kind of media exactly is orv and where can i read it? (bc imma be honest, ur reblogs n stuff sound intriguing as hell)

That's not random at all, and I'm so happy you asked!!!

Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint (orv for short) is originally a novel, though currently there's a manwha coming out on webtoon.

The basic premise is that an apocalypse starts, and it just so happens to be exactly like the webnovel that the main character has been reading since he was a teenager. The novel has everything: comedy, drama, found family... As you might have noticed, I like it a lot, and have been going insane over it since I read it, so I reaaaaally recommend that you read it.

You can start with the manwha, as it might be a bit easier (especially if you're like me and have trouble picturing characters visually without memorizing images of them xD). Though I reaaaally can't recommend enough continuing to read the novel afterwards, instead of waiting for the webtoon to update.

If you still aren't convinced, go read these posts by @ot3 please!

These posts are a big part of what convinced me to read orv when my dash was flooded with fanart and I had no idea what it was xD

All that said, here are the links!!!

This is the link to the webtoon.

And here's a few links to the novel's epub, (so in case one of them stops working you can try the others):

Also, you might wanna check out @lee-hakhyun 's edited epub!

Let me know if there's anything else you need and if you read it and wanna talk to someone about it, my dms are always open!!! (I also recommend you filter the orv tag)

Oh, and last! In case you don't have an epub reader downloaded, I'll link you to the one I use, Lithium. It works with the epub's formatting and I've been using it for a long time with no problems!

[lee-hakhyun]

I keep thinking about the two portals and. Do you think Singshong pulled the illusion of choice meme on us. Also now that I'm writing this I'm reminded of Kdj becoming Od, how he had two choices, one of them being the story's end. And how he still managed to do a secret third thing instead. Head in hands now I wonder if there was a third option with the portals aaa

secret third thing (ignoring canon and making them all happy in my mind) if there is no third option, i am sure they will find a way to create one. they need to capture that squid for my mental health. preferably before lee hakhyun goes too far with his plans. i don't trust him

[ekanatsume]

Finished the orv sidestory season1. Istg i just wanna get inside this damn story and hug this man (lhh) and break them bones. Bro needs a hug and i can gladly provide it. Cant believe the orv sidestory has way worse angst than the main story like the authors be sadists istg. I have no other explanation of how many mood swings i just went as i read this shit. I am now left indescribable despair and unending urge to get inside the story and hug all the goddamn characters. I am done. Yes lee hakhyun, i love you. Well more seasons to go! I feel like im slowly turning into kim dokja as time passes by. Id survive the hellish scenerios only to see the epilogue of this damn story. I understand kdj now, very well in fact. The desire to create a happy ending for the characters one loves although may seem stupid to an outsider but goddamn, if it aint powerful. Too bad that this isnt the reality and i can only read this from the screen unable to change anything. The urge to time travel and finally see orv completed and see kdj get back to kimcom and Ihh being the happiest and confident successful writer of all time. Maybe finally hsy can write her books and have her reader to read them. Is it too much to ask for? Is it really? I ask for one thing and this damn authors be going "n a h". im left traumatised, in pain, and unable to get away from it. Very cool of me to think the sidestories wouldnt be THAT sad if i knew the spoilers but boy oh boy, the scenes hit me more than any meteorite could ever do. Thenks singnshong, i love you but you like hurting your readers

[lee-hakhyun]

on one hand i want lee hakhyun happy but also i need to bite him. read the orv side story

[lee-hakhyun]

what do you think of LHH being a writer, reader and a protagonist? ofc not in the grand scheme of the universe way, but he’s got all the three tropes down.

Writer - of ORV, we know that and also his debut work which gives me brain worms to think about. Even before he fully knew why he was in the world, he knew he was a liar. Casually lying about his past to get by. LHH ily.

Reader - he loves ORV like his readers, he loves the story, and *ahem* that insane reveal (I try not to think of it much lest it taint my perception of Hakhyun, he’s my bbg!!!)

Protagonist - he’s the MC of this story!! this story that was made for him, it’s his, yet he wants nothing to do with it. Man just wants to go home with his readers and honestly he’s so real for that. Such a breath of fresh air. He just doesn’t accept his fate like a lot of isekaid-against-their-will protags do. I’ll love him for that and dream of his happy ending, even though I feel like a selfish voyeur just by reading the side story (*insert the world continues by reading yadda yadda bs*) :,))

I’m so insane for him help,,, he’s been plaguing my drafts, someone get him outta there 🧍

he's truly the guy of all time. adding on a lot of my thoughts

i love writer characters,, especially ones that get transmigrated into their own work (hi sqh), and he even gets to he the protagonist..! even if the story is not. treating him well

lies especially are such an important part to his character. the lies he wrote for jhw, the lies about his childhood, his lies to jung jaewoo, and all of his works (bar orv) having themes of lies,,

and. it's really clear he has issues with his identity made infinitely worse by ending up in orv and realizing that he isn't the 'real' author. transmigrating into cheon inho and using incite to copy others, even getting an item that can copy other items.. it makes the moments when he thinks of himself as 'lee hakhyun' so much more special

and oh. he's a character who loves so much. trying to save as many people as possible throughout the stations, even trying to save the monsters in the 'emergency defense' battle by convincing them to stop fighting. even the 'extras' that kdj didn't pay much attention to, he took care of them, gave them food and taught them how to hunt

directly challenging hsy's plan for 41!yjh's sake.. willing to sacrifice himself just so one more person could survive. WRITING HIS OWN DEATH TO PERSUADE HSY.

the 49!kdj pov was heartbreaking. but it was needed. i thought about it, and 49 only started breaking down after his first doubts of himself as 'kim dokja'.. was the reason he started deteriorating so quickly because he no longer believed kim dokja's stories were his? i don't think kdi anticipated this when he split himself,, i think he sincerely wanted his companions to be happy with a part of himself. when everyone was trying to figure out what went wrong with 49's body they said the amount of stories should have lasted him at least decades, and sys saying the stories that connected him to her felt unstable.. was this because 49 was subconsciously rejecting those stories? and then his final wish to be anyone but kim dokja. oh my god.

he got his wish, but the story found him again. while lhh was previously 49, he's now his OWN PERSON and referring to him as 49 is directly against what he wanted. please don't do that. even hsy realized and accepted it (..after lhh made her kill him.)

if i talk about his relationship with jhw i will combust. maybe another time.

[lee-hakhyun]

before the last chapter for this season comes out, i just want to say that i am very grateful to see you obsessing over lee hakhyun and his gang’s antics and apologise for spamming you over it (even if you did say it’s fine, before!) there’s something special about them

been thinking about the discontinued star writer in the context of orv’s outer gods again,,,,, an abandoned tale brought back into the fold, but what happened to the them before the side stories?

lee hakhyun is already missing memories of why he became a writer at all, and you’ve suggested a long time before that the avatar skill is already in play, so what if everything that actually made lee hakhyun a writer literally went to the version outside the scenarios? it’s a neat, handy explanation for why this lee hakhyun apparently can’t use the avatar skill himself, as han sooyoung says; for this story to be written, the side story needs a writer - so impart an avatar of yourself to be the ‘character’ and keep writing on yourself,,,,, you’ve already treaded this bit before, i believe

but like, if avatar/character lee hakhyun literally can’t remember why he became a writer because of this, because that part went to writer lee hakhyun, what else does the writer remember that the character can’t? hey, what was star writer supposed to be about anyway?

my suggestion; writer lee hakhyun remembers exactly what he wrote in star writer (which was about himself) and he remembers exactly what characters were supposed to be in there; whose story was thus forgotten along with lee hakhyun’s own. avatar lee hakhyun can’t, because to him this is his first time meeting them, but writer lee hakhyun remembers star writer and the characters he met IN star writer, and is thus using the side story to extract his friends from the fate of being left behind as outer gods.

or something like that, anyway

ooh. really cool theory!!

i literally had a dream of my own (it also caused me to oversleep. i set my alarm 1 hour later on accident) about what the next chapter would be. i cannot remember it anymore it broke my heart but i don't think i couldve thought up something as evil as what actually happened i swear to god i need to read fanfiction of lee hakhyun being happy. i know he didn't want anything to do with kimcom but jung heewon can be there too

i will not refer to lhh as '49' more than i have to. he wished to be anyone else, and i will accept him as that