#or maybe it was just because I decided to finish reading ORV finally since I stopped around ch300

[shamera]

NaNo day 28

....okay instead of time loop, I ended up starting part 2 of the hunter au.

Whoops?

I swear I meant to work on the other story, but the word wars started and I panicked because I couldn't figure out the next scene, so I rushed back to hunter au to continue the idea I was already going with.

Follows pretty much directly after part 1!

Fang Duobing didn’t believe in ghosts. 

He wasn’t the type of person to read into the supernatural— mythical creatures around the corner hiding from the eyes of society, or magic secretly existing on the fringes to spark the imagination of children and the downtrodden. He wasn’t particularly interested in ghost stories, either, although that could be due to him not having the life experience to feel a need for those stories. 

But he had encountered people, while travelling with Li Lianhua, who adamantly believed. Who insisted they were haunted, or that children lost years ago were trying to convey a message. 

Each and every time that happened, Fang Duobing had to piece together clues that would eventually disappoint those people. (It tended to be coincidences, or neighbours with a grudge, or even their own failing mental health playing tricks on them.)

Dungeons were one thing! Strange and supernatural events happened within those otherworldly pocket dimensions, and he wasn’t going to question how that made sense. 

But in the real world, there were rules. Gravity made things fall down. Physics existed. Time was straightforward. Everything followed the cycle of life. Two plus two equals four, and that sort of thing. 

Or it would, if it weren’t for the fact that Li Lianhua was yelling at him at the same time that Li Lianhua was lying in a coma on the hospital bed. 

“Foolish, childish move!” Li Lianhua fumed, looking like he was ready to whack Fang Duobing over the head with something as he used to when he was frustrated. Except there was nothing for him to grab, and for the fact that he was— 

Fang Duobing could see through him. 

He stared blankly, slack-jawed, even as the door burst open and He Xiaohui charged in ready for battle at the sound of her son in distress. 

“What is it?” She demanded, and she had a sword at her side of all things, ready to cut someone down. “What’s wrong?”

He couldn’t muster up the words, instead gaping at her and then back at Li Lianhua, and then at Li Lianhua and oh no, Fang Duobing was going crazy, wasn’t he? He felt too young to be going crazy, but maybe that’s just how schizophrenia started, with seeing things that couldn’t possibly be there even though he knew it was crazy for him to be seeing those things. 

He pointed a finger at the ghostly apparition of Li Lianhua, sitting on the edge of the bed, looking irritated, and asked his mother, “Do you see— see—?” 

“Don’t point at me.” Li Lianhua told him. “Rude.”

He Xiaohui, who scanned the entire room for any signs of threats only to come up with nothing, gave her son a strange look. “See what?”

Okay, so she definitely didn’t see what Fang Duobing was now considering to be his… well, maybe this was what people meant by having a voice of reason. Surely, if he had a ghostly version of Li Lianhua there yelling at him, it was a manifestation of that nagging feeling of doing something he wasn’t supposed to be doing, right? 

People had that. He’s heard about it. He’s never heard anyone describe it as a ghost or even that they might be able to see a person, rather than imagining what they would say, but it wasn’t like he researched extensively on the subject. 

“I think I’m going crazy,” he said to his mother, still feeling a state of shock. 

The tension in her shoulders melted away, and she said, “Oh, Xiaobao… I told you not to stay in this room all day. You just need some food and sleep, that’s all. Come, come,” and she was manoeuvring him out of the uncomfortable chair, twisting her other wrist in a movement like sheathing her sword, and suddenly that object was gone. Back in her inventory, Fang Duobing thought numbly. 

He stared at the ghostly figure of Li Lianhua the entire time. 

“You should listen to her,” Li Lianhua said. “When’s the last time you ate? You look like you’re ready to fall over at any moment.”

“I’m going crazy,” Fang Duobing confirmed, and his mother ushered him out of the room with gently shushing noises, dragging him along the hallways and upstairs back to the living space and then the kitchens. 

“I’ve gone crazy.” Fang Duobing affirmed when she heated a bowl of leftovers for him, the scent of wanton soup and steamed eggs wafting to him. He was staring over the table, where Li Lianhua seemed to have followed them. Except he couldn’t have, because he was downstairs where he was supposed to be safe, because he was vulnerable and there were people looking for him. 

“You haven’t,” his mother countered, and then hugged his head and pressed a kiss atop his hair when he didn’t respond. “But you’ve been through a traumatic event. Eat. And then shower and take a nap. Things will feel better after that.”

She left once more after ensuring he was alright and not going to fall face first into the soup, although she took a few more seconds to stroke at his hair and send him worried looks. 

The apparition of Li Lianhua was calmly sitting in a chair opposite him, dressed in the same clothes as the day in the dungeon, although noticeably cleaner and neater and with his hair back in its usual low bun. He was giving Fang Duobing a judging look. 

It made him sweat. 

“So,” Li Lianhua started calmly. “Jinyuan Alliance, then?”

“You heard that?” Fang Duobing demanded, but then hunched over and lowered his voice. “You were there the entire time?”

Li Lianhua gestured to the food and told him, “Eat,” and Fang Duobing reluctantly picked up the bowl to sip at the soup, still staring at Li Lianhua for answers the entire time. 

“I wasn’t really aware until you took that out of your pocket.” Li Lianhua said, nodding toward where Fang Duobing still had the sphere pressed into his palm uncomfortably while holding onto his soup bowl. “So no, you’re not going crazy. It’s an effect of the item.”

That made Fang Duobing slump into his chair in relief. That made far more sense! Dungeon items sure were strange, and who said it couldn’t alter someone’s perception of reality? Maybe Fang Duobing was hallucinating all of this because he felt bad. Maybe the stone was helping him do that. 

“From the expression on your face, you just thought of something dumb,” Li Lianhua told him. “Stop.”

“You can’t tell me to stop, you’re a figment of my imagination.”

“A figment of—” Li Lianhua narrowed his eyes. “And what makes you convinced of this?”

Fang Duobing brought up the small pearlescent orb. “The easiest explanation is that this thing causes hallucinations? Maybe it causes people to see someone they— well, either way, you’re supposed to be in a coma. I can test it later. See what xiao-yi sees.”

“A hallucination. A figment of your imagination.” Li Lianhua echoed him, and crossed his arms. “You’re very sure of yourself, aren’t you?”

“I’m not going crazy,” Fang Duobing reassured himself. “This is just an effect of the item.”

“Take out your phone.” Li Lianhua demanded, and although Fang Duobing was reluctant at first (why was he listening to a hallucination? But then again, it was a hallucination of Li Lianhua, so he probably had some weird point to make), he did so. “Unlock it. Now go to a news site. Go on, go ahead. I know you read those in the mornings.”

Fang Duobing (quite reluctantly) went onto Weibo just to spite him. 

“Okay, now turn the phone toward me so you can’t see it. Scroll down.” After a second, Li Lianhua started reading the names of current top shows and celebrity gossip, along with titles of blogs that were recently updated. 

When he stopped reading, Fang Duobing turned the phone back toward himself. 

…That was everything on the screen, word for word. 

He stared incredulously. 

Then he went to a random number generator and set it up between one to a million. He flipped the phone over, finger already on the generate button. 

Half a dozen different numbers in the tens and hundred thousands later, his theory of Li Lianhua being a hallucination brought about by the item was shot down entirely. 

“Are you actually this orb?” Fang Duobing asked. “Did we bring a dungeon boss back by accident?”

This time, Li Lianhua did attempt to swap him over the head, although the feeling was barely like a light breeze, enough that Fang Duobing could have figured it was his imagination reacting only because he saw what Li Lianhua was doing. Instead, the hand seemed to go through him and both of them looked unsettled by it. 

“Fang Duobing,” Li Lianhua told him seriously. “Maybe you really have gone crazy.”

…Alright, so that was definitely Li Lianhua’s usual snark rather than a dungeon boss. 

“I don’t understand,” Fang Duobing exclaimed. “You’re down there and you’re… up here? Like an out of body experience? Is this why you’re not waking up? Because your spirit is just roaming around, not going back?” 

He perked up. “Will you wake up if we go down there?”

Now, Li Lianhua’s nearly translucent figure (and wow, it really did look like some movie special effect) slumped his shoulders. “That didn’t work. You just saw— I can’t interact with anything. That includes myself.”

“And this?” Fang Duobing asked, thrusting out the orb between his fingers. “Can you interact with this? What if this was touching your body?”

“You’re touching it, and if I could have hit you, I would have.” Li Lianhua told him dryly. 

Fair point. 

“We should try it anyway.”

They went back down where Fang Duobing attempted various methods of having Li Lianhua’s physical body hold the orb, pressing it against his cool palm with his own assistance and also without his own assistance, but nothing seemed to work. 

“I can still see you even when I’m not touching that thing.” Fang Duobing observed. 

“Well,” Li Lianhua shoved his hands into his hoodie pocket. “It’s your item, isn’t it? It was your drop, and in your inventory. I only touched it last before we left the dungeon.”

Fang Duobing jolted. Was that what happened? Back then, the orb had been so much bigger and black like an abyss, and felt like it was fused against his skin, refusing to let go. 

“You said things from the Black can’t be brought out of the dungeon.” Fang Duobing recalled, his words slow as his brow furrowed. “You haven’t explained that.”

The ghostly figure shrugged. “It’s exactly what it is. Every dungeon boss has a heart that contains the darkness you saw. Every time you kill one, it… explodes outward, in a way. It tries to latch on to something else. Once it fails, the dungeon starts to fall apart. There were people who obtained drops from the Black before, but those items can’t leave the dungeon. The only way it does is if it’s… changed.”

“You changed it?” Fang Duobing asked.

Li Lianhua grimaced, shifting. “So it seems.”

It sounded like he hadn’t meant to. 

“If you changed it, then it should be yours instead. This orb should belong to you, not me.”

The man gave him a withering glance. “And what would I do with it, the way I am now?”

That… alright, so he had a point. But that brought up another thing he wanted to ask about. 

“Li Lianhua,” Fang Duobing addressed, only to feel strange about the name in his mouth for a moment, knowing who he actually was. “My aunt said… there might be a curse? Did you feel it? How do we break it?”

At that, the ghost was quiet for a long moment, still as he gazed away. “It’s nothing you have to worry about. I didn’t get cursed in the last dungeon.”

The answer sounded evasive, yet Fang Duobing knew enough to understand that if he pressed harder, it was likely Li Lianhua would switch to deliberately lying instead. It didn’t matter, because Fang Duobing would find out what was going on with him, and he would eventually get better and then he would wake up again. 

The thought made him feel better, and Fang Duobing waved the orb in front of the ghostly Li Lianhua’s face smugly. 

“Okay.” He said. “Guess you can’t run away this time.”

Li Lianhua’s previous forced nonchalance and apathy turned into a look of mortification. 

— 

Fang Duobing eventually went back to finish eating the cold food, take that shower, and then threw himself down for the nap his mother wanted for him, until the next thing he knew it was already the next day and the nap had become full on passing out for more than twelve hours. He woke only because he was used to waking at a certain hour, glancing around his room blearily for a long time wondering why his alarm hadn’t gone off before he realised his phone was finally dead. 

“Xiaobao,” his father greeted him as he stumbled down the stairs toward their dining room. Fang Zeshi was already dressed for work, nursing the last of his tea as he read the papers. “How are you feeling? Your mother told us not to disturb you when you didn’t come down for dinner.”

“I overslept,” Fang Duobing mumbled, pulling out a chair so he could collapse into it, head in his arms on the table. He was still in the pyjamas he had as a teenager, and was nursing the headache of someone who slept too much at once. 

“You need the rest,” his father said gently. There was a rustling on the newspaper before his father continued, deceptively calm, “You should get dressed before your fiancée gets here.”

That made Fang Duobing jerk up in panic. “What? Why is she coming over!”

“To check up on you, of course. She has been very patient in waiting for a message from you. One that you didn’t give, I might add, so your mother and I had to reassure her that you not only survived the attack, but were doing well. We informed her that your phone was taken from you, and it would be unwise to interfere in the investigation the Hunters had. Although you could have responded to her messages this morning.”

“Can’t, phone’s dead,” Fang Duobing announced, and then pushed himself back up out of the chair, suddenly completely awake. “And I have— uh. A prior appointment! Things to do. Too busy to meet her, sorry, I have to run—”

“She’s a nice girl and you can’t avoid her forever,” Li Lianhua scolded from where he was standing over Fang Zeshi’s shoulder to read the paper as well. It was just like him to prefer reading physical newspapers rather than just scrolling through a phone like everyone else did.

“You’re such an old man,” Fang Duobing complained, and then cringed back when his father glared. “I mean! No, not you, I just. I’ve really got to go. Tell Qing’er not to wait for me, I’m sure she has better things to do today—”

Before his father could respond, Fang Duobing already made his escape, skidding across the hall to leave out the back before thinking better of it and racing up the stairs again to get dressed for the day before he left. 

(He also clipped on an old bluetooth earpiece when Li Lianhua commented on Fang Duobing confusing people if they spoke to each other.)

“Poor princess Zhaoling,” Li Lianhua mused as Fang Duobing climbed into his car, making a quick getaway. “She deserves better than how you treat her.”

“Then she should get someone better,” Fang Duobing murmured back, eyes on the road rather than where Li Lianhua was sitting in the passenger seat, head resting on a palm as he leaned against the door to gaze out the window. “Besides, I never agreed to this arrangement. In fact, I said no but then my parents said yes to her father. Just because we’re kind-of friends—”

“Kind of,” Li Lianhua mocked. 

“I shouldn’t have told you about her.” Fang Duobing muttered, face heating. He couldn’t be held responsible for the random information he tended to blurt out about himself when drunk! So what if they happened to be in the same group chat as kids? They attended the same school too, but Fang Duobing never really interacted with her there since she was several years under him. He used to think she was a cute, mouthy kid until he realised she was the girl his parents wanted him to marry. 

In the end, she ended up being far more filial than he was, demuring to the arranged marriage with a determination to get to know him better despite the fact that they had been rather distant as children. The more Fang Duobing attempted to run away, it seems, the more she was determined to run after him. 

He thinks that soon she might get herself in some sort of trouble for it, being as bullheaded as she was (a trait he used to admire until it was aimed at him), but it wasn’t like he was going to stay! 

It was several streets before Li Lianhua aimed a suspicious look toward him. 

“...Where are we going?”

“Baichuan Court.” Fang Duobing answered breezily. He wasn’t going to head back to his (temporary) apartment, especially if Qing’er was looking for him! That would be the first place she would look, and if he was unlucky enough, then his family would gladly give her the key as well. 

Besides him, Li Lianhua radiated displeasure. He had never gone anywhere near the group that emerged from the remains of Sigu Sect, and now Fang Duobing was starting to realise  why. 

“Relax,” he said. “It’s not like anyone else can see you. But the Jinyuan Alliance is looking for you, and even if my aunt is investigating this matter, without priority it’ll take her days to get to the bottom of things, if at all. Baichuan Court is the foremost authority on Hunters and the Sects, and if I claim to be in the middle of things, then I should be entitled to information that pertains to me, right?”

“You’re up to something,” Li Lianhua accused, but he sounded resigned. 

Fang Duobing grinned. 

“I just need a bit of your help.”

[icarussol74]

Spoilers for Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint’s epilogues below.

Ok so I finally (after getting distracted way too many times) finished my first read through of ORV a few days ago and as expected I can’t stop thinking about it. Of course the loops and KDJ’s fate are constantly on my mind, but there’s one thing that won’t stop bugging me. We don’t know the fate of Kim Namwoon in the 1865th turn. I know he’s not the biggest character (and three versions of him technically got happy endings) however, we even know the fates of Gong Pildu and Han Myeongoh. So while I absolutely love the epilogues it bugged me that there wasn’t even a single sentence about KNW. And since KNW was a major foil/parallel for KDJ I think it would’ve been really cool if 1865 KNW was helping try to save KDJ. Like for a media analysis standpoint it’d be the darkest reflection of KDJ trying to save what got left behind/the part of himself he hated/what made KDJ just like KNW.

Considering that the goal of the 1865th turn, aside from trying to save KDJ, was to save as many people as possible I really wanted to know what happened to KNW. I feel like it would’ve been extremely unlikely for them to decide he has to die while planning the group regression because both HSY and YSA knew KDJ regretted killing him. On top of this, YJH always tried to save KNW even when KNW betrayed him in various world-lines. I attribute this to KDJ telling 0 turn YJH that no one is born evil and encouraging him to lead KNW down a good path. Plus, even without all of those factors, if YSA started in the subway car again she’s the kind of person who would try to save as many people with the frog spawn plan. By the way, the hiding frog spawn all over Seoul to break the first scenario was hilarious.

So with all that being said, I feel like it’s extremely unlikely for KNW to die (at least in the first scenario). And I cannot be convinced that that silly little emo edgelord was not one of the teens that got really into the apocalypse craze and started catching a ton of frogs. By that logic YSA would’ve been able to save the Granny without killing KNW. Honestly he’d probably hero worship YSA just like he did for YJH. Another thing is that HSY literally refuses to have ABFD as her sponsor which I know is because her plan was to become a constellation, but that gives ABFD plenty of room to sponsor and get attached to 1865 KNW.

So basically, I feel like 1865 KNW would’ve survived all the way through the final scenario and would have gotten hella attached to Kim Dokja’s Company. Like sure he would’ve been a little asshole at the beginning of the scenarios but there’s no way YJH, HSY, and YSA wouldn’t have been able to guide him while completing scenarios at a breakneck speed. Then that brings me to if he survived, why would KNW stayed in the 1865th worldline? He would’ve gotten hella attached to all the characters from the 1864th turn and if he learned about regressors and how KDJ killed the 1864th him he would’ve probably wanted to meet the man who killed a version of him. Plus, through the various versions of KNW we’re shown throughout the novel, it’s heavily implied that he was depressed, suicidal, and had a terrible family life before the scenarios. So I’m not sure if there’s much of an argument for the idea that he just wouldn’t have boarded the ark and stayed behind in the 1865th turn.

I don’t know, maybe I’m misreading some of his characterization and reading too much into him not being mentioned in the epilogues. Unfortunately, that little fucking edgelord will not leave my head (probably because I can relate to him having dealt with mental illness). Idk, I just feel like a foil as important as him could’ve been mentioned in the epilogue whether it’s a short line mentioning they decided to kill him so he can drive the Gundam again or that he was ABFD’s incarnation again in the 1865th turn.

I mean maybe my sister’s headcanon is right and he really annoyed HSY so she decided to not acknowledge him in the epilogue (since like we’re technically arguably reading HSY’s writing). I think it’d be really funny if he’s just following Kim Dokja Company members around like a lost puppy and crushing on LJH like all other worldlines. I also think his relationship to LGY and SYS could be really funny because he’d treat them like little siblings and they’d hate it because they’re more powerful than him and claim to be around his age because of regression time shenanigans. What are other people’s headcanons for 1865’s KNW? Am I wrong that he’d survive or would he follow Kim Dokja Company because of how badass they all are (especially YJH and JHW)?

[m1ckeyb3rry]

It’s truly a monster of a work LOL maybe someday….the wc is fr insane maybe it’s what influenced you /j

HAHA “just make an oc” is CRAZY but SO TRUE like guys this isn’t even the same character atp

PAUSEE NAGI TAKING OVER THE YOTD FIC IDEA??? Adapting it to fit the original universe sounds a little complicated but if you ever decide to write that I bet it’d be fire….second lead Rin….haha guys!!

I’m actually living for these peregrine rants HELLO?? I love the angst and drama the three main fights also I’m CRYING reader drunkenly approaching Kira bc she thought he was NAGI IM DEAD stop I live for this shit the orie viral news misunderstanding??? Stop this is literally like one of my favorite types of scenarios

I’m laughing so hard the “damn you’re really that emotional over your friends’ wedding good for you” is so fucking funny and it’s also such a Nagi thing to think but THE CONFESSION AT THE WEDDING AND KIRA TWEAKING and CHIGIRI DUMPJNG THW WINE AND DROPPING THAT LINE??? TOO GOOD >>>>>> I can’t that’s also so chigiri holy cow the red hair comeback line is actually too genius I’m losing my mind thinking about it

Peregrine goes so fucking hard……omfg…GUYS..!!!!! Makes me wanna go reread it rn this plot is fr cooking though

LMAOO REAL tiktok truly has its ways…but omg BAROU NEXT I second that I’m actually so excited for Barou’s version too based off our convo it’s gonna be really entertaining to read….im ngl I almost forgot niko was in peregrine too Lowk him in that sidekick-esque role is perfect

LMAOA bro my grind is nothing compared to your writing grind HAHA im also just gonna put my response here to cut down on asks

LMAOAOA no bc my face when i realized….usually he has his trademark “mediocre/dunce” that’s all the same phrase (romanized to bon) but I’ve literally never seen him use this phrase ANYWHERE except for in reference to kiyora so im assuming it must be specifically set aside for him??? Lmao????? It’s basically the same just means “mediocre/average/nothing special” but the way he purposefully uses a different phrase for kiyora has me going crazy

MY EXACT THOUGHTS I read that and snorted that’s so otoya LMAOO but from that it seems like otoya Karasu (and probably himizu) ganged up on/bullied kiyora LOL bro really had all the opps on his team Nagi’s team adopting him like they’re cps has me cackling they really said “let’s get you out of this hostile environment” but FRRRR can’t wait….speaking of new chapters have you seen the ones for the main series yet? I don’t have all that many thoughts about it but we’re finally moving ig?? LOL

- Karasu anon

LMAOO miraverse fic w an orv word count when??? jk idk if i could ever write something that long…200k words is my sweet spot that’s about how long pomegranate ink and endure are (give or take ten thousand) so if i do end up writing something crazy for bllk it’ll probably be abt that length (one of my aot fics was supposed to end up at 500-600k words but i got out of aot so i never finished it 😓 but if you ever see me posting abt ship in the harbor that’s the one!! people really liked it despite it being hardly related to aot and they surprisingly LOVED the ocs i literally still get asks abt them)

LMAOO NO BECAUSE IT’S SO TRUE making ocs is fun there’s nothing wrong with it but stop misinterpreting kaiser like this bro is not your playboy dom daddy he probably has intimacy issues 😭

OKAY BUT IT RLLY COULD COOK it would be sad asf though like major character death sad 😓 since if i did it it’d be a reworking of year of the roses and in that hak literally kills shinah (cue time travel shenanigans that actually just lead to the same inevitable outcome) so uhhh rin stans and nagi stans alike might hate me (it would go crazy though if my tik tok audios fail me i’ll def consider doing that)

LMAOOOO NO BECAUSE I WAS GIGGLING WHEN I THOUGHT OF THAT like why would nagi even be there?? but yk drunk logic 😭 no but that’s such a butterfly effect moment because if she hadn’t gone to the party and met kira she probably would’ve called nagi during the whole orie misunderstanding and straightened things out pretty fast but because kira was there and ready she just gave up and didn’t even try 😓

HAHA plsss no nagi was just trying to cover for her he kinda picked up that smth else was wrong just because he knew her so well but he didn’t want to embarrass her in front of everyone so that’s why he made the excuse and then asked her again privately why she was upset!! when he’s a considerate king 🤩 he’s had many years to think about what he could have done better so he’s def reformed a bit…and LMAOO miraverse chigiri is truly superior he’s sooo funny and sassy i love him he’s fr peregrine reader’s platonic soulmate they are SO funny in the college era!! because their hangouts are basically may and reo being all lovey dovey and then reader + chigiri making fun of them (also the chigiri and kira beef is LEGENDARY HAHA)

I MISS PEREGRINE it’s actually so fun so interesting so cool one day i will return to the grind for it omg i’ve gotten so many people asking abt when i will update again and i’m just like 😰 idkkk

HELP niko consistently in his sidekick era he’s always there in some way shape or form i can’t help it it’s just the exact vibe he’s always bringing to the function!! BAROU’S VERSION WILL BE SO FUN i am sososo excited for the oaeu imagine i start writing it now even though i still have requests to do…NO I MUSTN’T

THEY ARE SO MEAN TO KIYORA BRO you know it’s bad when barou and nagi seem like cuddly sweethearts in comparison 😭 honestly justice for kiyora no wonder he’s always ready to fight i would be too 😓 and smh karasu bro rlly went from the bullied to the bully…I CAN FIX HIM THOUGH TRUST next epinagi chapter will be me standing there w my hands on karasu’s shoulders like “look at me baby 🥺 this isn’t you 🥺” FJDJDJSJSJ jkjk

yesss i did see the new chap!! okay wait i was joking abt the this isn’t you but why was isagi deadass serving the 🥺 emoji in that one panel w rin i hope yk what i’m talking abt…at least rin finally scored YAYY i’m hoping the match ends soon just one more goal to go!! and then the next arc begins…or maybe we finally get a peek at barcha vs manshine!! rooting for nagi to come back 🤩

[vikab]

I didn't want to clog my post caption longer but I wanted to put additional notes about my process etc

also: [youtube mirror]

So yeah exactly 2 weeks ago, I was on a drive back home from a camping trip and while I was offline I couldnt stream any music, I decided to give some old songs a listen by Ling tosite sigure, my favorite band of all time. It's been a while, I wasn't too fond of their recent releases so I haven't listened to my favorites songs by them for a while.

My favorite LTS tracks btw...

Of course then make up syndrome song came on. I'mperfect album by LTS is how I discovered them (through Psycho Pass OP song Abnormalize) and I love that album a lot, then I started thinking about animating a music video - as one does when listening to something and imagining your favorite characters to the song. Happens often, BUT I usually never act upon it.

I know animation is a lot of work, I didn't study animation at all - I have some random animation experiences but they're not a lot. I know how use Premiere Pro and After Effects, but thats it. I didn't know how to use the Clip Studio Paint animation feature. But I had just recently finished reading ORV... and was obsessed. The themes, the characters, Kim Dokja. I couldn't stop thinking about how good the song is, and how much I wanted to animate some parts of the song (particularly main chorus and some parts towards the end).

I began thinking of a storyboard. Didn't actually end up drawing out, I kept the whole idea in my head (I did write out some text details into my notes but that's it). Next 2 hours in the car I've spent obsessively replaying the song and imagining animation parts. I wanted... a lot of details and animation on that lol. More TV anime style, like an anime opening, looking legit 😅 But as I edited the song into short version (no way I would have finished this if I had done the full song) I opened after effects and started setting up my timeline. I broke it down into 13 segments and realized... oh boy. That's a lot 😅 Maybe I would just stick my own artstyle and do my best.

Through week 1 I began working on scenes I had more clear in my head and knew what specific effects I need. But still a lot of "after effects [effect i was thinking of]" in my google search bar, I havent used AE in quite some time... I downloaded few free plugins and templates but it was mostly a boil effect and chromatic aberration... some AE plugins are so expensive!!

Work week was busy but I utilized my time well. Then by the weekend I went crazy and got sooo many drawings done. They're all quite quick, I tried spending less than an hour on each, but still had to do like 5 redraws on some of them because I was not happy with some cuts. Running animation cycle at the end was most insane work I did because at first I was like "surely this cant be hard" spoiler alert: it was hard. I drew 8 frames for running and realized it was very... slow running effect. So I cut it into 4 frames, reducing my workload since I had to detail the running silhouette into HSY and YJH. yay?

anyway..... this was a lot of work. Week 2 I finally started seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. I knew my limits, I hibernate A LOT on drawing regular illustrations throughout the year, how am I supposed to animate a whole video. So I knew I had to push myself to finish by end of the week otherwise I will be too tired to ever finish it. I did become a bit frustrated with my work, I had left the most difficult parts for last, and I was worried I am not doing my best work. But I really wanted to finish this, actually finish impulsive desire to make animated music video to media I'm obsessed about. It's hard for me to put into words how well ORV did what it did, so I can only hope to convey my emotions thru my art.

Uhmmm that's it!! Hope you enjoyed. I struggle with confidence about my work so I was very surprised when my KDJ drawings popped off on here. I wasn't even done with the novel but somehow I hit a nail on the head I guess. I dont expect this to pop off at all tbh, im not good fighting the online algorithm. This was a passion project through and through, but I also feel mega cringe about it 🙈 This project ended up being a lot of drawings.. so many assets. My project file was messy, and my laptop was struggling with some effects. So when I rendered video last night for over an hour, I could finally view the video in proper HD definition (my AE viewport is Quarter quality) I noticed bunch of timing mistakes and had to fix it... then set to render the video while I sleep 🙈 thankfully when I woke up in the morning I havent spotted mistakes and decided yipeee im freeeeee!!!

(free me from orv brainrot)

song: make up syndrome - Ling tosite sigure (edited into shorter version)