#the world may go on without yoo joonghyuk but he won't!!! he won't he won't he won't

[bidokja]

kim dokja gets so upset, so distraught, about the idea of yoo joonghyuk dying and there are...there are layers here. ever so many thin and delicate layers stacked so densely together they look solid, but which rip apart at the barest touch, and their scattering pieces are so beautiful and sad and

remember. how kim dokja tells himself that he doesn't want yoo joonghyuk to regress because he isn't sure what will happen to the story - the timeline - without the protagonist in it. remember in the 10th main scenario, when yoo joonghyuk tells kim dokja that this current world won't end if yoo joonghyuk regresses. when he says don't worry, i made sure, i asked, and the world won't end. and of course the layer here is "you won't die if i die (you can live if i die (you can live without me))."

but kim dokja doesn't get it. he doesn't get it he doesn't. what do you mean you asked? what do you mean it won't matter? this is the best way? for what? for who? what about you? and of course the layer here is "what about me (what about you (what about me-))?"

because that's just the thing isn't it. yoo joonghyuk existing is the reason kim dokja is alive. more specifically, it's the fact that yoo joonghyuk exists where kim dokja can see (can read) him. so if yoo joonghyuk isn't there anymore, where does that leave him? where does that leave kim dokja, in this world?

yoo joonghyuk tell's kim dokja he'll be fine if he dies, but kim dokja knows that isn't true. he knows it, feels it, even if he doesn't say it. it's no wonder that he makes sure this never comes to pass. no wonder he risks ejection from the scenarios, when to him that's far less of a risk than the alternative. kim dokja never learned how to live without yoo joonghyuk.

[m2kdj-waist-connoisseur]

ORV aka one of the greatest love stories I've ever read

The title says it all, our beloved novel is one of the greatest love stories written and it doesn't belong to the romance genre (as far as I know anyway).

I won't go in to heavy detail but this has a lot of spoilers (you've been warned)

I see ORV as a love story of many.

It's a love story of a man whose love for reading webnovels consumed his life, became his reason to keep moving forward, his reason to survive, his reason to protect and his reason to die. He valued the lives of characters more than his and deemed his suffering minor compared to theirs. He would throw his life away, even trying to take it with his hands, if it meant they would live happily because he wanted them to be happy (even if he couldn't be part of that hapiness).

The love story of a writer that wrote for a single reader even when it seemed impossible. A writer that would sacrifice the world for her reader if it meant he would survive and live to see another day.

A love story between a sword and shield. They were brought together because of a reader, fought together, suffered together and inevitably separated by their memories of said reader.

A love story between a mother and child with common enemies known as 'shared suffering', 'lack of comunication' and 'misunderstanding'. The mother that sacrificed her life for her son, that sold her life story in hopes of protecting him, that treasured every story he told when he visited and was hurt that a fictional character was the one her son loved most but grateful said character helped him survive when she couldn't. The son that felt betrayed by his mother and came to resent her but fought with all he had to keep her alive and well.

The love story of a protagonist that lived for his companions. A protagonist that sacrificed his limbs, mind and life to protect the people he cared about. He was ready to become a demon king, fated to die at the hands of his companions, if it meant they would get to the conclusion. A man that loved his sister and wished to protect her with all he had even when she appeared in his life without any warning.

The love story of companions that would forsake their comfort, cross world lines and give up all they had to save each other. They found strength in hope and when they were out of hope, they became each others' strength and reason to keep going.

*falls to my knees* THERE'S SO MUCH LOVE IN THIS NOVEL I CAN'T TYPE IT ALL

I'll just end this with some of my favourite quotes (I spent an hour searching for these babies)

"Kim Dokja had learned how to live from this man. This man was my father; my brother; and my oldest friend."

"This story is for just that one reader."

"That man is the world I wish to save."

"Even then, you only chose to read and nothing else. ...Because that is our way of living. You acted, and I read you doing it."

"Not everything can be expressed in sentences."

"I just wanted to say it once. I don't think I've ever told you before."

"I love you, Heewon-ssi."

"If this story can really save you...If you regained just a litle of your memories and remember us just one more time...Then I'l keep writing the epilogue for you until the end of time, for eternity."

"I lost the safety pin. I thought that I shouldn't lose it again."

"Tell me, you fool. If I continue to regress, will I ever get to meet you again?"

"I looked at Yoo Jonghyuk's miserable face and thought: Don't worry Yoo Joonghyuk. I'll do the rest. You stop and rest."

"Demon King of Salvation. I shall pray that you may continue to exist somewhere, too."

"Just because I will forget about them, that doesn't mean they'll suddenly stop existing. They definitely continue to live in this world."

"Yoo Joonghyuk smiled faintly."

"If you get a chance to run again, do you believe you can see it better the next time?"

"Because of your story, I was able to survive until now."

"Even then, this was the story Kim Dokja dearly wished to create."

"And fortunately enough, this story happened to be the one I loved the most."

"In the end, to every human being, the most precious thing was themselves. And Kim Dokja risked everything of his, always."