#yoohankim looks great

[sleepyminty]

Update icon for you and your sleep deprived mutuals

[unluckilyimnot]

Hey! If it’s okay with you, can o request Shin Yoosung and Jung Heewon (platonic) x reader headcanons where both of them see reader was an older sibling?

Reader as their older siblings

Shin Yoosung, Lee Jihye

fluff

Hi ! ofc i can lslsl I wasn't expecting anythin regading orv to be honest, I was just thinking about putting all the things i want to point out on the same masterlist if people wanted to hear about it but I'm so happy someone requested something. Thank you so much i love you

Shin Yoosung

poor baby, people has been so harsh with her she deserves the world

you know what she’s been through, Dokja mentioned it a little to you, for you to look after her when he’s gone as well as Gilyoung

her who doesn’t necessarily trust adults beside Dokja, tends to turn to you a lot at any given chance and when she feels like she needs help

it doesn’t have to be serious, in between the scenarios it’s taking care of her hair at the same time as yours, making sure she’s eating enough or getting enough sleep

and during or after scenarios, it’s taking care of her and her possible wounds before yours, making sure she’s safe and sound before your own health

it doesn’t take much time for her to see you as an older siblings

plus, there're things she can’t talk about with Dokja, or that just feels simpler if you talk about it with someone external – since her relationship with Dokja is special

you’re very clever, warm and she knows she can ask you anything

she tends to fall asleep next to/on you from time to time

honestly if your life is in danger she would never get over it, hurting herself into thinking she should’ve done better

now she knows she can help and protect herself, as well as other, yet she also knows that people will get mad and put their life on the line for her and it’s a comforting feeling she would not feel in another universe

Lee Jihye

you’re one of those that reminds her that she deserves to live and to keep going on when remorse started to get the best of her and when she doubt herself

she’s a teenager, she needs someone to get her on a deeper level and you try your best to do so, respecting her boundaries but always checking on her

I think that you showing her the respect she deserves from the start helps it a lot

To the point that she can joke around like a normal teenager with you easily

you order her to sleep because she tends to forget it I think

as long as she wants to treat you like a bro, you allow it, and act the same, the second she flinches and needs an older figure to stand instead of her you’re there too

she looks out for you as well, she can’t accept it if it’s one sided. If you risk your life for her, she will risk her own to save and protect you too

She's still young, and you think adults should take care of certains things instead of them. Deep down you wish you could do all the hard work for her or even the other younger ones

she probably wished she had someone like a siblings to lean on when she’s down, and even before all of that, and she’s glad to see your smile everyday since this hell started

I'm so happy to write anything about orv. Feel free to just talk to me about it, it will be a pleasure ! I'm a great enthusiastic of yoohankim of someone need to know 👀

I hope you liked it ♡

[shephar]

Idk I think my biggest gripe with the ORV fandom is that most of the posts are about the intricacies of YooHanKim and there's not nearly enough anything about the fact that Yoo Sangah and Lee Gilyoung weren't even part of TWSA in the slightest.

Ugh, major spoilers for the entirety of ORV below the cut

Unlike Kim Dokja, who narratively fits the greatest purpose in TWSA alone, i.e. making sure Yoo Junghyook doesn't choose a sponsor in his 0th turn, eventually sponsoring Yoo Junghyook to start the rest of the regressions, being what he was looking for at the end of the scenarios, all that, Yoo Sangah and Lee Gilyoung were never at all in TWSA, making them less like a character than Kim Dokja.

And, like, if Kim Dokja wasn't as selflessly selfish as he was, it would have been impossible or near impossible to reach The Oldest Dream without them. Yoo Sangah and Lee Gilyoung had saved his life a lot iirc, and they also had the Samsara and Evil walls respectively.

They're so great, they are my favorite people in ORV.

[corvidaes-crow]

A Dissection of Names

TL;DR: CQL shows affection through name-calling and attention hogging, ORV does that too but also focuses on names and how they define you, LCF looks at names with attributes as gifts vs titles, and Turning touches on names as burdens instead.

I watched The Untamed/CQL (and read MDZS) as one of my earliest introductions into East Asian fiction. I found myself turning over in my head how its story was affected by the censorship of queer relationships in its medium, as well as the ways Wei Ying and Lan Zhan conveyed affection for each other in the place of explicit expression. And one of those main forms of expression is through calling each other's names and holding each other's attention. Instead of the physical aspects of a romantic and/or sexual relationship, here is a subtextual way to express affection that is private, tender, and laden with meaning. In terms of the significance of names that I learnt from repeated "Wei Ying" and "Wei Wuxian!" calling, with a multitude of inflections and unspoken meanings, when one of the main characters' dialogue is almost exclusively a name, then names must carry a huge amount of significance.

And then I read ORV, by extent ORV fics (in general major character traits/canon speech habits become very prominent in fics), and Yoo Joonghyuk says, "Kim Dokja," like it's one of the only phrases he knows. So solidified my understanding that names are Important. Specifically, to say someone's name and have them pay attention. Who needs pet names when you can taste each syllable of who someone is on your tongue? But with ORV it's not that simple. ORV adds another layer to the name game. 'Dokja' being both 'reader' and 'only child' is briefly touched on in the early part of the novel. Later, it focuses on the first nature to build on the YooHanKim triumvirate of Reader, Writer, Protagonist. And titles get added to the mix - . Who is Yoo Joonghyuk if not the Protagonist? What is Kim Dokja if not a Reader? What else can Han Sooyoung be, when the only thing she can do is write? Titles are tokens of identity, simplified for efficient distribution. It's economic - an easy way to judge someone, or a convenient place to start to know them.

And sometimes titles are names too. In LCF, the two souls involved in a world/body swap give up their names freely - eagerly, almost. The motif of 'names' as attached to the theme 'identity' is narrowed to names as given by others. "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet," but if any flower by the name 'rose' smells as sweet, then what? The scent must be indelible in the letters of the name. If a name and its corresponding attributes are shared between different entities, it is more fittingly called a 'title'. At the beginning of TCF, in KRS!Cale's early interactions with the Henituse family, Cale Henituse is not a son, nor a master, not a villainous heir - he is the inhabitant of a body with a title. 'Cale Henituse' is a mere title, with the attributes of selfishness and asocial behaviour and unreasonable temper. A mere title - because the person behind the name is gone. The person using that name exists unknown by the people that call him it, and acts accordingly to its attributes. 'Cale Henituse,' as other people know him, is a mix of concept and preconceived conclusion. When Cale reveals the swap, those that knew 'Cale Henituse' before the switch must now re-identify Cale as a separate entity. They must go through their memories and make a clean cut in their mental timelines of 'Cale Henituse's Change and Improvement,' where previously they have either explained away or skipped over the incongruencies because any other reason is 'impossible'.

Meanwhile, the purer form of gifted names comes as 'Raon Miru' (and 'Dodam Miru', for another example). Raon's name is a gift that actively shapes his identity. We see its effects clearly in his demeanour and sense of self, more so because of his young age - "the great and mighty Raon Miru!" is an untouchable, revered, free Dragon. As Cale gave the name after a period of careful thought, and as he continues to respect, acknowledge and dote on Raon, the once-trapped Dragon toddler in the cave can happily associate 'Raon Miru' with 'loved'.

Turning depicts a more unpleasant experience with gifted names, though they are also given out of respect and/or love. Surnames and given names are bestowed with little to no consultation of the one who must now live with that name. Yuder accepts his last name 'Ail' ambivalently, as it is one of many surnames given out that day. It is meaningless except that its existence marks him as more than a random lower-class citizen. On the other hand, Kishiar la Orr's gift of the name 'Yudrein' in the first timeline becomes a burden that Yuder is all too happy to abandon. It haunted him in the form of the rumours that he renamed himself as a result of his ego, or the misconception that a man he resents gave it to him as "an honourable gift and source of pride," as bestowed names are normally perceived. Sometimes you are given a name that is not yours and you do not know what to do with it, but it is what someone has chosen for you and they meant well by it, so you wear it every day until you get used to hearing it and thinking of yourself. You do not grow into it. It does not grow on you. It will never fit you. By now, you are too tired to fight it. Names are gifted with affection. Sometimes they are only received out of obligation.

Or maybe any name on you can feel right, as long as someone calls it with a complete, complex understanding of you.

[orphiclovers]

Time to give you an Anime recommendation that'll absolutely destroy you from the inside out: Mawaru Penguindrum

Go look up the synopsis yourself, I'm here to just give the warnings and why I rec this to you

Incest, Violence against children, stalking, CSA, Ambiguous r@pe scene, terrorist attacks, and other specific ones that you can look up yourself.

On to why I recommend this to you: ORV. This anime is 100% ORV coded and I would not be surprised if ORV took inspiration from this anime. Most of the relationships(if not all) feel like dark! YooHanKim and it's great. Go watch it. It's going to hurt like a subway train (shared motif of penguindrum and ORV omg)

+

LMAO I thought the content warnings were the 'why I rec this to you' and was like damn okay shade is that what you think I'm into?

And anon it sounds great and exactly like something I'd like but I have to be honest and say that the planets have to align perfectly for me to pick anything new up

thank's for the rec though, I'll add it to the ever expanding list of things I have to get to! just don't expect too much from me or you will end up disappointed

[pinkfestivalpeanuttree]

omg i finally remembered to ask this X_X, anyways i remembered you left some interesting tags on one of my posts and i wanted to ask, how do you view yjh's gender identity?

i personally went with the masc-presenting trans lesbian angle since that felt the most "in character" and also had a lot of comedic potential in my au but im very curious about how you've characterized her since it seems like you see her as more feminine so to speak (feel free to make your answer as long as you want jdhfshfdsj i love talking about gender)

omg it's betawooper from transfem yoo joo au 😳 hiii!

Firstly I want to say that I ADORE your au!!! It's definitely influenced some of my headcanons on yjh's gender identity. I did see her as more feminine before but now I see her as comfortable with being masc-presenting and more androgenous. Secondly, I am biologically female and been comfortable with she/her pronouns and presenting femininely my entire life. However, after learning more about the lgbtqia+ community and doing some self-reflection, I realized that I may be under on the non-binary umbrella. I haven't really experimented with my gender identity much. Unlike my romantic and sexual orientation (aroace spectrum), which I felt a connection to as soon as i learned what it was, and felt the urge to do more research on it, my gender was more ambiguous to me. I didn't really feel a strong connection to it, or rather, I felt a strong disconnect to it. I feel like I should insert a cool metaphor here. It's like a cloud? I can see different shapes from it, but I can't get closer or touch it. It's amorphous and not solid, and I can't get a good grip on it. I like being feminine, but I like being referred to with they/them pronouns, and also get gender envy (?) from more androgenous male characters. I'm comfortable with having no labels as of now, but I'd like to experiment with my appearance and pronouns more irl if I get the chance.

All this to say that I started projecting onto Yoo Joonghyuk lol. Kinda funny because usually i project my aroace-ness and neurodivergence onto my blorbos, not my gender identity, but between Breaking the Sky Swordsmanship and the Punisher it was just too perfect. (actually I've noticed i've been projecting my gender onto more characters since I've fleshed out my headcanons for yjh. It's not a conscious decision, but if someone were to ask me what I thought of [character's] gender, I'd have to pause and go, 'Well, I'm not sure, but they're definitely not cis.' It's actually the same way I come up with my aspec headcanons: 'not sure where exactly you are on the spectrum but I like you way too much to make you allo.')

Another fic that inspired my interpretation of yjh's gender is this fic, https://archiveofourown.org/works/42593688/chapters/106989912, which I love dearly with my entire heart but might not be up your alley. It has a more feminine yjh and romantic yoohankim (if i may dump some more lgbtqia+ headcanons here I hc both yjh and kdj as aspec and yoohankim as a queerplatonic relationship but I am okay with romantic yoohankim mostly because there is so little qpr/aro representation in general. I am also a multishipper and I love your sapphic seolhyuk so much!) and it's a post-epilogue fic with yjh figuring out her gender identity with the support of Kimcom.

So to me, Joonghyuk's gender is similarly ambiguous in nature, the Amorphous Untouchable Cloud of Gender™️, Definitely Not cis, and she's androgynous-presenting. I think she would keep her hair short throughout the scenarios for efficiency, but post-epilogue she'd grow it out. Not a lot, but she would absolutely use her androgyny to fuck with strangers. I think Secretive Plotter with long hair would be great because she'd give me more gender envy than I already have. I don't think she'd have labels for herself. I think she wouldn't like makeup the one time she lets Seolhwa put some on her but everyone agrees that she looks amazing with eyeliner. I think she should be allowed to use Breaking the Sky Swordsmanship on transphobes. I think she uses any pronouns but prefers she/her. I think, had it been canon, her being trans would have added a whole new layer to her character arc and the meta-ness of ORV and its themes of breaking free from predetermined roles, to her role as "protagonist" and the way she breaks free from being a "character" and just... it would have been super cool and I can't write an entire essay on how trans yjh would have improved ORV but I want to.

Thanks for the opportunity for me to infodump about my headcanons lol! Just curious, what tags/post was it that made you ask?

[oseike]

1. How much of ORV have you read? Have you reread it yet?

-> finished, and then reread fully once, then reread in sections about 4 or 5 more times tbh. Is this what hyperfixation feels like?

2. How long did it take you to read ORV?

-> a week, almost exactly, and that's about the only thing I did other than chores. Given I can read a 400-500 page novel in a day, that's beefy.

3. What's your opinion on the welcoming? Does it do a good job adapting the story?

-> Any adaptation from text to visual is going to, by necessity, lose some fidelity due to time constraints. To fully recreate every nuance of the book would take too long - and would be a disservice to the book in the end. Overall, I think they're doing a great job staying true to the story in as much detail as is feasible to recreate, and I'm pretty excited for the next arc (Dark Castle arc) hehe

4. (I'm skipping the fic ones cos I haven't read any) Do you have any ORV merchandise?

-> Nooooottt yet lol

5. (Skipping the mutual part because???) Which parts of ORV made you cry?

-> SPOILERS FOR SURE. 1) the part when kdj returns from 1863 and kneels in front of Shin Yoosung was probably the first scene that got me. Then they just kept hitting me - 2) when Jung Heewon was looking at his sleeping form while they were drugging him asleep (lol) and locking him up in the complex (double lol) and she noted how tired and worn he looked, and found she just couldn't stay mad at him. Then 3) when Yoo Joonghyuk fought him on Reincarnator Isle and Kim Dokja was unable to express himself, and Yoo Joonghyuk himself was being so much of an idiot that he really almost killed him, and just the GUILT. The MISCOMMUNICATIONS AND MISUNDERSTANDINGS. How dare they. Then 4) when kdj was facing the outer gods in the N'Gai forest, then--hey wait come back I have more-

6. Who's your favorite character, yoohankim excluded?

-> Is there a quiz I can take to help me pick??? Uriel... Sun Wukong.... Shin Yoosung...but then Lee Hyunsung too is so good... and Lee Gilyeong, and and--??? Bro you got me man. Most want to meet irl, probably Lee Hyunsung....

7. What's one headcanon you'd ride or die for?

-> THAT POST CH 551 IS HAPPY AND KDJ IS BACK. Haven't read the side stories yet. I refuse to believe it failed. That said, I'm not one to really care about what others like or dislike, and I'm not gonna shove my opinions upon anyone else as a result. So, that's the only one I would protest if someone said otherwise lol

8. Which ORV character gets the most bitches?

-> Kim Dokja is the most beloved (the world was made for him) but he's wholly too awkward and doesn't know how to accept that when it comes from a person so he gets no bitches. Yoo Joonghyuk is pretty and people are attracted to him, but he's too cold and only very few people can overcome that enough to have feelings reciprocated (Lee Seolhwa) so he's also basically bitchless. Han Sooyoung is too gremlin for anyone and seriously has no interest.

Honestly, I bet the one who gets the most is Lee Hyunsung, because he's too nice, but he keeps being taken advantage of so it never lasts. I'm sorry bro.

9. If Kim Dokja is a squid and Yoo Joonghyuk is a sunfish, what's Han Sooyoung?

-> a clownfish.

10. Do you think anyone in kimcom knows how to drive?

-> well, we know Han Sooyoung can; she mentioned owning expensive cars before, and hating public transport. We know Yoo Sangah can, because she drove the limo in the final chapter. We know Kim Dokja can, he just kinda sucks at it (a comment from 999!yjh). Other than them, I'd bet Lee Hyunsung can, just because I can't imagine it isn't basic training for the military. Not sure about anyone else. Maybe Gong Pildu and Lee Seolhwa?

11. Do you think you would survive the scenarios? How far would you get?

-> I'd die so fast, I have no illusions. I'm too boring and not enough of a quick thinker to survive ngl. Maybe if I got lucky I'd get to the battle between subway stations section but.....idk man, past that...

Fuck it we ORV ask game

send an emoji to someone's inbox, or slap it in the tags so anyone who reblogs from you can answer!

📖: How much of ORV have you read? Have you reread it yet?

📅:How long did it take you to read ORV?

👀:What’s your opinion on the webcomic? Does it do a good job adapting the story?

✏️:Have you ever written any ORV fics? Unfinished brainworms count too!

⭐:Any ORV fic recs?

💸:Do you have any ORV merch, official or otherwise?

❓:FREE SPACE– ask a mutual about their interpretation of a theme, symbol, or motif of choice!

💧:Which parts of ORV, if any, made you cry?

♥️:Who’s your favorite character, YooHanKim excluded?

💭:What’s one ORV headcanon you’re ride or die for?

🔥:Which ORV character gets the most bitches (if you pick Kim Dokja I’ll hunt you for sport /j)

🐟:If Kim Dokja is a Squid and Yoo Joonghyuk is a sunfish, what’s Han Sooyoung?

🚘:Do you think anybody in Kimcom knows how to drive?

⚔️:Do you think you would survive the scenarios? How far would you get?

[jomeimei421]

you got any orv fic recs 🙏🏼

BOY I sure do. This list is going to be pretty long, so I'll put it below the cut.

Mei's ORV Fic Reccs

Spoilers for ORV until the epilogue!

Post-Epilogue by the1864

GEN, yoohankim if you squint. This one is one of my favorite ORV fics at the moment so it's going first in this list! It picks up right where 551 leaves off, and every single character is written absurdly well, especially the main trio! Great if you're looking for KDJ recovery stuff.

Rendezvous by WindsofTime

Joongdok. A reimagining of select scenes from ORV, if KDJ and YJH made more use of Midday Tryst, told from YJH's point of view. A tiny bit different from canon, but not enough to call it canon divergence. The babygirl YJH fic ever. Op GETS him.

The False Last Act by younglegends

GEN. If you read any fic on this list, please read this one. I can't say anything about it without spoiling parts of it, and I really don't want to do that. Extremely well executed. Lovely, comforting, and will make your stomach flip like you've stared too long into the abyss. Read this fic TWICE. Read it TWO (2) TIMES.

My Cooking was Always Better with You (Now if only you would eat it) by pave_ment

GEN, joongdok if you squint. For those who lament over the fact that we never got to see any scenes from YJH's 81st regression cooking adventure I present to you: Dungeon Meshi AU, ft. chimera KDJ and bratty chef adventurer YJH. Enjoy!

Tell Me I Did Good Until Now by featherx

GEN. with a little sangsoo on the side. KDJ returns post epilogue, but stays a child in body and mind. This one had me reeling for the whole week when I read it. Sweet and melancholy. I especially loved YJH being bullied by children. KDJ is really, profoundly loved in this one.

An Incomplete Record of Correspondence Between The Magnificent, Unbiased, Genius Author Han Su-yeong and The Jackass Who Dares to Edit Her Work by Dragonomatopoeia

Joongdok. Yoohan's annoying arguments in the ORV shared google doc. The concept and title alone are too funny to not put on this list.

The Prologue Past the Epilogue by AVoresmith

Yoohankim, though mostly just JD at the moment. Of all the ORV fics I've ever read, I think this fic comes to closest to imitating the actual writing style of ORV along with nailing the characterizations with pinpoint precision. Also contains a JD kiss chapter that is more intense than any actual nsfw scene they could have wrote. There are some caveats to this recommendation though:

It gets slightly NSFW in the latest chapter.

Biyoo is several hundred years old and is treated as an adult, not a kid. There will be mention of Biyoo in relationships with adult partners -- including implied YJH. In my opinion it's handled tactfully, but it's also something that might turn some people off to this fic, so please be aware!

LGY has a big puppy love crush on KDJ. Obviously completely one-sided, but it's there.

Home Invasion by misoriri

GEN. KDJ gets shingles and has to be taken to the doctor. YJH breaks a door and then looms in the kitchen like an evil lamp post. JHW bites a tomato like an apple. LJY gets demolished at Club Penguin Card Jitsu. A short read, but hysterical. KCom is so fucking funny in this.

I saw you in a dream by featherx

GEN, Doksoo if you squint. OD meets the HSY of his new worldline, and can't help feeling like he knows her from another time, another place. Had to lay down after this one. Solid 999 and SP fam content, as well as typical YHK style cosmic unbreakable bonds.

We are A Woven Thread by ksalientian

Yoohankim. A reincarnation AU. I read this one a while back but I found it again recently and it still hits just as hard! The cosmic codependence trio finds themselves trapped in another looping cycle, but as is always the case with them, they always find each other and are okay in the end.

A Short Pause by Je_te_veux

GEN, but can be read as JD. An episode set between 517 and 520, a day in the life of YJH, and having some time to think. JTV is a Chinese writer, and you will need to copy and paste into a translator to read their fics, but genuinely they are one of the best ORV writers I've ever read. This fic is one of the ones I always come back to. Really excellent YJH characterization.

Honey and Ginger by Rivani

Yoohankim. Good old fashioned fluff sickfic! The banter is very well done; the three of them are insufferable <3

Too Many Cooks by SonaSona

Yoohankim. KCom makes dinner. HSY makes herself a nuisance. Sona's prose is incredible, and her characterization of the main trio is impeccable. Light, sweet, with just a touch of the ORV brand melancholy. Yoohan is always funny.

There are more but this post is getting pretty long so! Enjoy 👍

[wizardmons-moved]

okay yeah yeah dokhyeok is great and all but i cannot see them ever feasibly getting together. like i was thinking about it and i was like. wait. them getting together would require one of them making the first move.

and like, kdj is so deep into denial that no matter how blatantly obvious anything is, he will still find a way to spin it through his funhouse mirror maze of a mind into No Homo territory, no matter how flimsy whatever terrible excuse he has latched onto has. even if he were... confessed to, or whatever, he would still be thinking ‘sorry yjh if this looks gay to the viewers’ the entire time. i literally can’t see him thinking about his or anybody else’s feelings for more than two seconds without dropping off the grid for six months and coming back banned in four countries.

and yjhs solution to his problems is to punch them. you can see why that wouldn’t work out. his other solution is to defiantly huff and act like his aggressive tsundere self, as he does, which kdj’s No Homo brain would translate into ‘i hate you and would like you to go away forever now.’

also, they’d have to... actually have a human conversation? instead of just shouting some homoerotic one-liner during a battle. name literally one (1) time yjh and kdj have had an Actual Conversation in all 551 chapters of orv. seriously. i’ll wait.

this isn’t like a commentary on how emotionally constipated yjh and kdj are it’s just me trying to convert more people to yoohankim because the only feasible way anything would ever work out would be with our Goddess and Savior, the Benevolent Han Sooyung, who is at least marginally better at acknowledging her own feelings than the two people who think dying and coming back to life is a coping mechanism.