LycoRogue's Reading Corner: April

Est. Read Time: 50 min
This Month's Font: Playpen Sans

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Edited by LycoRogue

A very happy Easter to all who celebrate! 

I cannot believe it kept me this long to get my reading update published. This is the latest I've been. I don't know if I can call it a mid-month update at this point. However, I still managed it! I persevered! I didn't abandon the project even though it felt a bit pointless after the 17th came and went. I pushed through the "what does it matter? Who reads these LRRC posts anyway?" doubts and just finished this dang thing! Go, me!

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(Ignore the futility of this Sisyphean imagery... it's HOPEFUL! I'm persevering!)

As per usual, I started working on this update around the 10th or so. I really should learn to start sooner. I ought to know better by now.... Anyway, I started working on this around the 10th. Same problem of "no time on my computer unless I'm home alone" that I've been having for months, so most of my free time to work on this was at my job. And my job was actually kinda hoppin' this past week (no, that wasn't supposed to be an Easter pun...).

Please note: The store's hours are when the doors are unlocked. As in, the closing time should be when the doors are going to be locked to the public. The doors cannot be locked if there's still customers inside. Please stop going into stores minutes before close and then keeping the employees there past closing. Especially if you end up not buying anything.

This has been a LycoRogue PSA.

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*Ahem* Anyhoo.

The first few days that I was trying to work on my update were halted by my very talkative coworker not leaving me alone. Hard to concentrate on what you're writing when someone is yapping at you.

Then, I lucked into having two days off in a row! I was determined to get my writing done then! Eeeeeexcept... There was a lot of time with Hubby, so priorities weren't on writing. When Hubby was at work and I could prioritize writing, I instead, ironically enough, prioritized reading. The weather has been so kooky lately. One day it's 71-degrees Fahrenheit (22-degrees Celsius); bright and sunny with a gentle, warm breeze. The next day there's a coating of snow and wind gusts strong enough that I had to bring my porch furniture back inside to make sure it wasn't tossed off the property again! So... when I lucked into a nice day or two, I was out on the porch reading.

At least... I was until I passed out while reading.... The sun and warm breeze and fresh air all just felt really good after this long winter, okay? (Also, yes, I was careful to be protected from the sun)

I did spend some time on the porch working on this post as well. Just.... not enough to get the update finished by the 15th. Despite my efforts.

Then, there was this week of work. This is where that PSA comes in. My manager and I were at work at least a half-hour past closing every day we worked this week. Fun! I also had a few work projects that I had to take care of. So, again, only enough time at work to chip away at this update here and there.

But none of that matters! As I said, I persevered! I pushed through the chaos and lower priority ranking and the gorgeous days (and coworkers) distracting me. I was determined to not miss this update, and, dang it! I hit my goal!

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I'm proud that I'm sticking to my guns on this stuff. I set these goals - New Years Resolutions - and I'm doing my best to check them off, even if I'm doing so a bit later than I would have liked. Done is better than not-done. I'm still on-track for my 12 LycoRogue Reading Corner updates, even if they aren't mid-month.

Close enough!

Anyway, enough preamble. Who's ready to see what I've been up to in Reading Land?

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I've actually had to rotate out a few stories, which meant bringing in new ones. I'm still keeping to the 17-stories per week line-up it seems, and I'm trying to keep the distribution relatively the same as well. I rotate out a Friday update; I pick a different Friday update. I finish a daily unlock; I start up a different daily unlock. Etc.

Part of the reason for the rotation is obviously because the story I was reading is now done. Nothing more to read. Time to switch out. The other reason, however, is because certain stories are currently on hiatus, and it seems they may be on hiatus for an unknown length of time. Might as well fill in that hole, right?

To start, while I haven't officially finished yet, I am three episodes away from completing Divorcing My Tyrant Husband. The final three episodes are locked at 3 coins each. Having learned my lesson from The Duke's Teddy Bear, I'll just pour money into the dang WEBTOON app finally. It's not worth the headache of trying to literally play games to earn the coins. I've been thinking about putting in enough money to just purchase (read: fully unlock) Marry My Husband anyway. Might do the same for I Abdicate My Title of Empress as well. Which is another story that I've completed. There's still the epilogue episodes available for me to read, but those are also coin-locked and can be easily binged in one sitting once I unlock them.

So, that opens up both of my Daily Pass slots. 

The stories I decided to fill those slots with are: The Girl Downstairs (Doona!) and The Makeup Remover.

I picked The Girl Downstairs simply because Hubby has been on a big K-Drama kick for the past few months. As he was going through his suggested shows, one mentioned that it was based off of a popular manhwa on WEBTOON. I'm game. I'll read TGD and then Hubby and I can watch that show. We also still need to rotate in the live-action K-Drama based off of Marry My Husband. I'm loving that our interests unintentionally overlapped like this.

When Joon moves into his new apartment on his first day of college, he wasn't expecting beautiful ex-celebrity Doona (Duna) to be living downstairs. Joon tries to avoid her at first, but finds himself growing more and more curious about her mysterious life.

    - Official Webtoon Summary

I only just started up this series, so I'm only 13 episodes in out of the full 149-episode run. The series premiered November 2019, and ran until August 2022. So, I'm a bit late to the party. Obviously, if it has a live-action K-Drama that debuted last year, and I had never even heard of the series before.

Anyway, I'm still too early in the series to really have too much of an opinion, but I'm down for the ride. Because of how relatively old the series is, the artwork feels really unique. Duna's blown out bangs for one! For two, Joon actually looks Asian!

Joon from Episode 3 of The Girl Downstairs (Doona!)
by Min Songa

I don't know if they're catering to their Western audience, but so many of the manhwas I read still have their characters look more European. I mean, they do tend to have dark brown/black hair more frequently, and there are times where they'll have that more almond-shaped eye. For the most part, though? They'll have red, lighter brown, or blonde hair. Their eyes tend to be large, more akin to an anime/manga design. Their skin tone is also paler. A lot of them could easily be given European names and it would still feel true-to-form. Joon, on the other hand, is very visibly Asian, which is kind of refreshing. 

Anyhoo. The plot thus far, as the summary stated, is about Joon starting up university. He moves into an off-campus apartment where the second floor is dedicated to male students and the ground floor is dedicated to female students. Except, there is only one female student down there. Former pop idol Duna has taken a break from both her singing career - after some as-of-yet-disclosed controversy - and from college. However, she is still paying rent on the apartment and is still a registered student, so she was allowed to stay. She also rented out the other apartments on the ground floor, so she basically has the whole place to herself.

Joon was never really into Duna's musical career, but one of his high school friends was obsessed. Due to this sort of passive recognition, Duna had looked familiar to Joon, but he couldn't peg why. This resulted in him staring at her, which put her on edge. He finally put two-and-two together on his way out to visit his crush Margo - more on her in a bit - and he sprinted away from Duna before she could ask him to not say anything and bring attention to her. She then stood outside in the cold for hours waiting for him to come back so she could have that talk with him.

He reassured her that he had never intended to out her as a celeb, and then Duna promptly collapsed from the cold and malnutrition (she had been too stressed to properly eat/drink anything for days before Joon even met her). After recovering in the hospital, Duna went to Joon's apartment to thank him for calling the EMTs and making sure she was alright while waiting for them. She tried to thank him by treating him to a meal, but he spent the next four days blowing her off. Eventually, she tracked him down at the college as his classes were ending so she could take him to lunch. 

Duna didn't have any friends, and was appreciative of Joon, so she was trying desperately to become one of his friends. How could he say no after that much effort and when she had no one else? So, the two became inseparable.

Well, them and Margo.

Joon and Margo had met during cram school despite her being a year or two older than him. He formed a huge crush on her. It's unclear how she feels about him. Some times she seems to flirt back. Other times she seems uneasy around him. Other times still, she seems to think of him as a brother. Lots of mixed messages from Margo.

Anyway, one night out, Margo got a little drunk and stayed out too late to take the last train back home. Her parents are super strict, so she couldn't reassure them that she was alright by claiming she was spending the night at Joon's. She also didn't have any female friends that could house her. That's when Joon introduced her to Duna. Being the good friend that she is (and because there were 3 empty apartments that Duna was paying for that she could lend out), Duna agreed to house Margo and talk to Margo's parents to reassure them that she was crashing at a FEMALE friend's place.

One slumber party was enough for Margo and Duna to become thick as thieves. Which brings us back to Margo being attached to the duo's hips. In one panel, Joon jokes that his classmates are desperately trying to sort out if he's dating Duna or Margo. Margo responds that her classmates also try to sort out if she's dating Joon or Duna. (Duna then jokes that she has no other friends so no one bothers to figure out which of those two she's dating.)

Eventually, after some probing from Duna, Joon admits that he knows that Margo isn't interested in him romantically, but it's still hard for him to give up his crush. There's then a scene where it seems to imply that maybe Margo HAS been returning Joon's feelings the whole time, but her strict parents are keeping her from dating, so why bother telling him?????

The last arc I read had one of Joon's neighbors begging him to fill for a group blind date. Duna nudges Joon into agreeing, and then gives him a full at-home spa treatment to get him ready. I have to say, Duna did a good job dolling him up.

The group date is three guys and three girls. They all collectively hung out for a bit while they got to know each other. They then played a game to pair up. While the guys weren't looking, each of the girls secretly put something they owned on the table. The guys then had to choose their partner from the items. Because of how tipsy he already was at that point, Joon accidentally snatched up an earring belonging to new repeating character Ira (as opposed to the lip balm he was trying to pick up).

The group played a series of simple drinking games. If you lost, you and your partner had to each take a shot in increasingly intimate manors. If you lost on the first game you had to drink with your arms interlocked. Loss on the second game meant you had to take your shot with your arm wrapped around your partner's neck. Third game's loss: drink while the female is on the male's lap. The punishment for losing the fourth game: Take a shot and then pass it into your partner's mouth.

Joon and Ira lost that fourth round. However, as she tried to pass the shot to him, he stopped her. He had never kissed someone before, and he really didn't want this to be the story of his first kiss. The group agreed to not push it (although that didn't stop them from gentle ribbing the rest of the night instead). The alternative punishment for losing that game was to go to a stranger's karaoke room and sing a song.

The night eventually ended when Ira realized she was a bit too drunk and should head home. Joon had exams to study for and really needed to get home too, so he offered to walk her home. On their walk, Joon admitted that his only dating experience prior to that night was when he had a girlfriend in middle school, but they only ever really hugged and held hands. No kissing. He then confessed that most of high school was spent pining over his crush (Margo, although he didn't say that much to Ira). Since he was stuck in the land of unrequited love, there was no dating in high school.

Ira lets Joon know that she, on the other hand, just broke up with someone. Us readers saw that a month prior, Ira and her boyfriend for the past year Hongsun split. I don't know Korean culture enough to get the significance, but apparently Hongsun had to "take the fourth year of CSAT" and that was, as far as Ira is concerned, a valid reason for their break-up. However, since it was for academic reasons instead of relationship ones, she just can't get over him.

That is.... until that night she spent hanging out with Joon. Upon telling him about her break-up, she expected to break down into a sobbing mess like she did every other time. Instead, not a tear was shed, much to her surprise and confusion.

After dropping Ira off, Joon made it safely back home, where Duna was not-so-patiently waiting for Joon's return. They talked a bit about his group blind date before Duna leaned in for a kiss. Not only did Joon not move to stop her, but he also pulled her in closer.

Aaaand that's more-or-less all I have for that story right now.

As for my second Daily Pass story, The Makeup Remover....

After years of being told to focus on studying, Yeseul feels lost when she starts college and is suddenly expected to pay attention to makeup. When a chance encounter with brilliant makeup artist Yuseong leads to her taking part in a televised makeup competition, Yeseul begins to question the role that makeup and appearance play in society.

    - Official Webtoon Summary

Since I just started this one up this week as well, I was only able to read the first 12 episodes. There's enough there to get me hooked, but not so much of an overall plot to give you fine peeps.

So far, we've been introduced to what seems to be our four main players. There's the main character Yeseul. Then the makeup artist Yuseong. There's also the prettiest and most popular girl on campus - who happens to also be in Yeseul's grade - Heewon. Finally, you have the Most Elegible Bachelor of the school: Seungwoo. On top of being good looking, smart, and desired by just about all the ladies at the school, Seungwoo also seems to be genuinely kind. The full package. And.... Yeseul's crush. I'll circle back to that in a moment. 

As for Heewon, she's "Nstagram Famous" (which is legally distinct from Instagram famous...). It's hard to get a read on her. She does seem snooty, but also, seeing how everyone feels entitled to her and instantly brushes her off as "just an Nstagram model" when she doesn't cave to their demands, it's understandable why she'd be a bit bitchy. She's just trying to hold her own while the world is trying to devalue her. We can stan. She also seemed kind to Yeseul during the one interaction we saw them have together thus far. I'll get more into that in a bit.

We don't really know much about Yuseong quite yet, despite being the deuteragonist. He's considered a "genius" makeup artist. Presumably the best of the best. The most desirable in the business. He has his pick of models he can work on. And yet, he's desperate to participate in a makeup competition so he can essentially be sponsored by the biggest name in Korea when it comes to makeup. Also, he seems to be about Yeseul's age, but stated that he never went to college (which makes sense if he went to cosmetic school, which is more of a tech school). He seems kind enough to Yeseul, but is a bit manipulative (I'll get to that). He also knows how anyone - regardless of gender - can use makeup to help empower themselves; make themselves feel more confident and comfortable in their skin.

I think that is the main theme of this series: learning how to be comfortable in your own skin, with or without the aid of makeup.

The real reason I decided to make this my second replacement daily-unlock story, however, is because I instantly clicked with Yeseul. Her whole life, she didn't bother with her looks. She found priority in other things: studying and hobbies, mostly. She felt like an ugly duckling, but figured she could just "get pretty" later, when she was in college. However, she was used to just wearing casual and comfy clothes. Grooming herself, but not putting more effort than that into her looks. She wears big, thick glasses due to her horrendous nearsightedness. She tends to just pull her long, brown hair back into a ponytail to get it out of the way (although, in a later episode she claims she's never pulled her hair back??? Despite her having her hair in a ponytail literally the first panel she's introduced in???). She also wears a blue and white letterman-style jacket. She looks around at her peers in college and wonders, "HOW DID ALL OF YOU FIGURE OUT HOW TO LOOK SO PUT TOGETHER???? Did you take classes?! How did you learn to perfectly style your hair or attach fake lashes or apply flawless makeup???? How did I miss these tutorials????" College was supposed to be her "glow-up" years, but she feels even more out of place than ever.  

As I learned more and more about Yeseul, the more I was like, "Same, girl." Let's go through that list again.

		Terrible nearsightedness resulting in large, bulky glasses
		Long, brown hair usually pulled back in a ponytail or bun (Yes. I know my avatar has red hair, but I'm naturally a brunette.)
		Prefers comfy clothes to fancier/more stylish ones
		The blue and white letterman jacket
		Didn't see the appeal in taking the time to apply makeup or do up fancy hairstyles daily
		Despite not putting in the extra effort to look better, laments looking plain or ugly compared to peers
		Confused as to how peers seem to have automatic knowledge in how to apply flawless makeup or quickly and easily do photo-ready hair styles
		Hoping for a passive glow-up in college

If you want to know who Teenage LycoRogue was... pretty much that right there. Just two little caveats. 1) The letterman jacket was my dad's, not mine, so I didn't wear it all the time like Yeseul does. Also, my mom kept the jacket instead of my sister or I inheriting it. Instead, I got one of his solid blue fleece cover shirts. I wear that all the time, though. 2) While I did hope for a passive glow-up in college, I also lucked into getting it! My mom allowed me to finally switch over to contacts my senior year of college. Despite being Velma-level blind without my glasses, my face is NOT built for them. I feel I look so much better without glasses. Add in that my genes all magically aligned so that my hair was silky and my skin clear while I was in college. That also really helped me feel so much prettier. Finally, I lived on the fourth floor of the freshman dorm building, and there were no elevators. So I hiked up and down four flights of stairs multiple times per day. I was probably the most fit I ever was in my life! As Hubby put it, I was "in [my] glam era."

Anyway, all of those other parallels between me and Yeseul - all showcased within the first few opening panels of the series, no less - really hit home and got me emotionally invested in this character right from the jump.

Plus, I mean, as I mentioned, the girl just kinda looks like me. If I were to be one of those isekai protags where I transmigrate into a character that resembles me... this would be her.

Various panels from episodes 2, 6, and 7
of The Makeup Remover by Lee Yeon

I know, you, dear reader, can't see the resemblance unless you know me irl. Trust me, though, especially when she has her bangs swept over one eye and is wearing contacts, Yeseul looks like me....

If that's not enough, however, early in the first episode, Yeseul reflects on how insignificant she feels compared to people like Heewon and Seungwoo.

Panels from Episode 1 of
The Makeup Remover by Lee Yeon

This! This scene right here! I laughed and screamed, "It's me!" as I sent those panels to both Hubby and Aurora Morgen.

For YEARS - probably even over a decade - it has been a running joke that I am a nameless NPC that just kind of wanders in the background to fill the population and make the world feel more alive and real. No true impact on the grander story of Life. People might recognize me, but, as a nameless NPC, no one really bothers to take note of me. I might still be someone's beloved blorbo whom they connected with, but most won't even notice I'm there.

Kind of like this guy from VeggieTales:

From the song skit High Silk Hat (Classy Songs with Larry)

Sooooo, yeah. As soon as I got to that bit about Yeseul feeling like a nameless film extra I instantly knew I needed to read this kindred spirit's story.

Speaking of: The Plot!

Again, I haven't gotten too deep into the plot yet. Still getting past the exposition bits.

Yeseul is a college junior, as is popular student and Nstagram model Heewon. Yeseul has a major crush on Most Eligible Bachelor Seungwoo, but she feels like he's too out of her league to even really talk to the guy. So, she's never confessed her feelings. Only loved from afar. One day, she wonders if the problem is because she never learned how to properly apply makeup, and therefore she never wears any. She goes to get a professional makeover done to see if that will help her appearance/self-esteem.

Sadly, the stylist she was paired with was a judgmental jerk who botched her makeover and then blamed it on her being "too ugly" when he joked about her to his coworkers (not realizing that Yeseul overheard him). She was stunlocked at first, but eventually the anger built up enough for her to burst from her hiding place to yell at her stylist. Except, she was too late and he was already gone. Instead, she happened upon Yuseong.

A little earlier in the episode, when we, the readers, are introduced to Yuseong, he had turned down Heewon as his model for the makeup artist competition Face-Off Cinderella. He deemed her too naturally beautiful, which makes her a bad canvas for his art. He wanted "someone with unremarkable features who I can transform completely depending on the makeup that I apply."

Not the most flattering sentiment. Especially when he declares Yeseul as his perfect canvas and practically begs her to be his makeup model for the competition. They bicker back-and-forth for a bit, and, in an attempt to try to convince her to trust him, Yuseong admits that his own good looks are largely due to makeup. He then wipes some of it off to show how small and bland his eye looks without makeup. The art for this panel though! 

Panel from Episode 2 of The Makeup Remover by Lee Yeon

After gaining some of Yeseul's trust, Yuseong realizes that, now that she's out of the heat of the moment, Yeseul is too self-conscious to still want to complain to the stylist about his rude and unprofessional behavior. Yuseong convinces her to let him give her a simple makeover. Just some baseline makeup to make her look more attractive and give her some more confidence. Maybe then she'd feel more secure about fighting for her self-worth.

Dolled up with Yuseong's quick artistry, Yeseul returns to the salon and requests the same stylist she had earlier. She then requests a makeover the same exact way she did before: using a picture of Heewon as a reference for the look she would like. The stylist was giddy to give it a try on such a pretty girl (as opposed to before, when he practically rolled his eyes at Yeseul before going "Sure, let's do this"). When the stylist removed Yeseul's existing makeup and saw how she naturally looks, recognition washed over him and he panicked. That's when Yeseul's righteous fury kicked in a second time, completely chewing him out and causing a scene. Even getting the other patrons to turn on him and continue to ridicule him even after Yeseul turns to leave the shop.

Yet again, Yeseul proving to be a kindred spirit. I HATE confrontation and try to avoid it at all costs. I will mentally chew someone out to release the anger, but I'll rarely actually verbalize any of it. I have a hard time standing up for myself.

If it's SOMEONE ELSE, though, that needs defending, or if I get worked up enough that the Heat of the Moment lets me off the leash (like it did for Yeseul)... boy, howdy! I am like an angry and protective pit bull. I've had a few people mention how scary I can be. I'm like those anime girls with the imposing aura floating around them when they're mad, and all of the male characters scatter as far from her as possible while going, "So scary!"

Sooooooo, yeah... yet another point in the "Yeseul and I are twinsies!" column.

Also, just like when Yuseong took off his eye makeup, the entire scene where Yeseul was chewing out the stylist her eyes were drawn two different ways to showcase which one still had the makeup on verses didn't. It was brilliant. The art is so goofy in the best way!

Getting back to the plot. After leaving the salon and meeting back up with Yuseong, Yeseul thanks him for his help. He again asks her to be his makeup model and she again tells him no. Mostly, it's because she does NOT want to be in the limelight. She doesn't want people to see her and recognize her on the show. Not happening!

That is.... until Yuseong basically blackmails Yeseul to help him. Despite not discussing any sort of payment ahead of time and seemingly doing so out of the goodness of his heart to help Yeseul get revenge on the stylist, Yuseong decides he's going to charge Yeseul for her makeover. Considering how in-demand he is and what he typically charges for such makeovers, he couldn't possibly give one away for free, could he? The charge? A million won. Basically the equivalent to $850 US dollars (as of the exchange rate in 2020)! But, hey, he'd be willing to wave the fee if she agreed to be his model for the contest....

Yeseul - a probably poor college student - of course begrudgingly agrees, under the main condition that they keep her identity a secret. The whole reason Yuseong wants Yeseul specifically is because he wants someone he can transform completely with his makeup, so it should be easy enough to make her unrecognizable. Just.... make sure her true identity is never leaked! Yuseong believes that to be a simple enough request and agrees.

During a later meeting to go over the rules of the first challenge for Face-Off Cinderella, Yuseong realizes that Yeseul doesn't even know how she wants to present herself to the world, which is part of the reason why she gives off the "basic, default, blank-canvas" vibes. To try to better understand her, and therefore better understand what is the best way to present her to the contest audience, Yuseong decides to shadow Yeseul for a day.

Yeseul is not a fan.

Through a few shenanigans, Yuseong ends up unintentionally drifting away from Yeseul while on campus with her, and gets lost. She texts him that they can meet up at the photography department building, since that was where she was headed anyway. However, Yeseul then gets distracted when she overhears a male student saying ominous things on his phone call (not noticing that Yeseul is within earshot since she doesn't really ping anyone's radars). She quickly deduces that he is pissed at Heewon, wants revenge on her, and has some sort of plan to try to assault her. Despite being scared and constantly telling herself that it's dumb to get involved, Yeseul can't stop herself from tailing the guy to make sure he doesn't actually hurt Heewon.

Eventually, the guy does meet up with Heewon, and offers her a drink that Yeseul saw him spike with something. Now, instead of what most of the comments pointed out to be a much safer option of "accidentally" bumping into them and knocking the drink to the ground, Yeseul springs out of hiding and yells to Heewon to not drink anything!

There's a confrontation between Yeseul and the guy, with Heewon instantly believing Yeseul and taking her side to berate the guy. In his anger, the guy smacks Yeseul hard enough to knock off and break her glasses, also leaving a cut on her cheek. The guy flees, and Heewon goes to check in on Yeseul. With the adrenaline still flowing, Yeseul didn't even notice that she was injured and instead focused on how late she was to meet up with Yuseong. With just a quick sorry and goodbye, Yeseul sprinted from Heewon, leaving the poor girl confused and clueless as to the name of her protector.

In the meantime, the lost Yuseong had lucked into being escorted by Yeseul's crush Seungwoo, who turned out to be a fellow photography major. The Photography Department was in the middle of hosting an exhibition, and Seungwoo was excited to show it off to anyone and everyone he could drag to the building. Meaning Yuseong was his latest victim. Yuseong happily took Seungwoo's tour while waiting for Yeseul. That's when he spotted a breathtaking photo of Seungwoo on display. Seungwoo commented on how a junior he didn't know had run up to him commenting about how she was still trying to find something to submit to the exhibition. As she was going through her photos she had found that shot she took from when he modeled for her class. He loved it and suggested she include it in her submission. He then told Yuseong, "Since the exhibition opened, a lot of people told me they had never seen this side of me before." He continued to explain that he then checked out the rest of this junior's work. She seemed to have this unique eye for seeing the world, and he really wanted to get to know her better.

In other words, perhaps Seungwoo has a crush???? And, naturally, the junior he was talking about is our girl Yeseul! Not so out of your league after all, girl!

Man, I love the messages of this series already. Makeup knows no gender. It is neither good nor bad. It isn't some miracle "make people attractive" device, but it can help someone present themselves to the world in a way that better matches how they see themselves. Likewise, self-esteem is important, and people should learn to both value and protect their self-worth. No one is out of anyone's league, because you might not realize the amazing things that draw people to you.

Anyway, Yeseul eventually meets up with the boys, and has a mini panic that Yuseong is just hanging out with Seungwoo. Both boys freak out about Yeseul missing her glasses and having a wound on her cheek. Seungwoo is the first to try to care for it, moving to brush the blood away with his thumb. Ya know, that classic romance trope. That is, until Yuseong stops him. Not because he's jealous.... nope... toooootally not that... it's because Seungwoo hadn't washed his hands or put on gloves. It's unsanitary, what he was trying to do! That's clearly the only reason... sanitation reasons and keeping the cut from getting infected.....

Yuseong then takes Yeseul away to get her wound cleaned and the two talk. Yuseong berates Yeseul for getting injured days before the start of a makeup competition. Realizing his callousness, perhaps, he then pivots to the fact that Yeseul should be more careful to stay safe in general. He admits that he is glad that she's more-or-less okay, and he's more irritated at how little Yeseul seems to value herself as she relayed over the story of how she got hurt in the first place. No worries, though, while they were talking Yuseong became inspired for the contest's first challenge theme. He's going to lean into the injury: Sexy warrior woman!

Yeseul questions why warrior women have to be "sexy". Are they supposed to seduce their enemies or prey? Why can't they just be strong and intimidating? Fierce and terrifying as they ward off potential attacks?

Again, love the messaging of this series!

Yuseong agrees, and they pivot to having Yeseul look like a dirty, fierce, bruised, warrior woman with war paint on. I'm not far enough into the series to actually see the reveal, but it is used in the thumbnail for the episode I can unlock tonight, and it does indeed look fierce!

Thumbnails of episodes from
The Makeup Remover by Lee Yeon

If you can't tell, I'm really enjoying this series. The fact that I relate with Yeseul so much majorly helps.

What about the other stories on my list, however?

The Fateful Invitation has been on a hiatus for a little while already, and there doesn't seem to be an indication of when it'll be back aside from "soon". That was easy enough to decide to switch out. Which opens up a Friday slot.

After some brief debate, I decided on a series that I originally subscribed to simply out of cheesy self-indulgence: Writers Legacy.

In a world ruled by Writers, a chosen few who draw incredible power from their books, we follow Ji-Sung, an underdog E-rank Writer. His life changes forever as he discovers he’s the secret heir of a legendary Writer and possesses extraordinary abilities. Now hunted for his new powers, Ji-Sung must unlock the truth about his legacy and face fearsome new enemies.

    - Official Webtoon Summary

Man. This premise is somehow equal parts amazing and campy. Unique, but also a bit cheesy. Kind of badass, but also overly self-indulgent to be a writer and to write a story on how being a writer gives you superpowers....

The artwork is gorgeous and there's already a lot of fun action sequences just 4 episodes in (I'm trying to savor this story; we'll see how long that lasts THIS time...). The story takes itself far more seriously than I was expecting. It is a proper action manhwa, full of power-hungry bully types and underdogs that end up OP (the main character Ji-Sung) and revenge and espionage and warring siblings. It's been a trip, and, again, I'm only 4 episodes in!

To go in a bit further depth than the official summary, the whole world build of this story is based on the premise of there being these magical printing presses that connect anything printed on them to their author. The more popular a work that was printed on these magical presses becomes the more powerful that work's author becomes. Essentially giving superpowers to authors deemed worthy enough to have their works printed on these magical presses.

Side note: This reminds me a lot of how superpowers work in the new anime* series To Be Hero X, which I highly recommend, but this blog update is already too long (and late) for me to get into that series. Maybe I'll touch on it for my end-of-month update...

*To Be Hero X is actually a donghua: Chinese animation. Donghua is to China what anime is to Japan.

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The main character of Writers Legacy Ji-Sung is an E-Rank writer of Korea's oldest and most influential publishing house Nocturne Press. Unfortunately, despite the effort he's put into his writing skills, he lives in obscurity (boy, does that hit home). After publishing two books, this 27yo has only accrued 12,000 lifetime reads.

Ooof.

The manager of the Junior Writer division (where Ji-Sung works with his best friend and surrogate brother Selim) sees Ji-Sung's potential (despite the 1- and 2-star reviews Ji-Sung's second book was getting... oof again). While conventional wisdom would tell the manager Miss Kim to just fire Ji-Sung, she instead told him to read the top novel on Korea's Best Seller list - an office romance - and emulate that. Terrible advice, by the way. Don't try chasing the current reading trends. They change far faster than it takes to complete and publish a novel.... But, we're running with it for this story.

The way Ji-Sung talks about the novel he's forced to read feels like it's a Korean form of Fifty Shades of Gray. He even gets so pissed off at the novel that he chucks it across the room. Something Cyhyr told me they did while reading through the Fifty Shades stories (they were determined to read through them before critiquing them). So, that's a fun little parallel.

That evening, Ji-Sung has a dream of the day he became an orphan. Back in the 15th century, apparently writers powered both directly by their own writing as well as via inheritance from their famous writer ancestors ran amuck around the world. Eventually, The Holy Order, a global organization, was formed to regulate all of the world's Writers (capital-W means they are the ones with power - the ones whose works were printed on the magical presses - whereas people who just casually wrote were still writers, lowercase-W). Any Writers that opposed the Holy Order's authority - the Heretics - were eliminated. Any surviving Heretics went into hiding and/or exile to try to protect themselves.

Fast forward to Ji-Sung's childhood. Considering his single-parent mom was commenting on how he was getting too big to hold, I'd guess he would be about five or six. For some reason that wasn't revealed in the first 4 episodes that I've read, the Holy Order was after Ji-Sung and his mother; calling Ji-Sung her bastard. They murdered his mother's friend, and then her. They were trying to kill Ji-Sung as well, but he was rescued and placed in an orphanage, where he met Selim; a fellow orphan.

As Ji-Sung awakes from this nightmare recollection of his mother's death, his bedroom balcony glass door bursts open into hundreds of glass shards, cutting his cheek. Then, a specter made out of ghostly flame calls Ji-Sung his "son" before telling him he is to inherit his bloodline's power. Ji-Sung awakes the next day sans cut, so he thought he was dreaming... until he saw his broken balcony door. He waves it off as a storm must have broken it and his wild writer's imagination made him dream up everything with the specter.

At work, he discovers that the Notre Dame was attacked during the inheritance ceremony for Victor Hugo's bloodline (seeing the Notre Dame in flames again in comic form so soon after the restoration from the 2019 fire... ouch...). Context clues implies that the bloodline the specter was talking about with Ji-Sung was indeed the Hugo bloodline, but I haven't gotten far enough into the story to confirm that. Either way, the only known survivor of the Hugo line is the intended inheritor of the power: Julius Hugo.

Since Writers are basically superheroes, they all have to also know how to fight. Which means we now get to see Ji-Sung and Selim training via sparring matches against Miss Kim. Ji-Sung has no clue why, but he feels like he can actually best Miss Kim this time. He doesn't. Not by a long-shot. But he IS powerful enough that it gets her to manifest elements from her novel series in order to knock him down. His power also startled her for a brief moment. Seems his bloodline is trying to essentially "download" itself into him, but, as an E-rank, only so much can be absorbed at a time, creating power spikes, and Miss Kim caught one of these power spikes without knowing what it means.

After work, Ji-Sung and Selim go out for drinks and come across writers from rival publishing house First Hand. They get into a scuffle, and Ji-Sung actually manages to hold his own against a higher-ranked Writer. That is, until more of his bloodline's power tries to "download", giving Ji-Sung a crippling migraine and causing him to collapse in pain. The rival Writer Yogwe was about to stab Selim when the Holy Order broke up the fight and arrested Selim and Yogwe. When Ji-Sung came to he tried to get Selim released from jail, but had no success. While waiting for his friend's release, Ji-Sung ended up passing out. While sleeping, he had a vision of Julius Hugo calling him "brother" and ominously telling him that he will find Ji-Sung. So, maybe that's why Ji-Sung is considered a bastard by the Holy Order? An "illegitimate" child of the previous inheritor of the Hugo bloodline; half-brother to Julius, the intended next inheritor?

Where I left off, Ji-Sung, Selim, and a class of other Junior Writers from all three main Korean publishing houses - Nocturne, First Hand, and Red Eye - were participating in a ceremony that would have the Holy Order officially recognize them as Writers. When it's Ji-Sung's turn to be sworn in as an official Writer, the last of his bloodline's powers managed to absorb. This skyrocketed him from E-Rank to S-Rank Writer! Upon this reveal of Ji-Sung as an S-Rank, the entire ceremony hall went into lock-down.

And that's where I stopped. I'm excited to see where the creators are planning to go with this series.

Which concludes my introduction to three new series that are taking the place of completed/on-hiatus ones I previously had in my reading rotation. Speaking of, how am I doing with the others?

Well, The Dragon King's Bride is complete, but I still have 4 episodes to read, so I have another month's worth of content before I need to switch that one out.

Finally, I've lost my "read as much as I want daily" story now that I'm fully caught up with I Am The Villain. Which means I have to wait for weekly updates like everyone else! How cruel! I tried dragging out the large backlog of free-to-read content as long as I could, but there were just arcs that I had to tear through. My mind wouldn't leave them alone! Being caught up does afford me time to go back and binge through the first 74 episodes again, though, while waiting for the latest update (and I have, indeed, done precisely that).

I will say, I may have been wildly off the mark when I originally read the character of Prince Leo. However, there is also still a chance that I was correct in my initial interpretation of the body language the creator Sejji used for Leo whenever he was around Lucy. It could be a case of him falling for Lucia, but tried to hide that fact even from himself. We'll see.

According to the text itself, however, apparently Prince Leo couldn't stand the original Lucia. Which makes no sense to me (as it made no sense to Lucy when she was told that Leo used to hate Lucia). The very first interaction Leo had with Lucy, before even knowing that she wasn't the original Lucia (supposedly, but who knows with this series), he was kind and playful with her. That's not really how one acts around someone they allegedly hate.

Leo also keeps commenting to himself and to his best friend Lionell that Lucia is simply a tool for him to use, and he's struggling to see if the new personality Lucia is displaying - and her desire to break things off with crown prince Arthur - are still useful to him. Likewise, he keeps hinting at "hunting a stag" when that is the animal iconography most frequently used with Arthur. Implying that Leo wants to depose - if not straight up kill - his brother. Is he then maybe plotting to somehow use Lucia to dethrone Arthur???? Why would that be his plot when Arthur originally didn't want to marry Lucia? Why would it now be a spanner in the works that Arthur seems to have fallen for Lucia (Lucy)? None of this makes sense!

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Minor spoiler for episode 65, but I feel like Sejji strongly hinted at this for a while before the official reveal, so maybe it's not too spoilery? Anyway, it is all-but-confirmed that Leo is a vigilante. Considering how quickly Leo hid his bloodied knife from Arthur in episode 41, I'm assuming he's not sanctioned by the crown and/or he's trying to hide his vigilantism from Arthur. It's unclear thus far as to how much Arthur actually knows within the spectrum of "fully aware of his brother's dealings" to "highly suspects" to "is absolutely clueless". 

Originally, the vigilantes didn't actually harm anyone. They stole ill-gotten gains from nobles like Robin Hood and his Merry Men. They disrupted trade routes and/or supply chains. They targeted nobles on the governing council. The same council that basically raised Arthur, Leo, and their sister Evelyn after their parents died. The same council that ran the kingdom while waiting for Arthur to come of age and take the crown. The same council that advised (groomed) Arthur on how to rule. The same council that had convinced Arthur to marry off his sister to the Emperor's nephew and heir-apparent.

The imperial crown prince is apparently a cruel and cold man, who will most likely neglect or even abuse the princess. She is far from happy with the arrangement. Leo is understandably infuriated by the situation. Perhaps this was when the rift grew between him and Arthur? Maybe it wasn't always there. Maybe he is trying to "down a stag" as revenge for sending their sister away to such a horrid fate?

Arthur tried to let Leo know that he regrets his decision and is trying to get their sister back; break off her arranged marriage before it becomes official. Leo seems to think "too little; too late". We'll see how that goes for the brothers.

To complicate things further, Arthur's biggest concern about denying the Emperor's request for an alliance via marriage is that it will enrage the empire and start a war. Especially since council members seem to want their kingdom to be annexed into the empire anyway, and may comply with the Emperor's wishes over the kingdom's desire to stay independent. Ya know, levels of political nuance that Leo doesn't seem to understand. That he has no desire to understand.

Apparently, due to Lucia's father's duchy being largely self-sufficient and borderline its own country, he has a lot of sway with the council. He also, presumably, won't try to dissuade the rest of the council from allying with the emperor unless Lucia keeps the title of future queen????? So, Arthur is semi-guilt-tripping Lucy to remain his fiancée in order to potentially prevent a civil war while also allowing him to get his sister back from her arranged marriage.

Lucia actually seems to be quite the kingpin when it comes to the kingdom of Ossianor's independence from the Draken Empire. It's still unclear if it was the council, members of the Empire, or Leo and his vigilantes, but SOMEONE arranged for the original Lucia's carriage to be attacked, for Lucia to be kidnapped, and then for her to be sold as a slave within the empire. That's the whole reason the real Lucia is living with her new husband Aaron in the northern portion of the Empire (after escaping the slavers).

Then, when Lucy was accidentally brought back to the Aurelius mansion as a "rescued" Lucia, there was an assassination attempt on her! Thankfully, Lucy survived. It does scream "the council was trying to get rid of her; probably arranged for her kidnapping", however, when it turns out that one of the council members was the one who put the hit out on Lucia!

And now Lucy is being semi-blackmailed into staying Arthur's fiancée? She's certainly more important for the fate of Ossianor than Sena's book seemed to have implied. Especially if Arthur from the original novel could easily dump Lucia in favor for Claire. And then Lucia could just be killed by a random knight.... 

Either way! Despite Leo claiming he has no feelings for Lucia. Despite claiming she's only a tool for him to use and then discard once she's no longer of use to him. Despite Leo and the vigilantes never killing anyone prior.... Leo also justified assassinating a council noble and their family physician (who performed the assassination attempt against Lucy) as revenge against said assassination attempt.

There's also a scene in episode 69, where Lucy, her knight Noah, Prince Leo, and four of his men are all sharing a spacious room in an inn to wait out a storm. They have a privacy partition set up around Lucy's bed. In the middle of the night, while everyone else is supposedly asleep, Leo can't get rest. Something is weighing heavily on his mind, which I won't get into because I'm already giving out too many spoilers as is. Anyway, while up and pacing, he peeks in on Lucy, who is her normal 21st century self, and NOT sleeping gracefully. He chuckles at how unladylike she looks in her sleep, tucks her in, kisses her forehead, then thinks to himself that she has no right to be mad at him for being jealous over Noah. "I already warned you. I'm not keen on sharing." He then leans in to kiss her on the lips Snow White/Sleeping Beauty style. Thankfully, Noah snatches him by the back of the collar just in time and drags him out from behind the partition. No nonconsensual kisses when Noah's around! No sirree!

But also.... if he supposedly hates this woman, why is he always so jealous about the other men in her life like Noah and Arthur? Why gently kiss her forehead and tuck her in? Why go for the kiss on the lips when he doesn't have to put on an act in front of anyone else, including Lucy? Why murder someone who tried to kill her, especially when Lionell - who is fully aware of Leo's goals as a vigilante - calls out the assassinations as unnecessary and even risky?

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Edited by LycoRogue

Like... WHAT IS GOING ON WITH LEO!?! My dude! You were my original shipping! It felt like the best match. She could be her 21st-century self around him and not have to put on this role of "Lucia Aurelius, daughter of the duke and betrothed to the crown prince." The two of them are flirty and playful with each other. Lucy laughs the most when with Leo. As much as I have grown to love Lucy and Noah and can root for them to be end-game, I also really loved Lucy with Leo.

It was like Marinette and Luka all over again. Similar to how I felt that "if there were no Adrien, I'd be 100% on board with Marinette and Luka being end-game", I am the same way with Leo. "If there were no Noah (or if he didn't reciprocate Lucy's feelings), I'd be 100% on board with her and Leo being end-game". I mean, look at my past two blog updates and how I talk about Leo and Lucy!

But those red flags, my dude. AAAAAAAH! I'm so hooked! If nothing else (although Lucy x Noah is a BIG something else), I'd read more of this series just to know where Leo's head is at! He feels like such a complex character and I love him.

Not to say that I DON'T love Noah. He is a human puppy and he is precious. He is viciously loyal to Lucy, and has had feelings for her from the moment he first saved her (although, he tried to bury those feelings). As I mentioned before, if Leo is my Luka to Lucy's Marinette, then Noah is definitely Adrien. 

Also, Noah has this ADORABLE character trait where he gets the hiccups when he's nervous/flustered. There's a few scenes in the more recent episodes where Noah is mistaken for Lucy's husband and he has a full-on hiccup attack as he tries to sort out what to say to correct the confusion. There's also the aforementioned room situation in the inn, and, even though Lucy has SOME privacy behind the partitions, the idea of sleeping in the same room as her gives him another hiccup attack. So friggen adorable!

He also has this mysterious past where he's orphaned but doesn't remember his birth family. There's some hints in the earlier episodes that perhaps Noah is secretly royalty, and only believes that he's a simple, broke commoner. Very much gives Anya from Anastasia vibes.

Aaaaaand then there's Arthur. In the original novel, Arthur was engaged to Lucia, but never wanted to marry her. He was forced into the arranged marriage by the same council that forced him to marry off his sister. Once Arthur reconnects with Claire, an old childhood friend, they fall in love. Arthur breaks off his engagement with the smitten Lucia, devastating her as she watches her love marry another, and her family loses its influence as a result of her losing the crown. Lucia is then unceremoniously executed/assassinated by a "mysterious knight". 

Going back through the earlier episodes after getting 70+ episodes in, I suspect the knight that originally killed Lucia in the novel was Lionell.

Anyway, in this version of the story, where Lucy accidentally transplants the original Lucia, Arthur has no interest in even meeting with Claire, let alone falls in love with her. He's too busy dealing with his chronic illness, the stress of ruling even before his official coronation, navigating a rocky political landscape in an attempt to protect both his family and his kingdom from being conquered by the neighboring empire, as well as enduring his brother's hatred. He sees Lucy's version of Lucia as a breath of fresh air. Something stable to grip onto when he otherwise feels like he's drowning. It's hard to root for Lucia to abandon Arthur in his time of need, but also, no one deserves to stick around with someone simply so they can be the other person's emotional crutch.

I definitely don't ship Lucy with Arthur in the slightest. I also don't trust that the book's author Sena posing as Claire is going to be a supportive partner for the crumbling crown prince. Here's hoping he somehow finds the original Claire, and those two can live happily ever after. I feel like Arthur deserves that much. He's young, and he has already made tragic missteps in his attempt to follow the council's advice, but he's also learning and trying to right his wrongs. Leo needs to give his brother a second chance and stand with him.

And then there's Lucia's two adoptive brothers. We still don't know too much about Alexander. Theo, on the other hand, is frequently bullied and beaten by his classmates (the main bully being Claire's cousin). He's jaded, angsty, and untrusting. He swears up and down that he hates Lucia and never once considered her his sister. And yet... once he discovers that Lucy isn't Lucia, his tone changes. He's still cranky and rough with her, but there's an underlining kindness and protectiveness about it that he tries to disguise as self-preservation. He doesn't want the original Lucia to come back, so he has to make sure no one else knows that Lucia is "missing" and replaced by this body double.

I think it's pretty telling when there's a scene where Theo is dragging Lucy out of the room while yelling at her, and yet Arthur still thinks, "Have those two always been that close?" and laments that he's not as close with Leo as those two seem to be. Even while berating Lucy, Theo is giving off that sibling energy in a way he never did with the original Lucia.

On the flipside, (excuse another minor spoiler) we find out in episode 29 that Lucy's baby brother died. I won't give details, because spoilers, yada yada. Even though Alexander is also younger than Lucia, he's acting head of the household while their father is away, and so Alexander gives that "older brother" energy. Add in the age difference between Lucia and Theo, and, well, it's hard for Lucy to not picture him as her lost brother. She cares so deeply for both of Lucia's brothers, but you can tell she favors Theo. Especially after discovering how beaten up he was from his latest bout of bullying. She is one of Theo's strongest defenders now. Absolutely precious! I hope Theo finally caves and admits that he's starting to love Lucy back as a sibling as well.

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Edited by LycoRogue

Golly! I'm a bit obsessed with this story. Can you tell?

Anyhoo, since I Am The Villain is now, sadly, another "can only read new content once weekly" story on my reading list, I figured I'd snag a different story to be my "daily binge-read" series. I needed something that was still on-going so it wouldn't be Daily Pass locked yet, and it needed to be a long-running series so I'd have a lot of backlogged episodes that I could binge-read for free.

Thanks to Hubby getting me into Solo Leveling, I have been itching for a while to get back into Mythic Item Obtained. Gives the same vibes. At least, the episodes I had read before dropping the series previously did.

In a world where technology and magic are almost indistinguishable from one another, monsters and creatures of myth and legend reign terror upon mankind. In humanity’s darkest moment, individuals with special god-like powers emerge to save the day. They are — the Awakened. Meet Jaehyeon, a feeble Awakened human Raider, who struggles to make ends meet until one day a series of confounding events allow him to claim a powerful item that will change the course of history forever…

    - Official Webtoon Summary

In Solo Leveling, we're introduced to the concept of Gates; these portals into monster-filled dungeons. Monster Hunters are sent into these Gates in order to clear the dungeons and defeat the dungeon boss, therefore closing the Gate. If a Gate isn't closed within a time limit, then the portal allows the dungeon monsters access to Earth. The main plot of season 2 of Solo Leveling was about a monster swarm due to a Gate not being closed in time. It's kind of important that these dungeons are cleared fairly quickly. Plus, these Gates can simply disrupt life in general. Season 2 concluded with a Gate appearing on a main roadway, creating heavy traffic.

Similarly, Mythic Item Obtained also has monster-filled dungeons. The Awakened are encouraged to train and become a Raider; monster-hunters tasked to clear out these dungeons randomly opening up all over Earth. There are two main classes of Raiders: Melee/Brawler and Mage. When the main character Jaehyeon was a kid, Brawlers were praised. They were the brave front-line against monsters. They had all the action while battling in dungeons. They were true heroes. Meanwhile, Mages could do little from the back lines. They were healers and gave Brawlers buffs, at best. Attack magic wasn't very powerful or frequently used back then. Now that Jaehyeon is a Raider himself? Mages are king! They have since mastered insanely powerful attack magic. They can clear a horde in mere seconds without getting close enough for injury. Brawlers are now seen as inefficient. Insurance liabilities with all of their injuries and heightened potential death. They are regulated to little more than meat shields so the Mages have time to do their work safely.

*Side Note: Both Solo Leveling and Mythic Item Obtained use the term Awakened for their "humans with special magical powers and/or strength that allows them to survive fighting monsters." SL just goes on to call those who professionally fight monsters Hunters, whereas MIO calls their monster hunters Raiders. In MIO, when a person becomes an Awakened, they can train their power, but their development stops when they turn 20. No matter how much more they train, they can never advance their abilities further. In SL, once someone Awakens, that's it. That's their cap. No amount of training will improve their skills, just refine them. There are rare occasions where a person will have a Reawakening later in life, and their stats will improve then, but there doesn't seem to be a rhyme or reason as to why certain people Reawaken while most do not. Fun how those world builds seem to parallel each other as well. Then again, MIO only came out in 2022, whereas the Webtoon adaptation of Solo Leveling's original webnovel premiered in 2018. So.... maybe this is a case of MIO's creators Jung Seonyul and Hess "stealing the jewels" of SL in order to create their own thing.

Going back to those parallels, though, the main character of Solo Leveling Jin-woo is one of Korea's lowest ranked Hunters. He can barely deal out any damage against the monsters. He's easily injured by them. He can't afford good equipment. He's little more than a Mule; someone who carries the rest of the party's stuff. And even then, he tends to be too weak to carry that much. He's basically used as a coalmine canary: if Jin-woo is allowed to enter this Gate, then it must not be all that dangerous!

He's meek and frail. He's teased or pitied by the other Hunters. No one takes him seriously. The only reason he's even in this profession he is so ill-suited for is because his father left his family when Jin-woo was young, and his mom is in a coma in the hospital. There is no one else to provide for his family, and he needs a lot of money in order to pay the everyday living expenses, as well as his mother's hospital/medical bills, and his sister's college tuition. Hunting is the best paying job there is, even for an E-Rank Hunter.

Similarly, Jaehyeon is orphaned. His father also walked out on him - just as Jin-woo's did - and his mother was killed while he was a teen. He had Awakened, and so it felt like a waste to not be a Raider, but Jaehyeon made the mistake of training to be a Brawler when he was younger, despite having a low aptitude for melee fighting. Mostly, he picked Brawler over Mage (something he had a staggering 97% aptitude for) because everyone hated Mages when he was a kid. They were thought of as useless. It was self-preservation that led him down the Brawler path. The low-aptitude, however, meant he was only ever able to climb up to D-Rank (still better than Jin-woo's start point though....). Between the low ranking and the new opinion that Brawlers were essentially obsolete, Jaehyeon was having a hard time making ends meet. Which translates to, much like Jin-woo, Jaehyeon couldn't really afford good equipment to keep himself safe or to do much damage to the monsters.

In the first episode of Solo Leveling, Jin-woo had the misfortune of stumbling upon what is known as a double dungeon. A more powerful dungeon hidden as the dungeon boss of a weaker one. His party was then trapped and nearly all killed. Jin-woo watched the slaughter before sacrificing himself to save the few survivors. Just before dying, Jin-woo was selected by a mysterious program called The System, which allows him to level up his powers as an Awakened; again, this is something no other human has ever been able to do. He is then saved and brought to a hospital to recover. While there, The System forces Jin-woo to train, despite his injuries. If he ignores the prompts to train (because, of course he does, HE'S INJURED!), The System portals him to a pocket dimension to train in life-or-death situations. Such as spending hours on end in a desert trying to outrun hungry sandworms.

Early in Mythic Item Obtained, Jaehyeon alone hears a mysterious voice that lures him away from the rest of the dungeon-clearing party. He finds a second dungeon hidden within the one he's tasked to help clear. Within this second dungeon, he finds the titular Mythic Item: Odin's Lost Eye. It's a soulbound item, meaning, once a person equips it they can never unequip it and can never give or sell it to someone else. Jaehyeon is tempted to use it himself, but the payday for selling a mythic item is too tempting, so he opts to just hide it until he can leave the dungeon and sell it on the black market or something.

Quick side note: each Raider is given the magical ability to see a videogame-like pop-up display. I've talked about something similar happening in Lock Me Up, Duke!. This display is known as The Aesir System (named after the Norse pantheon or Germanic pagan gods in general). It's basically the same concept as Jin-woo's displays from The System. The difference here is that every Raider has one.

Panels from Episode 1: Lucky Day pt 1
from Mythic Item Obtained by Jung Seonyul and Hess

Upon returning to the rest of the party, Jaehyeon helplessly watches as the whole group is slaughtered! Assassinated by a dungeon hitmen! All because Jaehyeon's father had put a hit out on his own son! Jaehyeon ends up isolated; just him and the main assassin: the only one who knew who put the hit out on the Raiding team, and the only one who knew who the true target was. In an attempt to survive, Jaehyeon decided to use Odin's Lost Eye. It would be of no use to him anyway if he's dead. Soulbinding with the item gave Jaehyeon enough power to kill his would-be assassin, but he was also fatally wounded. As he lay dying, Odin's Lost Eye downloaded a new operating system that would override Aesir. He's asked if he wished to run this new OS. In doing so, he'd also be able to "return back in time to the most desired point in the past." Jaehyeon easily agrees, and his Aesir OS is replaced by Nornir. I had to look it up, but in Norse mythology, the Nornir (or the Norns) were "a group of deities in Norse mythology responsible for shaping the course of human destinies," according to their Wiki article, at least.

After activating the new OS - Nornir - Jaehyeon is indeed teleported back in time. SURPRISE! I accidentallied into a transmigration story again! Much like Leveling Up My Husband to the Max, My Child Will Have a Different Father, and You Can't Kill Me: The Secret Bride of the Black Wolf, the main character, upon their death, possesses the body of their younger self and can try to change the future with the knowledge they retained. (To be fair, this was the first story I read on Webtoon that used that trope, and then I shifted gears to romance isekais, and it kept coming up in those stories too....)

Jaehyeon awakens in his teenage body eleven years in the past! Before his mother was killed (which had its own emotional moment, just like Jin-woo had in season 2....), but, almost more importantly, before Jaehyeon decided to officially train to become a Brawler. He had the chance now to become a powerful Mage instead, and he was taking it!

Also, much like how Jin-woo was "chosen" by The System, Jaehyeon was "chosen" by a coalition of Norse gods seeking to dethrone Odin. When Jin-woo ignores prompts from The System, he's punished by sent to a pocket dimension to train with life-or-death stakes. Likewise, the gods opposing Odin give Jaehyeon challenges with literal deadlines. If he can't complete the task within the time frame they set for him, they will kill him, reset Odin's Lost Eye, and wait for their next Chosen One.

Again, the parallels are crazy, but the stories also feel so different. It's awesome to see what different people can do with the same base materials, ya know?

Now, I realize that I've mentioned at least this much of MIO's plot before when I first started reading this series. However, it's been a year or two since I last picked it up. I needed a refresher myself. Also, it was fun showcasing the parallels between MIO and SL.

Since it's been so long since I've read this series I'm just starting from scratch, rereading the first 18 episodes that I had originally read, and then continuing from there (hopefully). This, time, however, I have a MUCH larger backlog of free episodes I can casually read through at my leisure. 115 episodes (plus an unnumbered one simply titled "Preview"...), to be exact. The series also updates every week, so the longer I take to catch up the more free episodes I have to read.

After riding the Solo Leveling hype train, I'm excited to keep riding those rails right into this series and hope the SL hype can help carry me far enough into MIO that this series will keep me hooked on its own merits. I mean, to be fair to MIO, I was enjoying it when I first started reading it. I just was in the mood for romance more than action, so it fell to the wayside. Now that I'm reading more each day, and Rental Hero is on hiatus (another series I'm itching to get back into thanks to SL), I think I can happily split focus between action and romance.

I guess you'll have to check back in next month to see how well I do with that.

As for the rest of my reading list... well... as I've mentioned, this update is already long (and late) enough as it is. There's no further changes in my reading schedule, but it might be a bit much to recap what's happened in them at this point. Maybe I'll dedicate some time to the other series on my list next month. 

In the meantime, I'll leave you with my updated Webtoons reading schedule:

• Sunday:
• You Can't Kill Me: The Secret Bride of the Black Wolf
• At Your Mercy
• Yes, I'm still giving this one a chance. I don't know why. But I've at least read long enough that the story finally caught back up with the in medias res cold-open of the series. I get to at least know what Delinda's response is to Prince Iskan proposing to her.
• A Savage Proposal
• Daily Pass Unlocks:
• The Makeup Remover
• The Girl Downstairs (Doona!)
• Mythic Item Obtained
• Read daily until I catch up on the 115 episodes currently released
• Add in the new episodes released in the meantime, and it should take me about 5 months to catch up... if I only read one episode/day....
• Monday:
• Not Your Typical Reincarnation Story
• Seabird and the Wolf
• Daily Pass Unlocks:
• The Makeup Remover
• The Girl Downstairs (Doona!)
• Mythic Item Obtained
• Tuesday:
• I Will Live the Life of a Villainess
• The Dragon King's Bride (for 4 more weeks)
• Office Romance from Hell
• Lock Me Up, Duke!
• Daily Pass Unlocks:
• The Makeup Remover
• The Girl Downstairs (Doona!)
• Mythic Item Obtained
• Wednesday:
• I Am The Villain
• Daily Pass Unlocks only:
• The Makeup Remover
• The Girl Downstairs (Doona!)
• Mythic Item Obtained
• Catch up on any missed episodes thus far that week
• Thursday:
• The Age of Arrogance
• Maybe Meant to Be
• Daily Pass Unlocks:
• The Makeup Remover
• The Girl Downstairs (Doona!)
• Mythic Item Obtained
• Friday:
• My Child Will Have a Different Father
• Writers Legacy
• Daily Pass Unlocks:
• The Makeup Remover
• The Girl Downstairs (Doona!)
• Mythic Item Obtained
• Saturday:
• Obsidian Bride
• Daily Pass Unlocks:
• The Makeup Remover
• The Girl Downstairs (Doona!)
• Mythic Item Obtained

AND! If ALL of that wasn't enough! Guess what's just around the corner. That's right! May 3rd starts up Dracula Daily yet again.

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It will be my FOURTH attempt to get through this blasted novel! Let's see if I can make it past the September 18th entry this time.... I'm hoping my newly formed nightly reading routine will help me stay on course. Then again, if I close out my day with Dracula entries the way I do with these Webtoon series, I'll be a day late on all of the Tumblr posts (not that anyone else does Dracula Daily anymore...). 

Perhaps I can change up my morning routines instead. I tend to bring my breakfasts to work with me because I can't be bothered to wake up early enough to eat BEFORE going to work. Maybe, while I'm eating at my desk anyway, I can get myself into the habit of reading Dracula instead of checking in on my socials. I should probably start now with some Mythic Item Obtained in the morning to get into that rhythm.

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Cropped by LycoRogue

Phew! That sure was a lot, huh? Thank you all so much for spending some of your Easter evening with me (or just time in general, if you don't celebrate Easter and/or you're not reading this the day I published it, which... fair... it is late). I honestly don't know what I'll have to say at the end of the month with regards to my writing. I've been a bit focused elsewhere....

I guess you'll just have to come back in... dear lord... ten days (this update is so late! TT^TT) to see. Until then, enjoy your holidays and I hope you have a good story (or two, or 17...) to curl up with as well.

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