I KNEW IT!!
I KNEW THEY HAD DONE THIS SHIT BEFORE!!
God I've been waiting so long for the reveal haha I was originally thinking time loop, but this makes more sense because it involves that plot point of "people not dying" that was at the beginning and I've been like... Okay but clearly people are still dying so what happened with that? Did author forget or is this part of a reveal WAYY later and HERE WE ARE!!!! YESSSS
"Do you want to kill me too?" With that huge smile on his face. Seems like Guwon is absolutely okay with it if it's Jinwoo trying to kill him. Like he'd love any attention or action directed towards him if it's Jinwoo doing it.
I had theorized this before, but this chapter really is driving it home as being very likely.
But I'm pretty sure Jinwoo is looping through time over and over again with the starting point being when Guwon finds him.
That's why Jinwoo finds these strangers bodies to be familiar. It's why he has almost prophetic dreams of people he knows being dead and blaming him (like the doctor being dead in his dream before he even sees a trial). It's why he tries to kill Guwon in his sleep before knowing his true nature. It's possibly why Guwon sees him as being a real person and not a pet because he's the only other person who is like him. Who is different from normal humans.
Sisyphus was punished for his hubris to roll a boulder up a hill only for it to roll back down before reaching the top, forcing him to repeat it over and over again, never reaching the top. Just like Jinwoo (and possibly Guwon) are repeating the same timeline making the same mistakes
Ok philosopher
Omfg I love your theory but I feel like we're missing something.
I like your theory but this is basically plot of dead man switch.
Genuinely thought you were jumping till u mentioned Sisyphus..... Ur smart af
You're doing a great translation! Take your time and keep at it!
The only part that confused me a little was when he says the body could be a warning or a "flare" only the killer would know. Flare is probably the direct translation, but has another meaning.
Flare maybe means he's put the body there to show off or flaunt the murder. Since a real flare lights up and grabs your attention.
Thank you so much for the support!
By flare I’m pretty sure it means as in the murder wants them to know they are there. Like make their presence known so that the others know they are in danger. Mc is probably referring to when in some games the murder can be sadistic in wanting everyone to feel scared by their presence and likes to watch them go crazy.
When he says that only the killer would know he meant there could be a variety of other reasons why the killer did what they did. Even the mc doesn’t know the killers motive bc in chapter one he was complaining how the killer didn’t have one so even he is unaware of it which is the fun part bc normally in stories like this the mc knows everything about the antagonist of what story they entered. I love the twist in the fact that this time the mc isn’t as omniscient and is also having to learn a lot about the antagonist. It’s just super refreshing yk
Yeah exactly.
I was meaning that flare in Korean probably means both a real light up flare and also a less literal meaning of flaunting, showing off, making yourself known, etc.
But in English flare as a word doesn't have that extra meaning on its own. So it seemed like the translation apps you used probably translated it as a literal flare because translation apps don't always know slang or lingo etc.
So to get the same idea across in English as the Korean text it might make more sense for the sentence to be something like:
"It could be a kind of warning, or the killer could be taunting us."
The rest of the translation was really smooth and easy to read though!
Yeah I like that the antagonist is really mysterious for motive. I'm really curious about how the whole story goes~!
Ohhh i see what you’re saying. Sorry sometimes I’m a little slow mb.
Same I can’t wait to finish up this story and see where the author takes it
No worries! I wrote it kinda fast in the middle of the night so I wasn't super clear lol
Yeah it's been in my list for so long cause the idea just seems so fun! Also 1000% a visual novel game I would play tf out of it it was real lol
BLESS YOU UPLOADER!! I thought this was never going to update ever again
And the winner of "Would you love me if I was a worm?" goes to Nongbu!
Man, Verifin is such a great, creepy ass villain. I really enjoy how totally unnerving he is and the threat he brings. Also refreshing to have a villain who isn't romantically interested in the FL, but is like wanting to use her.
After all of that, that ending felt weirdly rushed LMAO
YES. Guwon killed Jinwoo's Dad.
Go between Ch 0 and 24 to compare the scenes.
Ch 0 Jinwoo is hurt and cannot comprehend what's happening around him because he's close to dying/passing out and has a head injury.
He hears a lot of things happening (Raiders robbing and attacking others) and misconstrued the events due to his injury. That's why you can't see the raider clearly in Ch 0 and his speech bubble is black. The thing he is holding is purposefully placed off screen. Ch 0 you think it's a weapon, but in truth it's a water bottle. The last dark speech bubble fades into white, as if the truth is barely peeking out.
Ch 24 reveals the TRUTH. There's no dark shadows hiding anything. The scene is completely clear.
A raider DOES appear, but is chased away by his Dad. To Jinwoo the two of them merge as the same person in Ch 0. His Dad returns and the scene from Ch 0 plays out with his Dad's real dialogue, some of which is similar ("look what I found" vs "there you are" in reference to finding Jinwoo). His Dad mentions having been chased by some guys (likely the Hounds), but says he got away and as he holds out the bottle, Guwon smashes his head in, killing his dad. The bottle falls and lands on the floor. Ch 0 Jinwoo looks down then up at Guwon. We don't see what he looks at on the ground. Ch 24 when he looks down he's looking at the dropped water bottle. In Ch 1 we can see the water bottle on the ground next to the Dad's body. But do we see a weapon on the ground anywhere? No. Because there never was a weapon his Dad was holding. Only water.
Jinwoo passes out for a bit and when they are on truck he wakes up. Guwon had taken the water and is now giving Jinwoo water to drink. At the time we don't question where the water bottle had come from, but now with the truth revealed we know Guwon took it from the Dad.
Guwon later lets Jinwoo come back to where Jinwoo's Dad's body is left. It's a surprise! Since Jinwoo said he wanted to get his memories back on his own Guwon pretended he didn't kill Jinwoo's Dad when Jinwoo asked him earlier, because then the surprise would be ruined! He didn't lie he says! It was just a secret so his surprise wouldn't get ruined. You know? Just like when you lie about a surprise birthday party so that it stays a surprise! How nice of Guwon! Lol When Jinwoo confronts him Guwon finally does admit he killed his Dad, but obviously to Guwon this is not a big deal so he doesn't get why it's upsetting. He just thinks he did a good job on his surprise!
So Jinwoo in S1 is unreliable because of his memory issues. The reveal at the end of S1 has his real memories come back and shows the truth: Guwon was not his saviour like he thought, he had killed his Dad. The way his heart pounded near Guwon may have actually been a natural fear response and not love like he thought. His body remembered, even when he didn't. He had mistaken the bright blinding sun as a hopeful future, when in reality it was the bright, hot heat of hell.
Jinwoo had been sleepwalking and having strange dreams since the beginning of the story. Deep in his subconscious there were memories of Guwon killing his Dad.
But also... Jinwoo had gone through several loops of these same events. His subconscious moved his body in his sleep. He tried to kill Guwon in his sleep, he tried to cut off his ring finger (just like he did in this chapter) and he's had strange dreams that seemed to prophesize an impending doom (as mentioned in this chapter), a pale Moon that seemed to stare at him that looked like Guwon's eyes.
Just like Sisyphus rolling a rock uphill only for it to fall back down and to restart, never to reach the peak: Jinwoo and Guwon have been looping in time and the town has been wiped out each time.
This story so good I actually read your whole comment, ty for sharing your observations
Thanks!
The author does a great job dropping tiny hints and foreshadowing throughout. I had been waiting for the time loop reveal since partway through S1 because of the little bits that they put in that hint towards it (plus the symbolism of Sisyphus). It's cool to be able to go back and reread parts while knowing new info that recontextulizes scenes.
honestly i thought that in this chapter jinwoo imagined the “guy” that tried to kill him in chapter 0 as his dad because he thought guwon really killed his dad, but now that i think about it, you may be right!
what you said is more complete and makes more sense, because he already lived that moment countless times thats why hes always having those memories
At this point, we've now seen Guwon kill his dad in ch. 24 and in this newest chapter in the exact same way in clear panels. We know Guwon will kill other people without guilt and sees them like pets. So we've had double confirmation and it's entirely in line with who Guwon is and his actions towards others. It completely makes sense he'd attack someone who was carrying a resource like water. We've seen him do much worse after all.
Jinwoo didn't realize it was his dad's body until he returned to the house and found his body. At that point he didn't have a head injury either that would affect his perceptions.
I'd fully recommend going back and reading from the beginning now that there's been some things answered. Have Ch 0 and Ch 24 open side by side and check out the differences. It's very well done and fun to see how the author tricks the audience at the beginning in order to get us in the same mindset as Jinwoo. We get to learn the truth with him.