ya know, i think i clocked one of the reasons im just not enjoying this one as much as bk_moon’s other works.
like, with kim suho and kim jangcheol, they brought their grounded knowledge about their fields into the fantasy world. yeah, their work was supplemented by fantasy-elements, but it wasn’t like…. “get thin quick magic potion”, ya know? if anything, the magic supplements were often just work-arounds for stuff they would have had access to in the modern world that were difficult to achieve in the fantasy world. they sorta grew in size as the story continued, but ultimately the core of it was their strong understanding of agriculture and architecture
with this guy, it feels like almost from day 1 it’s just been… “sure he’s a doctor, but mostly people get healed by magic”. his organs are basically magical fairy companions, the mana heart thing was a lloyd thing that he basically inherited and activated via magic cheat codes, the pulse reading requires no actual skill on his part
he does have an impressive memory of medical conditions and procedures that mark him as a potentially very competent doctor… but very little of what ive seen him actually do has amounted to any skill on his part as a physician. like the only times it’s felt like his knowledge as a doctor might have been critical was with the kid suffering from seizures (which managed at least some of the “magic as a supplement rather than a replacement”… sorta… at this his knowledge was pivotal to understanding the cure, even if the cure was pretty fanciful) and the kings stroke (Which was handled entirely off screen and had no tension despite being a fairly major event).
i don’t really get to see him struggle, i know next to nothing about his life in korea (he opened a clinic, bad rumors spread, he has debt…. compared to what i knew about both kim suho and kim jangcheol very early on in their stories, this backstory feels very flat), and because i dont actually see him do much of any real work as a doctor, it feels like anyone who memorized a textbook could have done what he’s doing. also the amount he knows about the novel feels really incongruent with his backstory??? unless it’s later revealed that he has an absolutely insanely good memory, it doesn’t make sense for him to remember all this about a novel he read casually. kim jangcheol was obsessed with the videogame and played/re-played it obsessively. kim suho was a big fan of javier’s adventures. han lee describes reading the novel casually at work.
i really want to like this more. i really love bk_moon’s other works but damn dude, this one is really seeming like a miss for me. imma keep giving it a chance, but i really just want more out of the protag. han lee’s not really evil enough to be compelling as a villain protag and he’s not really good enough to root for. he’s just kinda… selfish and short-sighted? and he feels very replaceable tbh
busyplant
ya know, i think i clocked one of the reasons im just not enjoying this one as much as bk_moon’s other works.
like, with kim suho and kim jangcheol, they brought their grounded knowledge about their fields into the fantasy world. yeah, their work was supplemented by fantasy-elements, but it wasn’t like…. “get thin quick magic potion”, ya know? if anything, the magic supplements were often just work-arounds for stuff they would have had access to in the modern world that were difficult to achieve in the fantasy world. they sorta grew in size as the story continued, but ultimately the core of it was their strong understanding of agriculture and architecture
with this guy, it feels like almost from day 1 it’s just been… “sure he’s a doctor, but mostly people get healed by magic”. his organs are basically magical fairy companions, the mana heart thing was a lloyd thing that he basically inherited and activated via magic cheat codes, the pulse reading requires no actual skill on his part
he does have an impressive memory of medical conditions and procedures that mark him as a potentially very competent doctor… but very little of what ive seen him actually do has amounted to any skill on his part as a physician. like the only times it’s felt like his knowledge as a doctor might have been critical was with the kid suffering from seizures (which managed at least some of the “magic as a supplement rather than a replacement”… sorta… at this his knowledge was pivotal to understanding the cure, even if the cure was pretty fanciful) and the kings stroke (Which was handled entirely off screen and had no tension despite being a fairly major event).
i don’t really get to see him struggle, i know next to nothing about his life in korea (he opened a clinic, bad rumors spread, he has debt…. compared to what i knew about both kim suho and kim jangcheol very early on in their stories, this backstory feels very flat), and because i dont actually see him do much of any real work as a doctor, it feels like anyone who memorized a textbook could have done what he’s doing. also the amount he knows about the novel feels really incongruent with his backstory??? unless it’s later revealed that he has an absolutely insanely good memory, it doesn’t make sense for him to remember all this about a novel he read casually. kim jangcheol was obsessed with the videogame and played/re-played it obsessively. kim suho was a big fan of javier’s adventures. han lee describes reading the novel casually at work.
i really want to like this more. i really love bk_moon’s other works but damn dude, this one is really seeming like a miss for me. imma keep giving it a chance, but i really just want more out of the protag. han lee’s not really evil enough to be compelling as a villain protag and he’s not really good enough to root for. he’s just kinda… selfish and short-sighted? and he feels very replaceable tbh