This is Cute

https://seananmcguire.tumblr.com/post/676723133824237568/you-know-that-ada-lim%C3%B3n-poem-where-shes-like-i

Trash of the Count's Family, Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint, and S-Classes That I Raised - the Holy Trinity of Korean Webnovels

 When you get interested in certain stories, you can't help hearing about other stories that are popular in the same fandom.

For the Untamed/Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, many of them also are familiar with the Scum Villain's Self Saving System by the same author. Even though I haven't read it myself, I see it mentioned often enough to know a little about it.

Something similar happens with Trash of the Count's Family (TCF), and if you read it you'll probably also hear people mention Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint (ORV) and S-Classes That I Raised (SCTIR).

The problem is that all three of these are still so new to the English-speaking side that there really isn't a lot of material out there. Fandom is pathetic. 

ORV is fully translated at least, but TCF is still a work in progress and SCTIR has only a fraction of it translated.

For the rest of this discussion I'll probably type out spoilers, so don't read if you aren't caught up on the current translations and don't want to read spoilers.

TCF is still by far my favorite. Not just for all the things I've listed before, either. There's a moment where Cale is addressing one of his team member's fears (a young Wolf boy isn't able to do the transformation into his berserk Wolf hybrid form just before a big battle, and is feeling pretty bad about himself) and Cale has this heart wrenching conversation where he's like “Would you throw me away if I was weak?”

...And what a great question. What fantasy story would even ask that question? So often we have main characters that (as Cale described one of the other characters, who could have been a protagonist in another story) just plow their way through. Overpowering all others. 

But is that what makes them valuable? Is being strong what makes you a worthwhile person? Or (as some people have said in the real world) is being rich? Or having a job? Or not being an addict? Or being in good health?

Are we only allowed to be considered worthy if we're perfect?

There's a lot of other things I could write about TCF. About Cale's personal history, where he seems to be a late bloomer. About how he learned to value other skills (like collecting information and research, and how important it was to use less flashy skills that help with supporting activity like communication and information sharing). 

But I don't really want to write that long, and I haven't yet touched on ORV or SCTIR.

 

So. ORV. ORV is... interesting. I'm glad I read it at least once, and there's a certain intellectual beauty to the plot. But it's a lot darker of a story, it doesn't quite resonate with me as much as TCF does, and I felt like the ending was a tiny bit of a let down. But it also has some interesting themes that I sort of like...

Or rather it captures a feeling I hate, but I love that it captures it? In ORV a novel becomes real (hence why it's similar enough to TCF, where a person winds up inside a novel. Or at least that's how we think the story begins), and in the novel there are 'constellations' based off various myths and ideas who watch people and may support those they favor.

There's a strong element of 'here we are suffering and dying for the amusement of powerful and arrogant beings' which is rather fitting for anyone other than the 1% these days. 

There's also quite a bit of myth and history fusion, which is kind of cool. There's not many stories where you might have the Monkey King interacting with Persephone. (Though it's interesting what myths get mentioned, and how that may impact the way the story affects readers from the East vs West, but I'll try to come back to that.)

I'd say it's worth reading at least once, but I'm probably not going to obsess over it as much as the others.

As for SCTIR, there's still so little translated that I'm not ready to make a final opinion on it, but there's some very interesting dynamics that I like.

 

SCTIR is about a world where dungeons started appearing, and humans have to periodically fight the monsters in the dungeons or they break open and monsters start pouring out into the real world.

The main character is someone with some absurdly powerful supporting skills, but absolutely no attack skills and pretty weak stats. (They rate people with skills based off their powers, much like characters in roleplaying games like Dungeons & Dragons). 

What's interesting is that weak though he is, he basically raised his younger brother... and his younger brother is one of the most powerful guys around. (They call them 'S-Classes', and I've never really understood why S is higher than A, for example, but that seems kind of common in Asian fics? Sort of like how in Naruto an S-Class ninja is one of the most dangerous and powerful ninjas. I suppose I could try googling how and why, but let's just accept that S-Classes are near the top.)

I like the dynamics between him and his brother, because there's the older sibling vs. raw power difference. Our main character, Han Yoojin, says he's like a cat trying to protect a tiger. 

It's also interesting because Han Yoojin's major skill is a 'caretaker'. Which he got partly because of caring for and raising his brother...

But it's interesting how he basically has motherly type skills, without really being portrayed as a motherly type of person. He is, in his own way, rather bad ass. 

Yes, I'm a sucker for complex dynamics and contradictions that really get me thinking.

Anyways. Circling back to the bit about eastern vs western takes, I find TCF and ORV especially interesting from that angle.

TCF... the main character is Korean, but he gets transported to a fantasy world that seems more similar to western culture. The novel doesn't explicitly say it, but the Korean names are naturally with the family name first and personal name next (i.e. 'Kim Rok Soo' if done in a western fashion would be 'Rok Soo Kim', because Kim is the family  name. 'Choi Han' and 'Choi Jung Soo' and 'Choi Jung Gun' are all from the Choi family) whereas in the fantasy world names are done in the western style. Personal name then family name. (i.e. 'Cale Henituse', 'Ron Molan', 'Alberu Crossman'.) 

It's funny that the things I accept as normal and the things I find different are probably the exact opposite of what a Korean reading the novel in Korean would notice. The author probably also has a decent amount of familiarity with the West, though I don't know how common that is in Korea.

ORV is like that as well, except more so. There's references to Korean, Chinese, Indian, Greek, and even biblical myths. The ones I have to look up to understand are probably the opposite for someone from that culture (TCF and ORV both mention the Korean turtle ship, so apparently that's a pretty well known Korean reference. I really ought to read up more on Korean/Japanese history some day.)

The biblical myths were interesting, in that I felt the author here had a better grasp of Christianity than some of what I've seen in Japanese anime. I don't know how to put it into words, but most of the references I've seen in Japanese anime always feel a little... off.

Whereas ORV has references to Uriel and Raphael and Metatron and the like, and it's not all that different from something I'd read in the Harry Dresden novels. Except for Gabriel... the translation kept calling Gabriel a female, and Gabriel is so clearly a male name that it kept throwing me off. Though... angels aren't really supposed to have gender anyway, right?

I don't know that there's much point to all that rambling, it's just things I found a little interesting.

Hopefully all three will catch enough interest that there'll be plenty more to enjoy in the future.

General Update

 I feel like I shouldn't post something without commenting on the current situation with Russia and Ukraine, but I also don't think I know enough to say much about it.

Other than that it sucks, and I sympathize with the Ukrainians. 

I suppose I also ought to mention that I did pass my AWS Solutions Architect certification. 

I am skimming the news, but have been rather frustrated/disappointed with so many things that I'm trying to limit my intake. 

It's just plain depressing. 

 I'll do what I can to make a difference. I'm not saying it's hopeless or anything, but it's not like the fools throwing money away in horribly destructive ways are going to change their minds if I blog about all the reasons I consider them short-sighted and foolish.

We'll just have to let them learn for themselves what a terrible idea it is, hopefully in a way that doesn't make too many innocent people suffer.

Anyways. The current international situation is tense, domestically some of these idiots are apparently planning another round of insanity in March (loosely based off the trucker convoy crap in Canada?), we seem to be on the downside of the omicron wave and I haven't yet heard of a new variant to really worry about...

So it's possible the pandemic will finally end (at least, in our part of the world. Between vaccine access and different rates of infection there will be other places around the world that still suffer) though we'll probably be dealing with the fallout for a while still.

I'm taking a break now that I have my SAP cert, but I'll probably start studying up for a COMPTIA Security or some other type of security certification after a short break.

Oh, and work is a bit more hectic these days due to some turnover and the need to train new people. 

Other than that, I'm escaping into fiction and will write a short blog post about that next.

Thought Provoking

Sharing this because I found it interesting, and although I'm not sure I agree with all of it, I'd like to think about it a bit and see if there's more info out there supporting or refuting it.