- #1
There's apparently a surprisingly large number of masochists on this website.Why do I say that?You have to be a masochist to read this story. That's it. And somehow this story has an amazingly high rating.This whole goddamn novel is a shaggy dog story, the MC is a hamster running in a cage called the "system". An entirely redundant one that he doesnt and didn't need.Put in modern terms, the MC completed the villain route on his first playthrough in order to unlock NG+. The reason he's chasing NG+ is for a system that will apparently help him unlock the Golden Ending, which it supposedly does.The problem here, is that the MC is not the only player. The other 5 players here are the Heroines, who are fully aware of what happened in the first route.So the MC is essentially stuck on the villain route again, enforced by the system that does nothing but throw debuffs at him. At the same time, it provides him with useful resources that he didn't have on his first run around.Problem being?All those resources are spent keeping him alive from the aforementioned heroines who are trying their best to mu*der him. The net result here is thst the MC is even MORE hamstrung than he was in the previous run.It's a pokemon Nuzlocke run in novel format.Someone said in a review earlier that those who like angst and drama will enjoy this story. He's not wrong. There's basically nothing but tragedy and drama here. There are moments of introspection and realization, but it feels cheap and forced when you realize that there was no need for all this suffering and "oh-woe-is-me" bullsh*t in the first place if the MC could just say f*ck it.There is no catharsis or enjoyment in reading about an MC that can only keep sacrificing himself silently while everyone hates him for perfectly justifiable reasons until he reaches that "Golden Ending", all thanks to an arbitrary system that seems absolutely intent on forcing all the characters to act out a Korean drama.In conclusion, to give this novel 5 stars, you have to be a masochist.
