- #1
- MC needs magic power to end the Demon King when he solo'd his way in, but can't find anyone to help him deal the finishing blow when he is THIS CLOSE to finishing it.Really? All of humanity is out there fighting the good fight (even if most are corrupt/diabolical), and he can't find/convince enough mages who will put aside their differences to finally end their hellish existence in an alternate world? Spoiler
Summoned humans can apparently amass enough achievement points and chose to go back to Earth ("Returnees") !! Some have already done so! So there's a huge incentive for summoned humans to push forward. And yet MC is saying ALL the mages would rather cut-their-nose-to-spite-face and not contribute to finishing the Demon King??
The whole "returnee" concept is s*upid and created unnecessary plot holes.
The author later changes the story and hints at a conspiracy to prevent the Demon King from being killed since the future calamities would be worse. So it's not JUST the mages, but the people in power who wanted to preserve the status quo, and that the MC knew about this. It's also mentioned from a future time-traveler ("Regressor") that humanity eventually pushed past the Demon King obstacle anyway.
The whole "regressor" concept is s*upid and created MORE unnecessary plot holes.
It gets worse. Once it was clear how OP the MC was, humanity's rulers quickly came to an agreement with the demons, where they actively defended the Demon King from the MC. So those in power had the ability to kill the Demon King anytime, and could actually negotiate with the Demon King all along? That makes no sense... since the Demon King should have avoided antagonizing humanity, esp after getting beaten to pulp by MC. There was NO POINT to starting that big winter frontier battle (that went on 20+ chapters) ??
Sounds like author tried to be too clever, and just kept making mistakes.
[collapse] - Humanity managed to amass sizable forces, but can't find it within themselves to change the system or be more efficient/less cruel? Even after countless yrs? The summoned humans from Earth are at the top of the food chain (emperor!!), and are summoning other humans, basically mass conscription/migration. Even tr*shy non-fighters can be easily placed in productive non-combatant roles (aka "Release that Witch"). There is no purpose to the Summoning Palace and wanton cruelty. Especially when everyone faces the same existential threat.In "Reincarnator", humans are forced through the grinder by an insane "God". In this novel, humans basically created their own grinder for no reason.I get that Koreans are obsessed with dystopia and corrupt governments given the crap they have to deal with (so many of their presidents in jail, so many corrupt chaebols), but this is WAY too far out.
- All "Preselected" are by nature, as*holesAuthor has this weird obsession with depicting nepotism, to the point that it's nonsensical. Most of the preselected got there due to nepotism and don't give a sh*t about fellow humans.If you're the top guy in power, why would you summon family relations to an apocalyptic world, away from the safe Earth? And it just happens that almost all preselected are callous pricks? Why would you tweak pivotal battles/wars and put the fate of humanity (and yourself) on weak family members? That's not how nepotism works. All cases of human history show that it's just a slow form of corruption and leads to the GRADUAL demise of civilization.This is a pretty biased view from the author. Also wouldn't it make more sense to summon trained military personnel, strategists, advanced weaponry and such from modern day Earth to aid the war effort? This seems really s*upid.Is this just some lame meta commentary about privileged people and nepotism in Korean society? If author had removed this nonsense extreme bias towards nepotism, it would have solved so many other plot holes in the novel. You WOULDN'T NEED "Preselected", "Returnees", or even the "Curse of Extinction" explained below.
- The whole Curse of Extinction thing is s*upid and pointlessly confusingA god-level curse that basically kills off all the very young (maybe <20 yrs old).It's never properly explained, but we have to painfully infer that this curse is somehow repeatedly enacted at different points of time (since the earliest race that got affected was at least hundreds of years ago, else it makes absolutely no sense that ancient races and newer races can meet up). Either that or every non-summoned human/demi-human is currently hundreds and thousands of years old. Becomes pointlessly confusing, the implications on population/battles don't make sense either (since humanity is so willing to throw away able-bodied fighters as cannon fodder).I suspect author tried to shoe-horn this in as an explanation for the Preselected (nepotism of the summoned humans bringing in their family from Earth since they can't have kids). Which is what happens when author shoots himself in the foot with too many ideas.
- All of humanity is deliberately depicted as base/selfish/corrupt and are the ultimate evil of the story, not the DemonsIf you put ANY race in a summoning situation with ZERO opportunity to demonstrate goodwill, what else are you supposed to do? And all of their systems (Summoning Palace, Guilds, Kingdoms/Empires etc) are just self-reinforcing bad behavior.
- MC has character conflict (partially resolved) MC is so OP and has the power to secretly manipulate Observers, but can't/won't lift a finger to help others WHILE being apathetic to his fellow humans AND walking around with a chip on his shoulder (thinking he's the savior of humanity).Spoiler
MC just watches as a desperate survivor is lured/killed while giving s*xual favors to a "Preselected" survivor in exchange for food, even though MC knew exactly what would happen.
MC enlists helps from both "good guys" (who are weak and lazy due to being underfed) and "bad guys" (violent but disciplined, and had the advantage of monopolizing food). He gifts info that strengthens the "bad guys", not caring what the eventual consequences are when the power struggle between the two groups comes to a head. MC passes that off as a necessary consequence and the results are not his problem.
Yes, laziness is a sin. But MC is aiding and abetting bad behavior too. And an obvious better solution would have been to procure/gift food for the "good guys" so everyone starts off at the same point.
[collapse]It's an overused phrase, but "great power comes with great responsibility". No one is suggesting MC should become an arbiter of justice. But if MC doesn't effect change when he can, and yet feels jaded about humanity while inwardly claiming to be it's only real savior, then he is just a hypocrite. Which is actually ok if that's the way author wants to write the MC, but as the reader you have to acknowledge that's pretty irrational/delusional. You can't play the role of humanity's savior while being that callous. Else you're attempting to write a novel where Ozymandias from Watchmen is the actual hero. Which is s*upid.EDIT: It does appear in later chapters (50+) that MC's character inconsistencies are somewhat resolved. Maybe author realized where he went wrong. A particularly good piece of writing in Chapter 85-93.SpoilerTwo siblings (brother and sister) embark on a suicidal mission to gain power in the Demon Realm. Brother's thirst for vengeance against his father leads him to disregard the love that his sister has for himself. Sister is emotionally dependent on the brother while growing up and abides by brother's decision.
MC gives them a choice, either give up their path of vengeance and live, or pursue it at the cost of their lives/soul. Eventually brother gets his power, sister dies, MC does nothing. No complaints from me, that's good writing and execution.
That's what's important. A self-proclaimed savior of humanity and protagonist of a story MUST logically give at least ONE choice to the humans he seeks to save, not judge them beforehand and leave them to die.
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