[insert a cool name, i guess]

I decided to write jot down some thoughts about what I read because… otherwise, it’d just seem like I’m just mindlessly consuming things. So, let’s go with our first entry: a BL novel by Molasses.

>> If I don’t become the main character, I’ll die <<

(NOT SPOILER-FREE! I’ll try to censor the spoilers when I learn how to actually do that with Markdown.)

Introduction:

Main Scenario Failure: If your scenario weight reaches 0.00%, your existence will be erased.

[You are ‘Extra Rank – Citizen 1001’. Current scenario weight: 0.02%]

I suddenly found myself dropped into a fantasy kingdom story. But what’s the status of my scenario importance? Every time I act alongside the protagonist Leonardo, my scenario importance rises bit by bit. Alright, if I’m stuck like this, I’ll cling to the protagonist’s side and try to survive until the end, no matter how pitiful it feels.

“Are you planning to leave me behind? If you do, you’ll have to watch your very own hero groveling on the floor, begging for just a sliver of your attention. Is that what you want?”

Maybe it’s because I’ve been sticking so close to him, but it feels like the protagonist’s developing separation anxiety.

What hooked me about this story:

The MC and the ML’s interests are seemingly at odds with each other (the title literally implies that the MC has to take the ML’s place after all!), but somehow the situation’s ended up a complete reversal and the ML’s begging for the MC to stay!? I mean, just look at this banger line:

“Are you planning to leave me behind? If you do, you’ll have to watch your very own hero groveling on the floor, begging for just a sliver of your attention. Is that what you want?”

Look at the yearning dripping with every word. How can I not be curious after that? OMG!

Also, I was curious about the novel cover, in which the top/bottom dynamics isn’t immediately obvious (bad yaoi reader mindset I know haha…)

What kept me going/What I love about this story:

• The characters feel very true-to-life, not overblown and dramatized like you’d often feel in these types of plot where the MC’s supposed to be such a genius and the ML can’t help but fall head over heels for him. And the fact that each character’s perspective gets explored so that you think, “so that’s what’s happening behind the scenes!”

• The tightly woven plot. The story’s themes stands out and almost nothing that gets mentioned isn’t of some importance. This story uses the Chekhov’s gun principle so well, you can’t help but think the story’s been crafted with care and want to savor it.

• The relationship/dynamics between MC and ML. Even before anything you can really feel the affection and care the MC has for the ML (actually even though the MC’s featured as a rational calculating type it’s made clear from the beginning he’s a very kind person, which makes the aforementioned affection and care very natural) and the way the MC stands out in the ML’s vision as a special person, leading his life and then becoming the light of it! + The way that the sparse description of the ML seemingly make it like he’s not doing much anything and is in danger of being overshadowed by the MC, but in fact he’s the cornerstone of his heart that the MC very much relies on to move forward! + Actually just everything about the ML’s feelings about the MC, the way they developed from beginning to end. Oh my god my hearteuuuu

• The pacing. The story alternates between the fast-paced, gripping action scenes, the peaceful scheming/planning scenes and the comedic scenes that play on the “everyone knows they’re boyfriends except for them” trope. You might’ve thought that last one’d make things feel forced but nooo, they’re genuinely so fun and are written as a really good counterweight to the more tense (tenser…?) scenes!

• The absolute skinship between the MC and ML. They cannot be physically forced apart and aside, nooooo, don’t make them!

• The prose and dialogues. I can make a whole collection of them. Much better than your average webnovel I’m certain!

What I wished could’ve been better:

Of course, all the following points could be because this is only my first read-through so I don’t remember stuff all that well and I’ll admit, I was rather distracted while reading the later chapters, but anyway:

• The third and fourth arcs feel a bit more plot-driven than I’d like. I wish there were more chapters exploring the characters’ feelings and thoughts (as opposed to just focusing on what they have to do to reach the next confrontation of the plot), for example Godric’s POV and Isaac’s feelings about the other characters of the story he’s currently in. He says he’d very much want to get to know the places and people of this world more but it only ever gets mentioned when he has to think whether he could stay in this world as a reward, I think. Could’ve been sprinkled here and there his personal thoughts on them throughout the novel, y’know? Like how does he feel about this port town, personally, as a person living here? Or the people he encountered? And Godric - he’s written like he’s the 2nd male lead but from the way the MC’s POV makes it very clear he doesn’t like him, without Godric’s POV about how he feels about the MC, you know he’s got no chance and isn’t of that much importance anyway. Maybe I felt the transition in treatment when it gets revealed that for his purposes, Godric really shouldn’t let MC die was a bit too sudden for my liking maybe? And Vittorio, for all intents and purposes I can’t help but feel like he’s just here to fill the “minor minor (hah, pun) character who adores the MC very much” archetype, you know? Well, to be fair, the MC ||forgets his past|| for most of the story so maybe personal anecdotes wouldn’t really come up, because he has nothing to pull up and compare to.

• Likewise, I also wish we’d seen more from Leo’s POV, especially in the later chapters when he’s gotten his body back!

• His real name is also Isaac? Really? Unless Isaac is actually a popular name in Korea adding that detail just makes it feel like the author just want to smooth over the matter of his real name quickly, y’know…

Final thoughts:

I LOVE THIS STORY!!! I have some issues with the pacing but I’ll be honest, I have issues with the pacing of all stories on the first read in which I just read everything in one go so… that part’s really subjective. Other than that, I love the story concept, the themes, the dynamics between characters. And as more and more things get revealed in the end this story has a really good rereadability. Can’t wait till the day I visit it again. <3

Original work (pages 11-15).

---

Page 1.
Inkarmat: In this place on Tanigaki-nispa’s face, there’s a small but deep scar. It’s very wonderful.
Inkarmat: Aren’t men with scars on their faces just so attractive?
Ienaga: I understand it very well, the obsession with the appearance of the human body.
Ienaga: Well, the texture of the skin when eaten is terrible, though, so I often peel it off when cooking.
Inkarmat: Oh, what a waste.
Koito: Tsukishima, if you're going to peel it, make it into a rabbit.
Tsukishima: Rest properly, please.
Inkarmat: Ah, but Tsukishima-nispa will understand, won’t you?

Page 2.
Inkarmat: You only like nispas with scars on their faces, after all.
Tsukishima: …Huh?
Koito: Hey, who is she talking about, Tsukishima? (The one person that I know is…!)
Tsukishima: No, really, I have no idea… (There’s only one person…)
(Tsurumi image description: “A wonderful man with a scar on his face”)

Page 3.
Koito: Tsukishima.
Tsukishima: Hey, it’s a pain so stop putting nonsense into his head. It’s a pain, you hear?
Koito: Did you say “It’s a pain” twice just now?
Ienaga: I’ll now proceed to draw second lieutenant Koito’s blood…
Tsukishima: *GRAB*
Inkarmat: Oh.

Inkarmat: What I said was not nonsense.
Inkarmat: You’ll understand, eventually.

Page 4.
Koito: Tsukishima!!
Koito: Tsukishima, come quick!! The sea wind is stinging my eyes!! How long are you going to keep me waiting?!
Tsukishima: (Ah— Right.)
Tsukishima: (How far ahead can that woman see…)

Page 5.
“Second Lieutenant Koito, listing the names of men in the order of his dislike for them.”
Koito: That person… Could he be Ogata…?
Tsukishima: It’s not Ogata, sir.
Koito: Then, Sugimoto…
Tsukishima: It’s not Sugimoto, either.
Tsukishima: (Really, I have no idea who it could be…)

Original work.

---

Page 1.
“Your father is a distinguished personage of the army, someone like a god.”
“It’s a pity, but your mother has fallen in love with someone she shouldn’t have.”

Page 2.
Ogata: My grandfather told me that God has no form.
Ogata: But still, I’d like to see God, I think.

???: Hyakunosuke-kun.

???: Since long ago, many people have wished to see God and imagined all sorts of things, don’t you think?
???: In the book I read, something like this was written:

Page 3.
Tsurumi: God created man in his own image——

Yuusaku: You and Father really do look alike, Brother.

Page 4.
Ogata: Is that so… I have never met Father in person, so I can’t say anything about that.

Yuusaku: Ah.
Yuusaku: Please pardon my thoughtlessness.

Ogata: (Sweaty hands…)
Yuusaku: Right now, this… please accept it.

Yuusaku: One day, I will definitely create a chance for you to talk to Father.
Yuusaku: I’m sure that if Father can see your face, he will——

Page 5.
Ogata: *chuckles* How unpleasant.

Yuusaku: !?
Ogata: Ah, no, it’s just that the resemblance is uncanny.
Ogata: Do you take after your mother, Yuusaku-dono?
Yuusaku: I’ve been told I look like both, but let’s see…

(Dim text/Ogata: God)

Page 6.
Ogata: My God—

(^ hardcoded color)

Original work.

---

Page 1.
“The person inside”

Page 2.
Caretaker: What’s your name?
Ogata: Ogata Hyakunosuke.
Caretaker: How old are you?
Ogata: I’m four years old.
Caretaker: Wait for your family to come, okay? Did you go to the lost child center by yourself?
Ogata: Yes.
Caretaker: What a smart child.
Ogata: (A smart child, huh… Why, thank you.)

Page 3.
Ogata: (Residing within this 4-year-old child is a soldier born in the Meiji era. This is something that no one knows about, and that no one will believe even if I told them.)
Ogata: (It’s humiliating to be waiting at the lost child center right now, but I have no other choice.)
Ogata: (I wasn’t going to the kindergarten, and was staying at home all the time, so my parents were worried.)
Ogata: (The other day, they suggested I go to the amusement park with a relative of mine.)
Ogata: (And the one who arrived—)

Page 4.
Ogata: (—was this man.)
Yuusaku: Hello, Hyakunosuke-kun.
Yuusaku: My name is Hanazawa Yuusaku. Nice to meet you.
Ogata: (The one I killed, Yuusaku, was there right in front of me.)
Yuusaku: Let’s have a lot of fun today, okay?
Ogata: (His smile was still the same as back then.)
Yuusaku: Let’s get on that one!
Ogata: (What's going on? Could it be that he’s here for revenge? I’m pretty much unarmed.)

Page 5.
Ogata: (Did he mean this one?)
Yuusaku: Let’s get in!
Ogata: (Is it even moving? Isn’t it almost stopped? I have no idea what’s so fun about this.)
Ogata: (All the rides Yuusaku choose are so slow. They’re way too boring.)
Ogata: Aah~ I want to get on something more exciting~~~!!!!
Ogata: I want to ride that next.

Page 6.
“Super high-speed roller coaster” (kyaa—)
Yuusaku: I’m sorry, but you can’t ride that one. Hyakunosuke-kun would have to a be a little taller.
Ogata: (Boring.)
Yuusaku: Let’s eat ice cream!
Yuusaku: I’ll go buy it, so please wait here.
Ogata: (Here’s my moment of freedom.)

Page 7.
Ogata: (If I walk over here for a bit, you wouldn’t mind, right?)

Yuusaku: Hyakunosuke-kun?

Ogata: Damn it. Guess we got separated.
Ogata: (He was tall. Maybe I can find him.)
Ogata: (It’s completely impossible. I can’t see anything at all.)
Ogata: (It’d be faster to go there.)

Page 8.
Ogata: (———Yuusaku’s slow.) (C’mon, hurry up.)
Ogata: (He must be looking for me all over the place.)
Yuusaku (imagination): (panicking)
Ogata: (Should I just leave?)
Ogata: (Though, that’ll just)
Ogata: (cause a hassle later.)
Ogata: (Then let’s not…)
Ogata: …
Ogata: (4-year-olds just go to sleep right away. This body uses up stamina way too quickly.)
Caretaker: Ah, he’s fallen asleep.

Page 9.
<Yuusaku: I want to go play with you, ani-sama.
Ogata: Go play? Do you mean at a red light district?
Yuusaku: That’s not it.
Yuusaku: A place where both adults and children can play without fearing constraint, I mean.
Ogata: (haha) Does such a place even exist?
Yuusaku: It does, I’m sure.
Yuusaku: Someday, together, let's go there.>

Page 10.
Yuusaku: Ani-sama!

Yuusaku: I’m so glad.



Page 12.
Yuusaku: I’m sorry.
Ogata: (No,
don’t be sorry.)

Ogata: I wanna get that.
Yuusaku: The panda?
Ogata: The balloon!

Page 13.
Ogata: (The place that you wanted to go someday, is this it?)
Ogata: (This feeling isn’t something I’m used to.)
Ogata: (Well, it’s okay—)

Page 14.
Ogata: (Come to think of it, you called me “ani-sama” earlier.)
Ogata: (So that’s how it is.)
Ogata: (It’s fine if you ask, but please keep silent for a while.)
Ogata: (We have plenty of time anyway.)

— End —

Original work (first two pages).

---

Sugimoto: Eh!? The two of you are half-brothers!? You don’t look alike at all!!
Ogata: (How annoying.) Shut up. What’s that got to do with you?
Yuusaku: (We get that a lot!)
Sugimoto: Aren’t I the one who looks more like Yuusaku-san?
Ogata: I’d be happy to put a bullet through that shit-stuffed head of yours again. (Read: You two don’t look alike.)

Sugimoto: See?
Ogata: Don’t “see?” me. You don’t look like him at all!! (glances)
Asirpa: I’m hungry…
Ogata: (holds her up) Now this is more like it.
Sugimoto: Ogata, don’t you fucking dare touch Asirpa-san!! (And we do look alike!)

1. "float" tells
- Item A to align to the left of its container.
- Items around item A to flow around (instead of under) it.

2. Most common values: left; right; none.

3. If item A is a float item & item B is a normal item, item A will be inside item B. If both items A & B are float items, item A will be next to item B. OR: Float items stack next to, instead of atop, each other.

4. Float items' heights do not get recognized. Thus, to tell items not to flow around a float item:
4.1. Add to item C next to item A&B:


- Values: left; right; both.
- Tells item C to ignore the command to "flow around the item floated left/right/either" above.
4.2. Add to container item:


- Tells container item (item containing A & B) to recognize that A&B contributes to its height.
5. If the float item can't fit horizontally, it automatically moves down (vertically).