After today’s chapter, I’m inclined to think the world is deliberately sabotaging his sleep. Guy only gets some rest because he fainted from fear. I think he only actually went to bed properly that first night back in DER. This is slightly depressing. Someone get this man some sleep!
Last week, i suddenly had this thought on reading this post by cows-quack - on the potential relevance of the Bison's backstory church with KSE.
I'm still thinking about it, and getting increasingly convinced this is a valid theory.
Lover of Paradise sect's whole point was to 'recreate' people. With the Heowoons they were trying to recreate the og CRI researcher.
We already know the timeline is super jeremy bearimy when it comes to cause and effect in this world, especially when CRI and Sekwang and Nameless Cult come into play. All of their existences are looping in weird ouroboroses of what came first, and who was responsible for the other thing happening.
The Heowoons also seem to have been brought up in the orphanage since they were kids and the fire was 3 years before Jang Heowoon joined Daydream. While the OG CRI Heowoon didn't die long enough ago for the other Heowoons to be actual kids before he died. So timeline seems to be irrelevant here. If the Lovers of Paradise cult wants to replicate KSE, they can start on that 20 years ago, it's clearly not going to be an impossible contradiction.
And if anyone in the Ireum-nim cult knew enough about Lee Heowoon to want to replicate his story, surely it wouldn't be out of the ordinary for them to also find out and know something about KSE as well. And in that case, almost certainly they would want to replicate him/his story too.
Maybe this is where the Church ID that brought KSE to DER world in Part 3 comes in. The body is clearly a church member who's stuck in Daydream. What if he's an attempted KSE copycat, maybe even one sent to Daydream to experience 'working in Daydream' as part of the KSE mimicry?
1. Mainly that the original entry for Lover of Paradise existed before the Nameless Cult became a thing on the wiki and was later retconned into being a part of the Mimicry Sect due to their similarities.
2. Other wiki entries (usually those belonging to the early era) that were later retconned out of existence have been shown to have existed or is still existing in the DER world. (Elite team dream collectors and that one retconned darkness 130666 collected)
3. Based on the above information, it’s likely Lover of Paradise as a cult and ghost story existed in the 2000s before the Nameless Church was founded. Then sometime in the 2010s, after Ireum-nim was summoned and the truth of this world began to leak to the general public (causing the formation of the Church), the Mimicry Sect took over the Lover of Paradise ghost story/cult faction and repurposed their facilities to recreate the “stories” they want. AKA, Heowoon grew up in an orphanage managed by the Lover of Paradise cult, but the target of who he was meant to become changed after the Mimicry Sect took over. Also, he is implied to be significantly younger than the rest of the cast. Namely he dropped out of highschool (because the original Heowoon never finished highschool) and likely applied to Daydream the moment he was able to. So there’s plausibly enough time for him and his siblings to have “grown up” striving to become Heowoon without taking ghost story influence/contamination into account. (2016 sealing of Sekwang, 2024 when he applies to Daydream. Assuming he got hired around 20/21 years old (no high school/university) (also don’t know what age people can legally be hired at a company in Korea) he’d have been ~12 years old when the Nameless Church took over if they did it immediately after the sealing.
4. A Kim Soleum that they can theoretically recreate based on imitating his personality and life would only be possible if it were based on Good Friend Kim Soleum’s experiences. OG Kim Soleum would’ve been too busy being an insane blob reliving the events of May 4th to show any kind of personality or life’s history to be replicated. Information on his past would’ve also been unavailable, because it happened outside the world of DER.
5. During his time as 130666, Kim Soleum uses his powers on a high ranking member of the Nameless Church and through that reveals his identity as Ireum-nim. This cult member is still presumed to be alive, they were only knocked out. (I do not remember which of the siblings he gassed, I think it was the girl?) I believe this is probably the best starting point for when they would start trying to recreate Kim Soleum’s story. ~4 and a bit years before part 3 times.
6. They probably wouldn’t need to brainwash people from childhood into trying to become “Kim Soleum”. Why wouldn’t a Nameless Church member be happy to become their god? Or become closer to their god by reliving their life and replicating their personality? It would also explain how Soleum’s currently body ended up at the branch company. Applied to work at Daydream like Soleum did, was a coward and terrified of ghost stories like Soleum, had 0 of his actual ghost story solving skills (like how Heowoon wasn’t actually a researcher) and got outed as a coward instantly, ended up thrown into the branch company and fell to the bottom because he literally can’t do the work.
7. There’s probably a bunch of discount Soleums running around. Maybe that’s why he was disregarded even though he looks like Soleum. Or it’s a weird filter effect where only people who’ve met the actual Kim Soleum would recognize him as Kim Soleum.
Conclusion: there is a plausible linear timeline for the church related things despite all the weird time shenanigans involving Sekwang. Somehow. And it is very plausible that Soleum’s current body is probably one of their attempts at discount Ireum-nim/Kim Soleum.
proof of how silent Soleum is with Choi (ch 143, 146, 152)
because I cant get over how much Soleum just Doesn’t Respond.
Choi’s dialogue is paraphrased and not one-to-one, plz don’t use as reference. Soleum’s silence is accurate though.
multiple boxes of silence means there was A Lot of internal monologue
143 and 153 have Jaekwan and you can immediately see how much more responsive Soleum is with Jaekwan, if you go back and read. Particularly since ch 143 has Choi bringing Jaekwan to see if Soleum becomes more responsive (yes. The answer is yes).
Dear Soleum-ah, I don’t think this is very conducive to your “kind of funny, approachable, and positive” persona (ch 169)
It’s 4 am, I should be sleeping. Instead I’ve been struck with a sudden idea I must write down.
Spoilers for op to part 3 of gsgw
So I saw some people wondering what’s up with the weird time dilation/differences between Real World and DER World and at first I thought it was because there isn’t actually a proper time passing ratio between the two worlds. Aka, time passes by in whatever way’s convenient for the plot.
And then I was hit by the thought: this feels kind of like Swekwang, almost. And then the thought hit me again, this is just like Sekwang!
So I propose that the DER World and the Real World both operate on their own time passing but end up syncing briefly whenever something crosses the barrier. Like when Soleum exchanged notes with Jaheon who was in Sekwang. And each time they connect the worlds sync up a little bit more. But it’s otherwise a shot in the dark as to how much time is passing for each side. Or something like that.
Anyways, I’m not expecting the water glass to wake Soleum up anytime soon, but also it’d be real funny if the safety net he prepared had already gone off but his body/brain didn’t register it because it happened at the same time as getting dunked with water in DER. Or grabbed by that ghost.
After today’s chapter, I’m inclined to think the world is deliberately sabotaging his sleep. Guy only gets some rest because he fainted from fear. I think he only actually went to bed properly that first night back in DER. This is slightly depressing. Someone get this man some sleep!
Gsgw Pt3 Theory regarding the current state of Kim Soleum.
Okay. Here's some key words you're gonna need to know.
OG Soleum: This refers to the original Kim Soleum summoned by Cheerful in Sekwang city. Currently receiving Counseling.
Good Friend Soleum: This refers to the Soleum we followed for the majority of the novel. Turned into a lump.
Current Soleum: The Soleum we are currently following in Part 3 who woke up in the ghost story world.
Okay now for the theory.
Fact: Kim Soleum went into a dream of the abandoned pop up store. He closely recreated the circumstances which got him summoned in Ch1. He wakes up in The Ghost Story World.
Original Assumption: The Good Friend Soleum was somehow resummoned into The Ghost Story World in a new body. The drawing below depicts what I mean.
THEORY: Instead of The Good Friend Soleum being summoned, it was actually OG Soleum who was summoned into the body of Current Soleum. Good Friend Soleum is still home. As depicted in the drawing below.
Thats the theory. Now for evidence
The Original Assumption: and why it doesn't work.
The Power needed for Summoning
We have been shown that the power needed to summon someone from another world is extreme. So extreme that three extremely powerful factions all teamed up to do it, with the help of multiple powerful entities. The power was so extreme that the consequences of this summoning was the erasure of an entire city because it could've ended the whole world. However there is no known event this extreme for Good Friend being summoned into Current Soleum, despite the jump from world to world.
Where is Braun?
Braun has proven time and time again he can follow his Good Friend anywhere regardless of the state of his body or mind. Despite 130666 being completely unrecognizable as Kim Soleum or a human, Braun was still able to find him. The only reason Braun dissapeared was cause Soleum entered his world without Ghost stories. And now he's back! And Braun is nowhere to be found.
The Managers Contract
It has been stated that three years have passed in The Ghost Story World. The Managers contract that allowed him to control The Golden Resort and let Soleum exist outside of it, is long expired. And yet The Manager (who has been shown to be able to appear where Soleum is in regard to his contract) is nowhere to be seen.
Good Friends Filters
Please note this is evidence based on a theory where The Good Friend filter, filtered out emotions from OG Soleum. We have very little known info on the specifics of the Good Friend Filter. All we know for sure is that it blocked out Good Friend Soleum's memory of mostly everything before the start of the novel. And erased any suspicion at the lack of memory. The theory this evidence is built on is that The Good Friend filter actually blocked out some feelings and emotions. Specifically, anger.
Soleum has always been a very docile indivual. He never rlly gets angry and despite his dramatic narration, hardly rlly shows emotion outwardly except in a few moments under specific circumstances. And yet in Pt 3, post awaking in The Ghost Story World, he has been very emotional. He actively reacts and shows emotions, groaning outwardly in dismay, screeching in fear, yelling when he gets emotional, stammering in panic. He actively fainted at the site of a ghost which hes never actually done before despite his belief he will. And he's been strangely angry. Cursing at people in his head, wiki writers, and workers. Being tempted to tell people to shut up. Getting angry at the thought he was nearly tricked. Behavior hes never really shown before.
The Theory: and how it makes sense.
The Power needed for Summoning
An extreme amount of power is needed to summon someone from another world. Yet we have been shown this is not the case with summoning someone, already in this world. In the notes the researcher left behind about the summoning of Good Friend Soleum, it is implied that the most difficult part was not the summoning at all, but rather keeping him alive after the summoning, and finding the ingredients to keep the body stable. Unlike Sekwang City which was an astronomical event, the summoning of The Good Friend was so unknown and had so little consequences that Soleum only found out due to his wish. While summoning someone from another world is very unlikely to happen again due to the power required, summoning another Good Friend would be very plausible.
Where is Braun?
Braun has been able to find Soleum regardless of his body or mental state, yet fails to find Current Soleum. Could this be due to the fact that this is not The Soleum he befriended? Who he pledged eternal companionship to? Its implied that Braun does not really acknowledge both OG Soleum and Good Friend Soleum as his friends. Or else he wouldnt make such an effort to defend Good Friend Soleum against OG Soleum. He wouldn't be so worried about Good Friend Soleum if he saw them as one and the same. Because when Good Friend Soleum was in trouble, OG Soleum was perfectly fine. Yet Braun still worried. If its true that Braun only considers Good Friend Soleum as his good friend (because hes the one who summoned him) then would this not explain his absence? After all Current Soleum would be a version of OG Soleum. Not Good Friend Soleum.
The Managers Contract
It's a very similar point to The Braun evidence. The tattoo, the contract, the resort was all linked to Good Friend Soleum. Not OG Soleum. Could it be the manager has not appeared because Current Soleum is not his boss? Not the owner of The Golden Flower Resort? It would explain why he's nowhere to be seen.
Good Friends Filters
Again this evidence is based on a theory so it doesn't work as well as the others unless the theories proven correct.
If the theory that Good Friend Soleum's emotions were filtered out it would certainly explain Current Soleum's behavior. Because its possible that Current Soleum wouldn't have any filters. Therefore he behaves as The Og Soleum did. And theres evidence to this! Soleum would often believe he was a very fearful, expressive, and emotional indivual. It showed in his dramatic narration and comments regarding himself. Often believing himself to be about to faint, or to be showing fear or expression on his face. Despite his narration, it is repeatedly proven that Soleum is not an emotional or expressive person. Often compared to the expressionless Chief Lizard.
And yet Current Soleum is everything Soleum has described himself to be. He reacts emotionally, he groans out loud, he yelps in surprise, he snaps when he's upset, he stammers when he panics, he faints when he's scared. And not once has he been described as emotionless.
And then theres the biggest factor. Anger. Now OG Soleum is theorized to be an angrier indivual due to the contrast given to us. OG Soleum has rarely ever gotten angry, and when he has its under extreme circumstances. He remains calm in nearly every situation and has a tight hold on his own emotions. Contrast that with our singular impression of OG Soleum. Desperate, terrified, angry. Full of emotion and feeling.
Would it not make sense for Current Soleum to be summoned from OG Soleum? Without the emotional filters? Would it not explain his sudden lack of control over his own emotions? A skill he has always possessed?
And my final piece of evidence.
This has happened before.
The Novel begins in Soleums Ghost story less world before immiedatly transporting us to The Ghost Story World less then a chapter in. We never see Soleums world again, and returning there becomes our primary goal.
Throughout his journey Soleum mysteriously fails to mention key details. How did he get here? Who brought him here? Why does he never mention his family or home?
It is revealed to him and us that he was not summoned from his world to The Ghost Story World but is in fact a summoned version of himself who was already here.
Part 3 begins in Soleums world. It shouldve been the pay off to the entire novel. Where his singular goal has been to go home. Yet we are ripped away from that world and brought back into The Ghost Story World in less then 3 chapters. We did not get to meet any of his friends and family and the majority of our time there was spent alone with Soleum.
Part 3 begins with a strange lack of acknowledgment. Why has he not been wondering who summoned him? How he was summoned? What this body he's summoned in is? Or what the message of Ireum nim meant? Or why has he not acknowledged that the message said the apocalypse already happened? Why has he not worried for The Golden Resort? Or Braun? His mind should be perfectly intact.
Would it be so unusual to find out that it happened again? Another Good Friend? Another filter.
Yeah thats my theory. Hope you enjoyed.
Im gonna go off on a lil tangent which is based on another theory I've had and is more of a theory than this one. But I have a tough time explaining it so its going in a reblog.
To add onto this: the common assumption that Soleum went home in his GF body is false. The true wish potion will perfectly grant one’s wish when used, that’s why it’s so expensive to make.
Soleum’s wish is to return home, for that to happen in the way he intends, he needs to be healthy and whole with both his mind and body intact. He cannot melt the moment he returns home because his body is incompatible with the world. That would not perfectly fulfill his wish. And GF Soleum is ultimately just OG Soleum, only filtered in a way that keeps him sane and lets him communicate with others. Just like how GF Braun is just a projection of Braun the Talk Show Host. So GF Soleum’s wish also applies to OG Soleum. Therefore, the perfect wish potion must have fully and perfectly restored GF/OG Soleum’s state before giving him the exit. Him being restored in the dream incubator is likely due to a subconscious desire to say goodbye to his friends, the same way those stairs also gave him the option to return home, or break the egg and stay with his friends.
It just wouldn’t make sense for a 5 million point potion to not do what it says on the box.
So Soleum returned home in his OG body. His GF body? Who knows. My guess is it became the egg shell surrounding him.
One more thing: Soleum does comment on the body he’s currently in. Mainly that he’s aware this body had a history from before he possessed it, its current state of malnutrition and physical weakness due to that history, his current social standing also due to that history, and he’s surprised his acquaintances were able to correctly identify him regardless.
Soleum initially believed he’d entered someone else’s body, and then after confirmation that he still looks like himself, decides it’s an advantage for his current situation. He ultimately concludes that his identity and appearance must’ve remained the same this time as well.
This is probably also a false assumption on Soleum’s part. He’s basing it off of his previous experience, but his GF body was literally manufactured to look like him and his legal identity was quickly cooked up to help hide and integrate him into society. Aka, someone deliberately created a body that matched his appearance along with an identity/backstory.
My guess is that his current body is a member of the Church of the Luminous Unknown (Nameless Cult) from the White Sect like the ID card Soleum picked up said. He looks and sounds like Soleum because he was modified in an attempt to recreate Ireum-nim (or make a vessel for his descent). He’s in the branch office because they tried to recreate Soleum’s known life story (his first job was at Daydream). He got sent to the branch office because Soleum’s a coward.
As for how Soleum reentered the DER world: he wasn’t summoned, he walked in on his own, and the darkness placed him in the most suitable body/location based off his ID card, like it did last time (might be a case of reversed cause and effect. He’s in Daydream because ID card says he’s in Daydream, not the other way around where the ID card he gets is a Daydream one because that’s where the researcher decided to hide him.).
No energy is needed for a darkness to pull someone into its world, it just needs the person to do the right steps and accept its invitation. Plus, Soleum already has a strong spiritual/mystical connection to that universe (having entered it with his physical body once), making it easier for him to be pulled in. He also entered this world through a dream this time, not his body. (Notably, the items he brought with him into his dream don’t follow him to DER.) It’d be a lot easier to project his mind from a dream into the DER world than for him to physically enter that world again. And time shenanigans could mean that he’s still asleep in his world while he’s exploring this Darkness world.
Anyways, just my two cents on “what’s happening with Soleum’s body?”. I also believe we’ll get an answer or a clue as to what it was doing before Soleum woke up in the “break room” next chapter.
So like. Are we just gonna let it go? That Soleum, while in a body that was quite literally dying of starvation and dehydration, managed to
A: knock and pin a full grown man down while two other guys were trying to wrestle him off. And
B: catch himself on a ledge while in free fall, hold up his entire body weight even when his grip became slick with blood, let one hand go to grab the stamper and stamp his shirt (so now he’s hanging off the edge with one blood slicked hand and is also leaning out to reach the stamp), and then fully pull himself up out of the hole, and wall climb out of the basement that has no stairs, all while having been on the verge of dying 2 days ago, of feeling so physically weak that just getting up and walking to the assignment lobby exhausted him.
ARE WE JUST GONNA IGNORE THAT????
Before his unusual strength stat could be attributed to being in a shapeshifting body made of ghost stories. HE’S GOT NONE OF THAT RN. That should be a normal ass human body he’s inside of, not some superhuman vessel made for Ireum-nim’s descent!
…Unless that’s exactly it and this is how we find out what happened to Soleum’s lizard body. Dying of starvation lizard body is equivalent to Soleum’s normal superhuman strength, apparently. Guy gets winded walking up a mountain but apparently full body pull-ups are no problem!
No wait, actually, this would be so funny. What if in the time Soleum and Jaheon were trapped in Sekwang, some Nameless Cult guy broke into Jaheon’s apartment, saw the Soleum/Ireum shaped body, and decided that this was his god and he must awaken them for the good of the world. Cue Lizard body waking up and becoming its own person, being raised in the cult as God and then maybe escaping somehow. Now they’re in debt, and need money, fast. Why not work at this DayDream branch for quick cash? Except they’re shit at work because all that strength breaks everything they touch, so they get demoted until they’re desperate. They go and pray to the god the cult mistook them for, and then get repossessed by Soleum who’s in the market for a new DER body/character/build.
Points for: it’d be funny. And Soleum doesn’t know what he looks like because he hasn’t seen himself in a mirror yet. He’s surprised when Nasol identifies him as Roe Deer, he thought he’d look different/be in someone else’s body.
Points against: I have no idea if Soleum could see his snout while he was in the Lizard Body. If he could, he’s not in a lizard body, but he’s still stupidly, unrealistically strong.
2 days of mediocre food does not solve his physically dying problems. Adrenaline can do a lot, but it’s not a miracle worker.
I wonder if just possessing a body forces the body’s physical strength to rise to where Soleum thinks it should be. Or maybe something like: “I have to do this and then the thing happens” in regards to himself. Or dream logic: if I think of x thing, x thing happens. Like how he wasn’t instantly contaminated despite turning on a light or touching a religious item up until he realized he should be after doing those things.
Anyways, we’ll probably get an answer to the “How did he acquire this body” question if not the “Why is he still so stupidly strong” question.
Kim Soleum, Ireum-nim, and What it Means to be the Author of a Ghost Story
A rough analysis and theory of Kim Soleum’s relationship with the DER wiki.
Spoilers for parts 1, 2, and the first few chapters of part 3!
While I was contemplating the new chapters, the thought struck me. Why Soleum? Why is only Soleum referred to as “Ireum-nim” when it should refer to all of the wiki’s authors? Why was he singled out?
Of course, the first explanation is it’s because Soleum being summoned meant he became the Ireum-nim of that world. But then, the new chapters of part three threw a wrench into that theory. Namely, no one was running the wiki at the time of the pop up shop event that summoned Soleum. That, as Soleum had deduced, the wiki itself had become a ghost story long before Soleum entered the world of DER.
And taking this a step further— we know Ghost Stories are Sentient. Not just the entities within them, but the stories themselves can think and react to their explorers. You have the Test of Courage mimicking DMB posters to set a trap, The Day I Died literally self imploding due to a major plot hole Soleum points out, the Character ID Maker accepting Soleum’s reasoning for losing his ID card.
And if the DER wiki also became sentient after becoming a ghost story, then it must have ran that pop up shop with a purpose.
I propose that the purpose of the pop up shop was to find its “creator”, Ireum-nim using the roulette wheel. Why? I don’t know, but maybe it was because it wanted to show its creator their creation first hand. Show off all the cool interesting stories it’s collected, like a kid showing their parent something they’re proud of making. Considering how the ID Character Maker wants them to cherish the IDs (= role in story = character you’ve made), maybe it too wants its creator to cherish the stories they’ve written.
So why Soleum? Aside from how we’ve all unanimously agreed that he’s a major OG fan and how he has written his own original ghost stories and added additional exploration logs to existing ones— Soleum should not be the only person who’s done the same. I’m certain dozens of fans have come and gone from the pop up shop who were also authors of various wiki entries and have been around since the DMB days. What made Soleum so special as to be kidnapped as Ireum-nim when that name refers to everyone who’s authored an entry?
Here I ask another question: when did the DER wiki become a ghost story? Right before the pop up event? After the first mod quit? Or was it done slowly? Were some of the entries not written by the people of Soleum’s world, but transcribed directly from the real life world of DER? Or maybe the entire site was full of entries written by ghosts?
But that’s not entirely true because Soleum himself had written an entry that turned out to be real in the DER world, one he wrote based on previous entries’ hints.
Or maybe that’s exactly it. Among the entries that became real ghost stories, there were ghost stories that became entries, and Soleum was able to decipher the hidden depth and intent behind those stories. Maybe the DER wiki only accepts the person who can see through the backstory and intent of each entry as the one true Ireum-nim. And I don’t think anyone else could do so this consistently, and this widespread for the whole wiki aside from Soleum. Who else could claim to have read and analyzed every entry on a ghost story wiki with hundreds of stories?
Or maybe it just picked the one person who knew everything about it as it’s one true Ireum-nim.
Regardless, the answer to the question “Why Soleum” is “it could only be Soleum”. If Soleum did not enter the roulette, no one else would’ve won. And maybe DER would’ve kept trying to find its “Ireum-nim”.
Stuff I couldn’t figure out how to link to cleanly: something about how sometimes ghost stories can hate what script they’re supposed to follow and desire to change the script. Example Braun, example Blue Dragon Mascot, example both Daydream Directors. And maybe the DER ghost story also desired to change its script as described by the fans and authors of the original wiki. What better way to retcon its storyline than by making one of those authors do it? If Ireum-nim is the god of this world, then surely they can rewrite the world’s reality, change its script, change the ending.
Something something: if entire universes can exist within a ghost story, then isn’t the world of DER the world inside the DER wiki ghost story? Soleum was quite literally correct in saying that Choi’s world is like a ghost story to him. A ghost story where everything’s normal except you have a 50% of stumbling upon and dying to another ghost story. If Darknesses exist within Soleum’s world, then the DER wiki is like the container of those stories. No ghost stories exist in this world, other than the DER. And if that’s the case, if the DER world ends because humanity could no longer contain the Darknesses, then wouldn’t the end of that world lead to ghost stories breaking containment from the DER wiki and entering Soleum’s world for real? Maybe that’s the world ending finale stakes of part 3 lol. If Soleum doesn’t stop the apocalypse, ghost stories become real aside from just the DER wiki.
If the DER world is a Darkness in Soleum’s reality, then that could also explain all those weird video game references whenever Soleum dies. Also, the “Got Dropped into a Ghost Story” part of the title becomes literal. It’s not referencing the ghost stories he’s exploring to work, the world he fell into is a ghost story itself. It would also explain how malleable the DER world’s reality is.
The DER started off as just a wiki, became a ghost story, then grabbed all the information ever written about its universe and slotted it all together into a coherent world of cause and effect, filling in the blanks as it saw fit (using details like what year’s perspective it’s being written in). And after becoming a functional universe, it killed off Choi—
I had a pet theory that Soleum was the one to accidentally start or create the Church of the Luminous Unknown/Nameless Cult and now I’m thinking Soleum’s literally the reason that faction exists— because the ghost story got meta and wanted to meet its creator and that’s why all the recent entries were about Ireum-nim.
Anyways, this is long, rambly, and not super coherent or put together but I just wanted to post my thoughts about the potential mechanisms or explanations behind the story’s plot that we might be taking for granted. (Like how the wish potion used to summon Soleum is grape flavored, his favorite flavor.)
Here are my thoughts and theories on the mass chapter release we just got, there will be spoilers, you have been warned.
First off! If you haven’t seen it yet, the teaser art for part 3 just got updated! He’s got glasses now, and we can also see the tag on Soleum’s neck. I didn’t say it in my previous post about the teaser art, but some part of me did wonder if the sticker was like. A price tag or item tag that you’d put on an item/product. A serial code if you will. And I didn’t say it because I really didn’t want it to be true and have Soleum be dehumanized even more than he already was before.
Those hopes have been dashed. At least it looks like he’s getting out ASAP?
Anyways, I also forgot to say it in my part 3 predictions, but I did want to hope that if Soleum’s heading back into the HorrorsTM, it’d be through his own choice, and not because he was dragged there against his will. Giving him that autonomy is so important to me, and I am very very happy that this is what happened!
Soleum is also noticeably calmer and less desperate about his situation (trying to stop the apocalypse of the world) than he was in parts 1 and 2 (trying to go back to a home he doesn’t even know for sure is real/have concrete memories of). Part of that’s cause he’s got Experience, the other part’s cause he’s not missing memories, been contract bound to prioritize a survival goal, or in general feeling incredibly stuck. He knows how to get home. He didn’t even enter this world with his body! He entered in a dream!
Speaking of: what do you mean Soleum’s so known for his DER obsession that his BOSS asked if he was still reading those????? YOU ARE NOT SLICK SOLEUM. What do you mean he’s still carrying around stuffed animal keychains???? And probably still does for reasons outside of Fandom???? That’s adorable?????
Also, not Soleum telling his friends to screw off for teasing him about not going on dates to horror themed attractions lol.
I love that the DER continued to exist and he was just avoiding it, and then suddenly it stopped existing the moment he tried to check it out. I hate that they’ve deprived us of “that fuckass Roe Deer”/potential DER wiki retcons due to Soleum’s actions shenanigans and the internet’s fallout as a result. Also, the discovery that DER itself became a ghost story? Super cool. And honestly might be due to its inherent connection to that world of ghost stories. A little window made of a ghost story, into a world of ghost stories. Also, all those fics where the wiki mods are possessed and writing retcons of Soleum’s adventures have just been canonized and I’ve never been happier.
He also spent a whole year back home, decompressing, returning to normal not haunted routine. Which I figured would be the case. The wish potion will grant one’s wish completely and fully to the desires of the person making that wish. For Soleum to Go Home he needed to be in a state that was capable of going home, and after arriving, capable of staying home/together. That wish probably didn’t just reconstruct Soleum’s sense of self, it reconstructed OG Soleum back into a normal human being, returned GF Soleum back to the main body, cured him of all his contaminations and then sent him back home.
So what happened to his GF body? Who knows? It might still be goop, or maybe it became the cocoon surrounding him. But he’s definitely not in that body after returning. Which is a shame because all his power ups were physically etched onto that body lol.
So, what body is he in? My guess, based on the ID card he drew, is that he’s currently possessing the body of a member of the Nameless Cult. The translation I read called the faction of the cult “White Cult”. I don’t recall all the different faction of the Nameless Cult that Soleum’s mentioned. Outside of the Mimicry sect and the Happy End sect. And I don’t recall how many factions there are either, but chances are he’s in one of their member’s body.
Soleum didn’t spawn into DER with a custom made body with no history. There’s clear evidence that the body he’s in existed before he arrived, that it had worked in the Branch company for 2 weeks, that it fell to the very end of the pack, that it’s developed a reputation for being very religious.
Soleum doesn’t know what he looks like initially, because there’s no mirrors. If his appearance changed drastically the moment he became aware, then the people around him would’ve noticed. However, Butterfly correctly and instantly identified him as Roe Deer, so he should also look like himself.
I have 2 explanations.
1. there’s a weird ghost story distortion effect happening. Kinda like Kim Dokja’s mosaic face that people don’t notice. Soleum looks like what other people think he should look like. So background bullies 1 and 2 expect him to look like Z999, so that’s how he appears. While Butterfly who knows him and has met him before expects Roe Deer, so that’s who she sees. That distortion effect could be the result of the mimicry sect’s power to become someone else.
2. The body he’s in was raised to become “Kim Soleum”/Ireum-nim. So it would’ve already looked like Soleum without needing any other trickery. And it would also fulfill the cult member requirement. (There could even be an abundance of “Kim Soleum”s walking around trying to get a job and maybe failing at Daydream or the DMB. If they knew enough to try and recreate the CRI researcher from a city erased from memory, what’s stopping them from trying to recreate Ireum-nim himself? Especially since Soleum’s famous among ghost stories AND he was in contact with two executives, and revealed his identity as Ireum-nim to one of them.) We don’t know what his body’s name is, everyone’s only referred to by their letters. But it’d be a huge clue as to the identity of his body if we do.
Other reasons why I think he’s possessing a new body: No mention of any of his tattoos, the VIP chip, etc. also, it’s a new start in this world. Giving Soleum literal shapeshifting reality bending powers is way too OP and would trivialize most of the problems he’ll run into. He’s gotta regrind from level 1 in this new game+.
Anyways, can’t wait to find out what those glasses do, aside from the return of Agent Grapes, of course. Hopefully he won’t just abandon Butterfly to the branch company, I’d assume any escape through DMB will lead to an exit outside of Daydream’s compound. If they can’t directly help him escape, then Soleum will need a real good excuse for how he got out after Butterfly did.
Super excited! We’re off to a very strong and intriguing start, can’t wait for things to slowly unravel as all the pieces are put into place. (Also, that DER message was 100% trying to taunt him back into that world. Targeted message the moment he clicks the link? Constantly inviting him in with his dreams? It WANTS Soleum to return. I don’t think the ghost story wants to end. If the apocalypse occurs, if the world ends, then the story of DER ends with it. And if the story ends, then where does that leave the ghost story? If its purpose is to be a Wiki of the ghost stories in DER, it cannot fulfill that purpose if DER ceases to exist. If it cannot fulfill that purpose, then it too will cease to be. Ghost stories are sentient, not just the entities within them, but the stories themselves. So what’s the DER’s goal for drawing Soleum back in?)
Currently up to ch 225! Decided to post this before part 3 premieres & will edit + post update when the rest of part 2 timeline is finished 🫡
Contains spoilers for all of GSGW
Summarized Timeline
Daydream, D-Squad: August 2024 - January 2nd 2025, 5 Months
Braun’s Talkshow: January 2nd - February 1st, 30 Days
Disaster Management Bureau: February 22nd - April ~30th, 2 Months & 1 Week
Daydream, Security (Basement): May - October, 6 Months
Daydream, Security: October 27th - TBA
Sekwang Investigation: TBA
Sekwang Loop: TBA
Sekwang Sealing: TBA
Total time Soleum spent in DER World: TBA
Detailed Timeline
Notes: [N] = chapter(s) arc takes place. +N Day(s) = days that has passed since previous arc (written as stated in the novel). Registration years are taken from the DMB’s registration codes (ex: 2106PSYA.2025.BA56 = 2025). Years/Months, Dates, Time Passed.
Some dates are determined through counting backwards/forwards from confirmed dates, ones that are confirmed (explicitly stated) are bolded. Events that has no specified/confirmed year or date but where it can be roughly determined are marked with [?]. Please ask if there’s mistakes/anything unclear ^^
Pre Main Story
1941: Jisan Village Offering Ceremony Registration
198X [?]: Daydream founded (J3 joined during its early days, and as he wasn’t on B-Squad long enough to gain a wish ticket it likely wasn’t founded more than a decade before his contamination incident 30+ years ago)
1991: And Then There Was One Registration
Between 1990 & 1995 [?]: Elite B-Squad trapped in fairy tale Darkness (30+ years before main story)
2001: Looky Mart Registration
2002: Paradise Test Registration (Pending as it had no casualties until the Tamra Express incident)
May 4th 2015/2016 [?]: Sekwang Disaster (Occurred sometime before In the Dark Shadow Registration, but not much earlier as Go Yeongeun, in uni at the time, should still be in her late 20’s/early 30’s)
Sometime before: Dir. Cheong infects Dragon Palace with a biological disaster.
Sometime after: CRI becomes a Darkness, escaped CRI Researcher begins attempts to summon a Good Friend version of the Sekwang Disaster entity in Daydreams basement, Blue Dragon is turned into a mascot, & the Nameless Church starts to emerge.
2016: In the Dark Shadow Registration
2018: Mermaid Grave Registered at Daydream (7 years before Ch156)
2020: Eun Haje/Falcon joins Daydream (4 Years before Ch62). CRI note left at Faceless Market & CRI Dream Incubation Room left to fall apart.
2021: Dir. Ho becomes a director (4 Years before Ch274) & Jin Nasol/Butterfly joins Daydream (3 Years before Ch19)
2022: Park Minseong/Badger joins Daydream (2 Years before Ch62). Jang Heouns/Bisons family killed in a fire (3 years before Ch176).
Main Story
2024 August
New Employee Orientation [1-6]: First day of transmigration (GF Body)
Team D Initiation [7-9]: First Workday (Monday)
Tuesday Quiz Show [10-13]: Second Workday
Peronal Equipment & Clown Hallway [14-17]: Third Workday
September
Cheerful Themepark [18-26]: A Month at Work
Elite Squad Requitment [27-29]: Next Day
Salmon Market [30]: Next Day
Sangun-nim [31-38]: +A Few Days
Bloodbath [39]: +A Few Days
October
Manor of the Blind & Aftermath [40-49]: +A Few Days & Day After, 60 Days at Work
Card Reading [50]: +A Few Days
2nd Salmon Market [50]: +2 Days (Weekend)
And Then There Was One [51-56]: Same Evening (3 Days in Darkness, No time passes in Reality)
Moonlight Tattoo [57-59]: +A Few Days
November
Kindergarten [59-67]: +3 Weeks & 2 Days (Monday) Informed, +3 Days Entered
Probably December
C Squad Ghost-Sleepover [68-71]: +10 Days & Takes 1 Night
Sekwang High School [71-81]: +A Few Days
D Squad Elite Offer [82-83]: Morning After
Fox Counseling [84-86]: Next Day
Elite Offer Accepted [87]: Next Day
Death Lane [88-97]: +A Few Days (NOTE: Soleum expresses that “The last 6 months have been eventful”. For the timeline to make sense this has to be a generalized saying as it is revealed ~4 months have passed in Ch 102)
Dokkaebi Workshop [98-99]: Next Day
December (For Sure)
Elevator Mirror [99-102]: +2 Days
2nd Card Reading [103]: Same Evening, 2 Months since last reading = 4 Months at Work
Disciplinary Security Cleaning [103-108]: +Remaining Days of Month, 29th-30th
Falcon Visit & Hand Equipment [109]: 31st
2025 January
Tamra Express [110-120]: 2nd
February
Late Night Talkshow [121-127]: +30 Days, 1st
Joining Dir. Ho’s Project [128-130]: Next Day, 2nd
Bureau Requirement [130-132]: 22nd
Looky Mart [133-143]: Same Evening, Takes 4 Days, 22nd-26th
Fox Counseling Project Meeting [144-145]: Following Friday, 28th
Faceless Market [146-147]: Same Evening
Dream Incubation Room [147-148]: Same Night
March
Bureau General Operations Trial/Ghost Cab [149-151]: +Week after Looky Mart, ~4th
Bureau Vermilion Bird Trial/Ghost Booth [152]: +A Few Days, 7th
Black Tortoise Trial/Dragon Palace/Mermaid Grave [153-164]: Takes 3 Days, ~8th to 10th
Hospital Visit, Fox Counseling & Dream Incubation Room [165-166]: Same Evening & Night
Bureau White Tiger Trial/Red Cloth [166-168]: +2 Days, Takes A Few Days, ~12th to ~15th
Black Tortoise 1 Assignment [169]: Next Day ~16th
April
Flower Golden Resort [170-185]: +3 Weeks, Takes 6 Days, ~7th to 12th
Space Shopping VIP Experience [186-189]: Next Day, ~13th
Incubation Room Spy Reveal [190-194]: Next Day, ~14th
Jisan Village [195-201]: Next Day, Takes 3 Days, ~15th to 17th
I think, that despite everything. Despite all the horrors, all the death, the gore, the fates worse than death— GSGW is ultimately a very hopeful story. It’s a story where, no matter how bad things seem to be right now (they can always get worse) but! You can always try to make it better. Keep going, don’t give up! Think harder about a solution, use whatever’s available to you. Hitting rock bottom isn’t the end. As long as you’re alive there’s a chance. Even if you’re dead, there’s still hope for things to get batter.
There’s a light in every darkness, there’s a path through every shadow. Something about the way the story’s written just makes it feel so full of hope and determination and perseverance. And I think part of that reason is because Soleum is a very hopeful person. And we’re seeing this world through his eyes.
Every civilian can be saved, every teammate can be rescued. Even against a calamity they can find a way to beat it, to solve the riddle, fix the problem. Nothing is beyond hope. No one is beyond saving.
He’s the kind of person who won’t let go, refuses to give up no matter how bad things get. He wants to hold onto everything, find that happy ending in every ghost story. The person that’ll find a solution where there isn’t one, or force it if need be. Not every solution is perfect, and sometimes the sacrifices make it feel like it wasn’t worth it. But he’ll keep trying. Even if, no, especially at the cost of himself.
And maybe the story could’ve ended with just that, but the thing is. Soleum’s kindness? His determination? Him refusing to give up when everyone else already had? It’s returned. It’s given back to him in little ways, in things he never asked for, could never ask for. In a world where death is common and making sacrifices is accepted, Kim Soleum’s refusal to conform changed the people around him too. And at the end of it all, they were able to come together and give back to him what he gave to them.
It’s why, the lowest moments were always when Soleum had given up, and why it’s so heart lifting to see the people around him carry on that torch in his stead. When Soleum could no longer go on, his friends and family were there to push him through, to support him, to help him.
Which is why I think, even if Soleum’s back facing the HorrorsTM, I don’t think it’ll be a bad ending. I don’t think things are or will be terrible forever for Soleum. Even if the ending isn’t perfect, if it’s sad, or bittersweet, or we end with the knowledge that there are things that can’t be fixed, I want to believe that the ending will be hopeful.
Since everyone’s been putting in their analysis of the new part 3 teaser art, here’s my 2 cents. More under the cut.
So, my first impression of this scene is actually that he’s walking through a high school balcony yard thingy. The little semi-enclosed walkways next to fields and courtyards, usually connecting two buildings together. This one appears to be next to a building, but it’s hard to tell with the lighting/there’s stuff blocking a clear view of the right half of the hallway. There’s no glass in the windows, and you can see the tree branches from outside growing into the hallway. They’re not just the shadows of the trees, because they’re clearly going behind the ceiling supports too. You can also see them casting shadows from a non-existent light source???? Onto the bottom of the supports. The lighting is probably blue and behind all the branches. I’m getting thrown because of the blue flames placement. Or the branches were meant to be shadows along the ceiling all along and the artist forgot to color in the shadows on the side of the supports. There’s a similar mistake on the window’s top frame where the shadow/branch doesn’t connect to anything on the outside.
This is honestly throwing me for a loop, because the shadows on the window frame look correct but everything around Soleum’s head is inconsistent/doesn’t make sense in regards to how shadows and lighting works. There’s also this weird red glow around his head that makes it look like the ceiling is much higher up than what the piping is suggesting too. Right above Soleum’s head there looks like an opening above the initial window and ceiling beam, and then the rest of the wall, increasing the depth of the ceiling. But if we follow that line, it doesn’t extend past his head into the background, neither the second “window” or the wall seem to exist past Soleum’s head. Going further, the support beam in the foreground is connected relatively low/close to the top of the window frame, but in the background, the support beam next to Soleum’s neck doesn’t extend past his neck and connect to the window frame in the same position. That makes it feel like it’s actually connected higher up than the first support beam. There’s also this highlighted line in the foreground in the ceiling that looks like it’s meant to suggest a crossbeam above the initial support beams, but it doesn’t extend past the second cross beam like you’d expect. It disappears into the same red glow everything else did.
Nothing about the background makes sense??? Soleum looks, mostly fine. To me at least, the folds in his clothing makes sense. His left hand (our right) looks kinda weird and undefined compared to the rest of him though. His ring finger is longer than most people would draw it, extending past his middle finger, and he’s also holding the clipboard/ipad thingy at an odd angle that wouldn’t make sense or be a proper grip irl. His thumb is also missing, it should be visible through the gaps of his fingers, and the papers should be behind that. But also, hands are hard.
Ignoring all that….
Second impression: Soleum’s off work lol. He’s not wearing his suit, instead he’s holding it comfortably in his right arm, his collar and tie are loose, and he’s got his sleeves carelessly rolled up on his arms. This is not the image of a man at work, this is the image of a man off work or relaxing after he’s gone back home. (He almost looks like he could be a really chill teacher, but that’s just my impression)
Third: I initially thought he was holding onto an iPad, but then I noticed the pages flying off and the one page still attached, so could be a clipboard instead. If it is a clipboard, then it’s missing the clip part of the board, but who knows? Maybe his fly-away tie is doing a really good job of hiding it. But then the screw (which I also believe could be the camera for an iPad) is positioned in the wrong place sooooo. He could also be holding an iPad and also a bunch of papers together. Or the artist made an error. Who knows. It’s also glowing, the same way his phone screen was glowing in the first cover art, but not as brightly. It could just be lighting though, there’s a lot of glowy blue flames around.
Fourth: that glitchy patch on his neck. To me, it looks like a talisman, or some sort of seal. If it’s a seal, it could be the reason he’s back in DER, or how he’s able to stay in DER. Maybe something from the bureau? I am distinctly reminded of the seals used in Sekwang Technical School.
Fifth: glowy blue flames. Dokaebi flames? A continuation of the tragically cut short DMB arc? Will our boy finally get his own personal Dokaebi flame???
Sixth: the symbolism of the trees behind him, framing his head like a pair of antlers. Nothing more to say there.
Lastly: this guy’s fucking scared. He’s terrified out of his wits. His face is solid as stone but he is sweating BULLETS rn. Look at him. Acting all calm cool and collected while he’s internally screaming in fear.
Conclusion: Soleum looks like he quit his job and then decided to get a teaching position at Sekwang Technical School. Also, and I really REALLY want another set of eyes on this: the background looks like it might be AI generated???????? And the hand might also be but hands are hard. I’m inclined to think the background was made using AI and the artist drew Soleum on top of it, but I really hope it isn’t. Anyways, thanks for making it this far!
First off, Yayyy, Ive been waiting for a post to chat about all this with <3!!
Second, Its not ai, at least in my opinion. The background might be confusing, but it's intentional. The pipes and wiring unit thing are all lined up, and the whole tree branch thing....well, I have a theory on it, but look closely. Its almost more like a film or a transforming background..... (The window thing also wouldnt be visibal behind Sol's head considering where he's standing and where the higher window thing would be)
And the hand, the middle finger is bent. You can kind of tell if you look closely at the shadows on the finger, the tip is a lighter shade than the bent middle portion.
See it?? If not, you can also think about weight proportions and how someone would most comfortably hold a clipboard with their hands so low on it. The middle finger would need to be propped up so it can hold the weight, while the thumb and ring fingers proportion it out to hold it steady.
See? Ring is longer than the middle because of that reason. Quite admirable that they considered the weight proportion logic of it.... man, I really love this art.
(Also, thumb would be hidden for the same reasons:
)
MOVING ON TO YOUR REAL THEORIES!!!!!! HEHEHEHE THE FUN BEGINS HERE!!!!!!!
Eh-hem....
First off, to match your first off, there is A TON in the background that brings questions. Ima start with the branches because its the most popular topic of the background in discussions.
So...the branches.... they dont line up.... SOME DO! but it doesnt make sense, like you said....Like, LOOK!
The top branch thing doesnt line up with whats outside.
"Well, that's because it's the shadow of the branch below it," you say, laughing at my stupidity.....ur so mean （＞人＜；）
BUT I RESPOND!! I say, very dashingly, "Oh yeah? Then what about the shadow further below that branch?? It doesn't have a branch casting it??"
Then I ride of into the sunset
End scene....wait no, I got carried away....
Anyways!!! You see my point... they just... aren't right.... AND NOT IN AN AI WAY, its def intentional. The placement of the ones behind our Sol's head are to artistically perfect to be anything robot....
What im trying to imply is that MAYBE....its the background transforming? Sol teleporting? A ghost story generating? HECK, it could be Sol using game mechanics for background customization in this novel!! After all, we got the whole "you died, try again?" screen at one point with no one addressing it.... So, what if its showing a transformation?
Which explains the lighting and why the red and blur lights seem...not not right, just eerie in some places compared to normal in others....
Moving on because it gets confusing
SECOND!
Im glad you agreeeeeee!!!!! Idk if u saw my post or not, but I said the same thing!!!!!!! He looks on break or something!! Sol is to professional to look like this while on the job!!
THIRD!!!
Def a clipboard. I actually initially though it was an iPad till I started with my own analysis lol. If its anything like the clipboards ive used and owned, the tie would def hide the clip part, and it would actually have two screws: the one we see and then one more behind the tie. So it's correct (。・ω・。)
FOURTH!!!!!
I actually tried to do some research on traditional Korean seals and talismans, but they actually typically use yellow paper for these, with red ink used for the writing itself. UNLESS!!! It's something unique to the story, then I'm excited to see it!!!
FIFTH!!!!!!
Dokaebi flames is such a good theory!!! I'm utterly stunned I never even considered it..... It doesn't quite explain why the clipboard glows blue too, but it honestly could be for a different reason than the blue flame-like things, knowing the author's love for being unpredictable...
Im actually so onboard with thinking its a Dokaebi.... this is such a good thought.....
SIXTH!!!!!!
Yes, thats all that was needed to be said. Such a good artistic choice...
LAST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
AGAIN, YESSS!!! Not enough people are pointing this out...we cant take it for granted after....well....im sure I dont need to say more....
I brought up the same thing in my post, but im quite happy to see him scared. Half of me was wondering if pt 3 was gonna to be peaceful till the very end, almost just to throw us for a loop lol.
CONCLUSION!!!
PLEASEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE BE RIGHT!!!!!!!!! I would love teacher Soleum!!!!!!!!!! omg......AHHHHHHHH it'd be so sweet!!!!!!!!!! Ghaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.............
What have you done......... you've filled me with hopes and dreams of teacher Sol 3 days before pt 3's release......ur so evil......but it might not be for Sekwang, seeing as that's supposed to only be a hidden city in the wiki and not actually in the real world.
(And again, no ai in my opinion. It's lined up nicely, shading is correct when you dont consider the odd antler tree thing, and that itself is very perfectly placed to be ai. Though a third set of analyzing eyes would be nice, just in case)
Yeah, ok I’ve never seen that type of clipboard before, but it’d make sense if he was holding onto something like that, where the clip is significantly smaller/less bulky.
I also thought the shadows on the trees might’ve been intentionally inconsistent/disappearing where they shouldn’t, until I looked at some more of the background ceiling elements. I did some quick illustrations to demonstrate what I meant earlier, since I don’t know if I explained it well enough.
Normal for comparison, and then the edits I made to highlight what I meant by “the ceiling support beams don’t make sense”.
If you follow the suggested lines of the support beams, what I’ve drawn should be what we see/where those beams end up after crossing past Soleum’s head. Yes he’s blocking most of the background, but as you can see, the end of the beams where they connect to the wall should still be visible. Because they’re not there, it makes those background beams look like they’re connected higher up than they should be.
The second vertical line is what I was talking about with the ceiling depth not making sense. There’s shadow, a highlight, and a sharp cut to a red glow. This makes it look like there’s a wall there that goes higher up, extending how far up than ceiling is. But again, if we follow that line, it never extends past Soleum’s head, and also intersects with a pipe on the ceiling at an angle that isn’t physically possible. The top of the ceiling is implied to be where that line is, but other design elements say it isn’t.
There are also a couple objects in the background that start, and then don’t go anywhere.
The short pipe just sort of fades into the red glow. And there’s a hint of a ceiling beam that also disappears into the red glow. That ceiling beam also makes it look like the ceiling is higher up than what the objects on the ceiling imply it to be.
For the hand, the angle which he’s holding the clipboard looks very loose lol. Like he’s holding it with the tip of his fingers and could drop it at any second (which might be intentional). But what I meant by the thumb being “visible” is that the background shouldn’t be visible past the second gap in his fingers.
If he is actually holding onto the clipboard, the thumb should go past and fold over it or otherwise block out the background with the papers flying off. Otherwise the thumb would be placed very low down on his hand, and that doesn’t make much sense to me (as someone who hates drawing hands that must make sense).
Cue me twisting my hand around to try and see what that pose would look like irl. (Also, he is 100% holding that clipboard by the tips of his fingers, there is NO support in that positioning) It could work if the thumb curved in a way that it’s only going up behind the clipboard, and therefore not visible in that second gap. Again, hands are hard.
On the topic of the positioning of the branches being too perfectly framed for it to be AI generated…. I think it’s possible to insert the image of Soleum and have the AI generate an image around that. For example, maybe the prompt was: create background image for this character where they’re in a hallway with large windows and red lighting, there are tree branches outside the window and the shadows of the branches create antlers behind the character’s head.
I dunno how to prompt AI, I don’t use it, but I imagine that’s something one could do. And clearly, there was a human involved with making the whole thing, so they could’ve generated a bunch of different background images before finding one that looked nice and fit the framing. I don’t think there was too much touch up after the background was done, because those inconsistencies I noticed are things you’d only catch if you were like. Staring hard at the image for an hour and deliberately following where each line and shadow went. If you’re (lazy or rushed enough) to use AI for the background in the first place, you wouldn’t be bothered to double check its work super thoroughly.
Anyways, those are my thoughts after a half night’s sleep.
(And I did notice the shadows! I thought they might’ve been tree branches reaching in through the windows right up until they hit the support beams, so the ones with no connecting branches were very ????? Honestly the branches look less like they’re from the outside and more like they’re sprouting from Soleum’s head at some points. It’d be cool if reality was warping behind Soleum, but I think it’d be more visible and less subtle than what we’re currently seeing. Also, I too really want Teacher Soleum to be a thing.)
Ooooooooooo, I see what ur talking about now with the beams! I totally misunderstood ya there lol.
While I see where ur coming from on that front, you also have to keep in mind its a hallway going back into the distance, so the lines would actually have to more sharply turn into themselves to create more of a triangle shape than simply lining up with eachother.
As for the beam and small pipe thing that go into nothing, I actually agree with you that its really suspicious. I was wondering the same thing when typing my response. The only reasons I let it go is,
1.I have too much love for the theory of a transforming background in some way
2. The author of both gsgw and Debut or Die has not once allowed anything ai with their creations, including commissioned art. They actually seem more of an ai hater, and instead support art students by commissioning art. At one point, with the whole bunch of official designs that came out a while ago, there were a lot of people questioning if the art students who drew them used ai because of inconsistencies in the video. The author ended up immediately defending them, posting the art outside the video to show it was simply video effects messing up the art. They are also very particular with how the manhwa versions of their novels look lol. They love stunning art it seems.
So when it comes to stuff like that, I like to think we are simply misunderstanding something, and place more trust in the author and the artists they chose. Ive been reading their novels for a while now, and they havent betrayed me yet, so I owe them that much at least.
Ofc, I cant ask you to to the same lol! That be super mean of me to try and do. This is more me trying to explain why im trying to defend them so much <3
As for the hand, I maybeeee....disagree, but lets not let that come between us!!!!!!!! I simply hold stuff like that a lot, but I also have small hands with double joints n stuff, so who knows how it is for others!!
And the branches, same two reasons I gave for the background lol. Im a woman of trust, what can I say? Yes, its easy for it to backfire, but I like feeling hope in other people's actions. Innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt!!!!
And prompting ai is incredibly hard for detailed art like this, but still possible if you know what ur doing and such. (Coming from a computer science nerd who's dating a computer science major... hope that adds some credibility to that statement...)
And I hope you know im completely drunk on the idea of teacher Sol now.....like, so much now that if hes not a teacher when pt 3 comes out, I will be pretty dang disappointed......unless hes something cooler, but still..... you've filled me with dreams.........
Yeah, I thought that might’ve been the case. I find drawing things out really helps make things clearer compared to trying to describe things by text lol.
Also! Your response really reassures me. In an age where I feel like I can’t trust if what I’m seeing or reading was made with AI, hearing that the author of a web series I really enjoy is against the use of AI in making art is comforting.
And another commenter pointed out that Soleum is probably in a darkness in that image. (Somehow that didn’t entirely click for me >~<) So the chances of reality not matching or making sense kind of exponentially increases lol. Aren’t there ghost stories out there where everything’s the same except (the world looks ai generated—) the world looks just so slightly off in the uncanny valley look away look back kind of way? So points to the background is warping behind Soleum theory!
Also, while attempting to view my hand in the same pose as Soleum’s I was using my phone as a makeshift clipboard, and to get the effect of having 2 visible gaps between my fingers, I had to hold my phone by the tips of my fingers. My hands are kinda small, and a phone is not a clipboard, but those things aren’t light and he’s clearly not using his entire palm to grab it. But I was also turning my hand around to look at it so that might’ve been where I’m having some trouble. (Also, the idea that Soleum almost drops the clipboard out of fear is a fun one, but that’s just me.)
Thank you for your insight! I’m relatively new to the fandom (started in the later half of part 2, then took a break while waiting for part 3), so I don’t really know the author and what his stances on things like AI are. So hearing you say that is again, very reassuring!
Just something to add on the background not making sense, but the image still not being ai:
If we look at the image without Soleum (posted on KakaoPage socials) it looks like the artist drew a rough background sketch, drew Soleum over it, then added details where Soleum didn’t block the view. My assumption is that they drew the pipes & beams one by one without properly lining them up first (possibly with the help of 3D tools) and were a bit messy with the layers, which could cause them to line up/overlap incorrectly if rushed.
It’d be weird for an ai generator to keep the image rough in some parts and detailed in others (for example individual brush strokes are visible at the right side of the hallway wall). If ai was added after Soleum there would be a Soleum-shaped outline. (Probably. Also don't use ai, so not completely sure how it works.) Here we can see the ceiling pipe to the far right also doesn't make sense: in the back it goes between the two support beams, in the front below both, which could happen if you’re messy with the layers. But since that mistake is covered by Soleum the artist didn't fix it (or drew the jacket to cover up that part intentionally).
I do think no artist working with illustrations for novels, where ai is generally looked down upon, would want to risk losing their reputation and future job opportunities by using ai for a relatively simple background. While it could turn out that ai was used, a harsh deadline and some rushed-ness can also explain these inconsistencies pretty well.
!!! Thank you for the additional image! I didn’t know they posted the background by itself. Seeing it like this, the weird shading I thought was part of the wall is actually just a really long pipe, the ceiling, and then another ceiling beam going parallel to the hallway.
Yes! Definitely not ai, just a little rushed and some weird clipping with the pipes and ceiling beam layers. (I thought the odd branching shadows could’ve also been due to weird layering with the ceiling beam’s color layers, but now I think they’re probably intentional.)
But also!! With this image we can actually see what’s to the right side of Soleum, and it looks like Soleum’s in a hallway with large windows on both sides. So more support for him being in a connecting hallway between two parts of a building. Probably.
Thanks again to everyone who helped me with this! I’m very glad to be proven wrong lol
Since everyone’s been putting in their analysis of the new part 3 teaser art, here’s my 2 cents. More under the cut.
So, my first impression of this scene is actually that he’s walking through a high school balcony yard thingy. The little semi-enclosed walkways next to fields and courtyards, usually connecting two buildings together. This one appears to be next to a building, but it’s hard to tell with the lighting/there’s stuff blocking a clear view of the right half of the hallway. There’s no glass in the windows, and you can see the tree branches from outside growing into the hallway. They’re not just the shadows of the trees, because they’re clearly going behind the ceiling supports too. You can also see them casting shadows from a non-existent light source???? Onto the bottom of the supports. The lighting is probably blue and behind all the branches. I’m getting thrown because of the blue flames placement. Or the branches were meant to be shadows along the ceiling all along and the artist forgot to color in the shadows on the side of the supports. There’s a similar mistake on the window’s top frame where the shadow/branch doesn’t connect to anything on the outside.
This is honestly throwing me for a loop, because the shadows on the window frame look correct but everything around Soleum’s head is inconsistent/doesn’t make sense in regards to how shadows and lighting works. There’s also this weird red glow around his head that makes it look like the ceiling is much higher up than what the piping is suggesting too. Right above Soleum’s head there looks like an opening above the initial window and ceiling beam, and then the rest of the wall, increasing the depth of the ceiling. But if we follow that line, it doesn’t extend past his head into the background, neither the second “window” or the wall seem to exist past Soleum’s head. Going further, the support beam in the foreground is connected relatively low/close to the top of the window frame, but in the background, the support beam next to Soleum’s neck doesn’t extend past his neck and connect to the window frame in the same position. That makes it feel like it’s actually connected higher up than the first support beam. There’s also this highlighted line in the foreground in the ceiling that looks like it’s meant to suggest a crossbeam above the initial support beams, but it doesn’t extend past the second cross beam like you’d expect. It disappears into the same red glow everything else did.
Nothing about the background makes sense??? Soleum looks, mostly fine. To me at least, the folds in his clothing makes sense. His left hand (our right) looks kinda weird and undefined compared to the rest of him though. His ring finger is longer than most people would draw it, extending past his middle finger, and he’s also holding the clipboard/ipad thingy at an odd angle that wouldn’t make sense or be a proper grip irl. His thumb is also missing, it should be visible through the gaps of his fingers, and the papers should be behind that. But also, hands are hard.
Ignoring all that….
Second impression: Soleum’s off work lol. He’s not wearing his suit, instead he’s holding it comfortably in his right arm, his collar and tie are loose, and he’s got his sleeves carelessly rolled up on his arms. This is not the image of a man at work, this is the image of a man off work or relaxing after he’s gone back home. (He almost looks like he could be a really chill teacher, but that’s just my impression)
Third: I initially thought he was holding onto an iPad, but then I noticed the pages flying off and the one page still attached, so could be a clipboard instead. If it is a clipboard, then it’s missing the clip part of the board, but who knows? Maybe his fly-away tie is doing a really good job of hiding it. But then the screw (which I also believe could be the camera for an iPad) is positioned in the wrong place sooooo. He could also be holding an iPad and also a bunch of papers together. Or the artist made an error. Who knows. It’s also glowing, the same way his phone screen was glowing in the first cover art, but not as brightly. It could just be lighting though, there’s a lot of glowy blue flames around.
Fourth: that glitchy patch on his neck. To me, it looks like a talisman, or some sort of seal. If it’s a seal, it could be the reason he’s back in DER, or how he’s able to stay in DER. Maybe something from the bureau? I am distinctly reminded of the seals used in Sekwang Technical School.
Fifth: glowy blue flames. Dokaebi flames? A continuation of the tragically cut short DMB arc? Will our boy finally get his own personal Dokaebi flame???
Sixth: the symbolism of the trees behind him, framing his head like a pair of antlers. Nothing more to say there.
Lastly: this guy’s fucking scared. He’s terrified out of his wits. His face is solid as stone but he is sweating BULLETS rn. Look at him. Acting all calm cool and collected while he’s internally screaming in fear.
Conclusion: Soleum looks like he quit his job and then decided to get a teaching position at Sekwang Technical School. Also, and I really REALLY want another set of eyes on this: the background looks like it might be AI generated???????? And the hand might also be but hands are hard. I’m inclined to think the background was made using AI and the artist drew Soleum on top of it, but I really hope it isn’t. Anyways, thanks for making it this far!
First off, Yayyy, Ive been waiting for a post to chat about all this with <3!!
Second, Its not ai, at least in my opinion. The background might be confusing, but it's intentional. The pipes and wiring unit thing are all lined up, and the whole tree branch thing....well, I have a theory on it, but look closely. Its almost more like a film or a transforming background..... (The window thing also wouldnt be visibal behind Sol's head considering where he's standing and where the higher window thing would be)
And the hand, the middle finger is bent. You can kind of tell if you look closely at the shadows on the finger, the tip is a lighter shade than the bent middle portion.
See it?? If not, you can also think about weight proportions and how someone would most comfortably hold a clipboard with their hands so low on it. The middle finger would need to be propped up so it can hold the weight, while the thumb and ring fingers proportion it out to hold it steady.
See? Ring is longer than the middle because of that reason. Quite admirable that they considered the weight proportion logic of it.... man, I really love this art.
(Also, thumb would be hidden for the same reasons:
)
MOVING ON TO YOUR REAL THEORIES!!!!!! HEHEHEHE THE FUN BEGINS HERE!!!!!!!
Eh-hem....
First off, to match your first off, there is A TON in the background that brings questions. Ima start with the branches because its the most popular topic of the background in discussions.
So...the branches.... they dont line up.... SOME DO! but it doesnt make sense, like you said....Like, LOOK!
The top branch thing doesnt line up with whats outside.
"Well, that's because it's the shadow of the branch below it," you say, laughing at my stupidity.....ur so mean （＞人＜；）
BUT I RESPOND!! I say, very dashingly, "Oh yeah? Then what about the shadow further below that branch?? It doesn't have a branch casting it??"
Then I ride of into the sunset
End scene....wait no, I got carried away....
Anyways!!! You see my point... they just... aren't right.... AND NOT IN AN AI WAY, its def intentional. The placement of the ones behind our Sol's head are to artistically perfect to be anything robot....
What im trying to imply is that MAYBE....its the background transforming? Sol teleporting? A ghost story generating? HECK, it could be Sol using game mechanics for background customization in this novel!! After all, we got the whole "you died, try again?" screen at one point with no one addressing it.... So, what if its showing a transformation?
Which explains the lighting and why the red and blur lights seem...not not right, just eerie in some places compared to normal in others....
Moving on because it gets confusing
SECOND!
Im glad you agreeeeeee!!!!! Idk if u saw my post or not, but I said the same thing!!!!!!! He looks on break or something!! Sol is to professional to look like this while on the job!!
THIRD!!!
Def a clipboard. I actually initially though it was an iPad till I started with my own analysis lol. If its anything like the clipboards ive used and owned, the tie would def hide the clip part, and it would actually have two screws: the one we see and then one more behind the tie. So it's correct (。・ω・。)
FOURTH!!!!!
I actually tried to do some research on traditional Korean seals and talismans, but they actually typically use yellow paper for these, with red ink used for the writing itself. UNLESS!!! It's something unique to the story, then I'm excited to see it!!!
FIFTH!!!!!!
Dokaebi flames is such a good theory!!! I'm utterly stunned I never even considered it..... It doesn't quite explain why the clipboard glows blue too, but it honestly could be for a different reason than the blue flame-like things, knowing the author's love for being unpredictable...
Im actually so onboard with thinking its a Dokaebi.... this is such a good thought.....
SIXTH!!!!!!
Yes, thats all that was needed to be said. Such a good artistic choice...
LAST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
AGAIN, YESSS!!! Not enough people are pointing this out...we cant take it for granted after....well....im sure I dont need to say more....
I brought up the same thing in my post, but im quite happy to see him scared. Half of me was wondering if pt 3 was gonna to be peaceful till the very end, almost just to throw us for a loop lol.
CONCLUSION!!!
PLEASEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE BE RIGHT!!!!!!!!! I would love teacher Soleum!!!!!!!!!! omg......AHHHHHHHH it'd be so sweet!!!!!!!!!! Ghaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.............
What have you done......... you've filled me with hopes and dreams of teacher Sol 3 days before pt 3's release......ur so evil......but it might not be for Sekwang, seeing as that's supposed to only be a hidden city in the wiki and not actually in the real world.
(And again, no ai in my opinion. It's lined up nicely, shading is correct when you dont consider the odd antler tree thing, and that itself is very perfectly placed to be ai. Though a third set of analyzing eyes would be nice, just in case)
Yeah, ok I’ve never seen that type of clipboard before, but it’d make sense if he was holding onto something like that, where the clip is significantly smaller/less bulky.
I also thought the shadows on the trees might’ve been intentionally inconsistent/disappearing where they shouldn’t, until I looked at some more of the background ceiling elements. I did some quick illustrations to demonstrate what I meant earlier, since I don’t know if I explained it well enough.
Normal for comparison, and then the edits I made to highlight what I meant by “the ceiling support beams don’t make sense”.
If you follow the suggested lines of the support beams, what I’ve drawn should be what we see/where those beams end up after crossing past Soleum’s head. Yes he’s blocking most of the background, but as you can see, the end of the beams where they connect to the wall should still be visible. Because they’re not there, it makes those background beams look like they’re connected higher up than they should be.
The second vertical line is what I was talking about with the ceiling depth not making sense. There’s shadow, a highlight, and a sharp cut to a red glow. This makes it look like there’s a wall there that goes higher up, extending how far up than ceiling is. But again, if we follow that line, it never extends past Soleum’s head, and also intersects with a pipe on the ceiling at an angle that isn’t physically possible. The top of the ceiling is implied to be where that line is, but other design elements say it isn’t.
There are also a couple objects in the background that start, and then don’t go anywhere.
The short pipe just sort of fades into the red glow. And there’s a hint of a ceiling beam that also disappears into the red glow. That ceiling beam also makes it look like the ceiling is higher up than what the objects on the ceiling imply it to be.
For the hand, the angle which he’s holding the clipboard looks very loose lol. Like he’s holding it with the tip of his fingers and could drop it at any second (which might be intentional). But what I meant by the thumb being “visible” is that the background shouldn’t be visible past the second gap in his fingers.
If he is actually holding onto the clipboard, the thumb should go past and fold over it or otherwise block out the background with the papers flying off. Otherwise the thumb would be placed very low down on his hand, and that doesn’t make much sense to me (as someone who hates drawing hands that must make sense).
Cue me twisting my hand around to try and see what that pose would look like irl. (Also, he is 100% holding that clipboard by the tips of his fingers, there is NO support in that positioning) It could work if the thumb curved in a way that it’s only going up behind the clipboard, and therefore not visible in that second gap. Again, hands are hard.
On the topic of the positioning of the branches being too perfectly framed for it to be AI generated…. I think it’s possible to insert the image of Soleum and have the AI generate an image around that. For example, maybe the prompt was: create background image for this character where they’re in a hallway with large windows and red lighting, there are tree branches outside the window and the shadows of the branches create antlers behind the character’s head.
I dunno how to prompt AI, I don’t use it, but I imagine that’s something one could do. And clearly, there was a human involved with making the whole thing, so they could’ve generated a bunch of different background images before finding one that looked nice and fit the framing. I don’t think there was too much touch up after the background was done, because those inconsistencies I noticed are things you’d only catch if you were like. Staring hard at the image for an hour and deliberately following where each line and shadow went. If you’re (lazy or rushed enough) to use AI for the background in the first place, you wouldn’t be bothered to double check its work super thoroughly.
Anyways, those are my thoughts after a half night’s sleep.
(And I did notice the shadows! I thought they might’ve been tree branches reaching in through the windows right up until they hit the support beams, so the ones with no connecting branches were very ????? Honestly the branches look less like they’re from the outside and more like they’re sprouting from Soleum’s head at some points. It’d be cool if reality was warping behind Soleum, but I think it’d be more visible and less subtle than what we’re currently seeing. Also, I too really want Teacher Soleum to be a thing.)
Ooooooooooo, I see what ur talking about now with the beams! I totally misunderstood ya there lol.
While I see where ur coming from on that front, you also have to keep in mind its a hallway going back into the distance, so the lines would actually have to more sharply turn into themselves to create more of a triangle shape than simply lining up with eachother.
As for the beam and small pipe thing that go into nothing, I actually agree with you that its really suspicious. I was wondering the same thing when typing my response. The only reasons I let it go is,
1.I have too much love for the theory of a transforming background in some way
2. The author of both gsgw and Debut or Die has not once allowed anything ai with their creations, including commissioned art. They actually seem more of an ai hater, and instead support art students by commissioning art. At one point, with the whole bunch of official designs that came out a while ago, there were a lot of people questioning if the art students who drew them used ai because of inconsistencies in the video. The author ended up immediately defending them, posting the art outside the video to show it was simply video effects messing up the art. They are also very particular with how the manhwa versions of their novels look lol. They love stunning art it seems.
So when it comes to stuff like that, I like to think we are simply misunderstanding something, and place more trust in the author and the artists they chose. Ive been reading their novels for a while now, and they havent betrayed me yet, so I owe them that much at least.
Ofc, I cant ask you to to the same lol! That be super mean of me to try and do. This is more me trying to explain why im trying to defend them so much <3
As for the hand, I maybeeee....disagree, but lets not let that come between us!!!!!!!! I simply hold stuff like that a lot, but I also have small hands with double joints n stuff, so who knows how it is for others!!
And the branches, same two reasons I gave for the background lol. Im a woman of trust, what can I say? Yes, its easy for it to backfire, but I like feeling hope in other people's actions. Innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt!!!!
And prompting ai is incredibly hard for detailed art like this, but still possible if you know what ur doing and such. (Coming from a computer science nerd who's dating a computer science major... hope that adds some credibility to that statement...)
And I hope you know im completely drunk on the idea of teacher Sol now.....like, so much now that if hes not a teacher when pt 3 comes out, I will be pretty dang disappointed......unless hes something cooler, but still..... you've filled me with dreams.........
Yeah, I thought that might’ve been the case. I find drawing things out really helps make things clearer compared to trying to describe things by text lol.
Also! Your response really reassures me. In an age where I feel like I can’t trust if what I’m seeing or reading was made with AI, hearing that the author of a web series I really enjoy is against the use of AI in making art is comforting.
And another commenter pointed out that Soleum is probably in a darkness in that image. (Somehow that didn’t entirely click for me >~<) So the chances of reality not matching or making sense kind of exponentially increases lol. Aren’t there ghost stories out there where everything’s the same except (the world looks ai generated—) the world looks just so slightly off in the uncanny valley look away look back kind of way? So points to the background is warping behind Soleum theory!
Also, while attempting to view my hand in the same pose as Soleum’s I was using my phone as a makeshift clipboard, and to get the effect of having 2 visible gaps between my fingers, I had to hold my phone by the tips of my fingers. My hands are kinda small, and a phone is not a clipboard, but those things aren’t light and he’s clearly not using his entire palm to grab it. But I was also turning my hand around to look at it so that might’ve been where I’m having some trouble. (Also, the idea that Soleum almost drops the clipboard out of fear is a fun one, but that’s just me.)
Thank you for your insight! I’m relatively new to the fandom (started in the later half of part 2, then took a break while waiting for part 3), so I don’t really know the author and what his stances on things like AI are. So hearing you say that is again, very reassuring!
Since everyone’s been putting in their analysis of the new part 3 teaser art, here’s my 2 cents. More under the cut.
So, my first impression of this scene is actually that he’s walking through a high school balcony yard thingy. The little semi-enclosed walkways next to fields and courtyards, usually connecting two buildings together. This one appears to be next to a building, but it’s hard to tell with the lighting/there’s stuff blocking a clear view of the right half of the hallway. There’s no glass in the windows, and you can see the tree branches from outside growing into the hallway. They’re not just the shadows of the trees, because they’re clearly going behind the ceiling supports too. You can also see them casting shadows from a non-existent light source???? Onto the bottom of the supports. The lighting is probably blue and behind all the branches. I’m getting thrown because of the blue flames placement. Or the branches were meant to be shadows along the ceiling all along and the artist forgot to color in the shadows on the side of the supports. There’s a similar mistake on the window’s top frame where the shadow/branch doesn’t connect to anything on the outside.
This is honestly throwing me for a loop, because the shadows on the window frame look correct but everything around Soleum’s head is inconsistent/doesn’t make sense in regards to how shadows and lighting works. There’s also this weird red glow around his head that makes it look like the ceiling is much higher up than what the piping is suggesting too. Right above Soleum’s head there looks like an opening above the initial window and ceiling beam, and then the rest of the wall, increasing the depth of the ceiling. But if we follow that line, it doesn’t extend past his head into the background, neither the second “window” or the wall seem to exist past Soleum’s head. Going further, the support beam in the foreground is connected relatively low/close to the top of the window frame, but in the background, the support beam next to Soleum’s neck doesn’t extend past his neck and connect to the window frame in the same position. That makes it feel like it’s actually connected higher up than the first support beam. There’s also this highlighted line in the foreground in the ceiling that looks like it’s meant to suggest a crossbeam above the initial support beams, but it doesn’t extend past the second cross beam like you’d expect. It disappears into the same red glow everything else did.
Nothing about the background makes sense??? Soleum looks, mostly fine. To me at least, the folds in his clothing makes sense. His left hand (our right) looks kinda weird and undefined compared to the rest of him though. His ring finger is longer than most people would draw it, extending past his middle finger, and he’s also holding the clipboard/ipad thingy at an odd angle that wouldn’t make sense or be a proper grip irl. His thumb is also missing, it should be visible through the gaps of his fingers, and the papers should be behind that. But also, hands are hard.
Ignoring all that….
Second impression: Soleum’s off work lol. He’s not wearing his suit, instead he’s holding it comfortably in his right arm, his collar and tie are loose, and he’s got his sleeves carelessly rolled up on his arms. This is not the image of a man at work, this is the image of a man off work or relaxing after he’s gone back home. (He almost looks like he could be a really chill teacher, but that’s just my impression)
Third: I initially thought he was holding onto an iPad, but then I noticed the pages flying off and the one page still attached, so could be a clipboard instead. If it is a clipboard, then it’s missing the clip part of the board, but who knows? Maybe his fly-away tie is doing a really good job of hiding it. But then the screw (which I also believe could be the camera for an iPad) is positioned in the wrong place sooooo. He could also be holding an iPad and also a bunch of papers together. Or the artist made an error. Who knows. It’s also glowing, the same way his phone screen was glowing in the first cover art, but not as brightly. It could just be lighting though, there’s a lot of glowy blue flames around.
Fourth: that glitchy patch on his neck. To me, it looks like a talisman, or some sort of seal. If it’s a seal, it could be the reason he’s back in DER, or how he’s able to stay in DER. Maybe something from the bureau? I am distinctly reminded of the seals used in Sekwang Technical School.
Fifth: glowy blue flames. Dokaebi flames? A continuation of the tragically cut short DMB arc? Will our boy finally get his own personal Dokaebi flame???
Sixth: the symbolism of the trees behind him, framing his head like a pair of antlers. Nothing more to say there.
Lastly: this guy’s fucking scared. He’s terrified out of his wits. His face is solid as stone but he is sweating BULLETS rn. Look at him. Acting all calm cool and collected while he’s internally screaming in fear.
Conclusion: Soleum looks like he quit his job and then decided to get a teaching position at Sekwang Technical School. Also, and I really REALLY want another set of eyes on this: the background looks like it might be AI generated???????? And the hand might also be but hands are hard. I’m inclined to think the background was made using AI and the artist drew Soleum on top of it, but I really hope it isn’t. Anyways, thanks for making it this far!
First off, Yayyy, Ive been waiting for a post to chat about all this with <3!!
Second, Its not ai, at least in my opinion. The background might be confusing, but it's intentional. The pipes and wiring unit thing are all lined up, and the whole tree branch thing....well, I have a theory on it, but look closely. Its almost more like a film or a transforming background..... (The window thing also wouldnt be visibal behind Sol's head considering where he's standing and where the higher window thing would be)
And the hand, the middle finger is bent. You can kind of tell if you look closely at the shadows on the finger, the tip is a lighter shade than the bent middle portion.
See it?? If not, you can also think about weight proportions and how someone would most comfortably hold a clipboard with their hands so low on it. The middle finger would need to be propped up so it can hold the weight, while the thumb and ring fingers proportion it out to hold it steady.
See? Ring is longer than the middle because of that reason. Quite admirable that they considered the weight proportion logic of it.... man, I really love this art.
(Also, thumb would be hidden for the same reasons:
)
MOVING ON TO YOUR REAL THEORIES!!!!!! HEHEHEHE THE FUN BEGINS HERE!!!!!!!
Eh-hem....
First off, to match your first off, there is A TON in the background that brings questions. Ima start with the branches because its the most popular topic of the background in discussions.
So...the branches.... they dont line up.... SOME DO! but it doesnt make sense, like you said....Like, LOOK!
The top branch thing doesnt line up with whats outside.
"Well, that's because it's the shadow of the branch below it," you say, laughing at my stupidity.....ur so mean （＞人＜；）
BUT I RESPOND!! I say, very dashingly, "Oh yeah? Then what about the shadow further below that branch?? It doesn't have a branch casting it??"
Then I ride of into the sunset
End scene....wait no, I got carried away....
Anyways!!! You see my point... they just... aren't right.... AND NOT IN AN AI WAY, its def intentional. The placement of the ones behind our Sol's head are to artistically perfect to be anything robot....
What im trying to imply is that MAYBE....its the background transforming? Sol teleporting? A ghost story generating? HECK, it could be Sol using game mechanics for background customization in this novel!! After all, we got the whole "you died, try again?" screen at one point with no one addressing it.... So, what if its showing a transformation?
Which explains the lighting and why the red and blur lights seem...not not right, just eerie in some places compared to normal in others....
Moving on because it gets confusing
SECOND!
Im glad you agreeeeeee!!!!! Idk if u saw my post or not, but I said the same thing!!!!!!! He looks on break or something!! Sol is to professional to look like this while on the job!!
THIRD!!!
Def a clipboard. I actually initially though it was an iPad till I started with my own analysis lol. If its anything like the clipboards ive used and owned, the tie would def hide the clip part, and it would actually have two screws: the one we see and then one more behind the tie. So it's correct (。・ω・。)
FOURTH!!!!!
I actually tried to do some research on traditional Korean seals and talismans, but they actually typically use yellow paper for these, with red ink used for the writing itself. UNLESS!!! It's something unique to the story, then I'm excited to see it!!!
FIFTH!!!!!!
Dokaebi flames is such a good theory!!! I'm utterly stunned I never even considered it..... It doesn't quite explain why the clipboard glows blue too, but it honestly could be for a different reason than the blue flame-like things, knowing the author's love for being unpredictable...
Im actually so onboard with thinking its a Dokaebi.... this is such a good thought.....
SIXTH!!!!!!
Yes, thats all that was needed to be said. Such a good artistic choice...
LAST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
AGAIN, YESSS!!! Not enough people are pointing this out...we cant take it for granted after....well....im sure I dont need to say more....
I brought up the same thing in my post, but im quite happy to see him scared. Half of me was wondering if pt 3 was gonna to be peaceful till the very end, almost just to throw us for a loop lol.
CONCLUSION!!!
PLEASEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE BE RIGHT!!!!!!!!! I would love teacher Soleum!!!!!!!!!! omg......AHHHHHHHH it'd be so sweet!!!!!!!!!! Ghaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.............
What have you done......... you've filled me with hopes and dreams of teacher Sol 3 days before pt 3's release......ur so evil......but it might not be for Sekwang, seeing as that's supposed to only be a hidden city in the wiki and not actually in the real world.
(And again, no ai in my opinion. It's lined up nicely, shading is correct when you dont consider the odd antler tree thing, and that itself is very perfectly placed to be ai. Though a third set of analyzing eyes would be nice, just in case)
Yeah, ok I’ve never seen that type of clipboard before, but it’d make sense if he was holding onto something like that, where the clip is significantly smaller/less bulky.
I also thought the shadows on the trees might’ve been intentionally inconsistent/disappearing where they shouldn’t, until I looked at some more of the background ceiling elements. I did some quick illustrations to demonstrate what I meant earlier, since I don’t know if I explained it well enough.
Normal for comparison, and then the edits I made to highlight what I meant by “the ceiling support beams don’t make sense”.
If you follow the suggested lines of the support beams, what I’ve drawn should be what we see/where those beams end up after crossing past Soleum’s head. Yes he’s blocking most of the background, but as you can see, the end of the beams where they connect to the wall should still be visible. Because they’re not there, it makes those background beams look like they’re connected higher up than they should be.
The second vertical line is what I was talking about with the ceiling depth not making sense. There’s shadow, a highlight, and a sharp cut to a red glow. This makes it look like there’s a wall there that goes higher up, extending how far up than ceiling is. But again, if we follow that line, it never extends past Soleum’s head, and also intersects with a pipe on the ceiling at an angle that isn’t physically possible. The top of the ceiling is implied to be where that line is, but other design elements say it isn’t.
There are also a couple objects in the background that start, and then don’t go anywhere.
The short pipe just sort of fades into the red glow. And there’s a hint of a ceiling beam that also disappears into the red glow. That ceiling beam also makes it look like the ceiling is higher up than what the objects on the ceiling imply it to be.
For the hand, the angle which he’s holding the clipboard looks very loose lol. Like he’s holding it with the tip of his fingers and could drop it at any second (which might be intentional). But what I meant by the thumb being “visible” is that the background shouldn’t be visible past the second gap in his fingers.
If he is actually holding onto the clipboard, the thumb should go past and fold over it or otherwise block out the background with the papers flying off. Otherwise the thumb would be placed very low down on his hand, and that doesn’t make much sense to me (as someone who hates drawing hands that must make sense).
Cue me twisting my hand around to try and see what that pose would look like irl. (Also, he is 100% holding that clipboard by the tips of his fingers, there is NO support in that positioning) It could work if the thumb curved in a way that it’s only going up behind the clipboard, and therefore not visible in that second gap. Again, hands are hard.
On the topic of the positioning of the branches being too perfectly framed for it to be AI generated…. I think it’s possible to insert the image of Soleum and have the AI generate an image around that. For example, maybe the prompt was: create background image for this character where they’re in a hallway with large windows and red lighting, there are tree branches outside the window and the shadows of the branches create antlers behind the character’s head.
I dunno how to prompt AI, I don’t use it, but I imagine that’s something one could do. And clearly, there was a human involved with making the whole thing, so they could’ve generated a bunch of different background images before finding one that looked nice and fit the framing. I don’t think there was too much touch up after the background was done, because those inconsistencies I noticed are things you’d only catch if you were like. Staring hard at the image for an hour and deliberately following where each line and shadow went. If you’re (lazy or rushed enough) to use AI for the background in the first place, you wouldn’t be bothered to double check its work super thoroughly.
Anyways, those are my thoughts after a half night’s sleep.
(And I did notice the shadows! I thought they might’ve been tree branches reaching in through the windows right up until they hit the support beams, so the ones with no connecting branches were very ????? Honestly the branches look less like they’re from the outside and more like they’re sprouting from Soleum’s head at some points. It’d be cool if reality was warping behind Soleum, but I think it’d be more visible and less subtle than what we’re currently seeing. Also, I too really want Teacher Soleum to be a thing.)
Since everyone’s been putting in their analysis of the new part 3 teaser art, here’s my 2 cents. More under the cut.
So, my first impression of this scene is actually that he’s walking through a high school balcony yard thingy. The little semi-enclosed walkways next to fields and courtyards, usually connecting two buildings together. This one appears to be next to a building, but it’s hard to tell with the lighting/there’s stuff blocking a clear view of the right half of the hallway. There’s no glass in the windows, and you can see the tree branches from outside growing into the hallway. They’re not just the shadows of the trees, because they’re clearly going behind the ceiling supports too. You can also see them casting shadows from a non-existent light source???? Onto the bottom of the supports. The lighting is probably blue and behind all the branches. I’m getting thrown because of the blue flames placement. Or the branches were meant to be shadows along the ceiling all along and the artist forgot to color in the shadows on the side of the supports. There’s a similar mistake on the window’s top frame where the shadow/branch doesn’t connect to anything on the outside.
This is honestly throwing me for a loop, because the shadows on the window frame look correct but everything around Soleum’s head is inconsistent/doesn’t make sense in regards to how shadows and lighting works. There’s also this weird red glow around his head that makes it look like the ceiling is much higher up than what the piping is suggesting too. Right above Soleum’s head there looks like an opening above the initial window and ceiling beam, and then the rest of the wall, increasing the depth of the ceiling. But if we follow that line, it doesn’t extend past his head into the background, neither the second “window” or the wall seem to exist past Soleum’s head. Going further, the support beam in the foreground is connected relatively low/close to the top of the window frame, but in the background, the support beam next to Soleum’s neck doesn’t extend past his neck and connect to the window frame in the same position. That makes it feel like it’s actually connected higher up than the first support beam. There’s also this highlighted line in the foreground in the ceiling that looks like it’s meant to suggest a crossbeam above the initial support beams, but it doesn’t extend past the second cross beam like you’d expect. It disappears into the same red glow everything else did.
Nothing about the background makes sense??? Soleum looks, mostly fine. To me at least, the folds in his clothing makes sense. His left hand (our right) looks kinda weird and undefined compared to the rest of him though. His ring finger is longer than most people would draw it, extending past his middle finger, and he’s also holding the clipboard/ipad thingy at an odd angle that wouldn’t make sense or be a proper grip irl. His thumb is also missing, it should be visible through the gaps of his fingers, and the papers should be behind that. But also, hands are hard.
Ignoring all that….
Second impression: Soleum’s off work lol. He’s not wearing his suit, instead he’s holding it comfortably in his right arm, his collar and tie are loose, and he’s got his sleeves carelessly rolled up on his arms. This is not the image of a man at work, this is the image of a man off work or relaxing after he’s gone back home. (He almost looks like he could be a really chill teacher, but that’s just my impression)
Third: I initially thought he was holding onto an iPad, but then I noticed the pages flying off and the one page still attached, so could be a clipboard instead. If it is a clipboard, then it’s missing the clip part of the board, but who knows? Maybe his fly-away tie is doing a really good job of hiding it. But then the screw (which I also believe could be the camera for an iPad) is positioned in the wrong place sooooo. He could also be holding an iPad and also a bunch of papers together. Or the artist made an error. Who knows. It’s also glowing, the same way his phone screen was glowing in the first cover art, but not as brightly. It could just be lighting though, there’s a lot of glowy blue flames around.
Fourth: that glitchy patch on his neck. To me, it looks like a talisman, or some sort of seal. If it’s a seal, it could be the reason he’s back in DER, or how he’s able to stay in DER. Maybe something from the bureau? I am distinctly reminded of the seals used in Sekwang Technical School.
Fifth: glowy blue flames. Dokaebi flames? A continuation of the tragically cut short DMB arc? Will our boy finally get his own personal Dokaebi flame???
Sixth: the symbolism of the trees behind him, framing his head like a pair of antlers. Nothing more to say there.
Lastly: this guy’s fucking scared. He’s terrified out of his wits. His face is solid as stone but he is sweating BULLETS rn. Look at him. Acting all calm cool and collected while he’s internally screaming in fear.
Conclusion: Soleum looks like he quit his job and then decided to get a teaching position at Sekwang Technical School. Also, and I really REALLY want another set of eyes on this: the background looks like it might be AI generated???????? And the hand might also be but hands are hard. I’m inclined to think the background was made using AI and the artist drew Soleum on top of it, but I really hope it isn’t. Anyways, thanks for making it this far!
There will be a time skip and the Soleum’s resort manager stand in’s contract will expire within that time.
Related to above: Blue Dragon will help manage/deal with the resort when that happens. This will help them grow stronger and recover their original form.
Therapy will eventually be complete and we’ll get a proper OG Soleum POV.
Alternatively: as a result of the perfect wish ticket, Soleum who needed to be whole healthy and of sound mind to return home, was reconstructed along with OG Soleum, and they return to being one before leaving. This results in the Sekwang people unmerging because the glue (Soleum) is no longer there and therapy is expedited.
We’ll get a proper explanation on the chicken and egg situation. Did Soleum’s OG world create the DER world, or did DER’s world retroactively create Soleum’s through the summoning ritual? Particularly in regards to Ireum-nim since Soleum’s presence and knowledge caused the Church to form. Or maybe it’s his perception of the world affecting his status and turning what he believes is true into the truth. Also, the fact that Soleum’s OG world had information and events from the DER world’s future that were then changed due to Soleum’s involvement.
Soleum’s debt to Lee Jaheon will go up/never be paid off.
Same with his debt to Braun.
Soleum will somehow fall into more debt to someone else.
Sekwang will open up properly, but its subway system will still be under the management of Golden Mascot. Darknesses that were previously inaccessible/censored due to the memory wipe will now be available for DMB and Daydream to interact with.
Related to above: J3 will pursue the Fairy Tale darkness from the Hanbit library during Soleum’s absence. He either succeeds, or needs to be rescued from it.
We’ll finally know what OG darkness Soleum wrote on the wiki.
Sekwang is not the cause of the apocalypse and there are more/other catastrophe type disasters that will be explored.
We’ll get hints on the real Reason Daydream exists and Why it wants to keep farming Darknesses for Dream essence when only its employees ever use the wish ticket (especially considering how the company distributes the points in the exact same amounts the essence collected would amount to).
Slightly crack theory: it will be revealed that Daydream is searching for ways to stop the apocalypse (because you can’t profit off an ended world) by using Dream essence.
The apocalypse is the result of over farming darknesses for Dream essence.
Most important character and plot threads will be tied up, but not all/not everything will be explained.
We’ll revisit old ghost stories and their ghosts and see how they’ve been doing all this time. (Mirror Soleum, Delusional Home Shopping, Hell Taxi)
At some point Soleum’s spare body will be used or become relevant once more.
Since every human Soleum’s touched got together to help him, we’ll have a similar moment with all the ghost stories he’s helped at some point. (So many wanted to be his Good Friend after all)
Crack theory: it will be revealed that this entire time we’ve been reading Soleum’s fanfiction about his self-insert into the DER world. As per roulette wheel prize winnings, he got to create his own character to put into the DER universe and be acknowledged as canon. And what’s more scary than if someone from the “real word” gets sucked into what they thought was just horror fiction with no way out and death at every corner?
And then after finishing the self-insert fic, the story becomes real (again) and Soleum the Writer must now deal with the DER he created/altered.
turnnoffyourmind
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