1st Place: Kim Soleum - Got Dropped In A Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work
2nd Place: Martin Blackwood - The Magnus Archives
3rd Place: Crimzon Ruze - Holostars EN (VTuber)
4th Place: Dan and Phil - Youtuber
Thank you to everyone who participated to this contest, this was genuinely such a fun time, and I hope you'll stick around for the Most Adoptable Grown Woman contest! The submission form is still open for 8 more hours and will be linked on the pinned post.
Character profiles based on the popup exhibition merch for J3, Kim Soleum, Lee Jaheon, Eun Haje, Park Minseong, Go Yongeun, Baek Saheon, Agent Choi, Ryu Jaekwan and Braun below! It includes their birthday, blood type, affiliation, team, ranks and lunch recommendations lmao
A lot of this is mtl so sorry if it’s a bit rough haha. Has spoilers that reference up to chp 208!
J3
Birthday: Oct 10
Blood type: A ➡ O
Affiliation: Daydream Inc
Affiliated Team: Field Exploration Team Group B ➡ Security Team 3
Rank: Sergeant
Lunch Recommendation: I don’t know… Cup ramen?
Kim Soleum
Birthday: Sept 13
Blood type: A
Affiliation: Daydream Inc
Affiliated Team: Field Exploration Team Group D
Rank: Employee ➡ Dispatch Rescue Team Hyunmoo Team 1 ➡ Security Team ➡ ???
Lunch Recommendation: Galbitang
Lee Jaheon
Birthday: Jan 2
Blood type: AB
Affiliation: Daydream Inc
Affiliated Team: Field Exploration Team Group D
Rank: Manager
Lunch Recommendation: Korean Beef Bulgogi
Eun Haje
Birthday: Oct 4
Blood type: B
Affiliation: Daydream Inc
Affiliated Team: Field Exploration Team Group D
Rank: Assistant Manager
Lunch Recommendation: Gul Jjambong
Park Minseong
Birthday: April 18
Blood type: O
Affiliation: Daydream Inc
Affiliated Team: Field Exploration Team Group D
Rank: Supervisor
Lunch Recommendation: Creamy Shrimp Pasta
Go Yongeun
Birthday: March 24
Blood type: O
Affiliation: Daydream Inc ➡Disaster Management Bureau
Affiliated Team: Field Exploration Team Group R ➡New Investigation Team Baekho 2
Rank: Employee Agent
Lunch Recommendation: Bibim Naengmyeon
Baek Saheon
Birthday: May 11
Blood type: A
Affiliation: Daydream Inc
Affiliated Team: Field Exploration Team Group F
Rank: Employee
Lunch Recommendation: Tomato Gratin
Agent Choi
Birthday: Aug 29
Blood type: B
Affiliation: Disaster Management Bureau
Affiliated Team: Dispatch Rescue Team Hyunmoo Team 1
Rank: Agent
Lunch Recommendation: Jangteo Gukbap
Ryu Jaekwan (Agent Bronze)
Birthday: Dec 9
Blood type: A
Affiliation: Disaster Management Bureau
Affiliated Team: Dispatch Rescue Team Hyunmoo Team 1
Rank: Agent
Lunch Recommendation: Dolsot Bibimbap
Braun
“A great show host! He is a genuine entertainer. He has no need for any cliche birthdays or boring, stale job titles!. He is simply a humble and witty talk show host, a master of ceremonies and a presenter who can make viewers laugh and cry. Lunch menu? Oh my gosh, I’ll make you forget about eating!”
Below is a short and comprehensive guide on how to read the most recent chapters with machine translation.
There are four parts:
1. Where can I find the original chapters?
2. How do I get a KakaoPage account/buy chapters?
3. How do I translate the chapters?
4. What are some things to watch out for when you MTL?
1. Where can I find the original chapters?
You can find the original chapters at KakaoPage, a Korean webnovel platform.
GDCG/GSGW chapters at KakaoPage
By buying from this platform, you can directly support and reward the author's efforts in writing this novel!
2. How do I get a KakaoPage account/buy chapters?
The below guide explains everything from making a kkp account to buying episodes.
Top Up Credits on KakaoPage and Buy Chapters
Follow the guide exactly! For example, don't use a google account to log in to kkp, because then you won't be able to access the pages on web.
For GDCG, each episode ticket costs 100 coin (10 cents). You can also get free coins from events - I haven't needed to top up for months due to stocking up on tickets thanks to event coins during hiatus.
New accounts also get 15 free rental tickets!
+ Added a new guide : 'How to Get Free Coins on KakaoPage'
3. How do I translate the chapters?
The above guide recommends opennovel because it was written by opennovel. It's an AI translation service that you have to pay to use.
Most people I know use chrome web browser to access the episodes, and use chrome's default translation function.
I also recommend using a browser called 'immersive translate' if you know a bit of Korean, since it allows you to look at the og text and the translated text at the same time, which can be helpful for catching mistranslations. You can choose which translation engine to use - the default is Microsoft, which is pretty terrible, so I recommend changing it to Google.
Immersive Translate (playstore link / chrome extension link)
Whichever way you choose, be careful to set your KakaoPage viewer to scroll mode instead of page mode, as page mode can cause texts to be omitted.
4. What are some things to watch out for when you MTL?
The below sheet contains a list of character names and what MTL can translate them as. (Look at the character tab)
It is currently incomplete but contains the major ones.
GDCG MTL Guide (contains character names)
+ eta: I've added a 'common mistranslation' tab as well!
Another thing to watch out for is pronouns. Because Korean often omits pronouns, MTL has to make up a pronoun when translating to English. This can result in mistranslation. When in doubt, look at the context.
I also try to do a write-up of mistranslations and details every episode on the 'gdcg review' tag of my tumblr.
Episode Review tag (includes tl help)
The mistranslation corrections are based on what people ask me on discord, so if you have any specific translation questions, don't hesitate to send me a tumblr ask!
-> since ep 300 or so, I started just doing full-on mistranslation corrections, haha. You can still send me tumblr asks!
Could you give a breakdown on KW book's new announcement about fan merch please? And what happened that led to them making this announcement, bc I keep seeing talks abt hotels and I have no idea what's happening.. I need context
Hi,
For those who don't know, this is about KWBOOKS' third and final guideline about secondary creations (=fan creations).
The new guideline adds to the previous guidelines that 3D merch (examples given are dolls, doll clothes, figures, light sticks, badges, rings, weapons) can only be made personally, and will no longer be allowed to be sold at all. This applies to GDCG and DoD.
Why did they make such a specific guideline? I'll start from the beginning.
1st guideline
So back when GDCG first came out in Oct 2024, immediately it was obvious it would be a hit. It was by the author of the mega-hit DoD and the first 50 episodes that were released on the first day had already grabbed a ton of people.
Then, on twt, somebody started advertising for their Braun dolls.
I didn't see this first hand, but as far as I know, it quickly became apparent that this person was ready to make and sell a lot of Braun doll merch to fans, only days after the novel's launch. This made a lot of people frown, and it was widely suspected to be a for-profit business that was using a popular ip without permission rather than a fan making merch at small scale. Another issue was that the Braun doll was such an obvious merch item that the publisher itself would surely sell, so was it right for there to be 'fan-made' merch that could basically be confused for the official?
The Braun doll was eventually canceled due to the heavy backlash.
Soon afterwards, KWBOOKS announced their first guideline regarding fanwork.
In their first guideline, they forbid some things, including :
fanwork that may be misunderstood to be KWBOOKS's official product
for-profit sales of fan merch
reproducing (scan/tracing etc) official text, illustration or other visual content, or creating/distributing official text etc with no creativity added.
They also specified (in the twt) that
if fanmerch is made by a business, this would be considered ip infringement, no matter the scale
regarding mass production, both individuals & businesses must sign a contract with them before production.
After this guideline, fans basically unanimously agreed to not sell Good Friend dolls, even at a small scale, and only distributed patterns & sold DIYs.
2nd guideline
The second guideline came in May 2025.
X에서 KW STORE👾 님 : "KW북스 작품을 향해 보내주시는 많은 관심과 애정에 진심으로 감사드립니다. KW북스에서는 원칙적으로 KW북스가 제작, 유통하고 있는 모든 IP에 대한 무단 상업적 이용을 금지하고 있습니다. 다만, 독자분들이 콘텐츠를 즐기는 방법 중 하나로 존중하여, 비상업적인 영역에 대해서는 그간 별도로 https://t.co/rGPm3CXDaq" / X
The second guideline was mostly about not making merch that may be misunderstood to be official merch.
To be brief, the issue was that
there seemed to be for-profit large scale manufactures
people had (again) started making merch that could be misunderstood to be official merch
I personally was seeing a lot of merch that were like, for example, USBs with 'Disaster Management Bureau' simply printed on it. (No additional fan illustration or anything...) I feel that that's an example of using official text with no creativity added / making merch that may be misunderstood to be official merch.
Around this time KWBOOKS was also privately contacting several dollmakers and asking them to stop selling their GDCG dolls, bc it may be confused with official merch that was coming. We know this bc one of the contacted dollmakers posted the convo.
(personal thoughts : people were wondering about the doll designs potentially being similar to the dolls that KWBOOKS asked to be stopped. In retrospect I think it may have been just that they were 5cm dolls of the same characters. Based on their interview, I suspect KWBOOKS took care to make the official doll designs not similar to any of the preexisting fan doll designs.)
As we all know, official 5cm dolls were then sold, as were official Good Friend dolls. But then...
3rd guideline
The third guideline was announced Nov 2025.
X에서 KW STORE👾 님 : "KW북스 2차 창작 통합 가이드라인 최종 안내 안녕하세요, KW북스입니다. 먼저, 자사 작품을 향해 보내주시는 애정에 깊이 감사드립니다. 그간 KW북스는 반복적인 안내가 독자분들께 피로감을 드릴 것을 우려하여, 가이드라인 위배 행위에 대해 선별적인 권고 조치를 진행해 왔습니다. 하지만 당사의 https://t.co/a3u4gzGP3O" / X
According to the twt, KWBOOKS had been seeing a lot of cases that were going against the guideline. So as to not cause fatigue for the readers, instead of making additional announcements, they had been privately contacting the offending parties. However, some people just turned their accounts private and kept producing the problematic merch.
Due to the repeated incidents, they made a final guideline.
From after Nov 30th, 2025, all '3d merch' related to DoD and GDCG will be banned from being sold. (making for your personal use and/or distributing a small amount for free is okay.) This includes
character based 3d merch (ex. dolls, doll clothes, figures, light sticks)
related, clothing and other items (ex. badges, rings, weapons)
Why are people talking about some hotel?
This is bc people are discussing what might have been the final straw for KWBOOKS.
Recently there was a rather pricey fan event announced, themed after the Flower Golden Resort, where the staff would be cosplayers. It was to be sold with a one-night check-in to the hotel.
The sheer scale of the event, as well as them basically recreating Flower Golden Resort, caused many people to question whether it wasn't going way too far and infringing on the GDCG IP rather than being a small scale fan event. Even if they weren't doing this at a profit, the hotel would be seeing revenue of tens of millions of won based on the GDCG IP, all without the publisher or the author even being notified, so was that okay?
After a heavy backlash including input from other fandoms, the event was eventually canceled, on the same day that KWBOOKS put up the announcement. So that's why some people suspect the hotel was the last straw.
(Personally I think the hotel was unrelated to the announcement, bc surely KWBOOKS took some time to make their decision. I've been seeing several fanmade merch that worried me, such as :
griptok(popsocket) that looked exactly like the official griptok merch, only with the cross being red like in the official illustration
Bureau themed jacket that was basically a jacket with the words 'Supernatural Disaster Management Bureau' written on the back, as well as their official logo.
Both of the fanmerch were canceled after backlash, but I think any one of them may have been the last straw. There were probably a lot more that I didn't see. So who knows.)
I was going to make fanmerch, am I doomed?
To be clear, only the '3d' fanmerch specified above are banned.
This means that flat stuff like doujins, stickers, photo cards etc are all fine.
The common consensus is that stuff like acrylics and corottos are fine as well, since they're a) original illustrations, unlikely to be misunderstood to be official, and b) they're such popular items that KWBOOKS not mentioning them at all must be a statement in and of itself.
As for the explicitly forbidden stuff such as dolls, rings, weapons etc, you can still make them for yourself, or distribute them (small scale) for free. You just can't sell them. Some dollmakers have been distributing their doll designs so that people can make their own.
So, you’re writing a thing, and you need to name a character. And, as we all know, naming a character is a giant pain in the ass. I offer this list of shit I use pretty regularly, for this purpose.
Behind the Name (The etymologies are weird as fuck, in a few places, but it’s great if you’ve got a name and need to find other names that are from or derived from the same culture/language)
Behind the Surname (BTN for family names)
Academy of Saint Gabriel Medieval Names Archive (This is the go-to for medieval names in Europe and the Near East. Hardcore scholarship and a distinct lack of fucking around.)
Kate Monk’s Onomastikon (The original internet name resource.)
The Soldier in Later Medieval England (Actual names from English military rolls around the Battle of Agincourt)
England’s Immigrants (Non-native residents of England, 1330-1550)
Celtic Personal Names of Roman Britain
Mapping the Medieval Countryside - People (People appearing in English inquisitions post mortem, 1418-1447)
Wiktionary’s Index of Biblical Names
Ancient Names Galleria (The weird shit is here. If you need Akkadian or Phoenecian names, those are totally covered.)
Trismegistos People (Names extracted from the Trismegistos Texts – mostly names from Graeco-Roman Egypt.)
Personally, I use the shit out of Trismegistos People, England’s Immigrants, and the Ancient Names Galleria. If you’ve got good sources I didn’t hit, feel free to add them in a reblog. I’m always looking for more good name resources. (And almost all of what I have is Europe and the Near East, with a little North Africa.)
Dropping this update in the most recent reblog in my notes, in the hopes it falls into as many laps as possible. Here’s some more good sources for names, this time with a more African focus.
Wikipedia Category: Surnames of African Origin (which is helpfully divided into sections by language)
Wikipedia Category: Amharic Language Names (I believe this list is primarily, if not entirely, given names.)
YorubaName (“an online intervention to preserve and document all Yorùbá names in a multimedia format.”)
Writing Adolescent Fiction: Character names: Kenyan, Tanzanian and Ugandan (a list of given names and surnames with notes on how full names are constructed in each culture listed)
Again, if you know any good sources, particularly for regions I haven’t covered, let me know!
So You Want to Name a Sino (a fairly detailed guide on how to name a Chinese character without sounding like too much of a moron)
Most Popular Baby Names for Girls Since 1960 (most popular American girls’ names, by state, from 1960-2012, as a gif)
Popular Baby Names (the US Social Security database of naming trends in the US, with search options for date, gender, location, and trend)
A Guide to Names and Naming Practises (a UK government guide to common names and structure of names from around the world, split first by continent and then by culture. PDF.)
Curiosities of Puritan Nomenclature (an entire book on trends in English naming and name structure and the Puritan influence, from 1880. PDF.)
Things I am particularly looking for reliable sources for, if you’ve got them: North and South American aboriginal names, Southeast and East Asian names, names from the former USSR, Australian aboriginal names. (All of these by culture or language family, if possible, not just by current national borders.)
ARTFIGHT CRYSTAL AND AMBER (fossil) LOGO ASSETS!!!!
f2u with reblog or credit as everything is forever
idk if i said this but if you use any of my assets itd also be cool if you link your AF id love to see what you do with them
I made these as a way to compile all the geographical vocabulary that I thought was useful and interesting for writers. Some descriptors share categories, and some are simplified, but for the most part everything is in its proper place. Not all the words are as useable as others, and some might take tricky wording to pull off, but I hope these prove useful to all you writers out there!
