The fact that someone else like Daydream, CRI or the Church of the Luminous Unknown could have the egg shells is not good.
[I know CRI was destroyed but they somehow managed to put KSE in a good friend body after so it feels ambiguous on what they can and can't do rn]
No matter who has them if they are aware what they are I'm sure they would try to re-summon Kim Soleum sith them
Additionally, misuse of the shells might harm Kim Soleum since he referred to them as part of his body
Before todays chapter I chalked up Kim Soleums presence in the DER world and his lack of concern on how to return home to simply be bc he chose to go there and has at least a half decent idea on how to return like his with his water boarding trap.
However, the missing shells and Kim Soleum seemingly entering through the pop-up store now make me suspicious.
In part 1 kse also seemingly entered the DER world through the pop-up store but would that make sense timeline wise and rule wise?
Ghost stories did not previously exist in Kim Soleums world otherwise he wouldn't have been summoned but the pop-up store seems like a ghost story or at the very least the worker seems like an entity
I thought the timeline was:
Sekwang -> Pop-up store -> Daydream Orientation
But now I wonder if it was:
Pop up store -> Sekwang -> Daydream Orientation
If Kim Soleum entered the pop-up store through a dream so the place would technically not need to exist in his world.
However, is the pop-up store even real in the first place then?
[Kim Soleums says it's real and has been before he even entered the DER world but his narration is very unreliable]
Sekwang technical high school was but it was locked away and I'm not sure how similar both places are.
Either way if the pop-up store had not originally existed but was created by the childrens paradise syrup bc of Kim Soleums wish that might have played a huge part in letting ghost stories into Kim Soleums world.
Things got really strange once the pop-up store happened, didn't they?
The DER wiki was suspicious from the start but had actual humans working on it before until the pop-up store opened.
Moving back to the egg shells for a second.
If the Church of the Luminous Unknown got their hands on it, it is very likely they noticed it being connected to ireum-nim or it having the potential to be a interesting story for ireum-nim.
Therefore, they would try to re-create the person/entity those egg shells belong to, which could have resulted in Z999.
If Z999 is connected to the egg shells and the church it would explain why Kim Soleum specifically entered this body at the altar.
Maybe Z999 was even praying for ireum-nim to come which was the reason for the multiple visits
However if that is correct then did Kim Soleum actually chose to go back to the DER world?
What if Kim Solehm was summoned again but doesn't know it?
After all, he didn't know it the first time it happened either.
Or the church of the Luminous Unknown or Daydream took that desire from him this time.
The lack of urgency to return might be bc some of his desperation to go home was artificially created by the Cheerful Reserach Institute.
I hate the mountain lodge worker [not calling that asshole manager. I'm demoting him]
Anyways, the contract time has run out!!!
So, I was correct in my worrying but this didn't go the way I thought it would. In fact, it's the total opposite!
I thought Kim Soleum would be forced to become Golden again and be stuck at the Resort but instead the Resort is getting stolen and Kim Soleum is getting kicked out!!!
The mountain lodge owner is the manager of the Golden Flower Resort.
Phrasing is very important in Ghost Stories since their meaning can be hidden behind misleading wording.
For one, the Mountain lodge worker called himself manager not owner.
The worker also said that the contract would run out in 3.4 years but that was all that he said.
The contract specifically referred to the one Kim Soleum had, therefore his position at the Resort was never tied to the contract or limited.
The reason why he can act as he does seems to be because Kim Soleum is not recognized as the Mascot/Owner.
I already wondered if this would happen but brushed it off ㅠㅠ
When the original yellow Mascot died the place was vacant and Kim Soleum was chosen to fill it.
When Kim Soleum left the DER world the spot must have once again counted as vacant because to the DER world Kim Soleum would be in a "dead"/missing state.
But I don't think that the mountain lodge worker was chosen as the new owner.
He still refers to himself as manager and the Mascots and Resort are how Kim Soleum left them.
Most importantly here are the Mascots who are meant to represent/be the owner.
The Mascots are still "Kim Soleum" therefore Kim Soleum is probably in an in-between state of being the owner and not.
Additionally, Kim Soleum is still very attached to the Resort and feels certain comfort from it.
The hallway and general atmosphere was eerie to him.
[either bc of the lost connection or bc the mountain lodge owner took over]
However, the mascot made Kim Soleum feel peaceful. The thing that was left of Kim Soleum and could not directly be disturbed.
[Apperance wise at least]
Also, I think Kim Soleum refereed to his body as Z999's for the first time today.
[might be a sign of detachment or contamination]
Not only is it stating that this body is not his own or the good friend body but Z999 feels more like an actual individual now.
I don't know how I feel about this. I recently [aka Yesterday] posted about Z999 and Kim Soleum because how separate yet similar they are is really suspicious.
"Kim Soleum"/Z999 was longer at the namhae branch [his body not nesseccarly his consciousness] bc the sticker had a date on it that was less than 100 days
When Kim Soleum checked the Sticker of another person it said "Remaining deadline: 84 days"
All Stickers should have the same deadline.
Meaning the workers were recycled 16 days ago and it wouldn't make sense for Kim Soleum to suddenly gain "consciousness" after 16 days therefore I think Kim Soleum hasn't been longer at the Namhae Branch Office than we know of.
The body he is in however has obviously been there for longer though Kim Soleum is already very aware of that and has hinted and pretty much already outright stated that the body he is in is not technically his.
Anyways, unless his consciousness or memories were dormant until the altar triggered something Kim Soleum himself only joined the Namhae Branch on the day that we know of.
It was clear from the beginning since Z999 had a clear place in the hierarchy, a experation date lower than 100, no one mentioned Z999 suddenly appearing meaning he didn't.
The thing I was wondering about wasn't wether Z999 was at the Namhae Branch the entire time but rather if Kim Soleum was.
Had it been immediately after the workers got recycled I would have found it more likely for Kim Soleum to be wrong about when he joined.
But the Recycle circle and Kim Soleums apperance don't match up, making me believe that not only are Z999 and Kim Soleum different individuals but Kim Soleum is correct about the time he joined.
Though, how much of an individual was Z999 and if he was a seperate person with a life, personalty, family, friends and thoughts where is he now???
Is it a situation similar to Heowoons or just a coincidence that he was there and Kim Soleum took over?
The second I read resort I knew it had to be the Golden Flower Resort!!!
I also saw some people on kakao point out how the Resort owner now has to clean his own resort lol
Anyways, Kim Soleum and his absolute contract trauma ended up signing the contract under a pseudonym.
Though, he didn't mention which pseudonym.
Please tell me he stole the name from someone from his og world like his younger sibling ㅠㅠ
But I suppose it shouldn't end too bad as long as he didn't use Golden as his pseudonym. Not only isn't it very convincing but there might be some consequences considering his current location.
Speaking of the resort. One of the rules is that leaving the building you are supposed to clean is prohibited but I doubt that that will stop Kim Soleum.
After all, he has to check on the Blue Mascot and get his hands on a pink bunny for absolutely no reason at all...
Besides, in a previous post I made fun of Kim Soleums paranoia when it comes to contracts which led me down a rabbit hole about the manager contract/mountain lodge contract and its limited time.
Which from my calculations should run out very very soon or already did.
Back to the resort, of course it is sparkling clean. What else would you expect from the wonderful and amazing Golden Flower Resort.
Though, maybe Jang Heowoon or one of the Heowoons took over.
Though, I wonder if Kim Soleum will end up stuck there.
Everytime Kim Soleum makes a plan especially one that takes a bit longer it has a tendency to go down the drain, blow up and cause a nuclear missle to drop specifically on Kim Soleum.
I also wouldn't recommend working at Daydream again and there is no way they would just let him quit if he gets promoted.
I know the branch is worse than Daydream but I don't trust the main office either especially since Cheong Dallaes whereabouts are unknown.
Well, if Kim Soleum even manages to make it that far.
Or if he gets promoted a bit too far. After all, Director Ho was there too and his promotion seemed to jump directly to Director.
I would laugh so hard if Kim Soleum becomes a Daydream Director.
There are so many things that could happened but I hope that Kim Soleums plan works just this once. [Seriously doubt it though]
Though, is kse still the owner? Does he still have any connection to the blue dragon and the mountain lodge worker???
I think Kim Soleum is still the owner of the Resort since I see no reason why that should change.
He signed the contract when he was 130666 but I can't remember if he had to be in a similar state to be recognized.
I'm too tired to check rn but I'm gonna assume that he is the Resort owner regardless especially since he accepted himself as himself no matter what apperance he has or what state his body is in.
But the problem is that he mentioned not having the tattoos. I read on kakao so I might just get things lost in translation but as far as I'm aware he has neither the socius nor the storage tattoo.
If his good friend body was recycled and he isn't in a entirely new body right now the tattos might be still valid just in a none visible state.
[got gooped and mixed into his body = even more permanent tattoo/his entire body can now store stuff /j]
Should Yongyong still be at the Cheerful Theme Park then I believe that they would recognize kse regardless but the other tattoo was a contract.
It might cause problems but I also wonder if that would immediately qualify as the contract time having run out or if kim soleum is freed from the contract.
The contract should run out soon regardless.
But Kim Soleum already theorised that he isn't connected to the Good Friend Doll [Braun] anymore.
Kim Soleum has to resummon Braun in order to reastablish their connection because by leaving the DER world that connection was apparently lost.
Though, I think they are still connected.
That connection can not be undone [maybe by changing world but that is unclear].
Braun knows where Kim Soleum is and even left him a message. He is watching Kim Soleum.
How? If they aren't connected anymore there shouldn't be a way for Braun to know Kim Soleum is back or where he is.
Therefore, I think that Braun and Kim Soleum are still connected through the good friend ritual.
The mountain lodge contract is completely different from the Good Friend contract.
So, I think if Kim Soleum truly has no access to his tattoo that the contract is invalid unless it is connected to his soul or very essence.
I find it pretty funny that the appearances of the characters in the manwha slightly match the apperances of part 3
Like when Jin Nasol first appeared in the manwha was also around the time she appeared in part 3.
In todays [07. August] manwha and novel chapter Kim Soleum is in the Cheerful Theme park and Yongyong appeared while Kim Soleum in the novel is at the Golden Flower Resort aka Cheerful Theme park and Yongyong is hinted at.
Braun should also reappear soon in the manwha and has already been hinted at to appear soon in the novel.
At this point it feels like the summoning in the manwha and novel will happen at the same time lol
I just noticed a probably coincidental, small pattern.
The second I read resort I knew it had to be the Golden Flower Resort!!!
I also saw some people on kakao point out how the Resort owner now has to clean his own resort lol
Anyways, Kim Soleum and his absolute contract trauma ended up signing the contract under a pseudonym.
Though, he didn't mention which pseudonym.
Please tell me he stole the name from someone from his og world like his younger sibling ㅠㅠ
But I suppose it shouldn't end too bad as long as he didn't use Golden as his pseudonym. Not only isn't it very convincing but there might be some consequences considering his current location.
Speaking of the resort. One of the rules is that leaving the building you are supposed to clean is prohibited but I doubt that that will stop Kim Soleum.
After all, he has to check on the Blue Mascot and get his hands on a pink bunny for absolutely no reason at all...
Besides, in a previous post I made fun of Kim Soleums paranoia when it comes to contracts which led me down a rabbit hole about the manager contract/mountain lodge contract and its limited time.
Which from my calculations should run out very very soon or already did.
Back to the resort, of course it is sparkling clean. What else would you expect from the wonderful and amazing Golden Flower Resort.
Though, maybe Jang Heowoon or one of the Heowoons took over.
Though, I wonder if Kim Soleum will end up stuck there.
Everytime Kim Soleum makes a plan especially one that takes a bit longer it has a tendency to go down the drain, blow up and cause a nuclear missle to drop specifically on Kim Soleum.
I also wouldn't recommend working at Daydream again and there is no way they would just let him quit if he gets promoted.
I know the branch is worse than Daydream but I don't trust the main office either especially since Cheong Dallaes whereabouts are unknown.
Well, if Kim Soleum even manages to make it that far.
Or if he gets promoted a bit too far. After all, Director Ho was there too and his promotion seemed to jump directly to Director.
I would laugh so hard if Kim Soleum becomes a Daydream Director.
There are so many things that could happened but I hope that Kim Soleums plan works just this once. [Seriously doubt it though]
As far as we know Kim Soleum freed it, not out of the mirror but perhabs he gave it some mobility.
It is unclear since we never saw it again.
I was thinking and maybe that person Kim Soleum saw reflected in the mirror wasn't a security guard or Lee Seonghae but the mirror entity.
It has been over 300 chapter since they were last mentioned so I technically have no reason to believe this but everytime mirror's are mentioned my thoughts trail back to that one entity.
The screen time was very short and they technically didn't do much but I kind of still took a liking to them.
I wonder if Kim Soleum has been at the Branch office for as long as he said or if he had been there for longer.
I think both possibilities are equally possible.
Kim Soleum said that there was a time difference between the DER world and his world.
However, if workers are recycled it is hard to say how long Kim Soleum has truly been at the Branch office.
It is possible that Kim Soleum spend one year in his world and then 2 years at the Branch office.
I have seen others speculate this and even mentioned it myself because that was honestly my first thought after hearing about the different timeline.
Though, now with the worker recycling reveal I'm actually more unsure than before.
I doubt that Kim Soleum could have stayed at this branch for 2 years without either standing out, making some kind of fuss or finding out the truth.
Even just staying an extra 30 days seems unlikely knowing Kim Soleum there would have probably been an extra 30 containment issues.
Additionally, Kim Soleums memories start at the altar after some time had already passed from the last recycling cycle.
Why should Kim Soleums memories only start there if he had already been at this branch from the start?
The other workers already knew Kim Soleum [or rather Z999] and he had a place in the hierarchy, at the bottom.
I can't remember if anyone made any remarks about Z999's actions from before Kim Soleum woke up.
Anyways, that shows that this body has already been at the Namhae branch longer than Kim Soleum.
It's worded a bit awkwardly but what I'm getting at is that Kim Soleum potentially only woke up and entered in the DER world from the point of time we know.
However, the body he is in has been there longer than Kim Soleum's conscience.
I wonder if Daydream involved themselves again though because why did Kim Soleum even wake up at a Branch office???
First time Kim Soleum woke up in the DER world in part 1 he was at Daydream and now again in part 3.
So Baek Saheon potentially killed that one worker.
The reflection of that security guard was probably not Kim Soleums imagination and most likely Lee Seonghae.
Jin Nasol and Kim Soleum are in a state where it is questionable if they can be called human.
Do not let Kim Soleum overthink his current state!!! I'm going to cry if he ever turns into 130666 again ㅠㅠ
Anyways, recycling workers in such a way... Daydream will never change...
I wonder if they still have their organs and if they don't get regularly recycled does that have consequences???
Will that strange liquid leaking out their bodies have any negative side effects???
If Kim Soleum too is in such a state how long has he actually been at this branch?
He said he only worked there for two weeks but Jin Nasol claimed the same thing.
Other things I'm wondering about are wether his body is still that of a good friend. If it is and that body was recycled will that have any additional side effects?
Well if he can't use his current body anymore he should still have:
that lizard body
[as long as nothing happened to it]
his og body
[use not recommended until therapy is comoleted]
Potentially the good friend body
[either create a new one at the CRI or the good friend body from part 1 and 2, should that not be the body he is in right now]
On the topic of CRI, the toy factory while not exactly for kids still reminds me of the cheerful reserach institute. Additionally, the toy factory is rather harmless compared to other ghost stories.
People that are not on the conveyor belt are safe [as far as we know].
Workers are recycled but that technically isn't the worst that could happen.
Besides, Daydream loves stealing and exploiting CRI Ghost stories so I wouldn't put it past them that this too once belonged to them.
I think it's strange that a lookalike Kim Soleum was at the Namhae Branch.
When Kim Soleum woke up in the DER world it seemed like he [or a version of him] was already there and KSE simply inhabited a body.
It reminded me of part 1.
Kim Soleum woke up at the orientation but no one acted like a person just spawned.
[the good friend body was probably already placed there KSE was simply unconscious until then or smth]
So, how did the same thing happen in part 3?
Did Cheong Dallae do something?
Is it connected to the church of the Luminous Unknown or the cheerful reserach institute?
When Kim Soleum woke up in part 1 he was at a Daydream owned building and the same thing happened in part 3.
The problem is that when this happened in part 1 it turned out to be a Good Friend version of Kim Soleum and he was missing certain memories.
[being at the cheerful research institute, being in Sekwang city, etc.]
I wonder if something happened between Kim Soleum falling asleep in his world and waking up in front of that altar.
I also don't trust that he woke up specifically in front of an altar.
Is the time passing in the DER world and Kim Soleums world truly different or is Kim Soleum missing 2 years worth of memories?
What happened to the merch box and why isn't Kim Soleum questioning more things about his spawn point, the merch box and what he saw before waking up in the DER world?
I think it's possible that time is flowing differently but if that is the case what will happen once Kim Soleum returns?
As far as I know Kim Soleum only woke up at the moment he went missing from his world thanks to the Children's Paradise Syrup.
It granted his wish exactly as he wanted it to.
So, if his method of returning is different this time like for example his waterboarding trap then wouldn't time have passed in his og world?
Should the water be what wakes him up then there wouldn't be a huge timegap. However, anything else and there is a 99% chance people think Kim Soleum is in a coma, which maybe then we finally get to see his family.
Or really anything about his backstory because I don't trust that Deer. He acts like he had the biggest side character backstory but he has been suspicious since part 1, in my opinion.
The thing about Choi is that I would believe him to be down bad enough for Kse that he somehow went to the past and became K.Lee just for Kse.
This is not rly a theory nor will I try to explain shit bc like I said. I simply feel like Choi would do it for kse but also bc he thinks sacrificing himself is a fun pass time activity.
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