O Evil God, Your Meal Is Ready
Original Title: 악신님, 식사 준비됐습니다
Current Chapter Read as of Review: 101
Warnings: Gore
It's been a while since I've found a series with a MC that manages to be legitimately out of his mind without also being an asshole. Unfortunately they seem to be the minority, since 'crazy MC' to web novel authors tends to just mean they attack and/or kill people with no remorse. So when I manage to find a 'crazy' MC who is also a decent guy, I get super excited.
Our MC is a former Korean sucked into a harsh game world as the lowest ranking class, both in strength/power and in society. He must build his body, allies, and influence starting from the bottom of the societal and magic hierarchy in just 5 years. Once those 5 years are up, according to the setting of the game, a great demon will descend and destroy the world.
That's the bare bones basics of the premise.
I love our MC, the Cultist, Karr. He's witty, hilarious, masochistic, petty, sly, kind, and utterly insane. His position in the team is as the leader, coordinator, and self-appointed meat shield.
Yup. Apparently the 'optimal build' he discovered for this disadvantaged class of character while playing the game was to become an immortal meat shield. So yeah, he's constantly getting impaled, set on fire, slashed up, you name it.
But he loves every minute of it.
Yes. Karr is a masochistic, super hardcore gamer. The kind who willingly and purposefully make the game harder for themselves, just so they can feel the rush of running for their lives and eventually conquering an impossible challenge. Except, how many people would actually put their bodies on the line in real life? Pretty much no one right? No one sane. Which is why Karr is crazy. Even now that his real life flesh is that of his game character he does all he can to make challenges worse, harder, more complicated, because he loves the thrill of completing them. He doesn't want to die, he doesn't not fear death. He's just the weirdest and craziest kind of adrenaline junky.
That being said, like I mentioned before, he has plenty of humanity in him. He's hilarious and teases pretty much everyone any time he can get away with it. He's kind and supportive to his teammates, as well as respectful towards those who warrant it regardless of status or affiliation.
Adding to this, because Karr is a Cultist who serves multiple evil gods, he is required to make regular human sacrifices to them. However, Karr is not evil himself nor is he without a conscious. He only ever uses already dead people (corpses) and he only uses already dead people who were deplorable while alive. It works out well, since the gods he serves usually prefer offerings like that anyway.
Side Note: Karr, the evil gods, and their banter with each other is always a riot. Maybe that's why but the usually gloomy or solemn atmosphere you'd feel during a human sacrifice scene is nowhere to be seen IMO. I'm not a big fan of gore, but I was so busy laughing at Karr and the evil gods (and even the side characters who get roped into helping the the rituals sometimes) that I never felt seriously uncomfortable during the rituals.
Speaking of the evil gods, I will say they're hilarious. They are evil gods so of course their morals and common sense are twisted. But damn are they funny. One is as picky as a 5-year-old, the other is a fudanshi, and there's another who has negative self-esteem. Karr teases them, gives them fanservice, and even kicks them when they're down. We also get hilarious commentary from them sometimes when Karr says or does something particularly pleasing or infuriating. It's even funnier since Karr is the only one who can hear them.
I was surprised to find this series was kind of a found family story. It wasn't what I was expecting but I'll always take it so no complaints. I'm still not very far into it and it's still ongoing but the individual dynamics between each of the current team members is great. Not just with Karr, they all have their own thoughts and unique interactions with each other.
Really looking forward to more.
