Updated Review

Man... I really thought this was going to be the one. A Murim story that finally ditched the tired tropes, skipped the romance bait, and gave us something wild, weird, and wonderfully cynical: a mentally exhausted civil servant stuck in a cult full of actual lunatics. It was clever. It was hilarious. The martial arts gave people diagnosable mental illnesses and the MC was just trying to stay alive and sane. I was in.

I stopped at chapter 70, and I'll be dropping it there. Why? Because I just now... more>> found out about the Harem tag. It wasn't there before.

But then... somewhere past chapter 70—at least from what I'm now finding out—things start going off the rails.

Suddenly, we're not just watching the MC maneuver through madness—we're watching characters (like Seol-ah, who was literally a child when introduced) start displaying yandere tendencies. And the story begins hinting, ever so sneakily, at harem vibes. Not overtly. Not tagged. Just... creeping in like a virus.

I didn't sign up for this. I didn't pay for this. What started as a sharp, hilarious deconstruction of the Murim genre turned into the very thing it was mocking. It feels like the author lost faith in their own idea and pivoted toward the same fanservice-driven mush we've seen a thousand times before.

Seol-ah was annoying as a gag character. Now she's unsettling. And worse—she might be the tip of the iceberg. I don't know how many more obsessive women the author plans to throw at the MC, and frankly, I'm not sticking around to find out.

I'm done. It's a shame. This had potential. But if you're looking for a romance-free, harem-free, satire-heavy Murim story? Skip this. It doesn't stay true to itself. <<less

marvie2 's review about the harem stuff is a bit overblown. The obsession Yandere character is quite clearly not being pushed as a love interest to the main character. It has been repeated that he does not see her as a love interest, which should be obvious as she's a f*cking child.

I know it may sometimes be difficult to believe in a Korean author to not make something weird, but it is possible for a child character to be obsessed over someone else without it being a romance. I have... more>> reviewed a novel that clearly did the opposite, but no warning bells have rung for me yet, so I am mildly optimistic it doesn't turn into that.

Of course, as it's a harem novel you will then have the themes with a harem novel. Other characters are frankly quite tame, and the harem aspect is really not being overdone at all compared to some other novels on this site.

It's practically a slow burn. Characters seem to show interest in him, but he shows no interest in them. Really, his entire character is making it very clear that he is not looking for that stuff. It is even used as a gag that he is seen as a womanizer for things that didn't even happen.

Take this example:

Spoiler

We have a character who has the mental illness of being a supreme narcissist, and is led to believe the main character is being shy around her. In fact, this is just the main character not being able to stand her asymmetrical face. He struggles to fight the urge to carve her face out with a sword and perform 'plastic surgery'. So, he avoids looking at her, which she takes as being shy.

[collapse]

There are quite a few similar examples. It still follows the core theme of a MC wading through madness incredibly well. The harem is not a core part of the story, and anyone wanting a harem story will probably find it a bit dull and slow.

I will highly suggest not avoiding the novel due to the supposed harem ruining everything. This may change in a 100 chapters, or whatever, but at the moment just the first 100 are very entertaining and avoid a lot of the boring Murim tropes we see everywhere. <<less

Yeah. I can't like the MC. And I don't see him having any significant character development changes.

Internal monologue takes up 70% of chapters = civil service novel. Not my type of thing. Still, would have been fine if he didn't constantly think about how people will kill him.

"Oh my god, this guy talked to me! I'm going to die! She's looking at me! I'm gonna die! He just standing there! I'm gonna die! I performed too well! They're gonna kill me!"

Haha, obviously exaggerated but him worrying about how the other... more>> person will kill him when they have shown 0% hostility on their first meeting heavily reminds me of the trope where reincarnated or regressed MCs meet a future strong person and are scared shitless like they have been planning to kill him and his entire family. And they did not even know of his existence.

So it built up my annoyance meter.

Also I saw the yandere child. The explanation for why she's a yandere is actually acceptable, just, the MC is intentionally fueling the fire, despite knowing she's a yandere.

"Oh my god, the child I'm taking care of is looking at me strange! I'm gonna die!"

LOL <<less