ShortCircuit

Haven't read the novel and the webtoon is only just around the mid-timeline of the drama. So yes it's conjecture. But it looked (to me) that he did indeed get back to reality with a better outlook on it, after being given a second chance. There's a place in the story where he says he was a PITA as a teen, a rebel even to his grandma, too focused on himself to even get close to anyone else. He wouldn't have noticed his colleagues or tried to make friends with anyone. Going back with a (more) mature mindset lets him see his past mistakes and not do the same ones again. After the end, what he learned in the second try is what's remaining with him.

I mean, it's pretty (very much so) obvious that MyungHa is looking at life with a much calmer approach than a teen usually would (just look at how YeoWoon is living everything up amped to 100, whereas MyungHa is so cool about things, until falling in love for the first time, when he doesn't have any normal referral points to look to.) He doesn't change much after going back to YeoWoon. I think he's given his past life experience to deal with anything challenging him now. But if not, he still has the experiences he gathered the second time around, and he's still more mature than his age in that case, too.

They seemed interested - HyunWook, at least - but there wasn't enough time for it. But if you want it... there's insta-bromance between HyunWook and SeokHui in the later eps :D

He never was in a game. The game setup was made by Death/System to help MyungHa not go crazy while "solving" the game's mission. He had committed suicide and was given a second chance at living, while making better choices along the way. He just didn't know it before it all ended in a HEA.

MyungHa killed himself at age 29. But he regretted it at the last moment, so Death/System decided to give him another chance of making his life happier by making him THINK he was in a game focusing on making ANOTHER person happy. In the end, it's about making MyungHa love life by loving someone and learning to love himself, too.

And so, Death/System is making his better world the reality and gives him his whole life back.

(Also, LOL @Death/System being disconsolate 'cause he didn't have someone to love him, too hahaha, poor supernatural being).

There's NO WAY JinMan would fall for such a lame trick as believing JiAn was being kidnapped by Babylon. But if he did, I'd go raging mad.

I hope HE's doing a reverse trick of making them think he's gone, and then he'll come and save the day in the end. *keeping fingers crossed*

Man, Lee DongWook is aging like fine wine... He and Geum HaeNa (MinHye) are killing it. I'll be waiting for Kim Min (Pasin)'s action scenes, that man is also daaaaamn fine.

BaekDu and DuSik sitting in a tree.
K. I. S. S. I. N. G!

Yeah, that's the level of silly SeokHui can get to hahaha~

I didn't even see that guy coming, he never registered on my radar and I still don't remember who he's supposed to be, LOL. I guess to remain hidden he must really be that non-descript (though he definitely came off unhinged, LOL).

Anyway!! Puppy love and brotherhood! (LOL, HyunWook trying hard to save stupid SeokHui, who just can't learn to keep his mouth shut!)

You know what I liked best this last ep? Not even the match - but BaekDu's dad smile. He must've really been worried about BaekDu, that's a dad's love right there. *hugging BaekDu's dad*

I can't believe it myself that I got it right when I started suspecting the game's object is actually MyungHa. But I totally agree. Let them both be happy together - sorry SangWon, remain a third wheel - and let YeoWoon get LOTS and LOTS of practice LOL.

This was SO satisfying. It goes directly into the rewatch list... Lee TaeVin must be the best crier I've seen in a long time. Every time he teared up, my heart did a heartbreak sound. He is precious and must be protected! I hope he gets plenty of great main roles in the future, I'd LOVE to watch him again.

Hopefully now somebody really takes the time to seriously TL the novel, more YeoWoon and MyungHa are needed in this world!

Rewatching - "I'll tell you the next time we meet."

Why am I doing this to myself? T_T

Yeah, well, did you ever get reaaaa~lly close to a good save point in a game and then the game froze? That's what it's like for him. He's glitching all over the place and since he is IN the game - I think he's accepted he can't get out before solving the mission - losing his place in the game is pretty scary. It COULD mean never getting close to YeoWoon again for the rest of the remaining time, and dying. So yeah, he's panicking, and for good reason. Time's getting away from him, not even for his own mistakes (like when he got -99 appreciation from YeoWoon and was debuffing all over the place), but because the server isn't working right...

That would be the time when I'd start panicking myself, were I in his place.

As for why everybody else didn't dig deeper in... they're game characters (supposedly). They're not aware of their situation, as MyungHa is.

We'll have to see how deep the game/real world connection goes, though. There were some snidey comments in that memory restore MyungHa got that sound kind of threatening...

OMG is the game making TMH choose between erasing his grandma or his relationship with YeoWoon?! (I mean, he can't erase YeoWoon himself, he's the game's object after all).

I still can't understand who the novel/game author is. Maybe MyungHa is remembering wrong, but he doesn't look like either SangWon or YeoWoon. Who could he BE?

And is the game's object actually MyungHa? What with those sly remarks of how "he doesn't/never did know how to accept love for himself"?!

My only complaint is that YeoWoon is practicing too little, LOL. After all, practice makes better! Go practice, YeoWoon-ah! :D

Also, I couldn't love MyungHa more. And I think it's the actor, not just the character - I've read most of the manhwa, and I like drama TMH way better. This guy is going to go places!!

PS I'm really appreciating how carefree both of them are with the skinship and all. It feels perfectly natural and makes everything way better. This is really shaping up to be the best short BL kdrama ever.

He's the best as Yiling Laozi :D (dark but still handsome, cruel but deservedly so. LWJ will despair for his descent into the demonic arts - see, I'm not even embellishing it :) )

I also LOVED He Peng (playing Wen Chao, the evil - but kind of dumb - Wen scion LOL). He had a total blast with that character. He's almost everyone's favourite villain to hate, though there are bigger (huge) villains around to choose from LOL.

A lot of the initial eps are used to set up all the tiny threads of the later events. You've already been given lots of hints of what is to come, and why, and insights into characters' personalities. There will be reveals, and they'll be worth the wait. Though if you watched the whole donghua already, you're probably aware of some of them.

The novel is structured a bit differently - there are many more shorter flashbacks inserted amid the present timeline, and also, much, MUCH more gore. But since the novel IS danmei, there'll be a lot more hints of romance, and oh, they're also worth it (initially because WWX is shameless. And then because he's also pretty clueless all the time. Join us in pitying poor LWJ for choosing such an idiot to love). Being censored, the drama did have to change things, and TBH, some of the changes make it better IMHO - a lot more time is given to the female characters, who are also very important to the story.

You haven't even met Madam Yu - she is a badass (was in the donghua, too). Give it time to grow. Long cdramas do that all the time - spend a lot of time on seeding the plot, and then let it grow :)

This was my first cdrama after a very long time-out (the last I'd watched before was some 80s or 90s wuxia - movies not included.) Those were... not really good. But cdramas really threw a switch sometimes around the mid-2010s and they've been releasing a LOT of very good stories, and their success happily motivated producers to make even more of those :)

Other than Xiao Zhan, actors I've seen and I'd recommend (obviously I haven't seen them all) - Luo YunXi (his xianxia best special effects high-budget drama of the year is Till the End of the Moon, but he's really good in plenty other costume or modern dramas - and good looking, too, LOL), Zhang RuoYun (he's ML of Joy of Life, Under the Microscope, Sword Snow Stride, among others), Cheng Yi (of Mysterious Lotus Casebook - a delightful wuxia story), Hu Ge and all the rest of the cast for the two (so far) Nirvana in Fire dramas (watch them for great historical heartbreakers with a vengeance), Xu Kai (for Wonderland of Love, amazing story and great storytelling), and basically the whole cast of I Am Nobody (a superpowers story that looks GREAT!) Check out some of the trailers when you're in the mood, they're worth at least a try :)

16-17 is where you'll either get hooked or give up. (Don't you want to see WWX going from bratty but well-liked character to the evil Yiling Patriarch deserving of fratricide? It's a long ride). The second half of the flashback is my favourite, TBH. But obviously, each watcher can decide for themselves :)

Special effects were never the point of this drama, true. It was a web drama, good budget but not for the FX, and I don't think they really expected it to get as big as it did (though a lot of prep went into it before it started filming).

I beg to differ on Xuan Lu - she really does act the perfect YanLi. YanLi is the quiet homemaker type, always in the background, meek and mild (and that's why her intended doesn't care for her so far). She's even supposed to be a bit homely, too (the actress is beautiful, though, LOL). Watch her character subtly change, if you will. She might yet surprise you.

I was afraid of that :(

ZZH is still banned on the mainland, but Castle in the Time did air, after being shelved for 8 years, on some obscure network. So, it can happen...

I have hope. I mean, they did pour a LOT of money into 2ha, it won't go silent into the dark... *keeping fingers crossed*

I definitely hope so.

Why oh why are there so many cdrama titles that include "Legend of..." Kind of cheapens them, IMHO. They all become a a mass of "legend this, legend that" that I can never remember.

From the list above, I am not much interested in any, LOL. Legend of Shen Li looks interesting because of the ML, but then there's ZLY next to him, and (no hate) I kind of didn't warm up to her in Legend of Fei (which I didn't pick up after the first two eps because of the FL's acting. It might've been the script, but then maybe not). The ML does look a bit like a younger Hu Ge and that would normally be enough, LOL, but I haven't seen him in anything yet so I wonder.

As Beautiful As You has XK in it, but it's a business tale, much like StartUp... and I don't care for it. I guess I'll just have to wait for something else from him.

Immortal Ascension sounds interesting, but then... I seriously don't like YY. I know he's a favourite of many people, but he can't act - IMHO. I'm basing this impression on Love O2O and some Jackie Chan movie he was in - please tell me he improved in the years that passed. (I know he was ML in a lot of successful cdramas, but sometimes it's the script and the rest of the cast and a wet noodle or dry, boring stick as lead role would have the same success, with that kind of scripts. I mean, improvement in his acting, if any.)

My Boss sounds like a total copycat of Love is Sweet, and I've already seen that, LOL.

I'd watch Legend of Rosy Clouds (because of Zeng ShunXi and Deng Wei, but *sigh* it's a legend show. And it's based on freaking SAIUNKOKU MONOGATARI and yes I did watch that, and yet it doesn't have a definite ending (the anime, that is), and YES I wanted more but dammit was it slow moving!! Also, I really don't like reverse harem, sorry, I've grown past that. I guess they'd change that aspect for the cdrama... but heh. I had my favourites in there and can't watch with an unbiased eye.

I'd rather have all the shelved censored danmei release all at once, LOL (Immortality, Winner is King, Seizing Dreams, Eternal Faith, and so on, and so forth) and also NiF3 (only if Leo Wu is the villain *fingers crossed*).

/running away to hide.