#...well as normal as he ever was being a big ol' pro gamer geek

[pttucker]

Now that I thought about it, I had no clue what Yoo Joonghyuk was like around my other companions when I wasn't around. I ended up worrying about him and so, I had to say something. "Excuse me, Junior Brother. Why don't you walk closer to us?" "…And who's your 'junior' now?" That idiot glared back at me with incredibly intimidating eyes and I couldn't say anything else. Meanwhile, the kids sidled up to my side and began chatting away in happiness. "Hey, Demon King of Salvation, you did alright back there." "If you haven't discovered the truth about those Yogoes back then, we might have ended up in a big disaster, disciple-nim." To be honest, I hadn't done anything of note. Yoo Joonghyuk killed Yogoes, and the one who saved the village was also him. All I did was spectate from the sidelines and say a couple of lines. Even then, kids were busy praising me, not him. I glanced at him. As if he hadn't heard anything, he concentrated on polishing his [Black Heavenly Demon Sword]. ⸢In that moment, Kim Dokja began wondering for the first time ever. 'How did my companions see Yoo Joonghyuk while I'm not around?⸥

Oh? Is this arc also going to allow Joonghyuk to get to know his companions more and vice versa? If he even remotely considers them "companions"? I mentioned a while back that I'd be interested in knowing exactly who Joonghyuk considers a companion because he's explicitly said Dokja is and that Sooyoung is not. But it's Sooyoung so...

I mean, I know that Breaking the Sky Sword Saint told him that he doesn't have to do things alone and I said it's found family time, but I honestly thought that by now he'd be a lot closer to the rest of Kim Dokja's Company. Especially since Dokja was gone for three years and in the meantime they all appeared to live in the Industrial Complex together, but I guess if his first instinct is to run off and try to complete the quest himself maybe he really doesn't consider himself part of the group at all and vice versa?

Or rather he's technically part of the group but he doesn't actually interact with anyone in it outside of protecting them, leading them, training them, etc.

Thinking on it, aside from when he traveled with Jihye and then Seolhwa, he really has been pretty much alone hasn't he? Up until he decided to basically follow Dokja around.

And when Dokja is there his companions are very focused on him...including Joonghyuk. We even had that whole arc before Dokja called on Secretive Plotter the first time and most of their POV was just them watching Dokja flit about and trying to figure out what he was plotting. Not certain they even mentioned Joonghyuk who, iirc, was injured in the infirmary???

I guess I was aware that he's been actively pushing everyone away but I never noticed how isolated he actually is from the rest of the group even when he's right there beside them, aside from Jihye and Seolhwa. Though even they seem to have slowly assimilated into Dokja's group.

Since most of the story is from #1 Joonghyuk Fanboy Kim Dokja's POV and he's always focusing on Joonghyuk and always forcing himself past Joonghyuk's hard exterior and making him talk to him and acknowledge him and teasing Joonghyuk and so on, I guess the fact that he's "Kim Dokja's companion" but not really super friendly (as friendly as Joonghyuk ever gets) to the others kind of slipped right past me.

I mean, we have Dokja who's literally the center of everyone's attention at all times and who absolutely adores his precious found family more than anything else in the world still thinking that they all secretly hate him or that he brings misfortune upon them or who even knows what dark thoughts he'll have from one moment to the next. So I kind of thought it was the same with Joonghyuk? He just thinks he's alone? But I guess maybe he really is pretty alone when it comes to the core Dokja group (everyone but Jihye, Seolhwa and Dokja himself).

Awww but Dokja is trying so hard to make Joonghyuk stay and just be with them. The same Dokja who sent Seolhwa to Joonghyuk when it became apparent he wasn't even going to say anything to her at all, and the same Dokja who started out doing all of this with the intention of saving everyone so that Joonghyuk didn't have to end the story the same monster who had to watch his companions die over and over and over again.

Oh man, but the kids are just flat out ignoring him? And he's ignoring them back? Just praising Dokja for literally doing nothing while Joonghyuk calmly cleans his sword off to the side. Ughhh I know that Joonghyuk has been purposefully distancing himself and so he's probably rebuffed their attention before and most people aren't as aggressive about ignoring his rebukes as Dokja, Jihye, and Seolhwa, but it's still painful to see.

The speed at which he consumed the dumpling increased. Second bite, third bite… Eventually, his hand reached out to the second dumpling. But then, he flinched and stopped, and began glaring at me instead. "What are you looking at?" I sneakily averted my gaze and began chowing the dumplings as well.

Awww, when he's not being Big Scary Supreme King Yoo Joonghyuk or verbally sniping at Dokja and Sooyoung he's kind of adorably awkward, isn't he? He's forgotten how to just sit around and chat with people. 😭💖

Kim Dokja's Company, you work on making Dokja rest and not jumping to "self sacrifice" as his number one solution to all problems.

Dokja, you work on getting Joonghyuk to act like a normal person around people again.

#...well as normal as he ever was being a big ol' pro gamer geek #yjh dokja and hsy were all big nerds in their priors lives and you can't tell me otherwise #lmfao dokja's sly 'other people didn't make this' when talking about the dumplings #and yjh immediately looking at the DUMPLING on his shoulder all suspicious 😂 #also dokja says he swore not to use ORV anymore??? when??? I know that he mentioned that he didn't want to use it on his companions #back in the last scenario (but was forced to anyway) but I really don't recall him swearing not to or when he shifted into this mindset #orv #orv novel chapter 429 #omniscient reader’s viewpoint #orv spoilers #orv liveblog #yjh #kdj #kdj crew