Oh Gods Help

Chapter 385 spoilers

Last week, i suddenly had this thought on reading this post by cows-quack - on the potential relevance of the Bison's backstory church with KSE.

I'm still thinking about it, and getting increasingly convinced this is a valid theory.

1. Mainly that the original entry for Lover of Paradise existed before the Nameless Cult became a thing on the wiki and was later retconned into being a part of the Mimicry Sect due to their similarities.

2. Other wiki entries (usually those belonging to the early era) that were later retconned out of existence have been shown to have existed or is still existing in the DER world. (Elite team dream collectors and that one retconned darkness 130666 collected)

3. Based on the above information, it’s likely Lover of Paradise as a cult and ghost story existed in the 2000s before the Nameless Church was founded. Then sometime in the 2010s, after Ireum-nim was summoned and the truth of this world began to leak to the general public (causing the formation of the Church), the Mimicry Sect took over the Lover of Paradise ghost story/cult faction and repurposed their facilities to recreate the “stories” they want. AKA, Heowoon grew up in an orphanage managed by the Lover of Paradise cult, but the target of who he was meant to become changed after the Mimicry Sect took over. Also, he is implied to be significantly younger than the rest of the cast. Namely he dropped out of highschool (because the original Heowoon never finished highschool) and likely applied to Daydream the moment he was able to. So there’s plausibly enough time for him and his siblings to have “grown up” striving to become Heowoon without taking ghost story influence/contamination into account. (2016 sealing of Sekwang, 2024 when he applies to Daydream. Assuming he got hired around 20/21 years old (no high school/university) (also don’t know what age people can legally be hired at a company in Korea) he’d have been ~12 years old when the Nameless Church took over if they did it immediately after the sealing.

4. A Kim Soleum that they can theoretically recreate based on imitating his personality and life would only be possible if it were based on Good Friend Kim Soleum’s experiences. OG Kim Soleum would’ve been too busy being an insane blob reliving the events of May 4th to show any kind of personality or life’s history to be replicated. Information on his past would’ve also been unavailable, because it happened outside the world of DER.

5. During his time as 130666, Kim Soleum uses his powers on a high ranking member of the Nameless Church and through that reveals his identity as Ireum-nim. This cult member is still presumed to be alive, they were only knocked out. (I do not remember which of the siblings he gassed, I think it was the girl?) I believe this is probably the best starting point for when they would start trying to recreate Kim Soleum’s story. ~4 and a bit years before part 3 times.

6. They probably wouldn’t need to brainwash people from childhood into trying to become “Kim Soleum”. Why wouldn’t a Nameless Church member be happy to become their god? Or become closer to their god by reliving their life and replicating their personality? It would also explain how Soleum’s currently body ended up at the branch company. Applied to work at Daydream like Soleum did, was a coward and terrified of ghost stories like Soleum, had 0 of his actual ghost story solving skills (like how Heowoon wasn’t actually a researcher) and got outed as a coward instantly, ended up thrown into the branch company and fell to the bottom because he literally can’t do the work.

7. There’s probably a bunch of discount Soleums running around. Maybe that’s why he was disregarded even though he looks like Soleum. Or it’s a weird filter effect where only people who’ve met the actual Kim Soleum would recognize him as Kim Soleum.

because I cant get over how much Soleum just Doesn’t Respond.

Choi’s dialogue is paraphrased and not one-to-one, plz don’t use as reference. Soleum’s silence is accurate though.

multiple boxes of silence means there was A Lot of internal monologue

143 and 153 have Jaekwan and you can immediately see how much more responsive Soleum is with Jaekwan, if you go back and read. Particularly since ch 143 has Choi bringing Jaekwan to see if Soleum becomes more responsive (yes. The answer is yes).

Okay. Here's some key words you're gonna need to know.

OG Soleum: This refers to the original Kim Soleum summoned by Cheerful in Sekwang city. Currently receiving Counseling.

Good Friend Soleum: This refers to the Soleum we followed for the majority of the novel. Turned into a lump.

Current Soleum: The Soleum we are currently following in Part 3 who woke up in the ghost story world.

Okay now for the theory.

Fact: Kim Soleum went into a dream of the abandoned pop up store. He closely recreated the circumstances which got him summoned in Ch1. He wakes up in The Ghost Story World.

Original Assumption: The Good Friend Soleum was somehow resummoned into The Ghost Story World in a new body. The drawing below depicts what I mean.

THEORY: Instead of The Good Friend Soleum being summoned, it was actually OG Soleum who was summoned into the body of Current Soleum. Good Friend Soleum is still home. As depicted in the drawing below.

Thats the theory. Now for evidence

The Original Assumption: and why it doesn't work.

The Power needed for Summoning

We have been shown that the power needed to summon someone from another world is extreme. So extreme that three extremely powerful factions all teamed up to do it, with the help of multiple powerful entities. The power was so extreme that the consequences of this summoning was the erasure of an entire city because it could've ended the whole world. However there is no known event this extreme for Good Friend being summoned into Current Soleum, despite the jump from world to world.

Where is Braun?

Braun has proven time and time again he can follow his Good Friend anywhere regardless of the state of his body or mind. Despite 130666 being completely unrecognizable as Kim Soleum or a human, Braun was still able to find him. The only reason Braun dissapeared was cause Soleum entered his world without Ghost stories. And now he's back! And Braun is nowhere to be found.

The Managers Contract

It has been stated that three years have passed in The Ghost Story World. The Managers contract that allowed him to control The Golden Resort and let Soleum exist outside of it, is long expired. And yet The Manager (who has been shown to be able to appear where Soleum is in regard to his contract) is nowhere to be seen.

Good Friends Filters Please note this is evidence based on a theory where The Good Friend filter, filtered out emotions from OG Soleum. We have very little known info on the specifics of the Good Friend Filter. All we know for sure is that it blocked out Good Friend Soleum's memory of mostly everything before the start of the novel. And erased any suspicion at the lack of memory. The theory this evidence is built on is that The Good Friend filter actually blocked out some feelings and emotions. Specifically, anger.

Soleum has always been a very docile indivual. He never rlly gets angry and despite his dramatic narration, hardly rlly shows emotion outwardly except in a few moments under specific circumstances. And yet in Pt 3, post awaking in The Ghost Story World, he has been very emotional. He actively reacts and shows emotions, groaning outwardly in dismay, screeching in fear, yelling when he gets emotional, stammering in panic. He actively fainted at the site of a ghost which hes never actually done before despite his belief he will. And he's been strangely angry. Cursing at people in his head, wiki writers, and workers. Being tempted to tell people to shut up. Getting angry at the thought he was nearly tricked. Behavior hes never really shown before.

The Theory: and how it makes sense.

The Power needed for Summoning

An extreme amount of power is needed to summon someone from another world. Yet we have been shown this is not the case with summoning someone, already in this world. In the notes the researcher left behind about the summoning of Good Friend Soleum, it is implied that the most difficult part was not the summoning at all, but rather keeping him alive after the summoning, and finding the ingredients to keep the body stable. Unlike Sekwang City which was an astronomical event, the summoning of The Good Friend was so unknown and had so little consequences that Soleum only found out due to his wish. While summoning someone from another world is very unlikely to happen again due to the power required, summoning another Good Friend would be very plausible.

Where is Braun?

Braun has been able to find Soleum regardless of his body or mental state, yet fails to find Current Soleum. Could this be due to the fact that this is not The Soleum he befriended? Who he pledged eternal companionship to? Its implied that Braun does not really acknowledge both OG Soleum and Good Friend Soleum as his friends. Or else he wouldnt make such an effort to defend Good Friend Soleum against OG Soleum. He wouldn't be so worried about Good Friend Soleum if he saw them as one and the same. Because when Good Friend Soleum was in trouble, OG Soleum was perfectly fine. Yet Braun still worried. If its true that Braun only considers Good Friend Soleum as his good friend (because hes the one who summoned him) then would this not explain his absence? After all Current Soleum would be a version of OG Soleum. Not Good Friend Soleum.

The Managers Contract

It's a very similar point to The Braun evidence. The tattoo, the contract, the resort was all linked to Good Friend Soleum. Not OG Soleum. Could it be the manager has not appeared because Current Soleum is not his boss? Not the owner of The Golden Flower Resort? It would explain why he's nowhere to be seen.

Good Friends Filters Again this evidence is based on a theory so it doesn't work as well as the others unless the theories proven correct.

If the theory that Good Friend Soleum's emotions were filtered out it would certainly explain Current Soleum's behavior. Because its possible that Current Soleum wouldn't have any filters. Therefore he behaves as The Og Soleum did. And theres evidence to this! Soleum would often believe he was a very fearful, expressive, and emotional indivual. It showed in his dramatic narration and comments regarding himself. Often believing himself to be about to faint, or to be showing fear or expression on his face. Despite his narration, it is repeatedly proven that Soleum is not an emotional or expressive person. Often compared to the expressionless Chief Lizard. And yet Current Soleum is everything Soleum has described himself to be. He reacts emotionally, he groans out loud, he yelps in surprise, he snaps when he's upset, he stammers when he panics, he faints when he's scared. And not once has he been described as emotionless. And then theres the biggest factor. Anger. Now OG Soleum is theorized to be an angrier indivual due to the contrast given to us. OG Soleum has rarely ever gotten angry, and when he has its under extreme circumstances. He remains calm in nearly every situation and has a tight hold on his own emotions. Contrast that with our singular impression of OG Soleum. Desperate, terrified, angry. Full of emotion and feeling. Would it not make sense for Current Soleum to be summoned from OG Soleum? Without the emotional filters? Would it not explain his sudden lack of control over his own emotions? A skill he has always possessed?

And my final piece of evidence.

This has happened before.

The Novel begins in Soleums Ghost story less world before immiedatly transporting us to The Ghost Story World less then a chapter in. We never see Soleums world again, and returning there becomes our primary goal. Throughout his journey Soleum mysteriously fails to mention key details. How did he get here? Who brought him here? Why does he never mention his family or home? It is revealed to him and us that he was not summoned from his world to The Ghost Story World but is in fact a summoned version of himself who was already here.

Part 3 begins in Soleums world. It shouldve been the pay off to the entire novel. Where his singular goal has been to go home. Yet we are ripped away from that world and brought back into The Ghost Story World in less then 3 chapters. We did not get to meet any of his friends and family and the majority of our time there was spent alone with Soleum. Part 3 begins with a strange lack of acknowledgment. Why has he not been wondering who summoned him? How he was summoned? What this body he's summoned in is? Or what the message of Ireum nim meant? Or why has he not acknowledged that the message said the apocalypse already happened? Why has he not worried for The Golden Resort? Or Braun? His mind should be perfectly intact. Would it be so unusual to find out that it happened again? Another Good Friend? Another filter.

Soleum’s wish is to return home, for that to happen in the way he intends, he needs to be healthy and whole with both his mind and body intact. He cannot melt the moment he returns home because his body is incompatible with the world. That would not perfectly fulfill his wish. And GF Soleum is ultimately just OG Soleum, only filtered in a way that keeps him sane and lets him communicate with others. Just like how GF Braun is just a projection of Braun the Talk Show Host. So GF Soleum’s wish also applies to OG Soleum. Therefore, the perfect wish potion must have fully and perfectly restored GF/OG Soleum’s state before giving him the exit. Him being restored in the dream incubator is likely due to a subconscious desire to say goodbye to his friends, the same way those stairs also gave him the option to return home, or break the egg and stay with his friends.

It just wouldn’t make sense for a 5 million point potion to not do what it says on the box.

So Soleum returned home in his OG body. His GF body? Who knows. My guess is it became the egg shell surrounding him.

One more thing: Soleum does comment on the body he’s currently in. Mainly that he’s aware this body had a history from before he possessed it, its current state of malnutrition and physical weakness due to that history, his current social standing also due to that history, and he’s surprised his acquaintances were able to correctly identify him regardless.

Soleum initially believed he’d entered someone else’s body, and then after confirmation that he still looks like himself, decides it’s an advantage for his current situation. He ultimately concludes that his identity and appearance must’ve remained the same this time as well.

This is probably also a false assumption on Soleum’s part. He’s basing it off of his previous experience, but his GF body was literally manufactured to look like him and his legal identity was quickly cooked up to help hide and integrate him into society. Aka, someone deliberately created a body that matched his appearance along with an identity/backstory.

My guess is that his current body is a member of the Church of the Luminous Unknown (Nameless Cult) from the White Sect like the ID card Soleum picked up said. He looks and sounds like Soleum because he was modified in an attempt to recreate Ireum-nim (or make a vessel for his descent). He’s in the branch office because they tried to recreate Soleum’s known life story (his first job was at Daydream). He got sent to the branch office because Soleum’s a coward.

As for how Soleum reentered the DER world: he wasn’t summoned, he walked in on his own, and the darkness placed him in the most suitable body/location based off his ID card, like it did last time (might be a case of reversed cause and effect. He’s in Daydream because ID card says he’s in Daydream, not the other way around where the ID card he gets is a Daydream one because that’s where the researcher decided to hide him.).

No energy is needed for a darkness to pull someone into its world, it just needs the person to do the right steps and accept its invitation. Plus, Soleum already has a strong spiritual/mystical connection to that universe (having entered it with his physical body once), making it easier for him to be pulled in. He also entered this world through a dream this time, not his body. (Notably, the items he brought with him into his dream don’t follow him to DER.) It’d be a lot easier to project his mind from a dream into the DER world than for him to physically enter that world again. And time shenanigans could mean that he’s still asleep in his world while he’s exploring this Darkness world.

Summarized + Detailed

Currently up to ch 225! Decided to post this before part 3 premieres & will edit + post update when the rest of part 2 timeline is finished 🫡

Contains spoilers for all of GSGW

Since everyone’s been putting in their analysis of the new part 3 teaser art, here’s my 2 cents. More under the cut.

Second, Its not ai, at least in my opinion. The background might be confusing, but it's intentional. The pipes and wiring unit thing are all lined up, and the whole tree branch thing....well, I have a theory on it, but look closely. Its almost more like a film or a transforming background..... (The window thing also wouldnt be visibal behind Sol's head considering where he's standing and where the higher window thing would be)

And the hand, the middle finger is bent. You can kind of tell if you look closely at the shadows on the finger, the tip is a lighter shade than the bent middle portion.

See it?? If not, you can also think about weight proportions and how someone would most comfortably hold a clipboard with their hands so low on it. The middle finger would need to be propped up so it can hold the weight, while the thumb and ring fingers proportion it out to hold it steady.

See? Ring is longer than the middle because of that reason. Quite admirable that they considered the weight proportion logic of it.... man, I really love this art.

(Also, thumb would be hidden for the same reasons:

)

MOVING ON TO YOUR REAL THEORIES!!!!!! HEHEHEHE THE FUN BEGINS HERE!!!!!!!

Eh-hem....

First off, to match your first off, there is A TON in the background that brings questions. Ima start with the branches because its the most popular topic of the background in discussions.

So...the branches.... they dont line up.... SOME DO! but it doesnt make sense, like you said....Like, LOOK!

The top branch thing doesnt line up with whats outside.

"Well, that's because it's the shadow of the branch below it," you say, laughing at my stupidity.....ur so mean （＞人＜；）

BUT I RESPOND!! I say, very dashingly, "Oh yeah? Then what about the shadow further below that branch?? It doesn't have a branch casting it??"

Then I ride of into the sunset

End scene....wait no, I got carried away....

Anyways!!! You see my point... they just... aren't right.... AND NOT IN AN AI WAY, its def intentional. The placement of the ones behind our Sol's head are to artistically perfect to be anything robot....

What im trying to imply is that MAYBE....its the background transforming? Sol teleporting? A ghost story generating? HECK, it could be Sol using game mechanics for background customization in this novel!! After all, we got the whole "you died, try again?" screen at one point with no one addressing it.... So, what if its showing a transformation?

Which explains the lighting and why the red and blur lights seem...not not right, just eerie in some places compared to normal in others....

Moving on because it gets confusing

SECOND!

Im glad you agreeeeeee!!!!! Idk if u saw my post or not, but I said the same thing!!!!!!! He looks on break or something!! Sol is to professional to look like this while on the job!!

THIRD!!!

Def a clipboard. I actually initially though it was an iPad till I started with my own analysis lol. If its anything like the clipboards ive used and owned, the tie would def hide the clip part, and it would actually have two screws: the one we see and then one more behind the tie. So it's correct (。・ω・。)

FOURTH!!!!!

I actually tried to do some research on traditional Korean seals and talismans, but they actually typically use yellow paper for these, with red ink used for the writing itself. UNLESS!!! It's something unique to the story, then I'm excited to see it!!!

FIFTH!!!!!!

Dokaebi flames is such a good theory!!! I'm utterly stunned I never even considered it..... It doesn't quite explain why the clipboard glows blue too, but it honestly could be for a different reason than the blue flame-like things, knowing the author's love for being unpredictable...

Im actually so onboard with thinking its a Dokaebi.... this is such a good thought.....

SIXTH!!!!!!

Yes, thats all that was needed to be said. Such a good artistic choice...

LAST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AGAIN, YESSS!!! Not enough people are pointing this out...we cant take it for granted after....well....im sure I dont need to say more....

I brought up the same thing in my post, but im quite happy to see him scared. Half of me was wondering if pt 3 was gonna to be peaceful till the very end, almost just to throw us for a loop lol.

CONCLUSION!!!

PLEASEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE BE RIGHT!!!!!!!!! I would love teacher Soleum!!!!!!!!!! omg......AHHHHHHHH it'd be so sweet!!!!!!!!!! Ghaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.............

What have you done......... you've filled me with hopes and dreams of teacher Sol 3 days before pt 3's release......ur so evil......but it might not be for Sekwang, seeing as that's supposed to only be a hidden city in the wiki and not actually in the real world.

Yeah, ok I’ve never seen that type of clipboard before, but it’d make sense if he was holding onto something like that, where the clip is significantly smaller/less bulky.

I also thought the shadows on the trees might’ve been intentionally inconsistent/disappearing where they shouldn’t, until I looked at some more of the background ceiling elements. I did some quick illustrations to demonstrate what I meant earlier, since I don’t know if I explained it well enough.

Normal for comparison, and then the edits I made to highlight what I meant by “the ceiling support beams don’t make sense”.

If you follow the suggested lines of the support beams, what I’ve drawn should be what we see/where those beams end up after crossing past Soleum’s head. Yes he’s blocking most of the background, but as you can see, the end of the beams where they connect to the wall should still be visible. Because they’re not there, it makes those background beams look like they’re connected higher up than they should be.

The second vertical line is what I was talking about with the ceiling depth not making sense. There’s shadow, a highlight, and a sharp cut to a red glow. This makes it look like there’s a wall there that goes higher up, extending how far up than ceiling is. But again, if we follow that line, it never extends past Soleum’s head, and also intersects with a pipe on the ceiling at an angle that isn’t physically possible. The top of the ceiling is implied to be where that line is, but other design elements say it isn’t.

There are also a couple objects in the background that start, and then don’t go anywhere.

The short pipe just sort of fades into the red glow. And there’s a hint of a ceiling beam that also disappears into the red glow. That ceiling beam also makes it look like the ceiling is higher up than what the objects on the ceiling imply it to be.

For the hand, the angle which he’s holding the clipboard looks very loose lol. Like he’s holding it with the tip of his fingers and could drop it at any second (which might be intentional). But what I meant by the thumb being “visible” is that the background shouldn’t be visible past the second gap in his fingers.

If he is actually holding onto the clipboard, the thumb should go past and fold over it or otherwise block out the background with the papers flying off. Otherwise the thumb would be placed very low down on his hand, and that doesn’t make much sense to me (as someone who hates drawing hands that must make sense).

Cue me twisting my hand around to try and see what that pose would look like irl. (Also, he is 100% holding that clipboard by the tips of his fingers, there is NO support in that positioning) It could work if the thumb curved in a way that it’s only going up behind the clipboard, and therefore not visible in that second gap. Again, hands are hard.

On the topic of the positioning of the branches being too perfectly framed for it to be AI generated…. I think it’s possible to insert the image of Soleum and have the AI generate an image around that. For example, maybe the prompt was: create background image for this character where they’re in a hallway with large windows and red lighting, there are tree branches outside the window and the shadows of the branches create antlers behind the character’s head.

I dunno how to prompt AI, I don’t use it, but I imagine that’s something one could do. And clearly, there was a human involved with making the whole thing, so they could’ve generated a bunch of different background images before finding one that looked nice and fit the framing. I don’t think there was too much touch up after the background was done, because those inconsistencies I noticed are things you’d only catch if you were like. Staring hard at the image for an hour and deliberately following where each line and shadow went. If you’re (lazy or rushed enough) to use AI for the background in the first place, you wouldn’t be bothered to double check its work super thoroughly.

Anyways, those are my thoughts after a half night’s sleep.

While I see where ur coming from on that front, you also have to keep in mind its a hallway going back into the distance, so the lines would actually have to more sharply turn into themselves to create more of a triangle shape than simply lining up with eachother.

As for the beam and small pipe thing that go into nothing, I actually agree with you that its really suspicious. I was wondering the same thing when typing my response. The only reasons I let it go is,

1.I have too much love for the theory of a transforming background in some way

2. The author of both gsgw and Debut or Die has not once allowed anything ai with their creations, including commissioned art. They actually seem more of an ai hater, and instead support art students by commissioning art. At one point, with the whole bunch of official designs that came out a while ago, there were a lot of people questioning if the art students who drew them used ai because of inconsistencies in the video. The author ended up immediately defending them, posting the art outside the video to show it was simply video effects messing up the art. They are also very particular with how the manhwa versions of their novels look lol. They love stunning art it seems.

So when it comes to stuff like that, I like to think we are simply misunderstanding something, and place more trust in the author and the artists they chose. Ive been reading their novels for a while now, and they havent betrayed me yet, so I owe them that much at least.

Ofc, I cant ask you to to the same lol! That be super mean of me to try and do. This is more me trying to explain why im trying to defend them so much <3

As for the hand, I maybeeee....disagree, but lets not let that come between us!!!!!!!! I simply hold stuff like that a lot, but I also have small hands with double joints n stuff, so who knows how it is for others!!

And the branches, same two reasons I gave for the background lol. Im a woman of trust, what can I say? Yes, its easy for it to backfire, but I like feeling hope in other people's actions. Innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt!!!!

And prompting ai is incredibly hard for detailed art like this, but still possible if you know what ur doing and such. (Coming from a computer science nerd who's dating a computer science major... hope that adds some credibility to that statement...)

Also! Your response really reassures me. In an age where I feel like I can’t trust if what I’m seeing or reading was made with AI, hearing that the author of a web series I really enjoy is against the use of AI in making art is comforting.

And another commenter pointed out that Soleum is probably in a darkness in that image. (Somehow that didn’t entirely click for me >~<) So the chances of reality not matching or making sense kind of exponentially increases lol. Aren’t there ghost stories out there where everything’s the same except (the world looks ai generated—) the world looks just so slightly off in the uncanny valley look away look back kind of way? So points to the background is warping behind Soleum theory!

Also, while attempting to view my hand in the same pose as Soleum’s I was using my phone as a makeshift clipboard, and to get the effect of having 2 visible gaps between my fingers, I had to hold my phone by the tips of my fingers. My hands are kinda small, and a phone is not a clipboard, but those things aren’t light and he’s clearly not using his entire palm to grab it. But I was also turning my hand around to look at it so that might’ve been where I’m having some trouble. (Also, the idea that Soleum almost drops the clipboard out of fear is a fun one, but that’s just me.)

If we look at the image without Soleum (posted on KakaoPage socials) it looks like the artist drew a rough background sketch, drew Soleum over it, then added details where Soleum didn’t block the view. My assumption is that they drew the pipes & beams one by one without properly lining them up first (possibly with the help of 3D tools) and were a bit messy with the layers, which could cause them to line up/overlap incorrectly if rushed.

It’d be weird for an ai generator to keep the image rough in some parts and detailed in others (for example individual brush strokes are visible at the right side of the hallway wall). If ai was added after Soleum there would be a Soleum-shaped outline. (Probably. Also don't use ai, so not completely sure how it works.) Here we can see the ceiling pipe to the far right also doesn't make sense: in the back it goes between the two support beams, in the front below both, which could happen if you’re messy with the layers. But since that mistake is covered by Soleum the artist didn't fix it (or drew the jacket to cover up that part intentionally).

Yes! Definitely not ai, just a little rushed and some weird clipping with the pipes and ceiling beam layers. (I thought the odd branching shadows could’ve also been due to weird layering with the ceiling beam’s color layers, but now I think they’re probably intentional.)

But also!! With this image we can actually see what’s to the right side of Soleum, and it looks like Soleum’s in a hallway with large windows on both sides. So more support for him being in a connecting hallway between two parts of a building. Probably.

Since everyone’s been putting in their analysis of the new part 3 teaser art, here’s my 2 cents. More under the cut.

Second, Its not ai, at least in my opinion. The background might be confusing, but it's intentional. The pipes and wiring unit thing are all lined up, and the whole tree branch thing....well, I have a theory on it, but look closely. Its almost more like a film or a transforming background..... (The window thing also wouldnt be visibal behind Sol's head considering where he's standing and where the higher window thing would be)

And the hand, the middle finger is bent. You can kind of tell if you look closely at the shadows on the finger, the tip is a lighter shade than the bent middle portion.

See it?? If not, you can also think about weight proportions and how someone would most comfortably hold a clipboard with their hands so low on it. The middle finger would need to be propped up so it can hold the weight, while the thumb and ring fingers proportion it out to hold it steady.

See? Ring is longer than the middle because of that reason. Quite admirable that they considered the weight proportion logic of it.... man, I really love this art.

(Also, thumb would be hidden for the same reasons:

)

MOVING ON TO YOUR REAL THEORIES!!!!!! HEHEHEHE THE FUN BEGINS HERE!!!!!!!

Eh-hem....

First off, to match your first off, there is A TON in the background that brings questions. Ima start with the branches because its the most popular topic of the background in discussions.

So...the branches.... they dont line up.... SOME DO! but it doesnt make sense, like you said....Like, LOOK!

The top branch thing doesnt line up with whats outside.

"Well, that's because it's the shadow of the branch below it," you say, laughing at my stupidity.....ur so mean （＞人＜；）

BUT I RESPOND!! I say, very dashingly, "Oh yeah? Then what about the shadow further below that branch?? It doesn't have a branch casting it??"

Then I ride of into the sunset

End scene....wait no, I got carried away....

Anyways!!! You see my point... they just... aren't right.... AND NOT IN AN AI WAY, its def intentional. The placement of the ones behind our Sol's head are to artistically perfect to be anything robot....

What im trying to imply is that MAYBE....its the background transforming? Sol teleporting? A ghost story generating? HECK, it could be Sol using game mechanics for background customization in this novel!! After all, we got the whole "you died, try again?" screen at one point with no one addressing it.... So, what if its showing a transformation?

Which explains the lighting and why the red and blur lights seem...not not right, just eerie in some places compared to normal in others....

Moving on because it gets confusing

SECOND!

Im glad you agreeeeeee!!!!! Idk if u saw my post or not, but I said the same thing!!!!!!! He looks on break or something!! Sol is to professional to look like this while on the job!!

THIRD!!!

Def a clipboard. I actually initially though it was an iPad till I started with my own analysis lol. If its anything like the clipboards ive used and owned, the tie would def hide the clip part, and it would actually have two screws: the one we see and then one more behind the tie. So it's correct (。・ω・。)

FOURTH!!!!!

I actually tried to do some research on traditional Korean seals and talismans, but they actually typically use yellow paper for these, with red ink used for the writing itself. UNLESS!!! It's something unique to the story, then I'm excited to see it!!!

FIFTH!!!!!!

Dokaebi flames is such a good theory!!! I'm utterly stunned I never even considered it..... It doesn't quite explain why the clipboard glows blue too, but it honestly could be for a different reason than the blue flame-like things, knowing the author's love for being unpredictable...

Im actually so onboard with thinking its a Dokaebi.... this is such a good thought.....

SIXTH!!!!!!

Yes, thats all that was needed to be said. Such a good artistic choice...

LAST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AGAIN, YESSS!!! Not enough people are pointing this out...we cant take it for granted after....well....im sure I dont need to say more....

I brought up the same thing in my post, but im quite happy to see him scared. Half of me was wondering if pt 3 was gonna to be peaceful till the very end, almost just to throw us for a loop lol.

CONCLUSION!!!

PLEASEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE BE RIGHT!!!!!!!!! I would love teacher Soleum!!!!!!!!!! omg......AHHHHHHHH it'd be so sweet!!!!!!!!!! Ghaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.............

What have you done......... you've filled me with hopes and dreams of teacher Sol 3 days before pt 3's release......ur so evil......but it might not be for Sekwang, seeing as that's supposed to only be a hidden city in the wiki and not actually in the real world.

Yeah, ok I’ve never seen that type of clipboard before, but it’d make sense if he was holding onto something like that, where the clip is significantly smaller/less bulky.

I also thought the shadows on the trees might’ve been intentionally inconsistent/disappearing where they shouldn’t, until I looked at some more of the background ceiling elements. I did some quick illustrations to demonstrate what I meant earlier, since I don’t know if I explained it well enough.

Normal for comparison, and then the edits I made to highlight what I meant by “the ceiling support beams don’t make sense”.

If you follow the suggested lines of the support beams, what I’ve drawn should be what we see/where those beams end up after crossing past Soleum’s head. Yes he’s blocking most of the background, but as you can see, the end of the beams where they connect to the wall should still be visible. Because they’re not there, it makes those background beams look like they’re connected higher up than they should be.

The second vertical line is what I was talking about with the ceiling depth not making sense. There’s shadow, a highlight, and a sharp cut to a red glow. This makes it look like there’s a wall there that goes higher up, extending how far up than ceiling is. But again, if we follow that line, it never extends past Soleum’s head, and also intersects with a pipe on the ceiling at an angle that isn’t physically possible. The top of the ceiling is implied to be where that line is, but other design elements say it isn’t.

There are also a couple objects in the background that start, and then don’t go anywhere.

The short pipe just sort of fades into the red glow. And there’s a hint of a ceiling beam that also disappears into the red glow. That ceiling beam also makes it look like the ceiling is higher up than what the objects on the ceiling imply it to be.

For the hand, the angle which he’s holding the clipboard looks very loose lol. Like he’s holding it with the tip of his fingers and could drop it at any second (which might be intentional). But what I meant by the thumb being “visible” is that the background shouldn’t be visible past the second gap in his fingers.

If he is actually holding onto the clipboard, the thumb should go past and fold over it or otherwise block out the background with the papers flying off. Otherwise the thumb would be placed very low down on his hand, and that doesn’t make much sense to me (as someone who hates drawing hands that must make sense).

Cue me twisting my hand around to try and see what that pose would look like irl. (Also, he is 100% holding that clipboard by the tips of his fingers, there is NO support in that positioning) It could work if the thumb curved in a way that it’s only going up behind the clipboard, and therefore not visible in that second gap. Again, hands are hard.

On the topic of the positioning of the branches being too perfectly framed for it to be AI generated…. I think it’s possible to insert the image of Soleum and have the AI generate an image around that. For example, maybe the prompt was: create background image for this character where they’re in a hallway with large windows and red lighting, there are tree branches outside the window and the shadows of the branches create antlers behind the character’s head.

I dunno how to prompt AI, I don’t use it, but I imagine that’s something one could do. And clearly, there was a human involved with making the whole thing, so they could’ve generated a bunch of different background images before finding one that looked nice and fit the framing. I don’t think there was too much touch up after the background was done, because those inconsistencies I noticed are things you’d only catch if you were like. Staring hard at the image for an hour and deliberately following where each line and shadow went. If you’re (lazy or rushed enough) to use AI for the background in the first place, you wouldn’t be bothered to double check its work super thoroughly.

Anyways, those are my thoughts after a half night’s sleep.

While I see where ur coming from on that front, you also have to keep in mind its a hallway going back into the distance, so the lines would actually have to more sharply turn into themselves to create more of a triangle shape than simply lining up with eachother.

As for the beam and small pipe thing that go into nothing, I actually agree with you that its really suspicious. I was wondering the same thing when typing my response. The only reasons I let it go is,

1.I have too much love for the theory of a transforming background in some way

2. The author of both gsgw and Debut or Die has not once allowed anything ai with their creations, including commissioned art. They actually seem more of an ai hater, and instead support art students by commissioning art. At one point, with the whole bunch of official designs that came out a while ago, there were a lot of people questioning if the art students who drew them used ai because of inconsistencies in the video. The author ended up immediately defending them, posting the art outside the video to show it was simply video effects messing up the art. They are also very particular with how the manhwa versions of their novels look lol. They love stunning art it seems.

So when it comes to stuff like that, I like to think we are simply misunderstanding something, and place more trust in the author and the artists they chose. Ive been reading their novels for a while now, and they havent betrayed me yet, so I owe them that much at least.

Ofc, I cant ask you to to the same lol! That be super mean of me to try and do. This is more me trying to explain why im trying to defend them so much <3

As for the hand, I maybeeee....disagree, but lets not let that come between us!!!!!!!! I simply hold stuff like that a lot, but I also have small hands with double joints n stuff, so who knows how it is for others!!

And the branches, same two reasons I gave for the background lol. Im a woman of trust, what can I say? Yes, its easy for it to backfire, but I like feeling hope in other people's actions. Innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt!!!!

And prompting ai is incredibly hard for detailed art like this, but still possible if you know what ur doing and such. (Coming from a computer science nerd who's dating a computer science major... hope that adds some credibility to that statement...)

Also! Your response really reassures me. In an age where I feel like I can’t trust if what I’m seeing or reading was made with AI, hearing that the author of a web series I really enjoy is against the use of AI in making art is comforting.

And another commenter pointed out that Soleum is probably in a darkness in that image. (Somehow that didn’t entirely click for me >~<) So the chances of reality not matching or making sense kind of exponentially increases lol. Aren’t there ghost stories out there where everything’s the same except (the world looks ai generated—) the world looks just so slightly off in the uncanny valley look away look back kind of way? So points to the background is warping behind Soleum theory!

Also, while attempting to view my hand in the same pose as Soleum’s I was using my phone as a makeshift clipboard, and to get the effect of having 2 visible gaps between my fingers, I had to hold my phone by the tips of my fingers. My hands are kinda small, and a phone is not a clipboard, but those things aren’t light and he’s clearly not using his entire palm to grab it. But I was also turning my hand around to look at it so that might’ve been where I’m having some trouble. (Also, the idea that Soleum almost drops the clipboard out of fear is a fun one, but that’s just me.)

Since everyone’s been putting in their analysis of the new part 3 teaser art, here’s my 2 cents. More under the cut.

Second, Its not ai, at least in my opinion. The background might be confusing, but it's intentional. The pipes and wiring unit thing are all lined up, and the whole tree branch thing....well, I have a theory on it, but look closely. Its almost more like a film or a transforming background..... (The window thing also wouldnt be visibal behind Sol's head considering where he's standing and where the higher window thing would be)

And the hand, the middle finger is bent. You can kind of tell if you look closely at the shadows on the finger, the tip is a lighter shade than the bent middle portion.

See it?? If not, you can also think about weight proportions and how someone would most comfortably hold a clipboard with their hands so low on it. The middle finger would need to be propped up so it can hold the weight, while the thumb and ring fingers proportion it out to hold it steady.

See? Ring is longer than the middle because of that reason. Quite admirable that they considered the weight proportion logic of it.... man, I really love this art.

(Also, thumb would be hidden for the same reasons:

)

MOVING ON TO YOUR REAL THEORIES!!!!!! HEHEHEHE THE FUN BEGINS HERE!!!!!!!

Eh-hem....

First off, to match your first off, there is A TON in the background that brings questions. Ima start with the branches because its the most popular topic of the background in discussions.

So...the branches.... they dont line up.... SOME DO! but it doesnt make sense, like you said....Like, LOOK!

The top branch thing doesnt line up with whats outside.

"Well, that's because it's the shadow of the branch below it," you say, laughing at my stupidity.....ur so mean （＞人＜；）

BUT I RESPOND!! I say, very dashingly, "Oh yeah? Then what about the shadow further below that branch?? It doesn't have a branch casting it??"

Then I ride of into the sunset

End scene....wait no, I got carried away....

Anyways!!! You see my point... they just... aren't right.... AND NOT IN AN AI WAY, its def intentional. The placement of the ones behind our Sol's head are to artistically perfect to be anything robot....

What im trying to imply is that MAYBE....its the background transforming? Sol teleporting? A ghost story generating? HECK, it could be Sol using game mechanics for background customization in this novel!! After all, we got the whole "you died, try again?" screen at one point with no one addressing it.... So, what if its showing a transformation?

Which explains the lighting and why the red and blur lights seem...not not right, just eerie in some places compared to normal in others....

Moving on because it gets confusing

SECOND!

Im glad you agreeeeeee!!!!! Idk if u saw my post or not, but I said the same thing!!!!!!! He looks on break or something!! Sol is to professional to look like this while on the job!!

THIRD!!!

Def a clipboard. I actually initially though it was an iPad till I started with my own analysis lol. If its anything like the clipboards ive used and owned, the tie would def hide the clip part, and it would actually have two screws: the one we see and then one more behind the tie. So it's correct (。・ω・。)

FOURTH!!!!!

I actually tried to do some research on traditional Korean seals and talismans, but they actually typically use yellow paper for these, with red ink used for the writing itself. UNLESS!!! It's something unique to the story, then I'm excited to see it!!!

FIFTH!!!!!!

Dokaebi flames is such a good theory!!! I'm utterly stunned I never even considered it..... It doesn't quite explain why the clipboard glows blue too, but it honestly could be for a different reason than the blue flame-like things, knowing the author's love for being unpredictable...

Im actually so onboard with thinking its a Dokaebi.... this is such a good thought.....

SIXTH!!!!!!

Yes, thats all that was needed to be said. Such a good artistic choice...

LAST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AGAIN, YESSS!!! Not enough people are pointing this out...we cant take it for granted after....well....im sure I dont need to say more....

I brought up the same thing in my post, but im quite happy to see him scared. Half of me was wondering if pt 3 was gonna to be peaceful till the very end, almost just to throw us for a loop lol.

CONCLUSION!!!

PLEASEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE BE RIGHT!!!!!!!!! I would love teacher Soleum!!!!!!!!!! omg......AHHHHHHHH it'd be so sweet!!!!!!!!!! Ghaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.............

What have you done......... you've filled me with hopes and dreams of teacher Sol 3 days before pt 3's release......ur so evil......but it might not be for Sekwang, seeing as that's supposed to only be a hidden city in the wiki and not actually in the real world.

Yeah, ok I’ve never seen that type of clipboard before, but it’d make sense if he was holding onto something like that, where the clip is significantly smaller/less bulky.

I also thought the shadows on the trees might’ve been intentionally inconsistent/disappearing where they shouldn’t, until I looked at some more of the background ceiling elements. I did some quick illustrations to demonstrate what I meant earlier, since I don’t know if I explained it well enough.

Normal for comparison, and then the edits I made to highlight what I meant by “the ceiling support beams don’t make sense”.

If you follow the suggested lines of the support beams, what I’ve drawn should be what we see/where those beams end up after crossing past Soleum’s head. Yes he’s blocking most of the background, but as you can see, the end of the beams where they connect to the wall should still be visible. Because they’re not there, it makes those background beams look like they’re connected higher up than they should be.

The second vertical line is what I was talking about with the ceiling depth not making sense. There’s shadow, a highlight, and a sharp cut to a red glow. This makes it look like there’s a wall there that goes higher up, extending how far up than ceiling is. But again, if we follow that line, it never extends past Soleum’s head, and also intersects with a pipe on the ceiling at an angle that isn’t physically possible. The top of the ceiling is implied to be where that line is, but other design elements say it isn’t.

There are also a couple objects in the background that start, and then don’t go anywhere.

The short pipe just sort of fades into the red glow. And there’s a hint of a ceiling beam that also disappears into the red glow. That ceiling beam also makes it look like the ceiling is higher up than what the objects on the ceiling imply it to be.

For the hand, the angle which he’s holding the clipboard looks very loose lol. Like he’s holding it with the tip of his fingers and could drop it at any second (which might be intentional). But what I meant by the thumb being “visible” is that the background shouldn’t be visible past the second gap in his fingers.

If he is actually holding onto the clipboard, the thumb should go past and fold over it or otherwise block out the background with the papers flying off. Otherwise the thumb would be placed very low down on his hand, and that doesn’t make much sense to me (as someone who hates drawing hands that must make sense).

Cue me twisting my hand around to try and see what that pose would look like irl. (Also, he is 100% holding that clipboard by the tips of his fingers, there is NO support in that positioning) It could work if the thumb curved in a way that it’s only going up behind the clipboard, and therefore not visible in that second gap. Again, hands are hard.

On the topic of the positioning of the branches being too perfectly framed for it to be AI generated…. I think it’s possible to insert the image of Soleum and have the AI generate an image around that. For example, maybe the prompt was: create background image for this character where they’re in a hallway with large windows and red lighting, there are tree branches outside the window and the shadows of the branches create antlers behind the character’s head.

I dunno how to prompt AI, I don’t use it, but I imagine that’s something one could do. And clearly, there was a human involved with making the whole thing, so they could’ve generated a bunch of different background images before finding one that looked nice and fit the framing. I don’t think there was too much touch up after the background was done, because those inconsistencies I noticed are things you’d only catch if you were like. Staring hard at the image for an hour and deliberately following where each line and shadow went. If you’re (lazy or rushed enough) to use AI for the background in the first place, you wouldn’t be bothered to double check its work super thoroughly.

Anyways, those are my thoughts after a half night’s sleep.

NOW IS OUR CHANCE TO GET HIT ON APOLLO'S DODGEBALL! We don't have much time, it's only less than a month.

There will be a time skip and the Soleum’s resort manager stand in’s contract will expire within that time.

Related to above: Blue Dragon will help manage/deal with the resort when that happens. This will help them grow stronger and recover their original form.

Therapy will eventually be complete and we’ll get a proper OG Soleum POV.

Alternatively: as a result of the perfect wish ticket, Soleum who needed to be whole healthy and of sound mind to return home, was reconstructed along with OG Soleum, and they return to being one before leaving. This results in the Sekwang people unmerging because the glue (Soleum) is no longer there and therapy is expedited.

We’ll get a proper explanation on the chicken and egg situation. Did Soleum’s OG world create the DER world, or did DER’s world retroactively create Soleum’s through the summoning ritual? Particularly in regards to Ireum-nim since Soleum’s presence and knowledge caused the Church to form. Or maybe it’s his perception of the world affecting his status and turning what he believes is true into the truth. Also, the fact that Soleum’s OG world had information and events from the DER world’s future that were then changed due to Soleum’s involvement.

Soleum’s debt to Lee Jaheon will go up/never be paid off.

Same with his debt to Braun.

Soleum will somehow fall into more debt to someone else.

Sekwang will open up properly, but its subway system will still be under the management of Golden Mascot. Darknesses that were previously inaccessible/censored due to the memory wipe will now be available for DMB and Daydream to interact with.

Related to above: J3 will pursue the Fairy Tale darkness from the Hanbit library during Soleum’s absence. He either succeeds, or needs to be rescued from it.

We’ll finally know what OG darkness Soleum wrote on the wiki.

Sekwang is not the cause of the apocalypse and there are more/other catastrophe type disasters that will be explored.

We’ll get hints on the real Reason Daydream exists and Why it wants to keep farming Darknesses for Dream essence when only its employees ever use the wish ticket (especially considering how the company distributes the points in the exact same amounts the essence collected would amount to).

Slightly crack theory: it will be revealed that Daydream is searching for ways to stop the apocalypse (because you can’t profit off an ended world) by using Dream essence.

The apocalypse is the result of over farming darknesses for Dream essence.

Most important character and plot threads will be tied up, but not all/not everything will be explained.

We’ll revisit old ghost stories and their ghosts and see how they’ve been doing all this time. (Mirror Soleum, Delusional Home Shopping, Hell Taxi)

At some point Soleum’s spare body will be used or become relevant once more.

Since every human Soleum’s touched got together to help him, we’ll have a similar moment with all the ghost stories he’s helped at some point. (So many wanted to be his Good Friend after all)

Crack theory: it will be revealed that this entire time we’ve been reading Soleum’s fanfiction about his self-insert into the DER world. As per roulette wheel prize winnings, he got to create his own character to put into the DER universe and be acknowledged as canon. And what’s more scary than if someone from the “real word” gets sucked into what they thought was just horror fiction with no way out and death at every corner?