KinA

Brother 💀

As I've mentioned before, I only block people who are rude to others for absolutely no reason.

If you genuinely don't act that way but somehow ended up blocked by me, I probably mistook your account for a spam bot or something.

I think it's somewhat similar to Alan's case, just in a less direct way. Alan's father was directly involved with the Institute, so they had to handle Alan personally. With other ghouls though, they probably take a more subtle approach, including quietly "cleaning up" any incidents or evidence if a ghoul accidentally leaves something behind.

Cases like Ren and Kaito's seem much more typical. Darkwick simply sends them an invitation, and whether they accept or not, the Institute probably still has ways to keep them under surveillance.

Also, not every ghoul seems to be in their early 20. Some could easily be in their late 20 or even older (we have Ed so like why don't assume at least some of them alr 30 or older) if you want to interpret it that way. Darkwick doesn't function like a normal academy where everyone enrolls right after high school. It seems possible for people to live their lives, gain work experience, or continue their education before eventually coming to Darkwick. If that's true, then they may have been monitored for much longer than we realize before deciding to enroll.

Darkwick also presents itself as a place that guarantees a bright future, a stable career, and a comfortable life after graduation. I imagine that's a huge reason why many ghouls and students choose to attend. They probably just want to finish their training, graduate, and finally have a stable life. Of course, none of that comes for free. You still have to work incredibly hard for it. Like Haku said, if you do them a favor, they'll return the favor.

So either Darkwick is simply very persuasive and knows exactly how to present benefits that are attractive enough to convince people to enroll, or they're confident that even if a ghoul refuses to attend, they can still keep tabs on them and intervene whenever necessary.

Kaito's story also supports that ghouls are already under supervision before enrolling. His flashback confirmed that he made his demon pact at a very young age, and after his grandmother was hospitalized, he had to live with relatives. I like to think that when he received Darkwick's invitation, he accepted because he didn't want to keep burdening his relatives now that he was old enough to take responsibility for himself. Darkwick offered him housing, education, work opportunities, and a much more stable future, so enrolling would've been the practical choice.

Take Jin, for example. We know he doesn't seem to have the best relationship with his family, or at least it's heavily implied. Even so, he still uses his family's resources, which means he's still in contact with people both outside and inside the academy. I also believe he's still the public face of the family in some way, so there's a good chance his father would still expect him to attend certain events. His assistant could easily be the one contacting Jin and informing him about those obligations.

Some ghouls probably don't even have families anymore, or they stopped contacting them long before enrolling at Darkwick. So if they never visit or contact anyone, that's completely understandable too.

Elias is another example. He mentioned writing letters, or at least staying in contact with his friend(s) overseas, and they even sent him a care package. That alone suggests Darkwick allows communication with the outside world. Whether someone chooses to stay in contact is probably a personal decision. They may also keep their family life private since they're just normal humans who aren't supposed to know about the anomaly world.

We also know Haku stays in contact with his family. In SS1, his family even contacted him through Darkwick. He's a special case though because, like the Kamurai family, his family already knows about the anomaly world. Because of that, they're probably allowed more direct communication.

For people like Rui or Mio, I like to think they still contact home, just very quietly. In Rui's case especially, staying away from his family makes sense because of his curse. They could easily tell their families they're working overseas or away on long business trips. We really don't know.

Some characters also have very complicated or tragic backgrounds that imply they either don't have families anymore or those families are no longer part of their lives. So it's perfectly normal if they never contact or visit anyone because they may simply have no one left to contact.

Romeo also seems to stay informed about his family's situation even though they're in another country, which suggests long-distance communication isn't impossible either.

As for the general students, I imagine Darkwick has holidays or certain periods when students are allowed to go home. After all, if they want to keep the anomaly world a secret, they still have to let students maintain enough of a "normal" life to avoid raising suspicion among outsiders.

Darkwick is also an elite academy, so strict rules, privacy and secrecy make sense. A lot of prestigious institutions are known for being exclusive and keeping things behind closed doors, so people probably don't question it that much because it's fairly common for schools like that.

Lastly, it could simply be a cultural difference. In some countries, families don't constantly contact or visit each other. Going 3 to 4 years without seeing your family isn't necessarily considered strange. Some people have siblings at home, while their parents are busy living their own lives, so everyone just carries on independently.

To become a ghoul, you have to survive the pact. To me, that means you have to keep your soul.

So if you mean they're "half dead" soulless beings with only a body left, I don't think that's an accurate way to describe ghouls. They still have souls, at least from how I understand it. Demons devour human souls, so if your soul had already been completely consumed, you probably wouldn't have survived the pact in the first place.

As for the Kyklos Curse and Demon Pact, I actually wrote a theory about how I think the Kyklos Curse works. It's not a normal theory post though. I wrote it like a research data log. You can check it out here: 𝐑𝐄𝐃𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐂𝐀𝐒𝐄 𝐅𝐈𝐋𝐄

In short, I think the Kyklos Curse works more like a mutation or parasite. It needs a host to spread its curse and reproduce its own species.

That idea came from how Yuri and Jiro explained anomaly curses in one of their House episodes. They described anomaly curses as being similar to illnesses or allergic reactions.

Internal Infection: The anomaly leaves behind specialized viruses or bacteria inside the victim's body, destroying them from the inside.

Allergic/Foreign Retribution: The anomaly leaves behind a piece of its own organic matter, triggering severe biological rejections, severe allergies, or mutations.

They also explained that people who survive a demon pact and absorb fragments of the demon are basically people whose bodies are able to fight back against that "allergic reaction" and eventually become immune to it.

So this is how I think the Kyklos Curse works in the TKDB universe.

The curse is actually the Kyklos' method of reproduction. Instead of just dying, the victim’s body slowly mutates over the year. When the timer hits zero, they permanently transform into a mindless monster (an anomaly)

Because of that, I still believe ghouls keep their souls, or at least enough of them to win the pact. It's like they found a loophole in the contract and used it to their advantage, allowing them to gain more than the small benefit demons intended to give them. Because of that, the demon can't completely devour their soul.

That's also why, in my Kyklos Curse theory, I think the MC could end up the same way. She could still keep her soul even after becoming Kyklos. The problem is that victims of the Kyklos Curse can't always control their bodies or stay aware all the time. It's more like they're trapped inside a body that no longer belongs to them, forced to watch themselves become something they don't recognize. Almost like there are two souls sharing the same body and fighting over control.

Demons devour souls. Kyklos is much sneakier. Instead of consuming your soul outright, it tries to anabolize your soul into its own rather than simply devouring it.

Because of that, when Ed says "she will become one of us" I think there are several ways to interpret it.

He could simply mean she'll become an anomaly like them. Ed believes humans and anomalies can't coexist, so "one of us" could just mean she'll become an anomaly, not necessarily a ghoul, Kyklos or anything more specific.

There's also the possibility that the MC's existence was already considered anomalous long before she was cursed. We still know very little about her background.

Another interpretation is that he means she'll be deceived, exploited, and monitored by the Institute, just like most anomalies in this world. They're all under Darkwick's surveillance, and some are even captured for research. So if MC becomes Kyklos, Darkwick might keep her in a laboratory to study her and search for a cure. In that sense, her existence would already have more in common with anomalies than most people assume.

Right now MC is already somewhere between human and anomaly. The Mesmer Match didn't work on her at all, and the Anomaly Ring chose her. So in some ways, the moment she was cursed by Kyklos, she was already half human and half anomaly. The real question is whether she'll have to give up her humanity to stay alive. So yeah your point is still stand, dw 👍

If we're talking specifically about Kyklos, then if it successfully takes over the MC's body, that's already a way of taking away her humanity. But if her soul is still inside her body, then she's technically still alive, just not in the kind of way anyone would actually want to live :))

Kyklos doesn't kill people, and it doesn't devour anything from humans. It roots its consciousness inside the host's mind and takes control of them, using them to infect more people and reproduce. So in that sense, the MC would never actually die unless someone chose to end her life. She's just cursed, or as Yuri explained it, she's simply sick.

So I think becoming "one of us" like Ed said, isn't really about whether she's alive or dead. It's about whether she can overcome this illness, just like ghouls survive the demon pact. They fought against that "illness" or allergic reaction and regained control of both their souls and their bodies. In that sense, "one of us" could actually mean surviving the anabolism phase of Kyklos and learning to coexist with it instead of being completely consumed by it.

I appreciate that you're looking out for other people in the fandom and I hope they feel the same. I'm sure most people would appreciate that too. But there's no need to be rude or mean to other people just because you want to make a point.

My point is that if something makes you feel uncomfortable or negatively affects your experience in the fandom, just block it and move on. If you keep spending your time focusing on things that bother you, they'll just keep bothering you, and you'll never really be able to enjoy anything.

I feel like this comes from the fact that he used to work at a beach stall. He probably met all kinds of people, including creepy ones who didn't respect boundaries. As someone who stands out, he was likely a target of that behavior himself.

That could explain why he doesn't care much about being "attractive" or see it as something positive. No matter how you look, creepy people can still make you feel uncomfortable, and he clearly hates that. That's why I don't think he'd ever use his face to take advantage of anyone. If anything, he'd rather avoid unnecessary interactions with people altogether.