MoonBitts

Snow White’s dwarves keep her room exactly as she left it, and keep a wary eye on the horizon for the day she returns. When she does they treat her like a beloved daughter come home, cook her favourite meals, warn her to stay away from apples this time, and keep calling her the wrong name.

Cinderella’s Fairy Godmother found her a touch ungrateful last time, and has decided not to appear to her this time around to teach her a lesson in gratitude. This Cinderella, without the memory of the last time, is still a terrified, miserable woman desperate to escape her awful situation.

Kabru as a character is intertwined with the idea that sometimes we have to sacrifice the needs of the few for the good of the many. He ultimately subverts this first by sabotaging the Canaries and then by letting Laios go, but in practice he's already been living a life of self-sacrifice.

Saving people, and learning the secrets of the dungeons to seal them, are what's important. Not his own comforts. Not his own desires. He forces them down until he doesn't know they're there, until one of them has to come spilling out during the confession in chapter 76.

Specifically, I think it's very significant, in a story about food and all that it entails, that Kabru is rarely shown eating. He's the deuteragonist of Dungeon Meshi, the cooking manga, but while meals are the anchoring points of Laios's journey, given loving focus, for Kabru, they're ... not.

I'm sure he eats during dungeon expeditions, in the routine way that adventurers must when they sit down to camp. But on the surface, you get the idea that Kabru spends most of his time doing his self-assigned dungeon-related tasks: meeting with people, studying them, putting together that evidence board, researching the dungeon, god knows what else. Feeding himself is secondary.

He's introduced during a meal, eating at a restaurant, just to set up the contrast between his party and Laios's. And it's the last normal meal we see him eating until the communal ending feast (if you consider Falin's dragon parts normal).

First, we get this:

Kabru's response here is such a non-answer, it strongly implies to me that he wasn't thinking about it until Rin brought it up. That he might not even be feeling the hunger signals that he logically knew he should.

They sit down to eat, but Kabru is never drawn reaching for food or eating it like the rest of his party. He only drinks.

It's possible this means nothing, that we can just assume he's putting food in his mouth off-panel, but again, this entire manga is about food. Cooking it, eating it, appreciating it, taking pleasure in it, grounding yourself in the necessary routine of it and affirming your right to live by consuming it. It's given such a huge focus.

We don't see him eat again until the harpy egg.

What a significant question for the protagonist to ask his foil in this story about eating! Aren't you hungry? Aren't you, Kabru?

He was revived only minutes ago after a violent encounter. And then he chokes down food that causes him further harm by triggering him, all because he's so determined to stay in Laios's good graces.

In his flashback, we see Milsiril trying to spoon-feed young Kabru cake that we know he doesn't like. He doesn't want to eat: he wants to be training.

Then with Mithrun, we see him eating the least-monstery monster food he can get his hands on, for the sake of survival- walking mushroom, barometz, an egg. The barometz is his first chance to make something like an a real meal, and he actually seems excited about it because he wants to replicate a lamb dish his mother used to make him!

...but he doesn't get to enjoy it like he wanted to.

Then, when all the Canaries are eating field rations ... Kabru still isn't shown eating. He's only shown giving food to Mithrun.

And of course the next time he eats is the bavarois, which for his sake is at least plant based ... but he still has to use a coping mechanism to get through it.

I don't think Kabru does this all on purpose. I think Kui does this all on purpose. Kabru's Post Traumatic Stress Disorder should be understood as informing his character just as much as Laios's autism informs his. It's another way that Kabru and Laios act as foils: where Laios takes pleasure in meals and approaches food with the excitement of discovery, Kabru's experiences with eating are tainted by his trauma. Laios indulges; Kabru denies himself. Laios is shown enjoying food, Kabru is shown struggling with it.

And I can very easily imagine a reason why Kabru might have a subconscious aversion towards eating.

Meals are the privilege of the living.

АНННННННН

WHAT WHAT WHAT

AGENT CHOI YOU HAVE PROVEN YOURSELF PLEASE TAKE CARE OF GRAPES!!!

PLEASE HELP HIMMMM

So maybe?

Kinda a literary analysis of the Disaster? Some parts might not make sense because of how much I'm rambling through... I wrote all of this in one sitting while freaking out over the plot ToT

This entire situation with Sekwang KSE and our KSE brings me back to chapter 27's ghost story, Qterw-C-402 "The day I died". Since essentially, isn't Sekwang KSE just a body (maybe with a bit of consciousness) and KSE just found his "corpse"?

Here are some things I find familiar from KSE's listed clear conditions:

"To succeed, restructure the story so that the victim does not die. "= Victims: Kim Soleum (or fate worse than death), Eun Haje, Agent Brozne and the entire Sekwang Special City.

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"In this creepypasta, the more you explore, the further back in time you go."

"So, typically, you'd have to investigate the entire factory, figuring out why 'my corpse' ended up dead and piecing together the story step by step." = Time Travel to the past gimmick.

This also brings to mind Jisan Village, Subway, and the high school resolutions.

With KSE's journey exploring and uncovering more truths about the past, like Daydream (Director Cheong's beef with dragons ← perhaps connected to the mermaid's tomb and Ho Yuwon's "Self") and the cheerful research institute (twice, with the lab under Daydream and the subway lab).

Even the Supernatural Disaster Management Agency's missing agents and conspiracy leads to a connected past. With the Church of the luminous Unknown showing weird connections to the past research institute with Jang Heowoon. (I've got theories on this, too.)

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"Failure to alter the story within the time limit will result in the victim's confirmed death." = 293 Days and the 1 week countdown. May 4th and possible deaths of our project team.

With how things are going right now, KSE is battling fire with fire, using contamination to avoid contamination. I think with his current items and allies, he'll perhaps find a "tin can" that breaks the "Ghost story" the author (Director Cheong) wants to write. Something out of bounds that breaks everything (maybe with the help of Sekwang KSE?)

Ah!

Ahh!!

Ahhh!!!

Oh my show business!!!

Braun is so reliable!!

Agent Choi never gets a break!!

Ohhh! Agent Chogae!! You have returned!!!

Also Speculation!!

The contract power!! Since that power originates from golden dragon— If Soleum removes the golden dragon contract (pupil) from director cheong does that remove the contracts of the security teams? Will we see that security team member with the axe again? Will J3 be free??

The security team seems pitiful, so will they join our cast?

Through the arcs does it not seem we are following a sort of iceberg chart?

Surface = Daydream, Sees themselves as outsiders (or superiors) benefiting and researching off GhostStories. A sort of imbalance!!

Shallows = Disaster Management Bureau, Balance between the supernatural and natural for the benefit of both!! Meeting of the land and sea!!

Deep = Ghost Story Factions (Church of the luminous Unknown, Cheerful Research, Dragons, perhaps the security team? Hope hope hope!!!)

More on the Deep part:

Have we not seen glimpses to the next faction in previous arcs? We had the badge and agent bronze with churro and lodge during daydream arc. So now in sekwang we have glimpses of Ghost Stories!!

Cheerful being connected to the Church!

J3 seeing the film viewing room in library!

Security team member with the axe being familiar with soleum!

Elder Yong needing restoring!

Orientation guy from the branch office! (Perhaps!!)