Like obviously kaiser hates him bc kaiser hates everyone but he treats isagi in a way that isagi just _had_ to hate him back when isagi doesnt hate anyone (off-field) kaiser literally brings something out of isagi that no one has been able to before and isagi does the same with kaiser, they destroy each other in order to grow stronger and make sure the other is under them

※239 🇫🇷 vs. 🇩🇪

kdj is a selfish, self-loathing and exhuasted man who lived day to day in a world that has long since been ruined and even simply surviving was an arduous task. everyday, he slaved away at a corporation that was corrupted with nepotism and workplace harrassment. he was easily deemed lesser and disposible by a capitslist society who doesn't care that not everyone is equal because it wasn't profitable and that their souls are broken more and more by this money centric life. friendless, loveless and having practically no family, his only reason for living the last 13 years of his life was a free webnovel.

and yet despite all of this, kdj is so wondrously idealistic. he was, after all, a dreamer.

when the scenarios began, his world didnt change much. it was still a scummy capitalist system that only cared about lives as long as it was profitable and thereby worth something. now it was just faster in disposing of those it deemed useless or invalids. never caring for the intrinsic value a story or human life held. no, not much changed when the scenarios began. but what did change was that he found people and found a way to finally communicate with them.

kdj, the only reader of the story and knowing fully well how bad and difficult and downright awful things will be, still said he wanted to see the end of the scenarios. kdj still said, i will reach there with no sacrifices. i will reach there with all my companions.

kdj picked up his blade with the unwavering faith, and pointed it at enemies, at constellations, at the star stream, at companions and at yoo joonghyuk.

he swung his sword against them all, and it said, "i will reach the end of the scenarios with my companions."

he used his unbroken faith against yjh and as their swords clashed, his said, "i will reach the end of the scenarios with you."

for anon: carlos, with his life split into two halves. how life feels cut when a major event occurs — before and after — maybe before and after silverstone ‘22?

it's a lovely book and I've yet to find one quite like it, but some tangentially related ones (maybe? I’m going almost entirely by mood here so):

A Moth to a Flame by Stig Dagerman (for its examinations of desire and psychological insight; for Dagerman's prose, too, which is some of the most stunningly cool and lucid I've ever come across--I don't quite know what the similarity is between him and Kundera's writing in Being but he was the first I thought of and I think it may have something to do with that clarity)

On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous: A Novel by Ocean Vuong (for its exploration of identity in relation to various aspects, but particularly desire and history; for the notion of the body as text and text as body and the question of how these two palimpsests make and unmake us; for the writing which is just beautiful; a little more philosophical, too, I think, than Dagerman, or at least closer to the way Kundera uses it)

Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill (it’s been a while since I read this, but from what I recall I think the themes in regards to relationships & its pitfalls -- struggles of working through love, infidelity, heartbreak and all the grief tied up in it -- are somewhat similar, while being explored from a more personal & intimate angle (in terms of narrative feel, at least) than Being. The writing is beautiful, too, with a similar balance of clarity and meanderings to other topics)

Open Water: A Novel by Caleb Azumah Nelson (for its head-on collision with the mortifying ordeal of being known etc; for the question: what does love and vulnerability look like, when the world has constantly denied you a right to it? if you were drawn most to the issue of conflict within relationships, or felt more for Tereza then I think this moves in a similar vein, albeit from a different direction.)

And Our Faces, My Heart, Brief as Photos by John Berger (this may be hit or miss, but if you like the philosophical aspect then this may be worth a read--I think it might be the most abstract of Berger’s work but there are a lot of things he examines here that I think echo Being a little: sexuality and desire, love, death, responsibility and ethics, the simultaneous magnitude and transience of our lives and what, in light of this, we are to do with them--how we are to approach them in relation to the world, and the brutal history of it, that we inherit)

What We Talk About When We Talk About Love: Stories by Raymond Carver (for explorations on the fallibility of humans in love and all the limitations, hurt, and aftershocks therein; style is very different to Kundera but the subject matter is quite close)

The Carpenter’s Pencil by Manuel Rivas (much, much more light-hearted than Being in case you want to try something smaller and less sombre; like Berger it may be hit or miss, but it is a more hopeful examination of love through the impossibilities of war and the inescapable brunt of history)