#ahwmc

Low quality re-draw for the ducklings

first of all, the progression of their relationship is really nice. at first you think Junyeong is just gonna be another random antagonist, but then he just keeps showing up, and somehow they become friends along the way with their little moments of vulnerability (like when Sang-U found out about Junyeong’s Weak Sage passive) and just more learning about each other in general.

second, they’re literally perfect foils for each other.

especially when they first meet, Sang-U is lazy, meanwhile Junyeong is driven to succeed at any means necessary

later in the story, they actually become more like each other in a way. Sang-U becomes more willing to work hard to be lazy as his conviction grows, Junyeong starts to appreciate the progress he’s made and is generally less desperate to find a solution to his weakness as soon as possible (shown in him being willing to accept if things don’t work out when he gets the elixir but I’ll talk more about that later)

Sang-U is (admittedly) pretty dumb at times and generally tends to brute force things if talking doesn’t work, but Junyeong has to be a lot more strategic and creative because of his weakness

during the academy arc, they even have opposite strengths and weaknesses (Sang-U has few skills but high, well-rounded stats, Junyeong has a ton of skills but abysmally low stats)

they have opposite home lives, in that Sang-U’s family is decently supportive and essentially lets him do whatever he wants while Junyeong’s father is controlling and pushes him to follow in his footsteps even if that path lead him to his own destruction

Sang-U generally tends to be a bit more empathetic (his biggest motivation is that he quite literally wouldn’t be able to sleep at night unless there’s no more work to do [in other words, unless the world is saved]) while Junyeong is a bit more jaded in that aspect (most likely because of his upbringing)

their fighting styles are also somewhat “opposite”, since Junyeong is obviously a mage at heart while Sang-U mostly uses melee or magic that works well in melee combat

they’re also just such a power couple? like even if we’re just talking about them as friends, they’re skills alone are two out of the three strongest in canon (the third being Jumper’s, but he doesn’t really count anymore)

not sure it speaks to their relationship in particular, but the fact that they basically traded problems (Sang-U killed Junyeong’s dad, Junyeong saved Sang-U’s sister) is just so funny to me

that arc is definitely where most of their development happened, but the moments I think demonstrate their care for each other the most is when Junyeong literally almost died to save Ji-U (something he definitely didn’t have to do) and when Sang-U was so broken up about it afterward. I’m pretty sure anyone would feel guilty knowing someone had to die to save someone you cared about, but I think the moment was more of a turning point, given that the two of them weren’t quite friends yet and it was only after that they were truly close

I think my favorite demonstration of their bond is when Sang-U left the elixir for Junyeong with a note telling him not to overthink it. keep in mind that was also before Sang-U knew that Leogardo was going to go to Korea, or that the Day of Harvest was coming much faster than expected. he gave Junyeong the elixir then not because he needed him to stronger for what he knew was coming, but because he just wanted him to have it

so for starters, most regressors you see in manhwa are (even at the start) calm, level-headed people. take Enkrid from erk/tkolt, or Yoo Joonghyuk from orv. both of them do go through personality changes as a result of their regressions, but for the most part, they were always relatively cold/jaded people

Jumper, on the other hand, was initially almost volatile in his emotions. when we see him in Odin’s Tower during the main flashback of his arc, he’s quite literally crying because of how many people died that he could’ve saved. to me, it doesn’t even seem like he’s necessarily blaming himself in that moment, but more that he is genuinely upset knowing that they died when they had the chance to live, so he pushes himself even harder to save whoever he still can

this is such a stark contrast to who he is now—someone who calls that version of himself stupid, despite how long he clung to those ideals. maybe believing that if he works hard enough he can save everyone was naive, but at the same time, he was so full of hope and passion and drive that now it’s almost like he’s a different character entirely

and yet, part of him still believed that those ideals were possible, even if he looks back on his old self with bitterness and hatred. that’s why he was willing to hear Sang-U out, to listen to his motivations and consider rejoining humanity’s side despite all the pain that it had caused him

and the thing is, even when he did decide to give up and side with the System, he still put his all into it. he created the Awakening Program, helped the Master found the Academy, and likely so much more behind the scenes that we never saw. it’s like he doesn’t know how to stop working himself to the bone for his goal, even if that goal is to kill himself in the end. honestly, it just makes me wonder who he was before the gates and awakening and hunters, because clearly he’s the kind of person that can do almost anything he puts his mind to

(he’s actually somewhat similar to Sang-U, in that they both work so hard to make the opportunity for them to rest, just so they can rest forever [except Jumper’s rest is in peace and he’s actually tired and not just lazy])

and he does all that while being burned out, hating life, and being so suicidal and full of rage directed to both the world and himself that he actively chooses to help a machine eradicate humanity in exchange for his own death. in fact, he wants to die so badly that when he sees that opportunity in Sang-U, he does whatever he can to make that possible. when Sang-U ran away and came back after strengthening his resolve, he was genuinely excited to see him return. he was excited that the person he was trying to teach to kill him came back to finish his training.

by comparison, most other regressors (like Kim Gongja from suicide hunter) grow used to dying and reseting to the point that they get desensitized. the closest situation I can think of is Yoo Joonghyuk’s regression depression, but even then, he very rarely gets close to thinking that he wants to stay dead permanently. most often, regression stories focus on using their ability to grow stronger so that in the end they can live on with all the people they saved in the process of their suffering, but Jumper has gone so far beyond that, that he no longer cares about saving people, no longer cares about anyone else at all. it’s hard to even claim that he’s selfish or only thinking of himself, because all he wants is to be dead. to rid himself of all the pain and suffering he went through for the sake of humanity

initially he’s such a perfect hero archetype character, someone who’s selfless and altruistic, who’s only goal is to save humanity and the world without any real benefit to himself. that’s why he thinks the Odin’s Tower artifact is a blessing; it helps him save more people, lets him get closer to his goal without any harm done to anyone else because he wasn’t strong enough. but ultimately, it’s because he was so hopeful that thousands of years without any sign of success broke him

he tried so many different things during his loops, but even when he first gave up on humanity, he still never gave in to the System because he had an anchor. he became reliant on the one person in his life that hadn’t yet become an empty shell devoid of life, and that reliance is one of the biggest causes to his downfall. he kept clinging to the only semblance of hope that he had left, because he had spent so long fighting for what he thought was good and just and righteous that he saw no other way

but in the end even Avery became a doll in his eyes. and even despite that, he continued to cling to what she represented to him—his hope, his humanity, his identity—even if it was likely impossible for him to love her at that point, given that she was no longer human to him. it was only her asking him to kill her, to move on and never find her again that pushed him over the edge, that made him accept humanity as a lost cause and join the System’s side

Fam, I've done it again, I've color-coded the children.

They are on their way to eat some yummy cristals to grind all day after

(an Auto Hunting with my Clones txt post)

He doesn't consider himself human. He is a machine. A tool. A weapon. A clone.

Not a person. Never a person.

But lately his master doesn't treat him as such. And it actually makes him feel more valued, not less. Which he wasn't expecting.

See?, now he is even referring to himself as a "he" in his own head.

Will he now start craving food for the pleasure, not the energy?

Will he desire affection and physical contact?

Will he crave sleep and rest outside of recovery, just as part of a routine?

Maybe he already does, and that's why soft surfaces feel so good againt his skin after a long day following orders left and right. Why the water running down towards the drain, or down his throat, is so refreshing. Why a full stomach makes him feel full of energy and content even when it hasn't been digested yet.

in the novel, Sang-U has to continuously give his clones commands in active battles (which causes issues later when he tries to fight with all of them at once without having a proper strategy planned out)

and they don't instinctively protect him either (which also causes issues later because he completely loses control of them when he tries to feed them over 1000 jewels at once

the bug creature that attacks Ji-U in the manhwa doesn't exist in the novel. she gets hit my falling debris when their apartment first breaks open and it's the mana coming from the rift that gave her the MA Virus

because of that Sang-U doesn't end up in the hospital, but he does still get saved by Wontae on the surface when he's surrounded by monsters

he doesn't go to see Wontae first after visiting Ji-U in the hospital (who was actually awake for a little bit at the time

he ends up testing the jewels not so he can live up to his agreement with Wontae but because he was already planning to get stronger and had already tried using steroids on his clones so this was the next logical step

Woo-Hyeon is a boy and his parents both died in the Great Cataclysm, not later (I might be wrong about that part, but that's what seemed to be implied)

after the monster-ified #1 exploded from Woo-Hyeon's potion, Sang-U gets crushed under falling debris and ends up in the hospital with two broken legs

it’s during that hospital stay that Wontae comes to visit him and they make their deal

unlike manhwa Sang-U, whose thoughts on the deal were "I'm very grateful for what he did for me and my family and now I'm indebted to him, so now it's my turn to save his family", novel Sang-Us thoughts are "normally I would just agree to help, but since he's so desperate maybe I can use this to get something out of it too."

continuing that, novel Sang-U makes Wontae write up a contract with Junmo

said contract has the original plan set as one of Sang-U clones delivering food until the assault team can be rescued, as in the novel they only have 3 months worth of supplies, not 8.

he gets half of the payment under the contract in jewels and the training sessions between Wontae and Sang-U also only exist because of their contract

during the same hospital stay is when Hayeon comes to see him and the conversation they have a bit longer a more friendly than bittersweet (oddly enough, their relationship is a lot more developed in the novel than the manhwa. they text like all the time and they even went on a shopping date at one point

Woo-Hyeon witnessed them "holding hands" (they weren't actually; Sang-U was trying to stop Sang-U from pinching him) and immediately assumed they were dating. and the next day Sang-U asks for his numher and Woo-Hyeon is like Sang-U asks for his number and Woo-Hyeon is like "wait is he gay? no he had a girlfriend..'

also on that note Sang-U doesn't lose his phone like in the manhwa, so he doesn't lose everyone's contacts or even ghost them. he also doesn’t drop out of college, he just puts it on hold with the intention to return at some point

when the sangu-wontae contract actually goes into affect they do carry out the original plan of having the clones drop of the supplies but they don't find the assault team at all because they keep moving periodically

unlike in the manhwa, Sang-U doesn't learn combat techniques from using the familiar skill on his clones, he just makes them do it until they turn into Skills so he can use them. post-Jiu-coma he actually starts doing the stuff with them

Sang-U & Wontae make a bet that if Sang-U can kill an A-Rank monster in 2 years the Kainus Guild will buy him an Elixir and if he doesn't he has to join the guild

novel Sang-U actually enjoys swordsmanship when he's first learning it from Wontae and finds it exciting. he keeps pushing himself even when he's exhausted without anyone forcing him so he can keep getting better (and he does that for 6 months straight btw)

and speaking of swords, he never uses the cursed sword like he does in the manhwa. he always leaves it with one of his clones (typically #1)