Many things stress people out during the day; these thoughts don't leave us alone even at night while sleeping. Seeping through our minds as manifestations of nightmarish demons.
I still dream of giving my physics paper again and wake up gasping and sweating. Phew!
Whether you are a student or an office goer, the fight against daily exhaustion, burnouts, and regrets is real. This is where the most common form of escapism comes to play: Reading.
Due to the pandemic, I've turned to reading web novels, and boy was I shooked at the content! But the book that really changed my mind was Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint.
[Spoilers Ahead!]
The premise of ORV is fascinating; a book written by an unknown author, read by almost no one, comes to life! The world as you know it has ended. There's murder, reward, and enjoyment of the 'gods.'
OK, let me explain few things quickly. In this world, after it changes the genre to action-fantasy, every human is given a character status. You can level up based on the missions given, or you can use coins to get skill points as you do in any video game.
These coins are sponsored to humans by beings called 'constellations.' They sponsor a human who becomes their 'incarnation.' I won't be going deep in the story anyway, but this is essential in knowing the story!
Read ORV on Webtoons!!
ORV introduced me to Kim Dokja - he manifested as my inner self. The loner who wanted to run away from real life by reading and forcing oneself to believe when no one else did.
For ten long years, Kim Dokja had been reading a fictional novel called Three Ways of Survival, a long journey of more than 3000 words...and him being its only reader. It's actually funny how his name plays into this. Dokja could mean 'alone,' or 'reader,' and he is both!
ORV's first chapter ends just as the book TWS comes to life, including the monsters, the inherent panic, death, and its protagonist Yoo Jooghyuk. For more than a decade, Kim Dokja had read about Yoo Joonghyuk, comforted himself, believing he could be like the Protagonist. But reality works in mysterious ways.
In the very first scene of them both, Yoo Joonghyuk pushes Kim Dokja off a bridge XD! But this is where we can clearly differentiate Yoo Joonghyuk, the protagonist, and Kim Dokja, the main character.
Kim Dokja's way of thinking, actions and skills greatly appealed to me as a reader of this particular story. How many times have I wondered, if I was reborn into a book or vice-versa...what changes could I do?
We as readers look through Kim Dokja's eyes and thoughts, like how we have all read Harry Potter and clearly know when Lord Voldemort gets resurrected in the books.
Similarly, Kim Dokja has these prophetic notes of TWS. Although they clearly change the outcome of the future permanently. Imagine if we interfered in the Prisoner of Askaban and got Wormtail arrested, well Barty Crouch Jr. would have definitely got Lord Voldemort back, but that's beside the point.
Any minor changes we, as readers, do in the said fictional book, the future of the book changes, and the outcome becomes unknown. However, Kim Dokja doesn't give a damn about this.
His one and only goal has remained the same from the start, to reach his only salvation (if you know you know): reading the epilogue of TWS. While everyone else was doing their best to survive the new apocalyptic world, Kim Dokja was looking beyond the horizon at the stars to see if the answers laid there.
With missions changing and gradually becoming difficult due to Kim Dokja's changes, Yoo Joonghyuk gets hooked on to his team. Their collaboration and ability to bull sh*t their way out of situations is hilarious. And everybody lives happily ever after...
But what makes this particular novel different from the others?
Although, ORV comes out to be a typical shonen genre where the hero has a quest, and he completes it with many sub-plots. The deviation comes when the concept of death is introduced.
Usually, it's someone's master or a loved one who dies, thus causing the hero to go out for revenge. Here, Kim Dokja dies.
It's temporary, of course. Nevertheless, we are thrown into a situation of the unknown as Kim Dokja's past, present, and future collide. If you thought his pre-apocalyptic life needed no attention, you are wrong. Very wrong.
We get some back story on his parents: his mother was arrested for murdering his father. This situation not only traumatized him but also got him ostracized by everyone. Especially when his mother wrote a book on it. Kim Dokja's only lifeline was the protagonist, Yoo Joonghyuk and how he overcame his difficulties in a dead world.
A best friend who lived with him throughout the years since no other looked for him. And this is where the concept of death and beyond breaks our minds.
There are three ways of survival in this fictional world:
- Regression (basically going back in time again and again)
- Reincarnation (getting reborn)
- Becoming a disaster-level calamity
And here we have Kim Dokja, who readily gives his life and survives due to the most negligible possibility known to him from the 3000+ chaptered book.
Not once, not twice... but multiple times. Although we, as readers, know that he wouldn't necessarily die, his team and newfound family don't.
Now you might ask, what does this all have to do with escapism (ah, the topic I forgot)? It's because the readers know the epilogue of the story.
When Kim Dokja finally fulfills his wish of knowing the actual end of TWS, we, the readers, are thrown into a loop as the mastermind of this world-changing scenario is revealed to be... a young Kim Dokja!
That's right, the entire scenario was created as a daydream by a young boy who wanted a world to escape into. This world later in another dimension got written into a book, was read by the boy, who later used the book to save the world and found himself at the end of the road. Confusing, I know.
Kim Dokja, as a result, vows to himself to keep the balance and stays at the end, not telling anyone. He got his wish; the others got their world. We come to know how the world started in the first place. The paradoxical shift in the writing tone scrambled my brains to understand what the heck was happening.
And then ORV ends on a happy note, or was it? It was an open ending, so it's up to the readers to take what they get.
What I took from this experience was that escapism is natural; the instinct to escape is present in anyone of us. If we don't like something, we inexcusably stress over it. Leading to health and mental issues, it is natural.
We can use our mediums to relieve our stress, listen to music, watch anime, or read books. It is another adventure free of worries. But at the end of it all, it's going to be just us. There are no heroes, or quests, or rewards in real life.
But what you do have is a family. Of course, a family doesn't need to be related to you by blood; family comprises people who will care about you regardless of any situation. They will help you lessen your worries and talk to you anytime without expectation.
Kim Dokja's family was his team, a team that knowingly destroyed their entire world just to bring him back from beyond the epilogue.
I want to say this one thing to all fellow escapists out there: you are never truly alone. Go on forums or Twitter or Tumblr or YouTube. Online friends can become close to you too.
Don't give up!!
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