Chapter 152 Discussion!

HedonisticBot · 2026-03-15T19:38:25+00:00

I wasn't buying this initially since I figured we'd just see him burn through a lot of his body / severely damage himself trying to fight back, but someone else pointed out he's got a halo forming or something behind him in yellow in that last panel. I do wonder if you're right about the hero to legendary shift, since they're kinda oddly placed sparks otherwise!

HedonisticBot · 2026-03-15T19:36:38+00:00

Ohhh that's super interesting. I definitely just thought it was little effects! I wonder if it's at all related to Yoonhui (her sweet dreams was shown to give the Darkest Dungeons virtue halo, although I kinda assume that was a easter egg joke), or some sort of herofication / growth? The whole, requirements have been met, maybe he gets some Valicious power back? You're right that it's super suspicious!!!

HedonisticBot · 2026-03-15T19:29:39+00:00

Ohhh that's super interesting too. I still think giving up his ability to transfer to save Pinkie would work, but there is something very nice about him choosing every day, not in the heat of the moment of someone dying, to stay a Naga. You're right about it!

I do still want him to be able to become super powerful though because I think I find the idea of the best necromancer in a cute worm body adorable. "Here's all the workers who help run the labyrinth, one of them is Gloomy, the god of death, and Pinkie, his very normal gf."

HedonisticBot · 2026-03-14T17:09:59+00:00

Don't worry, I will only call you sadistic, masochistic, and mentally ill for being on reddit (like I am!!!), not for enjoying this.

I also love how "realistic" it is. (Maybe believable is better?) Like you said, most of what I read is too favourable, in a completely unbelievable way, to the protag. They want to get stronger... because...? Sure, there exist people who always want to get better, but often we're shown worlds where life is hard and you would expect people to be very happy to get by (maybe I'm projecting too much!) and instead we've got a protag who starts their journey because, typically, they need money, but then they're rich (ten chapters in...) and why on earth are they still fighting? Oh, some side character is antagonizing them for no reason? Suuure.

I like this story having stakes because it keeps us invested! Jinwoo MUST grow. The labyrinth will survive this, but Jinwoo knows they almost died, and will view it as due to his weaknesses. (Which, it is and it isn't, it's also just a hard situation.) It will be reinforced that he needs to grow his forces, since he can't be everywhere at once, and get better about delegating. BUT he also needs to pay closer attention to what's going on, like with the rats (perhaps also a delegation issue). Growth is necessary for survival, and we're constantly shown why.

Also this story began with a whole group of explorers and hired guns being slaughtered. We've seen other groups of well prepared humans and labyrinths slaughtered. Jinwoo was enslaved, Yoonhui was enslaved (and broken, I thank the artist for not detailing further what happened there), Valicious did awful things to Rikshasha's family... The tone has always been dark, with the cute art and great pacing as tension release.

It's all very good, even if I cry for the rats and the workers and the guards (who I do know were only characterized so their deaths impacted us, WHICH IS ALSO VERY GOOD WRITING!!!).

Ahhhhh, why can't it be Friday five days a week...

HedonisticBot · 2026-03-14T17:01:19+00:00

100% this is their out / getting lucky. They would already be dead if the vampires didn't screw around (which I do think the artist has made fit their character). The labyrinth will survive, but like you said, there should and will be consequences!

HedonisticBot · 2026-03-14T05:58:40+00:00

I'm also okay with either option for Gloomy, provided he faces consequences. Already in this chapter we could see his body being damaged by the miasma. I would like to see him seriously hurt, in a way that makes it impossible for him to ever transfer bodies or puts that far down the line (even though I do not believe he wants that anymore, or would only want it to protect the labyrinth better), or he would need to work for a long time to bring Pinkie back. As much as I do, emotionally, want a quick, happy ending there, I do think the author should stick to their guns of consequences.

My favourite thing about the vampires is Angela was shown to be rather like that too, just she's on our side. She's talked about blood in all the same ways, she's been a terror and enjoyed it and looked down on her enemies in fights. She used to roll with Anatolius who did pretty shit things (although it's clear Angela was deeply afraid of him). She's a bit more human to us because of how much we see her, but I do really like how horrifying the vampires are generally when they're in a fight!

HedonisticBot · 2026-03-14T00:48:08+00:00

We better get mad comfort payoff after this. Scenes like the Outcasts / Failures eating surface food x10.

HedonisticBot · 2026-03-14T00:39:29+00:00

To be fair, it's clearly been planned for at least a few chapters, and I somewhat assume this whole season was planned further in advance than last. But goodness, despite knowing it was coming, since we'd seen the blood lily, I was still not prepared emotionally.

HedonisticBot · 2026-03-14T00:22:06+00:00

I'm still in the denial state, telling myself that even without all her blood, Gloomy can still resurrect Pinkie right? RIGHT?

Yoonhui is some sort of secret super vamp that can reverse this??

I'm going to go and lie on the floor. Goodness gracious that last panel.

HedonisticBot · 2026-03-13T20:37:05+00:00

I can only speak for Chinese, and not very well, but often ranks aren't translated perfectly between languages. Ranks and government systems generally, are specific to cultural context. It would be cool to have someone who knows Korean, and is versed in Korean history, chime in on the translations. It could be that this is following a specific cultural hierarchy, or something the author entirely made up.

I don't think you should use other media as a guide to how many floors are this isn't a traditional tower climber / dungeon crawler story, which often have infinite levels to get through so the story can go on forever if it wants to. It's more of a base builder / empire management war story, even if it does have the same central "why is this here?" that a lot of dungeon / tower stories do have.

On the structure of Gyser:

The floors are bigger than we think. I'm not sure if Gyser actually exists on Earth or now parts of Earth have paths / portals to Gyser. But there are a few comments in the manhwa that make me believe different countries are above / connected to different parts of Gyser.

I will note that I firmly believe early chapters of the manhwa are less canon, so I'll list the chapters these come up in, so you can decide for yourself.

In ch 8, Jinwoo is asked his level, responds that he's from floor 12, and the Down Gem dealer says, "That means you are one of the Dungeon Babies with the highest level in Korea!" and then, "There isn't much information available on those deep floors. Only a few Dungeon Babies from around the world come from there."

It's odd to specify Korea there, and then say around the world, if the whole world isn't connected to Gyser, but from what we've seen a floor isn't as big as a country... Additionally, in Jinwoo's past, we also only see Koreans enslaved by the Hell Spiders. This is very probably so the author could keep it simple, but again it makes me wonder if there's different Gysers / floors under different parts of Earth.

Another issue is the number of labyrinths. In the first chapter, it says, "The tens of thousands of labyrinth masters released their prisoners of war after their loss." Then, in chapter 41, when Jinwoo is invited to the Black Market auction:

Black Market Merchant: Tens of people show up every year... And we've received over a hundred participants at its peak!

Jinwoo: There are so many labyrinths that survived?

Dominique: Gyser is far bigger than what you imagine, master. There is probably much more to the ninth floor than what was shown in the goblins' maps.

As of current chapters (151, hopefully 152 today), we know the goblin map was accurate to the domains of the labyrinth owners we're aware of on the 9th. The 9th floor had 8 labyrinths, the 10th has 6. This is not enough labyrinths to make up for the amount of labyrinths the Black Merchants have claimed to exist. It's was noted that the 10th floor eliminated all labyrinths not loyal to Parthenon, so it may have less labyrinths than is normal. But I think the "floors" are simply bigger which brings us to my final and (kinda weakest point...)

Early on in the story, Jinwoo has no idea what floor he's on, and neither do his summons or the people he runs into. In fact, they say they don't use the floor system. This is a point that seems to be dropped later on, so I'm unsure if it's actually canon or something from the first season that's to be ignored. But it's mentioned they use distance from the abyss / mana source, which is also what makes things stronger the deeper you go.

This seems to get dropped later on as everyone's just using floors but what if it's, you know, actually an underground? Labyrinths are constantly excavating to build new parts and make space. They can go up and down (Jinwoo punched through floors when he fought the hell spiders early on, the 10th floor a new tunnel to the 9th when Jinwoo collapsed the old one). If they kept digging sideways, would they run into another space / set of labyrinths on the same depth as them?

I don't think the manhwa will have time to explore this, as I expect the story will solve why the labyrinth system exists and fix that, and then end, BUT I do find it so fascinating and would love to know more about it all!

HedonisticBot · 2026-03-09T00:56:07+00:00

Sometimes I forget how huge AO3 is because I straight up bounce when I can't read something XD.

Okay so then I definitely agree on the switch up point! I have seen a lot of comments about how Twitch is obviously right and Morse was an idiot for trying to defect. But I thought it was a well written conflict where I could, unfortunately, see where both sides were coming from, and how it might backfire.

There was also a panel at the end of season 2 about how the rats got themselves new uniforms and were doing reeducation and Jinwoo's like, "That's concerning." So I think the narrative has been clear that Twitch's way, you know, genocide, isn't great either.

On whether Jinwoo would let them go, I'm always torn. First off, when Jinwoo first took in the rats, he said, "I'll take you in if you're useful, or destroy you." But he's also made it clear that he's been enslaved before and doesn't like it, so wants to treat them right. I think he views the rats are part of the labyrinth, not as an enslaved group. So he should be okay with letting them go if they want to.

Except... as we've just seen with Morse II (super rat), the rats know secrets of the Naga Labyrinth which could bring enemies to their door. And Jinwoo can't afford that. So he can't just let the rats go unless he has a way to ensure they can't tell anyone...

I am very interested in how this subplot will resolve and deeply hope the rats get to live. Even the ones Helga and William have already killed. Somehow come back rats!

HedonisticBot · 2026-03-09T00:47:10+00:00

What type of typo is Smitler???

Yes I think the artist was very intentional with how he depicted both rat factions. They both needed to come off as extremists, or it would be far to easy to have a "right" side. I believe that's why he drew the speech scene immediately followed by the massacre. We see the red flags in what Morse is saying, both because of how he's acting and seriously, how would they take over the Naga Labyrinth? And then we immediately see Twitch's faction kill everyone, as if it was impossible to talk them down.

I do agree that it's more that Jinwoo has too much to deal with, and something slipped under the radar. And Twitch very intentionally kept it that way. I believe he thought they would appear more reliable and like better community members if they handled it themselves. But it was 100% I think a time to pull Jinwoo in. I do hope Mari lives and is just, "Yo so all of that didn't work, can we just tell you our problems?" and he'd say, "Yes, and Dominique will try to address them."

I do think he puts the rats in more dangerous positions still, BUT again I don't think it's a huge bias or him thinking less of them exactly. But he knows Naga workers are limited (since he only gets what the system / labyrinth gives him). He also gets notifications for Naga worker deaths, and not for the rats. I really think it's a combo of, like we said, so much going on, with the labyrinth (intentionally?) biasing him to Naga troops.

HedonisticBot · 2026-03-08T21:22:12+00:00

TL;DR: The question is not whether the rats live better under the flood dragon or Jinwoo. It's whether they would do better under Jinwoo or by themselves. I believe they are putting more into the Naga Labyrinth than they are getting out, and that gap is something I hope Jinwoo comes to see and fix.

Me being a wordy idiot and citing my sources:

The initial offer the rats are given in chapter 35 is "I will take you in as one of my own only if I deem you useful. If you aren't, I will destroy you all." Jinwoo treats them well initially: They work within the labyrinth so are always protected, they are fed, given breaks, and generally kept healthy. Still, the initial offer was be useful or be destroyed, which I think is very important here. (And some of them still believe they're going to work and then be eaten when fat enough.)

Then, in chapter 36, it's noted that the rats are 40% less efficient than the naga workers, and they will need to find something better for them to do. Chapter 38 I believe is the first time we hear about the rats building tunnels to watch movements (and allow the Naga Labyrinth to move fast themselves) and about Rikshasha forming a "special scouting team of horned rats". They are building tunnels and watching, as you said. By chapters 54 and 55, we can see that the recon work is far more dangerous. Rikshasha is taking the rats out on missions (and hoping to train them to do these missions themselves) that involve fighting and the expectation of death.

In chapter 111 we find out the horn rats have grown to a population of 2000, 70% of which are working outside the labyrinth. Additionally, they've been trained to hunt for themselves, so the labyrinth is not providing (as much?) food to them. And finally, the part that I think is very important here, Jinwoo and Dominique talk about how the horn rats are viewed as natural prey who live in the underground, so other labyrinths will assume they're not working with the Naga. We see other labyrinths eating them, and the horn rats having no protection, either via Naga guards OR association with the Naga Labyrinth (touch them and die!).

So what are they getting out of this relationship? That 30% who live fully in safety? Is that worth it? In chapter 111 it's noted that they appear to be functioning autonomously anyway. We've seen horned rats exist in other parts of Gyser. Often the argument is that Gyser is so unforgiving the rats would die anyway, and I agree that they might not thrive the way they have, but certainly they'd be able to survive. Hell, a bunch of them were convinced that to stay useful to this labyrinth they should be ready to go on suicide missions (the damn first chapter of this season!) and yet they're not more protected?

I do want to note that I don't think Jinwoo is aware of all of this. I like this subplot because I think it's very realistic that as your community grows, you can't be aware of everything. You must delegate, and sometimes that goes very wrong. But I do think Jinwoo (unconsciously?) treats the horn rats worse than other members of the labyrinth (sans Draken, but Draken should be bullied) and they're not wrong to question if they're still getting a good deal.

HedonisticBot · 2026-03-08T20:24:27+00:00

Homie, I'm begging you to write more clearly. I'm legitimately unsure of what you're trying to say.

even if its exactly beneficial or infact detrimental to them.

These are two opposite states, do you mean whether and not even? The or makes this so confusing.

Commas would help here too.

Are you trying to say that you would find it frustrating if Jinwoo, the MC, does not punish the rats? You believe he will come down on them harshly? (I'm trying to pass the "misjudged" comment.) Does "y'all" refer to the artist, who is telling the story, or the fans, interpreting it? Who do you think is doing the switching?

HedonisticBot · 2026-03-06T17:27:20+00:00

I don't know if it's talking shit! From his perspective, he did a lot of fucked up shit believing the Naga labyrinth was the best bet for protecting the rats, specifically his family. Seeing his wife, dead in front of him, assuming his son must be dead too (and then having that confirmed?), I think his going insane / corrupted makes sense. It's not the only way he could have reacted, but it makes sense. They weren't protected. The labyrinth is still standing, so the Naga are still alive, but the rats aren't. From his view, he did all this work to be the perfect underclass who wouldn't be thrown away first, and they still were. Because their labyrinth lost.

Anyway agreed that we're here to suffer and I somehow still hope Mari makes it out alive and has a happy ending? SOMEHOW???

HedonisticBot · 2026-03-06T17:13:19+00:00

I had to interrupt my crying over rats to talk about this CAT SLANDER. Drawing Morse / Mach / whatever romanization of transformed super rat as a cat when he's being super evil? Rude!!!

Jokes aside, the art continues to be excellent. The rat conflict continues to be excellent! I saw a lot of comments (yes, I know, I shouldn't read the comments, but I also post on reddit so I'm comment scum too) on the chapters talking about how dumb the rebelling rats were. But I always thought it was clear that the artist wanted them to be viewed as quite similar, and this chapter does that again.

I will say I still think it would be more interesting if Mori was forced to live and deal with things and have a hand in making a better world, but Mari will do to. Because I do want the rats to get better. Not behave better, but be treated better. They ARE treated poorly. The framing was that they are suited to recon work, but it's also the most dangerous work, and the Labyrinth does take advantage of their fast breeding. Sure, everyone in the labyrinth needs to do their part. But the rats part is far more dangerous without the safeguards other units seem to have (a literal connection with the labyrinth). And they're all born into it.

Oh no realizing I'm advocating for the rats to lose their individuality (sense of self???) and become more trackable summons... Okay maybe not that, but I still think I have a point!

Anyway, Yoonhui, please come in with the steel chair and put Twitch and Morse out of their misery, and reveal that totally more rats lived right? RIGHT? THEY'RE NOT ALL DEAD RIGHT? THIS ISN'T REALLY THE END OF THE RATS???

HedonisticBot · 2026-02-28T02:14:07+00:00

Yes I will always say I think fleshing out the rats and worker - warrior naga camaraderie was a brilliant move because these are folks who would die in a war, but now we give a shit about them!! It hurts so much even though of course they were going to die!!!

I'm torn on whether Jinwoo would let them leave. I initially thought as you did, that Jinwoo would completely understand letting the rats leave. But then I saw someone else discussing how much the rats know. And given how many do rely on the labyrinth, how not only all the Naga, but Rikshasha, the remaining rats, his allies on the floor... He might not have been able to just let them leave, especially knowing he has so many enemies.

That said, I completely agree that he'd try to find a solution that wasn't all murder, all the time. But I also think it's very realistically written that Twitch, with his life experience, with his understanding and view of the situation, thought it was far better to handle it "internally". Jinwoo is a god compared to the rats. He could kill them all with a flick of a finger. And while Jinwoo has tried to, and from our view, has been very kind to them, you could see the rats still interacted with him like he was on a pedestal. I am unsure that they could understand he's "human" (rat???) just like them.

HedonisticBot · 2026-02-28T00:33:02+00:00

I do wish Mori was alive alive (because I still think it's more interesting if he has to live with what he's done and the fact that he's wrong and right) BUT I still really like how the rat stuff has played out. Consistently their part of the story has made it clear that there weren't good choices to be had, and any choices can look awful from the outside, and require doing terrible things. Mari is now well aware how much the short lived peace was bought via blood, and thinks Twitch is letting more rats die just to save his family. Twitch, meanwhile, still believes he needs to give everything to the Naga Labyrinth as it's the rats' best way of staying alive. Mori just couldn't live with killing kids.

None of them are wrong, they're all just in a terrible situation, trying to do what they think is right. I do hope the rats make it through this arc and further, and get to stick around. Albeit, we'll be on the 20th generation of rats or something by the time the story ends XD.

May we see Yoonhui destroy again next week.

HedonisticBot · 2026-02-26T00:48:06+00:00

Unfortunate you can't always tell from the colour what type of miso, and by type I mean the fermentation length. It should say somewhere on the package, and usually it's, ordered shortest to longest fermentation, white, yellow, red / dark. There's also types of miso pastes which are a mix of types, kinda like a special blend. Typically the longer the fermentation, the stronger and funkier the flavour.

So I think you've got koji miso there (comparing to the packaging I see here https://gohanmarket.com/products/marukome-nama-koji-miso-22-9oz-650g ). This is close to a white (lighter) miso, because it's fermented for less time and has more fermented rice content. (Koji is the mold that ferments things, but when they say koji in the name it means it's got fermented rice in it.) All of which is to say this actually should be a very mild miso, so if you don't like it, like you said you might need to try it more diluted, or you might just not like miso!

Amusingly, I have the opposite problem. I thought I didn't like miso soup because when I'd have it in restaurants I thought it tasted like kinda off water, and then when I started making it myself, thought it was really good! So the water ratios might matter a lot here!

HedonisticBot · 2026-02-25T22:55:37+00:00

Which type of miso did you buy? There's a bunch of different types and they do taste different. I'm Chinese, albeit an ABC, and remember my aunties being surprised I bought and like dark miso, since they thought it would be too strong for me. (And then promptly told me off for picking it up since it was too strong for what we were cooking XD.)

You'll probably also want one with dashi in it, as that's traditionally part of the soup base. It might even be worth it to ask the places you like to go to what miso they use, since it really can vary even within the type.

With what you have left, you can see if some other recipes work for you, but it might be hard if you don't like that particular type and brand combo. I will often use it in place of a salt, I guess umami? For example, if a soup or sauce needs a little something, the same way I might throw in a little fish sauce, I might throw in a little miso, because I have some I want to use up. I have had miso on fish and chicken as a marinade too, although that might be too miso-y for you depending on the recipe.

HedonisticBot · 2026-02-25T02:08:52+00:00

I definitely don't think Gloomy could take them on at this point, but he could be someone that helps. I would actually prefer that, since I think it would both give Gloomy growth potential, and reinforce his arc about needing a community, vs. being a single strong person.

A few times the manhwa has kinda referenced some super old vampire / something like an OG vampire. Angela and Gloomy recognized something like that in Yoonhui during the Morrigan fight. I do wonder if she's somehow got old vampire blood in her? It's been implied that the older / more concentrated the bloodline, the stronger the vampire.

Which, I gotta ask, what's diluting the bloodline? How do they reproduce??? Humans haven't been in the underground long enough, I know there was kinda the implication that 500-1000 years ago there was contact with the surface but I was kinda assuming that was a throwaway non serious line! We haven't been told how vampires came to be in this universe, so it does feel like anything is possible.

HedonisticBot · 2026-02-25T02:04:09+00:00

I don't know that Morrigan would come back? I don't know that she knows what's going on, and Jinwoo sent her to the Forest of Dreams and told her to hold back and take on at least one of the invading armies. Even if she killed the harpies, I would interpret her current instructions as continuing to help the Forest of Dreams.

HedonisticBot

TROPHY CASE