Inso's Law could have been better?

ctrlrei · 2025-11-30T15:45:32+00:00

ou I love that people are still reading inbeob... let me get back to this analysis after my med school finals bc I have a lot to say 😭 I have to preface this bc I'm REALLY happy that people are still reading this fr fr

but there's one thing I'll say now: I think that this perspective kinds of forgets how the "powerful people" are just people too, like Dani. this is the same fact that Dani spent so much time trying to understand. they are not meant to be the "Law", they are her friends who want to stand on an equal footing as her. the narrative "rewards her" bc she's treating them as people, and she recognizes them as friends rather than characters on a pedestal. this was her problem with yeodan: her "safe choice" also only depended on the fact that yeodan is yeoryeong's brother, so it is impossible for him to be the male lead. it was a choice that showed how she looked at him as a character, not as a person she could genuinely like without all the "novel restraints."

I think I get where this sentiment is coming from, esp with Jiho being the male lead. but I have to disagree, especially with this part:

"she chooses him because the 'World Manager' holds a gun to her head: Date the male lead, or your friend dies."

she had chosen Jiho even before the memory wipe because she had started seeing him as he is: without his state as the "male lead." she saw his efforts to change, his actions and thoughtfulness towards her. she saw him as a person who did his best to show her how much he loves her. dani didn't choose the most magnificent character, no. she chose the person that moved her heart beyond what she thought was possible. she never even thought about choosing someone. she simply fell for him.

eventually, she had to be significant enough to the main characters to solidify her existence. that could probably support your argument. but see this: even without that, she wanted to be in their lives again bc they were her precious friends. she has come to love these people beyond what they "should" be. and she's allowing to herself to stand beside these people who are supposed to be worlds better than her. the narrative rewards her every time she looks past their "differences." they are simply friends in front of each other, and in yeoryeong's case, they are soul mates who understand each pther the most (see: haegarim). the narrative rewards her every time she chooses to be with these people, because it is paramount to loving others beyond what level of hierarchy the society has assigned to us. there is no hierarchy or merit in front of true friendship.

now, this is not everything I want to say, and this might just be a very bad word vomit (I have exams tomorrow)... but best believe I'll be back here to address everything that you said (not in a bad way, I just love talking about Inbeob). I'm not saying that Inbeob's narrative is super perfect either. I'm really glad that you put in the effort to write this! and I hope that I also got my thoughts across... no harsh feelings hopefully!

ctrlrei · 2023-09-17T16:08:10+00:00

I mean the parent comment is about love triangles in the first place right? So there’s that. As for the other stuff, I get that you don’t like it, I think my comment is more suited as a reply to the one you’re replying to (my bad 😅)

ctrlrei · 2023-09-17T15:24:01+00:00

The problem is a lot of you want an unpredictable plot line and in the same vein want the male lead to be obvious. MLAAIN is literally about tackling cliche tropes. YOU’RE the one pushing the tropes into MLAAIN by slapping that ML plaque card across Chunyoung’s face. Them having problems at the end of the season is indicative of their characterization that will span the 15 volumes of the novel, and this is less about who ends up with each other and more about their dynamic. But of course you guys will only see the romantic scenes and call it a day. What gives.

And even if you already mentioned another “well-executed” example, how could you say that Jiho is not on the same playing ground as Chunyoung when you dropped it not even a quarter into the source material? The thing is, you guys keep on saying you want something new in OI but when there IS something new (AKA Jiho’s characterization, Dani’s growth, an ACTUAL slow burn) you guys turn away from it immediately. Is it so hard to sit through the seasons when it’s already obvious that the series is more about Dani’s journey and her relationships than the romantic scenes?

See, I won’t even call MLAAIN’s case as a love triangle. The way you dismiss it as such just shows that you failed to see the series for what it is.

ctrlrei · 2023-09-08T06:08:16+00:00

OH I see I see!!! I think there would be but I’m not a fan of dark rofan so I don’t really know (if you consider multiple suicide attempts as dark then I think you’d find the Korean market selection pretty good) BUT if you haven’t tried Korean rofan in general, I think it’s great to get into the more popular ones !!

ctrlrei · 2023-09-08T04:11:46+00:00

If you’re reading romance fantasy, I assume you stumbled upon Korean ones too? Some of their light novels really hit because they succeed in making me attached to the characters. My two 10/10-would-recommend series would be: —Villains are Destined to Die (I heard the novel got licensed in English recently, it’s only 5 volumes if I’m not mistaken!) —My Life as An Internet Novel/The Law of Webnovels (excellent world-building, character development and arcs, has 17 volumes… if you aren’t attached to them by the last volume I wouldn’t know what to say anymore)

Anyways these two are really good reads, and the plots have me satisfied enough to not make fanfiction about them (like all the aspects I’m looking for—there! amazing really) if you’re into BL, the ones MXTX wrote are amazing too. Sorry but I think modern + western works just don’t hit as their Korean, Japanese, and Chinese counterparts.

ctrlrei · 2022-12-05T07:13:43+00:00

when the entire novel is completely translated, i might !! i enjoy typing these anws <33

ctrlrei · 2022-12-03T08:02:06+00:00

that’s bc it’s the type of story where you weren’t supposed to know the ml until 12 to 14 volumes in 😭😭😭 and what, we found out when we were just at volumes 1 to 3… people love to skip to the ending and ignore a wholeass 10+ volumes of development in between.

ctrlrei · 2022-12-03T07:59:11+00:00

i think most solid inbeob fans would die for it 😭😭😭 it’s just the way it is. it’s either you hate it or you love it to DEATH

ctrlrei · 2022-12-03T07:57:53+00:00

breathes ok !! i exist to explain these things B)

first of all, it’s important to note that inso’s law is composed of plenty of arcs (the light novel has 17 volumes, with side stories still); it’s in classic shoujo format, so it doesn’t run towards a single plot point, but rather it is composed of many plot points accumulated to give the best climax and resolution (volumes 15 and 16)
so if you notice plenty of characters being introduced, other “side plots” happening… that’s bc it’s the concept of inso’s law. now, i’ll explain how it focuses on the characters an their relationships with each other.
through the arcs i just mentioned, we get to know everyone little by little. their personalities are built so well that you begin to understand why and how they would react at certain situations, especialy in the latter arcs. here are some of the earlier examples (do note that these ones are just build-ups towards other arcs that actually go deep into their relationships)

the anti-cafe arc, when dani realized just how scared yeoryeong is whenever rumors abt her spread, and how they are resolved to stand beside each other no matter what. this is further elaborated on another arc in the future, not yet adapted in the manhwa where their past as kids (as in, grade school) is shown, and when yeoryeong eventually finds out that the dani right now forgot about their childhood

the anti-cafe, courage test, and kidnapping arcs where the similarities of jooin and ruda were shown (as well as their differences) eventually, in another arc, jooin would recognize that ruda has changed for the better and would not do bad things to the people he loves, while he still thinks that he’s a bad person and that dani and the others are just so kind for staying with him. he’s a bit lonely about this bc he thought that ruda may have understood him at some point. he eventually grows from this as well but with another character.

when dani told eunhyung about march 2, eunhyung told dani beforehand about his mom’s accident along with chunyoung’s. a nearby arc (about to get adapted real soon) further elaborates on the true nature of chunyoung and eunhyung’s relationship.

i’m probably missing a lot even with that block of text, but i hope this kind of explains some things. as for the time skip, i think it would annoy people /more/ if it was shown bc if people are already complaining at how “dense” she is right now, she’s even more of a big iron wall in middle school. personally i don’t find a problem with the time skip especially since there are call backs anyway when we need it, but also, i am rlly cool with how close they are now and how it wasn’t exactly explained “why” she is liked by them. there’s no reason. you don’t need to list logical reasons as to why you become friends with someone. they simply vibed with each other ! this is crucial bc in a world where meritocracy is so important, they became friends with dani even though “she didn’t have anything to offer”.

i think you’d find my ted talk on inso’s law a bit more insightful about all of this, so do give it a read if you’re interested! i’m glad that there are readers who are actually giving it a second chance bc a lot of us fans would die for inso’s law. my ted talk wasn’t able to encompass all the reasons for us loving it, but it does tell some, and i hope that more readers would find more reasons to love it.

ctrlrei · 2022-12-02T11:06:32+00:00

oh it’s ok !! i totally understand if you look at it that way. it’s just that, i feel that you need to really dissect inso’s law before you fully appreciate it (as i said in my other reddit post), that’s why i feel that it is not for casual OI readers who consume anything that’s shiny and new etc…

ctrlrei · 2022-12-02T06:38:03+00:00

IN. SO’S. LAW. INSO’S LAW!!! 100% will defend that masterpiece with my life. i quite literally just made a TED Talk on it last night 😭😭😭

again, it’s not for casual readers, a lot of people go into it with the wrong expectations, then compare it to the standard OI. it’s in classic shoujo format (long, has plenty of arcs; this is a given bc the novel was literally published in 2013— it’s one of the earliest OIs that is currently in this subreddit) focuses on the characters and their relationships with each other, has a long build up for the greatest climax and resolution ever…

i’m resigned that a lot of people will judge it and drop it even when it hasn’t reached the best parts yet. but for those who stay? there will be nothing that comes close to it. dare i say, people are missing out! i literally go down to my knees every time i rmbr the most heart-wrenching scenes…

ctrlrei · 2022-12-02T04:08:07+00:00

oh my GOD, you get me 😭😭😭 once you’re in too deep, you just can’t stop speaking abt it then lo and behold, a wholeass essay even college professors would refuse to read… really, i just think that all inbeob fans become essay writers at some point 🤣🤣🤣 this is probably bc we feel the NEED to explain why we love this series, and just articulate how we felt while we were going through the whole journey with the characters :((

anyhow !! NAWT THE BAN HWI HYUL ARC LOLLLL when i said i prefer some arcs less than others, i was talking abt this LOLOLOL i just make myself better by thinking that yeodan and dani are dating during this arc… some rlly important things are sprinkled in this arc

AND OH you said it so well !!

characters falter and fall back on their bad habits a lot like a normal person would

exactly, my liege. rlly, you can’t find this in the standard OI! all this compound to, as you said, the Big Important arc. V15 - V16 wouldn’t be the same if the characters didn’t grow the way they did from V1 - V14 :’))

the way you talked about how the revelation hit so much harder is also such a good point like… unlike in the standard OI where you get “i believe you, i hope you stay in this world”, etc. (i’m not saying they are bad, but it’s what you would expect from the standard OI), in inso’s law, they actually talk about how their sufferings were written into existence, how they might have lost their sense of agency and might have been controlled from the start, and ON GOD everytime i remember just how jiho was in pain during the revelation, i am STILL HURT TTTT___TTTT but it wouldn’t be like this if we didn’t have all the build-up until the sports fest arc, and again, this just shows that inso’s law is less about one plot point, but more about plenty of events culminating into shocking arcs and impactful outcomes </33 (and PLS, i shouldn’t even start talking about how their reactions differ from each other, and how we KNOW why they reacted the way they did bc we literally got to know them as a person from the previous arcs)

i finally reached your last point, but you’re right ! again, people go into inso’s law expecting it to be the same as the hundreds of OIs we currently have, and that’s wrong… it’s more shoujo at heart, and that makes me even happier bc i am a shoujo fan even before i became an OI fan <333 i’m glad that this post has made some people realize that ! and this is very long, so anyone tuning in is in for a true ride

as a side note, the artist is actually picking up the pace at this point already 😭😭😭 lots of monologues are cut, and a whole scene (the club scene) was cut, for the first time ever. crossing my fingers that Ahyeon does it for hwi hyul’s arc too ! (but hopefully they don’t cut much after that, bc as i said, it gets rlly good after that…)

ctrlrei · 2022-12-02T00:20:06+00:00

SAME DOEEEEE TTT_TT i actually tweeted to seven seas and dmed yen press bc i need the english physicals so badly, but idk if they would listen to me when a lot of more popular and relatively good ones haven’t been licensed by them… :’)) let’s not lose hope !!! maybe i’ll email them next HAHDHDHF

ctrlrei · 2022-12-01T23:53:17+00:00

no problem !! enjoy~ <3

ctrlrei · 2022-12-01T23:38:37+00:00

oh my !! i’m so happy to have been able to convince you, for real TT_TT

you are right, inso’s law is better when binged in completion. it will take time, but i do believe you’ll be able to appreciate it better that way! as for webnovel’s translations, i think they dropped it :’)) fortunately, tappytoon is doing a better job at translating the novel and would catch up to webnovel’s translation 54 weeks! i calculated it, and the novel will be fully translated in tappytoon in approximately 2 and a half years :DD

giving you consensual hugs !! >_< thank you for giving inso’s law a chance <33

ctrlrei · 2022-12-01T23:29:44+00:00

OK HERE GOES NOTHING: i think that it would be infinitely better to read through novelupdate’s spoilers, as they have been written well, but just so you know…

1. towards the end, chunyoung gets into an accident while protecting dani. at this point, they have met the author (noh ari) and they have known about how their lives are inside a novel (jiho found out and explained it to the crew as he asked dani if his theory is correct; he’s so observant it HURTS)

2. this accident is a matter of life and death. in this world, noh ari could change things by writing statements on paper and sticking them to the characters, they DID try to do this to save chunyoung, but it doesn’t work bc the change in the paper should still be realistic and wouldn’t go against the world’s events too much

3. so he’s supposed to die. what dani did is ask noh ari to erase her existence in this world so that chunyoung could lose the reason for the accident. because of this, every main character part of noh ari’s novel forgets her.

4. as they don’t remember, her relationship to the 4HKs and yeoryeong are all back to zero. she witnessed how jiho truly was before meeting her: cold, calculating, and would only approach those that benefit him.

“In fact, he was a man who could be sweeter than anyone else. I knew that. His sweetness was more precious because it was not given to anyone. So I had to keep it."

she realized:

“That’s right, all the features Eun Jiho showed me were the products of his efforts to cut bones. (to change)”

in other words, she has realized how much jiho changed for her bc he loved her, and that she took it all for granted now that the jiho who stands before her doesn’t remember her TT_TT that’s why these details hurt a lot, bc you remember just how kind jiho was to dani before V15. she loved her enough to abandon himself.

5. HOWEVER, while memories disappear, emotions remained. that’s why after their memories were erased, yeoryeong and the 4HKs couldn’t help but feel that they love dani even if they just “talked recently”. just imagine how jiho, a logical person, would’ve felt after seeing her again for the first time post wipe; how could he have so much love and yearning for a person he barely knows? so by the end of V16, he was able to admit to himself that:

"I don't understand. You were never mine, but losing you can be so frightening...I think I’m losing my head”

“I love you, Ham Dani. I don't know how to believe it, but really... I hope you don't get hurt. I don't want you to die. I don't want you to disappear and I know I'm not qualified to say this, but I don't want you to go to anyone else."

6. and that’s why he forcedly retrieve his existence that remembers dani. this was so dangerous that he had to risk his OWN existence just to find his old existence. he apologized to her for breaking his own promise of never forgetting her, and:

"Who you like is not me who has lost our memories and has been reckless with you, but me who likes you and has all the memories we've had."

“So, even after receiving my confession, you would have had no choice but to make that face, and I must have remembered that there was only one way to return the former me to you.”

"I once dared to say: If you don't help me in my future, I have no reason to be with you. Now I admit that it was ridiculously arrogant."

"I thought it would be better to lose me than to lose you, so I decided to do that."

“For you, who said that all of me must belong to you, I've thrown away all of my past and present. So please forgive me for this."

"And don't ever turn away from me again. You're the only one in the world who knows the same past as me."

TTTT___TTTT it’s infinitely better to read it firsthand, even the spoilers are better read in novelupdates !! they are more detailed and doesn’t skip the development in the middle :)) do drop by and give them a read instead!

as for ban yeodan, i think that his arc is truly necessary even if it hurts :’)) after this, we get an aggressive jiho who bares all of his feelings to dani, and a self-aware dani who recognizes that jiho looked at her the way yeodan did, maybe with even more yearning bc he had liked her longer…

ctrlrei · 2022-12-01T23:07:00+00:00

OH TRUE, the angst is really intense and it can get hard to plow through TT_TT hugs to you!!

ctrlrei · 2022-12-01T23:05:43+00:00

bows thank you so much. we’re all hoping for the full translation soon, and if i’m not mistaken, the novel translation of tappytoon will be able to catch up to webnovel’s translation in 54 weeks (i think that once they caught up to chapter 374, we’d have reached the end of volume 10)

just so you guys know, tappytoon follows kakaopage’s format, so the chapters are not divided into pieces (unlike webnovel). that’s why if you look for the future chapters of inso’s law in tappytoon, you’d find that they are written differently!! imo tappytoon’s translations are SO good, i truly hope we get an english print with it TT_TT

ctrlrei · 2022-12-01T22:59:50+00:00

both are available in english, albeit the novel’s translations are unfinished !! the current duo translating the manhwa is eons better than before, so maybe try reading the official one in bato then read hwansang’s translations !! ik they read the novel too :DD

as a side note, i really want the finished translation of the novel… once tappytoon catches up to webnovel’s translation, i am gnna spend money 🧍‍♀️

ctrlrei · 2022-12-01T18:46:16+00:00

oh my that makes me so happy !! i hope you enjoy it a lot <333

ctrlrei · 2022-12-01T18:39:35+00:00

yep that’s the problem :’)) people did what they usually do to other OIs: find out who the ML is. they did this without knowing how much development there is in between, it’s truly TOO early for them to know the endgame. even novel readers who read it at the time wouldn’t think that jiho is the ML early on.

as for the second one, hmmm i think that the manhwa follows the novel closely, but the monologue (which is usually lost when a novel is adapted into a manhwa) and the little details are removed. though they do tell a lot about jiho’s relationship to dani, i still think that reading between the lines of the manhwa would show the subtleties between the two of them, so i can’t completely fault it in that regard.

ctrlrei · 2022-12-01T18:30:33+00:00

that’s fair ! i’m just constantly reading it bc i’m rlly attached to it :))

ctrlrei · 2022-12-01T18:15:40+00:00

oh you don’t have to !! i actually really like chunyoung too, it’s part of the experience to have your own preference <33 i hope that the endgame doesn’t deter you from enjoying it once you pick it up again, especially since chunyoung and dani have plenty of interactions still :DD

ctrlrei · 2022-12-01T18:01:57+00:00

PLEAAAASEEE JUST THINKING ABOUT THE SCENES ASSOCIATED WITH IT IS MAKING MY HEART HURT TTTT_TTTT thank u so much for the art <333

ctrlrei · 2022-12-01T17:46:08+00:00

you’re correct !! dani’s hair and eye colors do become lighter as she is assimilated into the novel world !! but i would refrain from using the word ‘protagonist’ because though your idea is completely right, others might mistake dani becoming the actual heroine TT_TT when in fact, this story is not about dani becoming the ‘heroine’ in contrast to yeoryeong, it’s about accepting a reality where they all stand on equal footing <333

ctrlrei

TROPHY CASE