Everyone Else is a Returnee

Description

Links are NOT allowed. Format your description nicely so people can easily read them. Please use proper spacing and paragraphs.

Yu Ilhan was always the one left behind. Left out of cliques in school. Left out of social invitations. Just…always left out. Except now he’s been left behind for real.

When Earth’s future is threatened, Yu Ilhan stays behind while the rest of the population flees to other planets for safety.

It’s up to Yu Ilhan to save our planet before it’s too late!

Associated Names
One entry per line
EER
Last On Earth
나 빼고 다 귀환자
Related Series
N/A
Recommendations
Seoul Station’s Necromancer (27)
Infinite Competitive Dungeon Society (18)
The Second Coming of Gluttony (15)
Evolution Theory of the Hunter (13)
Arena (13)
Sovereign of Judgment (12)
Recommendation Lists
  1. Korea Novel (Non BL)
  2. My Gem Collection
  3. For the chuunibyou guy inside us all: male centric...
  4. The most interesting Light Novels
  5. Favorite Best Novel

Latest Release

5 group(s) hidden due to dead links. Click here to show all releases.
Write a Review
381 Reviews sorted by


nick1mname
nick1mname rated it
August 10, 2016
Status: c9
This is perhaps one of the best (web) novels I have ever read. Coming from the forum post the other day, it made my blood pump and my arms flail everywhere while reading. It just gives you a sense of amazement reading it, most would guarantee that after reading the first 3 chapters or even less you'd be hooked right in. The concept itself is, yes full of what you could call plot armor, but it's so well made that it doesn't even matter anymore :).
9 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Fossil
Fossil rated it
August 10, 2016
Status: c9
The main character's presence is so thin that he wasn't on the list of people to temporarily leave the planet. This list was made by god. So, due to the mistake, he's left on Earth.

If that doesn't make you interested, then just think about what you can accomplish while everyone's gone. That's what the MC did, and it definitely paid off.

Now read the novel. You will not regret it, and even if you do... erm, at least you didn't suffer as much as the MC did?
9 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
ErikHarrison
ErikHarrison rated it
December 20, 2020
Status: c348
Probably one of the top tier Korean Returnee novels. It's well done but if you don't like the concept then it can't be helped.

The execution is very generic. His rapid power scaling is standard, his attitude (while he does go through well written character development) is expected. The Angels are interesting and well done, some of the other characters are left extremely underdeveloped in favor of explaining more about the MC. The powers and leveling system are cool and you can feel it was thought out from the beginning. Everything... more>> it had to do for a cohesive story was done well and is received in high regard.

The romance is done horribly imo, I don't understand why the author even put it in, there were very little emotional moments and synergy between partners. Fight scenes are decent but not memorable. No enemies or allies really steal the show.

Overall if you were in the mood for this genre I would recommend it. <<less
8 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Vykato
Vykato rated it
October 27, 2020
Status: Completed
Just to say, this is my first review on NU.

But first, I’ll thank Chamber-nim for the translation, I followed it from chap 20 (i caught up when the last chap was 20) to the last (afterword), and I re-read it 2 times, (for a total of 3), sorry for being a silent reader tho.

And I must admit that, as chamber said in his review, that the story isn’t perfect and has a lot of annoying problems, but if you get over those, then damn this story is great, the... more>> characters are pretty well built, the worlds are well depicted, and even fights are thrilling. The story telling is good and the flow of the story is enjoyable.

I enjoyed it from start to finish, I had fun while trying my best to guess what was going to happen, who was who, and if it would end well. I rejoiced, shouted in anger and cried while reading this.

As of right now, it is still my favorite novel, 5 years that i’m reading novels.

To all new readers, please read it, and even if sometimes it feels like the story is slow, don’t drop it, you’ll see that this is truly good.

To end this, I’ll say it again but thank you chamber, and many thanks to all the early readers of EER who sometimes made my day with funny comments.

Have a great day <<less
8 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
eelyort
eelyort rated it
September 18, 2019
Status: afterword
To those people looking for a masterfully written novel with unforgettable, well-developed characters... this book isn’t for you.

For those looking for an intricate, well-planned plot where the ending is foreshadowed in the beginning chapters... this book isn’t for you.

This book isn’t the deepest, nor is it the funniest book I’ve ever read, yet despite this, it is BY FAR my favorite book of all time.

Though the characters aren’t too realistic, they aren’t 1-D either. Though the plot wasn’t planned from the start, it is still very well written, with multiple... more>> unexpected twists, that, looking back, I should have seen coming.

More than anything else, this book is just really, really fun. From the satire, to the wish-fufilment, to the comedy, and to the MC’s personality, the book is just really fresh. Though many times the book makes fun of existing tropes, turning them into the bu*t of jokes, other times it embraces those very same tropes, feeling wholesome and fun the whole time. But no, even the subversion of expectations, the MC deciding to just “let’s win using dirty tactics, ” the MC immediately planning to make ice/electric/etc armor the moment he realizes that fire resist armor exists, and the MC trying his absolute hardest to stop all events before they even occur, is just so much fun!

Aight I’ll get out of your hair now, my last recommendation is this: read more than the first few arcs, they’re dry compared to future ones, but if you make it to the end of arc 9, “I also do 2nd job advancement” and you’re still bored, or if you finish arc 11, “I carry” without feeling the slightest thrill, then this book probably just isn’t for you, and thats perfectly ok. <<less
8 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Crosley
Crosley rated it
September 15, 2018
Status: afterword
Overrated and overhyped, which sucks because I had high expectations for its rating. The premise was interesting at first, but as the story began to progress, it got very stale and repetitive—ends up far too predictable. It ended up being the same thing over and over again—"The MC does something impossible and everyone is shocked." It's fine the first couple hundred times, but add on another several hundred and you get an incredibly boring story with no meat or excitement. Crowd reactions are always the same; they always react the... more>> same way, or it becomes fairly evident that the author hardly puts any effort into reactions. I like the 'loner' style idea of a protagonist (though it's nothing too new) and that started the story out great, but later on, the author just gets inconsistent with his character personality and interactions with others. Same would go for his other characters as well.

Spoiler

You have Liera who, at first was a higher existence that was slightly moved by Yu Ilhan's effort. Later on, all of a sudden, Liera comes back and is head over heels for him and would literally do anything for him. A very huge personality shift with no consistency. Not to mention that Ilhan is dense? Didn't he say that he "likes" Liera way back after the 1st great cataclysm had occurred? Isn't that why he never looked towards Kang Mirae or Na Yuna as potential lovers, as his standards were very high? And then, he becomes dense towards love all of a sudden and doesn't know that Liera is infatuated with him. I'd assume that, after 1000 years spent on Earth and reading every book in the world, wouldn't he have read tons of Psychology books, self-help books, and love stories? He shouldn't be that s*upid.

[collapse]

Spoiler

I, personally, never enjoyed the idea of an overpowered protagonist that then, later on, has characters that piggyback off of him. Mir is one such character. You're telling me that the amount of effort Yu Ilhan did was somewhat easily caught up with just because Mir is his "son"? Sure he had his little moments of effort which the author just threw in, but 90% of his strength was just passed down from his parents and it hardly seemed like he struggled at all, unlike Ilhan who struggled in the first 1000 years. And then you have his parents who had little to no presence in the novel and it already seems like Ilhan's 1000 year effort was, in fact, a "talent" inherited from his parents? It's like the author enjoys writing about the overpowered MC with the huge gap in levels compared to other characters yet is also desperate to play catch up with all his other characters.

[collapse]

I enjoyed the elements of the story at the beginning but I think a lot of things could've been done at a better, moderate pace; the random comedy parts, the character reactions, or MC doing impossible things. Characters weren't too interesting as well. Overall, could've been a lot better, just wasn't my type of enjoyment. <<less
8 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Kenja
Kenja rated it
June 27, 2017
Status: c225
Perhaps I will edit the review. This novel is simply superb it makes blatant references to every possible popular troupes and cliches in other modern web and light novels and crashes them down before they even take place. While the author delivers the story as a parody of all existing novel cliches, he does it blatantly and characteristically which does not bother one but make them crack up. So the author has his distinctive writing (or maybe its just the translators?), makes lots of references to anime, light novels, web... more>> novels and even some movies (basically to popular culture except mabinogi). Well, the novel has a distinctive writing style: blatant parody of popular troupes and cliches: MC calls foreshadows as foreshadow and crushes them early on :D Author doesn't drag on things just to make novel longer, he solves issues, does not leave plot holes (he closes them quick, does not drag them on). It's actually very well written. About early chapters: Some people may get confused at early chapters because of the implementation of world building being slow at the start of the novel, it gets smoother and one gets used to the rhythm as chapters go on. About later chapters: It dwells on world building also the act, on and character development. It has a light tone even though it actually tells about some quite heavy stuff at times.

The translation is fabulous, the Author's Notes and the Translator's Notes are marvelous. Thank you for the fantastic job of translating it KobatoChanDaiSuki (this name... as expected is pretty embarrassing... but oh well, don't we all?) Give it a shot, you will most probably like it.

P.S.: MC is a pantacosmic loner (literally), thus a dense protagonist and also an OP one. These are the obvious cliches of this novel. BTW, whats with Mabinogi? Seriously? <<less
8 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
pandicorn
pandicorn rated it
October 18, 2016
Status: c35
I honestly didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would. The story though had a very interesting new concept wasn't given the proper balance between the direction the story wanted to go. It felt like the author just decided on what the MC would do that morning and fleshed it out in the story in the evening. Pro's
- New concept

- I liked the author's reasoning for him to be OP but I thought the premise wasn't well used due to the simplistic power up system.

- A good... more>> translator

Con's
- Japanese MC, a bit of an airhead for me.

- No suspense factor, imo one of the main selling points of post-apocalyptic stories would be the mystery and suspense transitioning from a world of humanity to this savage environment accompanied by the mystery of what will happen next and finding out who screwed them up so bad. And though the story didn't follow that route, it didn't provide any sinkers and hooks to replace it.

- A bit of dessicated humor. The puns might be funnier in Korean but I didn't really get it. References feels forced as well.

All in all, it has that light hearted vrmmorpg novel feel actually. Its like somebody placed vrmmorpg, post apocalypse, Korean and Japanese MC's into a blender that that's what you get out of it. But overall, 4/5 would recommend to read because its not bad just not exceptional and its quite early on. I'll update the review once it reaches 100 <<less
8 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
DekuHero
DekuHero rated it
October 11, 2022
Status: --
Came back after a long time because I wanted to re-read this story because it's just that good, but I came back to see a lot of negative reviews. I was shocked.

Then again it's not for everyone. This story is for those that like a good power fantasy and don't mind it to be occasionally slow reading. It's honestly one of my top 5 stories to read. If you saw the reviews and got discouraged from reading, please give it a try at least, it's worth it.
7 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Totally
Totally rated it
June 11, 2020
Status: c140
It was fun in the beginning. But now it just feels repetitive and it drags on and on with nothing really new.

First, who is this novel for? If you just want an OP MC, who pretty much never struggles with anything, a harem and a bit of comedy, then this novel is for you. You really need to turn your brain off to enjoy it though.

Everyone else really shouldn't read it. My biggest gripes are

    • MC never faces any problems (even though it is written that he may have a hard time fighting SOME people 100+ lvls above him, it certainly doesn't feel that way)
Mild spoiler examples:

Spoiler

During the 1000 year isolation the MC travels the world, reads every book, learns Martial Arts, learns every language and smithing BY HIMSELF.

He usually spends 100 - 300 years on one of those skills. Once the 1000 years are over the MC gets ridiculous skills because of that. He automatically understands every language. He becomes the best Blacksmith across all worlds (it's literally his title) within 50 chapters or so... In a universe with worlds full of elves, dragons, beastfolk and other high lvl beings, who can also be hundreds of years old, it is hard to believe how the MC gets all these amazing skills by learning them by himself for 100 years+ and no one else

[collapse]

    • The women end up loving the MC for no reason. It just happens by spending time with him. Even for a harem novel it is bad IMO.
    • While the MC says he is no hero/saviour, the author clearly tries to portray the MC as such. Even when the MC acts villainous, the author tries to justify it by saying "SOME guys on the other side started the fight", so it's alright for the MC to kill everyone (directly AND indirectly).
7 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
redexplosion
redexplosion rated it
May 19, 2020
Status: c348
Dont read it. Dont waste your time. Whenever I start reading a novel Ill read it till the end.

Yea I finished reading this and its a very agonizing struggle.

Dont even know how come its rank first when there are more better novels than this shit
7 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
traitorAIZEN
traitorAIZEN rated it
May 1, 2018
Status: afterword
A really good read. I got hooked immediately from the synopsis alone and from then on it never let me down. The MC's experience in the millenium of solitude, the worldbuilding, the characters, and the humor. I really enjoyed everything of it.

I like OP characters with very likeable personality, and the MC is not your bland JP novel character.

That harem tag really bothered me before reading this, but it wasn't as toxic as those JP harem. It's very mild really, and the MC is not that s*upid easily flustered kind... more>> that goes shy and scratches the back of his head (still looking at you generic JP protagonists).

And also the humor, I really loved it. The tsukomis are really funny especially with the angels and their mini angels war. I'd liken it to konosuba type of comedy, not exact as konosuba but the level is up there with it.

When there were times that I thought the plot will get boring and predictable, it suddenly hits me with a new concept/twist and just imagining the possibilities that can come from it gets me excited all over again. This kind of cycle throughout the story is what made it very enjoyable and never gets boring.

I really enjoyed this novel. Yes, it might lack tension even in the finale but that didn't really affect the overall enjoyment for me.
I very much recommed you read this novel. <<less
7 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
dorn
dorn rated it
August 8, 2017
Status: c200
This novel is currently a bit overrated because of a few reasons.

  1. A lot of people on here overly value comedy at the expense of story. This author often creates hilarious moments by having truly ridiculous circumstances pop up. There's no arguing that it's funny but the story has ends up as a sort of joke.
  2. The novel has an extremely strong start. The MC has a very unique reason for his OP strength. The circumstances of his growth are very good. Unfortunately later on the author just starts making it silly. The character stops growing through hard work and simply starts getting obscene powers via author gifting. The worst kind of deus ex machina.
  3. The author does have some interesting skills in writing about human emotions. It gives his characters depth. This depth ends up very jarring though because they exist in such a nonsensical environment.
Basically if you enjoy light novels that make things silly for the sake of laughs then jump in. If you're looking for a serious story then pass this one up.
7 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Isaic
Isaic rated it
July 6, 2017
Status: c170
TLDR: Decent time-killer. One big plot hole.

This novel is completely average. Not bad, not good, but a decent time-killer.

It has a couple plot holes but nothing major, UNTIL right about where I stopped reading.

Minor Spoiler:... more>>
Spoiler

As the MC levels up it is REPEATEDLY stressed how leveling up isn't easy or quick. So the MC, who is way OP, spends lots of time solo killing beings with far higher levels than him to get to his current level. 2 entire worlds worth of beings! All while stressing that it is VERY difficult to level up.

Then his "Teammates", about 8 people who are far lower levels (and less skilled) than him, get stuck in another, weaker, world for a bit and catch up to the MC's level. All in about two chapters. So,

MC + (2 worlds exp) = approx. Lvl 180

while

Side char. + (1 worlds exp) /8 =approx. Lvl 170

All done in 2 days lol

[collapse]

This side character power up is too blatant and superbly annoyed me. <<less
7 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Ararararagi-san
Ararararagi-san rated it
June 24, 2017
Status: c214
Usually not a big fan of Korean novels but what started out as a simple story that I would read when I was especially bored has blossomed into one of my favorite novels which I cannot wait for it to update. The story itself isn't overly complex basically the MC is the embodiment of grinding and he simply grows stronger and stronger and faces new enemies while collecting friends along the way simple right. As the story progresses you can see some world building going on and you start to... more>> get a feel for all of the characters. In conclusion though the story starts off a little mediocre it grows on you and the chapters have more than enough of both quality and quantity and to this day has great translation accuracy and frequency.

PS, from time to time the MC and co will will make anime references as well as funny self assessments of their own Op-ness making it not only cool but funny as well <<less
7 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
shylight
shylight rated it
April 24, 2017
Status: c141
Bland. If I had to describe this story in one word it'd be this one. Both characters and the story are bland. Not that well written either. Author tries to use a common "game mechanics" crutch to substitute for writing skill, consistency, logic, etc, but the result is the worst of such systems I've seen so far. The thick plot armour that MC possesses dispels any kind of tension.

All that said, it isn't a bad novel. It isn't a good one either. It certainly doesn't contain anything that would make... more>> me want to keep reading it, rather doing so feels more and more like a chore, hence 2 star rating and the story goes to the dropped list. <<less
7 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Sairony
Sairony rated it
January 9, 2017
Status: c77
It's 'decent' but not much more. MC is incredibly op, more so than any other novels I've read. Basically the majority of the novel can be summed up as: MC tries to do something which is 'impossible', but succeeds beyond the realms of possibility. Afterwards the two side kicks chimes in with their 'wow' commentary about how it should've been impossible.

This wouldn't have been bad if there was some other aspect of the novel which was awesome, but in my opinion there isn't really anything which sticks out. The comedic... more>> aspects aren't that great, in my opinion. The personalty of MC is incredibly boring, he kind of feels like your average JP MC in a lot of regards. Oblivious to the incredibly obvious fact that the girls are into him, so we all know jack sh*t is going to happen on that front. He's a reclusive loner, and so there's very few interactions between MC & others outside of his small party. Overall it's a cheeky power trip gamey fantasy novel with poor characters & everything landing in MCs lap. <<less
7 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Arafell
Arafell rated it
December 5, 2016
Status: c58
An interesting premise, but ultimately fails to deliver.

I thought it was funny that the MC was literally so unremarkable that God pass over him. The thousand years of grinding was pretty cool, and appealed to my shut in sensibilities. Imagine what you could do if someone gave you 1000 years of internet access? Most likely play a lot of single player games, then get really bored and start dressing up mannequins. Luckily, our MC is inhumanely tolerant of being alone.

After the first few chapters, the quality goes downhill. MC uses... more>> his Presence Concealment EX to make every fight as dull as possible. The series lacks any real direction, possibly from missing any real antagonist. Occasionally, he'll fight a tough monster, but that'll be all. There was an interesting bit where they theorized that the monsters were far stronger than they should be due to an extra thousand years of mana mutation, but all that's happened from it is more chances to show off how OP the MC is. <<less
7 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Brasdf
Brasdf rated it
March 12, 2023
Status: c152
I'm writing this months after I dropped the series while I still remember something as a note to myself. Maybe this genre is not for me, but it becomes a slog. The following rant works for most of this genre.

I don't care about his exceedingly predictable journey to be the strongest blabla ever. There is no clever logic here and the battles aren't fun. The way he advances isn't interesting, he sort of just grinds. Amazing, I'm sure no one thought about that before. Maybe he is the best at... more>> it, but why should I care? And why is he the best at it ?

This is what kills me. I don't feel like there is any justification for him to overcome his limited human self. At first I believed the novel was a parody, but it turned serious. So disregarding the ridiculousness as a plot device, there is no justification for him to be able to grind better than anyone ever in the universe. It is just his in-born super power, grinding. This is basically the same as just starting with the power since he doesn't undergo actual growth in character. Actual character I mean, his character stats go through the roof, I'm sure; The excitement...

So fine, he is the most powerful and bestest and he grows to be the most beautiful (at some point, can't remember if it actually happened already), I don't care. He is boring, his multiple love interests are boring. There are no actual emotional stakes. His random
Spoiler

dragon child

[collapse]
is boring. As a human, I'm not sure I want him to be as powerful as he is, he cares about 10 people maybe and in a childish emotionally stunted way. This is fine for normal people, but horrible when you have almost god like power. He is a boring anti-hero who is an anti-hero due to apathy and lack of depth. There is nothing heroic or inspiring here.

Can you imagine having the power to kill or save millions or even billions of beings every day and just not caring ? Not thinking about it at all ? It boggles the mind. Even Spiderman thinks and struggles with the relationship between power and responsibility and has like 1/1000 of the power of the MCs in these stories. If your novel isn't even close to the moral and intellectual pillar that is Spiderman maybe it shouldn't be this freaking long, okay ?

There is also something to be said about the most powerful being on earth not being able to say to a girl he likes her or acknowledge it to himself or even normally reject a good looking girl. This is a problem, okay ? I'm not fine with this and it doesn't make sense. There is no way a person with so little courage and self awareness can be seriously taken as the best humanity has to offer. <<less
6 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Aegri
Aegri rated it
March 13, 2022
Status: Completed
This series was alright. That's the best I can say, objectively. I want to rate it worse because of my main gripe, but I enjoyed the story for the most part though I'd say the second half was pretty tr*sh. My rating for the first half was probably like a 4/5 but the second half was like a 2/5, so overall: 3/5.

I really liked the beginning set up, the lonely man becoming the pinnacle by spending hundreds of years on self improvement to pass the time. I really liked the... more>> first angel and their relationship, though I thought it was rather childish and mediocre how the author immediately sidelined her after the beginning and shoved another angel girl in there for no reason.

The power system seemed kind of cool and interesting, the MC has a natural broken ability that gave him an advantage and was fun. Beating people who were higher level and them going "omg how is this possible" was a bit enjoyable as it always is with these types of stories. But later on, it just became s*upid. The MC never struggled, rarely had to even fight a proper fight because every conflict ends before it begins with him just abusing his dumb instant kill ability. The way it was written was extreme nonsense, godly beings just "losing track of him" and sh*t was s*upid. The ability shouldn't have been as powerful as it was.

This series also has the issue many others of the genre do where the MC is the only useful one for most of the story and everyone else is basically just canon fodder. Especially at the end of the story, it's taken to the extreme.

My biggest problem with this series: harem. It's like I cant imagine the author being anything else other than a pathetic beta virg*n irl based on the way he expresses his fantasy through his MC. Nearly every single significant female character in this story is in love with the MC, and it's literally just because hes powerful. The only one that actually liked him for who he is as a person was the first girl, and the author initially promised that the story wouldnt be a harem, but then the cuck couldnt help himself and went back on his word. The MC even entered an intimate relationship with her after they finally expressed their love for eachother, but at the end of the story he forces her to accept just being one of his harem members because he wants to f*ck any pretty girl that likes him regardless of how much of why. He makes a show of asking her if it's ok to marry all the other girls hes friends with too while they chat in front of the entire world, it's basically a situation where shes forced to say yes. Pretty girls are his allies for a while and they all have crushes on him so he just randomly goes "ok I love you too then I guess". Even in the after story most of his female children have elektra complexes and have special feelings for him because of the plot device that "dragons seek power so they love the powerful" or something. Its literally just a random ass plot device the author put in to further his fantasy of every woman in the world being in love with him (because he turns everyone into dragons so everyone is into him now). Literally like one named female character in the entire series didnt fall in love with him (besides his mother).

I know this sounds like a long rant about something specific, but that's how big of an impact it had on the story. It was constantly mentioned and the story revolved around it whenever they weren't in action.

Now finally, about the ending:

MC became God. So f*cking s*upid. He literally took over gods old position and has become God. What kind of dumb sh*t is this... <<less
6 Likes · Like Permalink | Report
Leave a Review (Guidelines)
You must be logged in to rate and post a review. Register an account to get started.