MC claimed to have loved the ML so so much in the past life, but he's surprised when his best friend says he saw his (ML's) id card and his birthday is the day after tomorrow. He never knew when his birthday was? Never celebrated it, not a single happy birthday to the man he claimed to have loved? And that marriage, he never took the time to understand him, never tried to make him happy, but when his parents literally sold him, MC asked his parents to buy him as his husband? Not asking if he wanted this? And then complaining he was cold to you? We already saw how easy it was for the ML to fall for him in his second life. All it took was some care and attention, why don't do that in the first place? Why treat him like a toy you like and ask your parents for? And the second life, MC spends most of it being afraid of what he belives the ML might be capable of, without trusting him and repeatidly hurting him by avoiding him. And he still claims to love him.

the author wasn’t explicit at all with the hints. Geez! I almost didn’t get it. I think the one reviewer who talked about the supposed truth behind this got it right that it might as well be fact rather than a theory because the extras also hint at their theory being true anyway. In that case, this is such a tragedy and so painful.

it seems the MC truly was dead for the entire duration of the story. The tags did not lie. He was dead. This was all just a simulation and the source was even hinted at in the middle of the story, almost as if foreshadowing how this all ends: the vr set our ML had with a younger MC in it. This story seems more like what the ML wanted or imagined would happen if everything went right in the past before MC would die from an accident. Or, the ml, I mean. Cough. Since this is all actually in the perspective of the ml. I feel like ML giving MC a vr set was also a hint at the true ending. I personally also interpret it as a symbolism of him basically wanting to take mc’s hand and take him to a world where everything was okay and a parallelism to how he’s doing exactly that himself by simulating all of this, but the MC refuses the gift in the same way that the ML would never get another chance to make things right with him.

i have reason to believe that what happened in the mc’s past life is what actually happened in their reality with some things in their present life also being true, but with less of the fear and resentment and none of ML having done any wrongs or ruthless things to him and his family. MC was how he is in the present life, a kind and optimistic boy but also willful and everything else he was in the supposed past life. The mc’s mom thought he and the MC were good as a couple and they got engaged and then married. The MC and ML were close but always ending up at odds of sorts because they didn’t communicate and the MC also had his own conjectures about the ML which the ML never bothered to clear up. The mc’s family’s company did go under and the mc’s parents had been overworked. The MC and ML truly didn’t meet during those timeskips. The MC liked him and they had feelings for each other but were always not meeting in the middle until their relationship became strained or distant. ML was most likely projecting all of the mc’s fear and resentment because he felt guilt and responsibility for everything, thinking that maybe if he had communicated to the MC, everything would’ve been better and the MC wouldn’t have died despite none of the deaths being his fault. The failure of their marriage, sure, but that also wasn’t just his fault.

i think the ML has realized how incompatible they were in the end, but losing the one he loved, not having treated the one he loved right, and realizing they weren’t a match, it’s hard to cope and to know what to do after that. He can only look back and think of what he could’ve done differently, but he knows nothing will change. Otherwise, what else would explain why he and the MC seemed to keep getting into misunderstandings? Why would the MC in that simulation end up never having had properly marrying him or properly establishing their relationship with him, only giving the ML a status after he asked for one? Why would they have been in such a push and pull of a relationship for years? Why would the ML have tolerated all of that? Why would the MC in the simulation fear and doubt him so much? ML most likely re-evaluated his relationship with the MC but couldn’t accept that he would’ve had to let him go and couldn’t forgive himself for not trying his best in their marriage.

i think the mc’s constant fear of ML in the simulation and feeling of inferiority as cannon fodder was how ML saw mc’s insecurity in their relationship, which he always hesitated to express or didn’t express at all directly. MC was probably not expressive in things like this, not even getting mad. I’m getting this from the way he handles people who bully him or wrong him in the simulation. He let them go. Perhaps, this passiveness also applied to the ml. I also think the ml’s jealousy over how the MC treated him like others was something that truly happened in their life and something the ML probably silently endured instead of openly expressing. Also, we see them have very little physical affection in the simulation and few lovely moments. I believe these were things the ML wanted but never got as we never got explicit or many scenes of that, most likely because the ML didn’t know what it would be like because it never happened but he still yearned for it.

ML probably wished the MC toned down how he pursued him but also still truly loved him and eventually did marry him because he felt the same way as the MC but assumed the MC would know or felt like he didn’t need to explain, just continuing behaving the way he did. However, the first thing that happens in the simulation, MC taking back his love letter, was probably a genuine moment and what first struck the ML and was forever engraved in his heart and memory.

there’s so much more I could point out but the gist is that this is such a sad and heartbreaking story. I originally read this thinking the story is so bad and frustrating with little character development and a terrible dragged out sort of pacing until I discovered the twist. I never knew someone could actually write more than 100 chapters of just a simple simulation and do it so well. I went from hating this thing to loving it. I think adding “unreliable narrator” would be appropriate as a tag, no? Finally a good angst and tragedy after so long.

honestly, I don’t think ML was as big of a jerk as he made himself out to be. Although his jealousy was excessive, we don’t really know if he was truly like that or not in their marriage, considering how mellow he sounded, silently but diligently fulfilling his role and duties as a husband. He was probably still the same but quiet and kept to himself more and MC didn’t dig deep into him to get closer because he didn’t know if the ML ever loved him and the doubt was hurting him. He probably didn’t want to hear the answer so he never pried and tried to respect ml. I definitely think though that ML also still disliked some of the things MC did in his pushiness and overbearingness but other than that, I think they both loved each other but misunderstood each other a lot. I bet shen cheng wanted to change that so much.

At the time of MC's death in the first life, his mom had died in a car accident and his dad had committed su*cide. Shortly after, MC died in a car accident on a rainy night. MC loves ML but believes that he is living in a novel, ML is the protagonist, MC is a cannon fodder, and the only way to survive is to stay away from ML. So in this new life, MC decided to stay away from ML but ML ended up falling in love with MC.

SPOILER...

...

This new life had a different outcome for ML. It was discovered that ML was swapped at birth and he is real family is extremely wealthy and powerful. ML went abroad with his family after he felt rejected by MC. He was gone for maybe 3 years. They reunited during high school. Again ML felt rejected by MC and again ML went abroad since his dad was hospitalized. This time he was gone 4 years or so. Once ML came back, they got together after a lil bit of drama.

SPOILER from extra...

(original life) ML's fake parents did not have a good relationship. So ML didn't know how to have a healthy relationship and communicate. Due to misunderstandings, MC thought ML didn't like him but he was wrong. Also, ML was not behind the hostile takeover of MC's parents' business... ML actually bought the company behind the hostile takeover after the event to help the parents.

ML didn't understand that he liked MC until MC mentioned divorcing. Once he realized his feelings, he wanted to tell MC at the right time but MC had died. ML was distraught but he stabilized after he created his VR helmet. He lived on until his death decades later. His secretary later looked inside the helmet and saw the middle school MC.

I want to believe that ML's VR system was able to tap into the parallel world that was created when MC was reborn. Through this link, he was able to "live" happily with MC in his other self. 💕

Like RN in the story, they all are literally blaming 14 yr old kids!? They are not even at fault tbh. I mean just think about it... If you get switched up with a rich man's son at birth and live all your life getting pampered, having all the necessities and things you desire, A to Z. Obviously you are gonna get spoiled. But then suddenly you get to know that you are not your father's biological child. Then your father just casts you away cuz you are not the child of his 'BELOVED'. Now everyone's blaming you for the fact that you don't wanna lose all these. WTH is this nonsense!?

in the first arc, he actually recognized the past life ML was someone who had been shaped by experiences that hadn't happened in this life yet, so that the new ML isn't the cold emotionless man from memory. Then after the time skip he forgets it and treats ML like past ML 😮‍💨