"God loves to make one person suffer..."

He carries quite a lot of trauma within him that shows up in subtle ways, especially later on in the novel when the others in the party finally realize that he's not as bad as the rumors make him out to be. But he's always been a loner, and he's very reluctant to trust others. When his companions trust him, his natural reaction is to push them away.

His development is pretty slow, but you can see as time goes on that he's beginning to change due to the positive influences of other people around him. There's also a bit of mystery that surrounds the body he possessed, his abilities, and the reason for him coming into the world...

Edit: EXCUSE ME AUTHOR WHY DID YOU GIVE HIM THE MOST TRAGIC BACKSTORY OUT OF ALL OF THEM IM SO SICKKKKK

"... Sometimes, I think that if there really was a God, the world wouldn't be like this." - Harenir

Hands down, my favorite character of the whole novel. He's actually not that difficult to understand once you get the full picture--He's a character who was traumatized at a young age because of his tragic backstory, his entire innocent worldview was shattered when he was offered as a sacrifice by his father, lost his mother who tried to save Harenir, and pressured by expectations of the church who wants him to be the symbol of hope in the holy empire.

He's the type of character who takes on the pain of others because it's all he's ever known to do his entire life. He doesn't show weakness in front of other people because of that. By his own admission he doesn't even have that much faith in God despite being the "son of god" because of all the bad things that have happened... And he, of course, could never tell anybody this. He has to maintain the image of the hero... Unless he happens to find a man who doesn't care about his heroes or god or whatnot.

Then comes in our MC, Isaf, who sees the "real" side of Harenir. Like yes, Harenir is callous and jaded, but it's not surprising considering everything he's been through. I think I love how imperfect Harenir is, especially in contrast to the "perfect" image of the hero. His "real" personality is slightly childish and petty, but it actually gives me catharsis to read because knowing his backstory, he didn't have any time to be a child after all those awful things happened.

"You-Did you poorly fake your death on purpose?" (Isaf)

"Mhm... Yes, I didn't want to be the cause of any considerable chaos in the Empire." (Harenir)

"Why on earth...?"

"Because that's how I was taught."

At the end of the day, I think he's still a person who wants to do the right thing and wants to be the best person he can be even if it's for the purpose of preserving his mother's memory. But he's also learning in his own way how to trust people again, though in a different context from Isaf.

After getting to know each other, they both start prioritizing each other and doing things they don't normally do for each other's sake. It's very sweet. Isaf, who wants to defy the Empire's will imposed on Harenir because he sympathizes with how Harenir really feels on the inside and hates how Harenir's actions are taken for granted. Harenir, who has to deal with the fact that an acclaimed mass mu*derer has become very important to him, and starts feeling the strong need to protect this man who has a very weak body... (and also comes to the startling realization that he, indeed, a cat person hehe)...

They are incredibly sweet to each other, and I strongly support the author in making their soul-binding ritual last forever (many readers have called it a marriage contract lololol)

As of chapter 130, the romance still hasn't been established properly but that's because the characters are too focused on stopping the villain. But as mentioned, they have many romantic moments together even if they haven't officially acknowledged their feelings to each other yet >.<

Well, if you've ever read "The Other World's Books Depend on the Bean Counter", you know exactly what you're getting into. There have been three R-19 scenes as of this review, and the first two were due to a curse which immediately led to the "f*ck or die" trope scenarios. I think I would label it dubious consent rather than noncon, though one of the times the MC was begging to the ML to let him die because he was more embarrassed about having s*x with Harenir than worried about never waking up again, LOL.......

All I can say is that they were S-tier scenes in my personal opinion. I even saw some comments saying stuff along the lines of, "I don't normally like reading R19 scenes... but they were hot fr fr"

Edit: The third R19 scene has hit the fandom, Isaf initiated it while drunk and wanting to know how it feels like w/o the curse. Harenir spent most of it teasing Isaf, it feels like he is becoming increasingly more clingy and unhinged towards Isaf as the series goes on (I'm not complaining...)

Anyway, it didn't disappoint at all. The author is very good at showing the progression in their relationship in these scenes.

- Isaf, who has to wake up Kalterik from a curse reliving his childhood trauma, deciding to provoke him by saying, "When you die, I'll subjugate your soul and make you do my bidding, " and Kalterik gets so angry at him the curse gets broken LMAOOO

- Isaf didn't think he needed to prepare for the journey to the desert since he assumed it would be short or the game would provide resources. He ends up stealing the beef jerky off of some thieves and Kalterik was like WTF that's why you didn't prepare anything??? Haha, and also Harenir stole the cloak from one of the thieves and gives it to Isaf because he noticed him shivering the entire time... so sweet.

- Harenir interrogating Isaf about what he will do after the big bad villain is defeated, and Isaf saying "I'll go somewhere nobody knows me... Fine, a deserted island." and Harenir never lets him live that answer down!!!

- Harenir getting hurt, Isaf coming over and crying into Harenir's chest, "You-You can't die here. Eugh, Haren, please..." and then it turns out Harenir was really just taking a small rest, LMAOOO. Isaf, justifiably, got so embarrassed, hahahaha.

- Isaf dreading that he has to tell Harenir that he has no idea how to break the connection binding their souls together and avoiding him because of that and Harenir misunderstanding that Isaf hates him because of what happened the night they were forced to do THAT (cough).

- Isaf needing to take one for the team and get left behind for the bounty hunters so Harenir's party can punish the s*ave traders accordingly. Isaf admitting to Harenir that even though he doesn't know him very well, he's still the one who understands him the most and Harenir giving him something to ward off the evil spirits when he's gone... and then Harenir ends up revealing his return because he was too worried for Isaf... THEY ARE IN LOVE YOUR HONOR BYE

- Harenir accidentally finding the gift Isaf was gonna give him... it's a worry doll to help with the nightmares because Isaf feels bad he won't be there to help him sleep anymore after the soul-binding ritual is broken off... I THINK HARENIR FELL IN LOVE WITH HIM ALL OVER AGAIN ITS SO OVER

I could continue this list but you should just read the novel. There are so many more scenes that are so memorable and I could keep going all day.

Isaf POV as he's sacrificing himself:

No, what I want... All I want is...

I just wanted to make sure that the skies you saw in your last moments weren't gray.

Ah one more thing, the incidents with the curse of the incubus felt kind of forced, I mean I'm the last person to complain about smut, but why did it happen twice XD the aftermath of the curse was so tough to read the first time around, I had to take several cringe breaks and had to take a walk around my room before continuing, is it just me? And now it happened again XD I wish there was a comment section lmaoo

1. hero x so called “villain”

2. weak body but magically strong mc

3. caring ML and damaged mc

4. SMUT

5. transmigration

the plot itself revolves around a “transmigrator” who found themselves in the body of a death row inmate, with no memories of who’s body he’s in. That’s where the system comes in, letting the MC believe that he’s in some kind of “game” and if he finishes all the quests he can go home, thus embarking on a journey with the Hero

overall I enjoyed the adventure part of the plot since I havent found a lot of BL with action, adventure and the hero x necromancer/forbidden person trope, the story itself my not have been a brand new concept, but I still found it very interesting,

it’s strong on the “mystique” vibe, (not gonna spoil) but it’s not something u can’t work out by urself, it’s quite an easy read

i really liked that the characters around the MC and ML all have their own baggage to carry with them which gives them more depth as characters, of course the mc’s and the ml’s life we experience a lot closer, specifically dealing with the mc’s loneliness and insecurity

When their souls are connected and he wakes him up from the shared nightmare? “That seems lonely.” EEEE lol I screamed. Yes tropey but they’re tropes for a reason.

Harenir confesses his love and begs Isaph to stay with him in this world. Now that's how you do a dramatic and powerful confession scene at the end of the story. And then Harenir has separation anxiety in the side stories because he almost lost Isaph forever and Isaph could still change his mind and leave at any moment. Even though Isaph doesn't want to.

"Oh, Isaph is actually from this world & his soul got isekai'd into the modern-day world before getting dragged back." I want this to be true for Isaph. His life on Earth was awful. Nothing and nobody was waiting for him there nor had any concern for him. He actually has people who care about him in the "game" world. And, you know, Harenir.

his mysterious background and his "uncaring" of the bad rumors being spread about him have a deeper meaning, It was predictable that later on the other characters would obtain new information and feel guilty for how they've treated him.

like "gold will shine." Or something. Basically, the MC never explains his bg, allows everyone to misunderstand him, and eventually they realize that they were mistaken. However, in real life, few things are like that. If you don't communicate and explain yourself, most likely people will misunderstand you forever.

So it felt like the author was writing wish-fulfillment of everything getting cleared up without the MC having to do anything because he was just naturally "a good person" and it shone through his actions.

ML wanting MC to put a leash on him, mainly to help his separation anxiety but !!

but one thing I have to ask.. Is it a rule in every transmigration novel that the MC is actually from the supposed new world all along? This isn't a complaint about this story in particular but just that it's been a feature of every transmigration story i've read so far. To the point that i've come to expect it but it still seems to be treated as a big reveal (which is true from mc's perspective I guess).

I love how Harenir's traumas are well fleshed out that even after things were resolved, it wasn't immediately or magically healed, he was clearly still unstable despite being put in happier circumstances. It doesn't just go away. It took a lot of effort, reassurance yet he still struggled to the point of self harm. As someone similar it made me happy he was loved regardless of his condition and his unhealed parts were paid attention to rather than forced to adapt for someone only. His gradual change from doing everything for others to slowly being a bit more selfish and hearing himself out. Although he had severe abandonment issues and separation anxiety they acknowledged that forcing separation wasn't a good idea either. I see a lot of media where just forcing to suck it up and just mask in silence for the sake of the other being normalized but I prefer how they agreed to just be raw and vulnerable with each other, to be honest when it hurts and actually help soothe that ache. I have BPD so I admit I'm quite similar to Harenir when in love, unhinged and unconditionally devoted. I felt represented and appreciated this novel more. Not everyone would be into an obsessive male lead though, so just bear that in mind before reading.