Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint Volumes 8 and 9 Review
Noemi10 •
In the previous volume, Dokja put an end to the fourth main scenario by destroying the Absolute Throne who would have made him the king of humans. However, Dokja knew that it was a trap. So, supported by his comrades he did what he thought was best, even if his actions were incomprehensible to others, including to the goblin of the scenario who decided to punish Dokja. Well, what has Dokja now got to do to survive before the fifth main scenario takes places? Let’s find out!
The goblin of the scenario who has temporarily replaced Bihyung doesn’t accept Dokja’s actions, so the humans who are at the Seoul dome for the fourth main scenario are teleported to a meaningful place to them—with ‘meaningful’ being the equivalent of ‘traumatising’. That’s how Dokja finds himself at Mino Soft, the company he used to work for before the start of the scenarios. Here, he meets old coworkers and witnesses the true depth of human cruelty due to the coin farms—a sort of coliseum-style fighting where humans are made to fight and kill each other just for the enjoyment of the constellations. Although he doesn’t have any noble intent in saving those humans, he cannot stand for it, especially as Suyeong Han, the plagiarist of Three Ways to Survive the Apocalypse, is one of the captured humans. It would be much easier if she were to die but Dokja thinks he can still make use of her so willing or not, his action appears as a saviour complex.
However, things don’t stay quiet for too long as someone is going around trying to awaken the catastrophes—the beings that will bring calamity to the city (and possibly the world) if not stopped. The guides who are supposed to help the humans complete the fifth scenario are busy fighting each other, so with the help of Sueyeong, a surprisingly more powerful Sangah and a poisoned Junghyeok, Dokja needs to stop this nefarious plot before it’s too late for everyone.
Volumes 8 and 9 of Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint don’t cover any new scenarios yet, but they cover the in-between as Dokja’s past actions affected the natural development of the next main scenario. Volume 8 especially is centred around Dokja’s past and the traumas caused by his high school bully and by a mysterious woman. The former becomes a key turning point for Dokja’s realisation of what his skill ‘the fourth wall’ is and how it has been protecting him since the beginning of the scenarios. The second one (the woman) is still a mystery—whether she’s an enemy or a possible ally is still to be seen.
Junghyeok, who is supposed to be the main character of the original web novel Three Ways to Survive the Apocalypse that the world has turned into, doesn’t take centre stage as much as the readers of Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint would expect. The story now centres around Dokja and Junghyeok has become his supporting character, although unbeknownst to everyone else. It’s still too early to call these two protagonists comrades as they only collaborate during moments of necessity, but little by little, Junghyeok has somehow started to trust Dokja a teeny tiny bit, as he is the person he goes to when Junghyeok becomes unable to fight.
As per the previous volumes, the story continues to be full of action and fighting scenes. It doesn’t shy away in showing the worst part of humanity, and how humans can be self-centred and think only about their own safety. I don’t believe this story is trying to give a moral lesson but it shows an extreme spectrum of morality when humans are cornered for survival, and how being bad or good is not always black and white; there are shades of grey. Dokja and Junghyeok are certainly not hero material in the standard sense, but they still try to do their best—Dokja to survive and Junghyeok to put an end to the scenarios—with their goals aligning more than they know.
Something to note is that the more the story progresses, the more the translation notes diminish at the end of the volumes as by now the readers have a good grasp of the world building. What’s left is just topics surrounding Korean’s mythology and history.
Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint started as a web novel written by singNsong, before being adapted into a manhwa by Umi (Redice Studio) with illustrations by Sleepy-C (3B2S Studio). Both manhwa and novel are published in print format in the English language by Ize Press with Hye Young Im’s translation. Volume 10 is already out.
The movie adaptation of the series was released in South Korea in 2025 and it’s available for purchase on Prime Video, while the anime version is in production with no confirmed release date yet.
Our review copies were supplied by Ize Press.
