Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint is notorious among readers for its intricate plots, cohesive flow of story, extensive inclusion of popular lore and historical references, and Kim Dokja. If you are a folklore nerd like me, you’ve found yourself a gold mine. There are so many references and easter eggs you’d be overjoyed to learn what’s what. However, if you are a casual reader, sometimes, it could be hard to follow the story. And that’s where we got ya! Let us break down some of the key elements in this story so you can enjoy reading without worrying about the complications.

About Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint

Omniscient Reader is a Korean web novel written by the author duo SingNSong. It was published through Munpia, a Korean web novel platform, in 2018. The five-volume series ran for two years, gaining massive popularity among readers in the community. In 2020, REDICE Studio announced a webtoon adaptation under the name “Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint”. The produced webtoon was published by NAVER Webtoon and translated to English by LINE Webtoon. Like the web novel, the webtoon quickly amassed a large fan following worldwide. Along with Solo Leveling, it is now one of the most-read webtoons in the world.

In 2024, Realize Pictures signed a contract to make a five-part live-action film adaptation of the web novel. If you haven’t read the webtoon before, there’s no better time than now to start. Imagine being a veteran fan, enjoying every single version of the story you love! I can’t wait.

Omniscient Reader Plot

Kim Dokja loves reading. His name, “Dokja”, means both reader and alone in Hangul, implying that he is an avid reader and a loner. He lived almost the entirety of his childhood alone, dealing with the trauma of having a murderer as a mother who killed his abusive father. His only solace and escape from his insufferable reality for over ten years was through the novel “Three Ways to Survive in a Ruined World.”

Now, 26-year-old office worker Kim Dokja is on a train home. He feels dejected as his favourite novel, which ran for 10 years, comes to an end. However, his mood changes as he receives a message from the author the minute he completes reading the final chapter. The author thanks him for being the only reader of his novel and sends him a gift, a copy of his entire work, on his smartphone. Immediately, the train stops, and a strange white doll-like creature appears before him. At that instance, he knew that his favourite dystopian novel had become a reality.

Star Stream

The “Three Ways to Survive in a Ruined World” is an apocalyptic world with settings similar to the popular Netflix series “Squid Game.” The humans are the incarnations who have to participate in deadly scenarios, the Dokkaebis are the masked minions who plan and execute the scenarios, and the gods are the “Constellations” who are the spectators entertained by the incarnations’ misery. Since this became Dokja’s reality, he is now an incarnation like every other human in the train.

Star Stream is the name of the channel platform through which the constellations watch the scenarios. There are an infinite number of channels all over the world that focus on specific factions and their actions. However, not all channels are popular. Popularity is based on how entertaining they can be and what the incarnations offer during each scenario. Moreover, the Gods do not require any special platform or device to watch. The streams are accessible anytime and anywhere.

Dokkaebis in Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint

Dokkaebis, inspired by Korean folklore, are supernatural creatures with abilities to create and manipulate scenarios to their wish. They are the moderators of the Star Stream channels. They livestream the plights of the incarnations in every scenario to the constellations. The popularity of the channel determines the power, wealth, abilities, and appearance of the Dokkaebis. Popular channels have more subscribers and, as a result, earn more coins, which puts them at the top of the Dokkaebi hierarchy.

Dokkaebi Ranking

The Dokkaebis are ranked based on the number of spectators and subscribers in their channels. They are categorized into 4 ranks: Low-grade, Mid-grade, Advanced-grade, and Great-grade.

The low-grade Dokkaebis resemble puffy, furry dolls with red eyes and small horns. They wear ragged caveman clothing and have extremely limited authority even over their incarnations. NO WONDER, it is every Dokkaebi’s dream to make it big in the industry. Kim Dokja takes advantage of this desperation to bring “Bihyung”, the moderator of his channel, to his side. He promised never to take on a sponsor, something no incarnation has done before, thus garnering attention from more constellations from other channels.

Mid-grade and Advanced-grade Dokkaebis look way more sophisticated. They have a slimmer body, longer ears, sharper horns, and they wear suits to match their elegant life. They have the authority to interfere with other scenarios and punish the low-grade Dokkaebis. The higher-ranked Dokkaebis have significantly superior strength and mana compared to the low-grades.

Enforcers

Not all Dokkaebis play the role of moderators. Some are Enforcers who maintain order in the star stream. They make sure the Dokkaebis, constellations, and incarnations obey the laws of the star stream.

Dokkaebi Bag

Dokkaebi bag or Dokkaebi shop is an inventory incarnation that can be accessed to gain special, graded items. There are 3 membership plans: gold, platinum, and diamond, with added benefits and special items in ascending order. It also has an auction function where one can sell valuable items to bid or exchange them with other items of the same or near value. An incarnation can access the bag 5 times a day, with charges for additional browsing privileges. The incarnations can only access it through a Dokkaebi.

Incarnations In Omniscient Reader

In Omniscient Reader, incarnations were the inhabitants of the cities before they became a survival playground. Once the “Three Ways to Survive in a Ruined World” became a reality, every living being on the planet became part of the new world. Among them, humans and incarnations are the main players.

However, since the story became a reality, novel-original characters also became part of these incarnations and appeared randomly in the story. Except for Kim Dokja, Yoo Sangah, Lee Gilyoung, Lee Sookyung, and Han Sooyoung, everyone else on Kim Dokja’s team is a novel-original character. Kim Dokja believes that, in the end, the novel will absorb everyone.

Constellations

Constellations in Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint are ancient Gods, mythological heroes, historical figures, and spirits of the other worlds you have read in books or seen in movies worldwide. They are the subscribers of the star stream. Unlike Dokkaebis, the constellations are also part of the survival show. The incarnations they sponsor represent them. Later, it becomes the constellation’s duty to care for them and get them out of harm’s way. They share their powers when needed and reward them with coins.

Origins of Constellations

Every God and mythological creature is a constellation. What makes them a constellation is their stories, also known as Fables. In Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint, beings who have achieved significant feats, whose stories are said far and wide, and whose name is known on every corner of the land become a constellation. Technically, a being requires five historical-grade fables (fables of the highest quality and achievement) to become a constellation. The more powerful and impactful their stories are, the stronger they are.

Based on their strengths, the constellations are categorized into three ranks:

The Historical Grade (E.g., Heo Jun in Omniscient Reader, the constellation of Lee Seolwa was inspired by Heo Jun, the physician during the Joseon period (1392–1910) in Korea)

The Narrative or Fable Grade (E.g., Uriel in Omniscient Reader, the constellation of Jung Heewon, was inspired by Uriel, the fourth Archangel mentioned in the apocryphal texts)

The Mythical Grade (E.g., Zeus in Omniscient Reader, the mythical grade constellation, is inspired by Zeus, the all-powerful Greek God of Lightning)

Since five stories/fables make one a constellation, the incarnations can become a constellation if they earn five historical-grade stories. While being a constellation has its perks, becoming one is a gruesome and arduous task. Even completing main scenarios rarely gets you a historical-grade fable.

Role of Constellations in Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint

Constellations are powerful creatures with human-like appearance. Their presence alone is too much for a human mind to comprehend. Hearing their “True Voices” can temporarily disassociate their thoughts and cause mental and physical damage. Constellations spend plausibility to appear in a humanoid form before incarnations, and when unwilling, they appear as objects representing their story. For example, Dionysus, the God of Wine’s symbolic form, is a floating wine glass.

Constellations can indirectly interact with the scenarios, sharing their thoughts concerning the incarnations’ actions. Moreover, they can sign exclusive contracts to sponsor their incarnations. Once an incarnation signs a contract with a constellation, they cannot sign with another nebula. The constellations are now responsible for their incarnations, and the incarnations represent them.

A sponsorship agreement grants the constellation the power to share their abilities and stigma to their incarnations, boosting their power tremendously in times of need. In Omniscient Reader, Kim Dokja reveals that signing with historical grades gets them nowhere. In terms of money and power, they are poor constellations. What’s more, Kim Dokja is the only incarnation who has not signed with any constellation as per his agreement with Bihyung, the Dokkaebi. This and his prophecy-like intuitive knowledge about the events happening around him garnered attention from all constellations, including mythical grades like Hades.

Fables/Stories in Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint

Fables, aka stories in Omniscient Reader webtoon, are tales told of a character’s achievement. For instance, if you slay a dragon, the fable you obtain will be “Slayer of Dragon”. The world will speak your name for achieving the impossible. Moreover, you gain a massive advantage and power boost when fighting a dragon the next time. In the webtoon, most incarnations acquire fables that are relevant to their achievements; however, not all fables have a high value. As you know, one can become a constellation after collecting five fables, which also means free from scenarios and, well, basically dying. However, only historical fables or above are eligible.

What is Stigma?

Stigmas are abilities a constellation possesses and pass it down to incarnations. Usually, a constellation bestows a stigma on an incarnation they have agreed to sponsor. However, in certain cases, a constellation can give a stigma in return for a favour or to entice them into a sponsorship contract by giving them a trial version.

A stigma represents a constellation’s power and fable. The stronger the constellation (e.g., Mythical Grade), the stronger their stigma. Some of these stigmas have limitations and special conditions that prevent them from utilizing their full potential. For example, Jung Heewon’s Judge of Fire, obtained from her constellation Uriel, boosts her power tremendously. It makes her invincible against foes who are evil at heart but do not activate against an opponent who means no harm. Similarly, Lee Jihye’s stigma Ghost Fleet given by Maritime War God will not activate if she’s not near a water body.

Scenarios in Omniscient Reader

Scenarios are similar to missions in a video game. Main scenarios progress the story forward, sub-scenarios add to the main scenario or something you do between the main scenarios, and hidden scenarios spring up with surprise conditions and valuable rewards. All the scenarios have one or more clear and additional conditions to meet to work towards completion. There are rewards such as coins, fables, and special items to gain and penalties to face. Additionally, the constellations can assign special bounty scenarios to eliminate undesirable personalities or their effect on plausibility.

The difficulty of the conditions is ranked from A (easy) to S and sometimes SS or SSS, depending on the scenarios and players involved. The Dokkaebis do not assign scenarios beyond the incarnations’ capabilities. The incarnations can work together to complete a scenario. However, the theme of most scenarios is centred on elimination and knock-out, so the incarnations either die during the scenario or by the death penalty for not meeting the conditions.

Yoo Joonghyuk and Regressions

Talking in detail about Yoo Joonghyuk and his regression would spoil too much and ruin your first-time reading experience, and I am not evil enough to do such a thing. Let me summarize it while keeping important things hidden so you can leisurely follow along the story. Yoo Joonghyuk is the true protagonist of the novel Kim Dokja loved, “Three Ways to Survive in a Ruined World”.

Early in the series, Kim Dokja mentions Yoo Joonghuk’s regression ability, a stigma that can turn back time, erase everything that has happened, and start over. Yoo Joonghyuk can use this ability when he dies or is severely injured, which makes him immortal. Due to his absolute hatred towards this ability, he uses it only when he dies. He also has another ability called transmission, which transfers all the skills learned in his past regressions to his current one.

Yoo Joonghyuk has lived through several regressions and has seen his loved ones die or betray him multiple times. Eventually, he loses all hope and becomes merciless to his friends and foes alike until he meets Kim Dokja, an incarnation he has never met in his past regressions.

What is Probability?

Probability or Plausibility is the flow of the story, an absolute that no one should disturb. Powerful electric sparks erase any anomaly that disrupts the story. Since Kim Dokja lives in a story with a written outcome, no one can change the story’s flow, which brings about an undesirable end. This rule applies to incarnations, constellations and Dokkaebis alike. Special bureaus monitor the actions of incarnations and constellations to ensure they don’t disturb the natural progression. They have laws to control or minimize the damage of a probability storm. Even small actions, such as constellations appearing in front of incarnations, require them to expend a certain amount of probability at their own risk.

The Fourth Wall

The Fourth Wall is an ability exclusive to Kim Dokja. This skill protects Kim Dokja from mental attacks such as mind manipulation, reduces his pain sensation, and hides his attributes window from others and himself. It also helps him maintain composure during events that mentally disturb him by numbing his emotions. What’s more, true to its name, it helps him view the events around him as part of the novel and not as reality, and the wall weakens when he faces elements that connect to his past.

I hope this article helped you to understand Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint. Please comment if there is anything you didn’t understand in the story.