The plot was quite dark and morally grey (slavery, incest, drugs, even bestiality) , and so was the mc action against the OG!mc which it's not suprised to have low reviews bcs it's really not everyone cup of tea, but for those who like antihero, actual villain character and dark-themed genre would find it great (it's me, it's my favourite all the time) :D
Fyi the main story translation is completed so u can read it peacefully ლ(´ڡ`ლ)
The rest are the extra-ish volume that the tl team stop translating it and last time i checked on jp site, the extras still ongoing too so... ʕ´• ᴥ•`ʔ
the majority of bad reviews are bc of the bad writing, plot holes, 2D characters and the choice of ML, not the initial themes tho lol
Imo the ml was depends on preferences (◡ ω ◡) while i had biases because it's perfectly my liking, i can't deny the writing is bad more like manga script than novel which u probably find similar style on smut jp novel lol i agree that's also one thing to consider when u want read the novel (´ . . . `)
I think I found the novel on the website "novel updates" and I searched the title 'the show must go on'. Surprising to see theres alot of low reviews.
It says it's four volumes ongoing but it's not completely translated