
i stopped reading at ch 119 to let it marinate for a while and it was the best decision ever!
story so far: lloyd requests to see the endgame spoiler where he finds out that everybody dies in the next 3 years as if to follow the flow of the original plot (restoration phenomenon of fate). at the dragon king's suggestion, lloyd decides to find the truth gem (aotearoa) in the merman kingdom to find out how to defy fate and save the people he loves in this "program". he's currently on a mission to collect 5 materials to rebuild said truth gem which is actually a building. the last material is in seoul so he's going back there. lloyd is also slowly dying because winter heart is freezing his actual heart. father of dragon king says he will need to absorb eye of summer to counteract the freezing. new antagonist blood mage in cahoots with king of hell to kill lloyd. blood mage wants revenge for lloyd outing him as a criminal while king of hell wants to retire and have lloyd as his successor.
5 materials to rebuild truth building (missing page in ch151 describe this):
- tauranga (foundation of the castle, blood mage x winter butt arc)
- taupo (gangster centaurs arc)
- hauraki and takapuna (with tyrannus, father of dragon king verkiz, and creator of winter butt)
- Finally kia ora (with dragon king verkiz, but he sent it to seoul)
good time to end here and marinate again. loved all the arcs! next time i read he'll be off to seoul! see you in 1 year!

I binged it and it was really good and I have so many questions
i find it so weird that we never see nam doha die. it always restarts from bada's POV after he dies and he just asks doha "how did you die?"
I'm still wrapping my head around the saving with cassette tapes. What does he save? I thought if he saved, he would restart the game from that save point but he always starts in the car again. Is he saving items? But he also mentioned one chapter that would need to redo puzzles in order to get the mission item again so it also doesn't get saved?? Someone mentioned that he's saving memories? Can't he just die and not save and lose or his memories and return to being a game character? Or is it because he's already saved so his memories will always retain from his last save point??
did him seeing doha kill a random villager trigger something? I'm so confused, will reread and patiently wait for s2

ok i just finished rereading and I understand the cassette tapes in the bags are actually a shocking revelation
ch11 p21 - bada: remember items don't count in the inventory until the game starts
ch8 p18 - bada: you can only save after the killer appears
ch30 p18 - bada: the save will only be recorded after the killer appears
ch13 p6 - doha: the tape already in the cassette player contains previous save data right? is it alright to throw it (old tape) away?
bada: yes cause the newer tape creates new save data. EVEN IF YOU KEEP THE OLD TAPE, IT WILL BE GONE IN THE NEXT GAME (session). why do you ask?
doha: just wondering. thought it'd be a good idea to keep a copy in case something went wrong.
ch22 p20 - doha: even if everything you say turns out to be wrong, I'm not leaving your side
seongchan discovers that doha is keeping two cassette tapes in his bag, one with yellow color (hyungshin's tape from the car) and another tape with green color. why the hecc does he have two tapes on hand and the green one has a check on it???
doha is so sus, why do i feel like he knows something about the game that bada doesnt?

"im sure one of you mustered up a lot of courage to express your feelings" vol1ch5 flashback was included in this chapter (when narasaki french kissed chika o.o) so i went back and read the entire vol1 again (man the art has changed) and I'm thankful for narasaki's courage and motochika for falling in love with him too
the author has written their characters so well even back then, when you read vol1 they actually feel and have the same energy as two young high school boys and they've come so far now as adults in uni T-T
the closing chapter for this volume is just chef's kiss: natsuki turning down le high school boy firmly and finally, chika worrying about natsuki when the girl wanted to talk, chika learning how to make pancakes for natsuki, even kurisu becoming an actual good friend (despite the attempted assault) coming thru with his character development in their story was good to see
im at my limit too egg, you better hatch soon :D
I’m sorry I accidentally downvoted