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Everyone Else is a Returnee
Left out during the elementary school picnic.
Left out during the middle school camp.
Left out during the high school trip.
I finally became a college student, and what? I’m left out from all of humanity?
Yu IlHan watches over the earth alone while everybody’s away in other worlds.
His legend starts after humanity comes back and meets the Great Cataclysm!
Left out during the middle school camp.
Left out during the high school trip.
I finally became a college student, and what? I’m left out from all of humanity?
Yu IlHan watches over the earth alone while everybody’s away in other worlds.
His legend starts after humanity comes back and meets the Great Cataclysm!
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Published January 1, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews
November 10, 2018
Yu IlHan has always been left out because no one notices him. And when God moves all of humanity off to other worlds to prepare for the coming Cataclysm on Earth, Yu IlHan remains the sole person left behind. But the endless years of being alone transforms him into someone able to break all common sense when everyone else returns . . .
This is a hilarious twist on the usual formula. Instead of one person getting sent from Earth to another world, all of humanity is sent to other worlds, and the story follows the one poor guy who didn't get the intergalactic tourism experience.
So Yu IlHan tries to teach himself what he'll need to know when mana shows up and monsters start spawning on Earth. With the help of a sole angel who visits every few days to keep him from going insane, he learns combat techniques, blacksmithing, dissection, etc. My personal favorite is how he eventually ends up on a quest to read all the books in the world, because it gives him something new to do.
This is a litRPG, so levels, skills, and stats provide a framework for how the world works. Of course, Yu IlHan is so busy proving he can do the impossible from pretty much the get-go that it's not like these numbers represent much other than how much experience he can get.
I'm not fond of the predictable way the story set up Heaven as basically just another group of high-level beings who banded together under one leader, which has the expected outcome. The author does make a point that he's not specifically trying to dump on religion, just use some angel names, but just the structure telegraphs the ending from miles away. So I had more fun with the book before about the last quarter, because that's when the innovation is strongest and the threats are still credible.
I also hated YuNa. She was funny when it was her aggressive pursuit bouncing off Yu IlHan's stone heart. It was less funny when this turned into sexual assault. And the harem ending was depressing because the whole story has been about Yu IlHan sticking closer to Liera than anyone else, and suddenly he's okay with multiple wives because he thinks he shouldn't limit himself.
So it's a bit of a mixed bag for me. I love seeing the bizarre and completely overpowered things Yu IlHan creates. I love his pessimism, which prompts him to over-prepare for every possible scenario and then some. (Like how he designed his house to be usable in space. Because he was sure THAT was somehow a likely possibility.)
It's the kind of mentality that results in this:
So overall this is kind of a mixed bag. There is plenty to enjoy, but also some things that really annoy me. Still, it made me laugh a lot. I rate this book Recommended.
See my reviews and more at https://offtheshelfreviews.wordpress....
This is a hilarious twist on the usual formula. Instead of one person getting sent from Earth to another world, all of humanity is sent to other worlds, and the story follows the one poor guy who didn't get the intergalactic tourism experience.
So Yu IlHan tries to teach himself what he'll need to know when mana shows up and monsters start spawning on Earth. With the help of a sole angel who visits every few days to keep him from going insane, he learns combat techniques, blacksmithing, dissection, etc. My personal favorite is how he eventually ends up on a quest to read all the books in the world, because it gives him something new to do.
This is a litRPG, so levels, skills, and stats provide a framework for how the world works. Of course, Yu IlHan is so busy proving he can do the impossible from pretty much the get-go that it's not like these numbers represent much other than how much experience he can get.
I'm not fond of the predictable way the story set up Heaven as basically just another group of high-level beings who banded together under one leader, which has the expected outcome. The author does make a point that he's not specifically trying to dump on religion, just use some angel names, but just the structure telegraphs the ending from miles away. So I had more fun with the book before about the last quarter, because that's when the innovation is strongest and the threats are still credible.
I also hated YuNa. She was funny when it was her aggressive pursuit bouncing off Yu IlHan's stone heart. It was less funny when this turned into sexual assault. And the harem ending was depressing because the whole story has been about Yu IlHan sticking closer to Liera than anyone else, and suddenly he's okay with multiple wives because he thinks he shouldn't limit himself.
So it's a bit of a mixed bag for me. I love seeing the bizarre and completely overpowered things Yu IlHan creates. I love his pessimism, which prompts him to over-prepare for every possible scenario and then some. (Like how he designed his house to be usable in space. Because he was sure THAT was somehow a likely possibility.)
It's the kind of mentality that results in this:
“Yes. It’s a great idiom meaning that I should not act until I am convinced that I can defeat the last boss, the true last boss that comes after that, the hidden dungeon that comes after the true last boss, and the hidden last boss that comes out at the end of the hidden dungeon, and the true-true last boss that can only be met when I install a super expensive downloadable content later, even after I have the strongest equipment and maxed out all my levels.”
So overall this is kind of a mixed bag. There is plenty to enjoy, but also some things that really annoy me. Still, it made me laugh a lot. I rate this book Recommended.
See my reviews and more at https://offtheshelfreviews.wordpress....
February 23, 2024
I'm sorry, I don't like writing bad reviews. But I hope this helps someone.
I finished all 14 books of this series.
It's not unbearable to the extent I had to stop in the middle. towards the end it did feel so rushed that I started skimming.
The positives would be, the author doesn't take himself very seriously. there is a certain charm in how he fills the book with references to other media - anime, light novels etc.
The protagonist also breaks the fourth wall kinda by using the power of foreshadowing and tropes since he knows how things often flow when such flags are raised.
I can see how much effort the author has put in and he is sincere and is trying. But that's not enough especially in the world of WNs - huge competition and I'm consuming a fan (I think) translated version.
lots of things might have gotten lost in translation who knows
The reason why I give it a 2 star is because, the protagonist is too OP too fast, like the pacing is off. It's a complete speed run. Deus X machina style.
The guy is arrogant, sometimes kind? oppressive? idk I can't place him and it seems inconsistent. Good MCs often have order, structure, principles from which they derive their will. this seems like a chaotic neutral MC to me.
The girls are being led on, cmon either do a harem or let them move on. it was painful to see this sorta grey monogamy.
The idea of records were nice. I liked the power system in that sense. Consuming records.
But it's not really predictable. I don't have a good sense of the people's strengths and weakness. the author failed to help me internalise that so fights were not as engrossing.
MC is too much of a workaholic and doesn't make mistakes doesn't reach points where he is at risk of getting fucked. Like it's not a relatable guy.
I finished all 14 books of this series.
It's not unbearable to the extent I had to stop in the middle. towards the end it did feel so rushed that I started skimming.
The positives would be, the author doesn't take himself very seriously. there is a certain charm in how he fills the book with references to other media - anime, light novels etc.
The protagonist also breaks the fourth wall kinda by using the power of foreshadowing and tropes since he knows how things often flow when such flags are raised.
I can see how much effort the author has put in and he is sincere and is trying. But that's not enough especially in the world of WNs - huge competition and I'm consuming a fan (I think) translated version.
lots of things might have gotten lost in translation who knows
The reason why I give it a 2 star is because, the protagonist is too OP too fast, like the pacing is off. It's a complete speed run. Deus X machina style.
The guy is arrogant, sometimes kind? oppressive? idk I can't place him and it seems inconsistent. Good MCs often have order, structure, principles from which they derive their will. this seems like a chaotic neutral MC to me.
The girls are being led on, cmon either do a harem or let them move on. it was painful to see this sorta grey monogamy.
The idea of records were nice. I liked the power system in that sense. Consuming records.
But it's not really predictable. I don't have a good sense of the people's strengths and weakness. the author failed to help me internalise that so fights were not as engrossing.
MC is too much of a workaholic and doesn't make mistakes doesn't reach points where he is at risk of getting fucked. Like it's not a relatable guy.
July 30, 2018
Stopped at Chapter 143 ,that's quite enough
there is no dignity in this ,no art
there is no dignity in this ,no art
April 7, 2019
4 out of 5. It's quite a good work for most of its parts, albeit it had some predictable outcomes. It makes up for a great leisure read. The different arcs integrate very well for the finale. The many context/quotes from a diverse pool of books (literature, Russian references, anime, popular culture, etc.) made the read slightly richer and made me want to read those books as well. Those that are used or like the RPG genre will probably find it more appealing and will also likely understand the need for a lot of explanation on some parts.
[Spoiler]
I would only have preferred if the author did not use angels names from the bible, he only used a couple and while they did add to the story, it may conflict with a lot of people due to religion. He could have made new names, but maybe the temptation of the setup was to attractive.
[Spoiler]
I would only have preferred if the author did not use angels names from the bible, he only used a couple and while they did add to the story, it may conflict with a lot of people due to religion. He could have made new names, but maybe the temptation of the setup was to attractive.
July 17, 2024
I had to take away a few stars for the beyond shitty ending. Most of the novel was very enjoyable, even if he had 2 different love interests. The 2 love interests were both written well enough for me to not even be mad if he had ended up with both of them. But no! The author decided to give in to the loser readers and pair him with every woman in the book without warning. It really opened my eyes to how awful the novel really was. It was enjoyable up til the end but I can't honestly say it was good. While I do like it quite a bit, it's mostly just nostalgia for it having been the first novel I read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 20, 2021
Started off good and overtime as the story moved on it gradually lacked something. The more chapters in a certain annoying character is introduced I thought this character isn't going to relevant for long. Here is a surprise she is and she is one of the most annoying if not most annoying character in this story. That degraded the story for me. The hardest fight the main character experienced is when he was a lower existence. The 2 fights are between Orochi and the Will Of Chaos. After that the fights didn't have any meaning to it because he just sweeps anyone. Even the final boss should have put up more of a challenge but he didn't feel like a final boss. Also the ending was just stupid with him just accepting multiple wives. Overall the novel turned into a chinese wuxia novel.
March 18, 2021
This story started out interestingly, but quickly devolved into a bland RPG chronicle, with the mc following the classic "sidequests, materials, crafting, skill upgrades, and slightly larger story quest" formula.
stopped on chapter 160/360
Characters: 1.5/5 did not really like
World: 4/5 really liked
Story: 3/5 liked
Characters:
There was not a lot of depth to the characters whatsoever. Even the main character, who we follow for basically every chapter is fairly shallow. He is a shut in introvert who has girls following him all over the place. Because he doesn't interact with anyone other than his harem and business partners, things get slow fast in the character development area.
World:
This was well handled, with much more detailed explanations of the global situation as the world adapts to a crisis than something like Omniscient Reader's Perspective. I appreciated the above average world-building breadth and depth.
Story:
It got slow and repetitive by chapter 150/360. See the intro to the review. However, many other books don't even follow such a clear-cut formula, which makes this the first thing I read that really sticks to its RPG guns. I appreciate the consistency and acknowledge that it is an entertaining formula, at least till the characters start to bog down. Because of the stability and novelty of the formula, I liked it.
stopped on chapter 160/360
Characters: 1.5/5 did not really like
World: 4/5 really liked
Story: 3/5 liked
Characters:
There was not a lot of depth to the characters whatsoever. Even the main character, who we follow for basically every chapter is fairly shallow. He is a shut in introvert who has girls following him all over the place. Because he doesn't interact with anyone other than his harem and business partners, things get slow fast in the character development area.
World:
This was well handled, with much more detailed explanations of the global situation as the world adapts to a crisis than something like Omniscient Reader's Perspective. I appreciated the above average world-building breadth and depth.
Story:
It got slow and repetitive by chapter 150/360. See the intro to the review. However, many other books don't even follow such a clear-cut formula, which makes this the first thing I read that really sticks to its RPG guns. I appreciate the consistency and acknowledge that it is an entertaining formula, at least till the characters start to bog down. Because of the stability and novelty of the formula, I liked it.
November 29, 2019
Decent plotting, world development, and character growth nothing to write home about, a typical RPG style Korean web light novel.
The review is for all the 344 chapters. This was my fifth time reading a fan translated light-novel, from Korean to English. Felt like I was reading a manga/manhwa.
It has characteristics of Fantasy as well as Sci-fi with some great humor thrown in for fun. I am not a fan of Harem setting and this did have plenty of that, also the flow did feel monotonous after some time, luckily the novel was pretty short so it didn’t drag on for too long.
The review is for all the 344 chapters. This was my fifth time reading a fan translated light-novel, from Korean to English. Felt like I was reading a manga/manhwa.
It has characteristics of Fantasy as well as Sci-fi with some great humor thrown in for fun. I am not a fan of Harem setting and this did have plenty of that, also the flow did feel monotonous after some time, luckily the novel was pretty short so it didn’t drag on for too long.
Currently reading
March 21, 2022Never thought that I would read a Korean WebNovel, the action and comedy is good, above average, I like the characters, and I love main characters who aren't a pussy, no hesitation to kill his enemies, I mean I do like stuffs where people are merciless, but not inhumane. This is the type of WebNovel you would read in your phone whenever you get free time, and also to boost up your imagiNATION world and fantasies, I'm on chapter 149, and I'm continuing, will try to finish all 350+ chapter and will try to write another review after finishing the series.
June 9, 2023
~~ read till chapter 36 ~~
(3.3 stars)
ps: it's bad. real bad. i tried before to read the webnovel and i couldn't even finish the first chapter/the prologue so i picked the webtoon and it's true that i read more than 30 chapters but still isn't a manga that i feel pleasure reading. of course that is hard for me to give a manga with the trope that i most like (dungeons & monsters) less than 3 stars so i conformed giving around 3 stars and i know (maybe) that in the future i'll read again just to see if becomes better but i don't see the light at the end of the tunnel.
(3.3 stars)
ps: it's bad. real bad. i tried before to read the webnovel and i couldn't even finish the first chapter/the prologue so i picked the webtoon and it's true that i read more than 30 chapters but still isn't a manga that i feel pleasure reading. of course that is hard for me to give a manga with the trope that i most like (dungeons & monsters) less than 3 stars so i conformed giving around 3 stars and i know (maybe) that in the future i'll read again just to see if becomes better but i don't see the light at the end of the tunnel.
April 24, 2020
the story would've been great if the protagonist is actually a loner like he keeps reminding us of ...and i just can't understand why authors seems to think that having so many females falling for the same guy almost instantaneously can make the story better .. its disappointing really, ijust can't seem to find a decent LN as good as solo leveling, once you've read it .. nothing else satisfies you anymore
October 26, 2020
Kinda disappointing considering the premise of a man left all alone in the world. Maybe it's the third person view that detached me from his mindset, maybe its the fact that he's sooooo boring that you kidna get why God left him all alone, I hope writers can understand that "working super hard" is not a character trait.
December 20, 2020
Overall this held an entertaining story, it's always the mc that gets isekai'd but not in this one instead everyone in the world got isekai'd instead of the mc, it was a really enjoyable read with a great story, showing his character development to some guy no one noticed to become the strongest climbing his way through the ranks spending a whole millennium by himself.
so overall good read would recommend
so overall good read would recommend
May 28, 2021
My first ever Korean webnovel and one of the first series I have finished, and I loved every bit of it. Definitely recommend it to anyone starting to get into web/light novels. It has a bit of everything, with the right amount of humour in the right parts. Ahhh nostalgia.
August 6, 2025
Read a few years ago. Randomly got the thought of rereading the first few chapters and the translation was much worse than i remembered. A classic that fathered Korean fantasy but needs better English translation.
May 27, 2018
I had to rush through the book due to the repetitive nature of the book.
June 27, 2018
Awesome read. Great all around book. Everything you would want in a light novel about life in a RPG like universe.
July 14, 2019
misogynistic author, misogynistic MC, misogynistic story.
August 5, 2019
Stopped reading for a long time and thus book is amazing for an occasional reader lile me. Trying to find a book as good as this.
July 30, 2020
بعيدا عن عشوائية المؤلف والايقاع البطئ الي كانت القصة ماشية بيها في الاول بس حلوة .... سالب نجمة علشان الترجمة والمصطلحات الي مش واضحة
February 9, 2021
plot was good but it could be better if hasn't harem
November 17, 2021
It was interesting when the protagonist stayed on earth while everyone else was gone.
February 7, 2022
The early chapters are interesting to read but from mid to late chapters... Meh. The author just throws shit and the mc somehow 'predicts' it and it's ruining the immersion for me.
April 19, 2022
Overpowered!
September 7, 2022
The story is 354 chapters long. And I loved reading this. It's popcorn fun...
Want to read
November 11, 2022Dropped at Chapter 10 because of bad translation
November 27, 2022
The harem element was kinda forced. + The way of level literally was level up description, not for reader to get sense of but rather read it exactly as described by writer
April 29, 2023
Enjoyable. It was good.
July 4, 2023
Really enjoyed this book, gives me vivid dreams of being the mc :)
December 9, 2023
Good, repetitive and stale at the end but you fall in love with it and the characters so it's passable. Fun read.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews