Discussion After the White Moonlight Came Back, the Stand-in Fell Into Unemployment Crisis

Discussion in 'Novel Discussion' started by luoxinle, Dec 3, 2022.

  1. luoxinle

    luoxinle Book Club Founder

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    After the White Moonlight Came Back, the Stand-in Fell Into Unemployment Crisis has been on my list for a while, and I'm looking forward to finally reading it! Hopefully it lives up to the fun premise.

    Special welcome to book club members!

    So far so good. Not very emotional yet, but I appreciate the Stand-in's negotiation of terms. It's all very reasonable stuff. I'm also curious about this "no smiling" clause, though....
     
  2. Eueu

    Eueu Well-Known Member

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    U should also try the extended version :)
     
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  3. luoxinle

    luoxinle Book Club Founder

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    The conflict between the president's thoughts and the stand-in's thoughts crack me up. I am a little worried about getting to the end and the stand-in still not having any feelings or realizing the president has feelings, though.

    This chapter was kind of a tough one for me. The transition of the stand-in having feelings was done somewhat awkwardly, and the President who had been cutely looking for hints of jealousy crossed the line into cruel behavior at the end. I did laugh at the last line, though. His quest for knowledge defeats all!

    We finally have a moment where the President understands the Stand-in! This was a sweet bit of real connection and care.

    This was hilarious. Unemployment crisis all around! The stand-in, the white moonlight, and the tutor are all going to be out of a job. Fortunately for the stand-in and the tutor, this is because of a promotion, not a lay-off. The white moonlight is out of luck, though....

    This was really lovely. A surprisingly sweet result. It's also a surprisingly sensible result. There's no dog blood "you loved me, but now that I love you back, you love him" drama. It's just, "It's time to settle down, I should look up that former classmate who always liked me. Oh, I guess he moved on. Well, his new interest seems nice, I guess I'll give them my blessings and look for someone else." It's such a normal sensible response to the situation that it's kind of surprising. Which I guess says something about how weird characters usually are. After all, for a normal person, if you never liked him before, and decided to give it a try now, even if you like him a bit, it shouldn't be some crazy obsessive love that refuses to let go.
     
  4. elideli

    elideli keepin' an eye out

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    Yeah, i agree that the feelings department wasn't exactly the smoothest, but I guess it's the sacrifice that had to be made for such a short, snippet-like story.
    Right? It's such a breath of fresh air how nice the white moonlight handled everything, i was expecting some green tea shenanigans on his part but when they all got along so well and their friendship was genuine it was such a relief.
    Omg yes! Immediately added to my reading list, I'm very interested in seeing how the author expands on what we saw in the short story. I'm looking forward to seeing these characters more fleshed out (hopefully)
     
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  5. luoxinle

    luoxinle Book Club Founder

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    I love all the comments on that chapter complaining it's not a 3P polyamorous story :blobjoy:

    I also just want to give a shout out to the translators for including both the original chapter number and the chapter-in-translation. It's a very elegant solution, that doesn't sacrifice the benefits of either going at the translator's pace or keeping the pacing of the original.
     
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  6. hypersniper159

    hypersniper159 Creator of NuF’s 7th Enigma

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    C21 is precious uwu. But reading a bit more of this story...
    Honestly I have no idea what to think about this story it makes me feel uncomfortable since I don’t see it as a cute couple but rather a sex worker and their employer. The entire premise of the story is that ml has a crush and mc looks like that crush. To me it seems like ml is just fetishized mc’s look and make me think why ml couldn’t just get another sex worker if he fetishized looks... Like before this whole story started, the one year gap where white moonlight was abroad he really didn’t fantasized about other men and yet he romanizes mc into his crush. I don’t really understand this thought process. He doesn’t romanticized anything for a year but mc comes around and suddenly he does? Maybe I just don’t understand or I’m missing something
    Don’t get me wrong this story is super cute and adorable, but....
    welp ml just admitted his fault I pointed out... a cat got my tongue.
     
    Last edited: Dec 4, 2022
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  7. luoxinle

    luoxinle Book Club Founder

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    I feel like the mother-in-law is kind of weird. I understand being concerned about a big status gap, but it seems excessive to immediately insist on a break up. It's certainly a common trope in c-novels, though. I guess culturally there's an expectation that parents will play a bigger role in choosing their child's spouse.

    I have a feeling he's going to win her over soon, though.

    The extras were so cute! I love that the Stand-in once again won over the President's mother by dragging her to tutor him.

    Overall, this was a cute, but pretty bare-bones story. There was very little description or dialogue, and even the characters had titles instead of names. It felt more like reading a summary or outline than reading a proper story. I gather the spin-off is more fleshed out. The spin-off should be finished translating sometime around next August (assuming it continues at it's current pace, which is a big assumption).

    I kind of liked reading a single short story in this style, but I don't think I'd want to read a longer one in the same style, or even several short ones. It's okay once it a while, but it's not something I'd devour hundreds of pages of.

    What did you all think? Did you like the style?
     
  8. elideli

    elideli keepin' an eye out

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    Yeah i think the mother in law was just there to fill in the trope, bc obviously the overbearing ceo needs an even more overbearing mother to break him and the stand-in up, i'm surprised the mother didn't try to set the president up on a blind date with a more suitable partner, causing another misunderstanding between the stand-in and the president... pretty sure the trope is universally common, from c-dramas to telenovelas haha.
    Yeah, it reads more like an outline of a story idea than a proper story, but it was still fun. I've read a few other vignette stories and the pros and cons balance out, like, on one hand, they read pretty fast and you can get the whole story in a short time, but on the other there is so many things left to the imagination that you wish were more fleshed out, but least when you know it's a vignette you can go in with those expectations. I quite enjoy the format, I've also found vignette stories are more likely to have some sort of comedic tone so it makes them fun to read.
     
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  9. frrama

    frrama Well-Known Member

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    Oooh yes... It's been some time since I read this, but I do remember that I pretty much despised the stupid President and his stupid egomaniac thought processes all the way through, and (even though I knew it wouldn't actually happen) was solidly rooting for the Stand-in to ditch him and let him wallow in misery and regret for ever and ever.

    And then I got slapped in the face by the final lines of the penultimate chapter:
    [the President] suddenly realized that he had been abandoned.
    He was abandoned by the one who was willing to love him, who always smiled and addressed him as leader.
    In the end, no one wanted to love him.

    But he didn’t hate the Stand-in. After all, their encounter began with his wrong feeling, not to mention he repeatedly insulted the Stand-in.
    He is the one who does not deserve to be loved.
    The dog was very satisfied once it had an owner.

    and went "Aaahh, **** you, story! I fell at the last hurdle; you made me root for that stupid dog to get his happy-ever-after, after all. Well played, I guess." QAQ

    Overall it was a pretty sweet story :X3: I really liked the gentle-parody-humour of the shorthand style (and the use of generic name substitutes! - 'cause let's be honest, this reflects how I refer to most characters in my head anyway :D). Thus I'm not altogether convinced that turning it into a longer and more fleshed-out story could be an improvement, as much of this humour will inevitably be lost (and whatever replaces it won't necessarily be as good or better? - though here's hoping); but still, I'll probably check out the extended version some time once it's fully translated.
     
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  10. Deleted member 456425

    Deleted member 456425 Guest

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    Thoughts: overtime pay..
     
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  11. Deleted member 456425

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    ... lol, white moonlight got dragged into the studying spree
     
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  12. luoxinle

    luoxinle Book Club Founder

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    No one can escape the studying spree.
     
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  13. Deleted member 456425

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    I am finished.
    The writing style is interesting. The plot is simple, the characters as well. It was short and sweet. At the start, it's funny how the president misunderstands how the mc feels all the time. The mc is also obviously running away from his feelings because he feels unworthy. It still worked out when the mc finally had the guts to go for what he wants.

    I like the comedic aspect too. Could be repetitive but it was light and funny. Dragging everyone to a studying spree. Especially, that last character dragged to the study spree.. Hahaha

    Overall, I enjoyed it.
     
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