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Read the first two chapters of part 2, and it’s as good as part 1!

Finished the second chapter!
This one was so different than the first chapter. It was more an action thriller whereas the first one felt more like a police procedural. Many parts of the second chapter didn’t feel very realistic to me. I liked it less than the first part, but I’m curious to see where it’s going to be and whether all chapters will have a different tone or different sub-genre.

In Korean Shamanism, a 애기신녀 “Child Shamaness” can refer to a shaman possessed by a child spirit which makes her speak and act in a child voice, regardless of her age.

I had a new goal idea this morning: finish my current book in each language before Snezhnaya release. I still haven’t started the Japanese one, and the current book in Chinese is quite long, but at least I know it won’t be a problem for Korean given how engrossing 믹스테이프 is.

For this kind of reading goal, I need to set a progress plan:
There are exactly 7 days remaining before the patch.
千禧黑夜: 79% > 11/12% per day
믹스테이프: 46% > 6/7 % per day
禁忌の子: 100% > 14/15% per day

It looks a bit unrealistic… I think that 千禧黑夜 is the longest, but it’s hard to compare length... 믹스테이프 is very easy to read and it’s a page-turner anyway so this one won’t be a problem. As for 禁忌の子, it’s a medical mystery, so it might end up being the most difficult of the three. It’s not very long though.

I finished part 1, or “Side A”! What an ending! I’m wondering what will happen now given that I’m only halfway through. I hope it’s going to be as good as the first part.

Next book I want to read in Japanese is 禁忌の子 by 山口未桜. I’m just following the list of prizes and rankings, and this novel ranked 3rd on このミステリーがすごい! (2026), 2nd on ミステリが読みたい! (2026) and third on 週刊文春ミステリーベスト10 (2024) among others.

It’s also the author’s debut novel (I always like reading debut works or even better, start with an author’s debut novel), and it’s the first of a series with a second volume published in 2025.

All of these are good reasons for me to pick this book! The only thing that makes me hesitate a bit is that it’s a medical mystery, and I’m expecting a lot of medical vocabulary. But maybe I’m just underestimating myself, I don’t think tackling medical fiction in Japanese should really be a problem. I also already read fiction by authors who work in the medical field and incorporate medical elements in their work, so it should be okay.

This novel is currently a life saviour, I spent the night reading it while it was too hot to sleep.

Chapter 2 is a completely new setting! I still haven’t fully got into the story, but I’m too tired for Traditional Chinese today

I feel like August is going to be a very bad reading month. First there’s the heat, with nights at 28C it’s just impossible to sleep and I’m tired all day. Then there will be Snezhnaya and Reverse 1999 anniversary patch both releasing next week! I skipped latest R1999 stories (the Enigma one and the collab one), but I will absolutely do the next story! So I’ll probably won’t have much time to open my books.

The atmosphere of the film was absolutely fantastic, it’s eery and creepy and at the same time the house does have a romantic charm, I found the setting really great.
But… I don’t think having a great atmosphere and settings is enough to make a great film. A film is a mix of several things, and some films will focus more on certain aspects and that’s fine, but sacrificing the cohesion of the story to go all in on atmospheric horror feels like a shame.

The story really doesn’t make too much sense, from beginning to end, and the main character’s actions and decisions are always the less effective. It felt like the scenes came first (and some were really visually striking) and to achieve them, characters acted in a certain manner, even if doing so was stupid from their point of view.

But what bothered me the most is that the film lacked cohesion.

It would have worked fine as a psychological thriller/horror, but it brings supernatural elements that didn’t make much sense and didn’t feel necessary imo. They also felt very random, which is really something that bothered me. The film added some typical horror scenes, that didn’t belong here and didn’t really have a place in the narrative. The painting scene in particular, and more generally the toy rabbit that’s on the poster are good examples of that to me, they felt more like a conventional horror tropes than something really needed.

In the end, neither the supernatural occurrences nor the characters motives and past are really explained. It felt like the film tried out several things, but didn’t commit to any direction so we’re left with multiple loose ends.

Jeon Gunwoo’s books are always so good!
I’m feeling sick today, but still managed to read some pages of 믹스테이프. I actually needed this kind of book today, engrossing and easy to read.