Personally I have three quibbles with the story. First, the narrative does a bad balance between the RL plot and the in-game plot. The first season is 75:25 between in-game plot and the RL shenanigans, and the second season basically flips the whole thing. While at first glance this feels OKAY, the more I think about it the more displeased I become. Not only does the entire MMORPG side of the cast basically get sidelined once the story focuses on the RL shenanigans, it basically meant the entire first season...served only as builtup for 'the main event'. It's annoying, because the MMORPG part of thestory is also very well-crafted.

Second, is that the story writes the 'omg I'm not gay but he's different' element of BL a bit TOO seriously. Yeonwoo, the MC, is a supposedly straight man who inadvertently leads other men because he was so nice it gives out wrong vibes. I appreciate the attempts to make him different. But the problem is that the narrative sells that part TOO well, so the writing often feels like he's REALLY not interested at Jigu, the ML, until like the very last minute.

This problem persists for some time even after they got together. Add the heteronormative sex scenes (the usual "no stop you're too big it hurts") and I still cannot be fully invested because there's always the impression that Yeonwoo still feels like, 15% forced.

Third, is that the narrative likes to let small misunderstandings brew into big problems. There is Jigu's identity, of course, and his dark past... But there is also small misunderstanding with Yeonwoo and his supposed S&M proclivities, and other smaller things.

It's like that's the only type of conflict they're doing for this story, and it gets a bit aggravating at times.

But despite these complaints, it's still a good story and I do still enjoy this story.

Despite my criticism above, the strangers to friends to lovers part of the story feels well-paced and well-written. Yeonwoo and Jigu's changing relationships are filled with drama both online and offline, but their bond itself was a slow burn.

Both Yeonwoo and Jigu not only starts off as fairly complex characters, their growth is also visible throughout the story. I enjoy Yeonwoo being mostly levelheaded with the occasional burst of online troll, and Jigu being a narcissist online but a crybaby seme offline despite his looks. There's a good contrast.

The rest of the cast is also pretty entertaining, particularly the MMORPG side of the story. Do I want them to be fleshed out more? Yes. But are they doing their job well now? Also yes.

But most importantly, the story is FUN. The MMORPG part of the story is cute but also very much a solid action-comedy, meanwhile the RL part of the story is a romcom of misunderstandings. While the narrative fails to balance the amount between these two different worlds, it manages to portray each world competently. The narrative makes it clear just how important the games are for both main characters.

Overall, flaws aside, I still enjoyed this a LOT.