This is a story where MC transmigrates into another world as a secret guard who slaves away/slacks off for a tyrannical emperor (not the ML). He is sent to be an undercover to ML, the sickly uncle of the emperor.
I’d say this is overall a very slice-of-lifey-kind of story. The rebellion/plotting arc is pretty much half the story, but it’s all just slice of life. So no, this story is not a particularly brain-burning and action-worthy.
MC, ML and their relationship
So, as mentioned, MC is a lazy (salted fish) secret guard of the tyrannical emperor. He slacks off when he can and is a huge foodie. Once he’s shipped off to be with ML, he is basically convinced that the tyrannical emperor is well…a huge capitalist? Exploits his secret guards like crazy? You get the idea…Anyway, he’s fairly easily convinced to defect but he’s also worried about his background and other things. His name is a bit funny btw, punning with 19, his code name as a secret guard.
ML is a “sickly” (?) person who usually smiles with a fan (his weapon). He is someone who cannot recognise faces (face blindness) who can only differentiate MC from the others due to MC’s lightness skills (a type of martial arts skill) and MC’s lack of facial expression (yeah, MC has facial paralysis). ML gets most of his staff to wear various animal masks due to his face blindness. MC is likened to a black cat while he is likened to a smiling fox.
Anyway, the characterisation of this story is pretty comprehensive and I’ve only scratched the surface. MC is a character with a whole ton of extra layers to his background (vests). ML kinda guestimates most of them while also biding his own powers/strength.
In terms of their relationship, I’d say ML definitely fell for MC first and definitely tried to seek to best for MC. That being said, MC was also very tolerant to ML and did a lot for him too. Both very oblivious people though! Takes a while to get to get the romance line going. I personally find it a bit rough regarding their past lives and that I have mixed feelings about, but I won’t go on about it here. They’re a perfect match enough.
The side stories
There’s an excellent selection of side stories. There’s ones like post-marriage life, untying their past lives, in the modern world, an if line that explores if MC & ML were childhood friends etc. My favourite one was MC & ML both turning into a cat and fox respectively. They’re so cute!
Conclusion
I was busy so I read this over a few weeks, so I’m not super sure whether it was the writing or just the length of time that made the excitement (ups and downs) of the story seem less pronounced. Overall, I think this is one I can recommend, the characterisation is quite memorable and the story definitely has an adorable and humorous flair to it.
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