The life of a Korean Peasant

Self-Published

Community Rating

Description

Born in the early 21st century in North Korea, Kim Jung Hee's life takes an unexpected turn when he discovers he possesses extraordinary powers granted by a mysterious "system" that sets him apart from the rest of the world. Despite living in a land marked by hardship and pain, Kim Jong Hee's positivity remains unshaken as he navigates his life through the years.

This is his story.

Information

Status: Hiatus
Year: 2023
Author: batotit

Royal Road Stats

Rating: 4.6/ 5.0
Followers: 186
Views: 116,232

Reviews

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Community Reviews(10)

AethelredRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
The Life of a Korean Peasant is a modern day litRPG in a world where only the main character Jung Hee has the magic blue boxes. The story starts with him as a baby, and as of chapter 24, he is nine years old.
Reading about him uncovering what the system can do for him is a delight as he is a bundle of positivity, unwilling to let the grind of peasant life return him to the earth ahead of schedule.
There is absolutely no excuse not to give this charming story a try.
The little snippets of the world as a whole that Jung Hee observes from a child's perspective are just enough to let us understand what the life of those around him is like, without dominating the story with doom and gloom, as well as being a fascinating insight to the circumstances of the surrounding area and the world at large.
The system as a whole is most unusual and learning how it works alongside Jung Hee is good fun. What steals the show however, are Jung Hee's youthful antics as he does his chores, goes to school, befriends a haughty owl, and above all completes his quests.
BoredCrowRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Ok first of all I'd like to say this is one of the only stories on this site that made me have actual emotional connections to the characters. Every time I saw him get hurt or know about some other sad event it hurts. This story is built so well, the emotional depth and the effort the MC put into everything is all so touching. How hard he worked for everyone he cared about. Yet even under a layer of naivety lies a mature character.
Connor B. WatsonRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
A couple week ago—No cap—I had a one-off thought about making a north korea litRPG.
And this guy executed it better than I could ever.
Although it is obv that english isn't author's first language, the writing is pretty decent. He writes a baby very convincingly and gives good explanation behind his thoughts. There is a loving connection between MC and his mother—which I'm a fan of—and the story moves at a perfect pace.
The system is also unique.
He first gets system access at the age of 8 months and later it is revealed that he is basically the one and only person on Earth with system access. Am interested to see what happens later down the line.
Overall, I'm loving it so far and if author-san continues to execute this well and doesn't half-ass it, we shall see this reach #1 best rated and take MOL's crown.
GreedyJackelRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Please Come Back. This is such a unique and refreshing story with great character growth. I have been checking to see if this has updated for years, and reread it so many times. If there is any story I want to see the end of on this website it would be this one.
JustinThymeRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
A very pleasent and refreshing story. It has an Interesting system. Simple and yet complex. It's nice to see an MC who is not an expert at min maxing it. Very happy he hasn't acquired demi God level at age 5 :). I'm at ch. 9 and can't put it down. Thank you for this breath of fresh air.
JxddyRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
From the first chapter, it became evident that this novel was no ordinary addition to the LitRPG landscape. The author skillfully weaves a tale that manages to be both innovative and captivating, breathing new life into a genre that sometimes feels saturated with repetitive themes.
One of the novel's most commendable features is its protagonist, a character who defies the usual stereotypes. Instead of the typical power-hungry hero seeking dominance, we are introduced to a nuanced and relatable individual. The depth of character development throughout the story adds a layer of authenticity that is often lacking in traditional LitRPG narratives
LeoPolakkRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Disclaimer: The review title is only a slight exaggeration.
Overall: While an engaging read now, perhaps with a slight suspension of disbelief, there is much potential for the story to be a Rising Star and beyond, a Weekly Popular.
The Good Things:
If you are looking for a Lit-RPG story, you will find it here in this story. However, if you are looking for a non-Lit-RPG story, you may be happy with this story, since the RPG system, while conventional, is not at all overbearing.
Oh, wait, you want a slice-of-life story!? Look no further! The North Korean Peasant lifestyle is very much a laid-back one, but of course, interspersed with just enough excitements to not be boring! Though, there is a promise for more excitement than you bargained for.
Ah, you want a farming-centric story? Well, you can find it here, too!
What, looking for martial arts? There is some of it too.
An emotional story!?? Well, we are getting there, but there is enough now to keep you engaged until then.
I know I have missed some others, but I will get around to adding them later.
The main character is likeable, and offers a unique perspective borne out of his situation. Quite refreshing, that!
Otherwise, all around, well-written characters drive this story ever forward at just the right pace!
The Bad Things:
The grammar, while only slightly distracting, could be better. I highly encourage the author to utilize Grammarly, or other free software to make the writing grammatically sound - internet browser extensions may be helpful. Especially note the mixing of sentences in different tenses and spellings.
The scenes could do with being a bit more descriptive. I am not saying add in more details about a scene (like talking about the colour of a wall, etc.). What I would like to see more is the description about relevant world-building. For example, if you plan to have a chase scene in a forest later in the story, describe the forest now somehow, so that you don't have to expound on it during the chase.
Willingly_IgnantRoyal Road
★★★★★ 5.0
Aye, I like to be ignorant & rather crass, but this story ain't that rn.
Pace is ok, the system is arguably not the main focus, the kid/mc isn't some mastermind, and to be honest. I'd this is more a slice of life thing rn than a system story. What it has out rn is laying the foundation for something that could be one of the greats, but only time will tell.
Give it a shot, and it does look like the system could be OP as all Hell, but for the moment, just enjoy the ride.
If you want a system junkie with a young master complex hellbent on cruelty to the max, I don't think this is for you.
OmniextRoyal Road
★★★★★ 4.5
I have no words. I decided to give it a shot on a whim– how could I not with a premise like that? I'm so happy that I did. I'm not typically one for slice of life, but Kim Jung Hee is so excessively earnest that I can't hjkhjkhjdsf. Very enjoyable. Kim Jung Hee doing stuff is basically the entire story so far, and it's still so interesting. The only downside I can think of is that I genuinely dislike the girl who's looking to be the primary love interest, but I think that's on purpose.
edit: it's 4.5/5 now. It's still fantastic, but with as few spoilers as possible... please MC. You didn't have to be such a simp. Again, I still recommend it though.
I can't. I can't. The love interest gets kidnapped and the MC investigates and saves her. The person who arranged her kidnapping happened to be their principle. Asshole, right? But it turns out, the principle had been painstakingly arranging for medicine and other resources to be delivered to their town despite all the economic sanctions, basically helping fix infrastructure and providing scholarships among them.
This girl found out from her essentially pretend boyfriend about it and blackmailed the principle to spend a not insignificant amount of those resources on her and to provide her a scholarship despite her not having the requisites for one. I'm not putting it well here, but it's infinitely more annoying when you get to the chapter. They (principle, hospital staff, people in the know) tried to get her to stop, and she only kept going. When MC gets a scholarship, that's when she blackmails the principle to give her one or else she tells the militia. When he wins a competition with a cash prize, she blackmails again for the same amount of money the MC supposedly got (he only got pots and pans. he never got the cash).
When the MC learns about this before the principle is put on trial, what does he do? When it's all laid out in front of him by one of the hospital staff, who asks him to change his statement to the milit
to doRoyal Road
★★★★ 4.0
This story is quite well written. So far it's been largely slice of life, with the MC still being in high school 60 chapters in and the supernatural being limited to his own experiences. The grammar and prose are excellent, and the internal voice and characterization fit the developing age of the MC quite well.
The main issue for me so far is that very little has happened besides slice of life and grinding, and while that's interesting, personally I find the concept of "what would a North Korean peasant do if given the powers of a Gamer" to be far too fascinating to be stuck in a childhood arc for so long. But I'm also slightly dreading what will happen once he's an adult, given he's in his late teens and still seems to be a devout communist(or jucheist?) believer.
Finally, the author didn't want things to get political, so I'll spoiler away this section. Be warned, I will get political and historical, given this is a subject I've had interest in for a while:
The MC is a North Korean peasant, in the 80s/90s. Anyone familiar with this portion of history in the region knows that he's in for a bad time, with massive floods and droughts leading to poor harvests and destroying food reserves, combined with the collapsing Soviet Union and poor harvests in China minimizing the few food and fertilizer imports that were keeping the country afloat and leading to mass famine and the deaths of potentially millions of people, while the party elite hoard the food for themselves.
This is an inherently political setting. Because the MC's family is poor, very poor. Their food rations will be cut to just above starvation level, and attempts to buoy their own food production will receive the attention of those who want to take it for themselves and have the means to do so, mainly the hugely oversized army and secret police forces of the party who maintain a monopoly on the use of force in the country and are incredibly corrupt.
In this time period, the main sanctions in place were for