Ur so right.
Also to add to something u said, I read a Korean’s review of the novel a while ago & they said that it was VERY realistic for Koreans (aka… the ***target audience***). U mentioned abt studying vs street smarts & whatnot, so I just wanna add something that the reviewer explicitly mentioned. They said that her fear + naivety + her struggle to adapt to situations makes sense bcz SK is one of the safest places & has one of the lowest crime rates (apart from sex related crimes) so people there are, like u said, mostly less street-smart than foreigners (though ofc other cultural factors contribute to this). And as a translation of what they said, I quote “upon arrival in a foreign country like France, a Korean would be one of the first to be robbed/pickpocketed without realising it” (And then they went into detail about their lack of street-smarts compared to foreigners because crimes like that are much less common in their country); the Korean reviewer said that they found Garam extremely relatable considering the circumstances she’s found herself in, which Korea could never have prepared her for (physically, mentally, etc) due to the safety of their country.
[this is not my own observation, this is something a Korean said about Koreans, just in case anyone misunderstands.]
I'm looking down at the comment section, many of them are saying she's weak and stupid and that she should grow up faster and be stronger. If any of you have a child, I want you to leave it in the middle of the ocean and tell it to come back to you within a month with no missing arms and legs. Unreasonable right? That's the m.c.'s situation yea, she's capable of thinking and fending for herself since she is an adult but babies can survive in sewer pipes for MONTHS without food and water.
Now get this, I bet 98% of y'all don't know about Korean culture or life style, I don't know much about it either, but the biggest this over there is to GET a job, and it's not over here in the u.s. where you can be a useless ass bum and live out on the streets. Over there is some sort of discrimination against those with successful jobs and those that don't. I'm talking about lawyers, CEO's , doctors, real estate agents against convince store workers, electricians and sometimes even teachers. Coming from a high pressurized society where even your parents will slap the shit out of you for not getting a job and where your not even considered an adult until your 20 years old. What type of mindset do you think she would have in such a situation?
This doesn't even go down to the cultural aspects, I'm talking about as a human being, all of y'all in the comment section must be either loners or delusional, people have said it before, you've seen it in movies and in books. HUMAN BEINGS CANNOT SURVIVE ON THEIR OWN WITHOUT OTHER HUMANS OR ANIMALS.
Those of y'all saying, "oh I'm surviving just fine without anyone, I'm able to take care of my self" bullshit, your money is tied to the government, which is something you can't even get without someone giving it to you or stealing it, you don't make your own clothes by your self someone else makes that shit.
The same food you may or may not eat every day, is prepped and provides, process and delivered by SOMEONE ELSE, even if you grow your own damn food you still have to buy the damn seeds, soil, and fertilizer not to mention paying the damn water bill.
The same phone, ear buds, vacuums, dishwashers etc. Y'all don't own or make that shit, why don't you own it even after buying it you ask. That shit can easily be taken or stolen from you, even if you do make your own phone and electronics, I bet you still have to buy the pieces to MAKE the electronic. So you still have to rely on people to make the stuff you aren't capable of, in order for YOU to do what you need to do.
Now back to the subject of our m.c., she can only go back to her world once her meter is full, she's in a strange place after coming from a highly pressurized country where book smarts are superior to street smarts, she's out here trying to figure shit out because she doesn't know that when she goes to a place she may or may not come out alive, she doesn't have enough physical endurance for these unusual climates that she's not used too. In foreign countries foreigners are like rare species over there, so she wouldn't have much experience dealing with different types of customs and people, like you would in Europe and America.
And as for her current situation SHES NOT A FUCKING DOCTOR OR SURVIVAL EXPERT she's not gonna go in beast mode and suddenly carry two people across the mountain range to safety for treatment, nor Is she going to be able to keep a stable mind where two people that are under her care are seriously injured and are close to dying.
We are talking about MENTAL TRUAMA here, shit, most of you over look this like PTSD, OCD, depressions ND anxiety don't exist when all of you go through that shit atleast once are all of your life. Even your "OP" m.c.'s go through that shit but people over look it because " Their stronger, and 'smarter' and have more connections" ITS STILL FUCKING THERE, but you REFUSE and I mean REFUSE to look at it because of your own discrepancies. You don't want to think this shit exist and that people go through that crap. And even those of you that do go through all these things, you ignore it like others don't unless it's BLATANTLY shoved in your face. Then you say " ooh that's so sad, she/he shouldn't have to go through that, the people around her /him are shitty ass people" but even then your blindsiding the effects that it has on the person going through that situation.
1. Because even the writers don't continue to make you aware of this shit.
2. Because YOU the reader and the commenters don't want to be aware of it.
Isn't that fucking funny.
Now aside from the mental trauma, y'all said she should change her mindset to match the situation, and I agree adaptability is needed in order to be able to survive in an unknown situation even with limited knowledge about the place. At the same time she's a what? What is she ? A HUMAN BEING that means that she thinks differently, acts differently and figures things out differently too, the pace at which she learns and understand stuff is DIFFERENT.
Now unless all of y'all are honor students, people with 4.8 or higher Gpa, Go to Harvard or other hard to get in colleges, own a successful business that has chains all over the world and is actually making an impact at where they are. Then I commend you but even you had to go through your own hardships where you were betrayed and used and shit on, black mailed, stolen from, mentally and emotionally drained and just got tired of everything.
Then there are the people in the comment sections that aren't the smartest tool in the tool shed, probably even the rustiest of them all too. These people like to think that reality isn't mixed into all types of books, characters, environments and people. That's BS, I don't know what type of EXTRAORDINARY meth your on but that is pure Bs. Do you know what reality is, it's how you mentally and emotionally deal with the problems and situations your in environment and with yourself.
Those of you that say that books shouldn't be this realistic or it annoys you that m.c. is like this, I guess your some delusional ass person that lives in your own little castle on a far away hill. The m.c is NORMAL and that's why you don't like it yea, she's one of the "Chosen people", but not everyone wants to be a "Chosen person" not everyone wants to be transported into a world their unfamiliar with, and that is exactly why people are complaining about this manga, you like it when the m.c. is able to immediately adapt and change in the situation their put in or atleast mentally changes and get what they need to get done so they can live in the world.
Yet at the same time you guys aren't able to change and adapt to this manga/webtoon because you don't like that it hits close to home, you come to "escape your reality" into things that shouldn't be realistic but once the shit hits the fan and you realize that this person would be like 60% of y'all you dislike it and say it annoying, that the m.c. is dumb and that she's useless. Yea she is, only to those of you that would act the same exact way to the situation, and the funny thing is 50% out if the 60% of y'all would probably die in the very first chapter, after those monsters came after you. The other 10 percent would either be mentally traumatized or try to get back on your feet but will never forget what you had just experience, because it's gonna constant, pecking and pecking and pecking the back of your mind throughout your journey, that something like that can happen again at any give moment, even if you are in a town full of people. Why? Because people are monsters too, if savage monsters are scary, imagine putting the ability to think and act based on those thoughts to it, that's what a human is, savage beings that will still erase you, even though their able to communicate and understand.
This is exactly the type of class or situation the m.c. is in where it's a dog eat dog world, and she's only been in there for what 2-3 month (idk cuz the time is different there). She doesn't even have enough information about the place because most of the areas have closed minded people that sell off people that look like her as soon as they find them. So not only is she escaping from people like her, she's escaping another world discrimination and the natural elements.
And yea she would seem to have a weak mindset but as I said before people think differently depending on the situation they are in and will definitely act differently too, this is her trying to cope with the current predicament she's in. And to those of you saying "oh I could do better than her in that situation", go put yourself in the Amazon rain forest and come out intact with no missing fingers, toes, arms and legs. No posion or dirt on your body. And if you can props and I commend you. But if you can't I hope that stick gets pushed further up your dusty ass to the point you can't even take a shit without blood coming out.