Dokja

Dokja's History

As a child.

Kim Dokja was a withdrawn and nervous child due to his history of abuse and bullying from family and classmates. He spent most of his time immersed in books and webnovels, avoiding contact with others. However, he still struggled with immense depression, which eventually drove him to attempt suicide. Shortly after he woke up, he discovered the novel Ways of Survival and became invested in it, staying alive so he could read the novel's next update. This novel remained his main interest for the next decade, and he lacked interest in most other things and people, not making a single friend or having any hobby outside of reading. He continued to be withdrawn as well as anxious (often using the mantra "I am Yoo Joonghyuk" to boost his own confidence) well into adulthood.

As an adult/in general.

Kim Dokja is, at his core, a dedicated and loving man. He devotes himself to those he cares for, going so far as to sacrifice his own life for them; as a result of this devotion, he is careful with whom he grants his deep trust to. He frequently tries to shield his loved ones from danger by taking their struggles onto himself and often becomes extremely self-deprecating when he is unable to push through said struggles alone.

This self-deprecation is a recurring pattern of behaviour. For all that he loves others, he is extremely harsh on himself, being insecure and having very low self-esteem and self-worth. He used to perceive himself as perpetually alone and struggled with recognizing when people genuinely cared for and looked up to him, although he has become better at this since the beginning of ORV. Where he used to repress his emotions (as observed by Jung Heewon in early scenarios), he has also become more emotionally expressive (for instance, crying and yelling without restraint, particularly so during the epilogues). He is usually quite casual when he speaks to others, but when he's shocked or nervous, he has a tendency to speak formally.

He is somewhat self-conscious about his image and how he's perceived, though less so when he's going by a pseudonym. In early scenarios, he pretended to be ruthless and cold-blooded. As time passes, he tends towards an image of someone who is polite and put-together, and who always has a plan. In fact, he does tend to plan ahead for most situations based on his knowledge of Ways of Survival. However, he often develops tunnel vision, failing to consider outside factors playing into and altering his situation. He is notably bad at improvisation (a fact that becomes more apparent as his timeline diverges more and more from the original Ways of Survival) and takes some time to get back on his feet when faced with setbacks, having minor emotional breakdowns at particularly shocking situations.

Nonetheless, he is immensely dedicated to his goals, seen when he surpasses even death in order to reach the end of the scenarios. This translates into occasional bouts of stubbornness and singlemindedness.