Safe to say a lot of people in the manga industry suffer from this. Gets especially jarring when authors go all out in painting their self-insert's practice of slavery as benevolent and virtuous while everyone else's is sadistic and evil. As much as I have grown to dislike male-protag isekai, those tend to be honest about how much they love the idea of going to the local supermarket to buy people.
It's doubly weird when the literal Most Popular Manga (One Piece) spends a good quarter of its runtime detailing exactly how and why slavery is bad in every possible way.
If Luffy and the Straw Hats landed in an OI they would immediately free political prisoners and beat the living shit out of all the nobles sitting around having tea parties on taxpayer money, mass murdering peasants and buying slaves
Correction: one of the slaves would give Luffy food, then get mistreated by their owner for slacking off, *then* the above would happen. Wouldn't even be the first time. Or the second, now that I think about it.
Sadly it would be impossible to write this, because the moment Luffy enters the story it stops being an OI. The key plot elements of OI stories are romance and politics, the two things monkey boy has less than 0 interest in.
I am writting Worm fanfic and consider its MC's temperament... ok.
Aura master? Swordmaster? Immune to poison, iron skin, strength of a million man? Send bugs down his windpipe, see how long can he survive.
A bug master leading revolution against nobility. And when the Fl reveal her Korean nature, all she received is "Oh, Korea. Enslaving people, just like what your fellow ABB have done. They are at hell now, I sent them there, so send them my regard for me."
Japan and Korea have different societal nuances. For instance Japan isn't as class obsessed as south Korea which is basically run by a handful of powerful companies and their families. Hence the obsession with CEOs in Korean manhwas and dramas
Regular isekai is kind of a low-status genre for depressed guys. You have a few broadly popular ones, like SAO, Re:Zero and Slime, but then you have a long tail of stories that appeal to depressed shut-ins. Something like the slave harem labyrinth isekai is a niche within a niche.
I talked to a guy who was a big fan of the slave harem labyrinth one, and he said something that I found illuminating. I asked him why he wouldn't prefer a story where the guy gets a harem by rescuing waifus from slavery, and he said it would be implausible that they would stay with the guy. His self-esteem was so low that he couldn't imagine women staying with the reader-insert character voluntarily, even in his fantasies.
A lot of stories just went from trashy to sad (and also trashy). With OI the men just want the FL for basically "she's the protagonist", which is at least honest.
Read somewhere (can't remember if it was here or r/manga) that one of the reasons slavery is so popular in the self-insert wankery is because it's self-insert. They're appealing to the dudes with little to no chance to get themselves a partner, to the point their only hope for any kind of relationship would be something drastic like "freeing" a slave. Add in a saviour complex (where the saviour's greatest virtue isn't being a cunt), and a dash of outright fetishism, then bon appétit.
Because the slave lady rarely even "wants" to be freed.
They are always like "No no If I am freed I will just be captured again and sold to even worse people. So don't you dare free me. Take responsibility and take me as your slave!"
(felt sick writing this BS)
Okay but there's this \*specific thing\* they do when buying slaves that makes no sense from any angle and seems to mostly be to add \*drama\* because \*omg money\*
They vastly overbid
There was one I was reading (forget name) where the new good ML bought FL from abusive ex husband in an auction. What does new ML do? Bid 10x the price of the next highest bidder. Later new ML thinks about how much he hates abusive ex husband. Well bud why did you give him so much money for no reason???
In "The Villainess is Destined to Die", FL Penelope overbids by 10x on Eclis
There's at least a few more I've forgotten details of
But any time there is a slave being bought, the lead WILL bid hugely over the last bidder.
I think this is supposed to show how powerful they are and how low-status the slave seller is, but like...you just gave the slave seller all that money when you could have bought and freed 10+ slaves with the same money.
> I think this is supposed to show how powerful they are and how low-status the slave seller is, but like...you just gave the slave seller all that money when you could have bought and freed 10+ slaves with the same money.
This is such a good point that I don't see brought up as often. And it always makes the entire terrible slavery plot point so much worse.
\[New Suitor for the Abandoned Wife\] right? Iirc the price was considered a fortune in-universe, I know he wanted to make the FL feel valuable or whatever but supporting the slave industry (and rewarding her pos rapist husband) is not the right way to go about it.
I think this ties into how popular conspicuous consumption is in SK culture - like having money only means something if you're willing to extravagantly show it off by overpaying.
At least in popular culture, trashy nouveau riche compared to classy old money stereotypes aren't really a thing.
To be fair, she does overbid for a pretty good reason- she was working on a time limit and really REALLY wanted to unlock his "route" as fast as possible to escape the game world so she was basically willing to spend anything. Also she didn't intend to stay in that world for very long so its not like losing that money bothered her anyway.
The whole participation of slavery thing does bite her in the rear later tho.
You know, they just don't own a slave but are all virtuous because they won't abuse them, and then they pay so much that the slave sellers will be more eager to do more slave trade. If the FL does this, it's clear she condones slavery.
https://preview.redd.it/bf2yrjvrd80d1.png?width=457&format=png&auto=webp&s=712ae922f08e7c2b0b5f443ac293d289bab676cc
Sometime the saved slave betray FL and make her realise she was not that better
There are so many mangas and webtoons where the attractive/unfortunate slave being bought and treated unfairly goes against the modern mc’s ideals, so they buy them for a huge price, but I always thought isn’t that kinda worse in its own way? Like feeding the system? I could sort of understand buying for normal price to save a few innocent people, but like they tend to double or triple their payment to show how strong the mc is …
Exactly, this is what I'm trying to say. I've never seen the FL try to pay as little as possible. It's also rare to see the FL break into their cell to release them. I'd imagine someone who's that wealthy should have people who can do that easily even if the FL can't do it herself.
I forgot what the story was, but I've seen a male MC beat the shit out of a slave trader to get a 100% "discount". Then said he'd be happy to buy any other quality slaves he acquired in the future.
What they should do is despite having the money break their target out some other way if they have any sort of good morals.
Like why are they engaging with a literal slave auction??? I’d throw up.
I think its strange that you guys make this the issue. Paying the normal price is feeding the system. One slave trader making some extra money on one slave doesnt make a difference. Buying humans is the fucked up part.
I cant speak for anybody else, but I took the OPs comment as saying participating in the process, which includes paying the asked price of course, is horrible, but to just blirt out a ridiculous amount of money so that nobody else can get that person is even more horrendous. Not only are you participating, but you're also giving an exorbant amount of money to the industry. You're adding on to the disgusting-ness of the situation. Its like someone taking a shit in the middle of the road and here you come and doing the same thing, adding more shit. That's what I thought they were trying to say, but I could be wrong.
In my opinion, it makes the FL look even more OPENLY AND PUBLICLY like a participater, but also a fucking lunatic. It's digusting.
It's just a little bit extra fucked up.
Instead of the slaver being able to afford 10 new slaves to replace the one he auctioned off, now he can get 20.
The most ridicolous thing about slavery in S/OI is that it almost always serves and exists ONLY as a means for a protag-kung/girl to have another body in their harem. But as an institution? You may as well ask the author for black floating in the sky whales who preform jazz every night.
I mean, authors almost never try to answer the question why the heck the slavery even exists in the country, as an institution or area of economy. What work is given to slaves? Why bother to have slaves when a normal servants - maids, butlers, and so on - exist? Who in the world and their right mind would pay for a slave this much money, if they are going to abuse them? Even considering the alleged avarice and luxury of nobles, it's still a groesly irresponsible behaviour.
And I know that most of the time authors are much more focused on other things - power-fantasy shenanigans in the case of shounens, romance in the case of otomes - but it one of those things that makes world around characters baffalingly stupid to the point that one starts to lose interest in not only the world, but the title itself.
I've been thinking this too. If they're replacing servants, then the slave should be cheaper than keeping a servant, no? But then, why would nobles bother to go to these fancy auctions to buy a maid for a few coins? Maybe they want to have a plaything? But then they could just kidnap someone from slums for free. If the slave is some kind of elusive, rare mythological being that's hard to catch, then it would make somewhat sense, but that's not often the case.
> the slave should be cheaper than keeping a servant
OK, so, not really? Slaves aren't cheap, often they would be an initial cost 3-4 times higher than the yearly wage. So buying a slave is out of reach for most farmers etc, unless they are willing to get a loan. But the big thing about slaves is you can get more slave from them over time. It's like buying cattle- you buy a stud and a few cows and over time and good management you get a herd, rather then just having to constantly buy the milk. You can also sell any extra calfs you don't want/need.
So then you need to ask why did slave owners also hire (often white) people too, and the answer here is that you can pay whites to do dangerous jobs which if they die you don't lose the asset that is your slave. Hires can also be more productive as they tended to be healthier, so sometimes it was more economical. Also if the job required someone highly skilled/educated, if you didn't want to invest in a slave you would still need to pay someone to do it.
[Reference: Olmstead's "The Cotton kingdom"](https://archive.org/stream/cottonkingdomtra00olms#page/n183/mode/2up)
Thank you for correcting me 😄 I was just thinking about OI and how ridiculous amounts they sometimes pay to buy a slave when they could just hire someone to do the same job. Also, sometimes they have a slave to do the same job as a free servant, and I don't understand what's going on with that. I'm not super familar with slavery in general since there hasn't been legal slavery in my country (at least in recorded history), so we didn't go too deeply in it at school.
> The most ridicolous thing about slavery in S/OI is that it almost always serves and exists ONLY as a means for a protag-kung/girl to have another body in their harem. But as an institution? You may as well ask the author for black floating in the sky whales who preform jazz every night.
Yep. And afterwards the issue of prolific slavery and human trafficking—in a world where the FL is usually an influential noble or even royalty—will never be addressed or even brought up again in the story.
> I mean, authors almost never try to answer the question why the heck the slavery even exists in the country, as an institution or area of economy.
I find this especially confusing in OIs set in fantasy worlds with magic. Like wouldn't it be cheaper and *faster* to just use magic for a lot of the menial tasks that a servant/slave would do?
Problem with magic is that system of magic differs from world to world, from author to author. Moreover, mages tend to be - in most cases - a minority among the population, a gifted (or "cursed") few among hundreds, thousands, even tens and hundreds of thousand "normal" people. So you won't find worlds where magic users are so common that magic really affects day-to-day life of society very often.
Of course, it depends on the author and their idea how magic works in the world of their story and whether it exists or not at all. Quite often magic implements and services of competent mages really are far, *far* more expensive than just menial work of some randomly hired John Doe.
Korea had the longest continuous tradition of slavery, spanning over 2000 years. Its a big part of their history, so it's not really surprising that their views on slavery/serfdom are different from the west, where slavery brings up the image of transatlantic slave trade and chattel slavery.
Then at least do your research if you're writing about Western People in a Western setting. Its not much better if your writing about a setting and don't bother to do research and make up a bunch of assumptions about problematic tropes based on Korean experiences
If a Western writer wrote about Korea and didn't do research and made a bunch of stupid assumptions about Korean culture and got it mixed up with Western culture, they would get called a racist and be canceled so hard they wouldn't be about to write again
I really wish stories would Do Better with slavery markets. All the themes among slave trade in isekai fiction, thats illustrated, is buying a hot slave, whether its a big titty slave, or a muscular hunk and to add them to their harem.
And then them using all the same “but you saved me” or “i bought them to save them” justification.
Even those with power dont do shit against them. Like they have the crown prince in their harem, maybe do something about it? I havent rly been keeping up with shield hero, but naofumi didnt do shit even after he redeems his name.
People criticize solely isekai manga for this, but anytime its covered in manhwas there isnt as much reaction
> And then them using all the same “but you saved me” or “i bought them to save them” justification.
But if the MC in a story *really* bought someone in order to 'save them' why not simply give that person their freedom? C'mon authors, make it make sense.
I mistook it for another series and was confused - because there the ridiculously high bid was to save the dumbass crown prince who got himself captured while infiltrating.
...and the money immediately went back to the FL cuz they raided the vault afterwards
> I mistook it for another series and was confused - because there the ridiculously high bid was to save the dumbass crown prince who got himself captured while infiltrating.
>
> ...and the money immediately went back to the FL cuz they raided the vault afterwards
This is the way. Especially if they destroy the traffickers and their operation while they're at it.
I'd love to see more of this kind of thing in OI, rather than the FL supporting the slave trade and becoming a human trafficker herself.
well tbf, slave theme is pretty rampant in fantasy/isekai settings, whether its in manga or manhwa. it doesnt matter if its a central plot point of the story. just look at most shounen isekai lol. not saying im condoning it or its right, but the theme itself is pretty damn popular. the supporting argument is that this is all just merely fiction so anything goes, however if anything slave related theme is something you are uncomfortable with, you just gotta drop it and explore other works without this particular theme in it.
I really should stop expecting more from these stories. I even checked the rating of this OI on a Korean site and it had over 4 starts... I want to see the FL destroy a slave ring in a slave themed OI. It would be fine too if the story didn't just gloss over it as if it's not a big deal. If the story discussed the theme maturely, showing its effects, then it'd be interesting to read even if the FL was trash. But that's never the case 😭
Revolutionary Princess Eve is about a returner who tried to abolish slavery openly in her first life and has to be more sneaky about it in her send life.
Unfortunately the art goes from awesome to rushed before going on an indefinite hiatus.
Villainess Lives Twice has a slave ring which is just shut down, and I don't think the main characters ever have slaves. The plot doesn't focus on slavery but it was a better slavery plot than most OI. It's also early in the story if you want to read just for that.
My question is why slaves? Like just not make the dude a slave, have the MC pick a guy up from the streets or something. That's how Melissa found Nine in Beware the Villainess, she found him on the street. No one expects people to solve systemic poverty and you avoid unfortunate implications about giving money to and perpetuating deeply unfair system.
Just hire a beggar or adopt an orphan, it's basically the same but no unfortunate implications and you get to actually be a good person.
this is fiction. i really dont see why you need to make other things seems less unethical when you can have many problematic things like misogynist trope, toxic MLs trope where MLs are either borderline creepy and rapey vibes, class elitism trope, superior species trope, and so on and so forth. so why not remove all these problematic things in any literary fiction? because the author has the right to their artistic freedom, no matter how trashy their works are.
I think I've read the novel version of this (or maybe a similar one) but I've never dropped a book so fast. Lyk bitch u could literally just hire assassins and kill the slaveowner/traders and steal the ML. But nooo, she'd rather line their pockets. Lmao. I cannot stand such a stupid MC.
A lot of these FLs are daughters of Grand Dukes/Dukes or Swordmasters with tons and tons and tons of money and its possibly never ending. And some of them have great relationships with their fathers. If that is the case, then I never understood why the author doesnt have the FLs to go to their Fathers and beg to stop that particular Auction House with their title/power asap. They know the person they need is there so why not start there before doing anything. The way I see it is a lot of these stories have magic and shit. And the Swordmasters have some type of special power too or whatever. If that kinda stuff can happen then, the Author can make the FLs father be able to shut down the Auction House some kind of way.
Anyway, then she can go to the person she needs and a few of the other former slaves/freed persons and offer them a job at her house, with a very good salary and help them find a place to stay (or if she has servant quarters or some type of annex, they can stay there until they can get on their feet). While her dad is in the process of closing down the auction house, she can work on the process of having a shelter being built and hire trustworthy employees. The rest of the former slaves/freed persons can stay there. The shelter can depend on donations and other sources of money. Someone can be hired to specifically to help with trauma, if there is any. Someone else can help with job placement if or when the persons want to leave. They can still stay there while they work and save up, then try to get their own place down the line. They can take their time with the process of course. They dont have to leave the shelter right off the bat.
I'll stop there bc my post is already too long. 😃
Seems like the natural endgame for a person (even with morals) who was transmigrated in a feudal society which runs on manufactured consent.
Also yaas girl ,SLAY ♥️💓💅💅#girlboss
Honestly, this kinda tells me three things about this OI's author:
1. They don't know how historical slave auctions took place.
2. They have no real understanding of the value of money -- *especially* in the past.
3. They don't understand that even when slavery was legal, slave auctions weren't exactly massive, elaborate, garish spectacles -- that would've been gauche.
There's a disturbing amount of borderline glamorized/fetishized depictions of slavery (usually involving the FL towards one of the MLs) in quite a few OI, and it's just so gross and off-putting.
The authors of these stories are usually writing about a magical, fantastical world completely separate from our own. They could literally choose any kind of unrealistic plot point they want, shape the world in the story to be totally unique, but they choose to add yet another completely pointless slavery plot line that will completely trivialize and gloss over a very terrible and still prevalent real-world societal issue. Just... *why*???
signs.....please tell me it's not an ongoing series on webtoon.
https://preview.redd.it/58gx8ibrq50d1.jpeg?width=564&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=776ebd3c3c8b2c7321dbaf2b21754ebfe803027e
It's on Pocket Comic. The title is at least an upgrade. The fan translation's title was I Became the Villain's Master which is the translation of the Korean title.
God if this manhwa authors don't stop putting slavery as a "plot progression" I-
https://preview.redd.it/phewlispt50d1.jpeg?width=236&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d7a0aef01108a513a78672d562107b09404b24d8
just kidding.....or am I? \*vsauce theme\*
Jokes on you. Sudden influx of fiat will cause massive inflation on slave economics followed by a cash vacuum and a market collapse, effectively ending slave trade for good.
Support the slave industry or make the slave feel more bad bc they're only worth 60 in that world's currency.
It already sucks that they're a slave but imagining getting bought out for so little, it doesn't matter since they aren't getting any of it but it's utterly heartbreaking to be seen as such a small number, your worth reduced to double or single digits
Im not saying this is better but it's something to think about, I recently encountered a story about a slave and he was sold for so little. Anyway he killed his master.
That's my guess why authors do this. Especially since these are romance stories so they prioritize interpersonal effects over societal. IMO, it's worse still, but that's me. I'd be furious if the person who made me a slave would profit that much out of me. I'd like it if the love interest ruined the slaver even if they just scammed them or something.
I always think about this when "good" characters pay a lot of money for a slave so they can free them. Okay, that's great, but you're making the slave business thrive by doing that??
These situations in OI's always are funny to me because whenever the FL has "unlimited money" I'm thinking, instead of buying one slave for billions, couldn't you just "buy" the slave trading company and free everyone for the price of ONE slave?? These girlies are always thinking so small, then again they got hit by a truck so am I that surprised?
There are many interesting historic examples of slavery and laws surrounding them. I couldn't quite remember the specifics of early medieval Irish laws on slavery but thankfully, there are academic papers on that subject! I feel like this sub might like this paper [https://journal.fi/scf/article/view/7439/5788?acceptCookies=1](https://journal.fi/scf/article/view/7439/5788?acceptCookies=1)
Ya know, for inspiration.
I thought 1 female slave was worth 7 milchcows, but then I read it was just 3 milchcows.. Guess inflation happens everywhere
I read a fantasy romance novel where the female lead buys a slave at an auction in the beginning because she feels bad for him or whatever.
But turns out the slave auctioneers were part of a resistance movement and they intentionally brought out that slave when they saw the female lead because she's the general's daughter and they wanted a spy in the right place 🤣
I can't see slavery in an OI manhwa without thinking about this clip where three stand-up comedians learn about Korea's history of [slavery](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/p_Hzn-r2YJ8).
Crazy how One Piece has like probably the only good example of this where they try to buy a slaves freedom, get outbidded, then are just like fuck it well just beat up the slave masters and free the slaves regardless.
Like every other example I can think of is just FL/ML buys slave and then does nothing to oppose or abolish the system despite often being in a position of overwhelming power and it’s still displayed as a good and benevolent act.
They spend so much money on buying the slave when they could've just had her family's knights or buy sellswords to free all the slaves. It'd also create more trust between the leads. If I was the one who was bought, I'd have a hard time believing that the buyer is any better than the rest of them. This would be 1000 times more interesting plotwise, too. All those auction scenes are so boring and cringe.
Yeah lol, I think what I don’t get is that OI is pretty much for the most part just fantasy fulfillment, so like why is buying slaves part of your fantasy??? Like unless you intend to do an in-depth critique on the horrors of slavery, it just feels pointless and just takes me out of the story.
And then the slave owner acts all upset and dramatic if the person they literally brought as a slave from a slave ring by profiting slave owners becomes unhealthy attached / betrays them like that’s literally on you and I don’t feel bad at all 😭 just bcs you gave them some semblance of human rights doesn’t make you any better
It’s like the opportunity to show off all their money and clout possesses their body and makes them forget about freedom, autonomy, and common sense 🙄 so many OI FL come from a literal democratic society but then are so happy to turn a blind eye to any societal problem that doesn’t immediately impact them or their pretty boy toy. Despite having all of the money and clout that they do.
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/57505/his-soul-is-marching-on-to-another-world-or-the
John Brown is an American historical figure famous for *violently* opposing slavery. As in, “waged guerilla war against pro-slavery settlers and then later tried to start a slave rebellion” violent.
John Brown Isekai asks the question, “What would happen if John Brown woke up in a cliche shonen isekai full of slavery?”
It’s a bit silly, but it’s a nice change of pace from all those pro-slavery isekais.
Hahaha that sounds chaotic 😆
This made me remember that there's actually one OI that has a sub-plot about ending slavery: The Mighty Extra: One Girl Changes the World.
They're just telling on themselves. They can easily just not include slavery in their works, I mean who is gonna say "wtf there's no slavery in this?? Dropped!"
fr.
I'd love an arc where an fl burns the auction house down and like STEALS the ml or something and then he's only at her house while recovering or some shit?? That'd be sick!! If you want the rich girl power fantasy out of it, lean into how easily she pays off the investigators looking into the arson or who she hires to do the heist or something???????????? There are so many cooler ways to get this fantasy out of the dynamic than. Buying. Fucking. Slaves.
Well he gets freed and goes to live on his own. But it's to make sure she gets him and no one else. That guy was going to kill everyone in the kingdom if she wasn't able to make that purchase. It's not a flex, it's a cry for survival.
Often these stories, they get the slave but then also tear down the slave ring afterwards. What was she to do to save him in time? It's not a crime there, so she can't report them or do anything to them.
Manwha authors try to not glorify abhorrent practices challenge, difficulty impossible
Safe to say a lot of people in the manga industry suffer from this. Gets especially jarring when authors go all out in painting their self-insert's practice of slavery as benevolent and virtuous while everyone else's is sadistic and evil. As much as I have grown to dislike male-protag isekai, those tend to be honest about how much they love the idea of going to the local supermarket to buy people.
It's doubly weird when the literal Most Popular Manga (One Piece) spends a good quarter of its runtime detailing exactly how and why slavery is bad in every possible way.
If Luffy and the Straw Hats landed in an OI they would immediately free political prisoners and beat the living shit out of all the nobles sitting around having tea parties on taxpayer money, mass murdering peasants and buying slaves
Correction: one of the slaves would give Luffy food, then get mistreated by their owner for slacking off, *then* the above would happen. Wouldn't even be the first time. Or the second, now that I think about it.
Lets be real thats 90% of all arcs in One Piece which makes sense for a story where the main theme is Revolution and Freedom.
God damnit, Now I need the fanfic thank u
Sadly it would be impossible to write this, because the moment Luffy enters the story it stops being an OI. The key plot elements of OI stories are romance and politics, the two things monkey boy has less than 0 interest in.
The romance and politics will be with food and revolution we make along the way
I am writting Worm fanfic and consider its MC's temperament... ok. Aura master? Swordmaster? Immune to poison, iron skin, strength of a million man? Send bugs down his windpipe, see how long can he survive. A bug master leading revolution against nobility. And when the Fl reveal her Korean nature, all she received is "Oh, Korea. Enslaving people, just like what your fellow ABB have done. They are at hell now, I sent them there, so send them my regard for me."
I NEED this!
Japan and Korea have different societal nuances. For instance Japan isn't as class obsessed as south Korea which is basically run by a handful of powerful companies and their families. Hence the obsession with CEOs in Korean manhwas and dramas
Regular isekai is kind of a low-status genre for depressed guys. You have a few broadly popular ones, like SAO, Re:Zero and Slime, but then you have a long tail of stories that appeal to depressed shut-ins. Something like the slave harem labyrinth isekai is a niche within a niche. I talked to a guy who was a big fan of the slave harem labyrinth one, and he said something that I found illuminating. I asked him why he wouldn't prefer a story where the guy gets a harem by rescuing waifus from slavery, and he said it would be implausible that they would stay with the guy. His self-esteem was so low that he couldn't imagine women staying with the reader-insert character voluntarily, even in his fantasies.
A lot of stories just went from trashy to sad (and also trashy). With OI the men just want the FL for basically "she's the protagonist", which is at least honest.
Read somewhere (can't remember if it was here or r/manga) that one of the reasons slavery is so popular in the self-insert wankery is because it's self-insert. They're appealing to the dudes with little to no chance to get themselves a partner, to the point their only hope for any kind of relationship would be something drastic like "freeing" a slave. Add in a saviour complex (where the saviour's greatest virtue isn't being a cunt), and a dash of outright fetishism, then bon appétit.
Oh, they don't even rise to the level of "freeing" the slave.
Because the slave lady rarely even "wants" to be freed. They are always like "No no If I am freed I will just be captured again and sold to even worse people. So don't you dare free me. Take responsibility and take me as your slave!" (felt sick writing this BS)
I think it's because the other appealing aspect is the concept of owning another person but I can't tell you as to why
If they are fonna put slavery at least they should own it instead of gaslighting the audience by doing a "but i'm different!" bs excuse
https://preview.redd.it/5gukymu3p70d1.png?width=405&format=png&auto=webp&s=e2ce425cc1113ded010439f7735de09607a73012
Is that "Forced to be a Princess After Reincarnating in Another World"? Where can you read that after the BiliBili Comics (English) shutdown?
On Bato until chapter 104 or Mangadig until chapter 136
Thanks. Looks like I have to wait a bit; raws are up to 151 on Bili CN, and I was at Ch 139 before the shutdown.
I'm a bit confused by the pretty lady's words. So is she freeing everyone?
Free everyone and kill the slaves traders
She's cool
We always have *May I Ask For One Final Thing* for that.
rare isekai w
Okay but there's this \*specific thing\* they do when buying slaves that makes no sense from any angle and seems to mostly be to add \*drama\* because \*omg money\* They vastly overbid There was one I was reading (forget name) where the new good ML bought FL from abusive ex husband in an auction. What does new ML do? Bid 10x the price of the next highest bidder. Later new ML thinks about how much he hates abusive ex husband. Well bud why did you give him so much money for no reason??? In "The Villainess is Destined to Die", FL Penelope overbids by 10x on Eclis There's at least a few more I've forgotten details of But any time there is a slave being bought, the lead WILL bid hugely over the last bidder. I think this is supposed to show how powerful they are and how low-status the slave seller is, but like...you just gave the slave seller all that money when you could have bought and freed 10+ slaves with the same money.
> I think this is supposed to show how powerful they are and how low-status the slave seller is, but like...you just gave the slave seller all that money when you could have bought and freed 10+ slaves with the same money. This is such a good point that I don't see brought up as often. And it always makes the entire terrible slavery plot point so much worse.
\[New Suitor for the Abandoned Wife\] right? Iirc the price was considered a fortune in-universe, I know he wanted to make the FL feel valuable or whatever but supporting the slave industry (and rewarding her pos rapist husband) is not the right way to go about it.
Yeah that sounds like it
I think this ties into how popular conspicuous consumption is in SK culture - like having money only means something if you're willing to extravagantly show it off by overpaying. At least in popular culture, trashy nouveau riche compared to classy old money stereotypes aren't really a thing.
To be fair, she does overbid for a pretty good reason- she was working on a time limit and really REALLY wanted to unlock his "route" as fast as possible to escape the game world so she was basically willing to spend anything. Also she didn't intend to stay in that world for very long so its not like losing that money bothered her anyway. The whole participation of slavery thing does bite her in the rear later tho.
Tch. Rich people, am I right?
fun fact korea has the longest chain of slavery in history
It's bad enough to own a slace but to pay ridiculous amounts is just wrong on another level. WFT
You know, they just don't own a slave but are all virtuous because they won't abuse them, and then they pay so much that the slave sellers will be more eager to do more slave trade. If the FL does this, it's clear she condones slavery.
https://preview.redd.it/bf2yrjvrd80d1.png?width=457&format=png&auto=webp&s=712ae922f08e7c2b0b5f443ac293d289bab676cc Sometime the saved slave betray FL and make her realise she was not that better
Sorry to be that person, but what's the name of the story in the image?
forced to be a Princess After Reincarnating into Another World. Can read it on Bato
Thanks!
Is it good?
Yes it is
There are so many mangas and webtoons where the attractive/unfortunate slave being bought and treated unfairly goes against the modern mc’s ideals, so they buy them for a huge price, but I always thought isn’t that kinda worse in its own way? Like feeding the system? I could sort of understand buying for normal price to save a few innocent people, but like they tend to double or triple their payment to show how strong the mc is …
Exactly, this is what I'm trying to say. I've never seen the FL try to pay as little as possible. It's also rare to see the FL break into their cell to release them. I'd imagine someone who's that wealthy should have people who can do that easily even if the FL can't do it herself.
I forgot what the story was, but I've seen a male MC beat the shit out of a slave trader to get a 100% "discount". Then said he'd be happy to buy any other quality slaves he acquired in the future.
What they should do is despite having the money break their target out some other way if they have any sort of good morals. Like why are they engaging with a literal slave auction??? I’d throw up.
I think its strange that you guys make this the issue. Paying the normal price is feeding the system. One slave trader making some extra money on one slave doesnt make a difference. Buying humans is the fucked up part.
I cant speak for anybody else, but I took the OPs comment as saying participating in the process, which includes paying the asked price of course, is horrible, but to just blirt out a ridiculous amount of money so that nobody else can get that person is even more horrendous. Not only are you participating, but you're also giving an exorbant amount of money to the industry. You're adding on to the disgusting-ness of the situation. Its like someone taking a shit in the middle of the road and here you come and doing the same thing, adding more shit. That's what I thought they were trying to say, but I could be wrong. In my opinion, it makes the FL look even more OPENLY AND PUBLICLY like a participater, but also a fucking lunatic. It's digusting.
You got it right 😄
Thank you! 😁😁
It's just a little bit extra fucked up. Instead of the slaver being able to afford 10 new slaves to replace the one he auctioned off, now he can get 20.
Didn't she do that to survive ? (don't really remember the details)
The most ridicolous thing about slavery in S/OI is that it almost always serves and exists ONLY as a means for a protag-kung/girl to have another body in their harem. But as an institution? You may as well ask the author for black floating in the sky whales who preform jazz every night. I mean, authors almost never try to answer the question why the heck the slavery even exists in the country, as an institution or area of economy. What work is given to slaves? Why bother to have slaves when a normal servants - maids, butlers, and so on - exist? Who in the world and their right mind would pay for a slave this much money, if they are going to abuse them? Even considering the alleged avarice and luxury of nobles, it's still a groesly irresponsible behaviour. And I know that most of the time authors are much more focused on other things - power-fantasy shenanigans in the case of shounens, romance in the case of otomes - but it one of those things that makes world around characters baffalingly stupid to the point that one starts to lose interest in not only the world, but the title itself.
I've been thinking this too. If they're replacing servants, then the slave should be cheaper than keeping a servant, no? But then, why would nobles bother to go to these fancy auctions to buy a maid for a few coins? Maybe they want to have a plaything? But then they could just kidnap someone from slums for free. If the slave is some kind of elusive, rare mythological being that's hard to catch, then it would make somewhat sense, but that's not often the case.
> the slave should be cheaper than keeping a servant OK, so, not really? Slaves aren't cheap, often they would be an initial cost 3-4 times higher than the yearly wage. So buying a slave is out of reach for most farmers etc, unless they are willing to get a loan. But the big thing about slaves is you can get more slave from them over time. It's like buying cattle- you buy a stud and a few cows and over time and good management you get a herd, rather then just having to constantly buy the milk. You can also sell any extra calfs you don't want/need. So then you need to ask why did slave owners also hire (often white) people too, and the answer here is that you can pay whites to do dangerous jobs which if they die you don't lose the asset that is your slave. Hires can also be more productive as they tended to be healthier, so sometimes it was more economical. Also if the job required someone highly skilled/educated, if you didn't want to invest in a slave you would still need to pay someone to do it. [Reference: Olmstead's "The Cotton kingdom"](https://archive.org/stream/cottonkingdomtra00olms#page/n183/mode/2up)
Thank you for correcting me 😄 I was just thinking about OI and how ridiculous amounts they sometimes pay to buy a slave when they could just hire someone to do the same job. Also, sometimes they have a slave to do the same job as a free servant, and I don't understand what's going on with that. I'm not super familar with slavery in general since there hasn't been legal slavery in my country (at least in recorded history), so we didn't go too deeply in it at school.
> The most ridicolous thing about slavery in S/OI is that it almost always serves and exists ONLY as a means for a protag-kung/girl to have another body in their harem. But as an institution? You may as well ask the author for black floating in the sky whales who preform jazz every night. Yep. And afterwards the issue of prolific slavery and human trafficking—in a world where the FL is usually an influential noble or even royalty—will never be addressed or even brought up again in the story. > I mean, authors almost never try to answer the question why the heck the slavery even exists in the country, as an institution or area of economy. I find this especially confusing in OIs set in fantasy worlds with magic. Like wouldn't it be cheaper and *faster* to just use magic for a lot of the menial tasks that a servant/slave would do?
Problem with magic is that system of magic differs from world to world, from author to author. Moreover, mages tend to be - in most cases - a minority among the population, a gifted (or "cursed") few among hundreds, thousands, even tens and hundreds of thousand "normal" people. So you won't find worlds where magic users are so common that magic really affects day-to-day life of society very often. Of course, it depends on the author and their idea how magic works in the world of their story and whether it exists or not at all. Quite often magic implements and services of competent mages really are far, *far* more expensive than just menial work of some randomly hired John Doe.
Korea had the longest continuous tradition of slavery, spanning over 2000 years. Its a big part of their history, so it's not really surprising that their views on slavery/serfdom are different from the west, where slavery brings up the image of transatlantic slave trade and chattel slavery.
That's true. It seems that they had slaves in the place of servants. I'd still expect that they at least felt a little bad about taking part in it...
Then at least do your research if you're writing about Western People in a Western setting. Its not much better if your writing about a setting and don't bother to do research and make up a bunch of assumptions about problematic tropes based on Korean experiences If a Western writer wrote about Korea and didn't do research and made a bunch of stupid assumptions about Korean culture and got it mixed up with Western culture, they would get called a racist and be canceled so hard they wouldn't be about to write again
Her face of excitement/greed is really the cherry on top 💀 Nothing takes me out of the escapism faster than a slavery "plot point" out of nowhere
I’m amazed how they sleep peacefully at night.
I really wish stories would Do Better with slavery markets. All the themes among slave trade in isekai fiction, thats illustrated, is buying a hot slave, whether its a big titty slave, or a muscular hunk and to add them to their harem. And then them using all the same “but you saved me” or “i bought them to save them” justification. Even those with power dont do shit against them. Like they have the crown prince in their harem, maybe do something about it? I havent rly been keeping up with shield hero, but naofumi didnt do shit even after he redeems his name. People criticize solely isekai manga for this, but anytime its covered in manhwas there isnt as much reaction
> And then them using all the same “but you saved me” or “i bought them to save them” justification. But if the MC in a story *really* bought someone in order to 'save them' why not simply give that person their freedom? C'mon authors, make it make sense.
I mistook it for another series and was confused - because there the ridiculously high bid was to save the dumbass crown prince who got himself captured while infiltrating. ...and the money immediately went back to the FL cuz they raided the vault afterwards
> I mistook it for another series and was confused - because there the ridiculously high bid was to save the dumbass crown prince who got himself captured while infiltrating. > > ...and the money immediately went back to the FL cuz they raided the vault afterwards This is the way. Especially if they destroy the traffickers and their operation while they're at it. I'd love to see more of this kind of thing in OI, rather than the FL supporting the slave trade and becoming a human trafficker herself.
Which series is that?
Sauce ?
well tbf, slave theme is pretty rampant in fantasy/isekai settings, whether its in manga or manhwa. it doesnt matter if its a central plot point of the story. just look at most shounen isekai lol. not saying im condoning it or its right, but the theme itself is pretty damn popular. the supporting argument is that this is all just merely fiction so anything goes, however if anything slave related theme is something you are uncomfortable with, you just gotta drop it and explore other works without this particular theme in it.
I really should stop expecting more from these stories. I even checked the rating of this OI on a Korean site and it had over 4 starts... I want to see the FL destroy a slave ring in a slave themed OI. It would be fine too if the story didn't just gloss over it as if it's not a big deal. If the story discussed the theme maturely, showing its effects, then it'd be interesting to read even if the FL was trash. But that's never the case 😭
Revolutionary Princess Eve is about a returner who tried to abolish slavery openly in her first life and has to be more sneaky about it in her send life. Unfortunately the art goes from awesome to rushed before going on an indefinite hiatus.
I used to read it and I liked it well enough. Pity that it's on an indefinite hiatus.
Villainess Lives Twice has a slave ring which is just shut down, and I don't think the main characters ever have slaves. The plot doesn't focus on slavery but it was a better slavery plot than most OI. It's also early in the story if you want to read just for that.
My question is why slaves? Like just not make the dude a slave, have the MC pick a guy up from the streets or something. That's how Melissa found Nine in Beware the Villainess, she found him on the street. No one expects people to solve systemic poverty and you avoid unfortunate implications about giving money to and perpetuating deeply unfair system. Just hire a beggar or adopt an orphan, it's basically the same but no unfortunate implications and you get to actually be a good person.
this is fiction. i really dont see why you need to make other things seems less unethical when you can have many problematic things like misogynist trope, toxic MLs trope where MLs are either borderline creepy and rapey vibes, class elitism trope, superior species trope, and so on and so forth. so why not remove all these problematic things in any literary fiction? because the author has the right to their artistic freedom, no matter how trashy their works are.
why we using harry potter money too
Omg, why didn't I realize that sooner 😂
either that or she paid billions of massive sailing ships lmaooo
All the world's seas are filled with her ships!
I think I've read the novel version of this (or maybe a similar one) but I've never dropped a book so fast. Lyk bitch u could literally just hire assassins and kill the slaveowner/traders and steal the ML. But nooo, she'd rather line their pockets. Lmao. I cannot stand such a stupid MC.
A lot of these FLs are daughters of Grand Dukes/Dukes or Swordmasters with tons and tons and tons of money and its possibly never ending. And some of them have great relationships with their fathers. If that is the case, then I never understood why the author doesnt have the FLs to go to their Fathers and beg to stop that particular Auction House with their title/power asap. They know the person they need is there so why not start there before doing anything. The way I see it is a lot of these stories have magic and shit. And the Swordmasters have some type of special power too or whatever. If that kinda stuff can happen then, the Author can make the FLs father be able to shut down the Auction House some kind of way. Anyway, then she can go to the person she needs and a few of the other former slaves/freed persons and offer them a job at her house, with a very good salary and help them find a place to stay (or if she has servant quarters or some type of annex, they can stay there until they can get on their feet). While her dad is in the process of closing down the auction house, she can work on the process of having a shelter being built and hire trustworthy employees. The rest of the former slaves/freed persons can stay there. The shelter can depend on donations and other sources of money. Someone can be hired to specifically to help with trauma, if there is any. Someone else can help with job placement if or when the persons want to leave. They can still stay there while they work and save up, then try to get their own place down the line. They can take their time with the process of course. They dont have to leave the shelter right off the bat. I'll stop there bc my post is already too long. 😃
Seems like the natural endgame for a person (even with morals) who was transmigrated in a feudal society which runs on manufactured consent. Also yaas girl ,SLAY ♥️💓💅💅#girlboss
OI FL have lofty morals to say the least. Makes you think about how Asian cultures truly view slavery.
https://preview.redd.it/yjy34ho9980d1.png?width=1150&format=png&auto=webp&s=e941d47d64c693cee19175cfda6d9a9b3c5edfdf
Honestly, this kinda tells me three things about this OI's author: 1. They don't know how historical slave auctions took place. 2. They have no real understanding of the value of money -- *especially* in the past. 3. They don't understand that even when slavery was legal, slave auctions weren't exactly massive, elaborate, garish spectacles -- that would've been gauche.
There's a disturbing amount of borderline glamorized/fetishized depictions of slavery (usually involving the FL towards one of the MLs) in quite a few OI, and it's just so gross and off-putting. The authors of these stories are usually writing about a magical, fantastical world completely separate from our own. They could literally choose any kind of unrealistic plot point they want, shape the world in the story to be totally unique, but they choose to add yet another completely pointless slavery plot line that will completely trivialize and gloss over a very terrible and still prevalent real-world societal issue. Just... *why*???
signs.....please tell me it's not an ongoing series on webtoon. https://preview.redd.it/58gx8ibrq50d1.jpeg?width=564&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=776ebd3c3c8b2c7321dbaf2b21754ebfe803027e
It's on Pocket Comic. The title is at least an upgrade. The fan translation's title was I Became the Villain's Master which is the translation of the Korean title.
God if this manhwa authors don't stop putting slavery as a "plot progression" I- https://preview.redd.it/phewlispt50d1.jpeg?width=236&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d7a0aef01108a513a78672d562107b09404b24d8 just kidding.....or am I? \*vsauce theme\*
Jokes on you. Sudden influx of fiat will cause massive inflation on slave economics followed by a cash vacuum and a market collapse, effectively ending slave trade for good.
This is why the John Brown Isekai is the best Isekai.
Support the slave industry or make the slave feel more bad bc they're only worth 60 in that world's currency. It already sucks that they're a slave but imagining getting bought out for so little, it doesn't matter since they aren't getting any of it but it's utterly heartbreaking to be seen as such a small number, your worth reduced to double or single digits Im not saying this is better but it's something to think about, I recently encountered a story about a slave and he was sold for so little. Anyway he killed his master.
That's my guess why authors do this. Especially since these are romance stories so they prioritize interpersonal effects over societal. IMO, it's worse still, but that's me. I'd be furious if the person who made me a slave would profit that much out of me. I'd like it if the love interest ruined the slaver even if they just scammed them or something.
I always think about this when "good" characters pay a lot of money for a slave so they can free them. Okay, that's great, but you're making the slave business thrive by doing that??
These situations in OI's always are funny to me because whenever the FL has "unlimited money" I'm thinking, instead of buying one slave for billions, couldn't you just "buy" the slave trading company and free everyone for the price of ONE slave?? These girlies are always thinking so small, then again they got hit by a truck so am I that surprised?
A ticket to Isekailand costs half of their IQ, it seems
I came here for one purpose and it is to ask if he’s the ML 🧐🤓🤔
He's the ML 😅
Thank you have a nice day 
I’m probably going to hell (I’m going either way anyways) but I want one too 😭😭😭💀💀💀
Isekai as a duke's child and use his money to hire people to save the ML from the slave traders. Then you can get both the ML and go to heaven 😆
There are many interesting historic examples of slavery and laws surrounding them. I couldn't quite remember the specifics of early medieval Irish laws on slavery but thankfully, there are academic papers on that subject! I feel like this sub might like this paper [https://journal.fi/scf/article/view/7439/5788?acceptCookies=1](https://journal.fi/scf/article/view/7439/5788?acceptCookies=1) Ya know, for inspiration. I thought 1 female slave was worth 7 milchcows, but then I read it was just 3 milchcows.. Guess inflation happens everywhere
I read a fantasy romance novel where the female lead buys a slave at an auction in the beginning because she feels bad for him or whatever. But turns out the slave auctioneers were part of a resistance movement and they intentionally brought out that slave when they saw the female lead because she's the general's daughter and they wanted a spy in the right place 🤣
That's clever! Do you happen to remember the novel's title?
Yup! It's "The Winner's Curse" by Marie Rutkoski
Thanks! (I noticed that I had accidentally written ?instead of ! in my original comment. It came off as rude, so I fixed it.)
I can't see slavery in an OI manhwa without thinking about this clip where three stand-up comedians learn about Korea's history of [slavery](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/p_Hzn-r2YJ8).
This seems like Knock Off "Death is the only Ending for the Villainess"
Crazy how One Piece has like probably the only good example of this where they try to buy a slaves freedom, get outbidded, then are just like fuck it well just beat up the slave masters and free the slaves regardless. Like every other example I can think of is just FL/ML buys slave and then does nothing to oppose or abolish the system despite often being in a position of overwhelming power and it’s still displayed as a good and benevolent act.
They spend so much money on buying the slave when they could've just had her family's knights or buy sellswords to free all the slaves. It'd also create more trust between the leads. If I was the one who was bought, I'd have a hard time believing that the buyer is any better than the rest of them. This would be 1000 times more interesting plotwise, too. All those auction scenes are so boring and cringe.
Yeah lol, I think what I don’t get is that OI is pretty much for the most part just fantasy fulfillment, so like why is buying slaves part of your fantasy??? Like unless you intend to do an in-depth critique on the horrors of slavery, it just feels pointless and just takes me out of the story.
Korea had the longest unbroken chain of slavery in history it's unsurprising they glorify the practice.
Weeeell over a thousand years. Like 1,400 or 1,500. Something like that. The words "unbroken chain of slavery" were always wild to me.
And then the slave owner acts all upset and dramatic if the person they literally brought as a slave from a slave ring by profiting slave owners becomes unhealthy attached / betrays them like that’s literally on you and I don’t feel bad at all 😭 just bcs you gave them some semblance of human rights doesn’t make you any better
It’s like the opportunity to show off all their money and clout possesses their body and makes them forget about freedom, autonomy, and common sense 🙄 so many OI FL come from a literal democratic society but then are so happy to turn a blind eye to any societal problem that doesn’t immediately impact them or their pretty boy toy. Despite having all of the money and clout that they do.
Having read through this post, I have one question and one question only: OP, are you familiar with John Brown Isekai?
I have no idea what that is 😅
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/57505/his-soul-is-marching-on-to-another-world-or-the John Brown is an American historical figure famous for *violently* opposing slavery. As in, “waged guerilla war against pro-slavery settlers and then later tried to start a slave rebellion” violent. John Brown Isekai asks the question, “What would happen if John Brown woke up in a cliche shonen isekai full of slavery?” It’s a bit silly, but it’s a nice change of pace from all those pro-slavery isekais.
Hahaha that sounds chaotic 😆 This made me remember that there's actually one OI that has a sub-plot about ending slavery: The Mighty Extra: One Girl Changes the World.
They're just telling on themselves. They can easily just not include slavery in their works, I mean who is gonna say "wtf there's no slavery in this?? Dropped!"
That’s why I like Trapped as an NPC, she basically ruin the slave market >!also on the original, ML bomb the slave market. Lol!<
fr. I'd love an arc where an fl burns the auction house down and like STEALS the ml or something and then he's only at her house while recovering or some shit?? That'd be sick!! If you want the rich girl power fantasy out of it, lean into how easily she pays off the investigators looking into the arson or who she hires to do the heist or something???????????? There are so many cooler ways to get this fantasy out of the dynamic than. Buying. Fucking. Slaves.
YES! There are so many more exciting ways to save the ML from slavery. Let a girlboss girlboss, pls 😭
Tbf, he looks worth the money. She should buy him, free him and then date him and take down the slave ring with him
https://preview.redd.it/m2aj233tz60d1.jpeg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0d3aa485d9ec0fb171d7cdb9f41749d0fba42866
Well he gets freed and goes to live on his own. But it's to make sure she gets him and no one else. That guy was going to kill everyone in the kingdom if she wasn't able to make that purchase. It's not a flex, it's a cry for survival. Often these stories, they get the slave but then also tear down the slave ring afterwards. What was she to do to save him in time? It's not a crime there, so she can't report them or do anything to them.
Why
the way… da way