by Hamlin
First half of Part 1 was almost supernatural. It felt like an omnipotent force of nature decided to pick a victim and fuck with them. Finding out it was some kind of sci-fi thing which people were using to fuck with each other was a bit of a let down, but it was still good. This development was disappointing though. Sending young women out to seduce congressmen is so mundane. And the whole "alternate society" part sounds like a two-bit cult leader from the 70s. It makes the whole thing feel much less powerful. And once you expose a weakness, people will probe you for more weaknesses. After this chapter, I can't help but wonder what happens if someone decides to fight the system. Maybe they pick the wrong target, and at some point, the victim commits suicide, or better yet, goes on a killing spree while leaving the details of their ordeal as a manifesto. These thoughts briefly crossed my mind in the first half, but they were quickly dismissed. Now they're harder to ignore. Because such actions would be useless against an omnipotent malevolent god, but they'd have an actual effect on "some dude" pulling the strings.
I'm just going to skip to the end to see how it plays out.