No, I think that what people have a problem with is that the manhwa isn't as good as it used to be. The pacing is weird, and a lot of things are confusing. I haven't read the novel, so I can't compare, but this manhwa has been going downhill for a while now. It feels like a lot of things are also missing in the story, or things are just being skipped. And that's what novel readers said has happened. They're skipping a lot of things, which makes the manhwa really fast-paced and confusing. And sure manhwas are adapted, but usually almost every time if it's not following the novel or if it skips a lot of things in the novel, then the manhwa does not end up being good enough. And it's valid that people have a problem with that
Having bad pacing… it has seemed a bit fast for a while. But missing parts? As a non-novel reader, I’m not too sure. I recently reread this entire series. Everything makes sense. There doesn’t seem to be any gaps. I WILL say that a reread was necessary. But after doing so, the fast pacing, in recent chapters, didn’t actually leave any gaps (gaps being unexplainable situations due to missing plot).
I am also not a novel reader, so I wouldn't exactly know or be able to give examples. But from what I feel, it is that they're jumping from big plot to big plot. I feel like because it's fast-paced, we're missing some info, some normal life conversations, or whatever between the plots. A novel reader has said that they're skipping a lot of conversations and events that may not matter for plot (main plot), but it does matter for character building, to flesh things out and so on.
I went ahead and gave it another reread, and I gotta say I think you’re right. All of the necessary information is there, but there are too many moments where you can tell that time lapses are occurring because whole sections were omitted. Those sections may not have been crucial to the overall plot, but it definitely would’ve done a lot for the pacing. I’m sure.
I wish novel readers would stop hating on this manhwa just cause it doesn’t live up to the novel. Guess what? This isn’t the novel. And you know what else? It’s totally fine that this isn’t the novel.
This manhwa is damn good as a manwha, by itself.
Your need to sh*t on it, for not having the total content of “a completely different story medium done by a different creator”, feels like someone hating on Cats (the broadway musical) because it leaves out tons of the original poetry book contents (yes the play is based on a book of poems).
This manhwa should be judged as itself and not as a comparison to a literary novel. The whole point of an “adaptation” is that it’s ADAPTED. As in, not the same as the original.