Agreed, I left it back then because of the same reason kinda wanna re read it since funny Ig
while i will say pdl is good, i dont think baek or seo are demonized. it's just told from the perspective of whoever narrating. most of the time its from seos perspective, so you get more of his pov and feelings thaythes in the right. hes not a bad guy, he was just vulnerableand very emotionally guarded. also if u wanna talk ur shit ab seo i will say this: baek jacked off in a PUBLIC bathroom. baek literally came onto seo WITHOUT his permission on a WORK trip, and came on his buns i apply the laws of fiction here and brush it off but if u wanna go comparing problematic actions amd behavior like it doesnt get worse than that. while theyre both somewhat morally grey, seo never harassed and antagonized baek like baek did to him. at the end of the day, i love these two and i do believe that his pushy attachment style was what suited seo best, so it finally got through to him he's loved.
Im not demonizing them per se, I just think Fwb to lovers is done more enjoyable in Punch drunk love without the headache of these two.
And yes, I agree Baek did do shit that was morally gray as fuck in some instances.
However, I will have my gripe with seo cuz he irked me way too much. emotional guarding and vulnerability, whatever it is - the way he maneuvered around this relationship was my biggest grip BECUZ it’s the goddamn plot of the story.
Everyone has their doubts about relationships coming to an end, but this was not the way to go about it when you already had him right there. I get it, I do that this comes from his upbringing. That’s he’s guarded and all these other things, but so is Baek who was forced to carry his own burdens and traumas he has with his family, so why is he expected to pry every time for Seo to be a little more open with him, Especially so far into the story, for Christ sakes 80 chapters is ridiculous.
And even if he wasn’t “antagonizing him” he was straight up hostile given the situation, if he didn’t want Baek in his life he wouldn’t have him in his life plain and simple but he did treat him so rudely sometimes given the situations where Baek would bend his back for him.
It was great to see their relationship progress but again my biggest gripe was it was took too damn long for Seo to open up, the “will they, won’t they” wasn’t even fun becuz of how genuinely painfully long it felt.
usually i dont read slow burns because every time id read slow burns they were doomed yaoi and super depression so i avoided them. but im starting to read more because i like the yearning and tension, and im realizing theres more slow burn than just tragic ones! slow burn can be very frustrating yes so i get that. although i felt that their characters grew together and kept the story going, ive def read stories where it was simply unenjoyable for me to read the back and forth betweel the mls so it's def a preference thing. and also honestly i just really like emotionally guarded characters that take out their emotions with sex LMAOO so i understand if he isnt everyone's cup of tea. seo has a very strong personality lol. i overall love the characters and the way their personality is portrayed. i see a lot of myself in seo, especially with his mom being in the hospital and it's nice to be reading and relate to someone in the story :] thank you for your elaboration and staying respectful and also acknowledging the character development throughout :D
I know this is an incredibly unpopular opinion but I’m sticking to my guns after rereading this -
This gets too much hype, its a good story BUT FOR IT TO TAKE 80+ CHAPTERS FOR THEM TO GET TOGETHER IS INSANE!
If yall wanna read a fuck buddies to lovers with a pretty top and bottom, PUNCH DRUNK LOVE is insanely good and funny as fuck. Legit almost no anguish with them even as fuckbuddies, they’re great. Anyway, enough glazing for another story -
Really, this one is funny as fuck too, but it was also frustrating as heck. Not becuz of the fuck buddy aspect of it, it’s part of the damn story that’s not the issue, it’s Mr. Seo’s behavior that irked the heck outta me.
Both of them have their issues and yet seo is treated like a saint and baek is seen as “annoying” even tho seo is straight up rude and hostile in many scenes prior to their relationship developing. Given is it caused by his trauma, but does Baek not have trauma too? So why doesn’t he behave more like a jerk? Why is his only crime being “annoying” to the bottom?Can’t believe I’m having to defend a Seme like this.
Either way Seo does DEVELOP GREATLY and it’s fantastic he does becuz he becomes 10x more enjoyable afterwards, but like I said they’re still fucking doing this push (Seo) and pull (Baek) by chapter 80. I was ripping my damn hair out - just admit you like him for Christ sake.
If you can handle that tho, great read I suppose. It gets praised a lot for a reason I suppose.