Upon reread, all I can say is that following this manhwa while it was ongoing is such a different experience from reading it as a whole. It's so much worse.
The thing about characters like Wooyeon is that he has become a staple in Korean BL manhwa, so I can't even say he was disappointing bc I simply didn't expect better from him.
The real tragedy to me was Inseob. He tolerated so much from Wooyeon that I genuinely expected his lash-out and revenge to be twice as big. And that... never came. To the very end. We never got it.
I get Inseob's backstory. Like, it's genuinely my favourite part of this story. His tumultuous friendship with Jennie (who herself is a deeply flawed teenager tormented by bullying and abuse and suffering from bipolar disorder) is bound to shake him up through guilt in indescribably ways when he loses her to her demons - and this is especially compounded by the fact that it happens the one and only time he stands his ground and speaks his mind. It's such a complex and human thing to be so scarred by the guilt that standing up for himself is bound to feel impossible.
What I wish the story had showed was that it actually was possible, just difficult. I wish Inseob could have discovered that for himself. Instead, all we got was Wooyeon discovering the human experience of emotions violently as he chipped more and more of Inseob away until he had nothing left but an unhealthy sense of self, leading to his dependency on Wooyeon. Yes, Wooyeon learns to respect Inseob, but Inseob had no hand in that. He never fights for it - not in any significant way. The choice to respect Inseob continues to lie in Wooyeon's hand, and Inseob makes it explicitly clear that he will continue to love Wooyeon even if he stops doing that again. Almost as if his guilt of letting someone down is bigger not only than himself, but even the feeling of the love he feels for Wooyeon itself.
Honestly this story is a tragedy to me. We all knew from the beginning Wooyeon would have some semblance of character development, but it was just so devoid of meaning. It's not like he actually lost anything. He just had a couple of freakouts over the IDEA of losing Inseob, and that's it? Meanwhile, Inseob's getting stabbed, assaulted, slapped, spit on, draining some fuckwad's piss. Man.
Inseob was the real disappointment to me. He should have gotten at least one slap in on Wooyeon. And you know what? That freak might have even liked it, and THAT would have been more meaningful than whatever bullshit it is we got as a conclusion.
Upon reread, all I can say is that following this manhwa while it was ongoing is such a different experience from reading it as a whole. It's so much worse.
The thing about characters like Wooyeon is that he has become a staple in Korean BL manhwa, so I can't even say he was disappointing bc I simply didn't expect better from him.
The real tragedy to me was Inseob. He tolerated so much from Wooyeon that I genuinely expected his lash-out and revenge to be twice as big. And that... never came. To the very end. We never got it.
I get Inseob's backstory. Like, it's genuinely my favourite part of this story. His tumultuous friendship with Jennie (who herself is a deeply flawed teenager tormented by bullying and abuse and suffering from bipolar disorder) is bound to shake him up through guilt in indescribably ways when he loses her to her demons - and this is especially compounded by the fact that it happens the one and only time he stands his ground and speaks his mind. It's such a complex and human thing to be so scarred by the guilt that standing up for himself is bound to feel impossible.
What I wish the story had showed was that it actually was possible, just difficult. I wish Inseob could have discovered that for himself. Instead, all we got was Wooyeon discovering the human experience of emotions violently as he chipped more and more of Inseob away until he had nothing left but an unhealthy sense of self, leading to his dependency on Wooyeon. Yes, Wooyeon learns to respect Inseob, but Inseob had no hand in that. He never fights for it - not in any significant way. The choice to respect Inseob continues to lie in Wooyeon's hand, and Inseob makes it explicitly clear that he will continue to love Wooyeon even if he stops doing that again. Almost as if his guilt of letting someone down is bigger not only than himself, but even the feeling of the love he feels for Wooyeon itself.
Honestly this story is a tragedy to me. We all knew from the beginning Wooyeon would have some semblance of character development, but it was just so devoid of meaning. It's not like he actually lost anything. He just had a couple of freakouts over the IDEA of losing Inseob, and that's it? Meanwhile, Inseob's getting stabbed, assaulted, slapped, spit on, draining some fuckwad's piss. Man.
Inseob was the real disappointment to me. He should have gotten at least one slap in on Wooyeon. And you know what? That freak might have even liked it, and THAT would have been more meaningful than whatever bullshit it is we got as a conclusion.