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"Do you want to live at the bottom while working like a dog? Or come under me to pay off your d...
*sigh* To think I originally rated this 5 stars. Well, it has come to a point in which I ended up dropping it. Started out as great, one of my absolute favorites, for it had plenty of intrigue, pleasing artstyle, and was doing such a nice job dodging some of the most obvious clichés.
The MC Sooyoung was a strong-willed man who wasn’t afraid to fight back even on crutches. In fact this was cleverly used as a source for some character flaws, making him vulnerable in some ways while very strong in others. E.g. Sooyoung was in a toxic relationship and had a pretty warped idea of sex, even used it as a coping mechanism. He was also very willing to throw himself at dangerous situations because he basically had no care for his own body at all.
The story seemed to be going for a very interesting and welcoming angle because the seme Taesung, after realizing Sooyoung's carelessness and messed up attitude towards sex, was kinda teaching him to take better care of his own body and desires. Chapters 23-24 had an especially lovely scene where the seme really went through the effort to have the MC enjoy himself, checking for consent multiple times. Man did I love that! Plus, a violent mafia boss who most certainly has his flaws but also a surprisingly healthy attitude towards sex, even refusing it when he thought Sooyoung was not in the right mind to demand it? “More stuff like this plz!”, I thought.
Now though, there’s not even a point of the MC being a boxer anymore. He’s been reduced to a damsel in distress who’s just stuck in another toxic relationship(s), constantly needs to be saved and is repeatedly taken advantage of. The seme went the usual “possessive douchebag wanting to own him like a pet” route (all under the guise of protection course), ditching all the previous elements I found so refreshing. Ugh! I’m well aware of him being a criminal so it’s no surprise he’s not some perfect goody two shoes but I am so damn tired of these type of plots and characters, especially because at the beginning the story seemed to be doing something actually refreshing and new with them.
There’s also a shitton of gratuitous VERY prolonged sex scenes which don’t even have a point anymore (except smut) whereas before they had some story relevance as well like revealing new characteristics. Guess those who enjoy brainless smut will have a field day but, sorry, I’m the type of person who finds smut for the sake of smut boring af. Even art style has gotten rather ridiculous and unappealing over time with semes overdosing on steroids, getting buff as fuck, while the MC seems to have shrunken down. (Minhuyk is especially hilarious, his head doesn’t seem to even fit his body.)
I’m really sad with the direction this manhwa went. It had such promise. Maybe I’ll keep occasionally glancing at it for any actual development but we’ll see.