After weeks/months of loneliness, drowning himself in booze and borderline depressive episode, you would think that he finally realized that doc is important to him and he did him wrong. And yet he looked for him like a madman, jumped into a car and drove god knows how far the moment he got his location, witnessed him putting his life in danger and what does Jaekyung do when he finally gets a chance to talk to him? Not a damn “sorry”, he goes “I know it wasn’t your mistake so I allow you to go back as my physio, I’m rich and you’re dirt poor so it’s not like you can reject my offer, right?”. As if he was doing Dan a damn favor. And then he got mad at being turned down. Chasing and groveling arc my ass, he hasn’t learned a damn thing, always a piece of trash and still a piece of trash (╬￣皿￣)凸
…if the other person is so distant to you that you didn’t even know they were married and just found out they divorced, what makes you think you have the right to interfere in their personal business? I get it if they were closer, she knew her work bestie had a husband and felt somehow morally compelled to do so - either to tell the guy she’s taken so he doesn’t get his hear broken, or cause she had a suspicion her bestie is a cheater and it didn’t sit with her well. But think about it for a sec: your coworker never mentioned her marriage and suddenly brings up divorce. My first thought would be “oof, it must be some complicated relationship, if not abusive, I better be careful about the topic”. NOT: oh, she’s probably lying about the divorce and possibly cheating with this young hot dude, I better butt in!!! Like, what are you trying to achieve??? If she’s divorced, then it’s their business what’s going on between them. And if you think she lied about the divorce - on what basis??? You’re not close enough to know she’s been married, why do you think you know her well enough to tell thar she’s lying?
Isn’t it like 3rd or 4th hiatus since the beginning of this season? I mean the previous ones were just a chapter getting released a bit later but still, for a manhwa that updates every 10 days it seems like more often than not, an update is just a notice of another hiatus rather than a chapter ╥﹏╥
Author might be going through artist block
Nope, the season is already finished. Its mire likely a hiatus for the translation team.
Only started reading it cause of the cover (I like the buff bottoms) but this is a quiet masterpiece. Most importantly, I love how freely they communicate their feelings and how natural everything feels. It’s just a normal, human relationship. The way they so openly talk about their relationship, their future, heck, even sex. But another thing I really appreciate how they portray gay relationships and being gay in general, in a societal setting. It seems in lots of BLs it’s either a fantasyland where that’s just the accepted norm or it’s simply not brought up at all. And here we have the portrayal of coming out, the anxiety and uncertainty that comes with whether your friends/people in your life in general will accept you or not. As of now, it’s just such a perfectly written story… ٩(๑❛ᴗ❛๑)۶
I was worried this will turn out to be this “suffering and abuse just for the sake of it” stories, especially seeing people’s comments on various chapters. But it turned out to be much more complex.
It’s obvious how toxic Jiwoo was, but Eunsung was such a surprise. It seems like he would willingly subject himself to suffering (choosing specifically unavailable red flags), knowing the other person will end up getting attached, and then cut ties the moment they actually start to return his feelings. Which isn’t that rare. The thing is, it seems like the reason he would distance himself wasn’t because he wanted to break free from the toxic partner, no. He did it knowing the other person would crawl back and it will be his turn to make them suffer. It’s so morally perplexing - sure, the other person was shit, toxic partner hurt him unprovoked and they did it first. But it kinda seems like Eunsung entered those relationships to have an upper hand in the end. Like he was also planning to hurt and emotionally torture them from the beginning. You know, like taking a few first punches so he can fight back and have people perceive it as self-defense or revenge. I hope you understand what I mean? Becoming a victim first, so that later his actions are viewed as justified?
(Of course, I can be totally wrong. And in the end, if the other person, such as Jiwoo, wasn’t an asshole in the beginning, he would never be provoked to hurt them too. I hope I don’t come across as victim blaming, it’s just my interpretation of his character.)
It’s a portrayal of deeply troubled people who are frustrating to watch, of course, but they aren’t created to be villains and heroes/main characters. They are both just broken. They are confusing to healthy, less troubled people, but if you think about it, their set up makes sense? Jiwoo - obsessed with the idea of one true lover, a relationship in which people prioritize each other over anything, even their own kid, cause his parents were like that, deeming a romantic love the most important and telling him that if he wants to be happy, he should find a relationship like that. So maybe he tested his lovers to find someone like that - someone who would never abandon him and always prioritize him. And Eunsung whose parents got divorced so you can assume their relationship was hurtful/toxic but they ended up forced to get back together anyway, due to his mother’s illness. We don’t know too much about it, only that he and his brother stayed with their dad. But maybe the reason why he is filled with disgust when he starts to mistreat his lovers and they show him love and care - because he watched his dad take care of his ex-wife in her last days, despite the fact that she “abandoned” them? This one is just a theory tho.
And what I like about this story, is that it’s not romanticized at all. All of the people around them, their friends - they react the way normal people would. They worry, point out the toxic behaviors, sometimes even react to the mistreatment when the person involved doesn’t. The story doesn’t pretend to be a “dark romance” and use that tag to brush over its characters behaviors. It acknowledges that the relationship it portrays is toxic and so, it’s more of a psychological story. As soon as I realized it shouldn’t be perceived as a simple romance, I started to really enjoy it. There are lots of bl stories portraying toxic relationships but most of them pretend it’s “romantic” and the characters and their development completely ignore the way that human mind/relationships actually work Like they are created in some weird alternative reality. (rape victims falling for the perpetrators and such, pretending trauma isn’t a thing, you know what I mean). But this story doesn’t normalize or romanticize it at all, so as a reader you don’t sit there questioning the morality and sanity of the author, you can just sit back and enjoy watching the shit show.
(shit, I didn’t plan to write an essay but I just kept going, sorry lol)
i gotta say i really like your analysis on this series. i wasnt too sure what i was getting into based off of the comments but while reading i couldn’t help feeling bad for everyone. i think the author did a good job at creating such complex characters, where no one is inherently evil but both have their flaws. i honestly enjoyed it but i hope anyone who finds themselves in this kinda relationship can understand that they deserve better.
Glad my thoughts resonated with you! (reading it back my comment is so messy lol)
The complexity of the characters created this interesting reading experience. If just one character is the “bad guy”, then no matter how sad his backstory is, as a reader you will probably still root for the main character and wish the bad one all the worst. You side with the victim and don’t really care about villain’s journey, just the end result. But since both of them are ….less than ideal .. I ended up trying to understand and cheer for the characters that I would normally probably dislike and dismiss their reasons.
I completely agree on the romance to psychological pipeline because there are so many stories that I would feel would be so much better if the author meant for it to be psychological. Like the author of sadistic beauty and the side story with the two men. The author is clearly incapable of writing a healthy story involving men and yet she never embraces a psychological tag, which would make me view her stories in a more positive light. I think the same goes for this, where it’s much more of a psychological than a romance, as it’s debatable to whether the characters are in love or if they drained each other of so much respect and pride in themselves that they feel comfortable being on the same level now. Honestly, Minji describing a relationship where you date and wait until you like the person, which was then applied to Eunsung and Jinwoo, just made it feel a lot like Stockholm syndrome lol. Anyways I really like your view on their relationship
Thanks for the summary cuz I can't even read past chapter 5 :)
i would have to disagree on mc being a type of person who enters a relationship with a toxic person just to justify making them suffer when they fall hard. he genuinely liked them, but has some major flaws: he lovebombs, doesnt establish proper boundaries, he doesnt say anything when he loses interest, expect the other person to initiate the break up, AND does not recognize these flaws. he's also a bad judge of character and seems to be drawn towrds those who seek attention and love. since he's self-centered and believes expressing his feelings and chasing them without consideration of the other party is not wrong, he unintentionally lovebomb them so hard they fall for him. when he doesnt establish boundaries and just unconditionally pour his love on them, they becomes emotionally dependent, but mc is not purposely doing that; he just wants to give them affection until it fills their void bc he thinks the struggle of "changing" them makes his love worthwhile. and when the infatuation period passes, he lose interest. whether or not they start becoming abusive, he loses interest bc he successfully changed them with his love but bc he doesnt communicate or give proper closure they become anxious and in redhead's case, abusive and toxic. i dont think mc like seeing him suffer, considering when he was suffering he was also violent and controlling. mc only stayed bc he hoped he would change. in his relationship with ml, it is somewhat a different case; he learnt his lesson to not take abuse before it goes too far. still, he never communicated his issues with ml either and just resigned himself to accept ml's behavior and kept giving him what he wanted. but when it becomes unbearable and clear ml woudlnt change, he drops the bomb, intending to break up cleanly. ofc ml is confused and tries to win him back, but he didnt break up with ml just to make him crawl back and grovel, it's bc he had enough, but seeing him suffer was a bonus ig cuz it brought satisfaction for all the wrongs he suffered. nevertheless it all really stem from his lovebombing and lack of communication when he loses interest.
YESS YOU ARE 100% CORRECT, I couldn't fully get behind ops comment bc some of it didn't match up with the mcs relationship w the red hair compared to his relationship w the ml. But u summed it up perfectly, you found the missing piece, the reason as to why Mc does what he does is exactly as u said he did it to both guys in both relationships. BLESS U AND YOUR PERFECT ANALYSIS
AWW TY! This really made my day!
I usually bookmark the chapters I find especially cute / hot but I would have to bookmark the whole story with this one~~ (=・ω・=) Will just have to reread it one day.
(haven’t gotten to the second couple yet so can’t say whether I will fill the same way about them - stating it just in case it has some abuse and someone calls me out for calling it cute/hot lmao)
He and his brother look so much alike it’s unsettling to watch him fuck around with some girlie… I get blood relatives but they all look identical, their father too. I only recognize it’s the brother cause of the earring…. And the first time the dad popped up, I realized it wasn’t the ML only after reading the comments… (￣∇￣")
Nahh, no way, is that black-haired child the ML? Damn, why do the MLs in these manhwas always look like pre-puberty boys (and usually act the part) while there’s a MAN right there, next to the FL. I will forever be haunted by the 2nd ml syndrome……
NO BECAUSE ACTUALLY, LIKE FUCK THIS GUY, GO FOR THE KNIGHT!!!!
I normally don’t mind the love triangles but this might just be the first one that bothers me. Usually, there’s either one ML who is just objectively a better person OR a ML who has suffered through more and you root for him. But in this case, both of them lived horrible lonely lives, and both of them found their peace and motivation to keep going in Nina. I genuinely can’t imagine either one to go on without her, yk?
I’m just doomed with 2nd ML syndrome with this one. Doesn’t mater who’s the endgame, I will just feel so damn bad for whichever loses…
Actually, I was team Sett the whole time, thinking he was the 2nd ML. He can’t and won’t go on living without FL, that’s what it feels like. He was like a beast and she made him human, so it would feel like she abandoned an animal she tamed if she chose Oz (The Little Prince style lol).
But as soon as I figured out from the comments that it might be one of those rare cases, in which whom was initially set to be a 2nd ML wins… My heart started to break for Oz. He lived his whole life as a puppet serving a country he was forced to be loyal to. He only stopped being passive, found a new goal and took the role of a king for Nina’s sake. So if she stays with Sett… He will kind of go back to the original setting? Will have to keep playing his role and serving the country that he no longer has any reason to serve.
But oh well, can’t form any rigid opinions yet, I’m only halfway through so hopefully the dynamics will change and I will end up liking or disliking someone more aha ha… ╮(￣▽￣)╭
I wanna know how your opinion changes when you're up to date.
Wrote you an essay, I apologize in advance ٩(๑❛ᴗ❛๑)۶
I’m up to date so I can answer now hahah. It became such a mess after a certain point that I don’t really care about the endgame anymore to be honest, I’ll just be there for a ride to witness what goes down.
1. The main character is super unpredictable. I was cutting her some slack in the beginning. She was obviously a very lonely person and she longed for connection, so her getting attached too quickly and trying so hard to fight for affection was quite understandable. But after a while, she should have started to make up her mind and learn from her experiences. She saw how her indecisiveness hurts other people, yet she still sways the way wind blows. At this point Sett technically should be the endgame - she’s starting to view him romantically, as evident by her reactions to him, and she even confessed. But with Nina you just never know, she may suddenly feel pity for Az and the dynamic may change again. It became tiering after a certain point. Her being goody-two-shoes and trying to help everyone, started to bring harm to everyone around her - which is quite ironic.
2. That being said, her character is very pitiful. I cried watching her suffer through her banishment and watching her cute naive values collapse. And that brings me to Az. I also find his character quite tragic. Growing up without purpose, finding one person you care about, sacrificing everything and yourself to make that person happy, even turning yourself into a villain in the process - guy can’t catch a break. BUT the fuck did he think he was doing during the whole banishment arc? I get it, getting your feelings undermined and doubting them when faced with some outer-worldly power is understandable. But what was he thinking, bringing Nina into the danger in the first place? Why did he bring her back, knowing that the temple is suspicious and may cause harm to her? With no plan whatsoever. And then, again - knowing that there might be a real villain hiding among the star priestesses people, he trusted what they said about Nina manipulating his feelings, started to avoid her when she was in trouble and pain because HE failed to protect her, and then just banished her? Let her wander around, possibly to her doom? Betting everything on the fact that Sett is going to save her and she will somehow survive until then? What if he didn’t? That was such a peculiar arc. Crazy to claim to do everything for a person and almost destroying that person in a process. I think his feelings of doubt and whatnot were valid, but he still did a horrible thing to Nina because of that doubt. And even before he started to doubt his own feelings - his plan, or lack thereof, was just dangerous and reckless. I feel bad for him, I like him, and I think that up to a certain point, he was a much better fit for Nina but now I don’t really want to see them together.
3. Sett… He really did come through for Nina and I think all readers, no matter their initial or favorite pairing, appreciate him for it. Love his patience, growth and whatnot. But I just can’t see him as the same character anymore??? And it’s note because of his self-development. After that weird shut-in arc, he never quite came back to being his old self. Went from a very expressive, blunt and distinct character to a stoic, quiet type. In my mind, it’s just a completely different person so I find it hard to root for him the same way I did for original Sett lol. It’s just that their dynamic, that I found so endearing, changed. On the one hand it’s much healthier, on the other hand much less fun, I miss the bickering, the boldness. It’s just meh. You can make a relationship healthier without changing it completely.
So yeah. I was hoping to get a favorite but I guess being indifferent is still kinda a win? I don’t root for anyone in particular because I don’t excessively like any of the characters at this point. I just understand each of them in a way and accept why they might do things the way they do. But deep inside I do hope she will stick to Sett (unless the author pulls out something as outrageous as what Az did, that would maybe turn the tables). It’d be very unfair if after his growth, patience and the hope she gave him, she somehow turned her back on him to go back to her first love.
Jajaja I love this! Read your essay. Well written and expressed. Thank God I love to read! Agree with you in basically everything you said. The way you analyzed every character and their dynamics with each other is chef's kiss. Buckle in, cause now is my turn! XD
I still want Sett go be endgame no matter what, so in my case, I'm not indifferent towards it, I'm looking forward to what the author comes up with. I would have to say that I do disagree in some things though, like I don't think Nina is necessarily wavering all the time with one or the other, but more like she doesn't want to lose either of them.
Son another topic, so much is going on and a lot of people do focus solely on the love triangle, but this is such a good, well-written manga and the plot twists and cliff hangers are so well done. I mean, it drives me nuts too, because let's admit that most of us came for that. But it's surprisingly so good! And Nina's backstory needs to be explored further so that the story and love can develop properly.
Anyone who's read this, has had to notice pretty early that there are different things happening in the plot which would shape our characters and force them to grow, like war. So
talking about the recent war development, I think that this version of Sett didn't get a whole lot of chance to go back to the Sett that would love and dote openly on Nina, cause their reunion was kind of cut short because of him trying to keep his promise to protect her and Fortna, because really, he's the one who has the power to appease both sides. So crossing fingers for an ever better version of that one we loved, cause now he'll be more sure of his feelings and Nina's.
Obviously they all carry trauma and they're all still figuring out who they are through trials and tribulations, and in the process learning what love is... And all that is mixed in with the rest of the plot. So I for one am glad that there is more to it than just their love triangle, but at the end of the day I do have chronic 2nd male lead syndrome, so I still think he's the better option (although we've established that technically he's currently the 1st ml).
P.S. I also love all the other characters, like the brothers, the servant and guard.
Haha I love this too! It’s always such a fun part of reading shojo to exchange perspectives with other people. Really appreciate you sharing your pov(๑•ㅂ•)و✧
You might be true about Nana not wavering, she is trying to figure things out in her own way. It’s less about her being “easily swayed” and more about her being so caring about other people in general that sometimes it becomes too much and affects her? She made up her mind to create a future with Sett but she can’t abandon anyone. It’s part of her charm, of course, but from the perspective of Sett, her going all out to help her first love that she still hasn’t gotten over, might be kind of hurtful? Especially that he knows Az loves Nina. I’m worried she will get confused because of that. She’s just doing so much that her feelings and the feelings of people involved become a tangled mess! (to be clear I don’t scorn Nina for that, it’s just something I noticed)
That’s true! I turned to manga after accidentally stumbling upon the anime, and initially, I was only curious about how the love triangle resolves. I partially thought that the storyline is only a background for romance. Even when I was writing this comment. But now that the author set up the universe, introduced all the characters and nurtured both, it became such a good story in general! The feelings just drive characters and become their motivation at resolving bigger issues. In the beginning everything seemed rushed and superficial, but turns out the author was just setting up the scene for a story that turned out to be much more complex and interesting! I mean, as I said, even though I started because of the love triangle, now I’m sticking to it sinply because it’s good!
I really do hope that this state that Sett is in is temporary. You’re right, a lot happened, and it was more important to protect Nina and help her find her oath again. And after that he has to help his own country. So it might be just that he didn’t have the time and mind space to figure out his own feelings and process what happened. I do hope he will go back to being his old self. Not entirely of course, his change and development are important too. I said I don’t care but on a personal level I think I still might be on the same page with you hahah Rooting for Sett, I mean. 2nd lead syndrome unite…
True, the side characters are great! I love all of them and am so happy to see their stories too. Always love it when authors don’t neglect the other characters (●'◡'●)
Aww it's sweet that you took the time to not only read all that, but reply back with a fresh perspective.
I do agree that because unconsciously she felt abandoned (turning into an orphan and all) and she had a rough upbringing because of that, Nina loves deeply and fast, and that's why there's this mess. You're right, she does tend to go overboard when her heart and mind are set on something especially when it involves protecting someone she loves and like you had said before, in the process makes a lot of things worst.
I also stumbled upon the anime first, but back then there were only 3 episodes, so I found the manga and got up to date before the anime was done with the season. I also thought along the same lines, but what won me over was the complexity of it all, and the exploration of each individuals lives, bringing the story together when they all come together and their stories intertwine.
Yay Sett stans!!
I like how you can appreciate that the brother that wanted to kill Sett at first just wanted to for the wrong reasons, like he just wanted power, but the whole female shy thing was so cute and then the possibility of him and the Nina's servant as a couple was a nice twist. Then the obsessive -brother complex- little bro ended up helping the person he was trying to get rid off, all meanwhile the womanizer is just playing his cards in a way that he secretly helps everyone and gets allies on his side. All the dynamics are so interesting! There's also the other servant who was a guy pretending to be a girl (I forgot the name) and how after everything, he betrayed his principals because he simply believed in Nina. She kinda had that power.