Like who's the guy with the silver hair in the last panel how did he suddenly spawn there tf?
That was hot and all but I was unusually disturbed (I rly thought I was immune to it now) by the toilet that it kept bothering me. Why is the toilet lid up!!! And why are you putting your hand on (IN!!) the toilet !!!
I think that by choosing to read a story in which a character is a prostitute, you automatically sign up for a story where most of the smut is probably noncon. I think I got over that quickly by accepting that this is the nature of this story, and that it's also probably true to unfortunate real-life situations.
Nevertheless, this manhwa does the opposite of romanticizing rape like so many of us are afraid some if not most smutty bls are doing, but it does so in such a way that Changil is able to own it and be lighthearted (dunno if that's the word I'm looking for) with the way he addresses it.
What I love the most about this is is the dialogue. The way the characters speak (mostly Changil and Yona) is fun, comedic, that there are times I forget I was reading a pretty dark story. But I think that's the beauty in it: it's such a painful story that it would have been hard to swallow without the comedy.
I don't think this is a perfect bl by any means. It was scary, painful, off-putting, and bitter, but at the same time it was also fun, relatable, and sweet. It was such a journey, that, you kind of forget that these are still youth (26 is still young, and Changil had stunted growth given his background), such pure babies (my babieees) despite what they've been through. And then you're reminded at the end that that's what they are. That's what the author was intending to end the story with: two people who are only beginning to love and to be loved (inspite of all that has happened) and isn't that beautiful?
I'm also not going to try to psychoanalyze Sangtaek and James. Sometimes people are just freaks and groomers, and sometimes they aren't meant to be more than just the horrible people that they are.
The gaejusshi's side story I recommend skipping unless you want the smut. My opinion of him won't be changed even if it's an "alternate" ending given what I know of him in the main story.
I'll give this upwards of 6 months before I forget everything about it and then I'll read it again (but let's be honest it will probably be 2 years)
Lastly the art is just gorgeous!
Edit: Just wanted to point out probably the most painful part of this story for me: Both Yona and Changil were exposed to the red-light district from young. These guys were, to some extent, numbed to the horrors of the reality they lived in. Either they were unaware or they had no other "normal" to which they can compare their experiences to and say "this is not right." like some if not most of us had the luck of having.
Yona was peeping at Changil doing SW, and didn't think much of the nature of his desires for Changil until he saw Yona being held captive and graped by Sangtaek (ch 17/19 was it? I CRIED) because it's all he's known his whole life. Suddenly he felt guilt for being just the same as the others while also recognizing that he was different. This change in his mindset is reflected in his character design, which is why he changed so drastically in such a short time. He looked like a child in the first chapters.
And Changil, my god, he hated doing SW from the beginning, but while he was in it, he thought nothing of it. It was so baffling as an outsider that he thought of it as just opening his legs or his mouth for some guy in exchange for money. It was all non-consensual ((another point that needs to be explored imo: Is SW always consensual bc you're getting paid for it?)) It was so painful when the first time we see him really actually internalize what was being done to him was when he got violated by James after Sangtaek captured him, and it was only bc he had his experience with Yona to compare it with. It's so </3
and I'm like where??? And then I continue to read the story in one sitting so I acclimate my eyes to the visuals so I go "he kinda does" but then I run out of chapters to read so when I get back to reading a new update, my opinions are back where I first started.
I like the story though. And the art style/presentation has its own charms...just not my preference.
Help a friend with the memory of a goldfish.
Me
Also, what a waste of a pretty top. Ig it's only the 1st season but why did he have to be such a frustrating character? He won't communicate, won't confess but will act jealous? Hello?
Also, does being Beta come with being oblivious?
Fxck, if that isn't the most fucked-upically romantic thing I've ever heard.
The self-awareness is what gets me. They both know it.
Fire had good concept and art. I wish it was more fleshed out but I really liked it. The characters were so pretty. Art was gorgeous. Turquoise Love could have been a standalone, it was that good.
Mc's masochistic tendencies root from his guilt from when ml got hurt in their childhood. Mc is still very much traumatized by that event and we know that bc of how he reacted in the tunnel.
Mc being clingy to ml to the point of being whiny is not an expression of love, but rather, of mc's worry about ml's physical well-being. Mc has expressed worry about ml when he kept going out for some period of time, and he was also in the know about the family business. He has also witnessed ml being violent with others, and ml getting into fights meant that he was putting himself in harm's way as well. I think, that bc the trauma is so big (to the point it is expressed as separation anxiety), it just trumps all the feist and the fight that mc used to have???
Or at least, that's how I'm convincing myself.
We can't deny that Mc holds an affection for ml given their long history, but also, to MC, ML now holds the punisher role, the thing he's been craving all this time, perhaps from ml himself, which is why ml has become that much more important to mc...is what I'm thinking.