Omg finally a decent friend - kind, caring, but not too intrusive. Every other person thats tried to be the MC's 'friend' was overbearing and wanted something from him. Honestly it felt a little suffocating.
Not a fan of the gangster so far. It feels like he'll be interested in the MC soon in an intrusive way
I cant tell who the blonde(Sukyung??) is. I also can't tell how these two are gonna recover from how badly their relationship soured by the end of last season.
With his hair down, jaekyung's now finally hot enough to justify the douche personality. Ill take it and I understand Kim Dan
I love that Kim Dan is learning to put his foot down and say no when he doesnt want to do something. But I also wish he could learn to be more independent, which just turning down jaekyung doesn't really do. Kim Dan still needs to learn to take better care of himself. This whole stint of walking into the ocean and then not even remembering, requiring someone else to save him again, shows that this whole event has traumatized him but he hasn't matured from it yet.
Assuming Jaekyung is the root cause of Kim Dan's issues(which ive seen in a lot of comments) is an overly narrow reading. While Jaekyung most definitely has major attitude issues that exacerbated Kim Dan's mental health, the root cause of Kim Dan's issues is that he has abandonment problems that stem from the loss of his parents at a young age. It's shown in the story but especially lately that that's why he tends to cling to things rather than live his own life(his grandmother, Jaekyung, the puppy). His character arc will probably be learning to let things go and should focus on how to be alone(IDK how jaekyung is gonna help with that though).
Jaekyung has an extreme obsession with success that manifests in aggression towards anything that detracts from it. His desperation to find Kim Dan doesnt really seem to be out of love(yet). It seems more like he believes his life falling apart began with Kim Dan(rather than his own choices lol) and so finding Kim Dan will provide some sort of redemption.
As of now, I don't see how this couple could work out UNLESS they go the crazy4crazy route(which honestly is fine with me if well done). They have major personal problems and I don't see how the other can help with that unless they literally just stick together. It'd be like sticking a bandaid over their issues. They'd solve the symptoms(perceived redemption, companionship) but not the root cause. I've seen stories do this before but Mingwa's previous work focused very much on reaching a healthy relationship dynamic.
A lot of comments are blaming Dan's current state on Jaekyung. While I think Jaekyung definitely exasperated the issue, this chapter was supposed to show he isnt the only factor nor the cause.
Kim Dan essentially has abandonment issues stemming from the loss of his parents. While his worry for losing his grandmother is completely normal, the story shows that his emotional toil is primarily from the fear of being left alone. His grandmother's health, the demand to meet his bills, Jaekyung's emotional disregard(which i actually think is valid btw), and getting fired all lead to the idea that he is losing companionship and his role in life. Personally I like that Kim Dan has this issue he needs to work through thats outside of Jaekyung because it makes him a more dynamic character, as opposed to someone that just circles the ML or is uninterestingly 'perfect'.
With that said, I have absolutely no idea how Jaekyung is going to get involved in this. He doesn't seem emotionally invested enough to give Kim Dan the reassurance that he needs(at this point). Jaekyung clearly cares somewhat about Kim Dan but to a limited degree, enough to meet Dan's his baseline needs like financial support/roof over head/medical bills etc. Emotional support is a whole other beast.
The best part of this was the amazing characterization. Each character was very well written, especially Ash, whose story moved me in so many ways. With all that said, if i could go back, I probably wouldn't have read/watched it again. I mentally just cant take it bc i get very attached to fictional characters.
Personally I wouldn't quite call this the chasing arc in terms of what most ppl are expecting. Jaekyung is definitely not chasing for a relationship. I think he feels guilt for accusing Kim Dan and lashing out the way he did, so we're still quite a bit ways away from romance. However i think this experience will temper is attitude and teach him aggression isn't the way to go.
putting the baby in a stroller is so jank yet sweet. I love it cuz its so fitting.
My money is on being the actual player, with everyone else being an NPC originally. Even the actual player has to save their story if they want to keep their progress or items. Mainly its bc 1. his character doesn't fit a 'stereotype'. Bada thought he did, but he doesn't actually. 2. He can kill the killer, so he has the largest ability to influence the game. It wouldn't make sense for an NPC to be able to affect the game that much.
IMO, what Jaekyung really needs is THERAPY. I think his transactional relationship with Dan is fairly valid bc they both got what they needed from it. The problem is his aggressive behavior and anger issues that overrides how he treats others, especially Kim Dan. Even a transactional relationship demands respect. If he was truly dissatisfied with something Kim Dan did, someone that didn't care would just withdraw what they were paying, not lash out and use force.
His other major issue is his single-minded obsession with success. I think it'd be interesting to explore more why he's so focused on it. We know nothing about his background, like at all. So based on that night terror, there might be a reason why he's so driven.
But just based on his current character, he's nowhere near ready for a relationship and quite frankly, I'm not too interested in seeing him and Dan get together. He's just not in the right headspace. Jaekyung has clear anger issues and a lack of disrespect for others. His priorities are also just not at all in his personal life. He clearly cares more for his career, and personally, I actually don't mind! I enjoy heavily driven characters, but bc of that, I don't think he has space in his mind for a relationship. This part of his characterization is honestly quite realistic so I'm excited to see where it goes!
My prediction is that it's going to be more focused on their character growths as individuals for a while. I see a lot of comments that want Jaekyung to grovel for Kim Dan and then to fall crazy in love like BJ Alex, but I just don't realistically see that here. I also find it a bit ridiculous that whatever inkling of romance there was could fix Jaekyung's issues. While Kim Dan would've helped, Jaekyung's issues and their consequences are deeply personal and would've happened with or without Kim Dan. In BJ Alex, the narrative was much more focused on the relationships, and the Seme's major flaw stemmed from a bad dating experience. Here, the characters have a lot of other things they focus on. I'm more excited to see how these Jaekyung and Kim Dan find some sort of inner peace on their own before coming together!
Im Super confused why Doha just offed(?) the cousin. I thought it was because he assumed the new tape Bada found also belonged to the cousin, just the like the checkmarked one, so he was checking if the cousin got his memories back. But I don't really understand what he said right after he threw the cousin off the bridge.
ALSO i think im starting to not understand how the memories work. Like if you put a tape in, you get to keep your memories for each round? Or do you need to save each round to keep your memories? Then why did the cousin lose his memories?
I don't speak fluent korean but ik how to use any AI and translation app needed to get the job done, LMAO. Here are some general spoilers because i needed them too:
1. The ML's history - Remember that Andy cheated on the ML with a teammate. This teammate was in love with Andy and was being very dramatic about proclaiming his love while drunk, and tried to jump off a balcony. ML saved him but dislocated his shoulder in the process. While basically benched for the injury, the teammate played in the ML's place and did really well. Out of jealousy and spite, the ML asked out Andy, aware of the love triangle. SO ML was never really into Andy.
2. Class President's 'Brother' - The sketchy looking guy that picked up the class president from the police. Taekin's body reacts fairly violently from thinking about him, to the point that the MC faints because Taekin is supposedly pushing the MC out. The ML finds someone that went to school with the sketchy Brother and explains that when they were in HS, the sketchy brother was beat up regularly by bullies. One day, after getting bullied, he actually gets caught beating up a random kid in middle school. Turns out, out of anger for being bullied, the sketchy brother had taken it out on some random younger kid. There were even rumors that he SA-ed this random kid. This is important also bc in the present, the MC actually runs into this sketchy brother at a hotel, who's coming in with a younger guy in a school uniform(so he still praying on kids).
3. The MC is starting to spend less time in Taekin's body, he's getting ejected from it earlier and earlier. I'm not sure why, but I believe the whole soul exchange thing was always just a timer. According to the Shaman, the MC can only connect with and help Taekin while in his body. Supposedly once the time runs out, the MC would return to his own body like normal again and stay there but Taekin would basically die(i think). The Shaman says she didn't share this info because then the MC couldve just done nothing and things wouldve worked out for him without having to help Taekin out at all. But now, the MC is motivated to wake Taekin up!
4. Taekin - It turns out that Taekin was NOT suicidal. It all starts with that random school kid that the MC saw at a hotel with the sketchy brother of the class president. This random school kid is named Beom(i think). He met the sketchy brother through an online gay dating site. At their first meeting, the sketchy bro SA-ed Beom and recorded it. Later he used the video to threaten Beom into staying with him and continuing to do increasingly aggressive sexual acts. He later runs into Taekin somewhere random, but they knew of each other from being in the 'same space'(young local gay community ig?). He confesses it all to Taekin, who gets so enraged, he tries to help Beom. I think he tried to get the class president to help him get evidence on his brother, but the class president turned it around and started bullying Taekin. On the day of The Accident, Taekin saw the sketchy bro force Beom into his car. To save him, he jumps out into the road in front of sketchy bro's car. This is also the car that the MC admires right before the crash. The sketchy bro took Taekin's backpack, wiped his phone leaving the mean texts from others to make it look like suicide from bullying. Thats why the hospital suddenly called reporting that Taekin's backpack was found.
Dang, thats actually a lot in less than 10 chapters. We didnt see much development between the MC and the ML but the ML has been more proactive about helping though!
I liked this a lot at first....But I'm not a fan of them together during the earlier time. MC literally picked up the ML when he was a cute kid, coddled him as a child for YEARS, and then was suddenly ok with sex when he grew up overnight. Thats just not it. Like, i get it from the ML's side but it shouldnt have been mutual like that in the past...
