imntru's Topics (387)

SO BACK AGAIN- I JUST completed a 3rd reread (at this point these are annotations ). While we wait for Season 2, since I don’t think it’s coming until 2025, I’m posting this here for anyone (myself included) that forgets anything. I can confirm a few things that may have been easy to miss from my previous post and clarify some theories as well.
I will post below for further clarification- because I know a lot of people are confused after the first season but here’s everything I’ve gleaned after tight reading the first season.

Characters of note:
Seo-In: sex addict and rich
Yeongwoon: trauma ridden, poor and doing his best
Hae-yool: actor that Yeongwoon was previously the manager of
Taegu- Hyung: leader/CEO of the company- that started from the gangsters he was working with before
Yoon-Seok: Yeongwoon’s friend from middle school (has red hair, owner of the Ducati bike)
Jaewon (DECEASED)- Older (step??) brother of Seo-In




Timeline:
-Last year in middle school is when Yeongwoon and Seo-In met
-they become friends
-Seo-In has a step brother from his Mother’s Marriage: Jaewon
-seo-in and Yeongwoon and Jaewon begin hanging out a lot
-Seo-in and Yeongwoon’s relationship begins to change
-Yeongwoon witnesses Kiss between Seo-in and what looks like/ alluded to is Jaewon
-Yeongwoon begins to pull back as a result of this, which begins to effect Seo-in
-Seo-In leaves for an overseas trip on the same day that the assault on Yeongwoon takes place- lead by Jaewon
-Seo-In’s family pay off Yeongwoon’s father for his assault, charges are never pressed for his injuries or suffering
-Yeongwoon steals the hush money and runs
- Taegu most likely encounters him as a runaway pretty early on and takes him in
-Seo-In returns to find Yeongwoon is gone
10- yr skip
Picks up where the events start in the series

That is my current understanding of the past events as they were disjointedly portrayed, so a few things of note for the first season:

Previously I had thought that the catalyst behind Yeongwoon leaving and the resulting anxiety disorder were caused by not the kiss he’d witnessed but by the betrayal he felt from the assault he went through which broke his arm/hand and resulted in him being unable to pursue Judo anymore. This is still wholly correct- but I do have a few updates to this as well- I’ll start with the brother:

- Jaewon’s father is the wealthy one- this is evidenced by his conversations with his Mother in regards to managing his public reputation because his father is planning on going “back” into politics and wants to hand over the business operations to her (Chapter 27).

-Jaewon and Seo-In are not directly related this is indirectly referenced by the family at the death anniversary of Jaewon where an aunt states: that there he can’t be blamed for not being able to form a deep connection to someone who isn’t blood related to him- and also alludes to Seo-In probably feeling “guilty” with the way Jaewon died (possibly suicide, possibly due to illness since he did have a private doctor- the lady that gave Seo-IN the trip killer drugs in chapter 10)

-Jaewon- doesn’t actually like Yeongwoon despite spending a lot of time with him and Seo-in because
- He’s poor
- He knows that Yeongwoon likes Seo-In sexually or vice versa
- Or he himself is interested in Seo-In

- the change in Seo-In’s behavior once Yeongwoon started to pull back after the latter saw the kiss was most likely the catalyst that lead to the assault on Yeongwoon perpetrated by Jaewon (we see him in chapter 31 in the flashback- one of the people that assaulted him having asked: “Where were you?” To which he replies “I was at the airport to see my brother off” and he presses his hand to Jeongwoon’s face stating “Cold, isn’t it Yeongwoon?” this is directly in reference to the same flashback from Seo-IN’s in chapter 17 Where Seo-In is waiting in the snow with his Mother for Yeongwoon to show up to say goodbye and he doesn’t, nor does he answer his calls)

SO Yeongwoon left not because of Seo-in (I don’t think he had a choice) but because of the assault perpetrated by Jaewon, rendering one of his arms useless- there has been particular focus on his hands- all season, but with the reveal of his arm in the sling in Seo-in’s mother’s memory and the article in frame on the last page of the season finale. I’m thinking his injuries may have been even more extensive than portrayed in that one shot.

Seo-in’s parents (mother at least) were not only aware of the fact that Jaewon was the perpetrator of the assault against Yeongwoon, but were also aware of who Yeongwoon was and did not make any effort to take any sort of responsibility for it or explain it to Seo- In - even being aware that he was Seo-in’s best friend (possibly more)

Seo-in has no fucking idea that any of this happened, because
A. His family hid it
B. Yeongwoon had no choice but to keep silent given either the shame from his father having accepted the money or his subsequent mental health developments, this is likely the event that is the cause of his anxiety disorder
C. Yeongwoon either assumes that Seo-In knew about what Jaewon had done to him- or even assumes that him not knowing would be better given that it seems he’s misunderstood the relationship between the two.

The money that was “stolen” as referenced in chapter 25 from his father, was hush the money that Yeongwoon took as his own (totally valid) when he fled to finally cut ties with his father after pretty much being abandoned by everyone he could possibly trust.

It is referenced by Jaewon’s doctor- (The woman in chapter 10) that the three of them did hang out quite a bit (Jaewon, Yeongwoon, and Seo-In) which leads me to believe the only one who was aware at all of what was growing between Seo-In and Yeongwoon was Jaewon, and for some reason he destroyed it. I currently think his (step?) brother must’ve been obsessed with him- because in the flashbacks Yeongwoon has of Seo-In and the mystery person, we see the person always having the same hair and mole just below the left side of his lips, and this placement and hair color is the same in the family photo of the Han Family revisited in chapters: 6, 8,11, etc) - we even initially get the overlay of his face (the brother’s) and Hae yool (the guy he was previously the manager of) in chapter 3. We also see him in Seo-In’s flashbacks in chapter 21 stating “Don’t tell me you think people are actually being genuine with you?”

My assumption is that this statement was made post Yeongwoon’s disappearance in effect to minimize any of the connection that may have existed between the two, the same can be said for his appearance in Yeongwoon’s nightmare in Chapter 3 when Jaewon appears behind him, holding his chin up when he tries to turn away from the image of Seo-In and Hae- yool together and telling him

“Don’t look away.”
“There’s no place for you there.”
“Not in the past, not now…not ever”

So the main antagonist rn is a freaky ghost.

Anyway that’s everything until Season 2

Damn I did a reread as soon as the season ended and that reveal of Seo-in’s twin? Older brother? Was such a well timed bomb. I knew something had to have happened that acted as the catalyst for Yeongwoon to have fled his previous life, but I was under the impression it was the kiss that he witnessed between Seo-in and whoever the other person in that flashback is (still has not been revealed).

I assume it’s also the person that in Seo-in’s flashback of looking for Yeongwoon right after he disappeared- told him he had no right- because he has freckles where so-ins brother clearly didn’t.

Some things I have gathered that season 1 did a phenomenal job hinting at.

1. Yeongwoon left not because of Seo-in (I don’t think he had a choice) but because of the escalated situation with the bullying rendering one of his arms useless- there has been particular focus on his hands- and I was trying to puzzle this out all season, but with the reveal of his arm in the sling in Seo-in’s mother’s memory and the article in frame on the last page of the season finale. I’m thinking his injuries may have been even more extensive than portrayed in that one shot.

2. Seo-in’s parents (mother at least) were not only aware of the fact that their son was the perpetrator of the violence against Yeongwoon, but were also aware of who it was against and did not make any effort to stop it- even being aware that he was Seo-in’s best friend (possibly more)

3. Seo-in has no fucking idea that any of this happened, because
A. His family hid it
B. Yeongwoon had no choice but to keep silent give either the shame or his subsequent mental health developments, this is likely the event that is the cause of his anxiety disorder
C. Yeongwoon may be subconsciously resistant to accepting Seo-in not only from the perceived betrayal, but because he has the same face as his attacker, thus physically is averse to even talking about it to him

4. The money that was “stolen” from his father, was hush money that Yeongwoon took as his own (totally valid) when he fled to finally cut ties with his father after pretty much being abandoned by everyone he could possibly trust.

After a re-read I am heartbroken for Yeongwoon, someone please wrap this poor boy in a blanket and feed him 10 orders of pork belly

I fuckin knew blondie was going to be the one to actually fuck up, I hope he gets his shit kicked in for fucking them all over.

I’m going the say this with my whole chest I don’t give a fuck about his trauma- Woojin could get struck by an 10 wheeler and I’d feel nothing. Everyone in these comments has so much sympathy for him but he is an unreliable narrator, a coward, a codependent parasite and a fucking monster for dragging Taehwan into his bullshit for the sake of his shitty lack of self worth. Like I fucking hate Minho, but he’s right about one thing Woojin is fucking pathetic.

What is with these BLs and their dedication to making the most piss poor MCs, like just another cookie cutter pathetic shell of a person with no self respect or self worth. It’s not fun reading this shit it just feels like a waste of time so for anyone new here. The ending is not satisfying the main character is a cheating sack of shit that foists all of his shitty decisions onto the repeating mantra of “I’m pathetic” “I can’t do anything for myself” etc - he’s aware of the fact that there’s something wrong with him and does NOTHING ABOUT GETTING HELP ABOUT IT.

The only saving grace is Taehwan, but he gets his mental health just absolutely stomped on by the aforementioned sack of human refuse of course with the help of what may as well be the devil himself (I’m looking at you Minho, you dirty fucking garbage man) that I don’t even think it’s worth sticking around even for him.

I wasted 4 hours of my fucking life on this shit and I’ll never get that time back.

/rant

Also this is my opinion and after getting that all out I do feel a little better and I have stopped crying: anyone that disagrees I can more or less see your reasoning and respect it - as I tried to repeat the same empathetic framework when reading but Christ I’ve never wanted to hit someone with my car more than this main character. Taehwan didn’t deserve that man, he didn’t fucking deserve that. But the author did cook on Woojin’s severely hampered mental health destroying not only his own life but the people he cared about by proxy.

He used fully charged dad strength in that slap- hopefully he slaps him around some more, maybe it’ll finally put some sense in his godamn head. I think Danny’s grandma died though, which is so well timed but awful. Hope this is the onus he needs to finally cut the cord and get tf outta dodge, Kim Dan deserves to have a fuckin moment where he isn’t up to his neck in shit.

WhAt thE fUUCk bro

I mean, I like it a lot, but Everytime I read a chapter it feels like I'm on an edible

Aster fuckin laughing at the douche prince sent me into orbit LMAO

Somebody put khalid in the ground PLEASE

Butler man really wants to catch some hands huh