I understand how everyone's bothered by this and I'll start my comment by establishing that I am in fact part of the Jaekyung hate club and screamed in the comment section multtiple times before, so it's not that I'm defending, jic.
However to logically dissect this, there are two points that make this sex different than the ones before and make us NOT back at square one.
1)The power dynamics here shifted. Before, Dan was forced to have sex for the payment for his grandma's hospital bills. He didn't get a say in the matter or a say in how it was done, and his mentality convinced him he can't either. On the other hand, it might not look this way rn cause Jaekyung hates not being in control so much he exudes so much false confidence (and it seems to work since y'all convinced this is square one again) but he's not the one in control in this situation, it's Dan. He's the one who needs Dan, he's the one trying (but can't wait for it to be even more desperate and pathetic) to make Dan come back, and he's the one who stands to lose in this situation. You may think Dan is overpowered again, but nah. He's the one who suggested it, and while ik someone will say "but he was forced to, to get rid of him because he's stalking and harassing him" no guys he really wasn't forced to use that method at all. Also Dan has a lot of dirt on this bitch he could've used any of them to push him away completely.
2) This is the first time we see Jaekyung taking his time with foreplay and all to give Dan pleasure instead of solely focusing on his own. He thinks he's doing this to prove a point, but with Dan"s repeated rebuttals it only proves how delulu he is and how he's just in denial at his own feelings towards Dan. He doesn't realize this, so his inner monologue seems disjointed, but he does admit Dan us different to him than the ones before. And this sex scene is not rape, I'll stand on this hill tbh.
We /are/ seeing character development in both characters, it's just not at the level everyone wants yet because it's not logical to go from 0 to 100 in so little time without triggers, too. If you go back and reread early chapters you'll see Dan was different and Jaekyung was also different than what they are now. Give it time, I'm trying to also hope that the road for Jaekyung redemption is still ongoing, and I'm glad Dan isn't giving in. I think it was intentional and metaphoric that this sex scene is from Jaekyung's pov and we are deprived of Dan's.
Ok novel readers you better assure me this will get insanely better because rn I'm actually boiling with hatred towards Chase. This bitch. Wtf? Like he's actually very fucking annoying and like for what??? Unprovoked too!!! So yea his redemption better be scrumptious but if it won't be much better let me know so I can lower my expectations or just drop cause my blood pressure can't fr
Am I crazy for actually enjoying the plot? Like don't get me wrong i fucking hate some stuff but I genuinely am invested guys I wanna know what Erik looks like fr, and what drove everyone to call him a monster. His initial vision of Chris and how he fell, why and how he lives like so beneath the opera, why he built it, and if he truly is Chris's fated pair.
I was feeling quite sad towards Ralph then his monologues threw me off. I do not doubt that he holds some sort of love towards chris, but I do think he also views Chris the same way the other asshole rapist alphas did. A weak omega, an object to be owned, helpless without him, nothing without him, must be his. He doesn't look at Chris as a person at all, despite all the love. He talks about him like one would talk about an object it's actually concerning, and while the whole Erik plot is fucked up, at least he's the only one who actually respects Chris as a person, as wel as his wishes.
Y'all i can't believe THE fucked up person is the one preaching for consent!!!
So I do agree with the people saying "why are you bashing hear abd calling her toxic and a creep and insecure. You know nothing about mental health and only support it to your convenience and when it's sad" and while I do agree to some extent, I still also think that just because she's suffering from mental illness doesn't mean it's not a toxic behavior. Yeah it's not right to feed into the stigma of calling her a creep and a loser, but she IS being toxic and her mental illness doesn't negate that and absolve it. Toxic people do toxic shit because they're unwell. If you think an asshole or a bully does bad shit because they're born evil then that's a skewed pov of the world where only the victims get to be "unwell" while the preparators get to be demons with grand intention.
It's good to be a mental awareness advocate, but that doesn't equal enabling
I pity her and the turmoil and pain she causes herself first and foremost (i truly think she'll self sabotage and cheat on him thinking hr alr did that only to realize she became the one thing she's been so scared of), but I genuinely feel uncomfortable reading this and reading the slow descent into greater depths of derangement. Idk it's not that I'm not empathizing. Having BPD makes me all too aware of fear of abandonment and going through extreme lengths like that, but something about HER and her thought process just makes me dislike her.
I can't even hate at this point, you chose the man leewon There's no way any of us can get angry when you're the one who's telling us gwenchanaa gwenchanaa
Treat this as a oldest son support button
I love them all but the lack of oldest son love is sad his story is so cute it's just mature. He's such a golden retriever boyfriend AAA like if I ever wanna settle down that's the kind of man I want. Yeri you better know how to fight
I understand why everyone is bored and don't like the second story much, but I actually love it a lot. The mc is insufferable and stupid, yes, but that's because you're viewing this whole thing from afar. I regard this new story as another metaphor for the human behavior. As a previous comment had pointed out, it's like the stories are about the seven deadly sins, and this one is about greed.
Had you had the opportunity to have all your wish come true just by yapping about some sad thing that happened to you before, believe me we'd all be lined to wish. Then once we get one wish fulfilled, we'll wish bigger and bigger. It's human nature to never be satisfied because we always want more, it's just some are better at controlling their greed than others.
This plot is about how even when you reach perfection, you still want more, and how this can ruin someone's life by never being content with what they have, or at least knowing when to stop running for perfection any longer. A lot of people sought out this manhwa for the vibes and aesthetic of the first plot (me included) that the second one feels annoying to them with how excessive and childish the vibes are, but that's literally the whole point of it. The dreamy oversaturated effect, the sea, the island, the icecream and candy, it was meant to highlight the la la land perfection theme. You just need to accept this is not a single story and they all won't necessarily feel the same, but the delivery of a philosophical and psychological topic is the essence.
Started punching the air.
This is for everyone who called me heartless when I said meeting his mother would help and that's why Jiho was doing what he did (albeit he fucked up a bit in the process) and they said he doesn't need to meet her to heal he just wants someone understanding by his side yada yada yada
Being proven right is such a sweet sensation. I know not every case is similar to the other and what works for someone doesn't necessarily work for the other but I fucking knew Inwoo's problem needed that kind of solution as a first step I'm so glad this is taking this direction now.
I know many of you are mad that things seem eerily normal now like the fl and ml didn't fuck up each other and their kids for MANY chapters only to suddenly get back together in a weird change of heart (ok tbf mostly from the fl, Wilhelm had always been consistent I'll give him that)
But hear me out....
I'm just enjoying the domesticity now and conveniently and blissfully ignoring whatever happened before because there's no use being angry anymore. I'm just so happy Billroy is happy like this cutie patotie deserves happiness and if his happiness comes at the price of my blood pressure then it's fine I'll endure the shitty manhwa earlier and the way it was weirdly resolved if it means that kid can smile and laugh and have a normal childhood with semi decent parents.
Go have a dozen of kids for all I care as long as you take care of them all from this moment on. Only then I'll gladly turn a blind eye to whatever shit happened before good for them i guess at least it didn't have an even shitier ending
Hilda is so much stronger than me I would've caved for him in chapter 2.
Why are people arguing in the comments about whether Skylar is right or wrong why can't we just admit what Skylar said was fucking cold and ruthless when its intention was to hurt and cut deep without saying he's a horrible person or his anger isn't justified. This can go hand in hand btw. And same goes for empathizing with Cirrus's current snapping and being hurt by said words even if we can also admit he was an asshole and started this whole relationship the wrong way. No one is better than the other stop trying to think that way.
Skylar deserved that punch. Idc how hurt and angry he was at being lied to and him not understanding that Cirrus's behavior stems from his fear of abandonment, he still chose his words for malicious intentions and that's not "standing up for himself". Standing up for himself would be stepping away from someone causing him distress and shutting them out and not allowing them to hurt him anymore, not to use malicious words that would trigger someone's trauma. Be ffr.
That aside, me being happy that Skylar was punched and Cirrus being like that in front of everyone is simply bec skylar will now see how much Cirrus is internally struggling and face what cirrus is actually like when he truly doesn't care anymore. Skylar misunderstood a lot of Cirrus's actions and misdeeds as maliciousness when they were due to intense love and fear, so now that he'll face real loathing he'll understand this isn't the same as what happened before. It also allows Cirrus to finally shed the nice persona he kept up all the time to mimick the orange haired guy (imysorry i cant remember his name ) and yea there was something twistedly satisfying about this chapter despite the dread that kept gnawing at my core.
Y'all never satisfied with whatever Jiho does and y'all never see any fault in Inwoo, it's embarrassing.
Both are complex characters who contributed to this shit they're now in, and even Inwoo who everyone felt indignant on his behalf is now thinking "i wonder if my mother left the country. I wonder if that phonecall Jiho arranged with her will be our last" and it's not in a 'i hope she never appears again' way so lol. Some of the people here are not and will never be ready for the take that Inwoo might actually have overreacted and would rethink what happened and maybe think that talking to his mum wasn't equal to forgiving her.
In any case, I see they haven't talked it out exactly and that Inwoo is resorting to sex again because that's the only way he knows how to express his emotions (it's a common occurrence now) and idk why y'all are pressed they haven't talked like to me it makes sense they won't talk first thing given their personalities. Jiho is so high on his new determination to prove his love for Inwoo and support him any way he can, and Inwoo is riding the high of being loved the way he wished it was expressed to him. Addressing what had happened will force an awkward atmosphere and for now they miss each other too much to want that kind of dump. They will talk about it (hopefully) just doesn't have to be the same exact day they reunite.
Edit: before someone yells "Even if he rethinks it now it doesn't justify what Jiho did!!!!" And yeah it doesn't that's why i never said that.
Edit 2: for everyone saying "leaving his job isn't a big deal!" Bruh he wasn't hoping for you to think so?? He didn't do it to be like 'see how great i am? I did this for you!' and if you think someone doing something like that to care foe their loved one means so then I'm sorry to you for whatever happened in your childhood that led to that sort of thinking. This is just someone who rethought his priorities and adjusted his life accordingly, don't read too much into it.
I don't know how can they move forward from this. While I think Cirrus understood Skylar's trauma (despite being a dick and manipulating it earlier in the story) Skylar doesn't get his. It's hard already to deal with someone with BPD but it's even harder if you /don't/ understand they have it. In Skylar's POV Cirrus's lies seem manipulative and sinister, holding dirty amusement, while in actuality Cirrus's stupid cycling around and his lies are due to the intense fear of being abandoned and left behind, yet again. What Skylar just told him is the worst thing possible to tell someone healthy, let alone someone in that state, shivering and begging and bearing their heart. I'm not saying Cirrus didn't fuck up, it just doesn't justify Skylar being an asshole, saying words he knows will cut deep.
Given reassurances and help, they can overcome the previous lies with understanding and stopping the pattern, having Cirrus secure in their relationship and learn to be completely honest (especially once Skylar understands/why/ he lies) but idk how can they resolve whatever shit Skylar just told Cirrus. Some words you can never take back, and that's one example of them. This is why many people fear sharing private matters and why relationships are hard for them.
Never use someone's very core weakness/trauma against them like this It's not right, whether it be Skylar or Cirrus. Aaahh i feel sick. This update had me crying.