ok buckle up for a ride~
will it take a long time for them to communicate properly? well in a way yes, depends on what youre getting at with “communicate properly”. theyd start off as friends with benefits first (shocking right?) this happens because both sangwoo and jaeyoung are attracted to each other sexually. they harbor quite deep lust towards each other while working on the game project, but the one who showed the lust first was sangwoo, he kissed jaeyoung when jaeyoung was asleep (but actually jaeyoung didnt sleep so.. busted). jaeyoung actually already felt lust towards sangwoo before sangwoo kissed him in his ‘sleep’ but jaeyoung didnt act on it.
a few days after sangwoo kissed jaeyoung, jaeyoung asked sangwoo to have dinner together and then they got drunk and had some intense make out session. all of those happened in vol 2 ch 1 of the novel (fyi, the most recent korean chapter is nearing the end of volume 1 of the novel). anyways, some days after, jaeyoung finally confronted sangwoo that he knew sangwoo kissed him in his sleep, and he said that if both of them are sexually attracted to each other then they should start as FWB. sangwoo agreed. by this point its vol 2 ch 3 of the novel.
well then they became friends with benefits but really, theyre basically dating already. the peak of their mutual pining is volume 3, that volume is just a chokeful of REAAALLLY CUTE moments. jaeyoung is so sweet, so patient, and takes good care of sangwoo. theres this bit after their first time, where sangwoo was so sore the morning after their first sex, and jaeyoung took initiative of filling in for sangwoo at his part time work in pc room. and not only that, he also bought soooo many food, fruits, drink, and also some cushion and ointment to make sure sangwoo could replenish and rest properly after their first time. jaeyoung shows his affection by kissing sangwoo’s forehead and cheeks a lot too ughhh<3 on the other hand, sangwoo is so clingy. he asks for kisses, he calls jaeyoung after his part time work bc he wants to be accompanied by jy’s voice while walking home, he says he misses jaeyoung when they didnt meet for 1.5 days, initiate hand holding, initiate their first time, he’s literally burning with jealousy when there’s a woman who shows interest in jaeyoung, etc. keep in mind they werent dating yet at this moment.
BUT! since sangwoo is basically a baby at human relationships, he doesnt understand that he actually likes jaeyoung romantically, while jaeyoung by this time is already deeply in love (and whipped) with sangwoo. so from then on is the ultimate, major conflict of the novel. this conflict happened in the last ch of vol 3 to chapter 2 of vol 4. sangwoo and jaeyoung is already in love with each other, jaeyoung is aware of his own feelings and he’s also aware of sangwoo’s, while sangwoo is NOT aware at all of his own and jaeyoung’s feelings. the conflict is frustrating (i’ll elaborate if you ask again) but anyways some things happen and some weeks passed without them crossing paths with each other, and sangwoo finally came to terms that he is indeed in love with jaeyoung, and he confessed to jaeyoung.
(btw, digressing a bit: even tho jaeyoung realized he’s in love with sangwoo really early, he didnt confess because he’s afraid sangwoo would be scared and he’d run away from jaeyoung cutting off all contacts and whatnot, so jaeyoung is trying his best to just shower sangwoo with affection until sangwoo realizes it himself. oh and, sangwoo actually confessed twice, the first time he just unintentionally blurted it out bc he was just soooo deep in his feelings toward jaeyoung that he just out of nowhere goes “i like you hyung” and then after he said that he was so shocked, he couldnt believe his own mouth, and ran away and went MIA for two weeks lolll)
anyways they finally professed their love for one another in an empty beach. it was so cute bc sangwoo was crying so much while confessing bc at that time, jaeyoung is going to go abroad (as we know, jaeyoung is going to take his postgraduate program abroad which was cancelled bc of sangwoo at the beginning of the story, but then he applied again and got accepted again). sangwoo wasnt confident of himself, he didnt think that jaeyoung was actually in love with him too hdjskdojjd. well then jaeyoung was hugging him and calming him down, and after sangwoo calmed down jaeyoung also told sangwoo that he loves him and asked sangwoo to formally date him. theres actually a lot of adorable things happening in the beach scene but this is getting so long lol
AND not just dating! there’s also a chapter where sangwoo proposed to jaeyoung after theyve been dating for 1.5 years!! after 1.5 years of dating, sangwoo asked jaeyoung to marry him in 6 years. why in 6 years? because they were about to move to the US together, for jaeyoung to continue his two-times-postponed postgraduate degree, and for sangwoo to work in his dream gaming company. they planned to live in the US and apply for US residency so they could be legally married as US citizens, yknow since south korea doesnt allow same sex marriage. the proposal was so hilarious and theres also this part after the marriage proposal where sangwoo and jaeyoung visited sangwoo’s parents and they came out as a couple and asked for blessings too jdjsjs so cute
thank you so so much!!!!! i look forward to this a lot.. im glad there arent tons of miscommunications where other people are really involved and stuff. im glad sangwoo starts to feel more comfortable showing his emotions and im excited to see his development. thank you again for taking the time to write this!
all the available english translations of the novel have only translated up to half of the first volume at most, while the most recent english translation of the manhwa chapters have gone way past that.. so unless youre looking to read only the first few chapters of the novel’s first volume then, no its not available :/ fyi, chapter 18 of this manhwa equals to vol 1 ch 7 of the novel
Thank you very much for pointing this out. I was really confused as to how the translated novel is updated later than the manhwa. And thank you very much for the detailed spoiler. I am looking forward to get attached to this story and I'm preparing my money for a physical book of a soon (I wish) english book for the novel and the manhwa aaaaaaa
hello if you dont want to be spoiled dont look at the replies to this! (if there are any ahh) please spoil me if you have read the novel or know spoilers!!! i want to know if its going to take a long time for them to actually properly communicate because i want to prepare myself for a long run if i need to. also tell me if they do get to the point of dating and all that. hopefully people respond, if you do THANK YOU SO MUCH!!