Suk/Kiwoon are 3/5 for me - problematic, lack of grounding in reality, and no reasonable engagement with their sexualities.
Suk being interested in Kiwoon immediately feels like it came out of nowhere and he had no thoughts about being gay or not, just rolled with it, which I never find very realistic in any comic. Kiwoon, you think is straight at first because he seems to hate the attention he's getting from Suk, then when Jaeha appears, you think ok, maybe he did have gay leanings after all with Jaeha, but then later Kiwoon flat-out says he was not interested in Jaeha like that at all, so then you're left wondering if he really can ever be interested in Suk -- is he gay/bi/etc or not?
Meanwhile Suk goes after Kiwoon hardcore and Kiwoon legit seems to hate it for the first half to 2/3 of their story (season 1, ch1-38), and at some point you have to wonder, when should Suk have to accept that Kiwoon is not gay and not interested? At some point, right? Otherwise he's just a creepy stalker who needs a restraining order. But then Suk successfully badgers Kiwoon into a relationship which doesn't feel very good at all. It didn't feel like Kiwoon really chose it, more like he just gave up trying to get away from Suk.
I also really don't like Kiwoon's treatment of Jaeha. Yeah, I realize they got into a fight and Kiwoon was hospitalized. But the actual fight, how it started, escalated, and came to blows was never really shown in the comic, so we're left guessing about the specifics of it. It felt like Kiwoon probably started the fight with his misinterpretation of the situation, thinking Jaeha killed one of the cats. Jaeha was not there to get into a fight at all, but to get help for the cat. So if Kiwoon started the fight and or escalated it into a physical situation, then really, Jaeha was just defending himself? Because of the lack of clarity in this situation all the way to the end of the story, I can only help but think that Kiwoon started a fight he couldn't finish and then cut Jaeha off later in the story while never owning up to the fact that he, Kiwoon, started/escalated the situation due to a misinterpretation. Feels kinda crappy.
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Hyun/Jaeha are 5/5 for me - working through trauma and past failures to engage in order to slowly resolve their issues and come to a place where they can meet in the middle and grow a bit.
Their part of the story is chapters 39-96 which is way longer, but it's much easier to read than the first part because you can tell from the beginning that the two really do want to be accepted by each other but that certain things keep getting in the way. These two go through proper character arcs, unlike Suk and Kiwoon, which is largely why this section of the story works so much better. Hyun needs to learn to express himself more clearly and frequently and honestly, and Jaeha needs to stop letting his pride get in the way of trying to connect with Hyun and accept the help that he so desperately needs. And to be fair, the help that Hyun is providing to Jaeha isn't even really Hyun's -- it's his parents' money, apartment, etc. He's just sharing what help he's been given by someone else with Jaeha.
I don't have a lot to say about these two because I think the author wrote this relationship much much much better than the first couple. On the one hand, it does feel like maybe their part of the story is too long; on the other hand, it does take a while to work through the kind of trauma Jaeha has had in his life, so it feels more realistic that it takes so long for them to finally meet in the middle. I'm fine with it, and I hope the author is able to finish the story someday ("to be continued" at the end of ch96).
Some spoilers ig --
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Suk/Kiwoon are 3/5 for me - problematic, lack of grounding in reality, and no reasonable engagement with their sexualities.
Suk being interested in Kiwoon immediately feels like it came out of nowhere and he had no thoughts about being gay or not, just rolled with it, which I never find very realistic in any comic. Kiwoon, you think is straight at first because he seems to hate the attention he's getting from Suk, then when Jaeha appears, you think ok, maybe he did have gay leanings after all with Jaeha, but then later Kiwoon flat-out says he was not interested in Jaeha like that at all, so then you're left wondering if he really can ever be interested in Suk -- is he gay/bi/etc or not?
Meanwhile Suk goes after Kiwoon hardcore and Kiwoon legit seems to hate it for the first half to 2/3 of their story (season 1, ch1-38), and at some point you have to wonder, when should Suk have to accept that Kiwoon is not gay and not interested? At some point, right? Otherwise he's just a creepy stalker who needs a restraining order. But then Suk successfully badgers Kiwoon into a relationship which doesn't feel very good at all. It didn't feel like Kiwoon really chose it, more like he just gave up trying to get away from Suk.
I also really don't like Kiwoon's treatment of Jaeha. Yeah, I realize they got into a fight and Kiwoon was hospitalized. But the actual fight, how it started, escalated, and came to blows was never really shown in the comic, so we're left guessing about the specifics of it. It felt like Kiwoon probably started the fight with his misinterpretation of the situation, thinking Jaeha killed one of the cats. Jaeha was not there to get into a fight at all, but to get help for the cat. So if Kiwoon started the fight and or escalated it into a physical situation, then really, Jaeha was just defending himself? Because of the lack of clarity in this situation all the way to the end of the story, I can only help but think that Kiwoon started a fight he couldn't finish and then cut Jaeha off later in the story while never owning up to the fact that he, Kiwoon, started/escalated the situation due to a misinterpretation. Feels kinda crappy.
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Hyun/Jaeha are 5/5 for me - working through trauma and past failures to engage in order to slowly resolve their issues and come to a place where they can meet in the middle and grow a bit.
Their part of the story is chapters 39-96 which is way longer, but it's much easier to read than the first part because you can tell from the beginning that the two really do want to be accepted by each other but that certain things keep getting in the way. These two go through proper character arcs, unlike Suk and Kiwoon, which is largely why this section of the story works so much better. Hyun needs to learn to express himself more clearly and frequently and honestly, and Jaeha needs to stop letting his pride get in the way of trying to connect with Hyun and accept the help that he so desperately needs. And to be fair, the help that Hyun is providing to Jaeha isn't even really Hyun's -- it's his parents' money, apartment, etc. He's just sharing what help he's been given by someone else with Jaeha.
I don't have a lot to say about these two because I think the author wrote this relationship much much much better than the first couple. On the one hand, it does feel like maybe their part of the story is too long; on the other hand, it does take a while to work through the kind of trauma Jaeha has had in his life, so it feels more realistic that it takes so long for them to finally meet in the middle. I'm fine with it, and I hope the author is able to finish the story someday ("to be continued" at the end of ch96).