The ML is Go Yohan, son of the chairman, who treats his children like pawns in a chessboard. It doesn’t help that he’s been outed as gay in the family, and is therefore under strict scrutiny by him, despite how un-paternal he feels.
The MC, Jun, is an only child. Although he is loved by his parents, he still feels the constant need to prove himself and to never disappoint. He ranks people in his head and plays the high school social sphere well. He sees others as nothing more than a means to an end, so his attraction to Junwoo is something he rationalizes as a desire for status instead of real love. He attaches himself to those of obvious higher standing, and when he finally gets bullied himself, he is nicknamed ‘the bat’ for latching himself onto people and sucking them dry. Before any of this though, Jun has a perfect way of covertly doing all of this without anyone noticing. But Go Yohan noticed since day 1.
Han Taesan is Junwoo’s textbook type. Junwoo likes him, and Go Yohan takes advantage of this. He orchestrates a scheme to topple down Junwoo from top of the hierarchy to the dredges by bullying Taesan in a way that makes it look like Junwoo instigated it. He manipulates nearly everything around Jun so he becomes the ‘top’ and is therefore worthy of staying beside Jun. Only when Jun humiliates him in front of his family, where his complex is triggered, does he blow over and turn the tables against Jun.
Jun then becomes the very thing he once mocked, and meets Jaehyun, who serves him the reality of his situation fast. From Yohan’s obsession to his own hubris (Jun is obsessive himself, registering his fingerprint on Yohan’s phone, etc).
It’s in this interaction Jaehyun says banger quotes like:
“You don’t seem to understand," he continued. "There’s more to their actions than just what’s on the surface. It’s like missing Han Junwoo—it’s all part of something bigger. High school, especially an all-boys one, is still... primitive in a way. Instincts mix with something wilder, something beast-like.”
and:
“Men,” he continued, “feel the most complicated emotions toward other men. More complicated than liking women.”
and:
“They want recognition from strong men and crave protection from them, but they also want to become one themselves. That contradiction—it’s there in everything they do, don’t you think? You can feel it, that raw, almost desperate yearning. Men only have that kind of obsessive drive toward other men. It’s not the same as liking women—it’s instinctive, almost primal. You agree, don’t you?”
After this interaction, Jun is under the impression that even the humiliation in the family dinner was orchestrated by Yohan.
Jun then commits himself to escaping Yohan and applies to a prestigious college not even nepo babies can enter and is merit based alone. He acknowledges his attraction towards Yohan and kisses him by graduation day. Then leaves on a flight to US right after because he can’t stand his own feelings (rich people problems)
In textbook obsessive trope fashion, Yohan does get into the same uni. But they are repentant and don’t force themselves on mc anymore. Jun mistakes his classmates messages of a person looking for him as Yohan but he denies it. Come later on the stalker is an ex bully who splashes acid on Jun and Yohan shields him from it, causing deformity on one hand.
It is revealed here that Yohan’s father is indeed an asshole as he relegates Jun as Yohan’s guardian. Saying ‘mistakes are lovely’ and then ‘Jun has become a lovely thing to that bastard’(his own son lol) which is a backhanded way of saying Jun is Yohan’s mistake he couldn’t be bothered to handle.
So they help each other with recovery.
Yohan renounces his religion, and kisses Jun’s feet, worshiping the only person he believes in. Siri play take me to church.
Thanks for that well written summaryy. I knew it was dramatic but didn't expect it to be that extreme. Love the art but knowing the plot, im not sure i can handle it lol （/TДT)/
no worries! and this is just a very rough glossing over of the story and I may have missed some parts. despite how dramatic it sounds, I could not put it down while reading it lol. Although I do agree, I might give this a few more chapters before I get into it. I couldn't handle not knowing what would happen next wih the novel so I binge read it. The bullying here is heavy.
Do you mind letting me know what happens to Han Taesan and Junwoo? I don't mind spoilers.
who's jaehyun? and what becomes of junwoo and taesan?
Sure! They don't get together. Junwoo is a volatile character to be honest. Taesan becomes this cottagecore character later on. The story doesn't get into them much after two volumes (iirc), but the author did mention what becomes of them in a q&a here https://www.postype.com/@18triggerlove/post/13050571
"Q36. Do Han Junwoo and Han Taesan have any connection after graduation?
Yes… Actually, I even wrote a related scenario, but it felt way too much, so I didn’t release it. There is a connection, but Taesan dislikes Junwoo so much that even if they run into each other by chance, he would just glare at him without anything further happening. Taesan grows internally by learning how to let go of fear and anger. For reference, Taesan works at a quiet local office in the countryside. He commutes on a rusty, second-hand bicycle… and the flowers Junwoo gave him are dried and used as a bookmark."
Jaehyun is a side character who appears in their senior year. He 'helps' Jun when he becomes the target of bullying after Yohan starts to ice him out. He introduces a new point of view to Jun and shows him his blindspots where Yohan is concerned, like telling him Yohan is attracted to him not in a 'crush' kind of way, but in a hungry, obsessive kind that can't be sated by mere proximity. The same warning Taesan gives him previoulsy. Jaehyun offers a more open-minded approach, given that he did grow up overseas and was also bullied prior to transferring to South Korea, so he empathizes with Jun and understands the difference between plain old-school bullying versus Yohan's indiscriminate attack on Jun. He's says the most deadpan observations like this one one Yohan: “He's so timid. And because he doesn’t want others to know how timid he is, he wraps himself in a shell. So everything he does is a lie. But he's not meticulous, so he gets caught every time. Long-term lies with a purpose and spur-of-the-moment lies made in anger have different levels to them. That’s why Goyo-han’s lies are clumsy. And he even covers up that clumsiness with bravado. By claiming he’s letting himself get caught on purpose, he tells another clumsy lie.”
Shin Jaehyun shrugged and continued.
“If he were truly confident in everything, he wouldn’t mockingly test others like that.”
Love him
Also when Jun says then what do i do about that he also just straight up respond with ‘idk you can start with kissing him” which Jun actually does but much later on lol
Also sorry madd hippo i hijacked your comment
Thank you
Great summary! Thank uu (=・ω・=)
Can someone spoil this for me