Its not necessarily that it’s too hard to write its because the build up and payoff all serve their respective character arcs .. hopefully, but I trust snob.. they’ve handled the writing very well so far
I think the rape and assault is a concrete representation of how much heeryang was hurt… to hurt someone you loved.. still love .. to the extreme of rape, it’s very extreme & definitely not everyone’s cup of tea. The other thing would be to kill yeonjo but there’s already a romantic connection there. rape is the next reprehensible thing since offing him is the worst and hers reluctant to let go because he’s attracted to yeonjo. It’s very twisted haha..
hmm i see where you're coming from
but to quote the manhwa, "Kwon Heeryang was not someone gullible enough to believe my lies. He merely kept me by his side, deeming me unworthy even of being a threat, and I had no choice but to be content with that."
I'd argue Heeryang at least knew, or had some guess that Yeonjo was there for vengeance--but he didn't care. I agree with the part that Heeryang chose to rape Yeonjo because it's the next best thing to killing him (which he can't do) but the reason is different.
He has nothing but disdain for those who try to kill him but can't go through with it, but seeing Yeonjo try that, and fail, he says "I feel immeasurably pleased, how my pride smarts from the absurdity".
Further, he's lashing out because he realized that he liked Yeonjo more than he thought ("He was meant to be a plaything, nothing more, nothing less. But I realize I've let myself become overly engrossed. I've been far to lenient on him. To think that I, of all people, made that mistake").
I.e. He's pissed that he doesn't desire to kill Yeonjo, but still wants to punish him, so he rapes him. And now, there's the added motivation of breaking Yeonjo's will. "Before long he will have become too broken to even beg for death. I'm seeing to it."
But yeah, still don't like this plot direction. Raping a man out of anger... is such a typical plot route. I expected more depth to that exploration than defaulting to rape.
Was there really a need for the plot to go in this direction????
Like, damn—if you're so "immeasurably pleased" that he couldn't bear to kill you, isn't this the perfect setup for a redemption arc without rape???? This could have been the start of a slow healing process (since the "good times" were what made the bottom develop feelings and give up killing him).
I know the top is his family's killer and the bottom's inability to go through with the revenge deed led him to wanting to die but instead of "hey, let's continue treating him well and try the difficult process of fixing this," the author went "nah that's too hard to write" and dove straight into "let's rape him into submission."
Bro, he had already submitted before all this—was this really necessary???
Dying really is better off for the bottom at this point like... he gave up his life's revenge mission in exchange for the sentimental times, but instead he got endless rape wtf.