What a horrible, disgusting, hard to read story about humanity (in terms of the content, the art and writing were fine lol). This is such a gruesome, weirdly detailed tale and don't read until you have read all the warnings.
The MC literally lived in hell on earth, created by these hollow men in need for happiness. I feel like Geom, to these guys, was a reflection of their good side. For example, the white rope and clothing scene of Geom being the physical epitome of an angel, was an instance where his purity resembled the guys obsessions with innocence or appearing innocent. I feel like these joyless men desired purity on their surface as they couldnt have it themselves. They operate life with wealth in the forefront of their brain, thinking it will bring happiness. In reality, they're struggling, broken, isolated and depressed, lacking real authentic love like Geom and Wooyeon have. So rather than discovering long-lasting joy, they seek 'happiness' from what they know, s*x. This deep lust and short-lived satisfaction temporarily mends their cracks, so they use and abuse it to escape their internal war for longer. Thus, for these men, s*x is an escapism and a source of happiness and continuous power in their messed up world.
However, once they got what they needed from Geom, rather than still seeing him as an angel, they see him as an accessible object to use for pleasure. This selfishness and unempathetic mindset is a result of their investment into dirty, power hungry business work. To physically see someone who is meant to be perfect turn broken, embraced them with a lil comfort but more-so power; almost like belittling their own righteous side to be weak and pathetic against force. This was why it was so easy for their lust to take over, to get 'turned on' hearing the cries of Geom, as they had a deep loath for the good as they were missing it and it couldn't give them what they needed, materialistic success. Thats why this purity was treated like a commodity, something to pay for as once these men would use Geom, they felt like they owned him. Ultimately, in my opinion, all their actions wasn't purely based on personal fetishes but a projection of their own broken, hopeless lives.
It was difficult and unbearable to see the MC be the punching bad for all these sorry excuses of human beings. The consecutive, gruesome events for nearly a decade were sooo disgusting, the ending didn't feel satisfying enough. I wish the antagonists suffered so much more, but it is realistic as for many, wealthy perpetrators walk with light punishments, despite their disgusting actions. What added salt to the wound was the author indicating that this all 'could' have been avoided.
What if Wooyeon kissed him back? What if Geom waited 10 minutes before leaving? What if Yoonseo went to the festival? Even with his parents, what if he was cared and loved? SOO MANY WHAT IFs
One of the biggest issues I had was the marketing and perception of this story, but also the r*pe scenes. I feel like the blind loser and the hopeless, loser prosecutor shouldn't even be considered love interests. Before reading, I thought this was a love square but once you read, it was so obvious who his soulmate was. The physical and mental manipulation and abuse he endured from these two characters, I feel like they shouldn't have any recognition. As for the those scenes, they were long to the point where it felt glorified or for a certain, disturbing group of people. Like the line between enjoyment and pain wasn't clear. Prehaps maybe it was to emphasise the MC normalising his prostitution role and all the non-consensual acts. Regardless, there were too much so i just skipped over.
What a horrible, disgusting, hard to read story about humanity (in terms of the content, the art and writing were fine lol). This is such a gruesome, weirdly detailed tale and don't read until you have read all the warnings.
The MC literally lived in hell on earth, created by these hollow men in need for happiness. I feel like Geom, to these guys, was a reflection of their good side. For example, the white rope and clothing scene of Geom being the physical epitome of an angel, was an instance where his purity resembled the guys obsessions with innocence or appearing innocent. I feel like these joyless men desired purity on their surface as they couldnt have it themselves. They operate life with wealth in the forefront of their brain, thinking it will bring happiness. In reality, they're struggling, broken, isolated and depressed, lacking real authentic love like Geom and Wooyeon have. So rather than discovering long-lasting joy, they seek 'happiness' from what they know, s*x. This deep lust and short-lived satisfaction temporarily mends their cracks, so they use and abuse it to escape their internal war for longer. Thus, for these men, s*x is an escapism and a source of happiness and continuous power in their messed up world.
However, once they got what they needed from Geom, rather than still seeing him as an angel, they see him as an accessible object to use for pleasure. This selfishness and unempathetic mindset is a result of their investment into dirty, power hungry business work. To physically see someone who is meant to be perfect turn broken, embraced them with a lil comfort but more-so power; almost like belittling their own righteous side to be weak and pathetic against force. This was why it was so easy for their lust to take over, to get 'turned on' hearing the cries of Geom, as they had a deep loath for the good as they were missing it and it couldn't give them what they needed, materialistic success. Thats why this purity was treated like a commodity, something to pay for as once these men would use Geom, they felt like they owned him. Ultimately, in my opinion, all their actions wasn't purely based on personal fetishes but a projection of their own broken, hopeless lives.
It was difficult and unbearable to see the MC be the punching bad for all these sorry excuses of human beings. The consecutive, gruesome events for nearly a decade were sooo disgusting, the ending didn't feel satisfying enough. I wish the antagonists suffered so much more, but it is realistic as for many, wealthy perpetrators walk with light punishments, despite their disgusting actions. What added salt to the wound was the author indicating that this all 'could' have been avoided.
What if Wooyeon kissed him back? What if Geom waited 10 minutes before leaving? What if Yoonseo went to the festival? Even with his parents, what if he was cared and loved? SOO MANY WHAT IFs
One of the biggest issues I had was the marketing and perception of this story, but also the r*pe scenes. I feel like the blind loser and the hopeless, loser prosecutor shouldn't even be considered love interests. Before reading, I thought this was a love square but once you read, it was so obvious who his soulmate was. The physical and mental manipulation and abuse he endured from these two characters, I feel like they shouldn't have any recognition. As for the those scenes, they were long to the point where it felt glorified or for a certain, disturbing group of people. Like the line between enjoyment and pain wasn't clear. Prehaps maybe it was to emphasise the MC normalising his prostitution role and all the non-consensual acts. Regardless, there were too much so i just skipped over.