I’m going to lose a year off my life every time I see someone say that Ash is the greenest of flags. I am begging you to reread the end of the main story.
How are we forgetting that Ash showed that he was in control of his actions and thoughts during his rut (in the conversations after his rut). He said he had no regrets knotting Lyle and that he meant everything that he said that Lyle found degrading and hurtful. He was aware enough to understand what he was saying and thinking and doing.
This means we know he was aware enough to know that Lyle was crying, begging him to stop, screaming no, that he was in pain. He was aware enough to know that he fucked Lyle unconscious several times.
Anyways this is a shame bcus spanking (and punishment) is my main kink and I get so excited every time it’s depicted, but unfortunately this is the second scene in the story that triggered me (the first only triggered me on reread, as I wasn’t a survivor the first time I read it) so I can’t enjoy it.
(The rut scene didn’t trigger me, I just found it disturbing.)
I like to finish stories even if I don’t like them. It’s kind of a thing with me. There’s like, only 3 chapters left or something, debating whether or not to see it through to the end.
IDK.
True ee but karlyle himself admit that he is into it soo I can't complaint
…after the brutal rut scene at the end of the main story I cannot see this going well
idk like not to be an asshole, i understand why ppl find this hot, but i’m begging y’all to stop calling ash a green flag when he does shit like this.
I have a feeling he is literally going to just sleep in the same bed but still!!! Progress!!!!!!
I’m curious where his memory starts like. Does it start when we see him in the prologue? Bcus he remembered enough to be like “I’ve always wanted to live in a house like this!”
“don’t smile in front of anyone but me” is. is this supposed to be romantic.
right?? SOO many manhwa have similar views from the ML and it always baffles me how a lot of people must actually be into that shit. It instantly makes any romance no matter how cute and wholesome become trash tier for me the moment they start saying shit like that.
Honestly yall take this too seriously, it's just a play thing between them. It's not like Mc smiling will causa a fucking fight
Cause*
Fr, the moral policing is annoying. It really ain’t that serious
That's a very Korean & Japanese thing. They see jealousy and possessiveness as romantic. But Karlyle and Ash are supposedly to be British and the author didn't realise or not knows that kind of behaviour is not seen as cute in the West.
moral policing?? we aren't being that serious either, it's just an instant turn off/ick.
TY yeah
i mean like admittedly i do hate the way so many stories portray abusive tendencies or sexual assault as cute romantic things completely genuinely.
moral policing would be me saying “you aren’t allowed to like this” “anyone who likes this is a bad person” “the author shouldn’t be allowed to write this” etc.
if you think any criticism of this nature is moral policing you really need to take a step back.
ty for this info!
honestly like it was a jokey-joke… they even show lyle smiling and acting normal and ash having no problem with it
? where do they show that? lyle doesn't smile a single time in this chapter after he's told not to smile around anyone but ash?
oh lol sorry, i read the raws before this but i digress, i understand that if done seriously/consistently, being possessive is not cute (unless someone’s into that which hey, i don’t judge) but i think it was fairly obvious that this was just lighthearted.
I appreciate the clarification! That’s good to know.
I have a lot of problems with Ash’s behavior throughout the story tbh.
The main story culminating in a scene where Lyle is begging him to stop while Ash brutally forces him (and reveals he was actually in his right mind during his rut/was in control and knowingly forcing lyle) kind of ruined it for me, so I was hoping the side chapters were better, and this rubbed me the wrong way.
But I’m glad this is not, uh, the case here/just supposed to be lighthearted!
oh when did that happen? i only remember ash’s rut scene in the end when lyle was looking for a house (when ash went into rut and was gonna isolate himself until lyle came looking for him)
that is the scene. lyle spends most of it either asking ash to wait or stop, ash fucking him unconscious multiple times, and then knots him while lyle screams that it hurts (and then lyle faints shortly afterward). afterwards ash clarified that he not only meant everything he said (which would, unfortunately, most certainly include lyle begging to stop) but also that he had no regrets knotting lyle/fully intended to.
One of the sadder things about this story is how like... the omega MC kinda forgives everyone? Is friends with them still? After all of the boys very very deliberately went through a ton of effort to trick him into playing a game with his eyes covered so they could make precise molds of the key to his collar to have a competition on who gets to rape and mark him. Like. That is a fucking insane thing that the story sort of glosses over way too quickly?
I absolutely ADORED this one, but I felt like the sex worker part just kinda fell flat/popped in and disappeared. Like I feel like there should've been a bit more follow-up on that.
I hate it here goddamn You could even just save the life of your abusive rapist stepbro without loving him still! Poor boy's head is all fucked.
Okay so like. It’s a tragic, uncomfortable, psychological work. We’re not supposed to be happy or endeared by their relationship. At least, that’s the vibe I got. Especially with the ending reveal that even everything “good” he experienced in the last two chapters was just more manipulation by ML. To me, we’re very clearly supposed to read this as a shocking and horrifying revelation that even MC’s recovery, him reclaiming his life, was controlled and created by the ML.
I have some additional thoughts that I gotta work through but I think chalking it all down to, “it’s bad,” because of the MC’s suffering like, misses the point entirely. Since the epilogue takes place in an alternate universe, the ending is completely open as to how the relationship with MC and ML goes after reuniting.
It’s definitely more clumsily done than some other psychological works depicting abusive relationships (Harada my beloved), but… yeah, idk, I don’t wanna fault it for doing what it actually wants to do (make the reader uncomfortable by portraying an extremely abusive relationship).
Basically, it’s a sad story with a sad ending.
I wonder if the usage of a clownfish to represent the MC's penis was intentional. I feel like it must be, because they call his masculinity into question and talk about becoming a man.
"The girls don't treat him like a man." "But this is practice in order to become a true man."
Clownfish are a species that exhibits sequential hermaphroditism - basically where some males will mature into females if a female isn't present.
Looking at that in a less exact way and more-so "male clownfish becomes female clownfish" way, the story follows the same beats you see in many stories that involve the male character being feminized, "bitched" (not in the omegaverse way here, but that is still applicable), or sluttified. He gets his nipples played with, the top compares his chest to a "flat chested character" in a game he likes (implying a flat chested woman), then there's prostate play and anal sex (rape) and squirting. Despite him declaring that he's "like a man" for fighting and liking sports, the story ends with him shaving off his pubic hair, using a vibrator, and putting band-aids on his nipples.
To me, and I'm over analyzing this for a story I don't even really like, I wonder if the clownfish is supposed to portray a midway point where the MC will either "become" a "man" or won't, and while he's under the impression that he "became" a man, the ending implies that, no, he didn't?
I've put too much thought into this now.