This took place in Dec 25 after Seungho said that he wished for Dohyun's happiness (chap 66) and BEFORE Dohyun moved to Seungho's apartment on Dec 31 (chap 67). That's why Dohyun was alone in one bedroom apartment (he said that he lived there before he moved in chap 67).
I'm guessing that they were already in relationship (or progressing to that) and had some kind of promise to hang for Christmas. But Seungho probably cancelling it? Or ghosting Dohyun, probably due to his insecurities?? Cue both of them looking at their phones looking upset. Dohyun went and imagining the whole thing, inspired by their previous (broken) Christmas promise... We'll see how they are going to take care of the issue in the next chap I guess.
Yeah i was confused, was thinking this was before any of the dramas happened(⊙…⊙ ) hehehe(⌒▽⌒)
It's understandable! At first I even thought that Dohyun who called his boss is the younger Dohyun... This manhwa really need people to reread it sometimes to understand the timeline...
Basically he has some kind of trust/abandonment issue... I think his parents are divorced and his mom didn't want to take him, on the other hand, his dad left him with his aunt (his dad's sister) and he was abused by his aunt's husband who felt burdened by him in the family. From that experience, he tends to suppress his memory and basically forget things, especially people's faces, in order to-- survive, in his own way. He did that so he didn't have to face his own feelings, the sadness from being abandoned by both of his parents. He also didn't let anyone get too close, not even his girlfriends or his friends, because he felt that in the end, everyone will leave him too someday. So what's the point of getting close and leaving yourself vulnerable?
(And on the later chapters it was shown that when he accepted all of those feelings-- he felt like a ghost, because no one really cares about his existence except for Sungho).
And then there came Sungho. Dohyun didn't trust Sungho either, in the first place. Not until that time when he came with a bruised cheek and Sungho took care of him, and he felt happy for the first time after a long time. He then decided to give Sungho a chance. But the friendship went to be more intimate when he initiated kissing. But they didn't do much after that.
Problems arose when they went to different classes. Dohyun realized that he lived in a different life from Sungho and they slowly fell apart. Sungho didn't want that and initiated sexual relationship, to get them more closer-- which fell to Dohyun's favours because it shows how much he meant to Sungho. But Dohyun, still conflicting with his trust issue, wanted to test Sungho somehow, to see how far he will go for Dohyun, thus resulted in him manipulating Sungho to do more sexual things, even things that Sungho secretly found repulsive. Sungho put up with it and did all of them anyway, solely because he didn't want to lose Dohyun.
Dohyun didn't stop the 'test', however, he kept on pushing Dohyun to do things, and even playing ghost with him by not replying his text and his calls. This was started when he felt insecure about Sungho's reactions to him, when Sungho didn't want them to hold hands in front of people.
Without him knowing, on Sungho side, though, not only Sungho felt embarrassed and frustrated with the things that they do lately, he also got mocked by his classmates when they found him frozen after seeing a condom that they were playing fell on top of his desk. He got into a fight with them as well.
After that, Sungho got more frustrated when Dohyun started acting like he's ignoring him (in order to see how far Sungho will desperately look for Dohyun). At the end of his string, Dohyun called Sungho only to hang up without talking nor listening to him, and I guess it was when he basically ran from home and absentmindedly waited for Dohyun at the warehouse. (Because previously when he did that, Dohyun came for him).
I'm not sure about the order but I guess after that he was dragged by police (because his parents were looking for him and contacted everyone). And that was when he angrily said to Dohyun that he shouldn't do anything in the first place. After that, of course, things snowballed because when people found him on the warehouse, and they also found all the secret stacks from Dohyun's friends and it became everyone's talks. They talked about this behind his back, literally, and Sungho was triggered and hit the student angrily, to the point that he pushed away a teacher as well. He dropped out of school after that.
Ironically though, that night when Dohyun called Sungho only to hang up-- finding his messages to be 'cute', was the time when Dohyun fell more for him, liking the way Sungho begs for him. That's why he bought an expensive CD for Sungho from his hard-earned pay from parttime and brought it to school.
That was when he found Sungho dragged by police in the morning, and Sungho angrily called what they did as disgusting.
Dohyun was completely heartbroken by that. Because he thought Sungho was different from others-- that Sungho can be trusted, that he can believe in Sungho. But turned out Sungho was lying. Then he shouldn't even start to believe anyone in the first place.
So after Dohyun broke the CD that he bought, Dohyun said to himself,
"Let's forget, forget this quickly."
In order to escape from regret and pain of Sungho's betrayal.
And he did. He did forget.
Sungho was obsessive, but Dohyun was manipulative. And he was obsessed too, at some point, bc otherwise why would he want to keep Sungho so bad to the point that Sungho wouldn't be able to leave him?
Anw I should've stopped reading and talking about this manhwa lmao (￣▽￣)
i knew some people don't like this ending... but what will happen if they part ways anyway? dohyun will only back to his old self-- he, who was selfish and empty. we can see that he lived his life meaninglessly. he didn't even have close friends or relatives. he also sucked at relationships. so much that even when he was missing for two whole months, no one realized, except for that shitty manager who didn't even report him.
we can't deny that the happiest moments in his life were the ones that he spent with sungho. he was so selfish that he did forget about it for reasons. and it might be-- it /is/ obsession, from sungho. but we can't also deny that sungho is pretty much the only person who actually needs his existence. the only person who accepts him as he is, the only person who treated him like he-- exists.
so yeah, even if stockholm syndrome has a part here, i think we can't blame it all on that.
the part where dohyun shivered from cold and he remembered sungho. he called it a small fraction of enjoyable times -- and that was actually when he 'pretended' to accept sungho. so at that point, before i get to the ending, i couldn't help but wonder, what if, what if he doesn't have to pretend? what will happen if there's a way or possibility where he can accept sungho for real?
on the other hand, sungho realized that he's still capable of hurting dohyun, and he regretted what he did to dohyun. but he also realized that things can not be undone. he got hurt by dohyun in the past-- and now dohyun got hurt by him as well.
when he said that he wished for dohyun's happiness, i think, if dohyun said that his happiness is anything but sungho-- he'd be gone for real. yes, it could be love, or obsession or something, or all in between. but it is the same thing that will drive him away from dohyun for good if that means dohyun can live his life-- preferably happy without him.
but he stayed, he stayed, probably because dohyun asked him to stay.
some part of me still can't forgive all the pain that sungho put to dohyun,
but i'm happy that they are together, with flaws and all.
because while there's no promise that they won't mess up, at least they are trying, they chose to be together and put behind their tangled, unimaginably painful past, in order to start over. to give it-- to give /them/ a chance. and that's enough. that's enough for now.
and that's why this ending is beautiful for me.
There's really tons of stuff they can learn & do together, for its' own sake & knowing each other better. Also, thanks for your time to express thoughts on everything, it resonated with some of my own :)
being in a relationship with your abuser and rapist sure doesn’t make things any better luv
If you don't like the ending you don't have to piggyback on other people's comment. It's uninvited that people will have different takes on the ending. Take it or leave it, it's that simple.
Yeah, by compromising and stick together they are opening endless paths and possibilities. It will not be all rainbows, and we can not know for sure, but at least they are trying. Thank you for replying as well!
Different names and all but bruh that art! Please tell me I'm not the only one seeing things. Can't fool me with how well the characters are drawn.
The story is also well written and there's no rush at all. It doesn't stray away from your ordinary high school life but this is so satisfying to read bc it's realistic and still have a happy ending for everyone. 5/5!
let them ended up together somehow... it doesn't really have to be happy, and I knew their relationship is so twisted that it beyond saving... But from what I see their true happiness can only be achieved if they are together... I hope they can go somewhere and start over. T T
Another promotion for another untranslated novel (｡•︿•｡)
found this by chance and read it in one go. this manga blown me and I was so ready to fangirling in the comment section but all I see is fights and rude anons ╮(￣▽￣)╭ bye I guess
Yeah same here. I guess the manga is pretty popular in Japan since I found it on shonen jump chart but people rarely know it here :-/ hope it gain more popularity and I’m really looking forward to see the screams/ fangirling here
But anyway looking at Dohyun secretly wanting this kind of relationship hurts... people kept saying that Seungho's the one who's obsessed but he's the one who kept on imagining them together... and in a very simple but lively scene on that. Again it shows that it's never one-sided...
I don't want to say that Dohyun's image of happiness is impossible, but they really have a long way ahead...