The art is pretty but the story... The male lead is extremely manipulative. From finessing those gold mines in her father's estate, to proposing to the female lead's sister to push her over the edge, to literally framing the female lead for a CRIME just so she would be grateful to him. Their whole relationship is built on lies, the version of him she fell in love with simply doesn't exist.
But okay, it's fiction, so I would have been fine with his toxic traits if the female lead was equally toxic and batshit, but she's not. There was also no redemption arc. She finds out what he did, runs away from him in the most dramatic way possible, leaves clues behind to make him angry and disappears off for over 1 year, just to go back to him almost immediately when he finds her. I like it when men are pathetic and beg for forgiveness, so obviously I didn't like the fact that he didn't reflect on his actions at all. The only dignity that was betrayed was hers so it's not very satisfying.
I think you would like this if you're into toxic male leads with no redemption arc.
How come Towa remembers stuff like the knight orders and the fact that magic basically doesn't exist in that world but fell for some bullshit like "it's a tradition to feed snacks by hand" like..... That's gonna take me a lot of suspension of disbelief but the art is right up my alley so I'm sat.
And btw I bet the one who killed him was the Captain and that incident is precisely why Griz is only Vice Captain. The way he looked at Towa and he shuddered felt like foreshadowing.
If he was an insufferable kid, he might have never got along with people long enough to get used to customs
Or because he was a kid he remembers the cool parts but not local customs
He wasn't well-liked to know what customs were for friends lol
This is not as bad as some people made it out to be but the loose ends are annoying tbh. I major in literature and some scholars say that adding plot points that add nothing and lead nowhere is a sign of bad writing. I agree with them. These are the loose ends that stood out the most to me:
- Taewoong wanted to dump Dojin
Did the author just forget that Taewoong wanted to dump Dojin? Instead it seems like he forgave Dojin after he mumbled the truth about the fake confession while half-conscious. This was quite the unsatisfying conclusion, and then near the end of the story Taewoong is bothered by the fake confession again. It's like the author had a change of plans halfway through and decided that, for fairness, Dojin should be the one with regrets and not Taewoong.
- Taewoong's brother
Another thing, Taewoong's brother was mentioned when he brought him clothes in one of the chapters. Dojin wants to meet his lover's brother but Taewoong gets embarrassed and says they'll meet later. This seemed like a foreshadowing indicating that the brother would appear later and be quote relevant, but then he never appeared and was never mentioned again either.
To be honest, I thought his brother was gonna end up being the guy that asked if he wasn't falling in love for real, which would explain why Taewoong didn't want them to meet. At some point the supposed brother would accidentally reveal Taewoong's dumping plan to Dojin and drama would ensue.
If done right, that would mean wrapping 2 loose ends at once, and both characters would feel regretful and beg for each other's forgiveness by the end. I like this idea better, but there's no use focusing on what ifs. Oh well...
Good catch with the ML’s brother. It felt like a filler since the author didn’t go on with that, seeing the brother. I think the author rushed.
I don’t think a big drama would ensue from that jealousy and dump plan. MC is the type to feel guilty and think, well it’s my fault he’s this way since I hurt him in the past (literally when they were just kids lmfao).
But just a bit of drama and kiss make up. I do think that MC should know about that revenge plan, and give him a smack.
I also feel like MC and ML should have discussed that “I possibly slept with someone else but I won’t tell ML” (MC) more.
I don’t like the: (ML) Oh you didn’t sleep with someone else? Okay good, anyways.
I mean it’s not the worst and glad that was cleared up, but I was expecting a bit more like: I left you because I saw a hickey on your neck, you didn’t tell me anything, etc. Why didn’t you just tell me this before if you didn’t sleep with someone else, what’s the hickey, etc.
I wish MC told him about thinking he possibly slept with that other guy, and that he found out he didn’t since that other guy cleared it out. All of that, should’ve been discussed.
But is it too much to ask for this?
You're absolutely right! That's a detail that would have left anyone wondering. Like "ok you didn't cheat but what was that hickey?" The author might have not realized that, although it was clarified to us - the all seeing readers - it was not clarified to Taewoong. As the other comment said, it feels rushed so that's one of the conversations that they should have had but seems to have been left out.
Right? Feels like a missed opportunity!
I have just read chapter 13 and here's my opinion...
The concept is good but the execution is lacking. I expected this to be a nice enemies to lovers trope with sexual tension shooting through the roof as they performed together, but as of chapter 13 this is falling short and there's only 11 chapters remaining.
First of all, I can't understand Heejae at all, he went from trying to kick Juhyuk out of the apartment to lusting over him at the blink of an eye. This might be because the story seems to be jumping from one scene to another and even doing some time skips without giving a hint of how much time was skipped.
We can't even say this was one of these tropes where he was actually in love all along or fell in love at first sight because, again, he was straight up trying to send Juhyuk into homelessness.
Talking about homelessness, Juhyuk is adult with adult responsibilities and a full time job, and now he also has to worry about getting a new place, yet it's like he is never tired, never busy. In fact, his schedule seems to be very free since he can be fully invested in the band. Which reminds me, he only played as a hobby for a short while in the past but now he's performing on a TV show and his skills didn't get brought up as a weakness first thing? That doesn't make sense.
One of the band members wearing a mask because she wants to stay anonymous is silly. To top it off, the mask is also tacky. Hell, none of them look like they're a punk band, they look like they're relaxing at home, but they are supposedly on a TV show!
Back to mask girl, why bother adding that detail to the character if her background is obviously not going to be relevant in the story? (If it becomes relevant I will eat my words but it really doesn't seem like the case and such a short story shouldn't waste time on side characters anyway)
Totally agree!
-„romance“ or whatever you call what they have is sudden and out of nowhere
- ML really tried to make MC leave and become potentially homeless, and he really wondered why MC stayed?? haha
- does MC not work?? Like where’s the Korean overtime worker? I thought this might have to become an issue on the long run but nope
- masked girl, I think her reason was not to be recognized by her coworkers, BUT doesn’t MC worry the same then, since he also works in a company. ALSO what happens again if they’d win? Do they debut? Does MC quit his job then??
Even though there are quite a few questions, I’m still staying haha for the art maybe? Idk I like it XD
Could've been such a good enemies to lover man but it's so shit
So far so good and the art is beautiful, but now I'm caught up and will have to suffer through waiting for these short chapters.
How much longer is it going to take for the king and his whore to be begging in the streets? Torture is not entertainment!
This lost me when the summary said he got assigned to be the prosecutor of his brother's murder case. I'm pretty sure that's a conflict of interest.
There's no revenge and no twist in this... The ending did not feel conclusive at all. They're not even dating, they're just in an exclusive sex friend relationship until the bottom gets tired. The way they got into this relationship was weird too because they had argued and the top was avoiding the bottom, but one phone call and they're fucking?
thought so