Kau

I read this manhwa first and liked it. But I read the novel and liked it even more.
Since the novel is told in first person, we see a looot more of Seoyu's depressive thoughts as well as his panic attacks. The manhwa skipped a lot of that, honestly. It explains a lot of his behavior. Like how he believes that he is trash and deserves trash friends like Wonjo. Like how he can't fathom that Sunghoon likes him or that the cafe dude Hoin likes him.

He even acknowledges this at the end when Hoin calls him, saying he's grown and now understands why Hoin was being mean to him. The novel actually made this more clear. In the novel, Seoyu says he realizes why Hoin acted as he did but he decides to keep pretending he doesn't know, implying that Seoyu realized Hoin likes him and was jealous. Thanks to his relationship with Sunghoon, he was able to have a more positive outlook.

Something the manhwa fails to acknowledge is Seoyu's hallucinations. The manhwa did show his hallucinating the river coming for him, but honestly it just looked like something visually representing his depression. It wasn't always clear that Seoyu literally sees the river and feels it in his lowest moments. After his miscarriage, he also thinks he hears people badmouthing him. In the novel, he actually realizes no one was saying anything and it's just him making assumptions. This was to show how he was becoming more positive.

I was also wondering why on earth Sunghoon never actually asked Seoyu out and just assumed they were dating. The novel actually has a side story from Sunghoon's point of view showing that HE DID. He just asked him out and told him he loved him when Seoyu was in heat and drunk, so he forgot. Still though, Sunghoon realized Seoyu forgot because Seoyu went on the date set up by his uncle. So he should have asked Seoyu out again but didn't because Sunghoon didn't understand the depths of Seoyu's depression and self-deprecating personality. When he does understand, he goes to lengths to make sure Seoyu is happy because the first thing he ever feared was losing him. This side story really helped expand on their relationship and character, it's a pity the manhwa didn't show it.

The novel also reveals that Sunghoon also hates that Seoyu stays friends with Wonjo but doesn't stop Seoyu from being friends with him since Seoyu considers Wonjo his only friend. And also Wonjo came in handy when it came to getting Seoyu's true feelings sometimes since Seoyu doesn't always want to vent or possibly talk about his negative feelings to Sunghoon. Since Seoyu doesn't care about the idea of worrying Wonjo or hurting his feelings, he's more open to him. Though Wonjo avoids telling Seoyu about how Sunghoon might divorce him because he knows Sunghoon would get rid of him for doing that lol

I did like the ending of the main story because it was a book-end. Story starts with Wonjo about to kill himself but stopping because Sunghoon's brother crashed. Story ends with Wonjo NOT jumping, but getting distracted because Sunghoon crashed. And then it officially ends with Seoyu making peace with his past and smiling on the bridge with Sunghoon.

The novel side stories also include Seoyu saving Sunghoon's brother from a car crash in the sea, and Seoyu almost died because of it. This makes Sunghoon's brother a little traumatized. Seoyu also realizes he could feel a little of what his older brother felt when he saved his life, so he gains a little more peace over that.

About Seoyu being stupid. He is stupid. lollll His little research into Picasso for the exhibition shows how aside from his trauma, he is a little dumb of a guy. Sunghoon thinks it's cute. In the novel, Sunghoon's brother gets confused because it appears Seoyu always has a habit of quickly being interested in painters or artists when he visits the exhibitions, but promptly forgets everything he learn and fails to recognize their art anywhere else because he just regurgitates what he reads online. Sunghoon's brother even describes him as a little bit of an idiot.

Also Seoyu never escapes the image of being a crybaby loll in the novel there are a few more incidents where Sunghoon's brother tells everyone he cried and Seoyu's just like WHY.

Lastly, it sucks the manhwa never shows the baby. It even shows Seoyu's stomach looking normal when the novel says his belly actually gets round and his chest a little bigger/swollen. In the novel, his kid comes out looking exactly like him and is also low-key a genius who pretends to be "just a baby" when it suits him.

If you liked the manhwa but felt it was a bit lacking, I encourage you to read the novel. It is way better imo. You can find it on novelupdates.

Thanks for reading all this if you did. If you didn't, at least read the novel, it's better.

For the longest time I thought this was about a vampire cuz I thought Ga-In looked like a vampire and I thought he had red eyes on the cover. Then I finally read it lollll