table salt's Topics (39)

I just finished bingeing all of this in a night, and I wanted to share my review in case you all have similar opinions.
It was a good read, but I found the beginning to be a very rough start and didn't like the writing or creative choices that the author chose to go with. I see what they were trying to do with the two main characters, but it was honestly very reminiscent of the basic, uninteresting straight couples that you see all the time in popular media. You have the shy girl who isn't very confident and cannot stick up for herself, paired with the popular, loud boy who isn't afraid to speak his mind and defend her. Jiwon's character eventually grows to be more unique, and the story still has a lot to develop from here, but the beginning was annoyingly stereotypical.
It was almost like the author was trying to speedrun EVERY SINGLE POPULAR TROPE in media. You have the shy character x the confident character, the one where Jiwon gets drunk and reveals his cute/vulnerable side, the one where Jungwoo already has a girlfriend that he has a rocky relationship with, the one where he gets sick and needs Jiwon to take care of him, the time where Jiwon needs Jungwoo to step up and defend him, the trope where they keep bumping into each other randomly, the one where Jiwon gets injured and Jungwoo takes care of him, etc, etc. I know pretty much every single manga and manhwa use these tropes and they get annoying fast, BUT Ballboy Tactics straight up spedran all of them within like the first 5 chapters. It was exhausting to read through popular trope after popular trope where you know exactly what is going to happen next. I nearly dropped it multiple times within the first 5-10 chapters because it was so freaking hard to get into. I skipped a lot of dialogue--some of which wasn't written the best, anyway.
Now, the reason why I changed my mind happened during the shift from them being friends to when they started taking interest in one another. I will say this over and over again, but it is so difficult to find a manhwa where they actually have good chemistry going back and forth for A WHILE before either of them decides to do anything about it. They both like each other, and I loved the playful banter between them because underneath it all, you can see true male yearning. It was wonderfully written. I love seeing two characters truly pine for one another and want something so much. I also appreciate that Jungwoo remains unapologetic about who he loves, while Jiwon is more cautious. Their awkward situationship to boyfriends was an incredibly smooth and natural transition; nothing felt forced between them. Also, and it's so terrible that it even has to be mentioned, but Jungwoo truly cares about Jiwon's comfort. There were multiple times when he said "no" and shoved him off, and Jungwoo respected that. It's the bare minimum, but most BLs don't even provide that.
So yes, while it started off as just the most average romance imaginable, I'd say it redeemed itself in the more recent chapters, and I am excited to see more. I need expansion on Jiwon's backstory and development on their relationship. I hope they tell the guys soon. I'm sure they will be accepting.

chat before I invest my energy into this would y'all mind letting me know if it's toxic? thank you very much

ewwwww bro they want each other so bad eeheheeh giggling and kicking my feet

bro found a 20 year old boy on the street and turned him into a housewife

ewwww i was on board with this until the newest chapter, I was rooting for the MC to keep a distinction between his work life and sex life and now I don't even know if I want to continue it's too weird

Dude, at this point I'm hoping everyone around Haruki is a freak because if Shirayuki tortures an innocent person just for being close to Haruki I will have to drop I would not be able to stand it

HAN GARAM THEY COULD NEVER MAKE ME HATE YOU

Okay, I'm sorry, I have to say my piece. I love, love, love, love, love this manhwa, it means so much to me, but dude that Mi-ok thing was not it.

I actually love how Mi-ok was first introduced. Sure she was baited as Mr. Kwon's ex, but it was only for a cliffhanger and the misunderstanding was cleared up right away. She immediately got along with Ho which I thought was adorable.

I tried to give her the benefit of the doubt during those chapters when she was acting all phobic and I was so curious to hear her side of the story. It was just a subplot, but her reason for leaving Seoul and returning home was so intriguing to me and I wanted to know so bad.

And then the reveal happened. Most of the comments have already said this, but her reason for leaving and then being against Mr. Kwon and Sung Ho is so weak like there is no reason for you to be hateful over something like that. I don't know if my opinion will differ from others here, but I don't think it is a Mi-ok problem. I think it is a bad writing problem. Of course, no hate to the author, this story is amazing, but the payoff just isn't as good as what they hyped it up to be. They hinted it and dragged it on across multiple chapters making it seem like once we see her side of the story, we can understand her. That is why a lot of people were speculating that she is a girl-kisser and projecting her internalized homophobia onto them. To me, hurt from a mother neglecting you does not translate well into homophobia because it isn't normal. She never said anything to Sung Ho or Mr. Kwon about parenting, being worried they won't be good dads, etc. so it's like she just connected two random things to be homophobic.

I don't know, I'm probably not writing this as well as I wish I could, but I just don't think her explanation came across the way the author wanted it to. Even in this new chapter, Mr. Kwon and Sung Ho consider her side of the story and try to empathize with her. If this was real, no one would even hear her out because her explanation is just so ridiculous.

I guess I'm just writing all this because I'm a little disappointed with the direction they decided to take Mi-ok's character. I thought her opening up about what happened in Seoul would bring her and Mr. Kwon closer together and develop some side character stories, but this reveal went in the complete opposite direction. If you guys have similar thoughts, though, feel free to discuss. I would love to hear other opinions.

and that is called good chemistry and build-up.
I have read wayyy to many manhwas/mangas where they begin as enemies/rivals/just don't really like each other, etc and slowly begin building up to having a relationship. And I swear EVERY SINGLE TIME WITHOUT FAIL, just when the build-up was getting to the good part, they just somehow have sex and skip to the next stage in the relationship. LIKE IT'S SO FRUSTRATING! YOU WERE JUST GETTING TO THE GOOD PART!!! And of course I am not here to police anybody's work like do whatever you want, but it feels lazy and unsatisfying. I want to see characters naturally start to like each other despite their previous hatred. I want to see them slowly fall in love and not be thrown into this awkward "we hate each other but we just fucked so now we have to figure out the aftermath." Those kinds of stories can be fun, too, but the slow buildup, teasing banter, and slowly falling in love will always be PEAKKKKK. I love it so much. Nokyoung and Junil have amazing chemistry and I feel so upset that I probably won't find anything like this for a long time.

There were a few things that I didn't really like about Junil's character though, mainly the part where he lied about Hyunjae wanting to drug Nokyoung. Like your boyfriend is a full-grown adult, he doesn't need you shielding him from Hyunjae and treating him like a child. That scene actually gave me chills like it was icky how he lied like that. Hyunjae isn't a great person by any means and he deserves to be in prison, but I don't think Junil was right to discredit his character growth like that. Again, I don't really think he deserves redemption, but I still don't like how Junil made up such a lie.

Finally, I love the mother's character. It's so good. That's all I wanted to say. I just love how she never properly shows up in the series, but she is intertwined so deeply with the plot. The reader is able to know so much about her, and she only shows up in minor flashbacks and when sent Nokyoung back.

That's all for my review, hehe. I have a lot more to say, but I don't think I have it in me to type it all out. This was a great read though.

Mangas like this are actually pretty common but because it's shounen ai, I feel like a lot of people reading it don't typically read stuff like this which make the comments very polarizing ahaha