The only way this could be saved is with at least another ten chapters, hopefully side stories will come out. It's not that the ending itself is bad, but the execution was pretty awful. First of all, it's very rushed. We legit went from Howoo hating on him -> Saving Yool -> Yool saying they'll never be in a mutually loving relationship. Feels like they just packed 20 novel chapters into one manhwa chapter. Which I haven't read the novel, but I wouldn't be shocked if that's what happened here.
Secondly, while the ending could be considered realistic, it feels very dissatisfactory. The author wanted to portray a toxic love to its core, but it sucks that there isn't really anything that makes me feel like we were geared towards this specific ending in mind. Like the ending feels very lifeless, and there wasn't anything I feel like that lead up to this.
It's one thing to see Yool unhappy, but it's another that we also see Howoo basically suffer for the rest of his life. Idk, just who is this ending made for?
bruh this is why i hate high school shoujo stories. they always have an interesting idea but always end up devolving into the classic love triangle school girl plot. I always like reading reincarnation Otome Isekai stuff so seeing a reverse isekai yandere story was going to be really interesting. if this high school plot keeps going for another ten chapters imma drop.
i try not to leave reviews on stuff super early on bc i want to be fair to an author and not judge a story in progress but ive been scarred too many times (Operation True Love, Inso's Law...)
The story is interesting, and I like the initial premise of Jun being the peripheral narrator, with his narration describing the setting around him and the characters who fill the background around him. It starts off as if he's witnessing a toxic bl romance unfold between Taesan and Junwoo, and his thoughts regarding what he thinks of them are very interesting. Which is why I feel as if a mountain will come crumbling where he's initially placed as an outsider but gradually growing higher on the social ladder as his relationship with Yohan progresses.
To be honest, Jun and Taesan are mostly the only characters that I like. Taesan, who seems like the typical damsel main character in a BL that ends up with the abusive male lead, and Jun, who hates Taesan and what Taesan represents: a lonely victim of bullying, someone that Jun does not want to be.
Jun's monologuing is the highlight of the story for me, and I love the contrast of his thoughts to his actions. If you remove all of his thoughts from the manhwa, you'd interpret his character way differently than with it.
Now my thoughts on Yohan are probably controversial. He honestly doesn't interest me. He started piquing my interest towards the end when he takes Jun to his house, but we'll see how it goes. I just felt like their relationship was pretty boring. I can see that this is going to take a direction where he'll be manipulative towards Jun, and Jun will probably be receptive to it given that he doesn't want to be where Taesan is currently in. Idk, I care more of how Yohan will impact Jun more than Yohan himself. I feel like the story is trying to push me into thinking he's mysterious and unpredictable, but the signs were all kind of there.
This is literally one of the best explanations of the story! The part where you mentioned that without Jun's inner monologue, his actions could be interpreted differently is exactly what the authour intended to do I think (I never realized until you pointed it out!)
As someone who read the novel, I would say it's not the plot itself that's interesting or the best part of the story; it's the characters. Genuinely have to applaud the authour, the characters (both Jun and Yohan) are like onions. The more you peel, the more you see the inner layers and realize everything is not as it seems. You may not see how "fascinating" Yohan is right now, but to me he was very interesting to observe and read about.
Trust me, you'll see what I mean in the future chapters (I hope the manhwa does the novel justice! The art definitely does, hope the essence of the story translates properly as well!)
I hope I didn't spoil the story for you or anyone reading this(/TДT)/
Rating this story without the second couple I'd give it a solid 9.5/10. The story including the second couple I'd give it an 8.7/10. The smut, writing, and art of this story is amazing. The art is very good, and the characters are very expressive. Especially Yura's. From the start, you can easily tell the difference between the two alters, but you can tell when they start integrating, as their personalities start merging just from the show of expressions. The character designs are great, and all the characters are very attractive. Moving on, Yura's imagination really showcased the complexity of his emotions, and some of the panels were genuinely both awe-striking as well as bordering cosmic horror. But overall, horrifyingly beautiful.
I love yanderes, and I especially love well written ones. Yura's obsession with Jinsung is just such a guilty pleasure of mine.
Now I'll talk about the smut before moving on to the story. The smut is great. And I've read about maybe a 150-ish amount of BL, and I've never found the smut to be necessary in making the story good. Now sometimes the smut in BL can be good, but I've never sought out a story just to read the smut. But this one is just great. Obviously for me, the story is good enough that I feel like most people including me would read this purely for the story. But I definitely think the smut elevated the story and was relevant as it affected Yura's mindscape.
Talking about the plot is where I have both great things to say and some criticisms. The deep insight into Yura's fragmented mind is very good. I wouldn't say it's a perfect depiction of DID, mostly because I haven't experienced it or studied it enough so I can't give it a comment on it. But from a literary standpoint, I do think the characterization of Yura is well-written and complex. Now about our main character Jinsung, I adore him. I feel like he was definitely in a tough situation and was trying to make the most out of it. At the end of the story, he was very supportive of Yura and loved every side of him, which I find very sweet. Would love to be friends with him irl. While this isn't a criticism and more of a wish, I will say I wish we could have gotten to know him a little more as he is the protagonist. Like I don't think we even know what he studies? We know he likes video games, but that seems more like a passive hobby and more of something that's present for Hyunmin than him. How did he feel about his parents dying? Because it feels mostly as if an excuse to get him and Yura to live together, but it's not really a mention at all. Overall though, the lack of character exploration for him doesn't detract from the story, just something I feel like wouldn't have hurt the story to add in.
Now for actual criticism, I'm going to talk about the second couple. I didn't like Hyunmin at all, I felt very icked out from him. Jaepil is fine. I found his friendship with Jinsung very cute. But one thing I'll say about Jaepil is this: the author should not have put a character to serve as a medical advisor to the main character if their advice is going to be incredibly inaccurate. This very much broke the immersion for me. While I can't comment on the depiction of DID, I know enough to say this: if Jaepil did study psychology, why the hell is his advice to Jinsung so wrong?? Like for example, anyone who knows anything about DID would have recommended to Jinsung to have told Yura about his different alters and discuss the idea of integration and therapy. Now I do think he does talk about this later on in the story, but it feels very weird where early on to around the 40's chapters Jaepil tells Jinsung to never let Yura find out about the other personality or else the main personality will disappear. Which is like, not how that works??? Now obviously, this is supposed to drive the conflict and tension in the story, as now Jinsung is put to the challenge of not letting Yura ever find out about what he does with the other alter. But it just irks me that the main conflict of this story is essentially driven up by false medical advice. And it also confuses me because integration is essentially what happens anyways, so like did the author do her research legit or??
Another criticism is just how awfully timed the second couple always take the spotlight in the story. Like anytime there is suspense for the main couple, the story suddenly switches to the second one, and it just always annoys me because it just genuinely detracts the story for me. If hyunmin was a decently written character I would've been more okay with it, but he is just so unappealing to me. If the second couple was more relevant to the main plot I would've been fine with it, but they don't add anything aside from Jinsung's occasional interactions with Jaepil. I feel like the author should have put their relationship as purely side stories, because it's just not a good idea for a story like this that deals with a serious plot and heavy subject to randomly focus on something completely unrelated to it.
I'm still in the middle of the story like chapter 40, so I know that my comment will probably be outdated, but I just need to get this off my chest. Jaepil as much as I love him as a character should not be a medical expert EVER. I feel like the conflict of this story which is basically that one of the two personalities must disappear so that the true personality can stay or whatever is just bs and highly medically inaccurate. The goal of a treatment plan for DID is to integrate the personalities, because there isn't really a fake or real personality, both personalities have a subset of his memory and the goal is to integrate them into an existing personality. Nothing would be fixed by trying to make the other personality go away.
Jaepil as a plot device to steer the conflict of needing to make the other personality go away is just frying me. Like wdym you know a lot of psychology yet you're giving incredibly wrong advice??










bro what is that lame ass dialogue last dialogue?? "Sure if that's what you want I'll be here," uh no?? A hot twink is literally saying never leave him. You say "Yes baby thank you!!" Mid af