Sakura's Favorite

Why do I keep reading it?

Raws please....the one I'm using before doesn't work anymore...dunno why

Azusa is assaulted again, his mom finds out, they call the police, they find this counsel of the game and arrest them as well as the teaching body and administration (they are banned for life from any form of teaching), a worldwide scandal after information leak causes the school to be closed. Students will be relegated to numerous different schools. All students are interrogated, investigated and punished accordingly. Students have to attend obligatory therapeutic sessions. Some of them empathy course or some shit. They slowly come to realize that abusing someone isn't actually okay no matter how they tried to justify it. Some of them are actually regretful, some are punished, some move abroad to escape the justice, some get mobbed, some can't take the pressure of the responsibility and kill themselves, some go out of their way to make sure something like this doesn't happen to others, some help abuse victims, etc.

Back to Azusa, on which a lot of negative attention focuses and as per usual nothing good comes his way. Karino is one of those who managed to avoid responsibility and he blackmails Azusa again. It keeps going for a time being until Azusa, at last, has a breakdown (it was a long time coming) and tries to commit suicide. He's found and is taken to the hospital when they somehow save him. He barely manages to survive. They make obduction, exposing him being the rape victim. His mom seeing all the shit that happened makes a long-overdue decision and they move across the country. Azusa, at last, is convinced to start going to therapy in which over the years he slowly deals with his childhood traumas as well as those of his later life.
He comes to realize that his being a victim doesn't justify the abuse on others. He comes to deeply regret it, after a long time he reaches out to the guy in glasses to apologize. He then is one of those who realize they have to redeem themselves by helping others. It helps him get on with life in the end.

Karino on his own realizes the depth of cruelty he put Azusa through after his suicide attempt and decides to fix it, but he never gets the chance. He lives with a bone-deep guilt and sorrow, trapped in his fake life. It goes quite a long time, up until he's 28 and can't take it anymore when he slowly starts to erase himself from a political scene, years after his father's death.
Way too late he realizes that he was actually in love with Azusa. All the more to the misery he's in upon realizing again and again how unforgivable were the things he's done to him. How egotistic he was.

Karino spots Azusa and they talk. Karino apologizes. Azusa accepts. Karino actually cries and tells Azusa he loves him and always will. Azusa smiles, hugs him, kisses him, says "I know. I love you as well. But we're not good for each other. Maybe if we meet again." And leaves. He doesn't plan on meeting again.

Karino never brings himself to date anyone else. To make up for the things he's done he actually tries to do good things, although he never can't quite bring himself to give up the luxuries of his life or one night stands.

At some point, he starts getting nightmares in which he's the monster. After he becomes insomniac, he decides to at last take responsibility for what he's done and admits his crimes. He goes to the police in the middle of the night when he admits what was already suspected of him.
The police charge him with what he admitted, however as the irony of life kick in, he gets a lenient sentence as a judge owed a favour to his father. Press and media tear into him, rightfully so, and so he completely disappears from society, only passing his responsibilities over his repairs to good people.

Azusa sees the shitstorm on TV, but he was actually informed earlier because the police contacted him asking if Azusa wanted to press charges because Karino confessed what he's done to him.
He doesn't press charges.

Four years later Azusa knocks on Karino's door and when he opens them Azusa just walks in past Karino. He sprawls on a couch and says "You nasty ass motherfucker. ... You utter piece of shit." Karino doesn't say anything. "This is such a fucking bad idea. You raped me. You abused me. You blackmailed me. Why am I even here?" To which Karino solemnly, resigned says "Yes. I am sorry for all I've done to you. I regret hurting you every day".
Azusa looks at him silently, then finally says. "Fuck this. We're not good for each other. You're not good for me. Fuck this. I must be fucking crazy, but I keep... thinking about us... the good moments... And you're a crazy motherfucker... But I'll give you a chance. Last chance. But if you in any way betray me, I will kill you." He says it very seriously. Karino looks at him, then after long moment kneels before him, bows his head and says "My life is in your hands."
To which Azusa says "You have a lot to make up for."
They were never completely sane people to start with.

I've posted before about this without spoiling, and it physically HURTs me that people are giving out wrong spoilers based off some google translate thing they didn't even bother to cross reference. A lot of spoilers are out of context of the whole story and omits SO MUCH so i'm going to explain it as best as I can, referring to my previous post. These spoilers are coming from the novel version btw, and whether or not JAXX choses to adapt them will be another issue altogether. But anyway, here goes.

There are several major factors and characters I shall address.

1. Ryan (Blonde dude from earlier in the series)
He has a much bigger role in the books than in the webtoon thus far, but idk how big his role might be ahead because he has a major role to play in the latter half of the series. As far as I know, he is NOT a love rival or anything of that sort. There has never been and isn't going to be anything romantic between him and McQueen at all. He harbours certain hatred McQueen for reasons, blames him for a lot of his ongoing issues and he has a lot . He has a son, with a prostitute and he also seems to have drug issues and is generally pretty messed up. In the novels, he and Ed live together, and McQueen and Ed have meals with Ryan and his son Cecil, even helping to take care of his son because Ryan isn't really the best parent.

He is actually the main reason why Ed and McQueen break up. But more on that in a bit.

2. Ed and McQueen
In the books McQueen is seen doing a lot more porn that in the webtoon to begin with; here he seems like he does more of the background work like directing etc. But in any case, novel McQueen and Ed BOTH continue to film porn with other partners, although Ed only ever bottoms for McQueen after. In the novels, there's no confession at the train station. They get together, but there's no actual verbalisation of the "I love you"s till much later. So although they're making porn with other people, they're also not exclusively together in the books at this point. I believe McQueen initially hoped to kind of do couples porn with Ed, but at some point after they do both stop doing porn anyway. But in any case, obviously the webtoon should differ from that.

Third parties are never a major major issue in the books for our main pair. They do love each other, although it takes a much longer time for McQueen to verbalise it there. Yes there is a 'love triangle' of sorts with Chang, but the feelings of the main pair never wavers for each other, although circumstances in the later parts do drive a wedge between them. The McEd pairing is actually quite fluffy in the books as well.

A major plot point in the novels. revolves around McQueen's writing of the movie's script. A journalist basically finds out that McQueen is the director of that movie, and it makes the news. Its huge news, and it goes on broadcast that a pornstar directed a religious movie. The website is being overloaded by views – and the site Ed's audition film with McQueen (for a DVD) is on there. The next day he goes to work, its obvious that all his coworkers know about his doing porn. Ed is asked to resign from his job as a security officer due to security reasons.

Upset, Ed then tries to contact McQueen, but he is unable to call through to him. This is because McQueen was being hounded by journalists at the time and he explains it to Ed. They then talk about plans for the future, like going on a cruise and stuff. Ed gets a little drunk, and confesses he watched a porno with McQueen and Ryan. More context on this is that Ryan and McQueen did something like a 'non-consensual' kink play? It's not actually non-consensual and its not rape for sure, but Ryan apparently has a history of sexual assault prior and told Ed before that McQueen exploits vulnerable men for money i.e. something like he basically did the shoot because he was in a vulnerable position (drug issues money issues etc.). Ed watched the porno, and then tell McQueen he agrees with Ryan that what happened was rape. McQueen is livid to think that Ed could think something like that of him, and says something along the lines of "I can't believe I was falling in love with you". They break up and don't contact each other for weeks after that.

Ed gets a job at the airport, but its not very stable. Prior to this, Ed had already stopped doing porn was also working for Chang doing some security, but he stopped that too after the porn reveal and hasn't contacted Chang since.

Lancer contacts Ed who is now in high demand because of the porn reveal, and asks him to do escort/prostitution work with him (He gave him an Escort card way earlier in the novels I think as an invitation already). Ed wonders if McQueen will find out, and then decides that he "doesn't care" and so on New Years Day, Lancer tells him that he's got this client and that Lancer raised the price on him (because of his high demand); Ed doesn't know who he is, but he turns up anyway. The client is Chang.


3. Chang
Chang hasn't met Ed since the porn reveal, New Years Day is the first time they're meeting after the reveal. Chang doesn't believe at first that Ed actually came, and Ed tries to walk away after realising its Chang. But Chang physically grabs him and tells him he paid for him, showing him the escort card he took from Ed's apartment (given by Lancer earlier). Chang offers to make Ed's debt disappear – if he stays beside him for a year. Ed considers and then refuses thinking this guy is the one who even ruined his life by saddling him with this debt in the first place. They argue, Chang makes jibes about Ed doing sex work and Ed, fed up, asks him if he wants to be fucked. Ed pulls down Chang's zipper to prove a point.

Then Chang pushes Ed onto the bed and starts getting physical with him. At several points, Ed says it hurts, and that he wants it to stop. Chang mocks him, bites him, and continues anyway. Ed tries to punch him to get away from him, saying he's changed his mind and telling him to stop. He grabs his clothes and tries to escape several times but fails. Chang r*pes Ed. In this interim, Ed realises that Chang has had feelings for him all along, and that he's just been trying to ignore it the whole time; after the deed is done, he asks Chang if he likes him – and Chang doesn't confirm or deny it. Ed tells him it doesn't matter because Chang is dead to him anyway, and tells Chang he wants to ruin him, like Chang ruined Ed.

He walks out (Chang is still there), to run into McQueen – Ed wondered previously if McQueen was going to find out about him doing escort/prostitution work so he clearly did – McQueen tells Ed he didn't want to break up with Ed in the first place, tells him that he loves him, and that he wants to get back together. Ed wants to say yes, but he just had sex with (was raped by) Chang, so he doesn't respond, just leaves both men without saying anything. McQueen and Chang fight, and Ed sees McQueen again the next day; McQueen tells him he doesn't care about the whole Chang thing, and they get back together.

McQueen tells him he's quitting porn for him and selling the company, and tells Ed to check his bank account – $500,000, which is the amount he owes Chang. Chang actually confesses his feelings to Ed after this, and Ed tells him he doesn't care and to check his bank account, that's his answer. Essentially he pays off his debt, and from there he's saying that they no longer will have any ties to each other.

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So essentially I wanted to clarify a few things.

Ed didn't lose his bodyguard job because of McQueen but the journalist actually, and McQueen didn't abandon him because of the reveal at all. He had a huge debt to Chang – but McQueen didn't pay it off probably because $500,000 is kind of not pocket change?? He sold his company and paid off Ed's debts. McQueen is not the cause of Ed doing escorting; that's Ed's choice. Their break up was NOT caused by Ed not wanting to do an adult movie with McQueen.

McQueen and Ed's relationship is complex, and ultimately human. They make mistakes and there's miscommunication and there's arguments of course, but there's also reasons why certain things unfold the way they do. The novels are way longer than the webtoons, and lots of things have been and will be taken out. So bear in mind that too.

I hope this helped in some way and if anyone else is going to bullshit about the 'spoiler' without knowing what they're talking about again i'm going to hit the roof.