Imp's Favorite

So I completed the novel and most of the extra chapters (events of daily life after the main story). The novel is really sad to be honest, but it’s really good at the same time because it’s well-written. Unfortunately the MC does develop this sort of Stockholm syndrome for both Jerome and Simon, however it’s not a submissive type of Stockholm and more like he’s willing to kill anyone to have them type. I’m sharing a list of questions that I had during the novel so you don’t have to wait an eternity or read the entire thing to get answers.

What is the relationship between Simon, Jerome, George and Hugh?:

From what I understood, Hugh is the main reason why George, Simon, and Jerome are attending the boarding school. Hugh is part of the Donwell family which is a huge manufacturer of a cigars or cigarettes. The Donwell family maintains a lot of wealth which means that Hugh is able to extort that wealth to control other people because he’s a sadistic psychopath. Hugh essentially controls Jerome but has tamed both George and Simon (George being his lover/pet and Simon just follows his orders). Jerome is the only character with a strained relationship with the rest of the group because he refuses to submit completely to Hugh.

Who is Jerome and why does he hurt Raymond?:

Jerome is a complex character. He’s the illegitimate son of Princess Mary (fictitious princess) and a criminal father who was sold to the Donwell family to hide his existence. The Donwell family wanted to keep Jermoe as because he was ‘well-bred’ (has Royal blood) which made him a valuable to Hugh. Because of his Royal lineage, he treated him as a ‘stallion’ (stallions are breeding horses). The Donwell family used him during ‘clubs’ (social gatherings with debauched people) to present him breeding with woman in-front of everyone. They were able to do that using a drug known as ‘kiss and embrace’ which is a complimentary drug to other drugs. They used this drug to make Jerome unable to resist and become sexually aroused to the point where he was unable to control his actions, resulting in him being forced to rape many woman. During this time he was also still a child and he was first forced to rape his nanny (someone he considered to be his family) and later reveals he was forced to also rape Anna (who might’ve been the nanny) which is the girl we see in the green blouse in the first chapter. Anna also had a daughter which might’ve been a direct consequence of Jerome being forced to rape her, however nothing is confirmed. Jerome was sent to the boarding school with Hugh as well as the others because Hugh wanted to form a his own ‘club’ because to participate in ‘clubs’ you had to be a certain age and Hugh was underage. Hugh was sent to the boarding school because of something bad he did (I don’t think the story every explicitly details what he did). Jerome is also an agent who is put through high stakes missions for purpose of being killed to prevent his existence from tarnishing both the Donwell family and the Royal family. He tries to get ultimately tries to get revenge on both but he is disrupted by Raymond.

As for why he hurt Raymond, unfortunately there isn’t a very a direct reason. The story implies that the abuse that he inflicts on Raymond is due to the oppression and psychological abuse that he received when he was younger. Overtime, Jerome just naturally become more demented as he was a ‘stallion’ for the Donwell family as he was forced to rape many women at a young age. The story also implies that he hurt Raymond because he was forced to under the control of Hugh (however some things don’t add up). Also, Jerome did it because he had a strange attraction to Raymond which he admits to Raymond that he had feelings for him since the day he saw him. Despite all the hurt he causes Raymond, he tries to make up for it throughout the course of the story by giving him chances to survive, allowing Raymond to almost murder him, and by helping him. By the end of the story, he says what he did to Raymond is unforgivable and that there is still not atoning for abuse he caused.

Who is Simon and why does he hurt Raymond?:

Simon is the grandson of a senator who is also an unwanted child of the family, which is why he was given to the Donwell Family as a child. The Donwell family tried to give the same drugs ‘Kiss and Embrace’ to him, but fortunately for him he had sexual dysfunction which meant that the drugs were very ineffective for him and often did not have as potent an affect on him as other it would other people. Because of this the Donwell family did not use him as a sexual tool as they did to Jerome, however he was still psychologically abused. His existence was ignored which made him unable to comprehend the feelings of others (people treated him as if he wasn’t even there). He adapted to this response and listened to the orders of the Donwell family by becoming their lackey. Because people ignored him, he didn’t know how to react when people looked at him (I.e. Raymond). This spiralled into him becoming afraid of Raymond when Raymond looked at him, he didn’t know how to react since he was mainly ignored all his life. He said that we he sees Raymond’s eyes, he doesn’t know what he’s feeling, he doesn’t know what he’s thinking, and he wants to cut Raymond’s wrists because he’s afraid.

The reason that hurts Raymond is to follow the orders that Hugh places for him. However, he also likes Raymond ever since the beginning and he is the first person to rape him on the first night that Raymond stays at the boarding school (Jerome is the second person to rape him on the first day). Also, Simon is only able to have sex with Raymond while he’s sleeping because that’s the only time Raymond is not thinking or feeling anything. Simon in my opinion is probably the most tragic character because he has fully submitted to the psychological abuse that he has endured since he was young, and there’s no salvation for him because his sense of right and wrong is so warped that cannot trust Raymond. He eventually dies at the very end of the story trying to kill Raymond because he cannot trust Raymond’s thoughts or feelings.

Who is George and Hugh?:

The story doesn’t explain too much about either Hugh or George. However, Hugh is the main reason for the suffering of all the characters and he’s also the reason for the suffering of previous predecessors before Raymond (George being one of them). Hugh is just a sadistic psychopath with the pleasure for the torture and abuse of others (he dies in the fire that Raymond starts). George is the pet of Hugh through being tamed, but interestingly enough he is also a high ranking official in some intelligence agency as a hacker. That’s why he’s always on the computer, because he was promoted from a young age to be the hacker for the intelligence agency. The psychological abuse that George goes through, through being tamed by Hugh is not explained but he comes out falling in love with him. Hugh was never truly in love with George (because he’s completely crazy) which is also why they try to get another pet to ‘complete their love’.

Who were the previous predecessors and what happened to them?:

The story never fully talks about what happens to the previous predecessors. There is a character named ‘Christine’ who becomes a drag queen but the story of abuse he suffers is never explained. For a large part of the story, it was assumed that Jerome, Simon, George, and Hugh were the abusers of the previous victims however it was only George and Hugh that did it. Both Simon and Jerome only hurt Raymond because they ‘loved’ him from the start which is why they were both the only ones to rape him first when he is sleeping.

How did Raymond end up at the boarding school?:

Raymond ended up at the boarding school because of Jerome’s assistant Anna (green blouse) because she was trying to save Jerome from Hugh’s wrath by using a substitute character (Raymond). He also ended up there because of strings that were pulled by Julia’s Assistant (John). Essentially, John wanted to get rid of Raymond away from Julia because he loved her and Raymond (being an illegitimate child) was a stain on Julia’s life. John knew what was going to happen to Raymond and threw him there anyways.

Does Raymond get Revenge and who does he end up with?:

Raymond ends up killing Hugh by burning the dormitory, however the rest of them escape but George ends up severely burned by trying to save Hugh from the fire. George takes the Alias ‘Mr. Acacia’ where he tries to avenge Hugh but ends up being killed by Raymond after a 5 year time skip by being hanged. He doesn’t end up killing either Jerome or Simon and ends up with both of them for a while, however it doesn’t really work out. Later on while Raymond tries to save Simon and Jerome (characters are about 35-36 y/o), he is almost killed by Simon but he wears a bulletproof vest. Jerome thinking Simon killed Raymond, kills Simon and then Raymond is deeply devastated. He eventually ends up with Jerome after everything and ends up settling up somewhere in the northern region of Canada with him. By the time the extras are finished, him and Jerome are about 39-40 y/o and it’s mainly about his daily life living with him and Raymond processing the lost of everyone over the past 15 years after he had left the boarding school.

Istg this boy gets on my nerves, as the story progresses in the novel he becomes better… I guess? I don’t know to feel about this because like he’s honestly just an ASSHOLE. Like… He’s supposed to have mental trauma from the death of his sister’s and the his neglectful father but like even before it is said in the novel that he was always an asshole. He’s very promiscuous and I don’t even understand why the Yaba (MC) is obsessed with him to the point where he poisons Cocaine out of jealousy??? Also Cha Yiseok (ML) is just a questionable character in the first place, he goes Paradiso to attend orgy parties and listen to the songs of Eunuchs but knows full well that the Eunuchs are essentially SLAVES, but as long as he can get off while listening to the songs of Cocaine, what does he care? Also at one point he literally tries to BUY the MC so he can have sex….

It’s also revealed later in the story that the Cha Yiseok (ML) is a necrophile. I guess this wasn’t surprising but what honestly is, is the fact that the MC’s reaction to this was kind of disturbed at first, but the he kind of just slowly brushes it off like it doesn’t matter and still obsesses over him… I think the ML is a character that’s presented as a calm and composed playboy, but in actuality he’s just a rich pervert who can do whatever he wants without consequence because he’s rich and handsome, and whatever wicked things he does won’t matter because everybody likes him.

What I really do like though is the the MC because he’s stubborn and kind of careless, but you can’t help but feel bad for him because he’s gone through a lot. His mental illness is interesting to read as well as he sees himself as a fat and bug infested which just reminds the reader how unhinged he has become. I think this is also another reason why I hate the ML because he’s taking advantage of a clearly mentally ill person and using him to fuel his sexual desires.

Lastly, I’m just confused about how the ML doesn’t have any diseases or unplanned children? Like he’s been having sex with A LOT of women which is even said by the MC, but somehow he’s never contracted any diseases or had any children with all of the unprotected sex he’s had? Stories like these always detail the sex parts but never extends beyond that scope.

From mettle on novel updates:

I pretty much finished reading the novel (including the epilogue), but haven't gotten to the last volumes yet (which I assume are extras?). Although it was quite... interesting, I don't think I'll touch this novel again (or novels, since it's pretty much one big story split into 11 volumes of about 300-500 pages each), simply because it was emotionally draining for me.
I really liked the first two volumes, because Inseop was depicted as a determined, kinda strong yet introverted MC; he was a person hard to decipher, however, according to Wooyeon. That really roused his interest in Inseop. Also:
I loved the idea of Inseop, who was shy, insecure and quiet, getting revenge for Jennie, his best friend who had committed su*c*de (while he was still in high school) because of Wooyeon - which is later proven to be false, and that his 'girlfriend' I think? and her friends were the ones behind it - and because she was incredibly lonely (due to a dispute between Inseop and Jennie, which led Inseop to stop talking to her)


Wooyeon was a character hard to sympathize with ever since the beginning of the novel. However, later in the novel, from flashbacks and snippets from the conversations he'd have with Inseop, it's obvious that he wasn't loved as a child because he suffered from ADP. Still, that didn't stop me from hating him.

However, there were also parts that I absolutely hated (like every volume that came after the second) :

In the 4th volume, Wooyeon basically forced himself on Inseop and there was no proper preparation and Inseop was also a virgin, so like??? Why? Apparently, it was still enjoyable for Inseop, but it didn't sit well with me. No, it doesn't happen only one time, but basically every time they have s*x throughout the book, and I'm pretty sure rimming is not enough preparation. Anyways, disregarding these parts (despite being hard to do so)...

Imho, Lee Wooyeon:

Pretty much made Inseop cry a lot of times, way too many times, and he himself knew how much of a nasty individual he was. Also, the fact that he was INCREDIBLY possessive of Inseop, to the point of mentioning throughout the novel how he'd love to 'keep Inseop in a corner, so only he was allowed to stare at him' or 'tie Inseop up and leave him in the hotel room' or 'cage Inseop and keep him in his house', which genuinely creeped me out. No, there were no butterflies in my stomach whenever he spoke of such things.

The Hawaii incident was, by far, the most infuriating. Wooyeon brought Inseop, since he was his manager, along to Hawaii for a photoshoot he had. After Wooyeon took Inseop's passport and ID and locked them in a safe in the hotel they were staying in (like???) fearing that he might go back to America (where his family resided), a female side-character (whose only purpose in the novel was to make Wooyeon be jealous, because she was friendly to Inseop - she disappeared after they went back to Korea) brought his passport in an envelope (along with Wooyeon's driver license) because Wooyeon needed them for a reason that I can't currently remember, and gave them to Inseop, since Wooyeon told her so himself (Wooyeon didn't check what was inside the envelope, otherwise he wouldn't have said to her to do that). What did Inseop do? He saw that it was Wooyeon's birthday on the driver license and went to a fancy pastry shop and bought him a box of cakes. After the photoshoot, Wooyeon rushed back to the hotel (thinking only of s*x, obviously) and, not seeing Inseop in his hotel room, he panicked and began asking around the staff, which subsequently led to him bellowing at others and smashing a flower pot, staining his clothes and face with blood. He ran around the city, looking for him for two hours, and when he returned to his hotel room, absolutely pissed the f*ck off and depressed, he spotted Inseop holding the box of cake in front of the locked door. Then came a r*pe scene, Wooyeon shedding tears, Inseop accepting his apology. Yay!

Afterwards, Wooyeon thought of telling a bit about his tragic past of being neglected as a child and the fact that he suffered from ADP, purely because he knew that Inseop would sympathize with him; he also added that 'he never told anyone about this before', which is not a lie, really. But telling someone about your past just to make sure they wouldn't want to abandon you and would forgive you is awful. Especially after what he had done moments ago. Horrible.

It didn't help the fact that, in the 7th volume, Wooyeon acted coldly towards Inseop, because Inseop kept his hospitalization (due to getting beaten up by Kang Youngmo) a secret from him and only Yoon Areum (another, slightly more important female side character) knew about it. Commence more misunderstandings (involving another female side character and more!), even more scenes of Inseop sobbing pitifully, yet still blaming himself for everything, another s*x scene which left me incredibly uncomfortable, more and more of Wooyeon manipulating Inseop (even envying a female fan of an unimportant male character for tricking him into marriage, thinking that he'd have liked to do something similar to Inseop so he could keep him by his side at all times)... at this point, I just really wanted to read the ending and be done with it.

Wooyeon's way of showing his love to Inseop (at least in the early stages of their relationship after they started dating secretly - well, not so secretly, since CEO Kim and manager Cha found out rather quickly) was through s*x mostly. He admitted several times that he was jealous of any person, animal or PLANT that Inseop interacted with (which was proven in the 8th novel.... when he smashed the pot of a flower, given to him by Kang Youngmo, on the floor because Inseop literally took care of it). He also admitted to his desire to kill anyone Inseop liked and anyone who liked Inseop. Bro chill???

Choi Inseop:

In the beginning of the novel, it was kind of easy to relate to this character (though, he went to extreme levels to get his revenge). However, later in the novel, I felt he was... maybe... too forgiving? Too naive? Too 2D? Too s*upid? Not only him, but more and more characters, that I had thought of in the beginning as interesting, funny or quirky, began resembling those from badly written Wattpad romance books. Including Inseop! I really wanted SO MANY TIMES to transmigrate inside the novel and strangle both him and Wooyeon. He had multiple opportunities to escape to America, back to his family, yet he stayed in Korea and let Wooyeon treat him like utter sh*t (especially in the 7th volume). Even when he managed to go back to America, he decided to return and continue working as his manager (of course, manager Cha thought way too many times that it was not a good idea to do so). He'd been hospitalized so many times after he became Wooyeon's manager that I lost count.

Inseop realized only in the 7th volume that his life basically revolved around Lee Wooyeon. Wooyeon this, Wooyeon that, his entire call history was Wooyeon (he had no friends). He moved to another apartment after. After leaving his film award ceremony (where Wooyeon, who was certain would receive the grand award or something, wanted to shed crocodile tears while giving his speech and declare his love, to impress and make Inseop choose to stay by his side (and this was after Wooyeon basically gave Inseop the cold shoulder for about 200-300 pages, I can't even remember.... and poor Inseop was extremely confused and wouldn't even get an answer from Wooyeon when asking about the reason for acting like that)), due to a huge misunderstanding (because they weren't capable of communicating...), and refusing to answer any calls, Wooyeon managed to track down Inseop's location in like 2-3 hours? by pretty much bribing a hell lot of people. Wooyeon calmly threatened Inseop that he'd break the door if he didn't let him in, and, despite fearing for his life, Inseop didn't call anyone for help. Nope. He let him in and listened to Wooyeon act like the ultimate jealous, possessive, overbearing boyfriend that he was and finally fainted (how many times did he do this????) He was taken to the hospital, Wooyeon finally realized just how much of a sc*mbag he was and decided to let go of Inseop. Because of all the stress he'd gone through, he developed a severe form of gastritis and, instead of returning to America and spending his time with his family..... yup, you guessed it.

In the end, because Inseop used his brain to finally analyze everything, he realized that EVERYTHING WAS A BIG MISUNDERSTANDING! And that he was in the wrong! And he forgave Wooyeon for everything! Wooyeon was also hospitalized for his insomnia and hallucinations during the time CEO Kim and manager Cha and literally everyone was begging Inseop to go back home, but he suddenly disappeared from the hospital after two days. Inseop found out from CEO Kim he had disappeared and started frantically searching for him, then found out where he was - again, Wooyeon spat out some incredibly rude words directed to Inseop's body and personality to make him go home, but Inseop, like the angel he was, forgave him. Once AGAIN, commence some pitiful crying, hugging, kissing, uncalled for s*x scene in a mansion and, just like magic, Wooyeon's personality did a 180 degree flip and he began acting like a normal lover. Boo...

Even though CEO Kim, manager Cha and EVEN Lee Wooyeon HIMSELF (right before the epilogue) told him to go back to America, Inseop wouldn't leave. They made up and yay! The epilogue!

Way too many misunderstandings, scenes which made me uneasy or bored, side characters who vanish completely from the novel after they helped, in any way, the plot to progress and unnecessary angst.
I'm giving two stars only for the drama, which is something I thoroughly enjoyed. Will I read this again? Nope. Do I regret buying the novel? Kinda.
Inseop and Wooyeon went through a lot - and it was draining for me - and I wouldn't stand reading the r*pe scenes and all the childish misunderstandings again.