Maybe what Haesoo really needs is to be single for a good while. But I'd take Taku over Joowon considering that it really does seem like Haesoo needs a serious change of pace from that dynamic. It's not like Taku didn't grab at least some of his attention in comparison to his other flings. I don't recall him sending Haesoo his sex tape so I don't know where that claim is coming from. He just mentioned it in hopes that Haesoo would react some way and be interested. While Taku is certainly keeping tabs on Haesoo, I don't think he qualifies as a stalker (yet?). Just definitely interested. Of course, future events could have me changing my tune.
I also can't really root for Joowon and Haesoo given that it's only technically not incest. It really doesn't sit right with me. Not to mention, you know, their dynamic.
I'm glad we're moving past blond guy in the story since now seunghee has to deal with his peers and figure all that out. Which is scary and won't be easy, but he's already got a start with his tentative friendship with suhyeok. As much as I get the excitement for the future ship, I'm still puzzled over suhyeok's motivations for associating with kyubin and now getting closer seunghee. Like the whole revenge business seemed ??? to me. He doesn't seem to like inbeom much, so why bother to go through any trouble getting revenge for him? What kind of revenge was he hoping to do anyways? He's still something of a mystery, so I hope we get some time spent on what his deal is and friendship between him and seunghee and other people too. I don't want seunghee to be isolated anymore. Romance is good and all, but I hope seunghee develops some friendships too, because that's also important.
We've got time to kill until the next few chapters come out and blond guy is in the rear view mirror of the story for good, hopefully.
An inquiring mind would like to know:
Does it make it any better for blond guy to be an ephebophile rather than a hebe/pedophile? Does that somehow offer more hope for redemption? Most of us use "pedophile" because it's more common and familiar and succinctly conveys the point that a person is someone who takes advantage of the young and vulnerable for romantic/sexual gain. (it's a valid connotation/ colloquial use of the term. I suppose we could nitpick about connotations vs denotations, though) We're not in a court of law putting this character on trial according to stringent court procedures. I can express my disgust with this character's actions and motivations and still appreciate his role as an antagonist for the much needed message this storyline delivers. Definitely not wasting any sympathy or pity on the guy, though.
I was initially put off by this because the title and the summary led me to believe it'd go down a certain road of clichés and it almost does at the beginning. But I'm impressed with where the story has gone and how it managed it. I'm definitely gonna buy this soon. The thought and skill put into this should be rewarded. I didn't expect all everything between seungtaek and kyubin, but I'm very into it. Seunghee has been frustrating but I'm not gonna hate on him because it's understandable really. I just hope that now when he gets the focus he can find friends and all that good stuff. The path won't be smooth but I hope the creator knows what they're doing and doesn't break my heart.
Yikes at all the pedophile apologists in these comments though. This story is making a whole point about an issue facing young, lonely lgbt individuals and some people are missing it hard. The fact that BL where "significantly older man develops relationship with minor" is so common is a symptom of the problem. I had to laugh at the one comment listing all of them because yeah... they're all pedophilic and wrong. Many of us read and/or watched them at a time when we didn't know better and were young ourselves. I know I was, at least. We can recognize them for what they are now, hopefully.
You're free to enjoy your morally dubious to outright terrible things, just don't pretend like they're not bad.
Totally agree and can relate with your view of the manga. I had the same mindset as you jumping in this rollercoaster of a manga lol.
The latter part of your comment I'm not so sure of.
What problem do you refer to in the "The fact that significantly older man develops relationship with minor is so common it is a symptom of the problem"-part?
As you can see in the topics/comments here, there are some people confused by the negative reaction to the interest the blond guy has been showing in seunghee. I was thinking of a comment in particular when I wrote what you quoted but I can't seem to find it now. But it referenced several other BL couples with large age gaps between adults and minors that apparently no one had issues with. That's what I wanted to point out as a problem. That there are so many adult-minor couples, and that they're not usually presented negatively in-story. The ones I remember that they listed were junjou romantica, and kuroshitsuji (I don't think that's bl, actually, despite all the doujinshi). I started reading bl very young and didn't realize a lot of common BL tropes were bad until I was older and started reading discussions on those things. So I'm hoping that the fact that we're having these discussions here is helpful to people, especially if they're young and naive like I was. Don't want kids thinking that adults being romantically interested in teenagers is perfectly okay, at least.
Another point I wanted to emphasize that this manhwa makes is that young, insecure, and socially isolated lgbt kids are at-risk of being taken advantage of and manipulated by adults in the communities that they try to find support in. There's the stereotype of the "gay pedophile predator" that's overblown by homophobes that these adult-minor couples play into. It's not a good thing, especially when a lot of BL is made by presumably straight women for other presumably straight women. Let's not fetishize gay relationships. So I'm very appreciative of this manhwa for not romanticizing this particular issue. I hope it helps someone who needs it.
Ah, yes I got you.
The issue of romanticizing an relationship between an adult-minor is certainly a recurring theme in many bl's. Though I do want to believe the authors did not have the younger demographics in mind while writing . I would say they're appropriating their bl for teens and up, or for those who have the ability to think critically and take the content with a grain of salt.
Also I believe that the fans/readers are partly at fault for being too accepting of the theme by making djs and fanfictions with certain controversial couples... Authors would feel further inclined to write more as long as the feedback is shown to be positive.
I do appreciate the author as well for the raw and realistic portrayal of seunghee and blondie. Tbh manhwa like this are so much more interesting to read as they are so few. It motivates for discussion, and as you said, resulting in raising further awareness of the issue at hand.
It's great seeing all the analyses here! Gives me something to think about while waiting for the next chapters.
As much as it's tedious, in the naval battle between joowon/haesoo and haesoo/taku, joowon/haesoo automatically loses because it's only technically not incest and that grayish area is no bueno. I can't help but be stuck on that even though I don't hate joowon, although his relationship with haesoo would need significant improvement and development for me to back it in any capacity as an endgame ship. Like, the stigma of it being a gay relationship is compounded by it also being partially a familial one. Would they ever be able to be open, even to close friends about that? I can't imagine that keeping it under wraps like that would contribute to their happiness in the long run.