babao's Topics (91)

Henry's Heart is so cute, loyal, and gentle. If Dr doesn't want him, I'd like to like up in the queue...

But also, why is the blond one kind of unattractive , he's so far different from Henry's sophisticated face.

I'm kind of worried that there's gonna be a huge twist to Henry's head, not in a creepy batshit insane way but in a heartbreaking way because what if the Head rejects the doctor...

I also have a feeling that as much as Blondie is acting as a straight fuckboy, he'll probably (Probably!) end up liking the doctor a lot. It's usually that kind of trope. Unless he stays as a fuckboy until the end... Lol.

Please let the endgame be all of them.




But if there is room for angst... I won't say no to it. It looks good so far!

Everyday I am on my knees begging this manhwa adapts the reveal in a more detailed way because I am going to shoot my foot if they follow the novel.

Considering they already changed a few things, changing the reveal wouldn't be that big of a problem (I am coping). Because the novel version was so anticlimactic!

Hyoseop's past cannot be documented at all because he was in solitary confinement. No one knows what he went through except for Hyoseop himself because the 2 people involved and the only witnesses are both death.

Pisses me off so bad because that was a huge potential for angst (as well as realization for Andante). I also want to see Hyoseop break down... Just a guilty pleasure.

So I am not insane and I am not gaslighting myself, there was a LOT of subtle details ommitted in the manhwa. Which, frankly, pisses me off more than Andante's manipulative and greedy ass.

There was a somewhat more profound exploration on Andante's shock when the stone reacted to his advances, as well as the build up on Hyoseop's fear at that moment. To be honest, it's been a while since I read the novel so I almost feel as if this manhwa adaptation is gaslighting my memory. But I am quite certain that the actual progression was not this rushed.

This may come off as a hot take, but Hyoseop's arc with Andante is not as shallow to be defined as a 'Miscommunication' arc. It is a more intricate and complex set of circumstances wherein emotional and psychological manipulation are in tandem. Hyoseop's presentation of his gullible and hopeful self is what was caught in Andante's spiderweb of ambition, in fact, Hyoseop's naivety and steadfast belief that 'things will get better' is what only made him fall deeper into hopelessness. Picture yourself panicking while in quicksand. The more one moves, the faster you sink. Hyoseop's impatience and his anxiety is what made him sink deeper which is why pulling himself out took a harder and harsher pain on him, and in the same respect, a greater sense of relief would wash over him is what freed him.

Hyoseop knew he was being used, and it does not help that, from a literary perspective, this Manhwa continuously emphasizes and presents Andante's inner dialogues of admitting his motivations and intentions to use Hyoseop. He is being painted with that one sole image of Hyoseop, like an unreachable wallflower. Andante desires him because he knows he is the only one capable of making the intricate and exclusive wallflower bend to him. His morphed idea of love is exactly what Espers experience towards their guides, /Obsession/. What Andante feels is the primal instinct of possessing a guide that complements him almost perfectly. It is not exactly love, it is merely possession, but the desire to possess, too, is a form of affection that leads to love. Unfortunately, it is what broke Hyoseop completely.

I cannot, for the life of me, wrap my head around people who would pin the blame of Hyoseop's indecisiveness and lack of courage when Andante himself is the one who defined their relationship. They are exclusive partners, yet Andante never once made it evident that Hyoseop had place in Andante's future. He only perceived the usefulness of the present. Moreover, his utter /complacency/ in Hyoseop's loyalty is not love. Andante was certain and confident because he had placed a collar and leash on Hyoseop. He leveraged in Hyoseop's vulnerabilities and used it against him and labeled it as unwavering loyalty and affection, without realizing that it was more closer to a noose around Hyoseop's neck than a collar. It was killing Hyoseop by the second, and Hyoseop only has himself to blame because he willingly placed himself in that position.

Miscommunication? No, Andante just doesn't and has never seen human beings beyond their use aside from his own brother. He is an SS Class esper whose power and mind works in a completely different realm. He has never known how to love Hyoseop for the reason that he has never loved anyone like him before. He is logical, he is calculative, his actions are measured and he keeps people at a controlled distance.

Miscommunication? No, Hyoseop has understood at face value the nature of their relationship and Andante's motives he simply clung into time and hope. If he had met Ren, after his years of solitary confinement and abuse, later in his life, then it is very likely possible he will be loved too the way Ren had seen him beyond a human guiding machine. Ren saw him as a young child who wanted to live amidst That Esper's abuse, Hyoseop saw hope and the goodness in humankind in Ren. It was that belief he clung onto the movement of time that, eventually, Andante would trust Hyoseop and welcome him in his life.

Just talk? Well, let's see how to verbalize one's years worth of trauma, abandonment, and confinement in order to show their vulnerability to their 'supoosed lover'. Andante has such grand goals, to what extent would a replaceable guide's dead past would concern Andante? That ex Esper is long gone, why must Andante concern himself over the dead?

Just talk? Let's see how to plead for affection when one's eyes are telling enough of how much distance exists between them. Andante sees Hyoseop no more than an object to display in his grasp, whereas Hyoseop revers Andante as a bright symbol of heroism and affection - after all, Andante love bombs him, and a child so deprived of affection would welcome something so sweet and warm.

Just talk? Well... Let's see how to confidently word that you were a child taken in from a human trafficking monastery to be groomed by adults of much greater power than your child self. Hyoseop has been living his whole life used, that one would wonder why he has yet to be dried out of love. It is because people like Andante exists. He is so bright and warm, that Hyoseop could only fall harder each time he dares to step out of his league and reach for the sun.

I personally appreciate the novel dragging it out. I enjoyed reading through the micro expressions and details, I also enjoyed the tidbits of inner monologue, the anxiety of it al and the back and forth decisions. It really shows that there are individuals who should never be trusted to be in a relationship, and Hyoseop never should have fallen for Andante. But he still does because he's just human who has that much trust in the world around him, and even if it was snot his fault, he learned the hard way that when things fall apart, the blame would always fall onto him.

HOWEVER, I would say that the novel, if compared to other novels, is quite mid. It is good on its own, but not as impressive to be on par with plenty other novels. For anyone who would like to read the novel from scratch, please do so but do not expect top-tier plot arcs and development. It is more simple and straightforward, if I had to describe the novel. It clearly highlights the pivotal points of the protagonist's life, as well as some deeper aspects of his indecisiveness, but it is not as revolutionary when it comes to exploring one's psyche or in terms of introspective writing.

The novel is something you can appreciate if you like digging through a focused character psyche, and it is a novel you would appreciate reading if you also enjoy imagining future scenarios and possibilities through reading between the lines. If you take the novel at face value, you will not appreciate it and will only notice the length of the so-called chasing arcs. If you take the novel at mere reputation/image of being the miscommunication brand, you will not appreciate nor notice the themes of power imbalance being subtly referred and narrated in this story.

Again, the novel is not revolutionary, but it is a decent read. Personally, the Hyoseop's switch from a guild to the association arc is something I also do not agree with, I think I found it a little lacking in terms of development and perhaps it could have been written better or executed better, otherwise it crossed my mind that it may be better to have never existed in writing in the first place. But the rest of the arcs were quite valid to me and definitely felt justified.

Anyways, with how the manhwa has adapted the story, I'll let this marinate a bit and look forward to seeing Andante's frustration, anger, realization, and guilt in visual form! I also can't wait to see Hyoseop smile comfortably too.

I feel like that one Taeju side panel where he internally puts a gun to his head, strangles himself, and drinks bleach or something.

Also, one small thing I noticed, or maybe there is a gap in my memory, but wasn't Hyoseop still in bed when Andante woke up in the novel? From what I recall, Andante woke up earlier and he was still able to see Hyoseop, it was after that (or they had another conversation) that Hyoseop left and never came back.

Anyways, I already had a long post talking about this story. All I can just say now is that Andante still pisses me off. I love how this story keeps narrating how he purposely used Hyoseop, like how many times does he have to emphasize how Hyoseop was just an ideal tool that turned into his object of obsession and desires. This mfer really needs to know that one river in Egypt.

I really felt like my heart drank bleach when Hyoseop was dead-eyed but the light came back so fast when Andante ran over and hugged him. Like Hyoseop is so down bad, the slightest kindness makes him fold, DSM-5 must be shaking at how Hyoseop displays every textbook dependent and attachment disorders.

Also spoilers for Novel, does Hyoseop never really outline what happened to him in the past to Andante? I feel like I'm in denial about it because that was way too glossed over in writing. I'm kind of hoping the manhwa adapts that part a bit more in-depth. It was a bummer reading that Andante just pieced signs and some pieces of evidence to figure out Hyoseop's past, but I also doubt Hyoseop is the type to talk about that in detail. Considering those two matters, there is no one else alive to tell Hyoseop's truth about the time when he was bond-captive. Although I haven't finished the side stories, I was wondering if anyone has an idea of it.

This is a bit... Rushed, I think.

But can't deny how ukeful and fluffy Flynn's design is. He's so cute, such a waste he has to end up with this bipolar asshat. If they end up getting married they'll be the couple that gets divorced after 3 months.

Stunning art style with the best facial expressions as always god bless them. They are so cute I wish they are always happy.

Reading some of the older comments has made me realize that there really are people who should never be trusted to socialize with adolescents who have been groomed. The blame on MC is, not gonna lie, awful.

Hyoseop was groomed. If you're one of the people who kept dragging on how naive, gullible, and stupid he is, maybe try living being a caged human battery slave in your childhood - specifically puberty, a great significant part of your life for emotional and psychological development - let's see if you don't live absolutely brain dead afterwards. This kind of blueprint creates adolescents who are full of fear and disdain or absolutely full of hate and aggression, hyoseop is the former (avoidant personality type, anxious type, people pleaser and all that). He is a textbook groomed victim.

Imagine, your entire life is a lie and a tragedy. Your parents died and you were then sheltered in a monastery that was supposed to keep you safe, instead, it was just a disguise and the monastery was a human trafficking den. Every single good memory you may have built in your childhood is absolutely ruined. Every single decision you thought that made you independent only snowballed into your ultimate demise. Nothing went right.

Not to mention, the firsthand experiences being bonded against his will, being the object of someone's obsession (and that someone was a person of great power physically and psychologically over him). And the one person who looked out for him and urged him to escape, the only one who opened his eyes to how twisted the entire situation is, died before him. Died all because that good man had to do a good deed to Him, Hyoseop, the pitiful kid. Hyoseop, who has had a streak of being the scapegoat of everyone's incompetency, will immediately believe he is the sole reason of that good guy's death.

The one time that something went right, Hyoseop witnessed that good man's death before his eyes. I don't think a person who has lived that kind of life would ever trust himself or believe he's worth being loved. I mean, if you had enough self respect, he wouldn't have tolerated how Andante treats him.

"I don't want any esper to die (I feel responsible for other people's lives even if I am not exactly involved)"

"I trust him (he needs me, I want to keep fulfilling his expectation)'

Hyoseop is just comforting himself with the tiny hope the guild will warm up to him, or at least that Andante gets to see him beyond as a guide. He thinks so awfully low of himself, he feels his only worth is to fulfill his end of the deal and and go beyond it without asking much for return.

I usually am all for the smug and mischievous Blondies - Sung Hyunjae from S-Class is a top-tier smug blonde for example - but Andante is particularly... uncomfortable? You get angry that Hyoseop misunderstood you? Who was it that started hiding things? Who was it that never informed about new possibilities and plans? Who was it that never had Hyoseop in the loop? Andante seems so pressed on his desire over Hyoseop, you would think there was the effort to actually have Hyoseop as an equal individual in his life, not some prize token or trophy. Hyoseop's actions is a consequence of Andante's lack of trust on Hyoseop, other than that, the lack of even respecting Hyoseop as a member of the guild and as a guide.

In my honest opinion, there's a difference with Hyoseop hiding the mating bond mark from Andante hiding his long lost brother in an SS Class dungeon. Hyoseop revealing his bonded mark won't kill him, but Andante not revealing it could literally lead to Andante's death and Hyoseop wouldn't even know. There is just a great disparity on the burdens both people carry.

Andante just doesn't hit the right spots. He acts similar to the template smug blondes, but his decision making is completely different. The way he thinks and works is what puts me off. If I had to work with someone like him, I'd honestly resign or ask to be transferred to a different team to save myself the trouble of overthinking. Imagine, you're working as a team and the team lead themselves doesn't keep you in the loop? Yeah, I'd be pissed as hell.

Not to mention, Hyoseop hasn't even resolved his trauma. He's just burying it all and letting time make the pain more tolerable to acknowledge.

I also wanted to add one last point. It doesn't matter whether Hyoseop misunderstood Ano being Andante's lover or whatever, the fact that the entire guild felt and looked complete with Ano was enough information for Hyoseop to draw a conclusion he never had space in their little found family. And even if the guild did have space for Hyoseop, someone who never belonged anywhere will not understand it. It isn't a simple 'Andante is throwing me aside' instead it's, 'I have no worth to the people in this place, anywhere here.'

Anyways, overall, it's a great story. Pacing is pretty good. I like the dynamics between characters. Although because there's quite a lot of characters their relationships feel underdeveloped aside from Hyoseop and Andante. Considering that Andante has already achieved the SS Class Dungeon, and the famed Chasing Arc is going to start soon, we'll see a lot more character development and relationship progress between characters which I'm pretty excited about!

It's been over 60+ chapters but it feels like Hyoseop has no real connections here. Like he's a third party or an outsider of his own story. I don't know if anyone has got that feeling where you're reading from an outsider's perspective. As if you're watching a car crash you can't fear your eyes from. That's why I'm looking forward to (many more misunderstandings) and Hyoseop's development and how he'll even patch the broken trust in his relationship with Andante.

I also wonder how Andante would react to Hyoseop's past? I'm really curious.

I agree with the other comments. There is a high possibility that he has 2 babies. The fact that YW is desperate to keep HW's tiny pheromones from the coat, and the fact he's welcoming SH's pheromones means that he likely has 2 babies, one that needs HW's pheromones and the other one that needs SH's pheromones

OR, possibly, that there is only 1 baby, most likely SH's but YW is emotionally bonded to HW that's why he continues to want HW's pheromones. It doesn't make sense other way around because there is no way YW is emotionally bonded to SH.

I'm thinking about how in omegaverse, it's common for pregnant omegas to have pheromone rejection from pheromones of alphas that aren't related, but so far YW hasn't rejected both alphas. He has shown passing out from strong alpha pheromones from the previous incident but it's pretty brief considering it also has drugs in the equation.

To be honest, both MLs are kind of crap choices. Emotionally, the child will have trouble settling in society if HW continues doing illegal business, but if the baby grows under the environment of SH, it will be raised with little to no love despite financial security. In both options, the child will be lacking plenty aspects that would make them a well-rounded individual in society.

Still, love can't put food on our table, nor can it out a roof over our head. Love doesn't pay the bills as well. Considering that YW's family is just middle class, it won't be wise for YW to raise a child while having full support of his family who has other problems to worry about. YW needs the most logical option that is literally open for acceptance. The prosecutor will give him financial security, social security, and even ensure well development of the child. Downside is the absence of love and happiness.

It's a bittersweet happy ending.

I'll play the devil's advocate again. This is my personal experience. I have been in the position of being the one to 'call quits' and being the one to be left behind. Platonically, if that is any relevant.

I was friends with someone since I was in fifth grade, that person called quits when I was in college. That pain is something I still carry heavy in my heart, yet on the strange coincidences we meet by chance, they have lived their lives farther than I can imagine, and much happier. Until now, I still feel like a shell of my old self - a particular hollow feeling that I can never fell, an absence left behind by that special friend.

And there's a portion of myself, who called quits on someone. We were friends for years, even longer than the previous one. I was confident, I resolved it in myself, I easily let go of the pain and looked ahead when I parted ways with them. It felt easy, it felt like I could breathe again. And on the days we cross paths, I see parts of them I only knew that still looked broken and hollow.
For the person who first calls quits, it feels like a burden finally being ripped from your heart. The sharp pain will soon be followed by immediate relief. For the person who is left behind, there's an absence you have to endure for a long time. Something that may or may not heal.

How does this affect my analysis on the latest chapters regarding SR and JH?

Why does it look like JH have it "worse", why can't he just "grow up" and "mature" just like SR? Remember, life isn't all about who has it worse. It's who gets to live to the fullest. By the end of your borrowed time, the only thing that you can hold onto is the memories and experiences you've kept.

"But the truth is, I knew exactly where to hurt you the most. Because I knew you too well." That single line is the deliverer. It's exactly that line that tips the scale - the reason why their friendship ends there. Not because they can never understand each other nor is it because they've so-called 'fought', but because they've /weaponized/ each other's weakest point. The moment you use someone's weakness against them, you have gone to a point of no return. If they had punched each other, that would just be roughhousing - a little anger, some fists. But they dug so deep into each other's psychological and emotional wounds because they knew /exactly/ what would hurt the most.

SR was well aware, JH knew but lashed out in anger. SR has weaponized JH's weakness with clear intent to hurt him. JH weaponized SR's weakness in an attempt to get even. Both with full intent to hurt each other, but there is this very subtle difference between them. Take for instance murder. Person A plans, prepares and executes the murder on Person B (but Person B survives). Whereas Person B was a victim of Person A's murder attempt and so Person B gets back after figuring out which method could hurt the most. It's not self defense, it's revenge, and rvenge, more often than not, results from cowardice and the extreme fear and desire to survive and keep your spot in society. You need to reclaim your face, your identity, your reputation - so you resort to revenge.

SR has realized it then on the day JH lashed out, he realized then how much he had hurt JH. That was the last chance to redeem their friendship. If maybe only one weaponized the other, maybe there was hope. But JH was pushed to a corner of SR's own doing, and SR has no other choice but to realize that both of them won't do each other any good moving forward. They knew each other from the inside out, and they both know how flawed and full of hate both were. There had too much fear and anger in both of them, who knows when the next time they'd use their weakness against them again? It hapened once, who's to say it won't happen again?

I also want to look back on the panel when SR cries. I think there were 2 particular reasons on his tears. One where the weakness he tries so hard to bury resurfaces, and two, where he realizes that the one person who's trusted him so much like a little puppy has grown into a vengeful person. If I wanted to take a deep dive, if I were in SR's place experiencing all that - I would have hated myself. I was too late in salvaging this friendship I was so desperate in keeping. I was too late in salvaging this friendship that I had grown so mad over the fact my friend won't make me his priority. I was so invested to keep my friend all to myself, I ended up pushing him to a corner and turned him into someone who hates himself even more than before. It would crush me. It would crush my heart and my soul if I had turned someone I cherish into someone so broken all because I willingly and intently weaponized their weakness.

I'm not saying SR is at fault here. Nor is JH any better either. I just want to ruminate on how both had clear motives and intents, but the cause of each event had particularly different roots. And I wanted to weigh on the difference of being the one who leaves first, and as the one who is left behind. As someone who holds on, and as someone who chases.

If there's anything I was happy that didn't happen, it was the possibility of SR jumping off or SR ending up with worse kinds of people. But the happy chance where the aunties find him was the biggest change. When one door closes, another opens. The four years SR and JH spent together may have ended, but SR realized then that his life has yet to end. He's seen there are still other great people ahead, and even better - they were sensible and responsible adults. The kinds of people SR never would've expected. SR has started to move on with his life, he has to let go after all. The last thing he has to do is to be the one to leave someone behind, to part ways clean and sharp.

It might've taken a little while, but little JH has also found his very important person too, Uyun. Eventually, he found himself opening up to a bunch more people.

Lastly, can I just say I miss SR already? I wish we get to see him again, but regardless, I'm happy. Little SR has definitely left that house and maybe now he's found his home and the found family he wants to cherish and protect. He's finally spread his wings as his name was intended to be.