The damage of love withheld is a consistent theme, but out of all the characters, I feel that only Jisung and Choah felt genuine love for anyone. Both Yusaran and Mujin were raised in emotionally abusive environments and nobody modeled how to love either family or lovers to them.
Jisung did have lingering feelings for Choah, but interfered more out of concern than jealousy, and as we found out, rightly so. He accepted that they weren’t going to get back together and always tried to help Choah as a friend and mentor.
Choah genuinely loved, cared for, and supported both Jisung and Mujin when he was dating them respectively, and in terms of all the skeletons in Mujin’s closet, forgave and accepted far more than most would. The only time he wavers is when he learns about how Mujin killed his family, and even then he hesitates to truly end it.
Yusaran definitely felt strong affection and a certain degree of awe/reverence for Mujin, but was it love or emotional codependency? He knew that his feelings were unrequited through no fault of Mujin’s but was so enraged by his relationship that he violently interfered. He didn’t care about Mujin’s choices or emotions, he just wanted to sabotage a relationship he was jealous of.
Choah was assaulted by both Yusaran and the Baekrang, but things may have gone very differently if not for Mujin’s lies. He only complied with Yusaran’s abuse because he made threats on Mujin’s life, and at that point Choah was under the impression he was a strong, but average person, not a powerful and accomplished warrior. If he had known Yusaran couldn’t harm Mujin, he would have been able to refuse. The incidents with Baekrang involved him trying to take advantage of Choah while he was drunk or feeling the effects of opium, and later on a bit of coercion. If he had known Mujin’s identity and history, it’s unlikely he would have let his guard down.
Mujin never cared as much about Choah’s safety or happiness as he did for his own possessiveness. And that’s where it all went downhill. He murdered all of Choah’s loved ones seemingly for the purpose of preventing them from trying to separate them and told countless lies. His self centeredness is what drove him to the violence that ultimately destroyed their relationship. Even when Baekrang referenced that he and Choah had a sexual encounter, he didn’t even question it or ask Choah, he just assumed it was true, then left his lover alone at the mercy of a psychopath for days on end. He showed his true colors. He never loved Choah. He wanted to own him, and that’s what he did once the relationship fell apart.
Fairy dude assaulted someone who was blackout drunk, then didn’t even stop once he woke up and told him to stop. I’m at the point where I might stop giving Korean comics a chance since almost every single one I read has SA bullshit
Why do Korean authors hate consent so much? It’s almost impossible to find adult comics that don’t have blackmail, abuse, exploitation, coercion, or assault by the prospective or endgame “love interest”. It’s no wonder women are boycotting men in South Korea if this kind of mentality towards sexual conduct is common.
I’ve seen so many complex characters, interesting plotlines, and unique concepts completely ruined by this horrible shit.
Is there some secret curse that causes Korean authors to drop dead if they write a story without gratuitous SA and abuse?
And another interesting comic down the drain because apparently authors can’t bear the thought of writing an X rated comic without rape. Seriously, what is the problem and why the constant insistence on trying to minimize/normalize SA?
Neither Naskaya or the dragon truly care for her. They both care more about owning her than supporting or loving her.
The dragon has consistently manipulated her life, forcing the dragon eyes on her, and worming his way in without actually winning her approval.they may not have a volatile relationship, but their marriage was against her will. He does things that cause a lot of stress and difficulty to her life without a second thought because he doesn’t mind as long as it drives a wedge between her and Naskaya.
Naskaya ignored all of his judgement and instincts to force her to marry the dragon for his personal gain, only to seethe with jealousy all the time. He makes logic based decisions that he can’t handle emotionally and emotional decisions that aren’t realistically feasible, then takes it out on her when things don’t work out.
Taesa may have taken care of her primarily out of love for her mother, but his affection for her is far more genuine than theirs is
Am I the only one who is sick of MC s getting paired with genuine psychopaths? There’s no actual romance here, just sex and emotional manipulation. Joong is written like a sociopath. He genuinely does not comprehend the emotions of other, lacks the capacity for empathy, and acts entirely selfishly even when it harms others without feeling any guilt. I’m pretty sure he’s diagnosable.
Yeong may care about Jeong and act on those emotions, but Jeong is only interested in what he can gain from Yeong’s affection. I’ve noticed that sociopathic behaviors often get normalized in bl comics, and narcissistic tendencies get normalized in both bl and straight comics from Korea (though self centeredness is common in depictions of straight relationships from everywhere).
There are so many comics where the shitty top only gets aware with their horrible actions because their victim is magically fine with it, doesn’t show any trauma responses, or just gets over it quickly. I’m just sick of this garbage.
Don’t bother reading, major abuse and multiple SA right out of the gate
1. Mc is forced to marry dragon guy against his will by both the dragon and his family
2. Dragon guy altered his body against his will, basically making a vagina/womb that causes weird side effects
3. Dragon guy proceeds to ignore the MC when he says no and stop repeatedly and physically assaults him
4. Dragon casts weird magic linking on the MC to connect his hole to a sex toy so the dragon cab basically fuck him even if they’re not even in the same place
Dragon did not receive consent or agreement for any of this, and never gave any warning in advance, just did whatever he wanted. Anyone who enjoys this should do some cold reflection because it is all SA
This is honestly gross. The ml is no better than his father who tried to buy Soorim as a sex slave. He knows that Soorim is emotionally vulnerable, traumatized, and has been groomed for many years, so he takes advantage by dangling his mother in front of him to get him to offer up sex (the only thing he has to offer), and consistently pressures him for more than he is comfortable with during the encounter.
He’s essentially just knowingly taking advantage of all the abuse, brainwashing, and grooming his captors inflicted on Soorim to get him to sleep with him, all while pretending that he’s somehow better than the human traffickers.
He made an offer to find the only person Soorim ever loved after he has been a captive since childhood (and even now) knowing full well that the only thing he could possibly have to offer is sex.
Just disgusting. What makes it even more disturbing is that he knows that Soorim has been manipulated and is emotionally/psychologically stunted due to trauma. He understands how vulnerable and damaged Soorim is and proceeded to use it to his advantage almost immediately.
Lol MLs will jump through flaming demon filled canyons, heinous battlefield, and the literal bowels of hell with zero hesitation, but piss themselves at the thought of actually communicating with the fl. I get that Rutger was raised poorly and had a lot of negative influences, but come on man. He spoke like 3 sentences to her the entire marriage and he wonders why she got the wrong idea.
Also it was the third marriage she was sold into, after one husband died and the other took their child and abandoned her, so yeah, she needed at least a little affection and reassurance
Dohyun is way too manipulative and controlling. It really ruins all of the other relationship developments and events between them. He deliberately tries to isolate Seohyun from existing and potential friends, has other people secretly keeping tabs on him, and even inserted himself into his home life (Seohyun’s mom seems to take Dohyun’s word over his without much thought).
He’s essentially a coward who would rather puppeteer or derail his friend’s social life to the point that he has no choice but to be with him than actually try to win him over and confess. He doesn’t want to risk rejection because he knows he won’t be taking no for an answer.
He has the audacity to throw a tantrum when Seohyun dares to hang out with other people or go somewhere without informing him, and paints Seohyun as the problematic one for his reaction when the entire situation was his doing in the first place.
And sure, Seohyun always forgives him, but that doesn’t alleviate how creepy he is. It illustrates how well his methods are working because he’s such a central part of his life that Seohyun has a hard time imagining life without him.
Abusive and violent relationships rarely start that way. They start with entitlement, possessiveness, and control, and things escalate from there. It’s just become clear that Dohyun gives zero thought to Seohyun’s happiness and only cares about owning and controlling him through any means.
That entire chapter was solely dedicated to Sienna catching a frog and an old woman publicly dragging her for being an orphan…
(●￣(ｴ)￣●)
I really love this story and their relationship, but sometimes I feel like the Femdom label gets used for any story where the woman isn’t just a blushing doormat in bed. She knows what she likes and wants, but it’s not like she’s actually trying to dominate him.
I think people conflate a female character actively pursuing her desires with her partner with Femdom when it’s just a normal person with opinions and a personality.
I feel like when it comes to sex, the fl just always being embarrassed and bashful about sex (no matter how often they do it and any prior experience) and taking her partner’s lead is way too normalized.
Why does the chosen one have to be a kid in high school?! The involuntary summoning premise is rough enough without marriage/reproduction pressure added in (these premises can be done well with some delicacy and nuance to neutralize the more problematic aspects) but on top of that the mc is child. Couldn’t get through the first chapter. Do not waste your time
Might be a hot take, but I still can’t see Rosephine as a true villain. All of her villainy stems from the cruelty and disregard of others. It’s been shown that her family regards her only as a tool to expand power, so she really doesn’t have any support. Dionel used her as an emotional replacement, let her think they were dating for two years, then dumped her in an extremely cruel way before immediately bringing in a replacement.
While there were definitely political factors, it seemed like she genuinely liked him as well. He was her primary partner at events, he let her use his money to get all sorts of stuff, he never corrected her when she talked like they were a couple, and he never did anything about the widespread rumors of their imminent engagement. It would have been stranger if she didn’t think they were in a serious relationship.
Both she, her family, and all of high society thought they would be getting married. Dumping her so suddenly was not only traumatic, but humiliating and severely damaged her reputation. Bringing in a new girl (and one who looked so similar to Rosephine) so quickly only added insult to injury.
And even after that her father put immense pressure in her to recover the relationship, despite how clearly Dionel had communicated his disregard for her and severed ties. She was spiraling and it was easier to blame the other woman when she A) seemingly had a decent relationship with him for two years until she appears and B) still needs an engagement with him.
Dionel literally gave them the exact same dress, which was bound to end in disaster… and most definitely created more friction and a publicly humiliating situation. I’m not saying she isn’t in the wrong for pushing someone down the stairs, but her entire villain arc could have been prevented if Dionel hadn’t used her and thrown her away like trash merely for his personal convenience, or if her family had actually cared about her beyond securing a royal marriage.
Rosephine’s entire story reminds me of those villainess time turner stories where the villainess belatedly realizes that everyone was manipulating/exploiting them and that all their previous actions were wrong, but they only realize too late.
I honestly feel bad for her even though some of her actions are inexcusable. She’s a circumstantial villain. If anyone in her life had respected or cared for her as a person, o thing ever would have escalated this far,
Woo kyung is definitely full of shit for demanding payment for for finding Soorim’s mother. He knows Soorim’s has no money, possessions, skills, or information that would be of use to him. He also knows that Soorim has a weird, unhealthy, and transactional perception of sex as he was essentially being prepared to become a concubine since he was young.
As such, Wookyung knew how desperate he would be and that he only had one thing to offer in exchange. He’s honestly really horrible for that. It seems like he hasn’t come to terms with his personal lust, so he created a situation that would make Soorim offer and insist, so he wouldn’t have to feel guilty about pursuing someone so vulnerable. He should feel guilty
Ml has not changed at all. While Yan is mentally regressed with amnesia he basically tried to rewrite history and groom him into a relationship while he’s vulnerable and unaware. He knows that Yan will not want to be with him once he regains his memories so he’s trying to permanently mark him now so he can’t leave later. This is the equivalent of getting a friend/acquaintance to sign marriage papers while they are mentally incapacitated after a serious accident. His top and only priority is still his wants, and he still doesn’t respect Yan.
He learned nothing. Yan rejected their relationship to the point of psychosis and self harm. If his memories come back, he learns that he lost his powers that gave him safety/autonomy are gone, and he is marked so he has no chance of another relationship is he going to settle in and be happy? Probably not. It’s more likely that he will turn to self harm or spiral into depression again.
I love how the constant onslaught of war and weight of protecting an entire nation by herself wasn’t enough to make the saintess give up, but an average life under modern capitalism was
Dropped it because I realized they’re in high school. How fucking hard would it be to set this in college?! I hate authors who do this so much ヽ(`Д´)ﾉ
Reaction to mana deficiency highlights the difference in experiences between new and old hunters.
So mana deficiency is a very severe, established medical condition. The primary symptoms are mental instability, headaches, weakness, self harm, and potentially suicidal tendencies. I think Seo running out of mana and all his teammates thinking it’s so novel and cute at first really speaks to how new hunters truly have no idea what the Revengers and old hunters had to endure and how difficult it was.
The level of shock and horror when they realize he can’t be healed to restore his mana really highlights how different things are. The are in an S class dungeon but they weren’t mentally prepared for the risk of death.
Seo and Dorim exerted themselves to the point of mana deficiency almost constantly for most of the time they were in the great dungeon, and it was likely a common experience for the others, which likely explains a lot of the suicides in the dungeon.
Dealing with mana deficiency on top of trauma must also be incredibly severe. If it’s directly blamed for the deaths of two Revengers, they either must have done it very soon after getting out of the Great dungeon or they must have gone into other dungeons after. We don’t know when mana potions became commonplace.
It also really speaks to Seo’s strength of mind that he was able to endure it for so long, and remain functional afterwards.
I really like how they actually tackle the trauma that hunters inevitably go through. There is also a generational gap. In most cases they just portray them as toughened, but not with particularly human reactions.
Hunters with the new upgraded system, abilities, and strategies can’t comprehend the struggles of the first generation. Out of only 4 survivors of the great dungeon, all of them had suicidal tendencies, two succeeded, one is incapacitated, and the last is just barely holding on. It’s apparently common for current hunters to turn to substances to cope.
I think a big factor is that nobody knows about the time stopping ability. It took them 300 years to clear the dungeon, so you can only imagine the accumulated trauma.