I find it interesting that people really think that a person like Yeonhwa could change. Her behaviour in the last installment made it clear that Yeonhwa is probably a sociopath with little to no empathy for others. She tortured and raped two girls repeatedly, one of which was her sister, and showed no remorse for her actions when confronted with the severity of her crimes. Yeonhwa is very clearly a dangerous character.
However, sociopaths are not without feeling. Some are able to develop tenderness for a select few people and are able to act human, natural around these people with the goal of deceiving others. An example of someone like this is Ayeon who was utterly oblivious to what Yeonhwa was doing up until the very end of the series. Yeonhwa made a point of only showing a heroic and endearing side of herself that she knew would appeal to Ayeon. She treated no one else with that same respect because it is simply not in her nature to do so.
Fast forward to now, where she is romantically involved with Yeonyoung who has captured her interest. Yeonhwa is probably doing everything in her power to appear normal to Yeonyoung, for all we know. We have yet to truly see things from her perspective. So far, we've only seen her through Dahye and Yeonyoung's eyes, both of which are bias and unreliable parties.
If Dahye were to strike back at Yeonhwa for all the trauma that has added up to intimacy issues, insomnia, and both sleeping and waking nightmares, she would be well within her rights. Because sociopaths do not--cannot--change. Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.
Yeonwha wasn't a psychopath. She was a Sadist. And she never raped anyone. Sexually assaulted? Sure, but did she rape anyone? No, I think even she draws the line on that. While Yeonwha saw pleasure in inflicting pain in others, she only found that pleasure in people she truly loved. She truly loved Yoo, Dahye, and Sohwa. She just expressed that love in a very questionable way. She saw those she loved as her blatant property, as toys she could play around with. But that doesn't mean she didn't love them. She most certainly did but was just not right in the head. Her fetishes ultimately corrupted her and she ended up seeing that as her way to express them. At this point, it seems that she has gotten the help that she's desperately been needing. I do think she's changed. After all, Ayeon was the one who made her realize that you can love without inflicting pain and objectifying them, so she definitely did have the capabilities of actually changing. But, it will be fascinating to see her slowly take that mask off. After all, old habits die hard.
Also, we know she didn't rape Dahye for sure cuz she's still a virgin even right now
Very nearly everything you just said is wrong.
In order, Yeonhwa was absolutely a sociopath. She was likely also a sadist, I'll give you that.
Yes, she did rape Dahye. Unquestionably. Non-consenting sexual intimacy is rape. Yeonsoo was dubious, but only because Yeonhwa had conditioned her to be extremely codependent. You saw how messed up she was even after she got free of Yeonhwa.
Yeonhwa got pleasure from manipulating others. If pain came with that, so be it, but the root was her sociopathy. Sociopathy differs from psychopathy primarily due to the dehumanization of others. It's more malicious than psychopathy because sociopaths often see other people like toys rather than just failing to empathize with them.
Even if it was love, and I'm inclined to admit that she probably "loved" Sohwa, it wasn't human love. They were her favorite toys. That's not "love" as you mean it, and it certain doesn't make any of the things she did because of it forgivable.
Yeonhwa was not right in the head, I'll give you that. She likely still isn't.
"Fetishes" is a horrible excuse, and I refuse to even dignify that with more than telling you it's absolutely false. My other refutations should together give you a sense of why.
Yeonhwa might have sought help, though likely not of her own volition. Medication cocktails, especially ones that involve potent antipsychotics like Yeonhwa would need, can be borderline hellish to maintain and are far, far from foolproof. Therapy would do little more than teach her an act to put on to pass as normal.
There was no indication of what you describe with Yeonhwa and Ayeon in the previous series. Nothing. On top of that, there has been nothing whatsoever to indicate that Dahye is "still" a virgin, or whether she was a virgin to begin with, in either series.
Thank you for saying what I've been thinking this whole time.
This was intended for the original post of the topic, not my reply to the previous reply directly above it. I realize now it kind of looks like hilariously botched sock-puppeting, but that wasn't the intent.
"If Dahye were to strike back at Yeonhwa for all the trauma that has added up to intimacy issues, insomnia, and both sleeping and waking nightmares, she would be well within her rights."
Not really. If that was the case then Ayeon has the right to show up on her doorstep and beat her as$ everyday. I always thought Dahye got off too easy at the end of the first series so seeing her with lasting trauma is pretty much a form of punishment she deserves. Let's not forget Dahye was more than just a simple bully: she physically abused Ayeon on a regular basis and manipulated and set up Sohwa to get raped just to get evidence against Yeonwha (she didn't care what happened to her). The only difference between Dahye and Yeonwha is that the former thought more of her image so was more fearful of getting caught and being in trouble, while Yeonwha didn't care about consequences at all. They're both psycho b!tches through and through though.
Oh and it's interesting that Dahye still hasn't shown any kind of remorse for what she did in the past. She's simply fixated on the fact that someone else actually messed with her. And really at this point, her and Yeonwha are practically the same in that they're both rapists now too: threatening someone so they'd sleep with you is still rape afterall.
Did anyone else notice that Dohee was the one who got the only happy ending in this comic? It looks like she got the short end of the stick by getting fully rejected by Yoona and Sunwoo, but it is from this rejection that she is finally given the opportunity to grow, rather than be stifled by Yoona's apathy.
On the other side of the spectrum we have Jia who is essentially trapped in an abusive and tumultuous relationship with Yoona who struggling with some form of post-traumatic stress disorder that has led her to dissociate from those around her, even people who care for her. Sunwoo is being obsessed over by a spoiled rich kid who torments him on a regular basis. Jaehyuk is destined to become like his father, obsessing over someone even when they are emotionally unavailable to them.
Dohee ended up being the healthiest out of the entire cast by being (forcefully) ejected from Yoona and Sunwoo's lives. I'd say for that reason this comic barely avoided becoming a complete tragedy.
Sunwoo like jia. But the kid that always with him obsessed with him. And yeahhhh jia is the most pitiful fl in history.. being trapped by that psycho girl
Keum Kyesoo mentioned that she will come out with a new comic, so I'm assuming she was hasty to finish this one. I look forward to her new work. She knows how to build up a story, at least. I hope that that is GL as well!
I know, but I would have preferred a proper ending for Serenade. It was such a great story. TT TT
She knows how to build a great story, just so she could destroy it in one single chapter....Lol...Kyesoo didn't know how to perpetuate it...
It doesn't make sense to me, that she created such a good story and had to basically abandon it at the end, because she is in such a hurry to start another one...
I agree but this is her first story. Hopefully next time she will end it properly...HOWEVER..maybe she had some issues with that website she been posting her stories on but didnt want to mention it to her fan to cause any problems.
Since there protests going between Lezhin and its authors, there is a good possibility she finished her story in a hurry, just to close it and end her contract with Lezhin, perhaps this is the reason.
After rereading WAHNW, I noticed a few things that intrigued me. First and foremost, Dahye is very obviously getting all of her "strange" tastes from being constantly raped by Yeonhwa. Her affinity for choking and biting were all actions done on her by Yeonhwa in the previous series. Also--and this is pretty interesting-- it is hinted at the end of Chapter 1 that Dahye roleplays rape with her (now ex) girlfriend, something that is apparently common in victims of rape. It is a way of regaining control in what was an extremely traumatizing event in their lives. As Dahye is known for having a superiority complex, it's no surprise that she feels compelled to redo the event where she is the one assaulting Yeonhwa, not the other way around (with no safe words, it seems).
Secondly, Dahye is just as much of a sociopath as Yeonhwa. It was a bit hard to put the pieces together at first as there were times I would have weeks in between chapters. After reading it all in one go, I could see that Dahye may have an actual personality disorder. She will appear normal, human when she feels it suits her, but at the first sign of being bored, she lets her more belligerent lackeys torment utterly vulnerable girls such as Ayeon and Yoonseo, both of which showed Dahye nothing but kindness beforehand. Dahye's reasoning is that they annoyed her.
She bullied and manipulated her older sister into doing what she wanted, knowing perfectly well that Mihye would do anything for her due to her crippling guilt. Dahye faked kindness flawlessly, only to easily betray the trust of people who, frankly, didn't deserve her ire at all. The most glaring example was when she used Sohwa, a hapless child, as bait for Yeonhwa so that she could catch Yeonhwa assault her sister on camera. When Mihye confronted her about it later on, Dahye flippantly reasoned that Sohwa disgusted her because she reminded her of Yeonhwa.
This tendency of using and disposing of others is still very present in this series. When her girlfriend walks out on her, Dahye calls her a "bitch" and says that she doesn't need her anymore now that she has the "real thing". She is more than willing to destroy the life of Yeonyoung who, to her, is nothing but a Yoonseo 2.0 with a little more self-respect. People are nothing but chess pieces to Dahye, a common trait of sociopathy.
Indeed, Dahye lived in the shadow of her sister and maybe that's what messed her up, but it could be she was just born broken. So, in that regard, she is perfect for Yeonhwa.
I kinda like it the idea of Yeonhwa and Dahye being together but it intrigued me in WAHNW does Dahye want Yeonhwa's attention because deep down she really do like Yeonhwa
Well no matter how it goes as long as it keeps me hooked I don't care what happens to any of the characters can't seem to get attached to any of them anyway.Still good story and glad that I am hooked because this is the first manga that I have NO IDEA how it will go.