prince zuko's Favorite

Damn, I reread chapter 18, and the way Dojin made Hyesung immobile and then raped him was awful. It reminded me of how sometimes when girls try to break up with their boyfriend or husband, and they respond by beating them and then raping them for even thinking about leaving. I don't know why you all think Dojin is so great, he's repeatedly ignored Hyesung's no the entire story. Dojin is a rapist, and yet all of you are falling for him being sweet all the other times when he's not raping Hyesung. And then hating on Hyesung when he's just being a young kid who's been traumatized, abandoned and hurt his whole life, and you expect him to be in love with his rapist? Y'all are whack.

I don't want to upset anyone or have a fight but I was thinking about the discussion about Joowon being an abuser or not.
I see people calling the relationship abusive and I see people defending Joowon of the charges because they started like that and Haesoo always accepted and in Joowon's eyes he wasn't 'walking over Haesoo'.
I was wondering if abuse is abuse only when the person has a deliberate intention to harm or abuse the other. In broad terms, the answer is no. Religious parents who think they are doing what is right by refusing to take their kids to a hospital because of faith are prosecuted for abuse... In their eyes, they had no intention to abuse. From the kid's pov, well, he may be dead.
Almost all defense of Joowon goes something like that 'I don't excuse Joowon's actions but .... " and they usually say he is misunderstood or that he hurts too ( jealousy) or that he is not an abuser because he loves Haesoo or he is immature, etc. Anyway, first, that is actually called exculpatory evidence so either they realize or not, they are excusing Joowon's behavior. Not that they are wrong in giving exculpatory evidence, after all, when you are judging someone, their defense attorneys will present things to argument for their lack of guilty or excuse them. I saw people say that he coercing Haesoo to give him a blow job should not be seen as abusive since he offered to do the same so abusers don't do that. .... what is a weird approach to me because it's like saying someone who forces sex on you is not abusing you if he offers himself for sex too.... The point is that Joowon do what he wants, no matter if Haesoo wants it or not ( and we saw this glimpse of behavior in the previous scene when he buys clothes that he likes for Haesoo even though Haesoo doesn't want or like the style).
Anyway, back to the 'It feels like abuse but I don't think he meant it like that' .... I think this links to the same question: 'Is every abuser a monster?' I don't think so. There are shades of grey in this. Does Joowon needs to be a full blown monster for people qualify him as abusive? Does Joowon has any awareness that what he does is harmful? We can dwell on this but I think Joowon introduction about being an asshole and his vision that people are either predator or prey should be taken in consideration here. This is already a person who' thinks in terms of either you dominate and control or you are dominated and controlled. So Joowon's seems more like someone who has a natural sense of entitlement that he will own his partner and if he finds a docile 'willing' partner, he may not think that what he is doing is a big deal. Most people assign abuse to horrible people so it's hard to call someone charming and that has tenderness moments as abusive. And let's be frank, being hot helps a lot. Joowon would have almost zero fans willing to 'understand' him if the author had draw a gross looking guy saying 'Don't fall for me because I won't fall for you' to someone who they seduced and keep as lover or any other thing Joowon does it that makes Haesoo harm himself. An ugly asshole is never 'misunderstood', they are just assholes.
Maybe asking 'If it's not intentional, it's still abuse?" does not make sense to ask. It depends on what you mean by intent and how much the person has empathy enough to feel the pain from the other without being told (or pushed or screamed or slapped back to notice). From Haesoo's point of view, he is being walked over and he certainly suffers the most with their dynamic. From Joowon's POV, they are just have the same 'fun' that they always did. Still someone in this pair is left emotionally drained and broken while the other, in comparison, sounds more adjusted and okay with it. Of course there is Haesoo's role in his own misery. Just like with Joowon's fault, Haesoo also has his grey scale in that. If you are sympathetic with Haesoo you may see his behavior as typical abused person who stays by the person who hurts them because they adjust to the person they love to get any affection they can get... Or you can defend Haesoo's by pointing that it seems he does objects a lot and complains although he ends up submitting in the end, it shouldn't take an outburst for Joowon to stop.
Anyway, I don't have a good argument either. Personally, I think that every relationship with a lopsided power imbalance where one person dominates and control and the other ends in submission not because they enjoy it ( some people do enjoy their role) is inherently abusive, sometimes light or heavier. If Joowon's lack of basic empathy (he doesn't see the obvious) or awareness makes his 'abuse' less accountable is a valid point too, I guess. So maybe both sides are right, depending if you look from Joowon's POV or Haesoo. Either way, this is a couple where one is on the verge or a breakdown and the other sees their relationship going so well that they are ready to put on rings. ╮(￣▽￣)╭

BJ Alex Ch 62 translation:

--narration--
"dialogue"
'thoughts'
*scene/emotion description*











*******BJ Alex logo *******
Ch 62


*panel of morning sunlight beaming through the window*

*panel of jiwon sleeping on the bed*

*jiwon wakes up and opens his eyes*

Jiwon: "Ah..."
*gets up*
"I'm thirsty..."
*gets off the bed and begins to walk over to get water*
*notices clothes on the floor*

Jiwon: "...!"
*begins to pick up a trail of clothes*
"Why did I undress like this?!"

*puts them in the washing machine*

*drinks water*

Jiwon: "Pwah.." (T/N: sfx of finishing the sip of water.)

*stares out into space*
"....."

*Sudden realization. Shudder, eyes widen*
"!!!!!!"

*jiwon dashes back into the room*

*sees DG sleeping in his bed*

Jiwon thinking: *he's surprised and it finally hit him what happened last night* *blushing* '...That's right!!' 'Yesterday I confessed to Donggyun...'

*him slumped over on the wall*
'Why the hell did I do that?!'
*panel of him recalling himself confessing at the cafe*
'I just wanted to bring your umbrella.'
'I shouldn't have done that'
"I really told him" *still in disbelief*

'I don't know what to do now. If I didn't confess I would have been miserable'
'but if Namdonggyun rejected me it would have hurt even more. I don't even want to imagine it.'

*Jiwon walking out of the room trying to wrap his thoughts together*
"Shit...I'm still happy I did it though. I have to get out of here for a second" (T/N: as in just the room. he's going to just unwind his thoughts and get decent. lol)

*moments later*

*Panel of DG sleeping*

*DG slowly opens his eyes and wakes up*

*tosses over. still groggy.*

DG: "mmhm..."

"Ah?"

*panel of them doing it ;) DG recalling it*

DG: "Ah... Yesterday..." *blushes*

*DG slowly realizes* (T/N: lol they're both suffering post-passionate-sex syndrome LOL)

DG thinking: 'No freaking way!' *grabs the pillow and hugs it. Restless*
'He confessed to me...'

'I wanted to do it... no matter what.'
*DG recalling kissing him in the cafe*

'so he really loves me..'
'Is this a dream?!'

DG: "Is this reality..."
* gets up from bed swiftly*

"AH!"
*pain from hips hit*

*crash*
DG: "WOAH~!"

*jiwon drying his hair. Finished showering was in the living room*

Jiwon: "!"

*Jiwon enters the room in a hurry*

Jiwon: What happened?!"

DG thinking: *from the floor next to the bed* 'This pain is real..'
DG: "Hah...well my hips hurt.."

*DG looks at Jiwon*
*Jiwon looks at DG*

"....."

*they both advert their eyes in embarrasment*

DG and Jiwon thinking: 'This is awkward'

DG: "haha..G-good moring."
Jiwon: "ahem.."

*jiwon walks over to DG*

Jiwon: "Can you stand?"

DG:" Yeah. I can walk by myself."

"Uh, Sunbae... Where are my clothes?"

Jiwon: "Clothes?"

*Sudden realization that he threw DG's clothes in the wash as well*

*chibi gag form*
Jiwon: "Ah!"

"Your clothes are in the wash"

DG: "Everything?"

Jiwon: "Everything!"

DG: *covering himself* "Soo...what should i wear now?!
*end chibi form*

*Jiwon walks over to his closet*

Jiwon: "Go shower and I'll look for something and leave the clothes by the door"

DG: "Okay."

*They both sneak a glance at each other before DG goes off to shower. Blushing*



*panel of shower door*
*panel of clothes laid out for DG*

DG: "Ah.." *as he's putting on clothes. Panel shows him looking down*

"Sunbae?"

*DG walks out only wearing the top part of the loungewear*

"The pants are too big for me..."

*zoom in onto DG's crotch area slightly exposed underwear*

"Do you have another pair of pants?"

Jiwon: *blushing. Gulp* "....."

"No, that's the smallest one"

DG: "Ah, okay. I'll just wear the top then"

Jiwon: "Mm." (T/N: a sound for okay)

Jiwon: "Do you want some...rice?"

DG: "Uh yeah? Sure."

*moments later*

*panel of empty plates*

DG: "Uwah..that was delicious"
"You're such a good cook!"

Jiwon: "It's just something simple"

*awkward silence*

DG: "So...what's am I going to do about my clothes?"

Jiwon: "it'll be awhile until the clothes dry."

DG: "Sunbae are you busy today?"

Jiwon: "No, I'm on break"

DG: "Then.."

*places his hands on the table and stands up. excited*

"Would it be okay if I stay here with you today?"

"There's a lot of things we didn't talk about for all this time."
"I wan't to talk with you about them!"
*DG brightening up. Excited like a puppy. lol*

Jiwon: "...!" *taken aback. embarrassed* "Eh?!"

*slumps down hiding his face* "...yeah whatever"

DG: "Really?!"

Jiwon thinking: 'he asks if we can just "talk"...' (T/N: just a passby statement. He was just thinking dirty lol)

--------------TBC--------------

I work overnights when chapters come out and it was a busy weekend at the hospital so I only got to translating just now.
I will try and translate every friday when it comes out, if not I'll get it out by sunday night (very late at night).



Wonder what they're going to talk about. Maybe finally we get some answers and developments on how their relationship is going to go about. :D