I'm ruined.
This story is so well done from a technical standpoint. You have parallels between characters and plot points left and right, you have panels that are so well done and impacting.
You have a compelling story and yet... you make the FL and ML meet when one of them is still underage, make the FL actively state that she saw the ML as a son. And even if you look past that (by pouring bleach in your head or just ignoring this fact), you still make them end up together after being so incredibly toxic to each other.
It's a shame. I commend you for being the first manhwa in years that actually made me feel like I was reading something with substance, and yet I hate you for everything mentioned above.
So, to recap for all of those who might be lost or confused:
Ines, Carcel and Oscar (the prince) are on their fourth life repeat. Oscar remembers all past 3 lives, Ines only the past 2 and Carcel is starting to remember bits and pieces of his past lives.
Ines and Carcel died in unfated ways during their first life, so they were reborn with no memories. However, they would have been allowed a gift (or wish), we don't know what they each asked for. Oscar (1st life) either died in an unfated way and made a wish to keep his memories (The same way Emiliano -the artist- did) or committed suicide and therefore kept his memories. Either way, this is what allows him to fuck things up so royally (heh) during their 2nd life repeat. We don't know Oscar's motivations, but I've read some spoilers from novel readers that mention something about Ines' brother planning a rebellion and that being the reason why Oscar goes after Ines in their 2nd life. It is also mentioned that during this 2nd life he becomes obsessed with Ines (possibly after she kills herself) ergo why he continues to pursue her in their 3rd and 4th lives. What started as revenge against her brother evolved into an obsession for Ines, that divulged into a need to torture all of them (Ines, her brother and Carcel). Carcel on the other hand, has probably gotten a wish at the end of each life but has never wished to keep his memories. Hence why Oscar calls him dumb in what seems to be their 2nd life (since he implies Ines doesn't remember either). This also suggests that Oscar didn't kill himself in the 1st life, he probably died in the rebellion and was so pissed that he wished to keep his memories so as to get his revenge.
So essentially, Oscar is the reason they all keep meeting unfated ends or killing themselves. Anastasio (an aid of God?) is the one who is now allowing Carcel to get some of his memories back, in an attempt to aid both Ines and him to get them out of this Loop their in.
In my opinion God shouldnt have put "keeping your memories" on the table at all, be it by wishing or commiting suicide. But maybe thats the lesson at the end of the day. Maybe they all need to die unfated deaths once more and choose to return with no memories so that they can meet their fated end. Idk, but this story is absolute gold either way.
If I understood the dynamic correctly, then I feel bad for Derrick. To an extent.
Now, before you lynch me, shit is still weird. But when you think about it, it makes sense. Derrick was older when Penelope was brought in, old enough to be less accepting of her, even without adding his guilt over losing Yvonne. Put those two together and it's no wonder he never saw her as his sister. To him, she was an unwelcomed intruder in his home. He more than likely didn't even spend a lot of time with her/didn't see her regularly. Time passes, suddenly she's different, he's intrigued by the change in her (or suspicious of her) and pays closer attention, enough to see her for the attractive woman she is and then, oh no, he finds her attractive. He knows it's wrong so he represses it, he makes wrong choices and keeps making wrong choices and now we're here.
He has no one to blame for his actions, save for himself. While you can't help who you like, you can definitely help how you react to it. And you can certainly get. Over. It.
So, way back when season 2 ended, I mentioned that Ray was probably over 400 yrs old. Since what I understood at the time was that he only remembered the lives from the point of Karen getting pushed by Dulan onwards. But NO, he remembers ALL of Karen's repetitions, even AFTER she's died.
So let's do some math. Karen began regressing at age 17, after that, she repeated the same year 100 times. When the manhwa begins, she states she's turning 117, meaning she's on her 100th regression. She then dies by getting pushed off the towar by Dulan, and regresses a further 4-5 times before the current time we're on. This means she's around 122-123 yrs old.
Ray, on the other hand, lived for longer in each of those regressions. It's not disclosed how much in each but he states that he once lived to his 70s. So, let's say he's lived an average of 50yrs per regression and he remembers ALL of the 104-105 regressions (123 minus de 17 natural years of Karen's life that weren't regressions).
My man is approximately 6,100yrs old. Unstable probably doesn't begin to cover it.
On another note, I'm also the dummy that once wrote a dissertation on Dulan not being the bad guy. Obviously I was wrong, and I'd like to blame the reddit novel spoilers I read. THAT SAID, there's still shit regarding Dulan that hasn't been revealed. Such as him supposedly pushing Karen off the tower on purpose knowing that it would lead to Ray starting to remember. Why would he do that? Also, apparently he does repent in the end, not that it would matter in my opinion, the damage is done. But yeah, questions still need answering in regards to Dulan.
Holy fuck he KEEPS living even after he dies (I mean it makes sense but still), that means he's probably already lived for longer than she has. Unless he decided to end things sooner some way, it's established that he lives to be an old man. So he could easily be over 400 years old by now.
Not only that we know that the reason it took 5 lifetimes for him to get to her was because (apart from her self exiting) the first couple of times it took home longer to remember. WHICH MEANS HE PROBABLY REMEMBERED AFTER SHE HAD ALREADY DIED.
So based on some spoilers I've seen, this is heading into Lady and the Beast levels of misunderstandings and emotional convilutedness, so.... I'm just gonna..... let it marinate for a looooooong while.
Cuz this to me means that it's gonna be good but also painful dragged out and waiting g every week will just make my head hurt, so yeah.
Nice use of symbolism with the ML rival offering to throw out the headphones then ending it with the shot of his coffee spilled on top of them in the trash.
ML rival throwing out the OLD (wink wink) headphones.
Coffee spilled on top of the headphones, cuz (wink wink) he's about to spill himself all over this budding relationship, gonna make a mess of things.
Also, smooth way to get a girl's number lol. Transparent, but smooth nonetheless.
DULAN IS NOT A BAD GUY
Now that I've got your attention REAL spoilers bellow:
For some reason an untrue spoiler has been allowed to run amok the comments here for way too long. I won't go into heavy details but here is the truth about Dulan, as said by actual people on reddit who have read the novel.
Dulan is not the villain, he is doing what Karen's mom asked him to. Karen's mom wanted her to have an actual chance at true love and so she not only told Karen everything about the regression when she was (in my opinion) too young (hence why she went crazy at that age), she also told Dulan everything. Dulan is the only person who ever really believed Karen's mom, hence why she asked him to make sure Karen didn't get pregnant with anyone's child until he was sure she had found true love.
Now this is the part that gets confusing but that I got the general gist of. Whoever kills a regressor while she is pregnant will be able to remember their past life as well. In the novel, Karen at one point becomes pregnant with Dulan's child, the child somehow dies while still in womb, Dulan then is convinced that Karen and Raymond do love eachother, so he pushes her out a window, making sure that she is mortally wounded but not dead and also that Raymond is the one who finds her and ends her out of mercy. This assuring that he (Raymond) will remember her in the next life. This is the only life that Dulan kills Karen in, and he does it because even though he does love her, he knows she never will love him back, and he genuinely wants her to find happiness.
He's just obviously going about it in a really fucked up way, all because he was trying to honor his promise to Karen's mom.
Now these last couple of episodes give me the impression that Dulan is setting things up for Raymond to have to kill Karen and therefore be able to remember her next time, but I have no idea if that's actually what's going on considering there has been no indication that Karen is pregnant, much less with Dulan's child. However, expression when she said she hoped Raymond would remember next time let's us know that he Now truly believes that Karen and Raymond love eachother, even if Karen herself isn't fully aware of it.
Okay byeeeeeee
I know we like to praise Eric cuz he's such a beautiful walking green flag.
But I'd also like to point out how this man did NOT hesitate to get rid of that maid the moment he realized that she'd found out about Miesa. Not to mention he did it in such a beautifully cunning way, shoving the lipstick down her throat to both, prove they were trying to poison Miesa AND get rid of her without anyone batting an eye or linking it to what she had said.
The way I NEED a man like this.
So many negative comments, so many complaints yet here you all still are. Reading every new chapter when it comes out.
If it's really so bad then just drop it and let the rest of us enjoy it in peace.
If you can't handle a manhwa with real depictions of unresolved trauma and complex relationships, just say that.
Can someone tell me where the official release of this can be found?
So, it's a bit confusing. We know Mari switched their places essentially; switching appearances (but not names?) and brainwashing everyone into believing that the love they held was towards her and not MC (Alyssa at the time).
What's not clear to me is which appearance was switched to who, since in the spoilers it's been hinted at that originally MC was the one with golden eyes (hence why her eyes turn golden when she uses the spirits magic as Aisha). But in the flashback we just saw Alyssa is clearly still black haired and green eyed. Plus, It makes sense (from a plot standpoint) that the other siblings would initially dislike Mari as an outcast/illegitimate child.
If MC was originally the golden eyed child then it would make less sense if everyone suddenly loved her and for some reason Mari, the legitimate black haired green eyed child, was not. But then, why the similarities between Aisha and Marianne now?
Not to mention, when she was accused, Alyssa very clearly tried to reach out to her older brother, on account of them sharing both the same mother and father. By then, Mari had switched them, so what did the family see? We saw her (Alyssa) as dark haired and green eyed, did they see white hair and golden eyes?
In other words, when we're being shown anything involving Alyssa and Marianne, are we seeing the truth or the illusion created by Mari.
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What I'm trying to say is that the mirror scene explained NOTHING to me XD
I had to mentally prep myself to click on the new chapter.
This is like when you can't look away from a car wreck.
Author really said: "She's wearing a dress now so let's just forget all about her being smart and whatnot, back to FL that does nothing but cry it is!"
Like, I've read a bit of the novel and honestly, the manga REALLY glosses over how both of the ML's are just complete pieces of manipulative shits. In the novel, Ian straight up tells her he's holding her mom hostage, while here it's just sort of heavily implied, and ML (Caelus? I forget his name lol) is 10 times more controlling.
I dropped this manga and then forgot why I had, but dear God have I now remembered.