I’ve caught up and I can’t lie, I’m getting tired of being fed flashbacks after flashbacks, despite knowing it’s with meaningful intent.
The recent chapter is honestly heartbreaking and Xin and Lau’s relationship is so doomed
Honestly, I get why Xin is such a despicable bastard, for the right reasons. I don’t exactly hate him either, but almost everyone making Lau go into circles is such a bitch move. :(
Also can anyone tell me why Lau couldn’t just stay with Xin from the start to prevent the tattoo from being inked? Of course, it’s probably because of his hatred for Xin, but there was a possibility, no? Why investigate when you could’ve waited for the culprit to show up, however long that would take?
I'm gonna be so fr man I've read this manhwa like 20 times and I still have no clue why they couldn't do that. They brushed it off in one ch by saying smth like "oh but we don't even know if we could catch them if the culprit came" which is fair ig(?) but like seriously man you're not even gonna try??? the only thing i can think of is that since the culprit is working with headquarters and headquarters have cameras everywhere, maybe they wouldn't bother sending out the culprit at all if they knew Lau was there? idk man. also u mentioned that ur getting tired of being fed flashbacks so spoilers (but not rly):
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we're back in the present next chapter
Thanks for letting me know <3 Honestly, the flashbacks are getting a little monotonous when you compare the time Lau’s actually doing something in the present vs how many times we keep reverting back to the past.
Also you seem to be a pretty big fan! If I may ask, is the author’s socials anywhere? I’ve tried searching for it but only could find their youtube channel…
yeah unfortunately i could only find the author's youtube channel too :( some korean fans mentioned that the art is very similar to an artist they used to follow on twitter a few years back but they couldn't remember their name ╥﹏╥ so yeah that's all of the leads i got. (also tw: im gonna yap a lot now)
Yeah the flashbacks were pretty long in season 2. I enjoyed most of them and thought they contributed to the plot pretty well except for Yajin's cuz idgaf about that point in his life I was way more interested in whatever happened with the fire than how him and Mali met. Chen's maybe could've been cut short or at least crammed into one chapter. But yeah other than that I liked all of the flashbacks cuz I think they contribute to the themes of the story of how power influences ppl's relationships from the past to the present. Also lwk I'm just a sucker for ppl's sob stories ╮(￣▽￣)╭
also uhmmm u might not like what im gonna say next（￣へ￣）but next ch is the last ch of s2. and s3 isnt gonna come out until august 13th in korea so we gotta wait a bit but from the looks of it s3 is gonna be much more involved with the present timeline. so theres not too much else going on in the present (yet) but next ch is honestly rly rly hype so i hope u like it
Honestly I recommend a reread after a while because I missed so much stuff the 1st time. I appreciated it much more the 2nd time around cuz I already had an idea of the lore so i could pick up the little details & plot the author wanted us to notice. Like Xin's drawer of trinkets being the same one he kept his storybook in, or the implication that Lian stole the 5th family's iron awl used for the yearly sacrifice (and she used it to eat fruit of all things ). Or just all of the little ways the head family manages to enforce their system... by making guardians & heirs dependent on each other from a young age, monitoring literally everyone, etc.
Even just the characters' attitudes towards each other make wayyyy more sense on a reread. I'm not saying its a perfect story by any means (I still have no clue why Lau couldn't just stay with Xin & the flashbacks were way too fucking long ) but I still appreciated it much more the 2nd time around and it flows better imo. I decided it was my fav manhwa my 2nd time reading not the 1st, so make of that what u will ╮(￣▽￣)╭
Anyways thats enough of me trying to indoctrinate u into reading a 77 ch long story AGAIN but yeah im a pretty big fan of it lol. I literally got a job so I could buy the chapters legally ╮(￣▽￣)╭
Thanks alot for the information, much appreciated, got to know a lot of things!
you are my goat. tysm!!
on ch 17... I know what a potential heartbreaking and trauma-inducing read looks like. MY HEART IS ALREADY HURTING HEEEEELPPPPP AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
I can confirm this shits heartbreaking. In the trenches as we speak (Keep reading please I need more people to be traumatized with me)
If it was THAT big, you would be dead. Regardless, that’s still pretty big
Started out decent but gradually ran downhill which disappointed me. :(
It was a semi-solid story, but it lacked depth and intrigue between the characters, resulting in shallow understanding of them and little-to-no-care about their fates.
The author’s intention of making the characters actors was what broke my immersion. And if that was actually a relevant decision, then I would agree that reading this story felt like a drama. It lacked
inner monologue and depth to fully understand everyone’s motivations. For example, Kangjin was just a huge idiot who couldn’t decide who to love, or rather, he always went back and forth confusing the reader why he would suddenly switch. From staying with one dude, saying he loved him, to then promising another they should run away together. In my eyes, he was just an indecisive cheater who would bend his ass on a whim.
Despite Jungkwon having many reasons for the reader to care for him—debt and such—he was nothing but a shallow-written character. I had sympathized with him being financially tortured, but even then, there was nothing in store. In a few scenes, his words seemed to suddenly cure the other’s depression effortlessly, which was so rushed. Take Roah for example. What… impact did he have on the story except for being a meaningless character? He could’ve been removed from the story and it still wouldn’t leave a stain on the major plot.
One thing that rips the characters apart from truly making you care is that they all lacked direction—inconsistencies in their writing that often emerge, accompanied by lack of understanding their motivations.
Chisoo was a cold-hearted mafia boss, unpredictable and had always kept everyone on their tippy toes. Then he becomes some… conflicted corporate guy with a soft heart? I get it, but the transition with his personality felt so jarring and honestly way too rushed. He felt like a totally different person. He was made to be some mysterious evil guy, then the story suddenly expands more on the context around the organization that pretty should’ve been revealed earlier than later.
Interactions between the characters felt so little, and the time the characters had spent together was so short, there was barely any connection to understand them on a deeper level.
All in all, the climax and resolution was lackluster, making the ending meh. Since this is the author’s first work, these issue are fairly common.
Unfortunately, my original post had to be re-written (accidently reloaded) so there may be some things I had missed while writing. Other than that, decent read.
This story premise drives me crazy to the point it's torture. It's EXCRUTIATING to watch hyungjae become so co-dependent on Jaehyuk to the point he can't live without him. It's also so goddamn depressing to see all three characters so mentally deteriorated that they cannot make one rational decision for themselves. They're all fucked up, and realize it. And yet, they still choose to be hypocrites at the end of the day. This story is choking me by the balls, it's so painfully written well.
I'M SO MAD THIS DEPICTS ABUSIVE DYNAMICS IN A COMPLEX LIGHT
You ATEEE with this comment