I’ll always be baffled that BL lovers draw the line at cheating but not rape.
Same !!!
I mean he did rape and then profuse his undying love to his victim then still fucks other people but expect his again victim of his obsession to his and only his..,,
Yeah I got that but that’s it though he’s a rapist, anything after that is just details. He’s already proven to be human trash.
I went to see the comments after that scene because I couldn’t continue and I saw people talking about cheating instead like what ???
I still believe in this ML as so far all he’s done is hurt a damn rapist, Gyujin. I still hope that the purpose of that human garbage was to represent the stereotypical ML, that’s rich and handsome and falls for the MC, forces him into a relationship, acts like he own the MC and of course sexually assaults MC repeatedly in order to show that Jihwan may have sociopathic tendencies but he’s different. So I’d be beyond disappointed if the author did all that just to make Jihwan into another Gyujin. For now they do seem to be on the same page in the sense that the MC is interested in Jihwan, of course he doesn’t know everything about him, he seems to have noticed how Jihwan is a bit unusual and intense but he doesn’t know how far it goes so it’ll be interesting to see if and how his feelings change when he gets to know.
Lmfaooo omg I remember saying Jihwan reminded me of an eager horny teenager and here we go . Just that one sentence set him off. Still love him tho. Also not Sooyoung trying to get off discreetly while listening to Jihwan getting off to what he’s saying like .
I checked the comments before reading the rest so I was hopeful(tho the slutshaming part is fucking weird) but I really can’t deal with pushy MLs, they’re way better than rapists and abusers by a mile for sure but it makes the reading experience irritating since it’s just them going against what the MC says, pushing their boundaries, ignoring their wishes and often overpowering them physically. It’s not even once in a while but just a daily thing and as a reader I get this weird suffocating feeling lol like give it a rest. I keep wanting the MCs to find a way to just vanish so that the MLs will be left looking for them while they go on with their lives peacefully. Those MLs are so focused on their obsession (the MCs). All that matters is their own feelings and they can’t stop to care about what the MC wants, they’re aware of the MCs’ reluctance but they just dgaf. I guess it can be seen as romantic to some, but it’s just feels overbearing and entitled to me.
I don’t know what Jihwan is. Like psychopath, sociopath or a highly intelligent/precocious kid who grew up under neglect and abuse in an unhealthy household that’s not well adjusted with anger issues. I don’t think he lacks empathy or emotion but his idea of right and wrong seemed skewed at first. As someone who reread this many times, I think people are forgetting or missing out on a lot of interesting moments of Jihwan’s character and getting stuck on the more intense scenes.
After having seen the kid version of Jihwan now I can’t help but match that kid self to his current self. His expressions or lack of, his demeanor, it’s all very similar. It doesn’t make him look childish but I dunno a bit less suave and put together. It feels like he didn’t really change past learning how to deal with others in social settings, with Classmates, teachers, others’ parents (his encounter with Sooyoung’s mom) but he’s still stuck between just wanting things (like his mom’s affection/ SooYoung’s attention), observing and analyzing people (the other kids and their parents/his classmates like Sooyoung and Gyujin) and avoiding annoyances. He also can’t stop plotting because he’s just smarter than everyone around him and also because he was never taught otherwise in terms of getting what he wants.
There’s a scene after he got beat up by Gyujin where he just hugs SooYoung saying it hurts. It could be him just distracting SooYoung but then I remembered how since his mom died, he probably didn’t have anyone else to simply hug him like that since it’s clear his dad became full time deadbeat dad from that point on. He’s definitely not ‘sweet’ but from the things he was longing for in childhood til now, it doesn’t seem that he found a way to get them at all. Until Sooyoung who seems to be what he really wants and think he needs right now. He doesn’t seem to care about power, status and etc, it seems like just tools to get what he really want. A special person? A special relationship? I mean he’s also definitely a horny teenager. In many ways, he seems more like a bold, eager teenager than a big evil mastermind, in his interactions with Sooyoung. It’s like he saw the dude one day and hit puberty.
But yeah, his reaction when Sooyooung got assaulted by Gyujin, the desperate way he rushed there, the way he was flustered trying to call Sooyoung’s family and how he did his best to reassure him afterwards didn’t feel very psychopath like to me.
I think the author did a great job with Jihwan’s character and he’s not as straight forward as a rich toxic/rapey ML that’s also a psycho.
The worst he’s done to Sooyoung while angry is just act cold and sulk or glare. And as soon as he’s placated he lets go. He got Gyujin expelled for attempting to rape Sooyoung and when he saw him still freaking hovering around to get at Sooyoung again, he unleashed his previously held back anger. I dare say he also wanted to effectively put a stop to Gyujin’s attempts and not just vent his anger. It’s also interesting to see his reaction to being called a psycho. How self-conscious does he feel about being different and to what degree is he aware of it. I mean usually the psychos just laugh it off and claim it proudly. Jihwan seems different.
Even his interest in SooYoung is different than the typical BL psychos. He tried to approach Sooyoung, 2 years before the current timeline but SooYoung didn’t get it, and completely misunderstood him because Jihwan was too clumsy(the whole you’re so short thing lmao)the fact that he was just excited trying to get close to Sooyoung and unable to just plot properly is funny. He was too excited. For the other 2 years, he just let it be until he had the opportunity to try again. He didn’t jump in to separate Gyujin and Sooyoung and assert his claim even as he observed them. And oh, when he started his second approach, he gathered a lot of information and he checked Sooyoung’s relationship with Gyujin and tested Sooyoung’s responsiveness toward himself before making a move. He’s obsessed and cunning but not forceful and he’s rather patient.
Gyujin is obsessed, violent, entitled, an abuser and a gaslighter. He has those crazy moments too like when he beat up Jihwan. He has issues to say the least and feels like he owns Sooyoung. Compared to that Jihwan is clearly trying to make SooYoung his by his own will. I think it’s possible that he learned from his parents that it’s better if the other party is willing.
The next chapters will tell us how much of a psycho Jihwan really is, Taehee is not like Gyujin, mind you Jihwan gave him multiple warnings and didn’t even seem like he was going to do anything about the forced oral sex situation. He finally acted when Gyujin tried to rape Sooyoung. So now I’m curious what the author will make Taehee do, hopefully not a Gyujin 2.0 , we should get to see how Jihwan handle someone who hasn’t hurt Sooyoung, basically someone that just annoys him and triggers his territorial side.
i read allat
I’m impressed haha. Thx
I like your answer.
It's hard to judge the one who beat up Gyujin who literally tried to rape Sooyoung. It was kinda great he finally got what he deserved! Indeed Jihwan was sadistic about it but... Gyujin was a criminal and an abuser.
i am not gonna read that right now cuz its 2am LOL
Thank you I kinda forgot few parts of the plot and I was scared it was going to be like even if you don't love me
To me this one is a much improved version of that haha. I really got annoyed with all the drama in even if you don’t love me so seeing the similarities worried me at first but so far so good. Better than good even, it’s great.
Right like he didn’t just grab someone randomly in the street and cut off their fingers, he was just standing on business lol. Gyujin kept ignoring his warnings and acting worse and worse. The fact that he cut his fingers because he saw where Gyujin put his fingers that night is poetic justice. Had Gyujin managed to put his dick inside instead, let’s all guess what would have been cut off?
Fair enough lol, when I hit post and saw the wall of text I winced.
A wonderful analysis, I literally agree with everything you wrote! Can’t wait to see how the author develops Jihwan’s character even further in the future chapters.
Thank you! Me too, I have high hopes and I pray it won’t crash and burn.
3 am lol
All these pseudo-incest stories all have this suffocating vibe. The way they can’t escape from their new sibling and the harassment, can’t let their parents know, have to keep faking it at home, can’t even consider home a safe place. Plus the shame and the guilt, the fear and anxiety etc. Yikes. Only stories I thought were well done are ‘Love or Hate’ and ‘Blue,Black,Sky’. It probably helps that’s the parents didn’t stay together. The angst is there but it doesn’t feel suffocating.
Happy sigh.The reason I gave this a chance unlike a story like mmm let’s say Jinx, is because I can tolerate toxic behavior from non-human characters (or psychopaths like in the beast must die). Like I can accept that those characters operate under a completely different set of morals and values and not just because they’re a hot a rich dude with some sad sob story.
Like Jaeshin as ghost literally feeds when having sex with the crown prince, he can detects something unnoticeable to humans, the yin energy, and focuses to judge what the prince wants that rather than what the prince say, or when he explains that ghosts see everything cockeyed at the beginning and feel the urge to mess things up. On top of that he’s quite bad, even for a ghost. lol.
Anyway, yeah so rather than watching some guy act like human trash and then barely repent or something and end up with his victim, I rather watch a supernatural being learning about humanity. This chapter was so interesting. Jaeshin is truly conflicted, wrestling unknown feelings, yearning, fear, frustration, worry, and of course love. He doesn’t know what he wants and it’s somewhat endearing. Even his lack of empathy for the prince grieving is really well put together. He expresses his point of view as ghost and what they think of death. He doesn’t understand why the prince is sad, but he gets upset because he also doesn’t understand why he, himself feels upset at the thought of the prince dying because it defies his own logic. Meanwhile the prince is shocked by his lack humanity, highlighting the difference between the two. Love it!!!
Yesss I love the way you explained Jaeshin’s inner conflict!
some of the previous translation was kinda misleading so it wouldn’t be a bad idea to reread the official chapters.