I'll just never understand Take. I mean, how can he ever be happy in a relationship like this, in which hell never be loved equally by Mine, with Hiroi always being Mine's priority? By the end I think things got better but... IDK. I mean, let's say for some reason Hiroi decided to break up with Mine. I'm pretty sure everything between Mine and Take would be over then, since everything they have seem to be based on Hiroi's existence.
Now, if Hiroi told Mine he doesn't want to share him with Take anymore, I can see Mine being okay with it. I mean, he'd maybe be upset for a while, but he'd never leave Hiroi over Take. I just feel like Take will always be the more neglected emotionally in the relationship they have, that's one of the reasons this manga -- through beautifully written -- could neve really appeal to me.
Spoilers
I do wonder what Seungho said in one of the last panels of chapter 26, with the crazed look while holding that sword.
I can see it going both ways, the sword is meant as a threat to Inhun and Nakyum will have to beg Seungho for him not to be killed, high chance Seungho makes Nakyum enter a sexual relationship with him for that. The threat of Seungho killing Inhun would prevent Nakyum from trying to run away, commit suicide or rebelling in any way.
Other chance is that he’s threatening Nakyum for rejecting him for saying something like he “hates him to death”, and it’ll be a chance for Nakyum to make it even more clear that he really was serious in his refusal of Seungho even if he threatens him.
I do wonder if, from now on, Seungho will only sleep with (rape) Nakyum making him paint them afterwards? Or will he continue sleeping with other people while Nakyum paints and keeps being reminded of everything that happened?
Last observation (I can’t seem to stop I’m sorry for this lengthy comment ) is that in their fist time, Seungho kissed Nakyum’s tears away in a very kind and pampering way. You could even say it was a very romantic scene, if you put away the horrifying context that Nakyum thought he was with someone else. As in, I really do not think Seungho treats his other conquests with such care.
In chapter 26 he tries to repeat a similar motion trying to wipe Nakyum’s tears away kindly, but Nakyum immediately pushes him away. You could see that really shocked (possibly even hurt) Seungho. It seems that his instinct seems to be to treat Nakyum kindly, but when facing rejection he lashes out. I’m not defending Seungho by any means, everything he did was unforgivable, but it’s interesting to me that he doesn’t seem to draw pleasure for being mean to Nakyum. He did not seem to enjoy raping him at all (very very differently from other rapist Semes, let’s take Sangwoo from KS as an example). He also stopped the brutal beating punishment in previous chapters.
You could plainly see Seungho’s frustration when he saw Nakyum wasn’t getting excited at all like last time. It’s like despite violently raping him he expected Nakyum would somehow enjoy it, like he WANTS him to enjoy it, to desire “him” like last time.
I think Seungho wants to be lovingly accepted by Nakyum while having sex again. He doesn’t want the crazy wild sex he has with everyone else, or to rape Nakyum, but wants to experience the feeling of being deeply, purely loved and desired while embracing someone, with Nakyum thinking of only him an no one else this time.
Great analysis!
I agree with a lot of what you said. I think he wants Na-Kyum to love him like that first time. He seems very proud that he's Na-kyum's first. I think he'll want to protect that and make sure he's also Na-Kyum's only.
He hurts Na-Kyum and then feels remorseful afterwards. He seems to dislike hurting him, but at the same time can't stand Na-Kyum rejecting him so resorts to threats, violence, and any means of coercion.
He's like a guy who throws his wife down the stairs in a fit of rage, but afterwards brings her a dozen roses in the hospital and later takes her out to her favorite restaurant. He expects to be forgiven because he really does "love" her.
I imagine he'll get his way with Na-kyum because Yoon has all the leverage. The Painter has very little he can do.
Yoon likely wants to keep the Painter to himself. His work. His body. Everything. He feels the Painter should be honored as a low-born that someone like Yoon has taken an interest in him.
I think the shady teacher will contact the redhead to team up against Yoon.
I like @Cookies analysis, and your comment SeekingSanity as an addition to it, both excellent.
I was wondering about two things, and was curious what you think. First one is about the recent forced sex, secon about Nakyum's reactions towards Seungho before they slept together.
1. It seems to me that Yoon stopped as soon as he noticed Nakyum is not excited and is hurting for real. Do you see it that way too, or am I seeing things? When he lifts the painter up, Nakyum is in pain judging by his reaction, maybe Yoon is still inside. But as soon as he's up they don't move anymore (there are usually sounds and those dynamic lines to indicate the action), they seem to be still. Right after he lifts him up, Seungho says "hush" yet again (he did last time they had sex), then proceeds to look at painter's slumpped body to find out Nakyum isn't hard at all...
The fact that he possibly stopped right then could explain why there were no fluids on Nakyum and around when he was found, like people pointed out. Possibly because sex didn't last long and Yoon didn't finish. What do you think?
This is to understand the action better, not to say "oh, he stopped, so it's not that bad".
2. We've established that Nakyum has no feelings and interest in Seungho whatsoever. But I'm wondering about this though, didn'r he really? The parts that are keeping me unsure and confused are the following:
- he dreamt about being with Yoon, though I understand it could've been a nightmare. He also might've been surprised by his own dream and the reason why in the world was he dreaming that?
- when he paints the sex scene in chapter 15, he debates in his mind why is Seungho looking in his direction. He closes his eyes and thinks:
"Don't delude yourself... he's looking at the painting... not at me... " and the next scenes show his lower part and that he's hard, and that he imagines Yoon's right next to him.
"No, he's not looking at me while he's doing it... Sir InHun..." and the scene cuts to face of In Hun.
Again, confused here. It could be that he's afraid of Seungho and fears being looked at, instead of paintings. But why would the author show us him being hard and aroused then?
- when Yoon questions him later which moment aroused him the most, what made his blood run so hot that it became difficult to bear, Nakyum thinks of the scene from his dream, where he was having sex with Yoon. Next scene shows that Nakyum's eyes are hidden, he breaths heavily and blushes. And he's hard.
Now. All of that makes me confused, and I think it might be that Nakyum is himself confused. He clearly gets turned on by watching men have sex, we know that from the time he masturbated. Maybe he's confusing the feeling of excitement in general with that of seeing Seungho. I don't know. Because at the same time, during their interaction in the day he is cleary afraid of Seungho, and doesn't show any interest in him as a person.
Hope this all makes sense, English is not my first language!
Sorry guys for killer, lengthy comment. Needed to get this out :)) Let me know your thoughts!
***
***
I think attraction can be complicated. We can be attracted to people that are no good for us. Na Kyum definitely has some attraction to Yoon despite himself. That doesn't mean he loves him, but there is a chemistry between them that can't be denied.
Yoon, the sex fiend, sensed their sexual chemistry the quickest because he's very experienced. The Painter knows his body might be drawn, but his heart is with the teacher. So I think everything in the future will be hard and confusing for the Painter.
***
***
I feel like the Painter is the first person that Yoon's been really attracted to. I'm not sure Yoon was that attracted to the nobles he was sleeping with, even though they were good looking. There is just a very limited pool of people into sodomy in his area. It's been mentioned he had a lot of trouble getting it up with them. They were definitely attracted to him and he wanted sex so he made do.
I think he's strongly attracted to the Painter. He has no problem getting hard with the Painter like he did the nobles. He will surely monopolize the hell out of NK. Once you've slept with someone you're attracted to, once you know what that's like it's really hard to go back to the way things were. I have a feeling Yoon will find it even harder to be aroused by the other nobles anymore.
Poor Painter isn't gonna get a lot of sleep at night...
Wow, didn't expect to receive answers! Thank you SeekingSanity (I somehow really identify with your username haha) and webtoonaddict, I really liked your observations! I love discussing about mangas, and I think this one gives us great opportunities to speculate a lot haha.
SeekingSanity I agree with everything you said, I hadn't contemplated that Seungho would feel proud about being Nakyum's first, but now that you said that I can definitely see that being the case. He's really possessive, I absolutely agree that he wants everything abou Nakyum, work, body, heart, everything!
webtoonaddict (your icon is sooo cute, Nakyum at his fluffiest haha), you proposed a really nice discussion! Really interesting points you raised there -- and don't worry about language, English also isn't my first one xD and you write really well :3
1. Wow, I hadn’t noticed when I read it what you pointed out at all! Now that you’ve said it I can see that maybe Seungho didn’t get to finish it. He didn’t seem to be into it at all, he noticed Nakyum’s obvious discomfort (his speech bubble literally goes “…!” witch is hilariously depressing because, how can this dude rape someone and be surprised at him being hurt?? Or maybe he was just surprised by something Nakyum said), and well, from that panel on its only expressions of anger/frustration by the situation on Seungho’s face. Maybe he didn’t finish, but regardless, it indeed doesn’t make it less rape… It’d be a change in rape tropes though: It usually goes with seme finishing it and the uke too, and the seme going like “see your body is honest hohoho clean it up bitch” or some trash along these lines.
2. It's nice to contemplate more about Nakyum's feelings, I tend to focus more on trying to dissect Seungho's ‘cause he makes me so curious haha.
I think Nakyum might have been sexually attracted to Seungho. In present this attraction has probably shattered by all that's happened. I believe (at least reeeally hope) that the author is gonna be more realistic in this, not giving us any "ohhh no he VIOLATed me but I can't STOp thinking about the sex it felt kinda good kyaa" bullshit we've all seen before.
So back to the past and the fact Nakyum literally watched Seungho having sex right there in front of him multiple times: Nakyum does feel kinda attracted, but nothing in the magnitude he feels for Inhun. As in, if Nakyum saw Inhun naked like he did with Seungho multiple times, I really feel like he'd pass out and have a boner for like three days straight haha. He is mildly attracted to Seungho by all the sex he saw, but I don't think it's something nearly as strong at what Seungho might feel. I don’t think Nakyum would even see Yoon in a remotely sexual light if it wasn’t for the fact he was forced to watch him have sex.
His attraction to Yoon is in a more subconscious level, different from Seungho that just seem to quickly acknowledge it and act on it. The dream scene back in chapter 6 though… That one definitely seemed more like a nightmare. Though there might be attraction, there’s undeniable great fear.
The scene in which Nakyum's gets hard, to me it seems it's mostly because of the situation (two men screwing) than the possibility of Seungho looking at him, though that might have helped his excitement. Nakyum thinking of Inhun right after contemplating Yoon looking at him seems to be an act of trying to ground himself back to the reality he's familiar with, only being attracted to his love Inhun.
Nakyum is definitely afraid of Seungho, it's a mix of fear and attraction. After chapter 26 though... Guess only fear, anger and disgust.
Also just complementing my earlier comment on Seungho having an especial kindness, though of course twisted, towards Nakyum: just remembered in chapter 2 (yeah that earlier) he sees Nakyum sleeping with tears in his eyes and just… pats him. Pats him gently on the head, showing a face that seems worried or… at least a Seungho version of it. ONLY THEN, he sees the painting he was so obsessed about. That means he entered the room and focused so much on sleeping cutie on the ground he didn’t notice the GIANT PAINTING he wanted so much literally behind Nakyum. From then on we see so much, like he stopping the beating while seeing Nakyum tearful and pained face (he does apparently have capacity for mercy. Not good or frequent enough but it’s there), asked for soup to cure his hangover and more that I don’t remember.
I believe Seungho really started catching feelings early in the story and it is still in progress, he just doesn’t notice the romantic aspect of it, only the sexual.
Oh, of course, Seungho did a lot of bad shit too, I’m not saying otherwise. My point is just that he already has romantic inclinations towards Nakyum, not only sexual.
SPOILERS
Did Seungho ask Nakyum to paint that moment between them? Or he didn’t ask and when he saw the painting got delusional thinking Nakyum liked/had the hots for him and that’s why he went for it and got surprised and angry at Nemyum’s rejection?
Or did he ask for the painting and when he saw it got super horny anyway and tied Nakyum up because... he knew Nakyum would try to escape because he doesn’t like him? Why does he seem so surprised then at whatever Nakyum tearfully says to him? Maybe because he thought all this time Nakyum remembered the sex between them and was surprised and angry that not only Nakyum didn’t remember before, but when he did was so disgusted he hit Seungho?
Or did Seungho think that he’d make Nakyum remember and somehow he’d be accepted anyway because he’s crazily entitled? Or did he always perceive Nakyum’s dislike and expected to be rejected, and was only surprised due to being hit?
Sooo curious to know what Nakyum tearfully said to him. Whatever it was, really hit something in Seungho by his expression. I think it’s the first time I’ve seen he so surprised and upset at something. We’ve seen his cold angry face before, when he seems to laugh a lot of times or show a psychotic expression. His face at the panel after whatever Nakyum says angry and in tears is the most... hurt, I guess, I’ve ever seen him.
For those curious, according to the Chinese translation
Spoiler:
Nakyum remembered what happened that night and said that he though it was the teacher and not Seungho
I did my own Korean translation. na-Kyum says that those words-' I like you' or 'I want you' is meant for In-jun, not for Seungho. It was like Na-Kyum gave him another blow after punching Seungho's face.
Our egoistical lord got pissed and smashed our poor baby's face to the ground.
Things I can think of happening as soon as Nakyun wakes up from the events of chapter 21, if he really passed out after sex:
(completely disregarding here the new chapter 22 raw that I didn’t understand much about)
A) Nakyun doesn’t remember anything from last night and goes on thinking he’s still a virgin and everything was “just a dream”. Even if Seungho cleaned him up, I think this one would be hard to happen seeing that Nakyun would be feeling some obvious discomfort down there and would know something was wrong. Still might be possible if he’s in strong denial.
B) Nakyun really thinks he slept with his teacher and goes happily see him. The teacher would break the truth to Nakyun in a disgusted and angry way.
C) Nakyun knows he slept with Sangho and feels so sad and ashamed he decides to run away or tries to commit suicide.
D) Nakyun knows he slept with Sangho and Sangho uses that to prevent him from running away or doing anything rash, with the treat of telling the teacher everything they did and what Nakyun said. I think that’s the most probable one, and it can also be something that happens after option A (it’d be something like: Nakyun thinks it was a dream and is in denial but Sangho breaks the truth to him and threatens him).
I can't buy that he doesn't know something happened down there. Unless he thinks sex dreams get that vivid or he woke up and was like, "Hm... it feels like an eggplant was shoved up there. Odd."
It looks like he believes it was the teacher, but thinks the teacher is angry at him now for "seducing" the teacher.
If someone kept behaving the way Hyesung does in the real world, I’m sure the marriage wouldn't last. He never communicates his feelings and is always treating his husband unkindly, never expresses how he misses or loves him as well, never show he’s thankful or does any romantic gestures.
“So he has traumas”, but that does not justify not trying to do any better. Relationships are something that takes effort on both parts to work, and Hyesung never does any of that!
If this story was in the real word:
1) Hyesung would sadly but definitely be cheated on.
2) Dojin would not cheat but would finish the marriage.
What’s probably going to happen in the story:
Dojin will not cheat, Hyesung will misunderstand anyway (probably with the new alpha character) and have a dramatic diva drama moment — lashing out as Dojin as always — regret mistreating Dojin, getting back together and the grand finale: Dojin happily spending eternity being Hyesung’s loyal puppy that would never cheat, doing everything for him and never receiving anything back, maybe sporadic moments of obvious attention and love.
To be fair Dojin basically raped Hyesung before and in this chapter again. Being married doesn't mean, that you can fuck your spouse, when they say no.
This author has a thing for toxic relationships and non-con, but unlike in their other work, there is no character development and the pair is just going in circles. And sure Hyesung can be very annoying, but his world crumbled, suddenly realizing he is an omega and getting pregnant. Dojin, while being better choice than most, is no saint either. He might try to protect Hyesung and shower him with affection, but never stops to think about, whether his affection is wanted.
I mean, you can't really blame Hye-Sung for having problems to express his feelings. Their relationship was "rushed" at the beginning, usually you learn to know each other first and it's a step-by-step process. Here, they just started a relationship because they were into it, now, even if they are married and have a child they didn't really have time to do all the steps. Thes thigns take time and they just need to go through it.
I agree. Marriage is supposed to be a two way street type of thing. It’s supposed to be an agreement and trust on both ends. Tbh it’s really annoying seeing Hyesung act so cruel to Dojin. But it’s also wrong what Dojin did to Hyesung. Like fr both of them need o grow up and stop acting mature cause it’ll just be a viscous cycle between both of them. Hyesung is an omega he needs to accept that and move on with his life. Dojin needs to stop being so forceful and automatically goto sex. Like fr if this was real life they would be divorced by now. They both need to grow up.
So.... Possible theories for what’s next, everyone?
I don’t think Seungho’s going back to screwing other people soon. He’s too engrossed in Nakyum right now, but I don’t see how our painter boy can keep surviving this?
I mean on chapter 32 — SPOILERS if you haven’t seen the raw — Seungho literally screwed Nakyum the whole day, by the end of it Nakyum looks half dead. I hope he’ll get some rest the next days, but I have no idea where’s this story going. Nakyum keeps being harassed and painting and... and what? Painting his and Seungho’s sex by the day and having more sex by the night? Seungho realizing he cares about him? Nakyum catching feels Yaoi logic style?
I’m hoping for some new twists and that the power balance shifts soon. Oh, I’m eager to see Seungho suffer.
By the way, I stand by what I said before, I still think Nakyum may attempt suicide in the future, which may be a turning point for Seungho’s character development, maybe.
Oh god.....he definitely might do that. Oh fuck.
Honestly I think that's spot on, but I hope Seungho doesn't get him even if he has a change of heart.
The "Nakyum catching feels Yaoi logic style" fucking sent me jnkcjbdksjd XD
Catchin dem good ol yaoi feels
(づ ̄ ³ ̄)づ
I do hope the story will not turn as a cliché yaoi. We really need some interesting plot twists because at this point It becomes really painful to read, and right now all I want it's to cut the Lord's d*.
Maybe he'll attempt to his life yes. I don't know how the Lord could change otherwise.
actually i guess NK will run away and seungho will be screwed up i cant get to believe that NK will catch feelings for him but seungho may do it may be one sided , then he'll look for him treat him better and compensate him for the past , no thanks ima head out right now (︶︿︶)=凸
Just remembered another thing!!!
When Nakyum gets back from that attempted escape and Seungho pulls him along on chapter 31, his bag-like-thing of painting falls to the ground... and Inhun is just standing there. Inhun is so gonna see the paintings and try to do something to harm Seungho with it.