ArtemisFowl's manga / #supernatural elements(13)

Suyong is a royal officer of the pharmacy, who ends up getting the short end of the stick and delivering poison to the last emperor, who is being deposed by the new emperor of the attempted coup, his brother (Lee Shinwoo). Shinwoo kills him but not before the newly deposed emperor thanks Suyong for putting anesthetic in his poison (to stop the pain). "I will grant you a wish for this kindness," he says, before being beheaded. After the beheading, a snake suddenly bites the emperor and disappears into smoke after it attacks him. No one knows what it means, but the Emperor and Suyong soon find out. Emperor Lee has been cursed by the late emperor to switch bodies with Suyong, and no one knows except them and the guards. What will become of them? Will they be able to undo the curse, and will they be able to stop a greater danger from lurking within the empire? ~ Chapter 52

Mikado, a bookstore clerk, can see ghosts. He doesn't want anyone to know, and can determine if they are a ghost by taking of his glasses -- those who are blurred are real, and those whose outline stays the same are ghosts. Unfortunately for him, a guy at the bookstore can see through him (both figuratively and literally) and tries to recruit him as an assistant after getting rid of a ghost at the bookstore, at the behest of the owner. The man, Rihito, offers to pay Mikado double what he's making at the bookstore, but Mikado won't do it because he's scared of the ghosts he sees and how he is disbelieved. Rihito assures him that, with him, Mikado won't feel scared anymore. What will become of this potential partnership? ~ Chapter 1 (technically 0.5)

A man meets a monster who he makes a contract with. Every time the man experiences negative emotions, the spirit gets to eat. Donue-kun (the man) is a magnet for trouble, and the spirit, Shiro, seems almost human. What will happen to Donue? And is there more to the spirit that meets the eye? ~ Chapter 1

Aliens have randomly taken over the earth and this guy's childhood friend-turned lover was one. ~ Chapter 1

Bodyguard becomes intertwined with (newly discovered) werewolf model charge. ~Chapter 1-8

I think this was a really smart, in depth look at why relationships can fail. It’s often not for anything dramatic and black and white, like cheating or abuse, but instead for the simple reason of one or both parties failing to treasure the other person as they should. In this case, it was Jinwoo that stopped treasuring Candy in the ways he had before, and had started taking him for granted at some point. I think the author also tries to point out an error (at least to some degree) that Candy makes in the relationship (read Candy’s journey through the extras). At first I didn’t agree with it; but upon further reflection, I think that although Candy truly wasn’t in the wrong, things could have been fixed had he communicated his feelings explicitly and verbally. Not the feelings of love, which he did; but every frustration that he let go of was just building up inside of him and didn’t really do any service for either of them. If he had communicated those feelings, Jinwoo would have realized what was happening to them and likely changed (as he did when he realized what he had “thrown away”) as a result.

So interesting! We’ll see what happens afterwards since his string was connected.