Projection
Anata wa Korosu Tabi
i can't unsee how the author has a need for practically every character to have on some sort of necklace. chick in ch 2 is wild, dude killed 2 ppl but she honed in on the 20k yen. overall this was just ok, i don't really jive with how the author writes i guess? it had the potential to be compelling.
Netsu Motsu Hari, Kouchin
Roses and Champagne
@56 i finished the main story and haven't started on the sides yet. caesar constantly gets cobbled together with ilay and zhenya so i was bracing myself for an apathetic psycho. but no, he would've grown up to be a typical person of society if he didn't get socially isolated and grow up fighting for every inch of his life. i really feel for him in that sense. as for leewon, he sort of seems inept at a lot of things but he's got the spunk to make up for it. i loved that his way for exacting revenge is to hold strong to his moral compass and fight by litigating the shit out of his targets. the story itself is ok, the plot had a few twists and turns but ultimately it felt like just a backdrop to caesar and leewon's relationship. i'm not sure what a lawyer's job exactly entails, but it seems like caesar's the one constantly finding the ledes and giving mostly complete puzzle pieces for leewon to eureka at. there was so much paper everywhere but nothing seemed to come out of them! i was also very annoyed at how caesar would treat leewon like a delicate piece of glass and tell him how brave and strong he was for everything. but thinking back, it probably is bc leewon's a civilian whose never been exposed to the lifestyle caesar has, and caesar weirdly enough can sympathise. so lots of ppl took issue with that pivotal moment where leewon tried to leave russia saying it was unneccessary. to me, the author's entire point was to orchestrate a series of events to push caesar to his limit and show that at the end of the day, he's not the darling readers have made him out to be bc he was never that. dude's broken and crazy. despite everything, leewon is NOT the exception. the only person who he interacts with tells him he'll never be close to anyone. caesar is controlling of everything in his life bc he's guaranteed nothing and when push comes to shove, decides to forcefully keep leewon by his side. in this version leewon has a lot of strength and didn't let caesar break him but i hear the novel is p bad bc he did break there. ultimately, idk if leewon has stockholm syndrome. it was kind of clunky, but he seemed to be organically falling for caesar and went thru a cycle of anger, grief and acceptance when he thought caesar died. understanding caesar's motivation doesn't justify his actions. how is it to still fall for someone who will ultimately put his needs above your own? just random thoughts.
Legs That Won't Walk
skipped most of the side stories except for minhyuk's reconciliation w his sister. not interested in any more fornication scenes unless taesung or minhyuk are the ones whose asses are getting smashed. overall it was ok. it's a bunch of hurt ppl trying to find signs of humanity in others to help keep them going. i'm kinda dumb, so if the author didn't explicitly point out certain things i wouldn't have made any connections. *i* thought taesung was ready to let sooyoung go but apparently it was all a just the illusion of free choice. they never brought up taesung knowingly putting sooyoung's life in danger so he'd become dependent on taesung, or sooyoung having any knowledge of being raped by minhyuk for the rest of the story. i have more questions in general but it seemed like the author just wanted to ensure taesung and sooyoung get to run off into the sunset even when there's still a LOT of stuff that never gets ironed out. they should stop putting the mcs with 2 mls when in the story it's VERY clear who the mc will ultimately be with. minhyuk had no chance. btw i'm so so tired of the mc-is-so-hot-everyone-wants-to-bang-them trope. they don't always have to be mega desirable okay?? i've been trying to read this for a hot minute and i finally finished.
Blaze Out