TLDR: Super good slow burn between 2 compelling characters. Legal age gap is nice to see. I highly recommend. (the yuri is a bit toxic, more like the situation is toxic maybe)
Chapter 45: THIS ISSO FUCKING PEAK
Chapter 89: she is hella badass bro
chapter 90: imagine if this was doomed yuri. idk what id do.
special chapter: role reversed au has my heart oml
chapter 104: ok now that i've binged it all in 1 sitting, we gotta mourn. this is it. we've hit the top of manwha yuri. nothing can eclipse this.
Dohyun is such a well-written character, and she's someone you just can't help but root for. truly one of the best yearners of all time. Her love for Jinjoo grows in a realistic and palpable way. and she's just honestly way too charming, like most the humor from the manwha comes from her. The way she changes throughout the manhwa made complete sense, and I was with her every step of the way, completely invested. when we sit with her thoughts, regrets, and needs it just reads really well. like we can track her train of thought. never do i feel like she does something "out of character". maybe the only weakness is that she's almost too good at everything? like she's abnormally strong, a scholarship student at the top of her class, naturally pretty (explicitly stated how she doesn't need makeup), instant sex god monster (despite it being her first time doing something like this), super mature for her age, funny, hardworking, and understanding. like i can't name a flaw. but it's not like she's some mary stu. she has extreme struggles, she doesn't know how to handle every situation, she messes up a ton, and is internally a very flawed character. like im not gonna rag on the author for making their mc TOO likeable. like oh my steak is too juicy lobster is to etc etc. taking 0.01 points off for making her good at singing it was only in 1 scene and wasnt necessary to her character, but it made me reflect on how she's kinda good at everything she does. still dohyun is my favorite character in this show, because of how much she goes through and how much she grows. also as mentioned previously, a super mega ultra yearner. yearners: probably annoying in real life, but super endearing in fiction.
jinjoo is a really interesting character. probably the most well written. the story does a really good job at making us empathize with her and her struggles, and despite her being in the middle of this affair, not once did i dislike her character. The actions she takes in this manhwa are wrong, like she does a lot of fucked up things, and things that are frustrating, but the reason why she does them feels properly justifed. like early on she tells dohyun's sister about her illicit relationship and uses that as leverage so she can keep on staying in the apartment. This is not a good thing, but it makes sense why she would do something like that, considering if she did have to get kicked out, her life would be essentially over. you realize the circumstances around her character and her struggles and all her actions feel justified. well maybe not justified, they just make sense, which is a super good thing. it's very easy in these types of relationships (like when 1 side likes the other and does everythign for them) for you to dislike her character. she uses others, is always cold, acts selfishly, and is in an affair with a younger woman. It would be easy to think "oh jinjoo doesn't deserve her", or feel like she's acting cruel, but i strangely didn't feel this way. well rewording a little, she does act selfishly, but she's written in a way where i feel more sympathy than dislike for the character, which is really well done on the author's end. she's probably the one who changes the most by the end of the story, and i'm really happy where she ends up.
the cheating in this manwha barely phases me, like the husband pisses me off so much, but he's also written quite well. he doesn't fall under the trope of super deadbeat or abuser. he has amicable traits like his "kindness", and is overall trying to be a good person for majority of the manwha. he hits a good medium of good and bad traits, that obviously spills over towards bad as we get to know him more, but i like that he isn't just some evil one note husband, that just exists to add some melodramatic cheating element to the manwha. he is an important multifaceted character who plays an important role in the story, and you'll definetly not like him by the end of it (pedo) but i think he was well written.
I'm conflicted about dohyun's sister .actions make sense but i def think she took it too far. i mean after she realizes that she's in the wrong and becomes a really fun character, but that inital action was pretty drastic and hard too ignore. still her backstory is super poingant and her personality going forward into the manwha was really likable. i could go on and on like how the professor is the goat, and how gunwoo is super pure and subversive, but I'll just sumuriz by saying that alot of these characters are just really well written. the conversation between jinjoo and her mother, jinjoo looking into her dads affair in dissapointment, and all the angsty arguments are just really well written. thats all i can say.
of course i really wanted to see more from this story. They're only together for like 1 full chapter, but the only plot thread that I feel like wasn't tied up is her finally meeting one of the kids she left at the orphanage. that whole hallucination scene made it feel like it was leading to something, and also it says she reached out and that the director might set somehtign up if she vists the neighboorhood, so i thought we'd see a scene about that, but that's literally it.
I'm really glad i read this. it's really good. angsty, non-problematic (like OH my god she's in college was it that hard, can't we just do this always) age gap yuri with a super good artstyle and a good dash of toxicity. it's like it was made for me. 10/10
