i agree. i love the dynamic, i love mc's characterization, and i love how the tension and sadness are leveraged with lighthearted moments and comedy, but the romance fell kinda flat for me. i know we have to recalibrate our expectations on certain stories, especially if the ml and/or mc are "unconventional" from other characters, and while they both possess a degree of coldness and kinda match each other in cunning, i dont see how mc fell for ml. or even vice versa. they have an interesting dynamic, but that's it. we didnt really delve much into ml's character and why ml fell for mc, other than finding him "amusing" and sympathizing with him. not to mention the sexual harassments... but the story seems to justify it with mc actually liking it and wanting him too, but is unable to acknowledge his feelings due to his "atonement", which is textbook justification, and an excuse for smut, that is then swept under the rug. personally, i dont really care if a story has SA/rape or whatever but ONLY if im aware of that going in, and putting it in a story with romance is a very intentional choice, so i become incredibly nitpicky with how it's handled. and needless to say, i am mildly annoyed it is barely addressed in the story (and in the comment section). sure, we get mc being annoyed with him, but that's literally it...
Couldn't have worded it better! I fully agree!! And I'm so glad someone agrees with my comment as I barely saw any comments regarding these issues in the story!
Totally agree, story is very good, and I love their chemistry, but putting SA in such plot is just inaccurate, especially when it's not even correctly addressed later!
In general, SA is often showed in BL as something sexual/romantic and basically normalized to be later swept under the rug at the end, it's just insane!
And mostly I don't care when there is a story totally focused on SA, some kind of kink, I just don't get invested, because obviously it's not the aime for such stories, but when we have a story with certain plot, and pushed SA just to give angst or, even worse, to add 'smut'... I'm done
After reading almost 2000 mangas/manhwas etc on this site over the years, I have become very picky and well versed in what I consider a good story. (P.S.: This is my personal opinion btw)
The plot of this story as well as the portrayal of the MCs emotions was at times gutwrenching and I could resonate with his thoughts. I loved his commentary in the story and I could really connect to his character. I especially loved the poetic use of language and metaphors.
Unfortunately I cannot express the same excitement regarding the romance in this manhwa. The Seme sexually harassed and assaulted the MC multiple times and yet the MC still found himself falling for him. While I can understand that he might have emotionally connected to the seme in his dire situation, I still despised the way the Seme treated the MC. Threatening to rape him as well as intentionally hurting him, made me feel repulsed rather than actually liking their romantic development.
The MCs romantic confession also seemed very abrupt to me. I just couldn't comprehend how he could like the Seme.
All in all the story was a satisfying read, with the exception being the romance of course. I'm sorry everyone I just can't see a future partner in someone who threatens to rape me and intentionally hurts me nor would I be able to fall for them. (￣∇￣")