Responses
yeah the novel does some stupid asf bullshit where zhenya’s “only weakness is taekjoo”. idk why everybody eat up this plot where the top is some fucking boulder of a man that’s omniscient and deplorable until he falls in love like just say u like one dimensional characters w no substance no personality no nothing.

It might be a small detail, but I found it frustrating that zhenya is some kind of perfect human who is better at everything (talking about all the bet between him and Taekjoo). I know it's for showing how 'superior' and undefeatable he is, but instead it makes it impossible to like him in my opinion because nothing about him seems human.
Like, if Taekjoo managed to beat him at something (even if it doesn't help him to escape) and Zhenya was clumsy at it or something, it would make him a bit likeable (not that it would remove the fact that he's a black flag). But yeah, for now nothing in this story make me likes Zhenya even a bit.
I didn't read the novel so maybe I'll get surprised by the writing at some point, at least I hope so