I think it was a great read with how the plot was built - but the ending was definitely meh I'll agree with that. If it was longer it would've been great. Spoilers ahead.
Now let's talk about Minjun and Jinhwan and how people are saying Minjun's a red flag - I'd disagree.
So from what we know about our MC Minjun, he's a people-pleaser, and during his 20s he has very little confidence and has never been in a relationship. When he meets Jinhwan, he's constantly trying to go at his flow BUT he doesn't even know what it is. Jinhwan's wants are indecipherable to him, and he doesn't even know if he wants a relationship as well. Imagine being led by the nose during the entirety of a situationship then hearing THAT phone call? Minjun isn't confrontational, and we KNOW this, so he just leaves. Mind you if this all happened to me I'd fucking leave too tf
Jinhwan, our ML, is also part of the issue just as much as Minjun is. He tiptoes around the relationship they have, and we literally know he knows that Minjun also likes him. The problem with him is that just like Minjun, Jinhwan doesn't know if Minjun wants a relationship with him as well. He misinterprets Minjun's awkwardness when trying to feel him out or please him as awkwardness towards him and a relationship. So he also adapts a people-pleaser personality in a way by not mentioning a relationship at all.
Jinhwan had literally both the confirmation of Minjun's feelings and the upper-hand in the relationship where he knows they both feel the same way. He doesn't say anything - just like how Minjun didn't say anything about the phone call. There's no if or what ifs, the phone call was the last straw for both of them in a way.
The title itself 'a pushover's romance' refers to the both of them. They're both pushovers for each other.
At the end of the day the relationship they had in their 20s was built on assumptions and ended with assumptions. When they meet again, they both still hold their people-pleasing attributes whether they know about it or not. The only difference is that they've both changed and harbor resentment, but the resentment is exactly why their relationship works out this time. They let their real feelings out and actually get angry at each other. If Minjun had gotten angry like he did now, he would have actually confronted Jinhwan about the phone call - but he didn't have that resentment nor lingering attachments in his 20s. If Jinhwan was as direct in his 20s as he was in his 30s, we probably would have seen him actually address the issue of dancing around the subject of a relationship.
Literally the people they've become in their 30s were the answer to their relationship problems in their 20s. That's why their relationship works out this time. While the ending was ass, we witness Minjun see what Jinhwan actually wants after the entirety of the story not knowing what he wanted. They both become pushovers again, but this time for the right reasons to make a relationship work.
That's why it's 5/5 for me with like one star having a faulty lightbulb for how ass the ending was in general.
I think it was a great read with how the plot was built - but the ending was definitely meh I'll agree with that. If it was longer it would've been great. Spoilers ahead.
Now let's talk about Minjun and Jinhwan and how people are saying Minjun's a red flag - I'd disagree.
So from what we know about our MC Minjun, he's a people-pleaser, and during his 20s he has very little confidence and has never been in a relationship. When he meets Jinhwan, he's constantly trying to go at his flow BUT he doesn't even know what it is. Jinhwan's wants are indecipherable to him, and he doesn't even know if he wants a relationship as well. Imagine being led by the nose during the entirety of a situationship then hearing THAT phone call? Minjun isn't confrontational, and we KNOW this, so he just leaves. Mind you if this all happened to me I'd fucking leave too tf
Jinhwan, our ML, is also part of the issue just as much as Minjun is. He tiptoes around the relationship they have, and we literally know he knows that Minjun also likes him. The problem with him is that just like Minjun, Jinhwan doesn't know if Minjun wants a relationship with him as well. He misinterprets Minjun's awkwardness when trying to feel him out or please him as awkwardness towards him and a relationship. So he also adapts a people-pleaser personality in a way by not mentioning a relationship at all.
Jinhwan had literally both the confirmation of Minjun's feelings and the upper-hand in the relationship where he knows they both feel the same way. He doesn't say anything - just like how Minjun didn't say anything about the phone call. There's no if or what ifs, the phone call was the last straw for both of them in a way.
The title itself 'a pushover's romance' refers to the both of them. They're both pushovers for each other.
At the end of the day the relationship they had in their 20s was built on assumptions and ended with assumptions. When they meet again, they both still hold their people-pleasing attributes whether they know about it or not. The only difference is that they've both changed and harbor resentment, but the resentment is exactly why their relationship works out this time. They let their real feelings out and actually get angry at each other. If Minjun had gotten angry like he did now, he would have actually confronted Jinhwan about the phone call - but he didn't have that resentment nor lingering attachments in his 20s. If Jinhwan was as direct in his 20s as he was in his 30s, we probably would have seen him actually address the issue of dancing around the subject of a relationship.
Literally the people they've become in their 30s were the answer to their relationship problems in their 20s. That's why their relationship works out this time. While the ending was ass, we witness Minjun see what Jinhwan actually wants after the entirety of the story not knowing what he wanted. They both become pushovers again, but this time for the right reasons to make a relationship work.
That's why it's 5/5 for me with like one star having a faulty lightbulb for how ass the ending was in general.