Responses
Okay, actually, I won't undersell the sweet moments. There were a lot, and I reallyyyy loved it when they were all being kind and gentle. Like, this could have been sososo good! If not for the glaring flaws :"(
But when they would shower him in kisses or be silly and sweet it was so nice.
I'm in a toxic relationship with this manhwa because why are the good times stronger in my memory than all the bad that I hated while reading it </3 truly the trap of a toxic relationship, the sugar masks the fatal dose of necrotic poison. But boy is it sweet...
I have IMMENSELY mixed feelings about this.
Let's do quick top 5 list first.
1. They NEED a safeword DIRELY
2. Ido and Jin should have kissed more, but especially in the final chapter.
3. Ido and Jin should have been shown bottoming especially considering they're willing.
4. It's been so long since I've seen such intense yaoi hands. Wowee.
5. The safeword again dear Lord that would make so many things acceptable.
Now, some bullet points.
•I hate hate hate how Gyeonwoo is treated throughout most of this.
•The unfaltering assault that Ido put him through since they were young was horrible to watch.
•The scene where they assault him and he doesn't realize its them is sickening (negative).
•I would say they need therapy but I'll be really honest I think by the end they're about as adjusted as these people can possibly get.
•I cannot tell if this exhibits good character complexity or intensely inconsistent characterization.
I think going into this expecting romance is not the move, but if you want to read interesting characters in a dark psychological way, this is very interesting. I enjoyed the moments that showed the twisted and difficult aspects of each character and think it was beautifully written.
I think that the gratuitous violence is unacceptable because there is no safeword established. Gyeonwoo constantly says no, says it hurts, begs them to stop. Despite their supposed love, they ignore it. CNC isn't for me personally but at least if they had at any point established a way for Gyeonwoo to stop things if he needed to, it would show that everyone was actually consenting yet instead they showed things that were honestly anxiety inducing.
I will say, I think Gyeonwoo was a likable main character and was a much better person than the other two, so any hate towards him I feel is not fair.
What I WILL say, though, is that anyone complaining about his size or how young he looks has every damn right to complain about that. He looks like a child at times –not always, but any amount is too much. It could be overlooked at times because yes, some people are small or look young, but I honestly think it got even worse in the extra chapters.
I don't know, I won't say I hated this but I definitely did not love it. It's a very interesting read and I really did love their dynamic when they were all happy and gentle and kind to each other.
This had a lot of potential to be a really good story with complex characters, but it went too far into the dark and fucked up aspects.
Ido could have had all his commitment issues and some asshole behavior, but he was downright cruel.
Jin had so many moments where he showed he understood consent and told Gyeonwoo he would stop if asked. And that makes it even worse that at other times he was so violent (the belt around the neck in particular really upset me).
Gyeonwoo honestly I have no recollection of any really bad things he did, he was overall very loving and sweet, so the only complaint is the artist's decision to make him look childlike.
I might read this again just to focus on the actual writing that I thought was beautiful, because I couldn't focus on it through the anxiety the sex scenes caused. I can skip them next time and really hone in on the character study of each of them, because I genuinely did find that to be so interesting and good.