It's actually author's first story in the entire series even before kiss me liar and kiss me if u can so if you read and understand the different novels, they are actually showing how Grayson keeps wanting to help people. He did help yeonwoo not get gangraped but with chase, his solutions came out horribly and hurting. Author is hinting from the start this complex character by putting him on several stories. Grayson and Dane are the main characters in this universe. So she is not making us readers pity him or forget his wrongdoings. She is showing us the real Grayson from his and Dane's unbiased perspective.
This focuses on the mc's (grayson) mental disorder, his genes and upbringing (+his search for love to understand emotions) and ml's (Dane)healing from a trauma with grayson appearing in his life. While in the other stories, you can see how Grayson's condition affected the people around him.
Any shift in perspective will bias the tone towards the selected mc, but I guess my point was that this development doesn’t actually justify or explain his constant pattern of negative behavior. It’s essentially a guilt bomb set go off on people he has antagonized to the point that they made it their life’s mission to get back at him.
It’s not reframing these actions, but rather setting the stage to make the readers and the narratives choice in love interest, Dane, feel bad for him. Point being that him being excited about a few normal events in a normal way does nothing to negate decades of harmful actions which he has still not acknowledged or taken responsibility for.
The timing is just too obvious. Authors will bend over to protect a toxic top/ml from the consequences of their actions, and this just seems to be the setup for a shallow guilt trip.
Yes, Grayson will be justified in feeling hurt and angry about this, but if he had refrained from antagonizing and hurting others constantly, it never would have gotten to this point.
"Any shift in perspective will bias the tone towards the selected mc". You said it yourself. Kmyic and kml was seen from the perspective of the people who hated him and who don't know him well, so those are biased. Being told from his and other people's perspectives make this the closest one we'll ever get to know the real Grayson.
Read my reply again.
I think if this story was made to "guilt bomb", there wouldn't be other novels who support the narrative of this one.
We have, 1. Eat me up if you can (the grandfather's story, he who was said to resemble Grayson as per Ashley's initial opinions)
2. Lick me if you can (the side stories showing the parenting)
3. Kiss me if you can (side stories which told graysons reason for lying. actually, you wouldnt need the side stories to realize that he has good intentions behind the hurtful actions toward chase, that is when readers aren't clouded with judgement)
4. Deflower me if you can (talked about grayson caring for chase bc his brother was in danger of becoming insane. If I remember correctly, they also showed here how grayson chose chase over bliss in a certain situation)
5. Kiss me liar (included this bc desire was before this also. grayson helped yeonwoo here and if you're observant, his character being unique was already introduced by that scene)
I couldnt add Run away if you can because I haven't started the novel yet.
"The timing is just too obvious." What timing when this was literally the foundation of the other stories? It was planned and created first a decade ago.
It wasn't made to redeem, to gain sympathy, or to justify anything. It's to essentially learn information about a character who was only portrayed as villain from others' eyes. If you are still not seeing what I'm talking about even after reading the starting chapters, you are not getting the purpose of the story. It was already hinted from 15 chapters or so that he's showing symptoms of alexithymia. Or if you haven't read the novel yet, then these few chapters of the manhwa aren't enough for you to comprehend that it wasn't a 'setup to guilt trip'.
Like the other readers of this series, I also think zig went to intentionally chose the worst possible situations in Grayson's actions in kmiyc. To show the severity of thinking from a person affected by combined dominant genes from birth (brain defect since young), a personality disorder, and bad parenting. It also pushes readers to check the other novels if they want to gain new info or have explanation for each perspective they read.
I got carried away, I hope you read this with open mind. Also understood you would think that way with how this manhwa was adapted after kmiyc. Novels adapted are chosen by illustrators, not the author's decision. But really, dmiyc novel was created first like author said. So I don't see this made to bend up anything because this narrative is the truth.
*by the truth I meant the real Grayson
It’s interesting that this is the moment the author chooses to show a more innocent and human side to Grayson. Up until now, he constantly behaves and thinks like a selfish asshole on the borderline of having antisocial personality disorder.
Now he’s about to get some karma, but we’re being set up to feel bad for him, like all the people he wronged are sniffing out some precious glimmer of empathy, as if he didn’t have an entire lifetime to start seeing others as human.