Responses
also just wanted to thank sage for translating! I’ve already bought and read 205 through google translate and im eager to read your translation! <3 after that…it’s time to wait (phew boy time to catch up on everything I’ve neglected due to the hyper fixation of NME)
well there we have it!! the culmination of the plot…everything has been leading up to this moment where Heejae will inevitably have to confront the errors of his ways from the past and sort out his feelings for Garam. To me it’s obvious that he does love Garam very very much, but of course, his stubborn cruelty is what will form the chasm between them. I’m not as devastated as I thought I would feel as I honestly see this as the much needed stepping stone for their relationship to finally break through that toxic bubble (where Garam is enabling Heejae’s cruelty and where Heejae is blinded by his own hypocrisy)
Now we simply have to wait for Heejae’s growth and his apology to the MC. Perhaps not even to the MC but to all of the students he has hurt as well. Compton was very much needed in this whole arc as he allows for Garam to stop rationalizing the professor’s behavior; and reminds him of the damage that he has done to everyone. He has to learn that he cannot simply be soft towards Garam; but instead must be soft towards everyone. He needs to learn that he has the capability to be human.
On another note, I feel so incredibly bad for Garam. He has spent so much of his time just giving excuses after excuses for so many people. And now that he is so deeply in love with the Professor, of course he would be wounded by it. I think it hurts to see how he still seeks comfort in Heejae’s Chopin (or; another interpretation would be that he wants to remind himself of Heejae’s solitude in Chopin once more). But at least it’s growth for him too, because he is now able to make demands for the Professor and he is ably to ‘fight’ back.
Overall this was a much, much needed chapter in this whole series and it hopefully serves as the turning point for their relationship to change fully and to confront their rocky past. And for Heejae to stop being the knife too.
(The last panel broke me!!!! Holding him close and yet being the one to stab him. Heejae!!! Garam gave you the choice of apologising!! How could you say that!!! Please reflect on your words…)