Okay, I have a lot of things to say about Bongchun's Bride
First of all, ITS SO FUNNY HOW THEY LOOK LIKE Y/N MEMES SOMETIMES ISTG their size difference is absurdd lmaooo
It's very strange to me how Soongap still refers to Bongchun as master T^T Bongchun never thought of Soongap as his slave, but rather a person who was on the brink of death that he rescued and later became his friend. I understood why Soongap thought of Bongchun as his master, cuz Mr. Jeon did technically sell him to Bongchun, and Soongap already had a lot of trust issues with ppl, and could never truly believe that he would be free. But eventually they built enough trust to overcome Soongap's anxiety, he was never even made to do any chores, and free to leave if he wanted to, but the power dynamic of being in a master-slave relationship remained and their relationship never got properly addressed. I'd like to hear them both call each other darling, or by each other's name, instead of "Master" lol
I really love what they did with the story upto chapter 68. We had a good conclusion on Pilgyeon's part in the story, where he supposedly gives up/learns to let go after realising what he was doing to Soongap was exactly what his father did to Soongap's mother
(im referring to when Bongchun was gone and Pilgyeon was staying the night with Soongap at Mr. Goo's house. He saw Soongap's mom's lifeless expression on Soongap's face as he realised that Soongap was giving up on life, thus no longer resisting Pilgyeon's attempted rape. This scene was profound to the story, because in the earlier chapters, Bongchun tells Soongap he wishes he would be his bride forever, and Soongap's reply was smth along the lines of "I'm just a slave, what i want doesn't really matter/i dknt have a choice," "so if you wanna keep me here forever then do that". To which Bongchun comforts him by saying that Soongap is free to leave anytime he pleases, that Bongchun won't hold him back, and even generously offers him some rice and cotton to take with him on his journey despite Bongchun himself being in a huge debt from saving Soongap's life. I believe that staying with Bongchun made Soongap forget, even for a little bit, that he was a slave. Which is why when Pilgyeon is actively trying to rape Soongap, Soongap suddenly is reminded of the dreadful reality of how futile his resistance is, gives up and repeats the same line while losing all hope, "I'm just a slave, what i want doesn't really matter," "you'll just use me like a tool then leave me for dead"
After that Pilgyeon stops forcing himself on Soongap and doesn't actually go through with the rape, instead, he leaves. That, imo, should've been the end of Pilgyeon's appearance in the story. Because after that, Soongap eventually (more or less) trys to move past what happened, and we see Soongap and Bongchul spending quality time together and slowly forgetting abt their struggles. I would've preferred this cuz it doesn't graphically depict rape. Instead, we get to experience the dread and despair the victim feels abt the constant harassment, pressure, and very impending possibility of rape.
That way, we are able to see the dehumanising effect that Pilgyeon's actions had on Soongap, without it becoming fetishism of the actual rape, which is why I lowk really liked this author and her depiction of the perpetrators depravity and doom befalling the victim without making things sexual, but rather it being right on the edge of smth horrifying about to happen.
When Pilgyeon was brought back into the story later on, and actual rape scenes were shown, I felt incredibly disappointed, uncomfortable, and borderline disturbed. I wanted to give this author the benefit of the doubt, because I genuinely wanted to believe she was giving us a truly emotional story about the victim's experience, and not fetishising rape like so many other creators have done.
So I came up with the theory that, ok, rape scenes were included to make us feel uncomfortable on PURPOSE, so we can kinda understand just how grim and repulsive a situation like that would be on the victim. But that doesn't quite explain the reveal of Pilgyeon's rape fantasy after getting drunk (somewhere after chapter 70).
Because, why include rape scenes at all? And if it's to understand the victims experience better, why include one where the perpetrator is IMAGINING it?
It felt like there was some victimisation of Pilgyeon as well, like bruh, why even bother trying to set up some pity story as if we're gonna sympathise with that psycho? Or showing how Pilgyeon was aware that Soongap wasnt related to him at all, as if that justifies Pilgyeon tryna rape him? (Soongap doesnt know that they're not related btw). Just cuz hes not related to you by blood, doesnt mean that forcing your feelings onto someone is okay, it just makes things slightly less weird ig cuz its not technically incest T^T.
Besides that, the death of Mr. Jeon was pretty anticlimactic, and it was also absurd to me that Pilgyeon comitted by letting go of the cliff and falling to his death. Is that supposed to be his form of repentance or smth? Cuz that does NOT show remorse at all, he just created more trauma for the victim, and it doesn’t really make sense for him to randomly do that when he's shown no signs of ending his own life or depression prior to this. And the fact that he actually survives, but loses his memories instead of ever confronting his misdeeds and paying for his actions is so frustrating. How come he gets to live an ignorantly blissful life after causing Soongap so much trauma and suffering?
I also really wish we got more perspective on their emotions and their thoughts, especially with Bongchunnnn
Anyway, thanks for skimming through my unnecessarily long rant lol. This was overall a pretty well-written story that I enjoyed reading
Okay, I have a lot of things to say about Bongchun's Bride
First of all, ITS SO FUNNY HOW THEY LOOK LIKE Y/N MEMES SOMETIMES ISTG their size difference is absurdd lmaooo
It's very strange to me how Soongap still refers to Bongchun as master T^T
Bongchun never thought of Soongap as his slave, but rather a person who was on the brink of death that he rescued and later became his friend. I understood why Soongap thought of Bongchun as his master, cuz Mr. Jeon did technically sell him to Bongchun, and Soongap already had a lot of trust issues with ppl, and could never truly believe that he would be free. But eventually they built enough trust to overcome Soongap's anxiety, he was never even made to do any chores, and free to leave if he wanted to, but the power dynamic of being in a master-slave relationship remained and their relationship never got properly addressed. I'd like to hear them both call each other darling, or by each other's name, instead of "Master" lol
I really love what they did with the story upto chapter 68. We had a good conclusion on Pilgyeon's part in the story, where he supposedly gives up/learns to let go after realising what he was doing to Soongap was exactly what his father did to Soongap's mother
(im referring to when Bongchun was gone and Pilgyeon was staying the night with Soongap at Mr. Goo's house. He saw Soongap's mom's lifeless expression on Soongap's face as he realised that Soongap was giving up on life, thus no longer resisting Pilgyeon's attempted rape. This scene was profound to the story, because in the earlier chapters, Bongchun tells Soongap he wishes he would be his bride forever, and Soongap's reply was smth along the lines of "I'm just a slave, what i want doesn't really matter/i dknt have a choice," "so if you wanna keep me here forever then do that". To which Bongchun comforts him by saying that Soongap is free to leave anytime he pleases, that Bongchun won't hold him back, and even generously offers him some rice and cotton to take with him on his journey despite Bongchun himself being in a huge debt from saving Soongap's life. I believe that staying with Bongchun made Soongap forget, even for a little bit, that he was a slave. Which is why when Pilgyeon is actively trying to rape Soongap, Soongap suddenly is reminded of the dreadful reality of how futile his resistance is, gives up and repeats the same line while losing all hope, "I'm just a slave, what i want doesn't really matter," "you'll just use me like a tool then leave me for dead"
After that Pilgyeon stops forcing himself on Soongap and doesn't actually go through with the rape, instead, he leaves. That, imo, should've been the end of Pilgyeon's appearance in the story. Because after that, Soongap eventually (more or less) trys to move past what happened, and we see Soongap and Bongchul spending quality time together and slowly forgetting abt their struggles. I would've preferred this cuz it doesn't graphically depict rape. Instead, we get to experience the dread and despair the victim feels abt the constant harassment, pressure, and very impending possibility of rape.
That way, we are able to see the dehumanising effect that Pilgyeon's actions had on Soongap, without it becoming fetishism of the actual rape, which is why I lowk really liked this author and her depiction of the perpetrators depravity and doom befalling the victim without making things sexual, but rather it being right on the edge of smth horrifying about to happen.
When Pilgyeon was brought back into the story later on, and actual rape scenes were shown, I felt incredibly disappointed, uncomfortable, and borderline disturbed. I wanted to give this author the benefit of the doubt, because I genuinely wanted to believe she was giving us a truly emotional story about the victim's experience, and not fetishising rape like so many other creators have done.
So I came up with the theory that, ok, rape scenes were included to make us feel uncomfortable on PURPOSE, so we can kinda understand just how grim and repulsive a situation like that would be on the victim. But that doesn't quite explain the reveal of Pilgyeon's rape fantasy after getting drunk (somewhere after chapter 70).
Because, why include rape scenes at all? And if it's to understand the victims experience better, why include one where the perpetrator is IMAGINING it?
It felt like there was some victimisation of Pilgyeon as well, like bruh, why even bother trying to set up some pity story as if we're gonna sympathise with that psycho? Or showing how Pilgyeon was aware that Soongap wasnt related to him at all, as if that justifies Pilgyeon tryna rape him? (Soongap doesnt know that they're not related btw). Just cuz hes not related to you by blood, doesnt mean that forcing your feelings onto someone is okay, it just makes things slightly less weird ig cuz its not technically incest T^T.
Besides that, the death of Mr. Jeon was pretty anticlimactic, and it was also absurd to me that Pilgyeon comitted by letting go of the cliff and falling to his death. Is that supposed to be his form of repentance or smth? Cuz that does NOT show remorse at all, he just created more trauma for the victim, and it doesn’t really make sense for him to randomly do that when he's shown no signs of ending his own life or depression prior to this. And the fact that he actually survives, but loses his memories instead of ever confronting his misdeeds and paying for his actions is so frustrating. How come he gets to live an ignorantly blissful life after causing Soongap so much trauma and suffering?
I also really wish we got more perspective on their emotions and their thoughts, especially with Bongchunnnn
Anyway, thanks for skimming through my unnecessarily long rant lol. This was overall a pretty well-written story that I enjoyed reading