Since modern romance often ties "love" to physical desire, people tend to forget that in literature (considering this manhwa is an adaptation of a novel with the same title), first love can also be about pure admiration, appreciating someone's beauty, or even a meaningful moment that leaves a deep impression without any sexual desire at all. And that's exactly what we see here. It's still valid to call it first love. You just need to understand that love can take many different forms, and not project or equate your own understanding or views of love onto what Yuri meant when he called it his "first love," because that will obviously make you feel icky. If you still find it creepy because Yuri was 25 while Xinlu was 12, that's exactly why POV matters. We get to see how Yuri himself describes those feelings, and based on what's actually shown in the story, they don't fit the medical criteria or legal definition of pedophilia either.
Love you! Yes please, love is so complex and is not always tied to anything sexual. He didn't even approach Xinlu and just treasured the memory.
It is only creepy if he made a move on the kid or fantasized about him BUT HE DIDN'T!
I really love your explanation Yumina dear.
0 literacy
And that’s why this community remains toxic.. y’all suck so bad….
This is so right
Nothing sucks as much as your media literacy though lol
Tbh I know yuri as a character would not actually prey on children and sexualise them etc, but still I just found it so weird that the author would make a 25 year old man find a 12 year old kid his “first love”. Because in reality, they would be predators. I don’t think any sane person who’s not a pedophile at that age would see at a kid under water and think innocent, yearning thoughts like yuri, even after years later, and call it a first love. It would’ve been better if Xinlu was described briefly as a cute kid. Then years later when they meet again yuri simply thinks oh the kid has grown up and develops attraction towards adult him later on.
Exactly, tanx you for this
“Then years later when they meet again yuri simply thinks oh the kid has grown up and develops attraction towards adult him later on.”
but that’s EXACTLY what happens?????
y’all aren’t serious about this like istg it’s getting hard not to call you people idiots
That’s just your opinion, and there’s nothing wrong with that. But what matters most is the actual facts presented throughout the story, which show that he isn’t a predator. That’s what’s being discussed here, because so many people are falsely accusing Yuri of being a pedophile.
You can call him weird if you want, but that’s just how you personally compare him to real-life pedophiles. :) The truth is, Yuri is very different from them. You can make all the assumptions you want, but none of that changes the fact that his character is still valid and that he isn’t a predator.
Idk why the author added that "first love" line for Yuri. That makes things much worse. There are many "the baby I met when I was young became my man" tropes but the reason people keep jumping Yuri is exactly because of those two words. It's so obvious that Yuri was just appreciating a cute baby. It's like an adult saying "oh your child is pretty". There's no romantic or sexual tension there and it could have been a cute memory later. But the controversial topic made people to see him as a pedo... They really did Yuri dirty.
I’m not calling him weird. I’m calling the situation itself and for the author to make yuri’s first love encounter have an absurd age gap, where one’s a fully grown adult and one’s still in kindergarten weird. Yet he harbors these intense feelings for him still many years later. Anyone with common sense will pause and look at that weirdly. I actually love yuri’s character, I just hate how their story unravelled. They could’ve both met as teenagers or as adults for yuri to then fall in love with him but no the author just had to slap that 25-13 years old gap. Then again, it is passion after all where no character is completely sane and are all equally unhinged so…
A 13-year-old is already in middle school, not kindergarten. Did you not know that? And Yuri supposedly harbored strong feelings for Xinlu for years? You're mistaken. It's clear that Yuri simply continued living his life normally. He was in a relationship with someone else. He didn't even think about Xinlu or go looking for him. His feelings of love came from the deep impression Xinlu's beauty had left on him, and Xinlu's face hadn't changed. He was still just as beautiful as Yuri remembered.
Did you even read my earlier explanation properly?
Everything you’ve said is just your opinion, and I’m not interested in it. Responding to it would only be a waste of time, because everyone has their own opinions, and sometimes people forget the facts just because they want their opinions to be right and dismiss the facts in the process. But I’m sure you’re not that kind of person.
Try rereading and understanding what I explained at the very beginning. It was already very clear. No matter what assumptions you make, it’s still valid for Yuri to call Xinlu his “first love.”
Oh wow what a major 2 years age difference that makes of whether a child is still in kindergarten or middle school. It was clearly sarcasm but sorry you didn’t pick up on it. And you’re contradicting yourself btw. If yuri is still deeply affected by xinlu’s beauty after all these years, then what are they if not strong feelings? How deeply captivated he was by his looks? And I meant even AFTER all these years since they last saw each other, not throughout the years.
Well you can thank yourself for wasting your own time then, for responding to my comment. Since we’re talking about facts, I never once invalidated Yuri as a character or his first love for xinlu. Go back and read my comments again, but if you still can’t understand then let me say it once more clearly. It’s weird for a 25 year old to call a 13 year old their first love. And that the author could’ve easily avoided that controversial outcome by shortening their age gap at the time. Because what grown adult is going to see a kid drowning and call them their first love without it being weird and creepy as hell.
The answer to your question is CANONICALLY everyone is affected by Xinlu's beauty! He's just that pretty. It's why he get's whatever he wants. Xinlu is canonically beautiful, charming and lovely; and he uses this to his advantage.
But Yuri is the only who's seen his bad sides (e.g. in seringe). And more importantly, the reason Yuri even develops feelings in the first place is BECAUSE he saw what Xinlu hides from everyone else.
“He’s so beautiful, I want to admire him from afar, but he’s also unstable and vulnerable, so I want to protect him… And he knows it. He’s ruthless and will do anything to get what he wants, but he’s also proud and has a strong sense of self-respect.”
"He was lovable. Even his spiteful, ruthless side. His heart pounded in his chest, a slow but steady rhythm. He felt both shy and happy, and he placed a hand over his heart."
Beautiful story but come on.. at 25 his first love was a 13 year old? That’s creepy asf