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I have to say that the older characters were so well written. Like I genuinely loved the grandma and Jaekyung’s coach’s I really appreciate how much they were a positive influence on the characters lives. As a child it’s so important for you to have good adults around you. And I feel like those two characters were exactly what an adult should be for a child. Especially a child growing up in a rough situation. Truly everything outside of the main romance was so well written that I’m genuinely not even too bothered by the ending. There’s this strong theme of destruction by circumstances that is applied so well to every aspect of the story. The consequences going from “you were just there” to “this is because of what you did” was very compelling. And good way to depict the question, “when will you stop blaming your past?”. However I think where the author falls is handling and trying to understand sexual abuse in and out of relationships. It’s handle in the same way a subplot of high schools girls gossiping and get their consequences would be. They fail to see and connect that Dan wasn’t just sexual abused by Jaekyung, but by the doctor, and by the loan sharks. Portraying this repeated abuse as just “annoying” and something that is to get over, dampens the series and pulls the reader out of the story. Sexual abuse is it’s own horror and should be written like one. Like a murder or a demon attacking someone. Just like the effects of stalking and death in the story, the sexual abuse should be handled in the same way.
Yohan’s death is so heartbreaking but Neulham genuinely did nothing wrong. He didn’t even beat Yohan in the fight. He stopped the sexual assault of a fellow student. He emphasized with him and begged him to change his mind. And Yohan knew Neulham was right. The only people who suffered were victims of a predator and not even the predator himself. Which is often the case in society. Pedos and predators get let off easy and even defended. While their victims rot and die from the violent and self assault done to them. Unjust suffering is punishment from an unjust society. Yohan asks the question many who suffer from the effects ask. “Why me? Why did this happen to me?”