Authors on Lezh*n get only 30% of total revenue on purchased coins used on each chapter (afaik, they don't earn any from free coins), so while we're benefiting from high quality translations from Sage, I highly encourage you guys to purchase official raws from the korean site to support the author! In case you're unable to pay using your usual online payment platforms, I was able to pay for mine using mobile load balance ^^. NME also has really good merch if you're interested!
Omg how much is the merch?!!?
Merch is priced pretty reasonably imo. Coaster set is at 15$ (includes a photocard of Garam and Heejae), while Garam's debut program file is at 13$ (you can order them at j-meeshop). It's the shipping that's expensive lol. I'm from Southeast Asia, so I'm only charged ~20$, but it gets pricier the farther you are from korea.
Oops, I meant to reply to you lol. My bad, please refer to my reply above for the details!
Thanks for the reply! I'm from SEA too, Oooh and the price is pretty good can't wait to buy it someday ( must buy my necessities for my college first)
"I was just shouting whatever came to mind. Garam's playing was absolutely flawless."—yes, we know lol.
But yeah, this clarified Compton's character for me, as well as validated the empathy that I was able to sustain for him since the previous chapters now that we know that apart from being the first student, he also used to be a huge fan of Heejae. The cut dug deeper for him since it's possible that unlike the others, his primary motivation to study under Heejae went beyond just having the privilege of being taught by a powerhouse in classical music, but also as a way to fulfill his dreams of playing alongside the person he looks up to. While Heejae's relationship with the rest may have came as purely transactional—both parties merely using each other as means to achieve individual greatness—it was personal for Compton, and the fall from the initial high hit him the hardest. It's a different kind of disappointment to be ripped into by the very person who inspired your craft. It's a feeling that's just so utterly humiliating and soul shredding to have mistakenly assumed a character out of someone based solely on the ecstasy you felt watching from afar, not realizing the kind of person lingering under that controlled facade. No wonder he left to conduct.
Anyway, repeat it with me: Heejae is the villain.
Idc if its bc he's undiagnosed or smth, his stubborn ass is obv aware that there's something up with him, he just can't be bothered with it. Like, he has a home in NYC for f's sake, it's not like he's stuck in Korea where mental health is still highly stigmatized. Smh, I hope Mamdani can fix this guy.
I mean tbf, this reaction was building itself up from the ground since the beginning of Compton and Garam's concerto contract. At its peak, Compton was fully convinced that he's found himself another soul to share the brunt of Heejae's hatred, and Garam, being backed into a corner, played into that.
It all comes crashing down when he's disillusioned by that scene of Garam and Heejae at the art gallery. To him, that is Garam being given the very thing that he so yearns for from Heejae. Like a piece of candy dangled in front of a child, he's being taunted by that scene. It gnaws at him deeply, betrayed by the alliance he thought he had. So, truly, him targeting Garam the very next day was to be expected.
What I am nervous about is how far he intends to take this seeing as he had just been throwing objects at his orchestra a few chapters ago. Moreover, I do think that whatever hate Compton gets as a character, should also extend to Heejae as they're essentially the same abusive bitch, only in different fonts. What cushions Heejae's character is his relationship with Garam and the fact that he's been treating him well the past chapters. But fundamentally, without Garam to reel him back, he's still the same piece of shit (as evidenced by how he treats orchestra members in his solo tour while Garam was away at London), just not deceptively manipulative like Compton as he's rather straightforward with his abuse.
Whatever warmth he was able to foster exists only as a product for his consideration to Garam, and not because he truly cares about the people in his immediate surroundings like Garam does.
you said exactly what i was thinking in such a profound and articulate way i love you
Yup. I love Heejae but the harm he caused to his past students and even Garam, simply won't go away. In fact, a major reason why Compton is the way he is because of the way Heejae treated and continues to treat him (obvy doesn't let him off the hook for his actions but you get my point)
Compton's character as the main antagonist to this arc of the story, serves to further highlight Heejae as the blade. The dichotomy between the first student and the last, and how they dealt with this blade was done so beautifully. Compton, the first to be wounded, had likely felt immense pressure to succeed being the first to be taught by Heejae. His teacher’s abusive pedagogy, almost as if done so purposefully as an act of disdain for his playing style was what fueled a hatred that turned him away from being a pianist, eventually morphing into deep-seethed resentment that masked his yearn for validation—an admiration far more profound than he could ever admit. Choosing to be a conductor was him showing that he could do without his teacher. The deliberate sabotage to Heejae's career, was his attempt to be acknowledged, and his vulnerability this chapter only confirms this. On the other hand, Garam being the student to dull the edges of this knife, using himself as the leather that wears down on its apex, while also simultaneously having the ability to sharpen it's metal burrs (I believe Garam implicitly acknowledges this during that chapter when him and Heejae played Rachmaninoff for Ms. Clarin) clashed sharply with this.
What's interesting is that Garam is very clearly portrayed as the ONLY one who would've been able to achieve this among all of Heejae's students. This was cemented early on in the story, from Heejae seeking out Garam's audition (?) piece to calm himself during bouts of rage, to ultimately sabotaging his other student such that Garam be the one to play beside him for Orpheus. Further supplementing this, Heejae was also the first to open that romantic connection with Garam when they first shared a kiss. While at the beginning, Garam was merely an object to Heejae's goal, Garam's drunken slur on Heejae's Chopin—how it revealed a lonely soul buried underneath a callous musician—was what tore away at that line.
Note: By audition piece, I mean the video that he submitted that got him the opportunity to be Heejae's student in the first place. Iirc, he was recommended by his previous teacher bc of his exceptional ability to comprehend and interpret pieces. So essentially Garam was favored from the very beginning bc of his playing style, but he was able go beyond that by being the only one to see past an exterior and peer into a lonely soul.
Tl;dr: Heejae is technically the bad guy and Garam is the only single thing redeeming his ass.
Omg this was written so spot on. Heejae is really the villain who 'won' (bagged garam)
On a side note: BL so good it's taking me out of my writing rut. I haven't felt like this since high school, and even more so, I've never taken the time before to write lengthy paragraphs under the comments section for a BL before lol.
I LOVE THIS SO FUCKING MUCH. Thank you thank you THANK you for peeling these layers.
Ur comment is like when I watch a good video essay after watching a movie/series
love this review it is now belongs to the museum of my holy screenshots
To think I'd get this ecstatic hearing him affirm their relationship and refer to himself as his boyfriend.
I'll get back to this once I find the right words to describe cum dump and his cult.
AHAHA CUM DUMP I HAVENT HEARD THAT ONE YET
Searched this on the app and there's literally so many posts not even trying to hide the fact that they're reading illegally smh. Like, idc how much you wanna share this but at LEAST exercise some caution and put some effort in blocking out the text. In case y'all aren't aware yet, there are NO official english translations of this yet. Your actions are LITERALLY threatening to have this be TAKEN DOWN. YOU CANNOT BE A BEGGAR AND STUPID AT THE SAME TIME
yeah i dont use that app but if anyone feels comfortable warning people or asking to block out the translations, or use the raws or whatever, please do so. maybe they don't realize the risk it brings to me and the uploads, and even this website as a whole.
I'm pretty sure it's okay for TikTok as for twitter...yeah someone got blocked by the author lmao
wait fr?? I haven't tried checking there atp those vids should be reported I'm already mourning bato
There someone posting whole ass chapters on the app, like it's genuinely scaring me
should be able to report those i think, im not super familiar with the app though
Y'all should just contact them getting something taken down on TikTok is almost impossible
Yeah. I said the same thing as you a long time ago when I saw the edits and stuff... but it was meant to happen. And it's always on tiktok. I understand that people get enthusiastic and want to share that feeling, but they're also very stupid and reckless. This is illegally shared, this person could face real life problems and be forced to erase all this and more. But they're not gonna stop. They don't care, just want the likes and the attention.
Hopefully, if the author finds out someday, it doesn't get ugly and they can be chill about it so an official translation can exist and we can support that too.
I remember the times when scanlators groups had to do this kind of thing very secretly. Like sharing a password so one can access the scans or uploading in very bad quality.
ticktok is no good too boo it's one of the reasons bato and other illegal sites were taken down last year
I mean it's also not gonna work since they're too lazy to cover up the dialogs and post the whole chapters they prob won't give a shi too and just block me been there so I often just report sometimes videos taken down
There's almost no proof of that, it was most likely taken down because of twitter, no author has active accounts on TikTok while they have them on Twitter where Mangago has been posted multiple times by authors too, the reason bato got taken down is because it got too popular, Mangago isn't as unknown as y'all might think either if it gets taken down i doubt it'll be because of this story
EXACTLY u worded that out so well
damn all just for the likes huh can't they at least blur the dialogs and alter the translation a bit I'm good with the edits but the whole chapter????
not author but a literally korean site and those acc that hve nothing to do but drop the names of the illegal sites while tagging that korean site that literally hurts their own artists,
also I'm not saying this manwha will "literally" be the reason, exactly that bato is very popular it's been up since 2000s and now that it's taken down, others who know mangago share
*the emoji to every comment section that's asking so yeah there's a risk this can get taken down too I'm very worried since there's been a lot of bugging since last month
As a long time user, yes, this site is very well know and has been reported A LOT. So they do purges, they take down the site a few days or weeks, they take down the series that got complaints and has guidelines but nobody care...
So the best we can do it's report those users on tiktok and stop sharing or creating edits here or there until there's an official translation. It's sad but I care more about author taking legal action against someone who was just being kind sharing what they like.
Authors already know about this site. Multiple authors posted it on Twitter. I'm saying it doesn't matter if people share the website because it's already known
I mean as long people delete the dialogue everything should be good
No. The best way it's to not create or share. Not for now because author knows they're using illegal scans even without text. Not everyone buys them legally. But it's already done. Hopefully it doesn't get ugly like I said. Some author's just let it pass but most of them hate this kind of thing and take legal actions.
The author found out like a week ago and they did nothing but block the user nothing will happen i promise
I saw some do 'nothing' and then sent letters... so yeah, maybe this story is not that well know as the popular ones with big (international) fanbases but wouldn't be the best option to be careful about what we share on media? And report those who aren't.
And I'm saying as long the translation it's censored it's okay
No. It's better to just stop doing that all together. They know those who do that are using illegal scans even without the text. It's easier to just stop and report.
Actually GAGGED with how freaky Garam is in the last panel. On the side note, though, absolutely ADORE how affectionate Heejae is this whole chapter.
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First he refuses to say "I'm sorry," now he doesn't wanna say "I love you" either, so WHAT THE FUCK DO ACTUALLY WANNA DO HUH? Do u even want this to work???
I fear Garam needs to teach this guy a lesson and just up and leave in the middle of the night. Get this bitch chasing.