Witchery's Topics (82)

Hongyeon just gets more and more obnoxious with each chapter. It’s clear that he really doesn’t trust or respect his partner. Everything he’s done to interfere has created more obstruction and drama between Mun and Hayun. He brushes off Taejun’s desire to help them get together because their auras are the same so they’ll obviously end up together no matter what, but somehow also gets insanely jealous of any interactions Taejun has with Hayun and Mun, who is his COUSIN. So which is it? He acts like they’re destined soulmates, but also like they’ll somehow have an affair with Taejun. Taejun could have gotten everything sorted out in just a couple meetings, but Hongyeon interrupted 3 times, said he would do it instead (which Taejon trusted him to do), then half assed it, caused a stupid misunderstanding, and is still prioritizing petty jealousy. He’s so needlessly jealous that he kept indirectly preventing the people he considers “threats” from getting together, and if they had started dating (which would already be happening if Taejoon had been able to do his thing) and focus on each other. Hayun is now heartbroken, and leaning on Taejoon more, while Mun is frustrated, so also leaning on Taejoon for more advice. He’s just a selfish, distrustful partner and he just keeps going downhill. I just feel like even though he is affection, he treats Taejoon more like his property than an independent person who happens to be dating him.

Ok but why does every female lead name their pets, contracted spirits, animal buddies such awful and unoriginal names?! This is at least the third black animal named Blackie that I’ve seen. It’s not charming, it’s like they sawdust for imagination

He proposed at 6 years old. It’s not like there was a legally binding contract or agreement. Also he literally forgot she existed, so it shouldn’t be that surprising that she didn’t take the proposal seriously

I was expecting Julia to be a “tragically taken too soon saint among humans” type, but she’s such a bitch. So she knows about werewolves, but went into the woods at a full moon regardless to cry about an arranged marriage (which is a valid problem, but timing for fuck’s sake). Then she guilts/convinces Damien to use an untried suppressant leading to a shitty situation all around.

Is it just me or did the story just gloss over all of the terrible things the characters did? Almost all of them participated in dangerous experimentation on an unwilling subject who was held against their will with no justification. Kata abandoned child Teo in the woods because humans were about to attack their pack… but didn’t think to mention that detail to him. Just ridiculous. Chei deliberately and systematically poisoned Kata because he believed he had killed his brother (when it was actually Raymond’s father and Kata was the one who reported him for it), but arranged it so Raymond would die too because (this is the most clear motive I could derive from his words and actions) he was jealous that Teo had a crush on Raymond instead of him at first. They are just barely able to synthesize a drug to keep Kata alive, and the only consequence for Chei is leaving his research job and a dubiously genuine apology, and they all still associate with each other!? He literally tried to murder two of them in cold blood!!!

Seme gives major nice guy vibes, and not in a good way. He’s so loyal and helpful that he stepped in to protect his friend when his family is unjustly accused of treason…only to use the vulnerable situation to pressure the uke into having sex within days. He even told him “that’s how you’ll be able to stay here”, knowing full well he has no other options. There are other ways to hide. It’s wild how they somehow have sensitive secret conversations in the same structure which apparently has so little soundproofing that the servants can tell they’re not having sex. Seme offered his help out of supposed affection and loyalty as friends, but suddenly there are strings attached. It seems like he’s had a crush on uke for a while, but I just hate how he approached this.

Holy shit, his dad is stone cold, just left him to die of brain injuries or hypothermia.

“He could have hurt you worse” (╬￣皿￣)凸. Seme wasn’t hitting him to injure him, but to overpower him. By making the victim feel physically powerless and vulnerable, the abuser ensures their obedience. Many abusers deliberately avoid anything which can leave lasting marks or hit their victims in places that aren’t usually visible to others. It’s not about reducing harm, but reducing the likelihood of other people noticing, or recordable evidence.
The SA was for a similar purpose of establishing dominance. He wants to start pimping Sihyeon out, so he’s likely trying to desensitize him to sa towards that end. And let’s be honest, most so called redemption arcs for characters like this are
1. Tragic backstory to explain/justify abusive and toxic behavior
2. Them suddenly catching feelings, leading to an abrupt stop of the anbuse/violence
3. The victim also catching feelings and magically forgiving everything to be with them
I’ve barely ever seen a character arc where an abusive character legitimately realizes that they were wrong, repents in any way, takes responsibility for their previous actions, or respects the wishes of the victim after the fact. Authors think that if the victim forgives everything (no matter how little sense it makes objectively, or inline with their personality), so will the readers.

So Sihyeon’s family killed his parent. So tf what. Sihyeon was way too young to be involved or guilty of that matter. Sure, he acts like a little shit, but he hadn’t done anything that comes even close to justifying what seme has done to him (and let’s be honest, even if it was an eye for an eye, nothing would justify it). Seme is an abusive, violent person who is using the most vulnerable person on the periphery of his enemy’s group as a punching bag. And the author will probably try to shove them together because the power of feelings will wash away all the exploitation, abuse, and torture. I hope they all die and leave Sihyeon to inherit everything.

I just can’t get over the level of disregard every single person has for Baekwoo. He’s being forced into marriage because the royal family is leveraging his health and safety to coerce him into it after they did the same to get his family to “agree” years ago. He was told to rearrange his entire life, give up his dreams of being an architect, and basically be an obedient little womb/puppet for whatever the royal family wants. Sure, the prince isn’t outright abusive, but he bargains with Baekwoo by dangling basic freedoms in front of him while gaslighting him to distract from the fact that the “rewards” he’s working towards are all basic rights that were taken from him overnight at the whim of the royal family. No matter how nice or protective he acts, the prince doesn’t respect Baekwoo’s free will and is an accomplice in his life being controlled. He basically gets to reap the benefits by playing good cop and swooping in when he’s vulnerable to score points, but the fact that he doesn’t fight for Baekwoo’s freedom makes him just as guilty as everyone else.