The premise of these stories never makes sense. A vital political marriage is arranged to another nation, either for support/resources necessary for survival, or to ally with a potential invader to spare the kingdom. The princess is promised. Extremely delicate political dealings with major consequences for both success and failure. The princess runs away or elopes or refuses to go, so they send the bastard/younger prince pretending to be her.
It’s completely insane, tf do they think is going to happen on the marriage night, or if the groom tries to get with his bride before the wedding?! The logic that it will be less scandalous for the powerful king to find out he’s been scammed with a male bride than to try to make up an excuse to delay the marriage. And in this scenario, they’re basically throwing their prince to the wolves.
I just wish authors would put a little more work into figuring out a genuine premise for this trope. I read one where it was reversed, and the princess actually transformed into a man to impersonate her brother. There either need to be solid mechanisms in place to hide their identity or a truly ruthless family that are discarding them for profit.
This is so insanely risky for Kiran and it doesn’t really make sense for his supposedly loving family to so readily endanger him in that way.
They actually send uke there just to die lol logically it was total wrong but plot is plot.
I really want to point out how great chapter 99 was. In most cases, the mental trauma and resulting misfortune of the “abandoned” half of the main couple is used as narrative or in universe justification to get them back together while sidestepping the other issues that led up to it.
Doha states in no uncertain terms that his health and mental state are his responsibility only, and not Juheon’s. He acknowledges the breakup and how distressing it was, but takes responsibility for his reaction and part in the lead up to that event.
He reaffirms his feelings while acknowledging that the way he behaved made it impossible for Juheon to truly trust him, and let’s him know that he will work to regain that trust until he can feel comfortable being with him.
Literally took the thoughts out of my mind and put them together so easily and remarkably. You're so articulate I'm gonna kiss you now.
Thanks for the compliment, I just really love how the author chose to take the long way around to let the character heal naturally and grow back together instead of using it as a shallow plot forcer (which is the more common route)!
Nah you're so real for this. I especially love this story solely because you can see that the author is treading carefully on how to take the love story of the main characters as both of them are scarred from eachother and their circumstances somehow and are their own persons. Codependency (toxic or not) is all romantic and glorified in love stories but in real life, we need to learn to be comfortable in ourselves first to be comfortable enough with someone else. That requires time and trust. Hence I love the author for making this a slow burn. It felt real and frustrating but it leads to both of them healing, individually AND together.
Minor tidbit, I loved that they hugged at the end rather then kissing. It's just my aromantic ass I guess.
Nah you're so real for this. I especially love this story solely because you can see that the author is treading carefully on how to take the love story of the main characters as both of them are scarred from eachother and their circumstances somehow and are their own persons. Codependency (toxic or not) is all romantic and glorified in love stories but in real life, we need to learn to be comfortable in ourselves first to be comfortable enough with someone else. That requires time and trust. Hence I love the author for making this a slow burn. It felt real and frustrating but it leads to both of them healing, individually AND together.
Minor tidbit, I loved that they hugged at the end rather then kissing. It's just my aromantic ass I guess.
This story is an interesting case study in how relationships, sex, and consent are considered differently depending on gender. If DeMarcus was a woman who refused to sleep with any men, and her friends decided to try to get her drunk so she would agree to sleep with a guy, the narrative would justifiably treat them as villains
It also says alot abt the culture of jocks and frat boys. It's normal to them (even the MC/bot thinks w his dick more than w brain whenever it comes to sex and women)
These boys r talking as if you must have sex to be "complete" cz the way they describe ML as someone who's perfect, "he just needs to have sex and loses his virginity" as if that's a flaw.
They do not care to find someone who's compatible w him or who he can like, their solution is someone who's "hot enough to fuck"
Ok comedy aside, I think this chapter encapsulates the difference in psychology really well. Yejin was raised normally, away from crime and violence, and had only had superficial interactions with the gangsters he owed the debt to until he joined up. Trauma, loss, rage, and desperation have really put him in an altered mental state.
His loose cannon, crazy behavior sort of gets treated as a quirky personality trait, but it’s really all a trauma response. He’s trying very hard to adapt to a very extreme environment and really doesn’t understand what is normal/reasonable anymore. Nothing we see of his personality before the betrayal indicates that he was prone to such risky behavior.
Taekmu did something extreme (according to the status quo of gangster conduct) to scare him into putting more distance between them, but Yejin wasn’t aware, and thought it was just a normal aspect of that life, and therefore did the same without understanding the inevitable fallout.
Yejin is someone with nothing to lose, whose judgement is badly compromised by his trauma, so even by gangster standards he is prone to risky and erratic behaviors so long as it serves his revenge and/or helps him stabilize his new place int the world.
His wildcard, Devil may care attitude is only because he has nothing to hold back for. He has nothing and no one else to protect, and he considers his safety of minor importance compared to the relative gains of doing well in the gang and getting closer to revenge.
His disregard for his own life is due to his trauma and I don’t think anyone around him has fully recognized the root of that behavior. Even Taekmu has been assuming it’s an over enthusiasm and recklessness, but it’s rooted in an anger and despair that has completely engulfed Yejin’s sense of self.
I think Taekmu is starting to realize the mental state that Yejin is in, and that he is not dealing with someone capable of thinking and reacting “rationally” to the situations he has, and will continue to be placed in.
I love this character analysis
Thanks, I really like Yejin because his brightness has more complexity than just him being silly comedy relief for the top to take care of. It’s a common trope that usually results in the mc being the relief character that contrasts with the serious and competent top/ml.
I appreciate that his internal monologue and behaviors clearly show that he is unwell and uses positivity as a coping mechanism and just does not fully think through his decision making process. I hope the story continues to reveal and develop his character like this
Nothing is scarier than a man who has nothing to lose! Thank you for the analysis!! I’m glad someone pointed out the contrast between past and present Jejin bc it is a little jarring: before Jejin believed to have a bright future for himself, and now he’s lost EVERYTHING.
When they found the guy who betrayed him, you finally get to see how deeply affected Jejin is: he’s unsure about his capabilities and ultimately feels worthless after giving his everything for his future and getting nothing in return. He also doesn’t want to drag the people he’s starting to care about into his mess either bc Jejin, to his core, is still very kind to those who deserve it, and he doesn’t want people getting hurt because of him AGAIN, just like his grandma. He’ll throw himself into a lake of sharks bc he’d rather himself than anyone else!
And I think Jejin forgetting past Taekmu entirely plays a lot into this trauma, I’m excited to see how they unpack that!!
Amazing characater analysis, but it's *Jejin :D
Loved your analysis !
Lmfao, he’s so salty that she’s not hot for him. Bro is in denial ╮(￣▽￣)╭
Bro is like a dog that brings a live snake into the house, so excited he caught something for his pack, but zero concept of long term consequences ╮(￣▽￣)╭ Bro just turned a Cold War into a civil war ╥﹏╥
I was disappointed about chapter 58. It just doesn’t feel like it makes sense for someone with severe depression and suicidal ideation from the age of 10 to magically realize that everything is fine because someone told them that life was actually good.
That level of depression doesn’t work like that. It just sort of cheapened his character because he was someone who was still experiencing that ideation his entire life and after building happiness with a partner, but all it took was him basically saying “life isn’t as bad as you think” for all of that to go away. If it was that easy, it would have happened before the story started.It would have been better for him to choose to live while fighting his depression than have it magically poof
I completely get what you’re saying, but you also have to remember the situation they’re in right now. Why shinwoo wanted to die was because he felt like he had no one left, he didn’t have anyone alive that cared for him anymore and essentially deemed his life “ruined.” Since the beginning of the story he’s subconsciously been gaining that relationship he was so desperately seeking, taebaek was giving him a will to live without him even realizing it. His depression didn’t simple “go away,” and it shows that when he first opened up to taebaek about it. Up until that moment he still had that mindset because he’s been dealing with that weight of “my life is helpless I need to restart” for almost his entire life, shinwoo felt helpless because he had no one, but taebaek filled the void for him. It took him so long to realize because of that reason, even now, there’s no proof that he simply got “cured” from these feelings, but instead, it shows the hope that he felt because taebaek showed him a glimpse of a life he thought he had to kill himself and be reborn to fulfill. Because shinwoo never realized these feelings before it might seem like he simply felt better because of what taebaek said, but in reality it wasn’t just because of that at all. The reason why he couldn’t reach the state he’s in now was because of that mindset he had, he most likely isolated himself when he stoped serving and/or didn’t build deep connections with people, because he knew in the end all he wanted to do was die. Having him thrusted into a situation like this with someone like taebaek helped him reach the point where he’s at right now. Saying that his depression isn’t realistic because of this is just blatantly wrong, especially because everyone’s depression is different (coming from someone who has lived through years of it) also factoring the fact that this story is highly unrealistic I feel like the author did a good job with it idk ٩(๑❛ᴗ❛๑)۶ (also this could very much change and just be a glimmer of hope that eventually flares away so who knows what the author has in-store for shinwoo) but again I completely understand where you’re coming from (=・ω・=)
I felt bad for both of them. Obviously Ruan shouldn’t have done that and needed to pay the price for it. It felt like Ruan was constantly getting pushed and molded into place, power he never wanted, a lifetime of work he never asked for. Shein was a precious golden child who got away with shirking his duties over a minor illness. Ruan is only treated well when he is performing well. The second he steps out of line, his emotions are treated as a joke and his distress as an inconvenience.
This story would be smooth sailing if not for the adults in Ruan’s life. His parents never bothered to understand or get to know him, and just pushed everything onto Herdic. They let a 9 year old do whatever he wanted and then were surprised and disappointed that he didn’t choose to study every day, then set him to another continent for 10+ years because he was so clearly unfocused.
They let Shein get away with slacking off and force his role onto their young child. It’s clear that Shein is not that ill and it’s strange that the parents (who are pretty sharp) seemingly never picked up on it. Despite knowing how his laziness forced Ruan to give up his childhood, at no point does Shein show so much as a shred of concern for Ruan even when he is genuinely distressed.
They see him as an heir, not a child or brother. Their only concern is that he performs his role without inconveniencing them. Even though Herdic is the only one who really provides emotional support, he ends up using Ruan’s feelings to convince him to agree to study abroad, but then he concealed all of Cloden’s letters to “avoid distracting” him. It was so unnecessary, and would have allowed them to stay connected.
Later on, the count absolutely knew what would happen when Ruan started his search and how much it was going to hurt him, but he let it happen anyway to teach him a lesson and change his mind. Again, he prioritized “teaching” his heir how to wield authority and breaking him of his first love over his actual well being.
It’s still his fault for snapping, but there were so many opportunities for everyone around him to have unknowingly prevented it if they had actually prioritized him as a person instead of trying to manipulate him into the path/behavior they wanted. That was his boiling point in a place nobody had ever prioritized him. Part of the reason he built up such a fixation on Cloden was that he has always been the only person in his life that genuinely cared for him without any conditions.
He almost lost that because of the people around him
I’m only on chapter 4, but I’m kind of over it. The (probably) ml who appears on the cover was introduced, and I am thoroughly underwhelmed. I dislike the common narrative where the main male love interest completely transgresses the fl’s boundaries, inconveniences them, potentially or actually puts them in danger, and acts like a nonchalant asshole. In the very first scene, he interrupts her hunt, grabs her and refuses to let go despite multiple protests, ignores her obvious and voiced anger and irritation, and then leaves without so much as an apology.
And of course the powerful confident girl boss just rolls over because wow a few minutes of protest didn’t get him to adjust his behavior so she guesses it’s just her life now. Never mind her being an S rank mercenary, who apparently can’t/won’t try to fight off an armed stranger who started manhandling her out of nowhere. It’s just lazy writing. I’m tired of authors pretending to write strong female leads, only to use them as accessories to the male lead.
It’s an insidious trope that glosses over a lot of toxic behavior on the male lead’s part, and dehumanizes the female lead by overriding her personality and character by forcing her to tolerate the ml for the sake of pushing an incompatible romance with a self centered, arrogant, toxic, disrespectful and/or abusive partner.