THAT WAS SOO FUCKING ADORABLE, OH MY GODDDD. I loved reading it when the chapters were releasing but reading it now when the story is finished or so close to it, just made me so emotional.
Since we're so close to the final chapter of this manhwa I must say something, before that I will say that I'm awful at social cues (?) 'cause I'm autistic, so please be mindful of that.
I don't understand the whole discussion page where their colleagues talk about how awful it is for someone to use their experience or other people for their own work. Dohu was of course in the wrong, because he was definitely using Juheon's feelings at the start, for example the way he was thinking about his book when they were having sex for the first time but after that he was mainly using their dates for ideas, and they were his experience too so it wasn't wrong of him to write about it. And when it comes to using other people for ideas to your book, isn't it just basically a muse?? You don't use their real name, so I don't get why would it be so wrong for someone to, I don't know, write a book based on someone else if they would just change the real name of that person??
And I also feel like they were both in the wrong at some point, because it was the fact that neither of them decided to ask the other one what are they to each other, so I feel like it was normal that someone could misunderstand?
hey bro what chapter is the colleagues? i might have read too fast cuz I don't remember sum like dat
I personally think it's hard to judge if you don't know the full story, since on dohu's case it was really bad because in the eyes of juheon it looked like he was being selfish and took advantage on him even though dohu never intended that, which would mean that he wasn't aware about the pain it causes to others. So, what did he do when juheon found out? He tried to fix it! Dohu isn't actually selfish after all! He's genuinely just emotionally blind.
Anyways,,,,,, everything got sorted out in the recent chapters
"to photograph is to appropriate the thing photographed"
but instead of photography it's writing "from inspiration." the reason why it's offensive to some is because these experiences is theirs and when a writer, especially without permission, appropriates those experiences into their own which would feel like it reduces those experiences into the writer's own interpretation, basically taking something from u and reducing it to fit whatever the writer is writing... you (or ur experience) becomes a mere ornament to fit the writer's whims.
it's not "wrong" to take inspiration or to have a muse to your art but there is a power dynamic that exists.
ok so he's crazy! and honestly i do think that even though he thinks that he's just "swaying" jinwoo's heart, he actually likes him. you're not fooling anyone.
He was an actor, what happened to that?? Why are we in some mafia shit?? Did the author change or something, because there's no way that this is the same story. And if the author wanted to make a story about mafia and toxic relationship, she could've just make another manhwa. This one is just pure shit now, and I don't know what would have to happen for me to be like "please make them be together" after this bullshit. It's like the author completely changed or forgot everything about her character. Aaron was a dickhead sometimes and he had some moments where you were questioning if everything was consensual but for most of the time it looked like he never wanted to hurt yujin. Here it looks like he just went insane.
That is the main fucking problem with authors nowadays. They write these scenarios without even considering how human behaviour actually works. I'm not saying that only people who display obvious sexual tendencies can commit rape, but there is a difference between writing a character who has established predatory tendencies and suddenly making a character who has never shown such behaviour commit sexual assault without properly developing or addressing that change.
People don't just magically turn into completely different characters whenever the plot demands it. Sexual assault is a serious violation of someone's boundaries, not some fucking plot device that authors can throw in to create drama or force a romantic development. If a character who has consistently been portrayed a certain way suddenly violates someone's consent, the author needs to consider what that action reveals about him and how it fits into his characterization. Not every character needs a traumatic backstory or some psychological explanation to become an abuser, but the author still needs to take the character's choices and actions seriously instead of treating such a drastic shift as though it means nothing.
And that's precisely what frustrates me. They establish a character with one personality, make him commit an act that fundamentally contradicts how he has been portrayed, and then expect readers to accept it without any meaningful examination of the change. You cannot just flip a character's personality 180 degrees for the sake of a plot point and expect the writing to remain convincing. If you're going to write sexual assault, at least understand the gravity of what you're writing instead of using it as a convenient device and brushing it aside when it's time to move the romance forward.
And the thing is, these are the same authors who have been repeatedly normalizing the idea of turning characters who have never been established as sexually predatory into rapists simply because the story is supposed to be toxic. And now, when people point it out, others act as though it's the most natural thing in the world. You'll literally see people saying, "Why are you surprised? The story was toxic from the beginning." NO. THAT IS EXACTLY THE FUCKING PROBLEM.
Toxicity does not automatically mean rape. An unhealthy relationship does not automatically mean sexual assault. Yet authors have repeatedly used rape and violations of consent as convenient additions to toxic romances, to the point that readers have started treating them as expected milestones in these stories. It's become this ridiculous formula where, if the ML is already toxic, apparently the next logical step is for him to rape his own partner. Since when the fuck did those things become interchangeable?
And the irony is that people now use the story's toxicity to justify why the sexual assault happened, as though that somehow makes the writing more believable. But the authors themselves have contributed to creating this expectation by repeatedly using sexual violence as a shortcut to portray toxicity, obsession, possessiveness, or an extreme form of romantic tension.
I'm not saying that a character must display obvious predatory tendencies beforehand to be capable of sexual assault. That's not the point. The point is that authors keep using sexual assault as a predictable plot device in toxic romances, regardless of whether the character's development supports it, and readers have become so accustomed to this pattern that they defend it as an inevitable part of the genre.
The fact that readers have come to expect rape in a toxic romance doesn't prove that it was a natural or necessary progression of the story. It shows how thoroughly this trope has been normalized in the first place. And instead of questioning why authors keep relying on it, people turn around and question why readers are surprised when it happens. That's what genuinely pisses me off.
Yeah, that's literally what happened here, I think. I don't think the author really thought about her characters when she made the decision to make this whole plotline happen. It's like she thought "okay, he runaway, he was gone etc. so obviously the other one will be really mad and things could go ugly between them", but i don't see any moment where it had to become some sexual assault shit.
And I don't know, maybe I'm just already being too much or something but I genuinely don't think that we need so many rape scenes showed so vividly (?). I understand if one scene was important for the author to be really physical and for us to see every little detail, because for example it had soms important dialogue but in some scenes it's basically just aaron being like "oh you won't have the strength to leave me, you will never leave" and I think there was no reason for us to always read scenes like that. To the point, and here comes the "hot take", I feel like the author wants us to see the rape scenes in the same way as normal sex scenes. Like it's nothing, just a normal sex but with violence and no consent and where one side obviously doesn't want it and is hurt. It just feels like the author doesn't want us to forget that "hey they have some relationship and they liked to fuck" but in the same moment they are mad at each other, so she just went with sexual assault so that the readers won't forget that she was good at making sex scenes. Shame that instead of making them talk and then using her skills, she had to use her skills to make rape some sexual fantasy because the rapist is a "hot" guy.
Respectfully, both of you make great points. It’s just that, based on this specific story, we know the relationship IS toxic—but it’s toxic in a way that sex is heavily involved in it where I believe it’s considered dubious. And although their relationship starts to grow in a healthier tone, it’s still a rocky one because the foundation of the relationship was in an unstable contract.
As a binge reader who read this at the time of the captivity arc—I think that the transgression of the ML to his current state was expected and hinted almost all throughout the previous seasons. Which justifies his current state. I wanna make it clear that his current state doesn’t justify his actions as the author could have clearly made another way to “punish” MC rather than the rape; but with their foundation being built on a contract and a unofficial friends-with-benefits situation, in this story, this was really bound to happen.
My whole comment seems like it’s pro-whatever is happening in this story currently, but its more of like a criticism or another take on your opinions because I really do agree with y’all—it’s just that I feel like the criticism for this story is a bit hmm… like it warrants a reread again. Because I genuinely think there was no 180 or sudden change of character/plot. I kinda like the plot so that’s what prompted me to reply this.
Well, I felt that way because, think about it: we're moving into a whole new season of the same story, and suddenly we're getting sexual assault and confinement again. Sure, the relationship was toxic in its own way, but I don't think readers necessarily expected the author to take it in that direction.
Look at Cherry Blossoms and so many other stories. It feels like authors nowadays keep resorting to sexual assault and rape as soon as they want to make a relationship darker or more dramatic. I genuinely don't know whether it's become some kind of trend or whether authors believe a story can't attract readers without these elements.
That's why I said it felt like a 180-degree turn. You've spent around 60 chapters getting to know a character and watching the relationship develop, and then the author suddenly decides to take the exact same route we've seen in countless other stories: an ML who rapes and confines his partner. It's frustrating because readers can no longer trust that a story will take a different direction. You start reading something with certain expectations, only to realize that the author is heading toward the same overused tropes yet again.
And honestly, if we compare it to Shutline, that story was toxic too. I'm not claiming otherwise. But there's a difference between portraying a toxic relationship in which both characters understand the kind of people they're dealing with and consent to their sexual relationship, and introducing sexual violence that fundamentally changes the dynamic between the characters. Consent doesn't magically make an entire relationship healthy, of course, but it does make a difference when we're discussing their sexual interactions.
That's why I feel this story could have been so much better if the author had taken a route more similar to Shutline. The relationship could still have been toxic, complicated, intense, and morally questionable without resorting to rape and confinement. Imagine how much more interesting it could have been if the author had explored that dynamic instead of falling back on the same tropes we've seen over and over again. I genuinely think the story could have been a banger if the author had chosen to develop the toxicity without crossing that particular line.
i need the author to grow tf up, they could make the "he's leaving arc" in so many different way and they chose the worst one
Rape fetishization at its finest
im patiently (??) waiting for the time where jinwoo finds out that this man was just manipulating him and breaks up with him and we get a chasing arc
I hope he realises before "dating" him and then like he forgives him after a long three months of thirsty chasing
that would also be great, whatever helps them get their shit together
well he hardly believes what he's saying so I don't think he would be shocked but more pissed once he learns the full truth