for the people curious about the MC’s backstory…
i started reading this novel and i took a break (i’m gonna pick it back up soon) but i just thought i would write out the MC’s backstory for the people who might be curious (if there’s anything wrong i apologize in advance again i took a break so i may have forgotten some stuff) - basically MC was ur typical trainee, a dirt poor kid who had a lot of passion for music. he had another trainee who took care of him and eventually became his boyfriend (i don’t remember if they were ever official but nevertheless), but when ivan got popular and this trainee didn’t, their relationship soured. when they fucked the trainee would sort of mock him and tell him that he should sell his body not his music, and eventually things get worse as the trainee keeps asking for money from the MC. the MC gets fed up and mocks the trainee back by feeling him he’s giving the trainee one last check if he blows him (iirc that’s why the MC feels a certain type of way about blowjobs lol)
anyway, MC starts to become really cynical about love and fame which is why he’s harsh on the ML sometimes. he wants the ML (in the sexual sense) so bad that it makes him look stupid lmao, and it’s sort of implied he’s very pent up from not having sex at all due to (a) not wanting to be outed as gay and (b) not really having an opportunity to do so. i think he also somewhat dislikes that the ML is so flippant about his fame/popularity, considering how hard *he* fought to get a place in the industry.
in the future tho be warned as the MC behaves kind of like an asshole. after he gets to sleep with the ML, he cuts him off completely with the whole ‘it was just a one night stand’ sort of attitude and then drops new music with the inspiration he got from the sex. obviously the ML is heartbroken, and comes out months later with a diss. track of the MC (hence the name LOL!!)
yall i haven’t kept up with this in a while is megumi still alive or nah
yall cut my boy jaehyuk some slack he’s just dumb and closeted okay in like a couple chapters he’s gonna ask garam if gays can feel anything with their dick LMFAO
as a heads up while i think the art is phenomenal the manhwa doesn’t follow the novel exactly which is a little unfortunate (like it skips over pov changes from other characters which misses out on how other characters perceive the MC)… also the MC does have a reason for why he acts the way he does, rather than being cocky i’d say he’s just really cynical about relationships and fame. honestly i love it though and keep in mind that he’s a somewhat unreliable narrator (imo)
the top is actually annoying lmao his reason for breaking up so many times is stupid (it’s treated as a joke but the bottom actually does get sad and wonder what he’s doing wrong it pisses me off)
does anyone have the chapter of skylar hitting someone and calling them a bum… rereading for scientific purposes ofc
hmmm although i do like the set up and i like the characters (finally an MC who’s hot, a bottom, and isn’t a pushover! not that there’s anything wrong with that type of character, but like after the 50th iteration it becomes kinda boring) i don’t really vibe with the (potential spoilers)
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3p… cuz both dudes are really into the MC and he just brushes off their feelings for him and sorta/kinda coerces them into participating in the threesome (basically he tells the subae “yo let’s do a threesome” and the sunbae is like “no wtf” and he’s like “ok im gonna just fuck this otaku then” and obviously since the sunbae likes him he relents meanwhile the otaku is drunk) i really hope this doesn’t end as poly tho i like the sunbae a lot (*side eyes the harem tag*) but i guess even if there is only one person endgame it would probably be the otaku….
i’m built different i like that the mc is an asshole lmao ╮(￣▽￣)╭ tops get like preferential treatment cuz their hot so why can’t bottoms? in fact i hope he gets worse <3 finally someone who doesn’t deal with bullshit
woooow i couldn’t hold back so i read the raws and be prepared for the ML to seem cute for like two more chapters and then you’re gonna wanna kill him
what’s crazy about all this arguing in the comments is that in like korean bl “culture” (LMAO i don’t know how to put it) top and bottom dynamics are pretty strict and author/artists 99% of the time don’t like it when they’re switched so ╮(￣▽￣)╭ bottom andrew stans i respect the vision (not my preference tho) but it’s never gonna happen lmfao
yall Jaehyuk was an asshole but he is really not bad in comparison to other tops in BL like he’s not even a red flag imo he’s like a yellow flag fr also he becomes so whipped later on it’s cute lmao
hey guys, don’t worry about the friend. i don’t know what happened to him but don’t worry about it
oh also a theory i have is that since taegun knew kang whatever before he became an esper and that’s also the time period he self harmed… perhaps pain was the only way he could be differentiate between reality and whatever mental manipulation kang was doing to him? which is why he cut himself? in that case hot is hell kang fuckface i hope you rot in flames
i just realized during a reread that it’s pretty much confirmed that this esper (kang fuckface or whatever) messed with taegun’s mind and manipulated him emotionally cuz in chapter 16 when the chibis are arguing with each other one of them says “well it’s actually good that eunsung is a guide because he can’t manipulate us with a power” as reference to this new dude
okay so i’m going to be talking about the novel from a perspective of a long time korean manhwa/webnovel reader — this novel is (in my opinion) very well written. even if you don’t like the plot or the characters, the way the author describes certain events or the emotions/thoughts of characters is nicely done. because of this, i can’t help but feel just a smidge sympathetic toward the ML, who i agree is a terrible person who got what was coming to him (and honestly should have gone through more) and im sure others feel the same. that’s why when you just get point blank spoilers like “oh he’s horrible he did xyz” its so easy to be like “wtf who would read this? dropped!”, which is totally fine, but also there’s a lot of nuance being missed. of course, again i don’t mean to say the ML isn’t a piece of shit - he is! irredeemably so. but if you’re on the fence, i just wanna say you can still enjoy the rest of the story knowing this fact.
the ML is a classic “korean top” psychopath, where he doesn’t have emotions and don’t understand them. where i think the author does a good job is in how she shows the effect of being a psychopath on the ML — he knows he’s different and he gets shunned by his father, and he acts like he doesn’t care. but subconsciously, being treated like he’s inhumane and a monster terrifies him, so he does everything he can to prove that it’s okay, he doesn’t need these emotions, but he accomplishes this in malicious, unethical ways.
and he does horrible things! he allows taeshin to be gang raped and plays with the emotions of his ex fiancee, leading them both to kill themselves. he facilitates the rape of many people as well, where he allows for rich men to take sexual advantage of drugged/tied up individuals. he manipulates the people around him, and the emotion abuse the MC goes through is insidious. he gets the MC to a point of dependence where the MC is terrified the ML will leave him with lies and deception.
i believe the story does a great job up to this point. we see this twisted relationship and this cruel, calculating ML develop just as the ML wants. i personally think the story gets a little weaker when everything is revealed to the MC and he gets “revenge”. his initial attempts are clumsy and honestly kind of pathetic, which might have been the point but idk, i wasn’t really feeling it. ultimately the ML does go to jail, which i think is fitting, and as expected they do get together in the end (with complicated emotions, ofc). the finale didn’t really live up to my personal expectations, but overall i did have fun reading this novel.
also one thing that i thought was both fucked up and hilarious was there’s a part where one of the rich chabeols who are part of the ML’s secret sex dungeon club or whatever (lol) tries to piss the ML off by going like “i saw [MC] and he was super pretty i wanna have sex with him blah blah blah” and ML’s reaction is to forcibly kiss that guy and threaten to fuck him (which brings up another funny point where the ML pretends in front of these people that he has an std LOL)
this is just my theory but i think the mc went out because he wanted to test to see if his hypothesis (that the ml know the future) was correct… come on yall like you guys are saying he’s stupid but you guys really couldn’t think a little bit deeper or read the subtext? also he has every right to be suspicious of the ml so far?
binge read the novel and yes it was a little cliche with misunderstandings galore but i freaking loved it ╮(￣▽￣)╭ i eat out this trope every time
UGHHHHH the mc is gonna pretend to be an alpha after he presents…