i’ll update as i go but as taiwanese i kinda wanna provide context
- bubble tea at 3pm is essential to work life. the stress of working needs to be relieved with refreshing tea or something sweet and chewable to help you power through the last few hours of work. honestly efficiency is gone by 3pm and being trapped for another 3 hours truly is torture so bubble tea benefits were the only thing i looked forward to while working (bubble tea doesn’t happen daily and usually is a benefit from the company)
- s1 ch 32: when there’s an appearance of mori hairbun* is a reference to detective conan that every taiwanese should be familiar with. conan who often uses his childhood friend ran’s dad (former police officer now freelance detective. his name is mori kogoro) as his front when he solves cases bc no one will trust a kid but will trust an adult detective. basically they are just saying the coworker is doing bad detective work bc detective mori is shit at deducing it’s an ongoing joke in detective conan
- valentine’s special: with the “stone and flower headquarters” is basically just saying it’s their home as a pun on their last names. shi is stone and hua is flower. so if u see anything like “little stone” or “little flower” it’s a nickname of affection. usually taiwanese use 阿 instead of 小?? either way it’s just a nickname using shi dongyun’s last name
- s2 ch 1: when lin says double wood that’s bc Chinese has SO MANY CHARACTERS so when people ask for ur last name u tell them the parts that make up the character more often than the most common phrase the word is used in. that way people will know the correct characters of ur name!
- s2 bonus: (karaoke with main couple) the song they are singing in the booth is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRwarsqzZ_M super recognizable must karaoke to song lololol
- s2 ch 6: duoduo green is basically yakult green tea. in taiwan we really love making things cute by adding words on top of each other like tutu (rabbit rabbit) bento. so the last letter of yakult (養樂多) for us is the sound “duo” and then we pile on it to make it sound cute uwu
- s2 ch 7: sbdw is a super old taiwanese band. so old in fact that one of the members is probably the top host/mc in taiwan and his daughter is also a really successful host/mc (think yoo jaesuk levels. the dad i mean). not important to the story but *slams desk* don’t have that many opportunities to tout taiwan ya feel. oh also their actual mandarin name is a reference to jazz scat singing “shoo bee doo wah”. and also all the songs he recs are really good ranging from classic to like mayday songs people are familiar with. also i just realized his name is the character for truth… no wonder he’s like that im crying ily lin shi (also do u see what i mean bc shi dongyun’s name the shi is stone where as the shi in lin shi is for truth)
- s2 halloween bonus: fucking crying at a’qiang’s “uniform”. it’s mostly reserved for election season where councilmen members AND their staff all dress in the color of their party
- s2 ch 11: wrong conversion lol he’s not paying his singing tutor that much taiwan doesn’t make that much money. yuan is chinese currency. taiwan uses ntd (new taiwan dollar) and roughly sits around 1 USD = 30 NTD. so he’s paying lin shi roughly 62.25 dollar per hour which is still A HUGE SUM bc our minimum wage for an hour is 196 NTD (6.10 USD). we use the same character for chinese yuan 元 (but so does japan with their yen) which is why it’s misleading
- s2 ch 16: he does not say wtf (i mean it’s more like what the fuck are u saying and shortening it to wtf takes away the taiwanese punch to it ok). it’s a taiwanese swear word/slang 供三小 to basically go what bullshit are u spewing. mostly used amongst close peers (unless ur itching to get punched in the face)
- the stickers lin shi designed:
row 1 column 3 = earthquake
row 2 column 1 is super cute using ㄅㄆㄇㄈ(like our katakana or hiragana) that basically says “fall over” in a cute childlike manner with the wrong spelling too
row 2 column 2 = 100 points or 100%
row 3 column 1 = a hint of a smile/slight smile. smiling when u don’t feel it for politeness etc
row 3 column 2 = “no get” no understand (when chinglish works well why bother)
row 3 column 3 = what?! (but like so informal u might get smacked over the head if u say it in front of elders. very japanese delinquent huh?!)
also their daughter’s name means that dongyun took fei’s last name (hua/flower) and their daughter is truly just a combination of their names (yun from dongyun with the same character for cloud)
- s2 ch 28: 轟 is a character made up of three 車 cars so like u can imagine the rumble sound. it depicts a loud noise but also most oftenly used to describe bombing thus its like an explosion sound too. also earthquakes are SUPER common in taiwan that we don’t hide unless it’s hella big. so this was at least a level 4 or above (makes sense with the power outage too bc it rarely happens but when it does u know it’s big enough to break something within the power grid)
- s2 ch 30: pretty sure their breakfast was danbing 蛋餅 it’s a flaky pancake (kind of like green onion pancake for the more modern version. the traditional take is a softer skin) and egg that’s wrapped within it. u pair it with this sweet and savory soy sauce glaze it’s pretty traditional Taiwanese breakfast food (u can get it at any shop. making it urself is a little time consuming so u wouldn’t do it normally)
- s2 ch 31: the author censors LINE (messaging software) but not taiwan beer???? also in the high school extra they also add in a pretty typical taiwanese snack. OH AND I JUST REALIZED FHEMDNDJD man taiwanese and our love of fucking puns. so remember how vice prez always calls lin shi snack (lingshi)? his seniors in the band call him guai guai which is actually a Taiwanese snack. SUPER FAMOUS like our entire tmsc business and tech rely on that one green coconut flavored puff bag. if u think ur machine isn’t working slap on a kuai kuai bc it means it’ll be “good good” (the machine will listen well and work properly). the proper name for it is kuai kuai and if ur curious pls look up “kuai kuai culture”
- s2 ch 36: end of year banquet (尾牙) depends on the company but should definitely happen as a way to say thanks and conclude the year on a high note. usually there’s lottery with prizes for company staff to win and larger companies will like hire singers and performance groups as well as very seasoned mcs to keep the atmosphere lively. larger companies will also allow u to bring ur whole family to the banquet (usually round table with like 10 courses and not a buffet) but i think this company is smaller so it’s just the staff and the supervisor humiliation ritual. oh this is also where they sometimes announce end of year bonuses and draw red pocket money
- s2 ch 37: since lin shi can’t go grab antibiotic he’s pressing on vice prez pressure points for indigestion. it’s an old method passed down from elders about like that area in ur snuff box being for relief of indigestion
- s2 ch 39: the hon is clearly airplane sfx but like the word itself would have clued a taiwanese reader about the airplane over head (bc it’s kinda specific)
- a/b/o part 2: after the marriage registration the title in brackets is just the sound of the camera clicking. when lin shi is packing the clothes for the hospital the title is just saying that BUT ALSO “nesting luggage” and not in the form of like omega nests but rather a reference to them building a home together. so the author puts and X and O to indicate it’s not a pregnancy delivery bag but rather the start of their love nest bag
NOOOOO I NEED TO CHECK THE RAWS BUT IM SURE THE NAME FOR THEIR BABY IS 石果 so he takes stone as his last name after his dad’s “shi” but the guo is the character for fruit and remember when lin shi introduced himself to fei about his name being 果實 the character for fruit. so the first character is guo the second is shi so it’s a combination of their names imma throw up
also in the official you will see the different romanized name bc China and taiwan don’t use the same characters in romanization. pinyin has a lot of x for the sh sound and in taiwan we do hs instead. so 小 you will see as xiao most often (thanks genshin) but in taiwan it’s literally the same character we just spell it as hsiao. like how cai and tsai are the same character 菜 with vastly different spelling (pls respect the Taiwanese version thanks!)
ALSO I FORGOT WHICH CHAPTER IS THE SONG CONFESSION BUT CHUNLEI’S NAME IS THE CHARACTER FOR SPRING AND THUNDER SO LIN SHIH IS SINGING ABOUT SPRING AND STORMS BC ITS LITERALLY SPELLING OIT HIS LOVE FOR CHUNLEI IM LOSING IT
also the bag of plums say “the taste of first love”
me about to become the no 1 nanjo defender. HES NOT HUNG UP ON SUNHWA THE WAY YOU ALL AND MOKYEON THINKS HE IS!!!! he’s hung up bc he didn’t want to treat sunhwa this badly or have things end this way. he’s calling sunhwa to apologize or idk alleviate his guilt or some shit (he should stew in it more. bless sunhwa for putting his fucking foot down). from the VERY BEGINNING when sunhwa describes nanjo and talks about how he seduced him u can tell he’s just a straight laced chaebol who respects his partner and wants to treat them right like idk become the picture perfect partner or something and the easiest way to do it was to 1) remove any obstacles and 2) showed them with gifts. he saw mokyeon as an obstacle who was clinging to sunhwa and abusing him and decided to remove him without u know resorting to murder and other overdramatic options and his best solution was to go along with him (which is also like ??? but im not complaining i love this manhwa). so i KNEW he was gonna chase after sunhwa and blow up at mokyeon AND cut him off the moment s1 wrapped up (even tho i did hope for rainbow and sprinkles) bc he can’t forgive himself for succumbing to desire and hurting sunhwa in the process. him refusing to end with mokyeon is a self inflicted punishment in my opinion. as for his overreaction to mokyeon u have to realize that mokyeon kinda forced him into unconsciousness and then kept him from chasing after sunhwa and for a man like nanjo who has his life planned out and clearly LIKES BEING IN CONTROL: he spiraled. and the self hatred and the guilt and the fear probably coalesced into something so frightening that it was easier to see mokyeon as the source of all his problems and direct his anger at him. bc blaming someone else is always easier than blaming himself. anyway there better be a chasing arc where nanjo chases mokyeon but like im not mad at this chapter GO BACK AND REREAD HES NOT THAT HARD TO FIGURE OUT
also i gotta add that nanjo going along with sunhwa’s request for a threesome was his way of showing love to sunhwa in the way he knew how. thought it was respecting his preferences like he was about to leave the room and let mokyeon have sunhwa to himself and then clean up after if that made sunhwa happy ok he just didn’t think mokyeon would choke sunhwa to make him stay in the room. nanjo cares about his “partner” and sunhwa at that point just happened to be that role that nanjo felt like he had to treat right
honestly dawun somehow just topped my favorite seme list so easily WHY IS HE SO CUTE and his rebuttal to jintae’s stereotypical arguments!!! god i love how he challenges jintae to be a better version of himself ALSO DID JINTAE JUST FUCKING ADMIT HE LIKES DAWUN THE WHOLE ITS BEEN A WHILE SINCE I HAD SEX WITH SOMEONE I LIKE FJEMSKALDNDJSKSKKDNFJES that one night they bonded while drunk that jintae doesn’t remember half of truly was amazing
also jintae truly my favorite type of “stoic” ukes who are actually super sensitive and don’t know how lewd they look when worked up *inhales deeply* (for more of his type try alphega, the hound behind the mask, and define the relationship)
for those who want a refresher for the side stories: 16, 21, 25, 26-28, 33-36, 42-46, 48 onwards
chapters sorted by appearance for context and as a self note:
ch 1: hansol (main story uke) meets eunho (side couple seme) and tries to hook up only to be rejected ft. brief rakhyun (side couple uke) faceless appearance (toxic ex bf)
ch 2: brief eunho re-encounter
ch 3: eunho makes it clear he doesn’t do hook ups with virgins (dressed like a gentleman but truly just an irresponsible piece of work)
ch 4: brief flashback to hansol’s freak ex (rakhyun) who basically tied him up and nearly SA-ed him if not for woobin (main couple seme) coming in the nick of time
ch 5: rakhyun sees the app hookup dude try to slip drugs into hansol’s drink and “saves him”
ch 6-7: only for rakhyun to once again do what he tried to do 3 years ago ft flashbacks of their awful time dating
ch 9: brief eunho towards the end where he’s blatantly lying to hansol and having fun with his one night stand
ch 14-15: date with eunho and attempted sex. towards the end of 15 rakhyun sees hansol with eunho walking out of the hotel
ch 16: eunho manhandles rakhyun to pry him off his immediate harassment of hansol
ch 17: brief rakhyun in the beginning where he’s asking the person he’s with for eunho’s ig
ch 21: rakhyun hunts down eunho(?) to tell him off for leading hansol on gets humiliated instead lol
ch 22: eunho calls hansol out using rakhyun’s treatment of him (man how do people not see his manipulative side) + hansol calling rakhyun to fuck off
ch 23: rakhyun feels wronged and tries to explain his side but hansol doesn’t believe a word he says
ch 25: hansol’s second date with eunho and they kiss but it feels wrong. eunho is looking for his partner of the night (thinks about how rakhyun’s face is his type) when he realizes he has a stalker caller and decides to answer rakhyun’s call
ch 26-28: rakhyun and eunho’s first time!! (rakhyun wants to expose eunho. huge non con/dub con warning)
ch 29-30: towards the end of the chapter rakhyun approaches hansol to warn him again about eunho and hansol reached out to eunho to cleanly break things off (i love eunho has a crazy look in his eyes whenever rakhyun is mentioned)
ch 31: continued date with hansol and eunho but it’s really about hansol’s jealousy and his feelings for woobin being stronger (skippable)
ch 33-36: rakhyun hunts down eunho ft their second time (dub con warning)
ch 41: end of ch 41 hansol meets up with eunho one last time (after the break up call eunho gives him in ch 34) super skippable
ch 42-46: eunho is reminded of his first love and is in a shit mood when he goes pick up someone from the bar and accidentally meets rakhyun again uwu
ch 48 to the end~
main couple appears in ch 56-57 bc rakhyun needs info
fucking love whenever danrim puts their all into details (like s1 with nanjo’s facial expressions basically telling u what’s going on, he’s actually a pretty easy read) and like someone else pointed out the usage of colors from bland and dreary to colorful when he has his bite of cereal or when he’s with his foster parents. AND NOW I THINK DANRIM IS SETTING UP bc everyone in mokyeon’s memory is a faceless entity he has no attachment to (even the noona who treated him well. even the parents he wanted to stay with) and i bet nanjo is gonna be like 4K HD fancam quality to just give us that extra whiplash
waiting 10 days for next update is TORTUREEEEEEEEEEEEE
it’s been a while since i was frustrated with a main character like this like damn (but then seeing similar authors and having salt society listed im like ahhh so it’s this author) so many miscommunications built on not fucking communicating at all but he’s also so pathetically in love like *grips him by the shoulders and rattles him until he realizes he should just TALK* i fucking love alpha x alpha and the whole “loveless marriage” while mutual pining is going hard beneath the surface is always such an excellent trope and an unreliable narrator is always fun to analyze but holy shit 4 years of being happy he’s just a rut tool and bringing his own family to ruins bc of some misconceived notion that this will be be best gift to his “wife” (pls let me smack him just ONCE)









please i need more villain isekai slop AND ALSO GL WHERE THE VILLAINESS STEALS THE OG MC BC WHY ARE THEY ALWAYS ENEMIES???? i have yet to read this one yet but just from the summary alone with mc seducing og ml to break the cycles *inhales deeply*