shin's Favorite

For everyone confused about the sudden FSB switch in this chapter:
Remember that Taekjoo came to Russia to investigate Anastasia, which is a highly classified Russian weapon/project. And because he’s investigating something Russia wants kept secret, Taekjoo becomes a problem for the people involved with Anastasia.

REMEMBER Zhenya isn’t just some random crazy guy, he’s actually an FSB agent/civil servant(remember earlier in the story?) so his work is directly connected to this whole situation. The scene where Zhenya kills the guy who was sleeping with the woman is also giving us more context about the kind of operations he’s involved in. The woman was apparently trying to assassinate/blow up the guy she was sleeping with and Zhenya intervened. The reason why we got switched to this all of a sudden is because the FSB is trying to lure him out so they themselves can get takejoo since it’s clear that zhenya isn’t going to kill him.

Now for Zhenya and Taekjoo:

At first, Zhenya’s interest in Taekjoo is obviously NOT normal or healthy. He sees Taekjoo as someone interesting, entertaining, and worth keeping around, and he likes testing him and seeing how far he can push him. There’s also a huge power imbalance because Zhenya is MUCH more dangerous and powerful than Taekjoo, and Taekjoo doesn’t fully understand who Zhenya actually is.

But over time, Taekjoo stops being just a target/game to Zhenya. Zhenya becomes increasingly fixated on him, pays attention to him in ways he doesn’t have to, and starts treating Taekjoo differently from the other people around him.

That’s why the scene where Zhenya nearly kills Taekjoo is so important. When he realizes he could actually lose Taekjoo, he seems genuinely affected by it. It’s almost like he’s being forced to confront the fact that this isn’t just some game to him anymore. Taekjoo has become someone he doesn’t actually want to lose.

And THAT’S where the FSB plot becomes important. Professionally, Taekjoo is a problem because he’s INVESTIGATING Anastasia. Zhenya’s position puts him on the side of the people who would want that problem dealt with/want the takejoo DEAD. BUT personally, Zhenya is becoming attached to Taekjoo.

SOOO the conflict is basically:

FSB/Zhenya’s job: “Taekjoo is a threat. Deal with him.”

Zhenya personally: “…but I don’t want him dead.”

And I think that’s why the story is suddenly showing us all this FSB stuff right after the Taekjoo/Zhenya situation. We’re being shown that Zhenya’s relationship with Taekjoo is becoming a problem because the person he’s becoming attached to is literally someone his own side has a reason to eliminate.

Obviously, some of the “Zhenya is realizing he has feelings” part is interpretation at this point, but the important thing is that his attachment to Taekjoo is clearly becoming harder to separate from his actual job. oki hope this helps anyone that’s confused

These are comments from the username Nogi from comix that I found very helpful in understanding what is happening (mentioned by dooshik_right_toe below):

After I reread it multiple times, I think I now understand the plot . This contain spoiler

Muni a servant to Do Il In, obsessed with his master that he always stalked him. His master frustrated by Muni, planned to kill him by abandoning him in a pit that meant to caught a shape shifting monster snake. He left Muni inside the hole, and rain start to flood the hole but Muni survived but left in a vegetative state. That's when the master fall in love with him because Muni didn't respond to him (he has non-con fetish). Unfortunately, Muni was dying so he seek out shaman to do a soul transfer ritual with the snake (cause it can shapeshift into human)

Yooran's ancestor (Kiyoon female colleague) who is a shaman agree to help. Master Il In told the shaman that he doesn't want part of Muni that attached to him, he want Muni that act like he is in vegetative state (or someone who refuse him like our MC kiyoon). The shaman agreed but need an item to store the unwanted part of the soul, master Il In gave her the bookmark

Please remember, that this unwanted part of soul was terribly obsessed with master Il In.

During the soul transferring process, Muni's body was cut open and his blood was feed to the snake. A lot of servant died in the process. Unfortunately the ritual failed. Master Il In sustained an injury his left eye leaving claw mark scar. He confronted the shaman and she performed a ritual so that master Il In and Muni will be reborn together. One part of Muni's soul (that was stores in the a bookmark) became a vengeful spirit because he can't go to afterlife and latch on the shaman and her ancestors, as a karma for her evil deed.


Fast forward

The second ritual succeed, Muni was the reincarnation of our MC kiyoon and master Il In was reincarnated as Manager Jung Yitae.

Kiyoon can see ghost since he was a child but he made a promise to pretend he didn't know anything or fake ignorance. The person he made that promise turn out to be the other half soul that was left inside the body. In contrast with the unwanted soul (inside the bookmark), this one hates master Il In and it remember everything he has done in the past and all the suffering Muni felt during the ritual.

The soul that was left in the bookmark, I will call him Muni for easier read. He became a ghost that follows Yooran's family. That's how he met Manager Jung yitae.
Yitae looks so much like Master Il In and become obsessed him Yitae. When Yitae met Kiyoon, he fell for him at first sight. Muni got jealous and possessed Yitae's body. When he touched Jumin's hand, he accidentally sucked his life force (sm like that). He then continues use Jumin that in love to Yitae (mainly because Jumin looked like him in his past life, while Kiyoon looks exactly like Master Il In's type.

Bc Yitae don't remember his past as Il In, he created his own Master Il In (I will call him ghost) complete with his memory of Il In (except the part where master Il In feel in love with him after he got into coma)
That ghost is the one who kept bothering Kiyoon after he filmed the ghost on his phone
The ghost was attracted to Kiyoon which set off Muni. Muni monitored Kiyoon through his phone btw


Bunch of nsfws with the yitae ghost happened that you can read, and Kiyoon started to have dream about his past life. After he remembers that he is the reincarnation of Muni, he met a shaman ( yooran's grandma). When he arrived Muni had possessed yooran and the grandma went missing. Muni start a explaining his grieve over his life and only want him to be love by the manager or the reincarnation of master Il In.

Then we saw a scene of manager yitae driving, at that time, the original soul of master Il In emerge, he then goes to seek Kiyoon and grape him until morning.

Kiyoon woke up by the friction saw the ghost figure staring at them having smex and thing turn into 3p The ghost recognize master Il In and it set Il In mood off and they vanish and left Kiyoon in disheveled state with no after care.

Bunch of things happened, master Il In explain to Kiyoon that he only love the current him and hate Muni. Kiyoon got offended because he is also Muni. Then Muni's soul that hate Master Il In possessed Kiyoon and stabbed Il In
Muni got jealous cause master Il In loves only Kiyoon but treat him like servant, so he wanted to kill Kiyoon and take over his body.

The ghost that Muni create fell in love with Kiyoon and want him to himself which make master Il In jealous and want to eliminate him.

Bunch of things happened that I can't understand cause I don't know Korean, but master Il In end up strangled by the vegetative state Muni that has merge with the snake, manager Yitae and the ghost become one and Kiyoon and his other part of soul also become one... And the new raw still didn't uploaded so that's it.

I hope you can understand this, there's lot of plot twist in this story and honestly it's enjoyable to read.(｡•︿•｡)

let me get this straight, so theres 3 Yitaes and 3 Giyuns?

Muni
- seeks Il-In's love to fulfill his grudge
- is the other half of the soul.
- long neck
- soul is trapped in the bookmark
- possesses other people (jumin, elevator dude, yuran, etc)

The Serpent
- is the other half of the soul
- the one that currently possesses Giyun
- is actively trying to kill Il-In as revenge.
- remembers everything in the past like how he was killed as a serpent

Giyun
- is the body/husk.
- remembers his past life as Muni through recurring dreams.
- the "perfect" Muni
- is the reincarnated soul
- does inconsistent things because of the vengeful ghosts inside him (the voices)

Imitation Yitae
- can't take all of Yitae's memories
- on Giyun's (Serpent Giyun) side
- the Yitae that Jumin (Muni) created/controlled to "hate" Giyun
- short haired, yellow eyed, black shirt

Real Yitae
- genuine attraction towards Giyun
- is the one that was stabbed once
- short haired, yellow sweatshirt
- is the husk/body of Il-In

Il-In
- is the one that was stabbed multiple times
- is obsessed/in love with Giyun
- long haired, sweatshirt, blue eyed, scars on his eye
- a big piece of shit

man that's a lot to take account of and that's JUST the two main characters i'm assuming they wanted it to be complex but this is just information overload.

The problem with some of you is that you're unable to understand that Grayson is no evil mastermind puppeteer in control and pulling everyone's strings. He is a himbo, childish, idiotic, violent, stunted, manipulative self-centered idiot. His perception of reality is genuinely warped so he thinks he is helping others and doing good (for the most part). He is not maliciously and knowingly hurting his siblings on purpose. And the reality of the matter is that if his family helped him in the same way he helps others, Grayson would just accept it as help. In fact, he already does. Grayson sees nothing wrong with Ashley's treatment of him because he is his father, and if his father does something to him it must be for his own good/right. And he gets SA'd later by someone who I will not name and doesn't mind in the end because he enjoyed the act. What I'm trying to say with this is that Grayson's mindset is also harmful to himself. He is brutally honest and at the same time deceptive in ways that put him at a disadvantage or in peril's way and he is so socially inept that he does not recognize he is self sabotaging. He genuinely, at first, doesn't understand why Chase hates him. He is not playing dumb or coy, he actually doesn't get it. Likewise, he does not realize how telling Naomi she is not the type you would want to marry could make her feel hurt to the point that she is only mantaining a facade of friendship just to see his downfall. These are just a couple of non spoilery examples. An adept manipulator and cold gigachad psychopath deluxe would not behave this way or fall into these obvious traps. Does that mean Grayson is a good person or that he deserves a redemption? No. But he is simultaneously more complex and simpler than what you might expect or assume from a first impression.