tintin00's Topics (89)

I enjoyed reading this story, especially the chemistry between Yohan and Chunho and I really liked how Yohan and Donha were close to the hips like brothers and all four of them living together like a family and the story brilliantly dealt the pain and suffering of characters like how Chunho's guilt and sadness over his brother death and how he's basically meant to be the source of bone marrow for his brother's treatment. How Yohan grew in a home where he never really got much affection and the heartbreak between the General and Donha

I also appreciate how this manhwa handled "coming out of closet". Self-loathing, wanting of understanding, sadness, depression, happiness once when the girl finds there is someone who understands her

I cant forgive about the fact that this manhwa ripped out the relation between Yohan and Donha, To Yohan, Donha is everything, his friend, his partner and his family and for someone who had no one beside him growing up, the plot making him to give up the choice of not seeing Donha again is painful to bear, but perhaps we can take some comfort in knowing that Chunho will now stand beside Yohan holding his hand and standing by his side. Ultimately both Yohan and Donha got what they wanted, to be with someone beyond as family, though they can no longer see each other anymore, they do care for each other and keep them in their memory as they open another chapter in their lives

I dont particularly care for the side stories, the main story is sweet, comical and adorable and it felt refreshing to read

Rin is secretly in love with Shotaro ever since they were kids to the point where Rin actively pushes away others from Shotaro's orbit and wanting only to be his no 1 and never really sharing his thoughts and feelings and when Shotaro falls in love with a girl, suddenly he's like "Damn, Shotaro fell in love with someone other than me?? How can he do this to me?! Waaah! Still I cant hate you, so I'm gonna make you hate me instead! Yeh! I'm brilliant and Thats how I'm gonna get over you" and goes around sleeping and being an ass but still being "boohoo, I still like you, wish I could turn back time and start fresh" and fakes amnesia just to get back with Shotaro

Shotaro meanwhile here is brooding about Rin and reminising about their past like he's some damn widow. I dont really think Shotaro is against being with Rin and had Rin been forward with his emotions then Shotaro would have happily accepted it and he's just sad that he and his best friend is drifting apart and is raking his brain to patch things up, its just that this manga pointlessly tries to make it seem like Shotaro's pain about unrecognized feelinga towards Rin when in reality, its just Rin being an idiot and causing this damn mess of a situation and pointless heartbreak

Never have I ever had the displeasure of reading something so taxing and painful. The story tried to make this story come off as fun and fast paced but the its anything but lighthearted

The story itself is dark and the angst is developed at the expense of Jace. The constant degradation of Jace, both emotionally and physically without any proper form of redressal is tiring and is mentally taxing.

After that first dream incident, the story took a nosedive and we were forced to see Jace being repeatedly violated and put in a painful situation while the story pacing itself is rushed and the fact that Jace is made to be act as nonchalant is leaving a sour note

And as for Duke, WHO TF SLEEPS WITH SOMEONE WHO WAS LITERALLY GOT VIOLATED JUST A MOMENTS AGO?? The Duke seemingly knows of Jace's plight but instead of coming upfront about his wishes, he rather coerces Jace into being with him.

The whole story is either Duke banging Jace or Jace getting tormented and humilated and the story tries to make both of them a thing and the worst part is the story doesnt address the main issue, miscommunication and how the chain of events got messy and how the characters got in this situation and suddenly both were weeping and got back together again as a clean slate? NO! THATS NOT HOW ITS SUPPOSED TO BE! NO MATTER HOW MANY TIMES YOU START CLEAN, THE PAST STILL LINGERS ON AND UNLESS YOU CONFRONT AND RESOLVE IT, ITS ALL IN VAIN!

It is emotionally taxing to see Jace being violated repeatedly not even getting proper redressal and the story acts like its all fine especially with Duke like its "la-la-land". No, Duke is still contributing factor for Jace's pain and suffering. Had Duke properly talked to Jace, none of this would have happened

You know what's painful? Seeing Jace getting violated by the Duke and then putting on a smile just for Duke's brother to make him not worry about him and again when he sacrificed himself when the kidnapper tried to lay his hand on that kid, it just broke my heart. That kid will never know just what kind of hell Jace endured just to ensure that kid feels happy and safe and how his brother acted like a monster to him. Jace in every way, a great parent to that kid, he selflessly dedicated himself to that kid's education and overall well being and to see such a character being disgraced like this is utterly painful to process and the fact that this story not only does not tries to make amends but even dismiss his pain by speedrunning the plot is disgusting

Overall, I'd say, do not read this story at all! I came in with an expectation of cute, silly love story, perhaps with a bit of grandeur akin to King's maker (that's a fantasic manhwa) but I discovered pain and needless angst, the story uses Jace's suffering AS A plot device to move forward the story.

The story concept is good, but it needed some more time in the oven. Specifically pacing, the story seemed to be going slowly but then bam! plot, soon bam! action!! smut! confrontation and rape?!

The twist of professor and mr.cane, greek, moon cult thing could have been explored more and the main character being weirdly headfirst but also timid to me felt a bit off. There's really no need to quickly end the story as the twist itself seemed to provide good amount to cover. Everything about this story felt like they are rushing to finish this quickly

The ML character itself seemed very interesting (except for that scene), the story could have showed his turmoil, his regrets, his thinking and everything about him having to bear the legacy of Greek's son and carrying his baggage and everything.

It's a really thrilling read, the characters were fleshed out well and they felt human and the group thing and their behaviors realistic and I even felt shitty, that's how good it is. We are communal species yet we also pretty selfish in our need to survive and this manhwa perfect captures this.

And I like how the Youngwon character is written out. I dont think he "loves" Hyunho in a normal way. Sure, if there was no breakout, they would have naturally gone out and fell in love with each other but due to extraordinary circumstances, their thinking and behavior changed for survival. But the repeated reawakening in the same scenario and constantly seeing Hyunho dying fucked up Youngwon. After all, he constantly has to see someone die and then wake up in the same nightmare only to realize you are stuck in a loop

I dont think Youngwon hates Hyunho, rather he resents his existence as he's the one triggering this nightmare for Youngwon and wanting Hyunho to survive, not for Hyunho's sake, but to atleast escape his nightmare is a human thing and he got twisted because of repeated exposure to the scenario and he maybe poured his pain, suffering and his curiosity on Hyunho. He's suffering from Stockholm syndrome (trauma based attachment) and he sees Hyunho as a way to stabilize his mental state and grown attached emotionally and mentally.

Perhaps after escaping this nightmare, their attachment would evolve into something normal relationship and it's a blessing in disguise for Hyunho not to remember past but to see things from Youngwon's perspective, but I hardly think this relationship would be smooth-sailing, even if Youngwon seems fine, he still carries trauma and it'll cause issues.

Is Youngwon an asshole? sure, but is he always like this? definitely not. It's the environment and the trauma that made him go mad. he's the one who remembers everything and constantly has to face Hyunho's death, killing people to survive and face the cruel selfish nature of human just to survive and to me, it is very human and I liked it.

If there ever going to be side stories, I'd like them to focus more on trauma, the college incident, how they are adapting themselves after going through something traumatic

P.S: I just learned that this manhwa is written by same people who wrote Profundis and Cutting sleeve?? I REFUSE TO ACCEPT THIS GOOD MANHWA IS WRITTEN BY THE SAME PEOPLE WHO WROTE RAPE-FEST MANHWA LIKE PROFUNDIS AND CUTTING SLEEVE!!!!!!

I love the artwork and character design especially Kai, he looks like a mix of Toji and Jerkyung to me (Horseface had pretty good looks, its his nasty temper thats unbearable), story seems like going to be adorable, why do I have to discover such gems when they arent complete and has looong update time...

I'm not sure about the friend group, specifically age. Jyuri is 20, so most likely he'd be in his second year of his undergraduate program and that long hair guy is also in the same program but the friend group is friends with Kai who seems to be a C-suite executive in the company, but Kai doesnt seem like THAT old compared to Jyuri and the friend group, and the friend group addresses Kai casually. and Kai even comes as guest lecturer, so I'm not so sure about the whole age thing. I'm guessing Jyuji is the youngest guy and that makes him baby in the friend group?

It's your typical slice of life bl and the scenes to me felt realistic and were handled with a sense of matureness to me. It doesn't attempt to make either of main characters pious or degenerate but rather very human

Hyojun to me felt very realistic, he's sure of his wants and needs and walks away if things bother him and is no longer worth fixing. He has firm grip on his emotion and doesn't seem like the guy who'll let anyone to walk over him

Minwu also to me feel felt very real. Typically most stories either typecast characters like Minwu as either arrogant asshole or golden retriever, but here, he felt very real in his character and his behavior. People are commenting on the fact that he's acting like child and for Minwu it bothers that Hyojun sees him like a whiny kid but to me, it feels very realistic and I like the fact that the story acknowledges his shortcomings and pushing him to develop positively.

Remember, even though he grew privileged, his parents weren't really around much and most of his peers saw him for his background and his appearance not for himself and got bored of everything as no one appreciated his effort or celebrated his wins and only saw him for his results and so he got bored and apathetic and he's now suddenly experiencing new side of things like feeling desire, developing crush, getting jealous and clingy with someone who truly made him feel something and wanting that person to indulge in his childish desires and wanting that person to see him as reliable and cool is how most relationships exists, but it's also important how he handles himself. When he realizes that his constant whining and pouting would affect Hyojun, he tries to correct himself and both talk out their issues properly.

And as for Non-con/Dub-con people are complaining here, aside from that first drunken incident with Minwu and Hyojun, both seem to be okay with each other. They were both adults and even if Minwu is physically impressive, Hyojun can easily push him off if he doesnt want and even in that first drunken incident, Minwu acted very maturely, he could have taken further but instead he cleaned up Hyojun and left quickly and only made his move when Hyojun can actually give his consent and accepted what happened was indeed mistake.

And as for Ex and his wife, some are praising heaps as karma and some are deriding it as vile, but once again, everything about it is very realistic. Yes, he's a POS who strung along Hyojun and is a serial liar but also him getting shackled to someone like his wife is tragic and I agree with one comment that mentioned that people would go up in flames if the roles were reversed and misandry is just as destructive as misogyny. But I have to say, Ex guy dug his own grave here. He CHOSE to go with that woman. He should have walked away when the woman didnt match with the profile his mom sent, but he CHOSE to sit down and agreed to date and marry that woman. Whaddya mean "I wouldn't have married you if I known about your craziness?" No, He chose to overlook her flaws for an opportunity to marry into wealth. He chose to prioritize his societal appearance and his standing. He made his bed and now he has to lie on it. It's his mistake of his own making and I have no sympathy for him trapped in that marriage. He chose what he wanted and he got it. He married a girl, overlooked her qualities for an opportunity to marry into wealth and get a better position in that company using his marriage connection and he got that. His mistake is that is boundless greed. He got what he wanted, but his greed didn't stop there, he wanted Hyojun and still wanted to string him along and that served as his karma. They say a man who desires way more than what he can handle always falls and in this case, its true for hyojun's ex

Overall, I'd say it's pretty mature story, there are moments of cheesiness but nice read. I wouldn't necessarily be rereading it again, but I'd highly recommend it to check it out

There are some comedic elements that I liked, but for the most part, I felt like I'm powering through the story rather than enjoying it. I didnt particularly enjoy the dynamic Hyun and Ivan had upto ch 29 and suddenly it's flipped? Plus this whole marked thing I didnt find it appealing. This marking can supposedly be reversed by medical treatment (thank god there's logic in this story where modern medicine DOES help to treat it) but Ivan's like "Noo, lemme help you out (and tap that ass while at it)" and Hyun's like fine? Shouldn't he atleast demand Ivan to compensate for his medical cost and treatment? Did they make them go enemies to lovers thing? Seems like it

And the other thing, Alec. Sure the initial attraction can be explained away by marking and his emotional unavailability can be explained by his upbringing. But what was his intention with Hyun? Is he figuring out his feelings for Hyun? When Hyun said that he treats Alec different to Ivan as Ivan is his bf, Alec got disappointed. Is it perhaps he lost Hyun to Ivan or was it because he failed to capture Hyun's heart with his inactions? Did he truly like Hyun or saw Hyun as a piece to knock Ivan down a few pegs?

Upto chapter 29, it wasnt clear whether the sex scenes were truly occuring or its all Hyun's imagination. The marking made Hyun unstable and hallucinate and that raises certain question, when Alec gave Hyun that shirt amd eventually led to relations, did it actually occur? Or Alec manipulated Hyun using pheremones or was ot all imagination due to Hyun's unstable marking? Seeing how it didnt come up, perhaps its hallucination, or perhaps its just how many authors write away stories like this shamelessly, writing non con part for gratification and not willing to deal with consequences.

Overall, it's not something I'll be rereading it again, certain elements were funny and Ivan and Hyun's relationship developed well and its chaotically adorable, I didnt enjoy it as much as I thought

I think this story shouldn't have billed as bl story, sure there are elements, but the story goes into length how idols (specifically k-pop idols) market themselves, typically in idol story setting, we either get the perspective of a guy in his idol training, or successful idol, or a company managing the idol, not the idols themselves who enter into a music group and how they work hard to stay relevant

This manhwa accurately depicts the idol working and parasocial relationship, though it tries to make it seem so wholesome and passionate, ironically this whole vibe captures the true nature of actual idol promotions, platforms like Weverse exclusively caters to the fandom where they engage in parasocial relations. South Korea heavily industrialized their popular music industry so much that they like electronics and automobiles, constantly launch new groups with new concepts but with same basic music scores, kind of like Electronics and Automobiles (atleast in that aspect, there is a hidden innovation)

So to compensate for staleness, the group members were "kawaiified" (i.e. made them appear childish or cute in their appearance and manners) or "eroified" (i.e. made them appear sexually tempting in their appearance and manners) and the korean music landscape is dominated by these idol group labels which means independant music artists culture seem lacking and the famously brutal south korean society and its heavy expectation on studies mean pursuing music is non starter and the only way fot them is - idol group where they are taught to sing, perform and become stage presentable and people who are interested in music production were trained, but the idol cycle means the company immediately looks to cash in and so imports the song writing and just adapts to the market and launch it with a concept

And the fandom culture is brutal, besides parasocial relationships, shipping and fights, it thrives on attention and drama at the expense of idols. They dont view them as human with a passion to sing, but rather "singing pokemons" to collect their merchandise. The fandom doesnt even really enjoy the music but rather the surrounding aspects of this toxic culture

So, in this environment, going viral is the only way for these idols to go popular. Currently, k-pop is riding on hallyu wave and korean products are now dominating the consumer culture, but the next 10 years, it'll be chinese cultural exports that'll dominate cool consumer culture and we are already seeing it. Chagee coffee, Labubus, Chinese luxury EVs, tiktok platform itself and so even the top companies would struggle to keep these groups relevant, let alone a small irrelevant group like 4ever in this story

And so, the MC is doing everything he can to not only stay relevant, but also become famous. I gotta respect this guy, he's average but he's a marketing genius. He himself singlehandedly made his group and the backing company become popular. This guy is a marketing genius and I think he should have worked in marketing or sales rather than in idol industry, but even then, his talent as a promoter is extremely valuable and even if the group breaks, he can easily negotiate with the CEO and simply become CMO for that company or take that skillset to other industry because, its not easy to make a group not only go viral, but also become popular and he took every advantage of the fandom system.

I dont think he truly likes his fans, sure he likes them and tries to keep their attention as positive as possible, but really I think he's gaming the system brilliantly. So I'd say him cashing in on his popularity as idol while simultaneously honing his marketing skill and if he thinks idol thing is too much he can easily transition from limelight to boardroom

I really enjoyed reading this manga. It pokes fun at every plot device bl genre uses and how the main protagonist avoids it. It's so funny and I like the fact that it makes fun of how logic flies out of window when it comes to bl stories. I want more chapters (￣▽￣)