i did not expect how much i was going to love this, the main couple was everything and the side couples were the cherry on top. i read comments about how different cliffs ending was here than the novel, and i kept thinking about it while reading the main story thinking "wow, i dont think i even want him to have a redemption" but after the side stories... can he have that? the last thing i was expecting was for that end for him, and honestly i couldnt feel worse knowing he gets a happy end in the novel. i would really like to see cliff be happy
personally im happy things went this way. i dont think either needed another ten episodes of miscommunication and dealing with ripping themselves apart emotionally until they find their way back. dan especially has been through enough already, and jaehyuks had in my opinion, some of the best character development. i say that in the realistic sense (at least as someone who's been reading weekly) things felt slow. even after chasing dan in the begining of season two, he was a dick. and then very slowly, he came to realize his faults and how awful he was. nothing about him changed overnight, and i liked watching him reflect, fuck up, reflect again, slip up, reflect and change. i see a lot of mls have a moment of "im an ass! i love them i need to change!" and completely 180 overnight. this felt a lot more realistic, especially considering the personality he formed due to his trauma, and watching him beat himself up for it constantly, even now in the confession he's really self aware, and its satisfying lol
i know this isnt how it works but its almost feels like the author saw ppl appreciating jaehyuks character growth and criticizing garams inability to put as much into this relationship as jaehyuk was (in the form of refusing to communicate his concerns) instead of excusing his every issue bc of past trauma (that i thought we already went over and grew past in earlier seasons?) so they undid all jaehyuks growth and turned him back into a sack of shit so no one could reasonably like him anymore





i dont know what it is but whenever life gets hard i find myself rereading again lol i started keeping up with solo leveling since it only had about 100 chapters or so out when i was 16/17 and no one knew what i was talking about when i recommended it. and now its been over for years, im 22, its popular enough to be dubbed "slop" and the fight scenes still get me hype