Nia♡´･ᴗ･`♡

Straight Wookyung is my newest nightmare

As someone that has been on the recieving end of abuse it's almost troubling how accurate Cha Wookyung's actions are. I usually seek works with that kind of themes of sub-themes as some weird ass way of coping and damn it wasn't an easy read.
Everything is done to rewrite what little of self Minho has left, Wookyung is greedy and dwelves in the immorality of his actions which he recognizes full well are despicable but HE holds the power here. Having someone who knows how vicious and ugly of a human being they are almost bragging to your face about it while you beg and decay in the cold emptiness of their arms is a truly unique feeling, a sense of helplessness like no other. They know, sometimes they seem to enjoy the rot and other times your lifeless self is looked at with so much contempt that -for their sake- you wish you'd be dead.
So why am I so angry at Minho ? Why do I seem to despise him even more than that disgusting husk of a man named Wookyung ? It has nothing to do with the fact -the belief- that he came to seek his end. There is no willingness in such an act of self-desperation as there is little willingness in going back to the dog crate again and again, it is but a mechanical answer to an emotional trauma.
I disagree with the people saying how overly romanticized this work is, it is not. Of course it would be to some degree romanticized, that's a whole manhwa, and a smut first and foremost.
While rape is a way to gain and maintain control for the both of them, both in their own ways, I agree that we could've had a lot less of fucking without it having any impact whatsoever on the storytelling.
But it is to this day one of the best and crudest depiction of abuse I have found in a manhwa, one that isnt sugarcoated or censored by fear of shocking. It is like it happens, unpredictable and brutal. As a regarder you're nothing but a bystander just as how in your own body, in the face of your abuse, you're not really there. The pain eventually wears off the body and comes the sweet nothings, the hope that glares back in the littlest motions of affections, the smallest of liberties that monster finally gives you.
It is an unkind truth that's simply told and trust me when I say there is no love, not a single pinch of trying to normalize such behavior ans relationships in this side story. I thought it was done rather well, way better than the fucking insanity that was the main story (Duna when I catch you Duna). Was I pressured to like Wookyung ? Not at all. Was Wookyung talking about his struggles and apologizing a way to coerce me into some semblance of a redemption arc ? NOT AT ALL. What do you think abusers in the real world won't cry on your lap and be whenever you need help ? Won't they confort you ? Won't they tell you how much they want to cherish and love you ?
That's their fucking strategy.