Chiaki's Topics (67)

The stalker distorted Hyunsung's feelings and thoughts to make him develop a twisted sort of dependency on him, not to mention taking advantage of the fact that once a person becomes accustomed to something, having it suddenly disappear is bound to be disorienting. Add on to that his acting pitiful to manipulate Hyunsung's feelings to his favor and then you have a Happy Ending! This is just typical Yandere behavior and it's exactly what I signed up for, so I'm not surprised. That being said, I AM surprised that people in the comments seem to think that the stalker is actually worth empathizing with. I assure you that nothing excuses his actions, regardless of what his past was like.

Please don't take this fictional story to be an example of a what a healthy relationship is supposed to be like! Emotional manipulation, distortion, etc. is NEVER acceptable in a relationship and anyone who does that to you is someone you need to cut off immediately!
Σ(っ°Д °;)っ

I know he's just supposed to be a minor character but is he really going to be treated like a minor cannon fodder A whose scenes are done and whose fate is unknown now that the rebellion crisis is over?（/TДT)/

Is it just me or is Adele mostly defined by her timidity from being downtrodden by her so-called family? I know that she's never had a chance to cultivate any assertiveness in her whole life and it was only her recent rebirth that's allowed her to experience some new things, thereby changing her a little, but I can't help but feel that she's too frustratingly naive and clueless for someone who's experienced death due to political intrigue. First of all,
how can she not even question what some dubious guys pretending to be knights say to her before she dies? What if they were lying about their employer in order to deceive anyone who might be listening? Besides, it's also not a good practice to loudly proclaim who your employer is when engaging in shady business, so the possibility that the bad guys were lying is quite high. Secondly, how can she not wonder about why some obviously shady guys in black cloaks and hoods were trying to capture her? She just runs away into safety and then promptly forgets about it like it's no big deal! Thirdly, she knows next to nothing about the Grand Duke--she never even met him in her previous life (and the reason why he wanted to marry her in the previous life is probably because he kept dreaming about her, just like he did in this life)--and just promptly assumes that, even though he's acted with sincerity towards her from the start, associating with him is no good, especially since he didn't protect her in her previous life. GIRL. ARE. YOU. KIDDING. ME. He might not even have suspected you'd be attacked on the way to his estate! And at the current point in time, you're ALREADY in danger due to the shady cloaked guys, not to mention that her second life would've already met an abrupt end from a stray wolf if Hexion hadn't made a timely rescue! She's THIS weak and helpless, not to mention that she's despised and abused by her family in name and hasn't even hatched a plan as to how to escape from them, and yet she rejects the marriage proposal of a Grand Duke who's inferior only to the Emperor in status, power, and wealth? EVEN when he EXPLICITLY states that he'll protect her from everything, much less her so called family??
I don't get it... (╯°Д °)╯╧╧

This comment contains SPOILERS and is a continuation of a previous spoiler thread located here: http://www.mangago.me/home/mangatopic/6808516/












Okay, since I'm sick of people debating whether or not Kang Mu likes and or loves Kirin, let me first ask the question: what, exactly, is love? Is it simply having a favorable impression of someone? Is it simply liking someone because they're useful to you in some way? Or is it actually a term that's used to describe an amalgamation of (usually) positive feelings towards someone or something? As a matter of fact, although there is an official definition of the word "love" in dictionaries, it really isn't a simple concept, especially since many people have a subjective understanding of the term. Not to mention the fact that the majority of individuals don't really try to analyze their feelings towards others, usually because it's difficult and or bothersome to do so. For instance, do you "like" a certain person because they're attractive? Or because they have a good personality? Or because they're wealthy? Or because they buy you desserts all the time? What if one or a couple or all of those things disappeared? Would you still "like" them? Would you still "love" them? If the answer is no, then that's quite normal.

It's a fact that humans tend to operate based on a cost-benefit analysis, even if it's a subconscious tendency for some. Consequently, we tend not to "like" or "love" things and or people that are useless to us. I know this might put a damper on the extremely romanticized concept of "love" that the media has ingrained into us but it's true. Even if it's hard to accept, it's better to at least try so that you can gain a better understanding of yourself, of other people, and subsequently, the world around you.

Lastly, "love" truly does come in all shapes and sizes, as they say, simply because people are not the same! A certain person is capable of feeling emotions in an entirely different manner from another, not to mention expressing their emotions in an entirely different way.

~~~~
Now, let's take a look at the relationship dynamics between Kangmu and Kirin as well as address whether Kangmu truly is an unlikable psychopath, a monster in human form with no redeeming qualities whatsoever.

--> Kangmu developed an interest in Kirin after getting to know Kirin's sister
--> Kangmu cared about Kirin's sister because she was the FIRST PERSON in twenty-
something years who listened to him, sympathized with him, consoled him, and
more importantly, ACCEPTED HIM. The sister accepted a person who, as far as he
could remember, was rejected, not just by society, but by his PARENTS. As a child,
his father forced him to see countless doctors, specialists, etc., because he felt that
Kangmu's psychopathy was an unacceptable condition that needed to be cured.
However, all of the doctors stated that it COULDN'T be cured, only suppressed.
Therefore, Kangmu's psychopathy is an unalterable part of himself and to be told
that it's unacceptable means that his very EXISTENCE has been deemed
UNACCEPTABLE, that it's just plain WRONG. How could anyone, much less Kangmu,
be unaffected by that? Our resident psychopath is DEFINITELY capable of feeling
upset and he certainly has been upset by his condition his entire life, if in a very
detached way.
--> As Kangmu played his little killing game with Kirin involved, we can see that he
became infatuated with the feeling of being partners-in-crime with Kirin. Why?
Because the bond they share is deep--it's HEAVY, especially for Kirin,
since he consciously aided and abetted Kangmu in committing multiple crimes.
He might not have been able to do the deeds with his own two hands but the
ensuing GUILT of participating in a crime for the sake of his vengeance weighs
heavily on him, although it's not like he regrets his actions. He was grateful that
Kangmu was there to do the actual killing that he couldn't bring himself to do, even
though the victims deserved it. On the other hand, Kangmu has felt emotionally
and mentally isolated by his psychopathy his entire life. Thus, it's a matter of course
that Kangmu is quite ecstatic with this bond of being partners-in-crime with Kirin, since it
provides him with a sense of connection, camaraderie, etc., that he's been missing his
ENTIRE LIFE while normal people take it for granted in their everyday lives. And let's
not forget that Kirin is the second (and most likely the last) person to accept Kangmu
as he is.

~~~~
I hope this enlightens my fellow readers!

SPOILERS:
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I'm way too lazy to summarize chapter by chapter, so I'll just provide a general summary. After Kangmu called the cops at the hunting lodge, Kirin and Kangmu are under suspicion about the events of the final murder but Kangmu is under especially heavy scrutiny for all of the murders since our favorite detective has access to a certain psychologist. This psychologist has seen Kangmu multiple times as an adolescent and thus, is one of the few people who's capable of pointing the spear of suspicion exactly where it belongs. Consequently, the detective calls in a hotshot expert to shed light on the truth of the final murder. This new expert manages to figure out that Kangmu and Kirin switched shoes while staging a perilous struggle in the forest (since their story is that the recently deceased guy tried to kill Kirin by throwing him off the cliff but that Kangmu managed to rescue him in time). The expert states that it's possible to convict Kangmu but only with solid evidence as opposed to conjecture. Mr. Detective tries his damndest to convict Kangmu with solid evidence via his forensic team as well as trying to get either Kirin or Kangmu to fess up to the truth. As of now, he's unsuccessful, though he did manage to plant a few tiny doubts in both of their heads. Another reason why the detective is hellbent on convicting Kangmu is due to the fact that he wants to separate him from Kirin, as he believes that Kangmu has enticed Kirin into his sick little world.

Some additional things:
1. Kirin finds a photo of himself that he's never seen before, in addition to letters of correspondence between Kangmu and his sister. Kirin then goes to Kangmu's apartment and demands to know how Kangmu met his sister. Kangmu admits that he met Kirin's sister at a hospice shortly before he went abroad to the U.S. He was visiting some unconscious old person (there was no mention of who it was) while the sister was there as a volunteer. The sister forces some small talk onto Kangmu and it turns out that they're both medical students, although Kangmu is a year higher than her. She then goes on and on about how much of a brother-complex she has while Kangmu disinterestedly thinks of how much of a chatterbox she is. Then, he says that, since the sister shared some things about herself, he thought, whimsically, that he might as well reciprocate and idly wonders if she, too, will reject him as abnormal and look at him in the same way you would a monster, just as his mother did. As it turns out, when he was little, his mother brought home a small white dog. As he gazed at the dog, he wondered if its insides would look as pretty as its outside and thus, sliced open its stomach and pulled out its innards. His mother came upon this scene and was, of course, horrified. On the other hand, the young Kangmu looked wholly detached since he didn't feel that his actions were either abnormal or wrong. When the sister hears his childhood tale, she, contrary to Kangmu's expectations, tries to console and empathize with him.
2. The sister then asks Kangmu to exchange contact details so that she can provide what little help she might be able to, since she realized that Kangmu wanted someone he could confide in. The two then keep up a correspondence and since the sister won't shut up about Kirin, Kangmu develops an interest/curiosity in Kirin and decides to go to his university to take a candid picture of him.
Now, this action means a lot to Kangmu, since he normally only takes pictures of dead things (which he started doing as a child in order to perfectly preserve dead things without having to deal with the fuss of rotting corpses and the issue of where to store them so his parents wouldn't find out).

There's a lot more to say, but I'll stop the summary here for now. Let me know if you want more.
~~~~
Now, I know that there's much professional debate about whether psychopaths can feel empathy and the answers are mixed. So, let's not get into that and focus, instead, on this manhwa's portrayal of our resident psychopath, Kangmu. Kangmu is portrayed as a psychopath who can logically comprehend when as well as why people feel a certain way but it doesn't register emotionally with him—he has no emotional empathy. This fact is reflected when he comes across a devastated Kirin who was crying at the cremation locker of his sister (Kangmu was there because he had someone investigate what happened to the sister after he stopped receiving correspondence from her, which also proves that he cared about her. After all, she was the closest thing he had to a genuine friend, even if he didn't realize it. And besides, if he didn't care about her, he would never have bothered to investigate her status after she stopped corresponding with him, much less show up at her cremation site). Both Kangmu's facial expression as well as his thoughts are detached from the situation. Even so, he thinks, idly, about the contrast between the lively Kirin from the candid photo he took and the devastated, lifeless Kirin that lies before him. He thinks that he doesn't want Kirin to look like this--that he wants him to get back on his feet and be the way he normally is. So, he then gets to work planning everything: how to spread rumors about his little members only club, how to set up a system of surveillance cameras around all of the members' homes so that he can monitor their every move and act accordingly, etc.
~~~~
So, the verdict thus far is: yes, he genuinely cared about Kirin's sister and yes, he genuinely cares about Kirin (after all, in addition to Kirin being the only living thing that Kangmu has taken a photo of, he is also the only person that Kangmu has thrown childish temper tantrums at when he thought that Kirin was showing signs of rejecting him). Did he feel pretty good when he killed some of the club members? Yes. Was he motivated, in part, to kill the club members since he now had a "legitimate" reason to kill humans instead of animals? Yes. Does any of this detract from the fact that he does actually care about Kirin and his deceased sister? Absolutely not. We, as humans, tend to have multiple factors that dictate our behavior at any one time.

Am I the only one interested in the instructor?? I feel like he's pretty darn strong in swordsmanship, so what if he's really able to turn Katarina into a badass before graduation? Gah, that'd be so interesting! (๑•ㅂ•)و✧

There’re still many issues to uncover, like Cole’s past, but for now, this’ll have to do.

As for those who think that this is an unhealthy relationship...well, I suppose that you’re right in the sense that it’s not an example of an ideal romantic relationship, but it is definitely a typical example of a relationship. After all, all human relationships are, to some extent, based on the principle of giving-and-taking. Cole and Alex are simply giving and taking what they need from the other. It’s a reciprocal and therefore, an arguably beneficial relationship for both sides. Unhealthy relationships, on the other hand, tend to feature nonreciprocal behavior, so...think on that.

Wow, to think that the author included character progression in the continuation instead of going the easy route with lighter plot and more smut? That’s like finding a rare Pokemon! Kudos to you, author!

Anyway, like someone said, Cole seems to like Alex mainly for his face and body, although there’s also his straight guy preference and inferiority complex at play here. He’s probably high on the rush of pleasure he gets when looking at the seemingly perfect Alex who deigns to be with the inferior him. Alex, on the other hand, was definitely called out by Brad, not to mention Lilly, on his superiority complex. The scene where Brad forced him to acknowledge his subconscious feelings of superiority was superb, both for him and us. He gained a clearer picture of who he really is, in addition to realizing how much Cole really means to him. We, on the other hand, can see that Alex isn’t perfect after all. He finally seems like a 3D, realistic character. Brad, on the other hand, seems more normal, not to mention just as attractive as Alex. Nevertheless, the fact that he was able to date someone who was mentally ill for 3 years could point to some underlying issues he has, though we’ll never know, since he’s a side character that probably won’t appear much, if ever again.

Or is it just that the chapters are too short, so it seems like the plot is crawling along? And people are complaining about the stupidity of the males, but neglecting to mention Shanna's stupidity. I know she's confused and all, but it seriously hasn't occurred to her that she actually has magical powers? And I'm guessing that her magical powers are out of the ordinary, which is why she's feared and called a witch in this clearly magical world?

And did the idiotic guy lock her up, declaring that she's a witch because she refused to marry him? Or was she locked up from the start and he was just there visiting her? Either way, if she was actually from a prestigious noble house the whole time, why didn't any of her servants go around searching for her or trying to get her out? Why weren't there any servants around when she suddenly went missing in the garden on the grounds of her estate? How was she even imprisoned in the first place when she's a prestigious noble?? WTF?? (╯°Д °)╯╧╧

Is marriage the only thing she ever thinks about? Why can’t she just be satisfied with her free and leisurely life as a wealthy noble? No one and nothing is pushing her to marry, other than the societal expectations that she’s internalized, so why can’t she grow a damn brain and realize that happy marriages shouldn’t be forced or rushed? Is she mentally retarded or something? Her stupidity even got her almost raped, but nothing’s really changed. Ugh, dropped. (╬￣皿￣)凸