this is giving my abandoned empress vibes, it genuinely bothers me so much how the author had cesare manipulate, use and even rape ariadne in their past life just for her to still be friendly towards him in the present. i know that he’s not the ML and they won’t end up together but even the FL treating him this nicely considering what he’s capable of towards her just doesn’t sit right with me. when alphonso and ariadne kiss for the first time, she literally gets ptsd from when cesare raped her that makes her push alphonso away but you’re telling me she’s okay with bantering with this guy???
like it’s very weird that in the past, cesare is the main person who ruined ariadne’s past life but isabella is currently being treated as ariadne’s main target of revenge, isabella was sly and manipulative but she still didn’t beat cesare out for being the most evil towards ariadne. at the beginning, ariadne says she plans on becoming queen and making cesare pay for his sins but it low-key seems like she’s forgotten about that. yeah she and alphonso have their romance, but i feel like she’s letting cesare off considering how much he wronged her. i understand he hasn’t shown the exact same behaviour in the present life but it doesn’t change the fact that he only tried to get close to ariadne and show attention to her because alphonso is interested in her and he wants what he can’t have. if ariadne returned his feelings, i bet he would lose interest in her immediately, that just seems like the kind of guy he is. it’s strange that there’s double standards towards how isabella and cesare are treated
the ML’s face has completely changed since chapter 1, i went back and couldn’t even recognise him
i think i’ll take a break from this for like 2 months. just based on other stories that have had similar plots, i bet onyx has moved on with a new friendship group and has started acting differently, he might pretend he doesn’t know keane no matter how much keane begs for his attention and keane is gonna be hurt constantly. lol i don’t think i can take the pain keane is gonna feel
ngl this also feels like a major regression, 118 chapters and we’re back to 0? but even worse because they’re not even best friends like they used to be. im not obsessed with this turn of events
i thought i was imagining it for weeks but i went back to the first chapter and the art has changed A LOT over the weeks, like literally compare the latest chapter and the first chapter and there’s an obvious difference. i can’t even say it’s gotten better, it’s somehow gotten worse over the weeks. it’s still decent but it’s much less detailed, stiffer and more inconsistent then it was in chapter 1.
the one thing i liked about this webtoon was the art but even that’s losing its touch….
i don’t mind miscommunication in stories but it’s kind of annoying and frustrating when it’s the only thing pushing the story for several chapters… like i’m sorry but the author is absolutely stretching it. how is it possible that after they’ve started their friends with benefits thing, the ML hasn’t mentioned their kiss back in high school even once? if you thought someone was avoiding you FOR YEARS because of an intimate moment you shared and now you’re in a sexual relationship, would you not ask them what the hell was up with their 3 (?) year cold shoulder towards you??? if the ML asked the MC about that, he’s realise it wasn’t a dream and everything would be solved since he’d know that the ML has been into him since high school. but no, we have to drag things out for no good reason
i hate this kind of no backbone, constantly pushed around and easily manipulated type of mc the most. being weak is one thing, why is your heart being swayed just because this disrespectful asshole who treats you like a sex toy said he’s jealous. what an idiot
the artist seriously did a good job, a problem i have with some webtoons/manga is that they’ll say the MC/ML is hot but their art doesn’t really show that since they look the same as side characters. here, you can really tell that luke is handsome and andrew is just drop dead gorgeous
there is no relationship dynamic i hate more in a bl than controlling possessive and abusive ML with an MC who is basically powerless and can only take all that the ML gives him. i don’t blame the MC for being like that because he’s in a tough situation but it’s still unpleasant to watch him basically be pushed around and treated badly based on the ML’s whims. i feel like the story could’ve worked 100x better if the relationship dynamic wasn’t so toxic. at this point it just seems like the author is just writing porn with random small plots in between because there is nothing else that is particularly interesting going on so far.
the ML’s personality is the main issue, the author just seems to be making him as toxic as possible for shock value. the ML doesn’t have to be as nice as the MC’s best friend, he could’ve still been a flawed character with room to grow.
i’m just randomly brainstorming but let’s say the ML developed a pretty callous personality because of whatever strict tiger parenting he faced as a hyper dominant alpha and then had to deal with his mother leaving, and now he’s sent abroad on his own because his dad doesn’t want to deal with him. he doesn’t know much about positive relationships and so at college he sleeps around and treats even his friendships like cold transactions. he ends up using the MC because he’s a beta who won’t influence him with pheromones and can’t get marked by him in the heat of the moment. then he goes through his rut, MC matures into an omega then yada yada same thing that happens in the webtoon. the ML is pissed he’s tied to someone he doesn’t know (he can’t remember because his rut makes him unconscious of his actions) but doesn’t look for them since he doesn’t like serious relationships. 5 years pass, he’s matured a lot, doesn’t use people like he used to, instead he’s cold to everyone and only focuses on business. now instead of the ML trapping the MC, why don’t we have the MC reluctantly come to him because he can’t afford their son’s medication and he knows the ML’s family owns the only company that produces it. he’s shocked by the fact MC is an omega and that they have a child, but he agrees to help them before his family finds out about them first. he doesn’t ask the MC to marry him nor forces him to quit his job since he doesn’t want anything serious but he agrees to coparenting as he sees his younger self in their son. and then their romance could gradually grow from there.
just like that, i feel like the story wouldn’t be so empty but idk those are just some random ideas
the only thing saving this webtoon is the art honestly
reading about yoohan crying in the novel was heartbreaking enough but seeing it in visual form is crushing ugh, poor guy
i see what the author is trying to do, the seme is already bad but they’ll make his dad and probably the rest of his family downright awful so he appears decent in comparison and his toxicity can be excused. the mc is already saying nonsense like “he was trying to look out for me” like oh brother. next chapter is probably going to be ml’s family trashing the mc to his face and the ml mildly defending the mc, making the mc start to see him in a positive light
they’ll finally fuck next chapter, if i remember correctly from the novel we’ll probably get 3/4 chapters worth of smut
the repeated random panels focusing on the cctv camera are scaring me, i thought it was the ML using it to keep tabs on the MC but it was whirring even when they were together at the end… who’s watching them…
bro we’re at chapter 15 and i still can’t even tell what’s going on except them having sex constantly, can the plot move even a tiny bit
jihwan is literally sociopathic (not surprising considering his past) but as long as he doesn’t force himself on sooyoung, i couldn’t care less. he’s actually put in the effort to get sooyoung to like him without just doing as he pleases like gyujin did. i just want them to be happy together, i hope this doesn’t have a bad ending
i enjoyed this webtoon and liked the dynamic between the main couple but the way the mc behaves… how does a s tier secret agent who is supposedly the best of the best make so many mindless mistakes throughout the story he was almost ridiculously clumsy and clueless to the point it was a bit silly. he was not smooth at all, i’m surprised the ml didn’t catch on sooner
i’ve seen some people in the comments worried about the lack of progress between jian yi and zhen xi and are thinking that they’re just a one sided couple but if you read back to the christmas special in chapter 224 (which is set in the future), it’s clear that zhen xi feels the same way about jian yi. it’s just that they’re going through the slowest of slow burns
i’ve been reading this for so long (like 6/7 years now) that i forgot that this is all meant to be a flashback and that we still have to go through a time skip to the og plot lmao