This story is desperately trying to make Yeshin, the bottom, more interesting than he really is. The atmosphere, the tension, the "danger" of discovery is actually done quite well...from Geon-woo, the top's, side.
Since we know nothing about Yeahin except bits and pieces it makes it really hard to sympathize with what honestly reads like a petulant little shithead who might've possibly had a bad break up and is now making it everyone else's problem.
So far, the story is not giving me any reason to care about Yeshin because he's shown zero initiative to better himself.
For instance (I repeat) I don't know what sob story he's suffering from but I'm questioning why he won't just cut his family clear out of his life if they're such neglectful, narcissistic, abusive pieces of shits?
He clearly said he has enough money to buy Geon-woo off if Geon-woo accepted his offer of termination. He'll double whatever his grandpa's paying Geon-woo, to be exact.
And Geon-woo is being paid very well to put up with him.
So...using that logic, why the fuck doesn't Yeshin just use aaaaall of that money to get out of the country instead? Just leave all of this nonsense behind?
It's not like he's a woman living in a hysterically misogynistic, totalitarian country that prevents him from leaving with zero financial freedom. There's no such thing as "honor killings" in Korean culture either so once he's on foreign soil he'd be safe from his family.
And then we hit another problem.
Ch. 17 shows Yeshin doesn't actually have that kind of money. So, he was talking out of his ass. What's the point of that exchange, then? Why say he can do something that can be proven immediately that he actually can't?
17 chapters in and the narration is doing an incredibly shit job of showing anything about Yeshin that's worth obsessing over. I just don't understand the fascination that Geon-woo is developing towards a willfully self destructive brat.
Like, him? Really?
Yeshin cannot possibly be the only one man pity party with the prettiest face to ever exist. Geon-woo MUST have encountered dozens of others like him. I'm just so underwhelmed.
EDIT: Don’t get me wrong, I'm not on Geon-woo's side either. He's an asshole through and through. His behavior and manipulation, being physically cold then hot then cold all over again, while still being oddly distant emotionally is confusing the poor kid, too.
I don't blame Yeshin for falling for him because Geon-woo, in his own way, still obviously cares. Even if he's being paid to do so.
Yeshin is so horrifically depressed he's latching onto that and hurting himself even worse.
However, 19 chapters in and this dynamic is no longer interesting. If anything, it's tedious.
EDIT II: Oh, holy shit. Ch 21 is amazing.
Yes! Go get you some from somebody else, Yeshin. It's not your problem that the top is into you but keeps pushing you away at the same time. You're not in a relationship, you don't have to put up with that bullshit. Therefore you are free to pursue other men!
After all you don't know that he lied about having a girlfriend, and yet he was acting all familiar with your body?
Yas, baby, show that "cheater" that you're not his toy. That you have plenty of other men.
AND you're literally fucking your buddy in front of Geon-woo?!??? Oh, you amazing boy!
I love it.
Aaaand that did not last long. Damn it.
Yeshin went back to being stupid and pathetic by the end of the same chapter. Come on, bro. I was rooting for you.
Oh, FINALLY. Geon-woo is finally making a choice in ch 23.
I was literally going to drop this after this chapter if something didn't change in this story.
I think a major part of the problem is me. I absolutely fucking despise brat-types. I can't stand them. I had no idea that this story had that kind of bottom.
😒
EDIT III: Oh, ew. In ch 24
Geon-woo really went in raw immediately after Yeshin just got gangbanged by a bunch of unidentified men. More importantly they didn't use a single condom.
Actually, there's not one seen with anyone Yeshin has fucked, man or woman. We would know because Geon-woo was watching him with EVERY single encounter.
And no, Geon-woo never got hard. He was just doing his job, making sure Yeshin isn't harmed...too much. He knowingly let Yeshin get drugged by his sex partners though.
I'm 99.9% sure Yeshin knew he was being drugged, too.
Yeshin is STD central.
JFC. That is gross.
Ch 27 explains Yeshin's trauma. It's obviously very, very shocking for Yeshin to find out the truth and, I guess, can explain why he spiraled so badly but...not really?
He had the means and he could have made contingency plans, even as a teenager, but instead he chose to bury his head in the sand. When shit blows up in his face he then does the absolute worst things possible, short of suicide, to deal with it all.
And that's not off the table, either.
The explanation for his behavior is so stupid it's giving me second hand embarrassment. All that money and no brain to use it. Tragic. What a waste.
I wish he was a schemer, conniving to get back at his father, make that asshole and his bigger asshole of a grandfather pay for everything they've done to him. You know, take back his dignity. That would have been so cathartic but naaah.
Instead we get a whiny, tantrum-throwing little bitch who's deliberately committing social suicide on main. So frustrating.
I'm done. Suddenly I understand the appeal of those reader-insert transmigrator stories. Because if I became Yeshin, oh, you'd better believe his entire family is going down very loudly and very publicly.
This went from a tepid 5 (carried only by the art and ✨️vibes✨️) to a negative 100 for me.
Dropped.
(-70)
