u/Own_Dot_8805

Beautiful story from start to finish. There's just one thing that's been lingering on my mind longer than it should have. After they do the deed, Ed mentioned Lortel had to sleep in his bed because her bed was unusable after they did it. My first thought was that since it was a different time period, bed frames and mattrases probably weren't as durable as they currently are in modern times. But then I quickly dismissed that because they were staying in a high quality place so the bed obviously must have been of good standard. So then the next thought was, how? Do you know how chaoticly forceful you have to be to break through a bed?

Assuming it was a wooden bed, Ed would have to be putting in about "2,000 to 4,000 Newtons), or roughly 300 pounds of steady weight, to break an average wooden bed. Be it missionary, doggy, or whatever other positions they tried that night. Realistically, Lortel should have been damn near paralyzed from the waist down the morning after. Putting in enough force to break a bed is literally worse than what he did to Janica and SHE was the one to wake up the next day with a sore back. The only other 2 ideas that come to mind is that at some point, lost in the ecstacy of the moment, one of the two could have accidentally released some magic that destroyed the bed. The other option is that the bed was so heavily stained in their body fluids after multiple rounds that it became, as Ed said, "unusable". And hey, if he was going that crazy then sure, good for him. But putting in that much force on a girl with a smaller frame and a VIRGIN girl no less, is insane.

I know, it's not something I really need to be overthinking to this level. But my ADHD wouldn't let me let it go due to how absured the implication was and how inconsistent the aftereffects were compared to Janica's, especially since she's built bigger than Lortel. Anywho, thanks for coming to my ted talk and entertaining my intrusive thoughts lol.

Yo! Been a while. Haven't posted here since I finished the novel. I've been letting the manwha chapters stack for some months so I could binge read and I finally caught up today. So, all I can say is, what the actual fuck are they doing? LMAOOO. Like, what are they genuinely doing? There's so much shit that got cut and that's not even the worst part, they're changing shit but not the good kind of change, the shitty kind of change that is making the story significantly worse.

Why in the absolute fuck is Yun Seung Ah the leader of Essence of the Strait? I gave them the benefit of the doubt at first with it being a translation error but they actually doubled down on it twice. Going off what I remember, there's way too many moments with Creator's Sacred Grace and Essence of the Strait for them to make such an important change. If this is the first sign of their intention to change the ending from what he made in the novel, then it's looking like we're in a for a real shitshow.

Then next up, they just canned the Fenrir title that Hajin took when he joined Jeronimo. They had better bring it up in the next chapter because this is something that absolutely cannot be changed. There's WAAAAY too many important plot points that hinge on the fact that Hajin uses 2 different identities for mercenary work and Chameleon Troupe activities.

Eileen's design is alright. Wasn't how I pictured her but this design can definitely grow on me. They nailed the childish look and her immature tantrums but also gave her enough of an adult maturity in the moments that mattered. Overall good depiction of her character so far.

The end of the Cube arc and timeskip got me a tiny bit emotional but just a little bit because of how much stuff they left out and just condensed into a slideshow, there wasn't much room for sentiment. Also, they need to give Hajin his fucking beard and I'm so serious. 3 years later and he doesn't look a day older than when he left. At least Rachel and Yeonha had a more mature look but that's easy to do with female characters cause all you have to do is give them a new hairstyle. Nayun's declaration was alright, nothing noteworthy. Seeing how long the latest chapter was I thought we were about to go into another year long hiatus again but thankfully that's not the case. Since they have a second chance, they should definitely expand on more personal moments like Nayun's thought process and mental state as she trains and how she slowly becomes more psychologically corroded, torn between her love and hate for Hajin. I want to see her slowly sink into numbness and develop some toxic coping habits, like how she copied Hajin's smoking habit. Little things like this help to really cement the impact of what Hajin did to her and it gives us more of a personal attatchment to Nayun.

Also, as I'm typing I just remembered another moment that pissed me off. The way they butchered and changed Hajin's confession to Yeonha about Jinyoon PISSED ME ALL THE WAY OFF. We didn't get any of the cute Yeonha moments with her dressing up in a mature yet seductive dress, her trying alcohol and choking, or even the suggestive sexual energy overlaying the dark and dreary filled atmosphere as the two conversed about the truth of Jinyoon's death.

Being completely honest, nostalgia for the novel is really all that's keeping me licked in with this manwha. I so desperately want to see my favorite moments from the novel like many of the moments in the Tower, Hajin pummeling Sahyuk, Hajin going to Sayuk's homeland, the Reunion with Tomer and SOOOO MANY MORE MOMENTS. But holy shit, the way this is going, I might not even see half of these moments and when I do I might be more underwhelmed that overhwlmed lol. I'll just keep watching for now and hopefully if they plan to keep making changes, at least make a good fucking change in the manwha instead of something that degrades the story's quality. I only just started and finished the novel this year but good lord, it might be time for a reread soon to remind myself how peak this series is and why I love it so much. Even the manwha only readers have been leaving comments about the story feeling hollow and stagnant and it's very much because of how they've been butchering the story like fresh produce.

Ahh it's been a while since I posted anything here and damn, I'm a bit sentimental since I'm now at the end of the road with this series lol. But getting into it, this short story was everything I expected it to be and more. Without exaggeration this to me, is the best of all the 3 short stories. Despite being shorter, not as stake heavy as the other 2, and being in an AU, this chapter made up for it by showcasing the most beautifully intimate relationship between Hajin and another female lead.

The new approach of having Hajin be Yeonha's bodyguard was refreshing and intriguing. One of the things I always loved when it came to these two were the dynamics and power play in their relationships. Hajin was never one to let others belittle him or push him around but it was always especially prominent to me when it came to Yeonha, who naturally had an authorative and commanding nature about her. He always stood his ground and treated her as equal and could even go as far as making fun of her. Those aspects of the relationship that I liked were expanded on even more in the short story. Lots of teasing, joking, casual conversation and just small intimate moments that builds a very earnest relationship between these two.

The story also excelled at humanizing Yeonha. Although we already knew of her flaws in the original light novel, having the spotlight centered on her and really seeing all her quirks and peculiarities so directly was really cool. Her pickiness, her jealousy, her weakness to compliments, and her fear of loneliness. It's hilarious how she asserts her authority as a mask for jealousy, cute how she throws temper tantrums (sticking out her tongue lol), and heartbreaking how she sinks into darkness when her trauma resurfaces.

I'll be honest, the whole conflict with Destruction and the Djinns weren't all that important or interesting to me. Not because they were inherently boring or anything, it's just because I was obssessively fixated on seeing the progression of the relationship between these two more than anything else in the short story lol. I also love how the author brought back Nayun but this time as an annoying little "rival" for Yeonha, I like her being in that role instead of a love interest tbh. Also, it was a really cool reference to the main story when it was shown Yeonha was jealous of Nayun since they were kids and thought Nayun always took what was "hers". So having that referenced in her short story was a nice callback.

I also felt the best conflict came in the form of emotional turmoil when Yeonha and Hajin went through their indiviual conflictions about their feelings for each other. It added a nice layer of tension and intrigue seeing these two characters that each have their own independent resolve/goal but they were also being swayed by feelings of affection and dependency for each other that created discord in their minds and ultimately led to the two splitting up at one point. Going back to my earlier point, I always respected Hajin as a character in the way that despite how he feels inside, he won't let himself be surpressed or restrained by someone else, which showed itself in him immedeately leaving Yeonha's residence when she terminated his contract. It's something I always liked, the way how he injects feelings of trust, security, intimacy, dependency into the lives of those he's close with but whenever it's time for him to leave, he removes most, if not all traces of himself an disappears, like a flower carried away by the wind, and it's only after he's gone, do the people who cared for him truly realize how much he meant to them. That was always one of my favorite aspects of the story since it was a direct contradiction to his ideology of him being an "extra" in the story.

Anyways, with most of my thoughts out the way, I'm circling back to my favorite aspect of the side story. The aspect of this story that outdid both Nayun and Rachel's short stories, THE INTIMACY. Bro I'm sooooooo glad I never got spoiled on this short story because the author was going CRAZY on the romance. I've been saying it for the longest time, Nayun might be the better written character but I'm almost certain that Yeonha is his favorite girl. There was just a different air of intimacy written between these two that I didn't feel from Nayun or Rachel. It was like the perfect mix of natural progression, awkwardness, mature themes, confliction, intimacy, sadness, and adorable lmao. The confession coming from Yeonha and the immediate kiss after had me gassed but that's not all. Once again, I'm so glad I wasn't spoiled on this side story. Because imagine my surprise when I found out they FUCKED in this side story. And not just once either, it's implied about 3 different occasions that they do it, Hajin is a dog when it comes to the girls he likes and you can't even blame him lmao. I had to stand up and give my boy a round of applause for not only bagging Yeonha, not only having her as the bottom in the relationship, but also cracking her and being so good at it the she can't even object him when he brings up the fact. He even said he had measures in place to increase his size and performance if needed. HE DIDN'T EVEN DO ALL THAT FOR NAYUN. He basically said "My woman is the best in the world, so I'm gonna give her the best in the world." Tears in my eyes bro, my main character is a real fucking man😭😭

I'm also glad he ended up marrying her (Despite it being a spur of the moment decision from Nayun's provocation lol). Yeonha is the only other girl Hajin ended up marrying in the end (shoutout Rachel) but man Yeonha being called "My wife" just sounds right, I don't know what else to say lol. Also, him revealing his past to her was another massive moment because it truly signifies the depth of love and trust he has in her to want to be completely honest and free of all secrets when he's with her. And despite knowing he can't return home, all he can do is make the best of his circumstances. And the most beautiful part to me was without a doubt, the ending message:

"The bed was still warm from their body heat in the empty mansion that they left behind. The plates they didn’t wash after eating, the hologram TV with a doll that looked like Kim Hajin sitting on top, the picture frames on the wall, pictures of them laughing together, the neatly folded wedding dress on top of the sofa, and a place where the husband and wife would live happily ever after."

That genuinely put a smile on my face. This short story was a real heartwarmer. And even though people would probably use it being an alternate universe as some criticism of value, I see it differently. In my opinion, the author loves and values Yeonha as a character so much, he separated her from the canon timeline, where Hajin is already in a relationship, and gave her a completely new and unique universe for her own where she can have Hajin all to herself. Which in my opinion, is incomparably greater than Rachel's SS, which was a dream, and Nayun's SS, which was an element of time travel with her success depending on manipulation and love bombing.

So, that's gonna do it for my review. I'm officialy finished with the series. I feel a bit sad at the realization but I'm moreso happier than sad. Happy that I got to experience this series in my lifetime. Who knows, maybe after a couple of months I might go back and reread to quell the feeling of nostalgia. I'm also planning on maybe composing some OST's inspired by the series and my favorite moments in the future so I'll share some of those projects when I get around to it. Also wanna thank all the people I met here that engaged with my posts. My enjoyement of the series increased tenfold thanks to the engagement you all shared with my discussions. I might come back for other discussions in the future as well, plus, I also need to catch up on the webtoon lol. I dropped the webtoon as soon as I started the novel so I have about 13 or so chapters left to catch up. Anyways, that's all from me, take care and thank you all again!