NOVEL SPOILERS

From mettle on novel updates:

I pretty much finished reading the novel (including the epilogue), but haven't gotten to the last volumes yet (which I assume are extras?). Although it was quite... interesting, I don't think I'll touch this novel again (or novels, since it's pretty much one big story split into 11 volumes of about 300-500 pages each), simply because it was emotionally draining for me.
I really liked the first two volumes, because Inseop was depicted as a determined, kinda strong yet introverted MC; he was a person hard to decipher, however, according to Wooyeon. That really roused his interest in Inseop. Also:
I loved the idea of Inseop, who was shy, insecure and quiet, getting revenge for Jennie, his best friend who had committed su*c*de (while he was still in high school) because of Wooyeon - which is later proven to be false, and that his 'girlfriend' I think? and her friends were the ones behind it - and because she was incredibly lonely (due to a dispute between Inseop and Jennie, which led Inseop to stop talking to her)


Wooyeon was a character hard to sympathize with ever since the beginning of the novel. However, later in the novel, from flashbacks and snippets from the conversations he'd have with Inseop, it's obvious that he wasn't loved as a child because he suffered from ADP. Still, that didn't stop me from hating him.

However, there were also parts that I absolutely hated (like every volume that came after the second) :

In the 4th volume, Wooyeon basically forced himself on Inseop and there was no proper preparation and Inseop was also a virgin, so like??? Why? Apparently, it was still enjoyable for Inseop, but it didn't sit well with me. No, it doesn't happen only one time, but basically every time they have s*x throughout the book, and I'm pretty sure rimming is not enough preparation. Anyways, disregarding these parts (despite being hard to do so)...

Imho, Lee Wooyeon:

Pretty much made Inseop cry a lot of times, way too many times, and he himself knew how much of a nasty individual he was. Also, the fact that he was INCREDIBLY possessive of Inseop, to the point of mentioning throughout the novel how he'd love to 'keep Inseop in a corner, so only he was allowed to stare at him' or 'tie Inseop up and leave him in the hotel room' or 'cage Inseop and keep him in his house', which genuinely creeped me out. No, there were no butterflies in my stomach whenever he spoke of such things.

The Hawaii incident was, by far, the most infuriating. Wooyeon brought Inseop, since he was his manager, along to Hawaii for a photoshoot he had. After Wooyeon took Inseop's passport and ID and locked them in a safe in the hotel they were staying in (like???) fearing that he might go back to America (where his family resided), a female side-character (whose only purpose in the novel was to make Wooyeon be jealous, because she was friendly to Inseop - she disappeared after they went back to Korea) brought his passport in an envelope (along with Wooyeon's driver license) because Wooyeon needed them for a reason that I can't currently remember, and gave them to Inseop, since Wooyeon told her so himself (Wooyeon didn't check what was inside the envelope, otherwise he wouldn't have said to her to do that). What did Inseop do? He saw that it was Wooyeon's birthday on the driver license and went to a fancy pastry shop and bought him a box of cakes. After the photoshoot, Wooyeon rushed back to the hotel (thinking only of s*x, obviously) and, not seeing Inseop in his hotel room, he panicked and began asking around the staff, which subsequently led to him bellowing at others and smashing a flower pot, staining his clothes and face with blood. He ran around the city, looking for him for two hours, and when he returned to his hotel room, absolutely pissed the f*ck off and depressed, he spotted Inseop holding the box of cake in front of the locked door. Then came a r*pe scene, Wooyeon shedding tears, Inseop accepting his apology. Yay!

Afterwards, Wooyeon thought of telling a bit about his tragic past of being neglected as a child and the fact that he suffered from ADP, purely because he knew that Inseop would sympathize with him; he also added that 'he never told anyone about this before', which is not a lie, really. But telling someone about your past just to make sure they wouldn't want to abandon you and would forgive you is awful. Especially after what he had done moments ago. Horrible.

It didn't help the fact that, in the 7th volume, Wooyeon acted coldly towards Inseop, because Inseop kept his hospitalization (due to getting beaten up by Kang Youngmo) a secret from him and only Yoon Areum (another, slightly more important female side character) knew about it. Commence more misunderstandings (involving another female side character and more!), even more scenes of Inseop sobbing pitifully, yet still blaming himself for everything, another s*x scene which left me incredibly uncomfortable, more and more of Wooyeon manipulating Inseop (even envying a female fan of an unimportant male character for tricking him into marriage, thinking that he'd have liked to do something similar to Inseop so he could keep him by his side at all times)... at this point, I just really wanted to read the ending and be done with it.

Wooyeon's way of showing his love to Inseop (at least in the early stages of their relationship after they started dating secretly - well, not so secretly, since CEO Kim and manager Cha found out rather quickly) was through s*x mostly. He admitted several times that he was jealous of any person, animal or PLANT that Inseop interacted with (which was proven in the 8th novel.... when he smashed the pot of a flower, given to him by Kang Youngmo, on the floor because Inseop literally took care of it). He also admitted to his desire to kill anyone Inseop liked and anyone who liked Inseop. Bro chill???

Choi Inseop:

In the beginning of the novel, it was kind of easy to relate to this character (though, he went to extreme levels to get his revenge). However, later in the novel, I felt he was... maybe... too forgiving? Too naive? Too 2D? Too s*upid? Not only him, but more and more characters, that I had thought of in the beginning as interesting, funny or quirky, began resembling those from badly written Wattpad romance books. Including Inseop! I really wanted SO MANY TIMES to transmigrate inside the novel and strangle both him and Wooyeon. He had multiple opportunities to escape to America, back to his family, yet he stayed in Korea and let Wooyeon treat him like utter sh*t (especially in the 7th volume). Even when he managed to go back to America, he decided to return and continue working as his manager (of course, manager Cha thought way too many times that it was not a good idea to do so). He'd been hospitalized so many times after he became Wooyeon's manager that I lost count.

Inseop realized only in the 7th volume that his life basically revolved around Lee Wooyeon. Wooyeon this, Wooyeon that, his entire call history was Wooyeon (he had no friends). He moved to another apartment after. After leaving his film award ceremony (where Wooyeon, who was certain would receive the grand award or something, wanted to shed crocodile tears while giving his speech and declare his love, to impress and make Inseop choose to stay by his side (and this was after Wooyeon basically gave Inseop the cold shoulder for about 200-300 pages, I can't even remember.... and poor Inseop was extremely confused and wouldn't even get an answer from Wooyeon when asking about the reason for acting like that)), due to a huge misunderstanding (because they weren't capable of communicating...), and refusing to answer any calls, Wooyeon managed to track down Inseop's location in like 2-3 hours? by pretty much bribing a hell lot of people. Wooyeon calmly threatened Inseop that he'd break the door if he didn't let him in, and, despite fearing for his life, Inseop didn't call anyone for help. Nope. He let him in and listened to Wooyeon act like the ultimate jealous, possessive, overbearing boyfriend that he was and finally fainted (how many times did he do this????) He was taken to the hospital, Wooyeon finally realized just how much of a sc*mbag he was and decided to let go of Inseop. Because of all the stress he'd gone through, he developed a severe form of gastritis and, instead of returning to America and spending his time with his family..... yup, you guessed it.

In the end, because Inseop used his brain to finally analyze everything, he realized that EVERYTHING WAS A BIG MISUNDERSTANDING! And that he was in the wrong! And he forgave Wooyeon for everything! Wooyeon was also hospitalized for his insomnia and hallucinations during the time CEO Kim and manager Cha and literally everyone was begging Inseop to go back home, but he suddenly disappeared from the hospital after two days. Inseop found out from CEO Kim he had disappeared and started frantically searching for him, then found out where he was - again, Wooyeon spat out some incredibly rude words directed to Inseop's body and personality to make him go home, but Inseop, like the angel he was, forgave him. Once AGAIN, commence some pitiful crying, hugging, kissing, uncalled for s*x scene in a mansion and, just like magic, Wooyeon's personality did a 180 degree flip and he began acting like a normal lover. Boo...

Even though CEO Kim, manager Cha and EVEN Lee Wooyeon HIMSELF (right before the epilogue) told him to go back to America, Inseop wouldn't leave. They made up and yay! The epilogue!

Way too many misunderstandings, scenes which made me uneasy or bored, side characters who vanish completely from the novel after they helped, in any way, the plot to progress and unnecessary angst.
I'm giving two stars only for the drama, which is something I thoroughly enjoyed. Will I read this again? Nope. Do I regret buying the novel? Kinda.
Inseop and Wooyeon went through a lot - and it was draining for me - and I wouldn't stand reading the r*pe scenes and all the childish misunderstandings again.