As a novel reader imma be real with y'all it does not get better. I think the closest we get to actual consent with the sex scenes is in the side stories. And they fuck a lot (all non con except one dub con scene) between then and now. All of them are brutal. I post this comment as a warning for anyone wanting to continue that may not be comfortable with those types of themes. Also, in my opinion, Zhenya does not get a redemption arc. The man does not suffer. The man is a full blown psychopath. The king of yanderes. Truly, read at your own discretion.
Honestly, since the beginning I didn't want Zhenya to turn all soft and kind at some point because he is a psychopath beyond repair and redemption but anyways, how does the novel end?
idk man i've just finished reading no reason and blind play, there just needs to be an entirely separate category for this level of cray
LOL I mean
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Zhenya does get a crumb softer with Taekjoo but not really? It's more like Taekjoo just accepts who Zhenya is as a person so when they argue it's not as volatile. But it is still a little volatile lol The ending and I'm going off the side stories as the complete ending, Zhenya becomes the Russian ambassador for Korea and Taekjoo becomes his assistant (but that's a cover he's still a spy). Zhenya consistently interrupts his missions if he takes too long to come home and is surprisingly close with Taekjoo's mother. Taekjoo's mom doesn't know Russian and Zhenya refuses to learn Korean so 90% of the time they're having two different conversations with Taekjoo being the only one understanding. Zhenya is constantly being vulgar in front of her because of the language barrier. Truly a bastard.
It's also very clear that Taekjoo does love Zhenya (as much as he can) but he's very subtle about how he admits to it. There's a point where Zhenya disappears to Russia for longer than he's supposed to and Taekjoo spends days worried about him only to find out Zhenya's father, I think, tried to setup an arranged marriage and Zhenya took too long because he was being an absolute menace to Russian society to get it cancelled. Which he does, but Taekjoo becomes incredibly obvious with his jealousy about it because everyone was being vague about if Zhenya was still engaged for a while.
By the very end Taekjoo and Zhenya have all but said the words 'I love you' to each other. Zhenya says he doesn't mind engagement or married or whatever Taekjoo wants and that it's fine if he ties him down. When Taekjoo is at a college reunion he tells one of his old classmates that every relationship is different and you don't necessarily need marriage to show you love someone. Taekjoo is just very aware of same sex couple marriage laws tbh.
Taekjoo and Zhenya toy with the idea of living with each other but there's never a confirmation that they do so Taekjoo lives with his mom but spends a majority of his time with Zhenya.
Zhenya is still super toxic and imposing on Taekjoo's life as well as being super possessive and a stalker. I think he still has Taekjoo's phone bugged at the end too. I know I'm making Zhenya sound like a softie at the beginning of this comment but he's really not he just loves Taekjoo enough to stop threatening and trying to kill him and I say love loosely cause both he and Taekjoo are stunted in that department so it's really just love as much as the two are capable of.
Real
Yeah absolutely no remorse from Zhenya and he really is digustingly possessive and is a stalker and bother Taekjoo’s life constantly. I have no idea what the author was thinking writing this novel or the manhwa artist for adapting this story into a manhwa with all the rape and other horrible things that happen.
Bro just played himself mans is dumber than a bag of rocks
If this man was my guide I'd commit a felony and kill him fr fr
Wheezing cause ML really said oh no what if you're stuck with me forever
10/10 story. I understand everything that happened (I don't understand a damn thing) and I hope I never see this ever again hope this helps
The way my heart broke at "but she doesn't like me"
I wonder if the reason Eden can see the door is because he wants to leave and FL can see the book because she wants to stay? Like I know she's saying she wants to leave but she's really indecisive about it. Also, her feelings seem to hinge on MLs reaction to the saintess more than her actually wanting to leave the ML.
I feel like its 100% that
Penelope is so strong bc I would have taken myself out by now (yes I've read the novel but I said what I said) like girl is fighting and struggling to the very last second she has 3 days left and she is still TRYING SO HARD to survive and I couldn't. I've been STRESSED out by just reading Penelope's journey. Live it? Couldn't pay me enough. 10 million dollars if I beat the game? I'll stay poor. In fact, I'd rather be unemployed.
On a side note though, I love Emily, I would kill for Emily
You're so funny. Where did you read the novel by the way?
Please please please tell me the ending! I can no longer read this for the sake of my mental health and sanity. I want to end this torture.
gurl with everything she endured in that game, 10 million dont even seem fitting. that compensation needs at LEAST to be a billion.
CAN DO!! obvious spoiler alert
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Penelope and Callisto get married and have a daughter. She also gets closure with her family from her old life and severs her ties to her modern world body which makes it to where she can never go back. Penelope is the most hands off Empress I've ever seen and I love her for that. Politics? Penelope would never oh and she keeps in touch with the duke and Reynold but as far as I remember doesn't speak to Derek. Eckles went missing during the final battle and when Penelope runs into him again he pretends to have amnesia and acts like he doesn't know who she is and they part ways and don't run into each other again. It takes everything in Penelope's power to keep Callisto from killing him later. Yvonne dies which is fine because real Yvonne died when she was first kidnapped. The Yvonne we know is just a Laila who body snatched a child. Actually, real Yvonne's backstory is so tragic I felt so bad for her. I forgot what happened to Winter id have to reread for his ending.
Nah cause you're so right 10 billion or bust
does derek regret, or does it drive him crazy, or at least pains him that penelope isnt speaking to him? also idk if i just missed it here but when do we know that derek feels that type of way for penelope? like i feel like as manhwa readers, we just know this bc novel readers said thats the case on the novel. is it made clear later on (and honestly i'd love for callisto to bash his head or sumn). sorry for the questions, and dont feel pressured to answer them haha.
Oh Derek lmao so I'd need to reread since I Lowkey don't care about Derek but I don't remember him ever confirming he loves Penelope in a romantic manner. It is blatantly obvious to us as readers (manhwa only or otherwise). I planned to do a reread anyway so I'll do it later today to see more on Derek lol I will say that up to now the manhwa artist has been extremely fantastic on their adaptation. The novel and the manhwa barely have a difference other than some instances of showing Penelope's past. In that, Penelope's past is actually tougher than we see in the manhwa. Like the scene where she comes home beaten in the modern world, we get to read her actually get beaten. And it is more clear that the drinking next to the corpse of her mom was actually modern day Penelope not game Penelope. Some of Penelope's emotions are a bit clearer in the novel as well but this is one of the few adaptations I love because there's barely any issues with it and the novel. Callisto doesn't bash his head in but there is an absolutely cathartic scene where he tears into her entire family for being pieces of shit and even tells them he's taking Penelope away from them bc he's not gonna leave her to their abuse. It's beautiful and following the pacing of this season we'll probably see it in the beginning of next season.
So they released a special side story and update on Derrick (I forgot how they spell his name lol) so they do still interact and he even gets to see her and Callistos kid, Judith, when they go and visit the dukes estate. So to update some of what I said she didn't talk to the Duke, Reynold or Derrick for 5 years lmao Then when she was getting ready to marry Callisto, per the empires customs, she had to visit her family and get the last items she left behind to take them to the palace. She decides to reconnect with the family during the visit and the Duke and Pennel are the first ones of the Eckharts to learn she's pregnant. The Duke almost starts a coup over it the Duke and Reynold seem to be closest to her kid though but Derrick apparently makes an effort to at least be polite to Judith. I'm over here completely gaslighting myself about Derrick not existing when the story ends oh! Winter update, he's Judith's magic teacher. All's well that seems to end well in my opinion. For mostly everyone because Yvonne (real Yvonne not the fake we know right now) is going to get reincarnated
(๑•ㅂ•)و✧ so yeah full happy ends for everyone I guess except maybe Eckles but he's free from slavery and persecution and he has the opportunity to choose what path he wants as long as it's unrelated to Penelope lol which I think is a good end for him actually
thank u so much for this update <3
Why is Khalid so low on their priority list??? He killed the commander they supposedly loved and idolized and leveraged that to get a position of nobility in the enemy country. He's also the reason Zed even had to make the command to kill their comrades?? Khalid betrayed all of them and even sold out the other members which is why they were even there to get beheaded in the first place. Who knows how many of them could have survived without Khalid being the piece of shit he is. I couldn't entertain revenge on Zed until I'd killed Khalid myself.
Spoilers on ML cause I see the people freaking out in the comments:
It's Zed. But if you're hoping that Khalid actually gets what he deserves for the shit he pulled in the war don't hold your breath lol he's just another sad boy 2nd ML in any other revenge manhwa. We stan green flag ML Zed fr fr