Love in the Mask
I wanted to re-read it now that I've grown and I feel conflicted. The beginning was real good, I had a good laugh and a good cry but since FL left for gangster life, the story downgraded for me. She became a princess in distress and did all the things that was reproached to Yae-ha at the beginning of the story. She then becomes stupid and doesn't know/think of the dangerous things that can happen to Bi-rak while her backstory should have maken her conscious of that and even if not THEY ARE GANGSTERS !!! life isn't happy and easy and consequences are bad, real bad ! Also I disagree completely with the second male lead being Chun Bi-rak, they were family, a big brother and a little sister. Bringing the romance between them was the worst thing that could happen for me but I understand why author did it, *cough* demands *cough*. My favorite character was Chun Bi-rak, I don't say that normally but for lack of vocabulary, I thought "he was a pure soul in a dark world". I really liked him, his story, his morals, his kindness, his heart and his looks of course. He stayed true to himself till the end and found a way in my heart *cry*. GIVE MY MAN A HAPPY ENDING !!! Why must he suffer all his life ??? Unpopular opinion : Sun Yae-ha was the most realist and the best written character. Although she isn't one of my favorite characters I must recognize that for me everything falls into accordance, her backstory explains her selfishness, her innocence and her good heart. By knowing how she grew and was educated, her love and obsession for Yun-ha seems logical, it was that feeling that gave a sense to her monotone life where she's constantly reminded she's alone because her grandfather doesn't really look at her and Hyunbin should remain an employee to her. That's why even if she loved Hyunbin (as friends of course) she prioritized her romantic love. Hyunbin was the utensils that made her able to eat but Yun-ha was the taste that made her appreciate food. Furthermore, in her point of view Hyunbin has everything she desires : friends, people who loves and cares for you and with which you have great times. So for her he (she, but for Yae-ha it's a he) had a great life. And how could a girl who lived in a protected world be conscious of the hardness of life ? I could continue for hours but let's wrap it here. I'll just add that because of her story Yae-ha had every reasons to be a princess in distress but with everything that she lived through, Fl shouldn't have that trope. I understand her being thrown in a brand new dark world she would feel weak at first and would ask Bi-rak's help, but to the point of becoming a stupid blind oblivious and unaware person (an innocent princess in distress if you prefer)... it's too far-fetched for me. She should have manned up because she's used to just do what you're told so that you can survive because isn't that what you did all these years ??? And the love you have is more reasons to go through all the hardship that presents to you. It's like her first year of high-school babified her. I think I would have loved it better if when she made Bi-rak kill for her, she becomes more determined to protect her loved ones, survive through this hell to end her life with her real love. She then goes in berserk mode where she is then a cold robot who does everything in order to survive "you or me", "kill or be killed", she doesn't kill but accomplish really well her missions and without negotiating. Then Bi-rak shows her what love is and how it is a strength by being her family yada yada. Things happen and when she finds Yun-ha she feels unworthy of his love because she's ️gangsta️ and he shows her that she has suffered enough, the robot was able to gain its liberty and she is now free to live for herself and stop being a puppet. Then she has a happy ending with a brother and a husband (I don't know how to place the other characters in it). And even if there was an arc where she flees because she feels too unworthy and Yun-ha moves heaven and earth for her I would have preferred that version over what we got. I know it's cliché and I'm a girl that loves to be surprised by plot but at this point I would've chosen cliché. I'm just real glad Tae Ga-hyun has a character development as a mother. Even if she wanted to change she still had that bad temper and I was worried she would falls in her travers d'avant but fortunately I think having a kid did real good to her. Now she can love and be loved. And now that I think of it, even though she kept a bad temper after changing high-school, she was already changing because she was able to love more healthily. I'm not going to talk much about Fl romance with Bi-rak because that should have never happened. And since she lived as a girl I wasn't much into the story, I just wanted to see the ending so I'll just comment one thing. I just can't help but feel bad for Yun-ha when she decided to love Bi-rak (yeah decided I don't know where that love came from) because that was nonsense, stupid... I really hate it when girls choose a guy over another because the guy sacrificed himself for her. I can understand why authors do that but I disagree completely. For me it ain't love but thankfulness, and it's either one of these cases : girl feels indebted OR girl wants someone who moves heaven and earth for her or just someone dedicated to her and in that case she chooses confort over love. But isn't the goal in these romances to end up with your true love, that one person that care for you, makes you confortable enough to be your true self AND loves you in return ??? Okay I'll stop here for real now. The story was enjoyable, the script okay-ish but the characters and the relationships lacked so 4/10, 4.5/10 I don't know You wanna know a joke : me saying I'll stop and then writing three whole more paragraphs. What do you want I'm just a very exigent person when it comes to romance books.
He's Dedicated To Roses