I kiss Nakwon's old face... it still perplexes me how someone who come off as so callous in the opebing chapters can say something like "Never have I missed someone so badly and longed to be by their side with all my heart." Truly very far from his characterization in the first few chapters.
Also, the author really just put the GF on the bus huh? Though I get that having a gf shows how Affable Nakwon was, that despite all the deep dark thoughts and heinous thing he did in the earlier chapters, he's able to put on a normal ordinary face and function as a normal part of society and even be admired for it. That on the outside he looks like the perfect man, competent at his job (though I'm beginjing to question that now), rich and cultured, have a trophy lover etc. But his true face is something that does bad things to people, if you get what I mean...
Then suddenly, thay Affably Evil characterization just gets thrown out the window (just like his gf, haha).
Though it isn't exactly an a** pull since it's being discussed (even by Nakwon himself) in earlier chapters how much he's changing bec of Mokhwa, to the point that even Nakwon didn't know why he's feeling that way...
My beef with that is that it is such a huge change to his character, and it feels so force that even though the author lampshaded the change by making Nakwon as confused about the change as we are... it still comes off as feeling forced and like he is just being strangled by the red string.
Also, I like his previous portrayal as the callous villain protagonist.
If I compare him to other antihero MLs like Woo Shinje (Profundis) and Ilay Riegrow (Passion), those two have better character development arc in regards to how they changed bec or for their respective partners.
Comment by Seju on Beware of the Full Moon In March - Chapter 36
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Even Ilay whose a bit of an enigma bec we rarely see things from his POV, if at all (I read the novel), the way he changed bec of Taeui felt just right (though it did took a really really long time)
And Shinje for me have always felt a kinship with Yugeon bec of their shared connection with Almuten.w
But what about Nakwon and Mokhwa? I understand Nakwon becoming interested or intrigued at Mokhwa especially for his peculiar tendency of being blindly loyal and so starved for affection that he'd cling onto someone who shows him the slightest bit of kindness even if that was the one who hurt him in the first place... I mean, that's also what draw Ilay towards Taeui (bec Taeui was someone who is capable of not completely hating Ilay no matter what he does, and Ilay does whatever he wants).
But how did Nakwon's feelings for Mokhwa became so intense and deep? Is there more to Nakwon that were not seeing which will be revealed in S2?
I think one of the factors is that he suddenly started to see Mokhwa as person and not a play thing/something to observe which can explain sudden shift.
He do look like someone wih (and here i do not remember diefinitions so pardon me if im wrong) either psychopat or sociopat tendencies and if im not mistaken they tend to abide by their own set of rules especialy if high functioning so Mokhwa getting switched from one category of things to another category of people can make change perplexing and feel sudden but believable enough
but this is only pondering opn another reason behind rapid attitude switch
Ilay gets better? I smh dropped it as translation was frustrating and i got lost in story plus interactions were getting bit frustrating too.
We shouldn't treat Nakwon as a cold-calculating person. I too, thought he should be someone who is emotionally detached from everyone but Nakwon surprised me from the very early chapters. He is not your average cold-hearted person. The things I personally found interesting about Nakwon was:
1. Nakwon has an actual personality.
He is not emotionally detached at all. Just a career climbing adult. It was obvious when Nakwon yelled at Mokhwas underlings because they were not of help at the flower shop. He ended up helping everyone and even typing the flowers. He got annoyed and mad and made it clear in a very human way.
He also bullied his lawyer friend and told him he didn't shower for days. He revealed to him how interested he is in the Mokhwa gang case instead of keeping it a secret from everyone. It showed that, to some degree, they were close. The same thing happens around his college friend. The friend asks him to be there for an event because he needs his help and Nakwon actually agrees. He only came to that party to help a friend out, an act that he didn't need to (he didn't want to initially) but yet did. So Nakwon does care for the people around him to a certain degree and does nice deeds sometimes without anything in return. He is able to joke around with people he knows well.
2) He treats his girlfriend well
Nakwon might have that gf for status quo, but he does treat her fairly well. He took her out on a date, told her she was the most beautiful, even thought about her when he slept with Mokhwa (saying he shouldn't desire a man because he had a gf). I don't know about loyalty, but at least that meant that his gf was the best girl he could find who fulfilled all his requirements. He could have just not invited her to that one party and gone alone (because how should she know?) but he did invite her. We could argument that he did that only for the eyes of others but if she was really annoying then he would never.
3) Nakwon was in a band and had long hair
That info was so random and so minimal that people might have forgotten it but it meant that the career-climbing Nakwon had surprisingly a different life style that imagined. I imagined a class president, grade notes, tidy clothes and all that. But he also had a care-free past which adds to his personality and is refreshing.
4) Nakwon didn't like Mokhwa randomly one day.
Since chapter 2, he realized how he kept touching him, went to the shop to eat, slept with him twice and blushed during the 2nd time. He got mad when Mokhwa didn't know his name during that one dinner (like my existence is that insignificant to you??), helped hin at the shop and got jealous at the women who helped Mokhwa in prison. He was into him since chapter 1 but he just didn't want to accept it.
What I do agree is that his attachment to Mokhwa was a bit too fast. While liking him is alright, full on crying and killing for him seems a bit out of character even for Nakwon. He fell really hard and that can happen to some especially people like Nakwon who lead a boring like and then get fixated on that one thing but still. It was a bit too fast.
And I do agree that they handled the break up with the gf badly. Like did you just erase her just because???
Yall literally wrote a synopsis XD
@ yipixa. I really like your input, though the one with the band and the long hair had me laughing... now it made me wonder what kind of person Nakwon actually is and whether the person he was during the first few chapters (the career climbing one) was born out of people's expectations of him.
We see a lot of things from his POV but I feel like we don't really know much about his life or him. So, he's like the POV boy while Mokhwa is the poster boy. I might have to reread after the season is over or I'll to see if I can find the novel haha. I wouldn't call him a psychopath (he's too expressive for that) or a sociopath (he's too controlled for that). What I think he is is a Narcissist? He has a high opinion of himself, thinks the world revolves around him and makes everything about him haha.
@ssapdra I read the novels of Passion and it took a while but yeah he does get better. But that's still far off from where we are in the Manhwa. The Passion uploads here in Mangamirror ks from Zinchan, which is MTL if I'm not mistaken. If you want to read the Official trans from Tappytoon, you can find it on bato. Most official trans cam be found in bato. Including Beware the Ides of March. But the thing is, they upload late (in order to give the authors time to earn money) so I also check in Mangamirror bec they upload faster here.
I do found the novel but its not or maybe never will be translated(officially) to english, so i depend on google translation