A lil callback I noticed when rereading. šļøššļø

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@gstuffedanimal
A lil callback I noticed when rereading. šļøššļø
hey, how are you doing? š thanks for the link, that was a great read <3 and as usual, you make such great points! it does seem like yu jing's motivation is to stop yui before she harms any more people. i guess that makes sense, since that would also align (at least partly) with rand's goals. still, yu jing is not the type to sacrifice herself. she must have a way to protect herself somehow. given everything we know about the timeline of the story, we can assume the article won't take yui down completely but it WILL be impactful and yu jing will have to deal with the aftermath. and it's yui we're talking about, so i'm expecting the worst š¶ and yes nol's guilty plea changing her plans is very interesting and i have absolutely no clue why :/ there's so much we don't know about yu jing yet: her history with both the brothers, what rand did to help her, the details of her article⦠aah i can't wait to learn about all that.
what i also can't quite figure out yet is how alyssa plays into this. so she's exposed and her career is ruined. then what? does yui even need alyssa for something other than to control/torment nol? and helping a "problematic" (but also very talented) girl reach fame is probably the least evil thing yui has done, it happens in the entertainment industry all the time, so exposing that wouldn't do much damage to yui. i wouldn't even be surprised if yui immediately drops alyssa once she has no use for her anymore. but then⦠what would alyssa's role in the story be? idk it might be just me but i feel like there's still something missing hereā¦
"her insistence on being there" that's the closest to what i had in mind, thank you! and i get what you mean. romance that is grand and untamed and consuming like a forest fire is beautiful in its own right. but for people like nolan and shinae, who have faced so much hardship and turbulence, a love that is soft and steady, that has a healing, illuminating glow feels much more monumental in a way. like a quiet, peaceful, comforting place in the middle of a raging storm. and yes i LOOOVE how they're so well-balanced in their mutual efforts and care and how they're naturally gravitate towards one another. and it's especially obvious when compared to alyssa, who only takes without giving back, or even kousuke, who so often disregards the perspective and needs of the other person. that's why i like re-reading the first half of the formal a lot, those dynamics really come to light <3
"all these little moments that could just as easily remain platonic, except theyāre stirring something up" YES!!!! i'm glad we're on the same page on minhyuk and platonic gestures, yay! and btw if you ever write that post about shinae and nol, even though it would be a tangent, i'd actually be curious to know what you think dieter's role in all this is. personally i'm undecided if shinae is genuinely crushing on him because she's drawn to his peaceful, calm, drama-free lol nature and emotional maturity (and hands), or if she's only crushing on him because it's safe to explore the possibility of romance with him and he has reassured her that he genuinely likes her at a time when she was so suspicious about whether her friends even like her (she even questioned minhyuk for a moment š) (and the sexy hands might be some kind of projection idk). and if verbal reassurance is part of it, then well, we just had the mutual "you're special to me" confession...
RIGHT i wanted to bring up the girlfriend thing too. shinae has been so adamant about making sure things stay platonic, but now alyssa is basically out of the picture, and the lines she drew are getting blurred, so where does that leave her? tbh i'd be overwhelmed and even a little scared if i was her. everything is happening quite fast! she's been closed off for a long time, she met nol like 3 months ago, took a lot of time to warm up to him, they've established their friendship a couple of weeks ago, they've grown close so quickly, now suddenly there is all this, whatever this is? and i'm probably overanalyzing but i do find it interesting that, in the hospital room, she doesn't hug him back. she doesn't object or push him away either so she obviously doesn't mind, and this sort of inaction (?) does read to me like a physical reflection of what's going on with her internally. the feelings are sprouting, but she can't quite process what's happening, and doesn't know what to do with herself just yet. but she also doesn't dislike this so she is just kind of going with it. then again in the very last panel in 219 we can't see her other arm so maybe she IS embracing him this time. one of quim's little details to keep us wondering i guess š
and please i was DYING when shinae blurted out she thinks rand is hot in front of both his sons in front of NOL who is a physical carbon copy of rand except younger and orange like girl⦠LMAO. (and btw yes on that moment between kou and nol; there are a few rare moments where the brothers almost⦠get along? it's very refreshing but in a tragic way. like a glimpse into an alternate version of the story where all the toxic conditioning didn't happen š)
oh god this got sooo long again i apologize!! i will try to make my future asks more concise. for now, i'm leaving you with this quote i found that makes me think of nol and shinae, i'm sure you'll understand why and appreciate it as well: tumblr. com/slavicafire/714146132919500800 (can't link it properly on anon, hopefully this'll work)
alright. take care!! -lil anon š¼
Lil Anon!!!!!! <3
I was holding off on answer this for a little bit because frankly the last couple weeks were trash and I had noooo energy and didn't want to reply until I could do a good one! I'm glad I held off, though, because there's something I can respond to MUCH BETTER now! Of course, that means this has FP 222 spoilers, so hopefully you've read! (or at least you stop here if you haven't, haha!)
It's funny how a couple weeks ago, we were still trying to piece things together "it probably won't take Yui down completely" "is it worth it for Yujing to risk her career and life?" and episode 222 came in like a wrecking ball, oh my god! I said it in my commentary post, too, but I DID NOT anticipate how much this expose was covering! All along we've talked like this is about Yui and perhaps the Hiraharas in general, but it was largely centered on her. Now, we see it's so much bigger than we'd yet realized, that the nasty, gnarly roots go deeper.
I think it's also so much clearer now why Yujing is going after this story - what it means to her, and her quest for the truth. I imagine by the time she was in university, she already knew what she wanted to do, and was already pursuing that path, but I wonder how much what happened to Manli affected her future career? Or did it already exist before that? The school Sangchul attends that's mentioned in the article about the rampant sexual assault makes me wonder if it's the same school Nol attends, that Kousuke and Yujing attended. If that's the case, then Yujing probably knows of a number of girls she went to school with who were sexually assaulted and nothing came of it. Around half of the reports ended in an incident report when the victims couldn't be contacted or refused to speak about it - doesn't it sound like they were coerced into not speaking about their experiences, whether they were paid off or threatened.
So supposing Yujing went to a school with the elite uppercrust, the wealthy, the influential, the affluent, who committed these heinous acts and got away with it. She went to a school where she watched truth crumble beneath power and influence. Her friend was later in one of those same scary situations and it's very easy to assume that nothing came of it. That she, too, lives with the haunting nightmare of an experience out of control, that left her feeling unsafe. Suddenly it makes sense why Yujing is taking it on, it makes sense why she's willing to risk it all. Because now we see that the stakes are even higher than we thought before. This encompasses so much more than just Yui and the company. This is an attack on the Hiraharas and Kims, specifically, but also an attack on the affluent, those who use their privelege to prey on and hurt others for sport, those who get away with everything, because when it comes down to it, they are above the law. They control things. This is their world.
It's a much more risky expose than we'd really considered before, but it makes sense, why it's so important to her. Yujing is dedicated to digging up the the truth - the real truth, not just media play. She wants to reveal the dark and sinister underbelly of those who have money and influence. She wants to illuminate how many lives have been ruined, how many instances of depraved, deplorable behavior has gone unpunished.
I think this also gives insight into why Nol pleading guilty was such a benefit to her story. It didn't make sense at the time, but now that we are more aware of her angle, it's clearer. Nol is being charged for a crime he didn't commit, but one that Sangchul Kim did - Sangchul Kim whose own relative was removed from his role as CEO due to his own sexual misconduct allegations. She's airing the reality - that Nol was framed/charged for a crime he didn't commit. What did the investigation yield? There must have been one, right? I guess it never came to light because he pled guilty at the hearing? Either way, Nol pleading guilty can easily be seen as someone trying to minimize the damage. He knew that even if he pled innocent there was a likelihood that he'd still be charged as guilty and the sentencing would be worse. Although, maybe he wasn't even thinking of it that way. Maybe he simply just wanted to get away and jail was as good a way to do it. But even that is an angle to work with - that the Hiraharas were so unbearable, were so cruel, he was willing to plead guilty to someone else's crime to get away.
This might be where Alyssa comes into play, but I'm still a little leery of this part, and I'll try to get to that. But Shinae's story also reveals a similar scenario of a cruel act going unpunished. Alyssa walked away without any punishment and I imagine the girls who were part of that were never found out, because Shinae certainly didn't say anything and I'm sure Alyssa didn't, either. We know that I acknowledge Alyssa pushing Shinae was an accident, but the point still reasons that Shinae was being bullied and nothing came of it. Shinae got badly injured and it was just. Swept aside. Those teachers quit their jobs. And it seems very likely that Alyss'as parents paid off the school to keep quiet, to keep her out of trouble.
It's not fair, is it? Even though it was an accident, there was no closure for Shinae. Those girls went on living their lives and for all we know, they may never have even felt bad about it. And it's just yet another case of people with money or influence being able to pay people off, of never atoning for their behavior.
Yujing's story seems to be seeking out truth but also justice. She wants everyone to know how abhorrent they are. She wants to reveal the sinister inner circle of the affluent. Someone on reddit said they'd compared Yui and Gun Kim to Epstein and my god that's exactly what it is, and that's the story Yujing is risking it all for. She wants to air what they have been able to keep quiet.
LOVE THESE THOUGHTS!! Something that Iāve been thinking about lately IS the difference between Nol and Dieter, and their respective dynamic with shin ae. I have a few thoughts on this. Firstly, I donāt think that quim will lean too heavily into the ālove triangleā trope with these guys, I donāt believe that their respective relationships with shin ae are meant to play off of each other as such. In other words, I believe that dieterās relationship with shin ae is supposed to indeed interact with the rest of the story, but in a way that wonāt play into the tropes weāre used to.
I think that dieterās purpose in the story is far more nuanced than that, and Iām excited to see more of what that means.
After having read ep 222, I wanted to go back and review some scenes and episodes between dieter and shin ae. I went back and read the episode where dieter and shin ae went on the cute lil amusement park date, and I noted some thangs.
Shin aeās crush on dieter (and their interactions together throughout the whole episode) is so cute, soft, youthful, and obvious. It is right in shin aeās face. It is right in the READERS face. She is incredibly aware of what she may feel towards dieter and her attraction toward him. We see her inner thoughts a ton, and she has no problem with identifying what sheās feeling; going so far as to blurt out another time that sheād date him out of anyone. She thinks this is a glimpse of what might be romance. And part of this is, I think, because of how obvious and forthright dieters feelings are towards her.
And then, we compare that to whatās happening with Nol.
I was reminded of an old curious cat question, that used a word that I think fits perfectly.
The question asked: āQuimchee, is it intentional that when you position kousuke + shin-ae they're the main focus of the panel but when it's the nol + shin-ae they're the peripheral(*almost all the time)?ā (Quimchee then responded with a gif of sipping tea, lol)
Peripheral. āPeripheral vision, or indirect vision, is vision as it occurs outside the point of fixation, i.e. away from the center of gaze or, when viewed at large angles, in the ācorner of one's eyeāā
Not only do I think thatās a great word to describe how their relationship has developed thus far (in the āperipheral,ā quite literally staging-wise in some scenes) but also the difference between shin aeās awareness with dieter and her awareness with Nol.
Shin aeās feelings towards Nol in these recent chapters, feels very much like they are in her peripheral. Unlike dieter, where her feelings have been in focus. In her central line of vision. Obvious to her.
Whateverās going on with Nol at the moment, is off to the side. Just out of focus, while still very much present. We have seen almost nothing of shin aeās internal dialogue in these recent chapters. Whatever sheās feeling about Nol, towards Nol, or about this whole situation in general, seems to be in her peripheral. Which I think is very interestingājust how much contrast there is there between her awareness with dieter vs Nol. Things are developing in a way that seems almost outside of either of them. The more honest they get with each other, the more things are developing naturally, perhaps without their complete awareness of it.
(Complete side note, and maybe this is just me, but a felt a shift in focus from Nol to shin in episode 222? Big part of this is probably because we donāt actually get to see Nolās face in this episode. So Iām excited to see if we get to see more of her side of things. Nol and shin have been having this back and forth thing going on it seems, where heāll make a move and then she will, or vice versa; like when she initiated finger dancing, then he initiated real dancing, and now it seems like it may be her turn again)
ANYWHO. The reason why I went back to look at the dynamic between shin and dieter in the first place, is because of JUST HOW FREKEN HAPPY SHIN AE LOOKS WHEN SHES DANCING WITH NOLā WHAAAA????
Listen. We all know that back at the formal, when shin ae mused to herself that āit would have been awkward anyway like my dance with kousukeā that it was straight up āØFALSE⨠but is it just me who was genuinely shocked at just how happy she was? (Especially in contrast to the darker unsettling tone in this episode, coupled with the fact that Nol is hiding behind a mask yet again.)
Maybe my brain just isnāt refreshed on past episodes, but to my recollection this may beālike, the happiest Iāve seen her..? And WEāRE IN THE MIDDLE OF A HOSPITAL ROOM. YOUVE HAD A HORRIBLE NIGHT. YO FRIEND ALMOST DIED. At the very least, quim made a point to emphasize how happy shin was here. Her face after Nol makes dem puns? Super pointed.
SO, this got me reflecting. I think that you described dieterās dynamic with shin perfectly. Safe. He is safe. He doesnāt take her too high, and he doesnāt take her too low. Nol on the other hand, seems to have that ability, for better or for worse. There wasnāt a moment between dieter and shin aeās interactions thus far that has given shin the look of pure joy that she has with Nol in the most recent ep. And similarly, there wasnāt one moment where dieter made shin ae as heartbroken as she was when the truth was discovered about Nol and he was pushing her away. (Also, just wanted to clarify here that I adore dieter, Iām not downplaying dieterās effect on shin, heās a really healthy influence in her life. Just pointing out some differences between them) Ultimately, from my perspective, despite things between Nol and shin being in the āperipheral,ā it feels much deeper, and more intense. Dieter and shin almost feel āsurface levelā (not in a negative way) and light. Iād feel very comfortable calling whatās going on between shin and dieter a crush right now. Nol and shin ae? Whateverās going on between them is not as obvious, and not as ālightā? As a crush. Feels way deeper than that, and way less easily nameable at the moment. Intentionally so, I would say.
I find this all super interesting, and I could go on about what these things may mean, but I think Iāve rambled enough LOL!