Victor: An Attractive Male Figure in Idealized Patriarchy
(Spoilers for chapter 18)
The relationship between Victor and MC reminds me of a relationship between a proud, majestic king and a daring peasant/minor nobility girl.
Victor is in a higher place than MC in all sorts of power structure. He is a male. He is older. He has more wisdom, more money. His job is more prestigious than hers. There is no caste system in 21st century, but his social class is way above her. He is a capitalist version of an emperor.
Victor is quite tolerant to MC being bold and gutsy towards him. He even seems to enjoy it. But I can’t help thinking that his attitude comes from the fact that MC’s harmless disobedience within a permitted limit doesn’t threaten his position of dominance. A kitten can hiss at her owner and use her small claws to throw light punches, but she is still a cute kitten.
He is lenient and lets MC have her way inside his fence. But he is in a position to “let” her have her privilege. (Let’s compare with Kiro, for example. Kiro doesn’t “let” MC do anything, because what she does with herself is not his to “let”.) In a relationship with Victor, MC’s autonomy is “bestowed” upon her by him, not something she inherently has.
Sure, he is teaching her to rise higher in her social position so that they can stand together on a (sort of) same level. He is readying her to become someone worthy to be his queen. Because even a king cannot marry someone who’s too low-birth. The hierarchy gap between the two has to be lessened for the marriage to take place. (This reminds me of the time when Victor demanded MC to make her company one of the best in the field in two years.) The relationship between ruling king and queen consort(king’s wife) is somewhat equal but not exactly equal. Her power is next in line to the king but she is one step below the king.
Victor gives MC lots of useful advice and his guidance enables her to rise higher in her career. Being subordinate to the most powerful guy in the world isn’t all that terrible if you can achieve the second most powerful position under his influence.
I am NOT saying that Victor is just giving MC a social ladder that she can climb on with relatively fewer efforts. He is a man who differentiates work and sentiment and he does not play favorites in the workplace. He teaches her how to handle herself in the business field but he doesn’t give her any special treatment. He helped her a lot, but only because he saw her potential and thought she was more than capable enough. MC gets as much credit to her accomplishments and we shouldn’t owe it all to Victor.
One of the things I hold in high regard about how Paper games wrote Victor is that despite being superior and dominating over MC, he gives her a lot of agency (let’s put aside whether her agency is “his” to give) when it comes to physical aspects of a relationship. (I expressed this point once in “Victor – Waiting for Her Consent post.”) They have a very slow burn romance. In Dazzling Date, he waited until MC initiated the kiss before going in fully. He also asked beforehand if she was sober, meaning that he wouldn’t take advantage of a drunk girl.
It’s amazing that someone who’s in such a powerful position over MC never forces himself on her, doesn’t get physically demanding or overbearing in any way. Especially when we can find real life cases of workplace harassment and molestation.
Victor is aware that he is in a place where he has more power over her, and that if she doesn’t want his physical advances or finds it uncomfortable, she is in a difficult position to refuse actively. He knows that he can misread her passive resistance as an acceptance, and the surest way to confirm her consent is waiting for her to initiate physical things first. And once she does, he will be given full reign to his desires.
I need someone older and wiser telling me what to do~
Patriarchy in real life is directly linked to the oppression of women, and we can’t truly say that Victor and MC are standing on a 100% equal level. (but have you ever seen a relationship where both parties are completely and perfectly equal?)
However, in fictions, mostly in the romance genre, this kind of patriarchy in a romantic relationship is romanticized and the positive sides are highlighted while the negative sides are diminished to a minimum. We do want a relationship where men and women are equal, but some are attracted to the stereotypical gender role where a woman can be dependent on a guy who’s stronger and superior than them.
In this fantasy patriarchy, the guy rarely gets too controlling or oppressive towards you. And sometimes when your hardship gets way too much it feels nice to lean on a guy who solves all the problems for you with his massive authority.
Considering his position in power, Victor allows quite a lot of leeway to MC and respects her most of the time. That alone is a beauty of fiction because in real life patriarchy mostly means that you are stuck with a guy who’s a patronizing, arrogant asshole and potentially you could be a victim to abuse and sexism.
One could argue that Papergame’s romanticization is not a true representation of realistic patriarchy and it leads people to turning a blind eye on the faults of the system but IMO how everything fell apart in Chapter 18 and onwards shows that Paper is not painting everything rose-colored.
Chapter 18 is a deconstruction of this ideal patriarchy romance and deconstruction of reason.
Conventional romance: Guy says to the girl “You did good for enduring hardships without me. Now that I’m here don’t you worry your silly little head and let me take care of everything for you.” The guy saves the world and heroine and there is no need for her to sacrifice her life. Que in sign “And they got married and lived happily ever after~”
MLQC subverted version: The high and almighty guy is unable to solve the situation. The heroine is powerless but takes the matters into her own hands and saves the world by fully utilizing the only weapon she has left: her life.
Chapter 18 is about Victor’s failure and MC’s triumph. Without any reason MC followed her gut feelings and relied on the remote chance that death is not the end for her, but another beginning and a breakthrough and in the future stories it turned out she was right.
The chapter is about breaking the norm that being smart and logical beats being impulsive and irrational. That sometimes, following the heart is the right answer than following the head. That reason and sense don’t always solve the problem.
This kind of romantic relationship between a powerful, authoritative male figure indulging his cheeky underling has been popular throughout history and one can’t deny the appeal of it. You get to feel a sense of empowering as the arrogant tyrant becomes soft via interacting with you. You get to express defiance by being sassy and challenging him. You get to enjoy being submissive to the dominant alpha male. In a way, letting the man take charge can give you a sense of stableness which is very alluring to some people.
