Beware the Ides of March
Once is Enough
Tropes: gangster, cop/police, trauma, crime, action, yandere (sort-of)
When an ex-gangster convict, who wants nothing more than to move on and lead a quiet life as a florist, meets a corrupt hedonistic cop.
I’ve read this recently enough to not have to re-read it a second time just for this review because, what the heck did I just read right now? I truly only have one criticism for this manhwa and that’s the random whiplash 180 degrees change in genre at the end of season 1 that left me completely confused for next 3 seasons. This story started off as some gritty action story about a corrupt crooked cop (Nakwon) with an ex-gang leader (Mokhwa) whom he took advantage of and now has taken a liking to. It really committed to setting the scene for this - we’re talking about violence, sexual assault, kidnapping, tragic backstory and even more violence. There’s a mystery element with the looming threat of Mokhwa’s ex crime boss returning, and lots of action scenes in between. But then from season 2 onwards, it suddenly switched into some fluffy romance story with a 3-season chasing arc. We’re talking about cute interactions, swoon-worthy moments, celebrating holidays, romantic getaways, grand love gestures and just 3 seasons of Nakwon’s insane internal monologuing of how he has fallen in love and must now get Mokhwa to love him back. And I probably could have forgiven all of that if they had just circled back to the crime/gangster/action-mystery plot line, but they just never did. Mind you, I read this while it was still ongoing, and at every new chapter and every new season I was just anxiously waiting for the other shoe to drop. I honestly felt like I was going crazy being strung along for 100+ chapters being like: “ok, the ex crime boss is gonna come back the next season and ruin things” or “ok the angst is coming soon I can feel it”. But nothing happened, it truly just turned into some fluffy romance story.
And while some people could get on board with the sudden fluffy romance (I mean we all naturally want to, no one is really out here trying to actively seek out angst and pain), I simply couldn’t. It’s just a huge disservice to the world-building and the characters that have already been set up. There was a lot poured into the characterisation of Mokhwa and Nakwon at the start, and into the world they live in — their personalities, their backstories, their trauma and how everything got them to where they are. To then choose to ignore all that, and spend the next 3 seasons trying to write a chasing arc and character development arcs without addressing these aspects of their stories just didn’t make sense. To expect these characters to move on to a ‘honeymoon’ stage of their lives without having a proper conclusion to all the unsettled parts of their lives didn’t make sense, and it showed. It culminated in Nakwon’s redemption arc feeling completely undeserved, or at least requiring 3 whole seasons for it to be even remotely passable to the general reader. His redemption arc was just him incessantly pestering Mokhwa with cringe romantic gestures while non-stop internal monologuing about his tortured unrequited love until Mokhwa just kinda finally gave in? It felt drawn out yet jarring and out of place at the same time. And it was such a huge waste of potential because they could have done so much more with the material that they set up in the first season to get a much more fulfilling storyline. Nakwon could have thought he lost Mokhwa to the ex crime boss to make him realise that he was actually no different from the latter in the first place, or he could have been ruined by the ex crime boss (maybe get his job taken away) so that he could truly reach rock bottom and grow for his redemption. Mokhwa obviously should have had to face his ex crime boss head on in order to properly leave that world in his past and learn to put his self-worth in something new. Literally anything to conclude their stories before they moved on would have been better than what we got, and it would probably have only taken 1 season or less.
(this was literally on the last chapter i.e. still not resolved)
There are really great parts to this story which is what makes this one blemish so frustrating - except it’s not one blemish, it’s a whole ass freaking bucket. The art is really beautiful. Mokhwa and Nakwon’s characters are actually quite layered and I found Nakwon’s narcissism characterisation quite interesting. The dialogue (well, mainly internal monologues) were actually very well-written and well-translated - it really conveyed the emotions of the characters clearly. But honestly, none of that matters because it could not overcome the travesty of the overall story. Me being constantly on edge waiting for a climax-conclusion to what was promised at the start (which never came btw) was basically my entire experience reading this and that was not enjoyable in the slightest. This may be a tad too scathing of a review but it’s because the wounds are still fresh and I would definitely not be revisiting this one again.
