Snowman (Ramjak)

upsidepenguin Jun 17, 2021

7

DON'T EVER VIEW GIWOO'S AND LUMI'S RELATIONSHIP AS ROMANTIC. FULL BLOWN TRIGGER WARNINGS: GROOMING, GASLIGHTING, MANIPULATION, BLACKMAILING, COERCING, RAPING, STEPDAUGHTER AND STEPFATHER INCEST... all from ONE person - the Male Lead, Giwoo. The story is good, but some readers don't seem to realize that the relationship is toxic. I've seen commenters say, "I want a happy ending for them" or "You read the tags and should have known what to expect, get out of here if you don't like it. Stop criticising their relationship. Go back to your safe space" (to which I'd like to reply: the tags don't have trigger warnings and are misleading as they state "romance". Also, there are people in the comments saying this is romantic, so some complaints about how the relationship is abusive will hopefully educate them that the relationship isn't okay. So criticisms of the relationship should be welcome) or "I was hoping he'd be a better person and stay faithful to Lumi after changing his ways". Also, some comments have been insulting Lumi, professor's wife, and Giwoo's wife as a slut and deserving what they got. That's not okay at all. Whatever they did doesn't deserve death or trauma. It's obviously an imbalanced toxic relationship. Giwoo doesn't deserve happiness. He deserves jail. And Lumi needs serious therapy. And if you think the thoughts along the lines of what the commenters above mentioned, I hope you will start researching a bit more into some toxic relationship tendencies and reconsider your views. Please don't romanticise abuse. Here's the thing: I don't know what the author intends this to be. If they want to portray Giwoo and Lumi's relationship as romantic in any way, even for 1%, instant 1/10 from me. If they intend to write this as a thriller-psychological-horror cautionary tale, I'd probably give this a 10. The webtoon is very good at showing how a person - no matter underage or over - is manipulated. Lumi here is 19, but that still does NOT make the relationship okay! I've seen people in comments on the site I was reading justify the relationship because she was over the age of consent. No, it's not okay. I respectfully ask you to search "grooming", "manipulation", and "gaslighting" for starters. These can happen to anyone at any age. It's not healthy. Please don't view this relationship as anything romantic. SPOILERS: The night Lumi's mother dies of a car crash, all Lumi has left is Giwoo. Giwoo comforts Lumi, she falls asleep, he kisses her, she kisses back (kissing part is messed up, but cannot compare to the next part), he puts his hands in her pants, SHE SAYS NO. Here's the very bad, even worse, part. Giwoo tells Lumi that if she doesn't have sex with him, he'd leave her. Choose coerced sex with him or loneliness. Lumi is a young adult in the prime state of vulnerabilty - her mother just died, you sick man. So she agreed. And from that night, the manipulation, dependency, and grooming begins. The father-daughter and fuckbuddies relationship is blurred and very complex. The whole situation is extremely messed up. Only read if you're in a well enough emotional state. Now, back to the author's intention. The foreshadowing, dialogue, flashbacks, parallels, and general story makes me think that the author is very much aware the relationship is very toxic, and I think the author wants to tell the reader that this abusive relationship is bad, don't find this romantic. The author writes in the characters talking about Woody Allen and his step-daughter, the parallels between Carmen and military man and the current story, and the repeated gaslighting, controlling, abuse-apologize-and-repeat cycle. This would point to the author intending to condemn the relationship. But the sex and art make me unsure of the author's intention. I will admit the art is superb. The sex is drawn very well and very sexily. That's the problem. It's an unhealthy relationship; if the author's trying to portray the relationship as nonromantic and as a cautionary tale to the reader, why make the sex so passionate and hot? It's a pedophile's wet dream the way the author draws this. Lumi's 19, but at times she looks 12. Is this the artistic intention to emphasize how a relationship may be viewed as passionate and fine to the victim in the relationship because they are slowly being groomed into it so they would see nothing wrong?  I'll guess for now that the author is condemning the toxic relationshio between Giwoo and Lumi. Therefore, I'll give it a 10. And I'll deduct 3 because the author doesn't make clear enough that they are condemning and not romanticising Giwoo's actions. If I ever find out this is portrayed as romantic, instant 1. I continue to read because I want to see how it ends (it's like watching a train wreck but being unable to look away) and the art is good.

DumplingKimchiMochi Sep 22, 2023

8

I can't say it enough all and I mean all Ramjack manhwa were good. Focusing in the extreme and vulnerability of human being. Let's not focus on the sex scene but how a toxic relationship and behaviour could lead to something worst or than what a person can do to each others. This time author focused on how obsession can destroy not just the person and the person around you. What a good read. 

Missdiamond Sep 7, 2023

10

I really like dark story and ML that doesn't right in their heads, so let me give this manhwa a 10. Many readers have complained about disturbing things in this story but what did they expect? I didn't get the slightest idea that ML was a good guy, even in chapter 1. It was clear where this story was going. We were shown a murder scene, a man who cheated on his wife and was attracted to someone else's wife. It's so RED 😂 🚩🚩🚩 This kind of story is quite new for me and I really like the author's way of making us stick around reading this disturbing story. 😂  ML is a complex yandere asshole and mysterious character. We don't know much about him although this story takes his POV. FL herself is the naive one, however, she turns out to be surprising and not that weak. And I really like that she's an expressive girl but her expressions are actually hard to read and we don't know much about what's inside her head.   *MAY CONTAIN SPOILER* Even though many will disagree, I'll claim that this is DARK ROMANCE but it doesn't in any way justify ML. In a proper perspective, the author is showing a toxic relationship & how wrong this is. I still categorize this as romance because it's very clear that ML loves FL (he's kinda cute sometimes), although in a very twisted way and you shouldn't defend things like this irl.  But it's also very clear that FL doesn't act like a girl who's in love. Unlike some FLs in other manhwa (especially Rofan), who are victims of abuse but are made to "fall in love" with ML (which actually has Stockholm syndrome), this FL never once said she liked him and never thought about ML when they were apart. Imo she only sees ML as dildo and she fell into it due to ML's grooming. Therefore I really like this story because a victim shouldn't fall for the perpetrator 🥲 There were a few things that weren't explained in the ending and some readers complained it was too rushed, but I didn't mind because I was satisfied with it. When I read dark romance and ML was an asshole, this is the ending that I want. 😂 But somehow I think ML is very human because he regrets his actions and pays for it. That's what makes him sympathetic and differentiates him from psychopaths. If there's anything I'd like to complain about, it's the art because it's sometimes inconsistent and sometimes FL seems like a 12 yo. But, God, why does the author make the ML so hot.