#rhanks everyone please do continue

[woodohwanedandproud]

@forgive-and-take I think their being good for one another is textually explicit - they heal each other's major flaws. Dongsik cares about everyone at his own expense and has no sense of self-preservation because he thinks he's damaged goods. Juwon doesn't get close to anyone because it opens him up to being hurt. Juwon learns how to care and tells Dongsik, "If you insist on ruining yourself, I'm going to go down first to protect you," and Dongsik thinks, "Well shit, so that's what it feels like." His arrest isn't all sacrifice - it's also a way to atone and finally get free from his past. During the show, they would be incredibly unhealthy (this is super intriguing and part of what makes the show compelling). But once they find a resolution to their respective traumas and Juwon arrests Dongsik, they both get to start fresh on a more equal footing, healed. Will they always be good for each other? Life is impossible to predict. Their traumas overlap, but in a complementary way, and I think the show means for us to assume they live well after the credits roll. (That being said, I'm not the moral police + I do like to Put That Man Through the Horrors, so I'm equally pleased with fic that explores the potential incompatibilities. Just, let's let 'em be happy sometimes too!!!) @vindicated-truth I agree with the point that what matters is the timing. I respect the concept of hatefucking lol and I can see it happening theoretically, the way some fanfics explore it happening within the series, and I can respect the concept of it. I just don't think it's realistically healthy, even though I do agree that it's not the point of exploring it in fanfic lol, and anyone is free to explore literally anything when it comes to fictional characters, because none of it will ever have an impact in reality. Realistically speaking, I think the show in general did a very good job of telling the story of Beyond Evil in that even the character developments and relationship developments were really solidly done, and it does provide a warmer, softer, more peaceful picture of life and healing for all of them at the end of the series. Realistically speaking, this is the best time for them to start anew, and to build upon that intensely forged bond of trust and devotion. And I think that's what makes the open-ended finale of the show so fitting and so beautiful: because you as the audience now know, without a doubt, that from thereon, things can only be better from there. Whatever happens next, it's finally going to be good for everyone, because everything bad has finally been put to rest behind them. They can all only move forward from there, and in a way that is finally good. And I think that's the best we can see happening even with Dongsik's and Joowon's relationship, no matter where it leads. (It's unspoken, too, that their paths will always lead them back to each other. And that's truly the best we can hope for them to have.) MY OWN 2 CENTS ? #hard agree #my take too #possibly not exactly healthy #but definitely the healthiest for them both #and no one else will beat what they have #nor understand them as intrinsically #THEM @vindicated-truth : @woodohwanedandproud I like that—not exactly healthy, but healthiest for each other. I agree, actually, which is why theoretical new people deserve better than what they’ll get with either men, who have a LOT of intense baggage. And to be fair to Joowon and Dongsik, they need someone who can actually understand that part of who they are—and who are capable enough to carry that baggage WITH them. Someone new may not deserve that kind of baggage, but most importantly—they may not be capable of handling it. And I think that’s what Dongsik and Joowon have proven, without a doubt: they can handle each other, even at their absolute worst. (And again, the “worst” of who they are and what they’re capable of may not be something someone new deserves, either) (me again) yep, they just FIT together - and it makes me SO emotional ... sigh, sigh, dreamy sigh, THEM, insane screaming, AAAHHH, THEM !!! (so btw we're SO lucky you're always so articulate, thanks again and always for hitting us all with all the feels :)) @actuallysecretlygrantaire : in an ideal world, i think they would be fine but relationships are work. not only would they have to work on themselves but also work on making sure that their relationship doesn’t fall apart. communication pitfalls are so easy to get into and we’ve already seen it happen with them. at the end of the day, imo, the only way their relationship could succeed is if they each know who they are/what they want, or if they’re able to support the other along that journey @vindicated-truth : I agree with this. It's also why, in the kindest way I can say this, I feel like other people don't deserve *them* in the sense that I don't think it'll be easy for someone new to understand or even accept the baggages that inevitably comes along with who they are now, after everything. I don't think you can erase the fact that Joowon's father is a murderer (which will be a shock to someone new, and hard to accept) or that Dongsik's family is broken in so many ways (which in many ways someone new might want and need a family (and a partner) that's healthier and more whole). Weirdly, for better or for worse, I do feel like the best candidate for each other is—each other. As long as they really do put in that effort and work to understand and accept each other, and support each other. I feel like Dongsik would be someone who'd intimately understand Joowon's complete devotion to work, and Joowon would be someone who'd intimately understand this sort of aimlessness Dongsik has in his life after everything. Neither of those attributes would be enticing to someone new, but it's something they intimately understand why.

As someone who loves both characters individually and together, I keep wondering if Dongsik's and Joowon's relationship is healthy.

(Please feel free to chime in with your own views, let's figure this out together lol)

Are they enablers of each other?

Yes, in a way, especially when they had no choice to, if they want to solve the cases they're working on together. They did it, however, with the promise / threat that they will each be punished for their own wrongdoing in the end.

Do they owe each other anything?

Yes, but at the same time they kind of neutralize each other in the end. Dongsik owes Joowon for catching Han Kihwan, but at the same time Joowon is also the one who arrests him. At the same time, Joowon owes Dongsik for having his own father be the murderer of Dongsik's sister, yet he brought justice to Dongsik in the end, and even followed through with Dongsik making him vow to live the rest of his life as a cop.

(To be honest, I don't think you can give a worse punishment to someone with a very rigid and absolute moral compass than to not get out of a very corrupt and broken system.)

Do they have an equal footing with each other in their hierarchical society?

Not at the beginning, but they do in the end.

Do they have a rose-colored glasses view of each other?

This is debatable, when from the very beginning they've already seen the absolute worst of each other. They can only go up from there, so to speak, since they've never really forgotten each of the other's flaws even as their relationship progressed into something less combative and more of grudging awe.

They do have a somewhat idealized view of each other in the end, but that's mostly because of experience, what they went through together: they know exactly what the other did for them, and can't help but feel grateful for it.

Do they complement each other?

I've written multiple posts about it lol, so it goes without saying that in many, many ways, their weaknesses are complemented extremely well by the other's strengths.

Do they ruin each other?

See, this is the thing: I think they've ruined each other for other people.

Their relationship evolved from a unique mix of their own complementary traits and their special circumstances, neither of which I believe can be replicated by and with anyone else.

No one else would have a deeper understanding of Dongsik's lunacy than Joowon, who witnessed first hand what drove him to it—and by whom.

No one else would have a deeper understanding of Joowon's stubbornness than Dongsik, who witnessed first hand the lengths Joowon would go to complete his goals—and why.

It's a very unique circumstance that only the two of them will share and intimately know about each other, for better or for worse, by virtue of the fact that they are each driven to be who they are now, ironically, by Han Kihwan.

By virtue of being Lee Yuyeon's murderer, and by virtue of being Han Joowon's father.

That's the power Han Kihwan had and will always have over them. They are who they are in part because of what he did to them, separately and together.

That's what makes him the true monster of the story, the "final boss" of the series of monsters that both Dongsik and Joowon had to deal with, not because he was the "best" or "most powerful" of the villains—he was actually the weakest, stupidest, and most cowardly of them all—but he had the most impact to each of their lives, in the absolute worst way.

And isn't that the true evil? What is truly angering of all? That the least of them all had the most damage done to the best of people.

Would it be healthier for them to end up with other people, someone new and different?

Objectively—yes.

My worry for Joowon is that he might always feel like he owes Dongsik, just because he intimately knows what his own family did to Dongsik's family.

And my worry for Dongsik is that he might always feel like he owes Joowon too, precisely because he intimately knows everything Joowon had to give up in order to bring justice to him.

There's a chance that their relationship might evolve the same way as, for example, Nam Sangbae's relationship with Dongsik, who had stuck with him with some misplaced sense of responsibility—even as his love and care for Dongsik had been sincere—because it was colored by guilt.

For Joowon's and Dongsik's relationship in particular, it wouldn't necessarily be out of guilt—they've already punished each other, so to speak, in ways they deem fitting—but out of gratitude.

I can't be sure if that's a healthy foundation of a relationship, to be with each other because you're grateful to them. Perhaps that's also why I find it more believable to accept the actual ending of the story as the right one, if only because they need that time apart to re-discover who they are without the shadow of Han Kihwan looming over them—in different ways—so that if and when they choose to come back to each other, it'll be after a re-affirmation of their own sense of selves, this time free from everything that had previously shackled them.

Is it better for other people to be with them?

This is just the reverse of the question above, and honestly? My objective answer is no.

It is with complete and utter love for the both of them that I say they may have ruined each other for other people.

For Joowon in particular, his new theoretical significant other might want and need a partner who would have more attention and time for them as a family, instead of one who is completely and utterly devoted to his duty as a cop.

For Dongsik in particular, his new theoretical significant other might want and need a partner who has more concrete goals and ambitions in life, and not someone who is just starting to figure out his own identity and his life after finally being free from all the shadows that dogged his steps for decades.

Because the thing is, I'm not entirely sure that their new significant others would deserve them, just because I'm also not entirely sure neither Dongsik nor Joowon would be completely happy—even as they might have sincerely loved their new theoretical partners in return—with someone who wouldn't have completely understood who they are and what they've gone through, and what they're still going through.

For better or for worse, I don't think there's anyone else who can completely understand and accept them, the best and the worst of who they are—other than each other.

In conclusion: Is it healthy?

In time, it can be. Let them come back to each other at their own pace, in their own time.

I think they do know, deep in their hearts, that—for better or for worse—there will be no other.

And I think that can also be their motivation too, to do their best to make up for their mistakes, to live their best life and be the best of who they can be, and find their own ways to heal and move forward, because they have someone waiting for them.

Someone to come home to.

[suiana]

yo i saw ur rb && feel free to write about the renting concept!!! if u do pls tag me i’d love to see <33 😋

😻😻 rhanks genie

(yandere! rental boyfriend x gn! reader) (shitpost kinda) (concept based on this post)

you know, it's not like you were ugly, dumb or poor. in fact, you consider yourself rather attractive, smart and quite rich. but it seems that no one has noticed that which... might've been why you were single for a very long period of time.

very meaning from when you were born up until recently.

you had always desired for a relationship. wanting to experience the joys of love, the romance, the contentment you get whenever you're with that special someone.

unfortunately you never got to experience that. never. even after putting down your dignity and renting a boyfriend.

you had rented a rather pretty looking guy from this... dodgy website called 'rent-a-darling'? was that the name? it probably is. what a weird website it's called. anyways, it was basically a rental boyfriend/girlfriend website and you had absolutely struck gold with it.

perfect face, perfect body, incredibly intelligent... he was basically a work of art. and his personality wasn't half that bad either! he cracked jokes and they were entertaining enough! he made you laugh, feel better about your miserable love life...

but he just wasn't it.

so you decided to end contact with him. there was no point in continuing that rental service anyways. it's not like he'd like you back even if you fell for him.

except that was exactly what happened?? a few days after you officially ended your contact with your absolute god of a rental boyfriend, he showed up at your doorstep, panting as a lovesick look paints his beautiful features.

you were concerned to say the least. after all, you had never seen him act in such a way before. which was why you allowed him in... which led you to your current situation which was far from ideal.

"could you let me go please? my arms are sore..."

"you know, you're really cute like this."

you merely sigh in response, looking away as you grow awkward under his obsessed gaze. this has been the fifth day since he tied you up, only allowing you to leave the bed for meals and the toilet.

and in those five days he's openly admitted to be in love with you.

while it was nice and endearing to hear such words, you only wish it was from someone you actually loved back. and maybe not as crazy as this guy was.

"can you please let me go? do you want money or something? i can give it to you-"

"what i want is your love, and that cannot be bought with money."

he interjects promptly, still smiling at you with his pearly white teeth which were honestly starting to creep you out. why were they so white? why was he so objectively perfect? and why was he madly obsessed with you?

"hey can i just ask something? why are you so obsessed? like just why."

he pauses for a second, hummung contently as he shuts his eyes for a bit.

"I'm not sure why,"

his eyes open again and he continues his sentence. this time, you can't help but feel an impending sense of dread in your gut when he speaks.

"i guess i just really adore you."

he then giggles oddly, tugging at your bedsheets as his face nears yours.

"you complete me, my love."

you grimace as his face nears yours. ugh, what you wanted was that lovey dovey shit you saw on television. not whatever this was. kidnapping and constant moans of how your captor loves you.

but oh well, it is a relationship. just not the one you wanted. maybe you could learn to deal with it-

"darling! if you tell me how much you love me, block everyone else you know, leave your job, and promise to run away with me, I'll untie you! how about it?"

...yeah, you're not dealing with this. perhaps you're just not meant for love.

[yuri-cocaine]

we’re here to take you home

with @onwesterlywinds​ and @rasenkaikyo​

The magitek bit beeps. “Alert. Incoming allied presence. B8 should escape immediately.”

“Escape recommended.”

“Escape recommended.”

Ashelia Riot glances at the woman to her right. There’s something familiar about her, she thinks—but she doesn’t have time to ponder it now.

Kharaa jumps down from her yol. “Ai!”

Ai gasps for breath. Her leg gave out shortly after scaling the cliff. Someone is calling her. She tries to remember who it is.

“Targets at the Peaks, Radiata, X 28, Y 28.” The magitek bit is insistent.

Ai Deahli: “Guh….a-approaching…”

Vision One gets a little closer. Her brow furrows from behind her visor. “Ai.”

Ai staggers.

Ashelia Riot doesn’t know what’s happening, but readies her gun all the same.

Ai Deahli: “Miss…One? Grand St-stssss—”

Ai Deahli: “T-targets confirmed. Readying a-attack pro-protocol.”

Vision One glances towards Ashelia and back. “Ai, we’re here to take you home. Back to the Sandsea…Please don’t do this.”

Ai Deahli: “F-for the glory of—the glory of the emp—Ahhh!!”

Ai rushes forward, slashing wildly. She readies Terminus Est, but it fires in the wrong direction.

Vision One: “Gh!” Kharaa jumps back, nicked by the sudden outburst. “Stop!”

Ai Deahli: “Activation long-ranged tur—turrets.”

Ashelia Riot fires.

Ai drops to her knee, winded. Ashelia Riot: “That’s enough.”

Ai Deahli: “Grand Steward…Th-rhank you for the r-room…Someday I’ll…”

Ai staggers to her feet.

Vision One: “You don’t have to do this, Ai…”

Ai Deahli: “Do yyyou have the lissst—A—Arae’sae Evvv----forgot to return a—to the library—”

Ai continues to wildly attack while uttering nonsense.

Ai Deahli: “Akeet made buuz the oth—other—”

Vision One rushes in, using a non-lethal Armor Crush to knock her down. Ashelia Riot shoots the magitek bit down.

Ai Deahli: “No…Finish the mission…For the glory of the—of—”

Ashelia Riot: “Enough. Two dead in Ul’dah? An attack on Rhalgr’s Reach? What did you hope to gain?”

Ai Deahli: “Must report to—protocols engaged—I must!” She attempts another attack, but misses and falls to her knees.

Vision One kneels at Ai’s side. “She’s a clone. Part of an imperial project. One that entered a terminal stage.”

Ashelia Riot’s blood goes cold. “A clone?”

Ai Deahli: “Argh! I’m so—sorry—Pl—go away..”

Ai Deahli: “Sssorry sorry sorryyyy…”

Vision One is undaunted, and she shakes her head. “I can’t do that. You’re not an imperial tool. You’re a Riskbreaker, and you need to return home.”

Ashelia Riot: “…Terminal. What does that mean.”

Ai Deahli: “H-home…? All personnel slated for elimination…going h-home…”

Vision One: “She’s been chosen to wipe out the whole project. Everyone involved in it, even any surviving clones. That’s what I hazard those deaths were.”

Vision One pulls out the tomestone she had been given. “Imperial intelligence is not as water-tight as they think it is.”

Ai Deahli: “Surviving—oh. I remember…”

Ai tears her visor off and throws it away before collapsing. Her eyes are strangely glowing red.

Ai Deahli: “Grand Steward. I should have said something but I thought I—I wish I had more time. You have been so good to me and I—”

Ai Deahli drops a crystal at Vision One’s feet. “My memories. I don’t know why she needs them.”

Ashelia Riot: “Who?” Her voice is softer now than it is when she is normally in battle.

Vision One reaches and grabs the crystal. “It’s not over, Ai. Believe me.”

Vision One smiles weakly at Ai. “You have been dear to me. I won’t let you go away so easily.”

Ashelia Riot looks now at Vision One, unsure for the first time.

Ai Deahli: “…Okay. I’ll treat you to tea. Next week. Both of you.”

Vision One: That sounds great. I’ll hold you to it.”

Ai wants to say something, but her breath catches in her throat. She looks up at the pale sky, and closes her eyes against the sunlight. She’s so tired.

Vision One looks away.

Ashelia Riot checks to see if Ai is showing any signs of life. She sees nothing, nothing at all that might indicate she is still alive. And in fact, she even sees, for the first time—sparks?

Vision One: “We stopped her rampage and brought her to her senses…but the inevitable end of this protocol was thereby triggered.”

Ashelia Riot stows her gun, no longer sensing any threats. “…I know you. You’ve been at the manse.”

Vision One: “It’s Kharaa. Kharaa Khatayin. I wish we could have met under brighter circumstances.”

Ai starts fading into hazy orange light, like the clouds around Azys Lla. Aetherochemical constructs breaking down.

Ashelia Riot: “What—”

Ashelia Riot can’t help but stare at the light, what it’s doing to the body that recently seemed so…organic.

Vision One: “…She was beautiful in spite of her—in spite of the imperial ‘masters’ who dare mock science. And the project had cursed her to a limited lifespan that she nonetheless lived to the fullest.”

Ashelia Riot: “But what happened?”

Ashelia Riot looks to Vision One. “Why all this? And why now, after so long?”

Vision One: “I’m not sure. It seemed someone wanted to erase all evidence the project happened in the first place.”

Ashelia Riot: “She said someone—‘she’—needs her memories. Could that be the person who did this?”

Vision One shakes her head and holds up the crystal in one hand, the tomestone in another. “I was approached by one Yun, who foresaw this eventuality and took measures to ensure her continued survival in another way. I admit, I myself struggled to accept it, as I wanted to find a way to extend the life of her given form…but I had to trust in Yun’s gift.”

Ashelia Riot does know of Yun Khatayin; she’s a contact of a few Riskbreakers.

Ashelia Riot: “But why would the Garleans have created a clone made to…expire? Why now? Why not have her betray us during the fall of Ala Mhigo?”

Vision One: “I’m not sure it was their intention to give them a deliberate expiry, for even their records could give just an approximation. No more than a flawed attempt at recreating Allagan technology.”

Ashelia Riot can’t help but grit her teeth and clench her fist; still, she has nothing more to say.

Vision One: “They have nothing on her time with your group. They wouldn’t have even known how to betray you. Until recently, Ai’s thoughts have been hers and hers alone. I doubt they will know anything other than the fact Ai has completed her mission.”

Ashelia Riot grits her teeth again—at the unfairness of it. Ashelia Riot: “Completed her mission. And they’ll simply keep doing…this.”

Vision One: “I hold no love for Garlemald. They learn from the past to commit a growing list of atrocities. I work for every opportunity to dismantle their efforts. Even as they brought Ai into this world, they dealt her a cruel hand.”

Vision One’s grip tightens around the crystal. “She was suffering so much because of their twisted science…at least now, no matter what, she’s free.”

Ashelia Riot: “Will she still be free even if—”

Ashelia Riot says no more, but looks at the crystal in Vision One’s hand.

Vision One: “Yun’s gambit relied on this crystal. Once I transfer Ai’s memories to the tomestone, I can upload the data into an artificial body.”

Ashelia Riot: “And they won’t be able to reach her again? They won’t be able to control her?”

Vision One nods to Ashelia Riot. “There won’t be anything to control. Whatever trigger they used to start the terminal protocol, is no longer part of her.”

Vision One: “It may not be all the same, but I can hope you can accept her again when the time comes. If nothing else, it would certainly assure the Empire can truly never touch her again.”

Ashelia Riot hesitates, then nods. “Good. Do what you must.”

Ashelia Riot looks back at where Ai once was, and speaks softly in Ala Mhigan: “You deserved better.”