It has been a while since I read Limited Run so when the special side story episodes were released I thought it would be fair to give it a good chance. I’d completely forgotten why I hated the male lead in the first place so maybe he deserved a second chance.
Contains spoilers for Limited Run
I was right the first time. I should have just carried on hating Kwon Jaehyuk.
Like so many protagonists, Seo Yeonoh is down on his luck to the extreme. It is unbelievable just how hard a life he has lived whilst drowning in his father’s continuously accumulating debt. Naturally he needs to go through more hardship too.
Reading the first chunk of Limited Run I really did wonder why I’d taken such a hard line against Jaehyuk the first time. There was nothing so egregious that some other cold, rich endgame lead hadn’t also folded that into their daily behaviour.
That was the case until once again I came upon the scenes where Yeonoh was drugged by that actor guy and his friends. Until this point there were other, arguably more awful characters, who made Jaehyuk look moderate in comparison. But to treat Yeonoh so cruelly after the drugging and sexual assault was sickening.
Whilst it is true that Jaehyuk didn’t know the circumstances that preceded their meeting that night, there was nothing about Yeonoh’s personality that suggested he would get blitzed to that extent on his own. In fact, Yeonoh had been so careful and courteous about not even coming close to the boundaries Jaehyuk had set (monetarily etc.) that surely such an odd situation would necessitate the benefit of the doubt.
But no, it’s worse because after getting drugged and assaulted by some random guys in a club Yeonoh is dragged off to get raped by his stupid fake boyfriend too. It’s unforgivable for me and to be honest, I hate how the narrative just glosses over it.
Eventually, Jaehyuk does find out what happened and feels remorseful for his actions but it’s really not enough. I know I just said what he did is unforgivable but he doesn’t even try. He never acknowledges things with Yeonoh, he never gives a direct apology, and he never really does anything to make good by his actions alone. He just moves on with trying to take down his family and avenge his mother. How noble of him.
If Yeonoh was someone I knew in real life, my advice for him would be to dump Jaehyuk and find somebody who knows to treat people. (Well, my actual advice would be to kill him but I don’t think Yeonoh would go for something so immoderate).
In conclusion, Jaehyuk is terrible and I hate him. I might give Eeej another chance if they put out another work but I’m not expecting to enjoy it.
Leave a comment