Just a harmless giant from a foreign land.
"It all begins" <- Well this is how this arc begins :P the story itself starts way before that.
And I'd really argue the Domestic Abuser here, because I. Imo it kinda cheapens the term if its thrown around too easy and this is really borderline at best and II. Jerkass is a far better description.
It is verbal abuse and probably emotional as well, but just because of that and the fact that they are part of arranged marriage does not automatically make it Domestic Abuse
edited 1st Mar '15 4:00:45 AM by 3of4
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That's why I said his behavior "swerves into [Domestic Abuser] territory." It's showing the early signs.
To wit, he's blaming Queen for the abuse she just received at the hands of Johnathan and his goons.
He's deliberately trying to make Queen question her judgement in people.
He's trying to isolate Queen from her friends and family.
He's trying to make Queen completely dependent on himself.
Just a harmless giant from a foreign land.
Eh, while I agree he is a Jerk in this situation, you seem to try to hammer him in the Domestic Abuse Trope.
Yes, he makes the statement "You hang with the wrong people." but by context it seems less "make her solely dependent on me" and more "Its this common rabble that is at fault here and you should stop associating with them and be with people in your rightful social strata, ie me."
Your interpretation feels to me like you are trying to paint him as manipulating her deliberately into a position where he can be the Domestic Abuser, which frankly I don't see.
Arrogant, self-centered, elitist jerk? Yes, yes and yes. A semi-psychopath planning to split his prey from her herd for his abuse? I see this not.
Another nitpick: He's not blaming her for "making Jonathan hit her." His words (at least where I read it) were "Why do you keep putting yourself in danger?"
Which once again harks more to the "Why do you behave like rabble and not like the person someone of your social class should be."
edited 1st Mar '15 11:30:54 PM by 3of4
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Considering that he's the one who introduced her to Johnathan, the guy whose paid goon hit her, I might add, your argument falls a bit flat.
Just a harmless giant from a foreign land.
How does it fall flat when my main argument is that he is not a *DOMESTIC* Abuser but simply an entitled jerk?
And yes, he's a jerk. His friends are jerks. He may not aware of that because they are his friends.
From his (distorted) Po V is was Queen making a unnecessary ruckuss with his friends, because of the bad influence "her friends" are making her.
Its myopic. Its jerk-y. Its emotionally abuse (and verbal). But its not Domestic Abuse.
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Dick Tater
I have to agree with 3of4, it's not domestic abuse although it could be a sign of that potential.
Just because I don't care doesn't mean I don't understand!
Well, he manages to escape the Domestic Abuse label, barely. Still he was HEADED IN THAT DIRECTION. (Which was my entire point, actually.)
Driver Park, props for being Crazy-Prepared. Jae Gu gets even more points for being scared to look at those photos, although he was curious, at least until he was actively shown them. Queen, being a shrinking violet at the end was a nice touch.
Don't think we've seen the last of Johnathan and Jeff though.
After 178 chapters, this series really needs a forum. The last arc, Johnathan vs Queen for lack of a better handle, especially deserves mention.
It all begins with Lee Hye Kyung, Queen's arranged marriage fiance, inviting Queen to a party hosted by his poisonous friend, Johnathan (lampshaded by Lee Hye Kyung himself).
The moment she is introduced to Johnathan, the host, by her fiance, the first thing Johnathan does is try to get her to drink alcohol. Queen IS underage, mind you. When she points this out, he becomes insistent. She has to emphatically decline.
During Queen's entire appearance at this party, all of Johnathan's other female guests do nothing but verbally snipe at her just within earshot. Her fiance either does not notice, or does not care. Unsurprisingly, this makes her VERY uncomfortable.
Upon noticing this, Johnathan, instead of doing or saying something to call attention to the bad behavior of those female guests, or trying to ease her discomfort, decides to bring a professional cameraman and take pictures of her, without her consent, and cajole her into giving a completely unscripted "interview." Something Queen KNOWS she's not good at, and which she knows could have serious consequences for her family's company.
When she declines to do that, and demands that those photos be deleted, Johnathan gets WAY too close for comfort, gets extremely aggressive, in an almost sexual manner, and gets insulted when Queen rightfully slaps him.
At that point, he decides that the best way to "make friends" with her is to send his cameraman to take pictures of her, again without her consent, while she's in the bathroom waiting for Moon Young to come pick her up. It should be noted that he WANTED Queen to notice this while still being unsure of the nature of the pictures because Queen only heard the flash while she was washing her hands afterwards.
Queen gave him one last chance to hand over the camera, and start acting like a decent adult. Johnathan refused. This being the straw that broke the camel's back, Queen decides, Let's get dangerous, and justifyingly angry, marches towards Johnathan. That is when Johnathan calls on Jeff, a professional bodyguard so tall Moon YOUNG can't even reach his chin, and twice Queen's size, all muscle, who proceeds to smash Queen into the wall while Johnathan laughs at her. When Moon Young shows up and comes to her rescue, Jeff does that to her too. When the fiance shows up, all of Johnathan's other guests, seeing Queen with TORN CLOTHES, being harassed by a man clearly bigger, stronger and with far more combat experience, loudly shame her for being a "hothead." Queen, far too flustered to properly respond, leaves without comment. At this point, the fiance being completely nonplussed is plausible. He WAS in the lobby greeting Moon Young during the bathroom incident.
The rest of the arc is basically Queen trying to recover the images, and Johnathan trying to utterly humiliate her. The primary purpose of this arc, apparently, is highlighting just how far Jae Gu and his relationship with Queen have grown.
Just think of this, the friendless extreme doormat at the start of the story rounds up a small army to come to Queen's aid the moment he hears she's in trouble, including Miss Ina of the Wilds' Guard.
His Badass cred doesn't end there, however. Granted he's rather reluctant to enter the ring, at first, but this is perfectly justified as Lee Hye Kyung completely shattered his confidence the last time he was in the ring, and prior to that, Kim Hoe Pae defeated him through foul play. Still, he has great potential as a coach, and picks up a new trope, Awesome by Analysis. He deliberately pushes Moon Young's berzerk button to give her the strength to break free from Moonbae's sleeper hold. It didn't work, but it was still a tactically valid option (because Moon Young was more focused on him than dealing with Moonbae). One of the few he had.
On the other hand, when Queen's turn to fight came, he REALLY played the trope "Awesome by analysis" to full effect. The reason Moonbae was doing so well against Queen wasn't his strength or fighting skill, but the fact that as a rabid Queen fan, had been studying her, and her fighting style for months, if not years, and could read all her moves. After just a few hints, Jae Gu managed to design a strategy that completely rendered all that effort meaningless in a matter of minutes. "I am Kim Hye Shin, I am Kim Hye Shin." The best part? That strategy wouldn't have worked at all if Queen did not COMPLETELY trust Jae Gu!
Oh, and he's not done! After Moonbae forfeits, because Queen addressed him BY NAME, and recognized him as a fan, Jae Gu notes that she's exhausted by the bout, and Johnathan's Zerg Rush prior to the tournament, so he takes her place. He quickly comes to regrets this as he finds himself up against a Lightning Bruiser twice his weight who specializes in getting opponents into the corner of the ring and pounding them until they collapse.
Once he is given a moment to actually think, he realizes that the guy's completely defenseless while he's charging the corner, so he manages to land a powerful punch to the guy's chin. What makes this awesome, is that VERY FEW PEOPLE MANAGE TO FIGURE THIS OUT, as his opponent proudly proclaims at the end of the round, as well as several others on Johnathan's side. Also, upon hearing the Goorah coach saying "use the rules and you can win" he realizes that since his punch is not strong enough to defeat the Lightning Bruiser, he asks for protective headgear, and requests a rule change so that he can use his strongest attacks. Even then he just barely manages a victory purely by technicality. (A nosebleed in both nostrils IS grounds for a medical forfeit in many MMA tournaments.) Still, that's a major accomplishment for someone in Jae Gu's situation.
The final match of the tournament REALLY shows Jae Gu's worth, however. We can add DETERMINATOR to his tropes list here. Exhausted and facing an opponent who uses Krav Maga, a martial art that very few people in the Korea of Wild's setting can even recognize, let alone counter, and he was on the brink of winning because he would not give up, and realized that his opponent truly did not understand the rules of engagement. (At which the Goorah coach went "Yeah, we'll go with that.")
Still doesn't take away from his awesome when the Krav Maga user got himself disqualified by removing his gloves, assaulted Ms Ina and got her PISSED, then got his ass handed to him by Dal Dal using Tae Kwon Do. But Jae Gu's crowning moment of awesome? He walked up to Smug Snake Johnathan and punched him right in the stomach, resulting in a rather loud "WHAM" and we know Jae Gu's not going to get punished for it because Ms. Ina, just moments before said "I was never here, and did not see any violence tonight" directly as a result of Mr. Krav Maga's actions.
As for Lee Hye Kyung, he's swerved right into Domestic Abuser territory. All of this arc came about because he took Queen to a party hosted by Johnathan, as a direct result of Johnathan's actions. Despite knowing this, as his driver tells Queen that Lee Hye Kyung got a message describing the situation, HE PROCEEDS TO BLAME QUEEN FOR IT, going so far as to accuse her of being responsible because she is "hanging out with the wrong types of people." In front of all her friends, who came to her rescue, no less.
Queen's response? In a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming, she turns and THANKS Jae Gu for coming to her rescue, including holding his hands, right in front of Lee Hye Kyung. (Much to Dal Dal's chagrin.) Jae Gu is suitably flustered.
edited 28th Feb '15 7:56:41 PM by Harem-author