Finished Pihajin. It was an excellently written novel that didnât truly click with me.
Honestly, by the end of it I was just tired of how lugubrious FL was. It made sense but it was tiring to read about and honestly if near the end you find yourself thinking âpoor dude I hope you move on and get to be happy instead of pining for this dreary dreary womanâ about her sort of ex husband, wellâŚ(donât get me started on the son, by the end he irritated me every time he was mentioned. Not to mention his original reason for suicide made zero sense. Offing yourself because your father didnât rescue your mother on time and you saw her kill herself isâŚa choice.)
The big problem is that I donât like the way most âtransmigrated into younger selfâ stories handle the âdebts from past go around lifeâ - like it hasnât happened yet for godâs sake! And this falls into the same trap. Outside of 2ha (which breaks the mold entirely), or novels where the reborn person mainly interacts with characters she didnât in past life (for example the authorâs own Wishing and Marquis) which is not really the same thing, the sole novel that handled the trope the way I like (yes she interacts mainly with people from past life, no she does not want to punish or hate them for go around that hasnât happened!!!) is Reborn as Tyrantâs Pet. It is usually less noticeable because in those types of novels FL or whoever avenges herself on villains and also they never seem to change but here ML is quite different from first life (and honestly even in first life he did not get her offed on purpose, he was gonna trade for her and then a rescue went awry. Itâs not husband of the year material but heâs hardly a monster abuser) so I just find myself going ummmm surely you need to chill, demon spawn (thatâs the kid.)
Anyway by the end ML is as dreary as the rest of them so I guess they deserve each other.
Itâs an excellently written novel but alas not really my thing.
ETA: also why on earth did ML fall for FL in this life? She didnât say a kind word to him for the whole time except like in the last two chapters. I get why she is this way but what on earth about her attitude or behavior would make him fall for her? Is he a masochist? (Yeah blah blah past life connection but thatâs a shortcut I am not fond of.)