What the hell did I just read?
For many hours, I got sucked inside the world of psychos...yeah, psychos because every character in there was unhinged in their own way. I'm not exaggerating it because once I finished its 60+ chapters, I was left in a daze because did I just finish that crap? Maybe I'm a little unhinged myself because I was able to finish it. In my defense, I thought that every next chapter is a new opportunity for the main characters to have potential character development. But no! As I delved further into its chapter, all hope seemed lost. Bro and sis were like a lost case, yet there's still that optimistic me that expected that everything would veer off from the hellhole. I don't care if it's unrealistic and unbelievable as long as they get better...but unfortunately, the author wanted to give the readers the most realistic ending that could happen. Are you still here? Well, if you are, then join me as I share the unsettling lives of two psychos who always find ways to mess up each other's lives.
Head Over Heels is a psychological romance manhwa that was released way back in 2018. It's a 63-chapter school life romance that was written by South Star and was illustrated by Prishe. So apparently their story follows the lives of two high schoolers—Woohyun and Ha Yan. Like a typical love story, theirs started with hatred...and bullying. Not just teasing or other kinds of verbal abuse, but serious bullying. Woohyun is a rich, good-looking, yet short-fused boy—an overgrown brat, in my view—and along with his bratty nature follows a past that led him to act that way. Typical traumatized main lead, huh? Unfortunately, Ha Yan became his punching bag, and strangely, that girl seemed to like every bit of abuse.
As she gets more of his attention (and beatings), she realizes that there couldn't be anyone that will understand her. Yet behind that victim facade lies the more sinister character she'd become. Ha Yan is more than just your typical masochist because she's more than what you can expect from a pain-loving girl. Her once fondness of the pain became an obsession, and so did he. He badly wanted to manipulate her, but certain loopholes would come. Loopholes he didn't expect would appear. Determined to control each other, they'll descend to further destruction. But amidst the overpowering need for control and obsession, would some kind of romance bloom? Or will it be a futile attempt of a twisted love story?
It's the latter, I tell you. I can't believe I was able to finish this manhwa in one sitting...perhaps their madness was contagious? Or maybe I'm expecting a romance—may it be twisted or grim. It has a romance on its tags, so I thought it would have some love story eventually. But even in its last chapter, there's not a shred of romance I felt from the main characters. I think the romance tag was just there to lure unsuspecting readers...readers that thought there would be a saving grace for those twisted main characters. Yet no, there's no salvation for them, only an ending fitting for broken characters.
I know you're probably wondering why I finished it if it's that bad. Well, aside from the hope for character improvement, for some weird reason, I couldn't stop reading it. It's like there's that strange force compelling me to read chapter after chapter. There's no decent character in this manga, and honestly, I hate most of them. Its story was like a collection of traumas and twisted fantasies of the author. From bullying, stalking, physical and sexual abuse, grooming, incest, killing, and ultimately suicide... I don't know why it didn't haunt me that much. Maybe because I know there are more horrifying real-life tragedies that happened, or maybe because I know it's just fiction.
I haven't read a story that's so full of unhinged people like this—like it really portrayed a various range of freaks—from mild, wannabe, to extreme psychos. It's unbelievable that no adults intervened in their twisted psychotic circus, but I guess the adults there were as broken as them. Its story was so down bad to the point I atleast hope it will have a nice ending. It doesn't matter if it's an end that's totally out of the story as long as I know they already took a break from that cycle of trauma reliving. But like I've mentioned, the author gave us the most realistic end one could muster. One that I really hate, but I don't know if other readers feel the same. It felt rushed...everything towards that end felt like it was following a dead end. Maybe the author got tired of the negativity, so yeah—dumped a few timeskips, rage scene, melancholic snowy meeting and then tadah—the end.
I guess this is enough hate for today. I started writing this yesterday, but I just keep on sidetracking and ending up doing other stuff. I really need a palate cleanser because even though that didn't haunt me, it was still a heavy read for me. Of course I totally don't recommend it because it can be jarring if you're a total stranger to this kind of story. I don't know, but lately I've been watching murder and grim documentaries, so maybe it desensitized me in some ways. And that's why it's better to steer clear if you aren't into this stuff, but if you're curious—then you've been warned. You can either find it a piece of crap or peak fiction…you can't really know until you try reading it.
That would be all for now minna-san! Thanks for being with me until here and hope to see you around~
The pictures that didn't have a source were screenshots I took while reading its manhwa.
