It would have been much better at around 80 chapters to maintain the excitement while reading. That said, I really liked the banter between the characters in the first half, and their romantic development felt very natural.

I really enjoyed the entertainment industry setting, but I felt the story was dragged out to the point of becoming boring. Both characters are well-developed and consistent, but in my opinion, many chapters felt like filler meant to increase the word count.

Naturally, it’s heavy on angst, so I wouldn’t recommend it to those who avoid themes of character death, violence, etc. The novel is explicit, and the love story between a cross-dressing, prickly shou and a hardheaded, psychopathic gong is executed exceptionally well.

A well-written danmei that explores trans representation, mental health, and a compelling plot that focuses not on character development, but on their compromises. It’s a story of sacrifice and the expectations modern society places on marginalized and discriminated groups.

“𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦. 𝘚𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦’𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘵𝘩 𝘣𝘦𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴.”

🤣

𝘏𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘵𝘺 𝘨𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘴, 𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘯. "𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵."

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘳𝘮 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘵, 𝘴𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨. "𝘐 𝘢𝘭𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦."

"𝘈𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘳𝘢𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘩 𝘪𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘳𝘢𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘩—𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘱𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘭."

𝘏𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘶𝘱, 𝘵𝘶𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘦𝘤𝘬𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘮 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘳𝘢, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘯 𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘦-𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘯𝘦𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘩𝘶𝘯𝘬𝘺 𝘦𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵-𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮 𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘭𝘴, 𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘱. "𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬!"

I have a lot of theories brewing in my head, but I'll keep them at bay and see how the story plays out—but I'm too excited. Can't wait for next week!

— Not related to the original webtoon. All credits go to Gangddo.

Just reread Backlight from Season 1, and it definitely makes Season 2 even more interesting—with both the insights from the present and their current situation, as well as the way they acted in the past, which is unraveling in Season 2.

𝘍𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘓𝘶 𝘞𝘦𝘯 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘘𝘶 𝘠𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨'𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳.

𝘐𝘯 𝘢 𝘴𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘺𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘥𝘢𝘺, 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘰𝘥𝘢𝘺'𝘴 𝘨𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘸.

— 𝘦𝘯𝘥.

hopefully it gets licensed 🤞🫶

𝘉𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘓𝘶 𝘡𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘲𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘨𝘯𝘪𝘻𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘘𝘶 𝘠𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘵 𝘓𝘶 𝘞𝘦𝘯. 𝘏𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘥𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘭𝘺 𝘨𝘢𝘻𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺.

i mtl’ed it and made it into an epub 😊

𝘏𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘺𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥.

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘥, “𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 11𝘵𝘩 𝘎𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘋𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘢 𝘍𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘭’𝘴 𝘔𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘗𝘰𝘱𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘳 𝘈𝘤𝘵𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘴 — ‘𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘍𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘕𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵,’ 𝘓𝘶 𝘞𝘦𝘯.”

ˏˋ꒰跨界演员꒱´ˎ˗
reading thread 💫 → 北南

ˏˋ꒰在宇宙的中心꒱´ˎ˗
reading thread 💫 → 吃素

ᴍᴀɪɴ

sadly no :(( it’s available on ridi though!

At eighteen, Xie Shi'an won the National Championship and qualified for the World Championships. The young woman was proud, with a limitless future ahead. That New Year's Eve, she and her friends made wishes by a rushing river. "I want to make it to the World Championships!" "I want to get into my dream university!" "I want to win the National Swimming Championship!" "I want to achieve a Grand Slam!" "Then I wish for all my friends' wishes to come true!" Later, despite bearing deep gratitude and experiencing life and death with mentors and friends, Xie Shi'an's injuries prevented her from achieving the Grand Slam before retirement. At least she still had her "Bean Sprout" by her side. Jian Changnian was picked up mid-way by Coach Yan for the provincial team, nicknamed "Bean Sprout" when she first arrived. Though frail and insecure, she harbored feelings for someone seemingly out of reach. After Xie Shi'an's retirement, she became the first female athlete in the country to achieve a badminton Grand Slam. Five years after her Grand Slam victory, the country's first sports documentary "Meteor" was released, winning the Best Documentary Award at the Berlin Film Festival. The film ended with a line: "Dedicated to all struggling souls reaching for the stars."

╭─────────── ⋆｡𖦹｡⋆
┊💭 金牌归你你归我
┊🎥 酒暖春深
┊📝 强强 ✗ 都市
╰──────────── ⋆｡𖦹｡⋆

hiyo!!

omg the pin in so cute 💕 and your art style too!!

omg i'm the opposite...i can't read anything with light mode, it's either dark or those cream colored backgrounds...

true, there is a lot of mangaka bluesky accs popping up on twitter but i cant fine follow them all so this makes it easier!

thank you for this 🫶

i think the platform's going to grow slowly but then again same happened with threads, so i'm not sure where it'll go from here 💀

well-written but it’s not that they don’t end together but it’s more like they *can’t* end together (no spoilers 🫡)

bad ending 😭