Quick Post--Cynical Orange

Hi everyone, this is just a copy of a post from a thread I created about the ending for Cynical Orange by Yoon Ji Un. It is my explanation for why and how the manhwa ends. I wrote it on the 4th of September, 2012. I just want it to be here because MF has this rule about NECRO posting which is kind of annoying since someone doesn't have enough of a life to go around different threads and closing all the threads that have relavence no matter how long ago the last post was made. This is the lack of efficiency for the forum rules on MF. No one really cares that much about necro posting for forgotten completed mangas. tsk....I might dig up some old thread posts as well from here on to give some insight on some mangas/manhwas. oh and FYI, this is a SPOILER if you didn't get that already.

Bittersweet Ending?
09/04/2012

I recently read the whole series, all 9 volumes from my local library. (I would scan it but I don't have that time nor can I keep the books for long since I'll be leaving home in a few weeks). 

Also, I don't know if people care but for every volume of the translated manhwa (idk if raws have it), Yun Ji Un (the manhwaga) has colored pages for the first few pages of the volume which usually provides some sort of insight about what was going to happen. This is what the last volume, volume 9 said in its colored pages:

The prince stayed true to his promise with the princess and tore down the tall and might tower.
In that instant, the princess realized she had nowhere left to live.
The princess grew so sad and confused that she wept.
The tired prince stood there speechless, then turned around and left.
With the tower a crumbled ruin and the prince nowhere to be found, the miserable princess was left alone.
But then the princess said, "Oh, now I can go anywhere I want."
The princess stopped crying and stood up.  

Metaphors: prince=Ma-Ha; tower= Shin-Bi; princess=Hye-Min

Many people see the ending as a tragedy however, I wouldn't call the ending a complete tragedy just b/c of what happened to Shin-Bi (his death). I thought that with Shin-Bi's horrifying pitiful and undeserving death, Hye-Min would punish herself forever by breaking up with Ma-Ha. Not only was Shin-Bi's death undeserving but if the manhwaga left the end with a true tragedy (Ma-Ha and Hye-Min breaking up), I would have been devastated because I didn't think Ma-Ha deserved to leave the manhwa in that state. (It made me tear up). But in the end they reunited =) Even though Shin-Bi died, it gave Hye-Min the opportunity to make a clean start and live/survive on her own. The memory of his death will haunt her on random days of her life probably but it gave her the push to truly enter the world and live among people. 

I think Ma-ha deserved to be with Hye-Min. It was explained as clear as day at the end. During the funeral, Ma-Ha says he'll wait for Hye-Min but Hye-Min rejects him because of the raw pain and grief of Shin-Bi's death. He knew that if he ignored Hye-Min's wishes and just remained by her side, she'd eventually return to him and lean on him for survival, much like the relationship between Shin-Bi and Hye-Min. However, in a way, he proved to be a good man by letting her live her life on her own for once. It seems like it's most logical for Hye-Min to have ended up with Ma-Ha because he wanted her to be independent whereas Shin-Bi wanted to isolate her/make her dependent on him. That's not living. Yes Hye-Min had a role in manipulation but when all is said and done, it doesn't change the fact that Ma-Ha=independence and Shin-Bi=isolation/dependence. So...yeah it's terrible the way Shin-bi died and the graphic explanation that So-Ryu gave made it a more undeserving death but it gave way for all three of them to move on and be free from stagnant loneliness and darkness.