Just Leave Me Be - Vol. 1 Ch. 2

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I feel like I've read this before. And there's a certain amount of classism that makes me uncomfortable. Plus the pseudo-European setting with outlandish names...

Now I realize I've read too many Korean Webtoons. Enjoy everyone, I think I'm gonna take a break from this genre!
 
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welp i guess that I was right about what kind of FL this was going to be. I guess to her defense she really was too good to the servants of the household but somehow I still hate the authority standpoint. I guess this time era just isnt for me because it always gets me pissed. At least she isnt the type to stick around in the abusive household
 
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@Gooseknonopeace I imagine it is due to them noticing the Duke doesn't care for her and them being there since she was young. Over the years they can push the boundary more and more. Maybe it starts with speaking less formally, then maybe they take longer to comply with her requests or she listens to them when they tell her to do something. All those little infractions can build up over time and make them forget their status.
 
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I don't know their history but I'm dubious at least of the disciplinary merit per se of going beyond that first reprimand with the maid (this first time that she's fighting back, anyway). Certainly I can't imagine anything past the slap being helpful? Going the whole nine yards all of a sudden isn't a lesson, it's revenge.
 
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@Pokari I agree. I see that a lot in these types of manhwa... I’m not sure if it’s a cultural thing but there always seems to be that moment where it’s supposed to be some big victory when the heroine slaps her staff and I dislike it sooooooo much. Yeah, she was ignored, but so far we haven’t had evidence that she was actually abused and they’re still servants. I don’t understand or like this trend about putting the “lower orders” in their “place”.
 
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@gingerreadsthings:

FWIW, and noting that this is not in any way my area of expertise, South Korea has fairly rigid economic/social class divides (not formalized castes like the old India stuff; to my impression moreso a society where who you know and how much money you have determines your opportunities and social status, and everyone knows it.)

I at least know some number of Korean dramas love both their cross-caste romances (that is to say, it's stratified enough that that's considered an interesting plot-line) and having terrifying upper-class characters who engage in aristocratic power-plays in whatever social spheres are at hand. I assume most of it is dramatization, but still.

My assumption about scenes like the one here has always been that—keeping in mind that this is total armchair musing on my part and may be completely wrong—whilst most of the Korean populace might be unhappy about this state of affairs, Koreans both have a strong image of how an upper class behaves (be it through reality or fictionalized dramatizations thereof), and perhaps a certain amount of envy for being on the advantageous side of that power gap (as some always do, when there's a noticeable socioeconomic power gap in place).

Like, the American equivalent of this scene would, by this theory, probably be the one where you buy the company of the person that wronged you in some petty way, and then have them fired. Every culture has their rich-person power-play-with-disproportionate-consequences fantasies to some extent, and we all have different blind-spots regarding just exactly how wrong these things are... or so I'm theorizing, anyway.

Somebody who's actually Korean or lived in Korea can probably say a lot more about how far off base I am here XD
 
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@Pokari Thanks for the response! That’s kind of what I was surmising from my armchair as well 😅

It just saddens me that there there is this glaring blind spot in a lot of my favorite comics. Like, fine. She got her revenge. She’s not a pure-hearted angel. That’s whatever, I can still enjoy the story. I wish I could think of the other instances off the top of my head, but I’m following too many different comics right now to be able to sort them all out in my head. Every time I see the “heroine” set down some gossipy bitch by reinforcing her own “noble” status I cringe. And most of the time all the character did was spread some malicious rumors. Yeah, that’s wrong. But I definitely don’t fist pump when the only way for the FL to deal with that situation is to pull rank. And I’m never sure if it’s laziness on the authors part or a cultural acceptance for the humiliation of the underprivileged by the privileged. Either way I just want it to stop 😅
 
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Get on your knees and beg. Never knew I needed someone to tell me this with that expression.
 
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This lead's character change before/after time travel is so unrealistic. It hurts my mind to wonder why creators think hyper-aggression is a valid reaction to having a near-death experience. Not to mention that the lead appears to have magically lost all her fear of the maid to whom she likely has been subservient for the majority of her life.

I guess I'll just pretend this never happened and proceed to chapter 3, as per usual.
 
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ah yes! i love when they realize that ''being a good girl'' is hopeless and they realize they have actual power, slap her again!
 

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