Where the Dragon's Rain Falls - Chapter 180 [END] - Read Free Manga Online at Bato.To

I'm telling you, Suryeon's fate was already foreshadowed since ages. The "together" dream from early chapter was the most obvious sign for me, yet everytime I reread up to this chapter, gosh haha. I remember when I first started to read this, my friend told me that Suryeon will be someone I hate a lot at first, and love the most in the end. Well damn you didn't have to jinx me like this- Tho tbh, idk maybe some people could mistake it for "wanna be together - ye sure I'm tempted" kind of dream, just that for me the bittersweetness was literally radiating in that scene instead - that is the reason why I could never truly hate Suryeon in the beginning, and it turned out that my guts were right lol.

While I appreciate the beautiful ambiguous ending, I also loathe the author for making him one of the romantic interests, because he deserved better - if this weren't a pure BL, dude could have been just some good blood brother to Suu and be with someone else instead, like how you often see in fantasy action stories. Now he is just gonna be, you know, like how the old immortals talk about how they used to know x and y and what in the past. I have to rant a bit here I'm sorry, it's like my 5th reread and gosh I just relate to this one so bad that I'm now writing everything in one-go.

Maybe it's just me being sentimental right now, idk I think Summer did an amazing job at foreshadowing things directly and indirectly. Like, it was obvious that there was little individuality in Suryeon due to the circumstances he grew up with - as how it's shown in this panel with the Shrine Mistress "brainwashing" him (which explained how he could act so aloof sometimes as coping mechanism - both his mother and the mistress were his anchors but also the toxic influence on him). Ambitions are not what you want out of feelings most of the time, but what you want to achieve rationally. And so for Suryeon, ambition was his necessity to live, his ambitions define his character instead of his emotions - and eventually, these human emotions started to become the threat to his ambitions : ex the times he doubted his own subordinates as they could be a potential risk for his plan due to their close friendship. I believe he was so used to it to the point that it became a habit, and so during his "love relationship" with Suu, he would still choose to prioritise his throne goal at first (primary goal), then Suu's well-being later on (like how he'd let Suu be with Nadan instead of him, or drink the poisoned cup : he doesn't make the most reasonable choice, but the most rational one for minimal consequences), and his true feelings in the last (when both Suu and Suryeon are only by themselves in the cave, they were free from the palace drama temporarily and Suu wasn't in distress emotionally or physically, that is when Suryeon expressed his true thoughts and selfishness - and then ofc he also put an end to it by himself when Suu's eyes changed and he got the throne, meaning it's time to prioritise Suu's emotional well-being instead). Even till the end of the story, he put down his own wants and personal grudges to maintain a balance between the imperial authority and his relationship with Suu (both "the Emperor" and "Suryeon" are crucial to him in order to define himself - and realistically, abandoning one of these could potentially lead to greater consequences too)

Maybe I'm also reading into things too much too but I also believe like this panel just perfectly validated what we agreed on the state of their relationship : you can see here that both Suryeon and Saharah are shown that not only they are from a higher league ("highest view" for Suu, Saharah still at a higher height than Suu despite being a child), but also to have the upper hand in this relationship (as in them choosing to be with Suu and forcing him in it, thus yes, Suu didn't have to choose either of them in the end as long as he isn't opposed to it - him looking at them) - specifically with Suryeon being the tallest here - image of the grown-up amongst the three, implying that he was to have the biggest influence on the other two during their growth ("advice regarding human feelings" for Saharah and the "sheltered houseplay" for Suu), and also the one would have to fall/sacrifice first (remember Saharah comparing Suryeon as the tree that has accepted its fate to suffer the damage from the thunder, for its branch is the highest one to reach the above aka having the most "power" / influence?). Also the choice of only drawing eyes on the "children" (young Suryeon and lil Saharah) as if saying that they are not blinded by the adult drama, innocent as they were originally not meddled in everything? I'm not sure, but ye, quite interesting to take note Ig.

I suppose since Suryeon's youth (the start of his path to the throne) is shown with the sunrise (not sure ngl) and Suryeons's story with our leads (the path) by the day, then this panel of the rainy night refers to his ending (end of the path) with the rain (Suu and Saharah "becoming one") being the closest by his side (so the most intimate consolation in his most lonely moment) - as he chose to leave out the audience (us and possibly anyone close to him that aren't included in the frame, aka unknown or inexistent) by having his back turned and face hidden. None of us, beside the rain, was given the privilege to see his ending, so possibility of death - Ik it's a baseless and wild assumption ngl, but that is exactly what I thought when I first read and also what made me deduct the final ending to be a coping 3P ending, so a sad-3P ending or a fake 3P ending (basically an eventual-mono HE but with the 2nd lead having a bit more romantic time with MC post-plot, this is not an uncommon ending in novels that have extreme codependency so I wasn't too surprised by the possibility of this, considering that Suu-Saharah-Suryeon all needed to use one and the other for their survival, but damn it still made me flip when it actually happened lol)

The evening, just before the night. At this moment of the story, we know Suryeon is far from being on the equal ground as Suu and Saharah now (them not appearing in this scene). The distance is further emphasised by how he is now faced with the servant of the divinity (I forgot her name sorry) instead, and that their clothes are of the same colour, meaning regardless of their role they are all the same nature of being mortal. Unlike in the day scene on the shrine's stair (early and midgame), in the evening (close to endgame), Suryeon is now the one below with a more discreet pose with his hands on front all stiff (like a follower, because he is worn out from everything, no longer relaxing and confident like how he was at the beginning). When I saw this and remember the rainy night parallel, I was like, "ye nah this author is not gonna do that right? It's a webtoon" but then with more elements from the story (like all leads kept insisting that eventually Suu will change + Suryeon never dared to wish for anything as he has accepted his fate of having nothing), it became certain to me that, "Ye, the ending is gonna be bittersweet for sure, Suryeon is not gonna make it, no afterlife union or anything bye." - mostly because the fantasy settings here (the dragon's power) doesn't really seem like pure magical to me (aka limited for prolly some reasons), it seems more of a give-and-take manipulation ability rather than anything spiritual (like, he prolly can poke at some points of space and time, but cannot do things like time travel or multi-dimension between worlds thingies), so I doubt that the conception of a soul and reincarnation-karma exist here in order for Suryeon to ever see Suu again. (like, even Saharah had to materialise another self with a physical body based on the thoughts that Suryeon "told" him directly with the contact of his blood with the pond, not as a spirit and stuff of his own will, in order to exist, and his real body is sealed under the pond, so ye, there are physical limitations, just like how Suryeon's healing ability also depends on his condition)

The parallel, need I say more? The same colour, as the robe he'd worn in the beginning as a servant. Suu now has the upper hand and someone else now plays the role of "servant" / "follower" (the green of Suu's eye colour, and the violet from the robe that Saharah always wears, coincidence? Nah)

What made me cry my eyes out is that, Suryeon in the end doesn't actually have anything of his own (or anything given to him freely), everything he did was purely for survival of the body (power) and the mind (love). The throne he worked so hard for doesn't give him real peace, and even the love he got from Suu was just a bonus result for achieving his primary goal, eventually it will become uncertain as Suu changes, and gone, we don't know when exactly , and I'm glad that we will never know it. The only thing he truly owned in the end, is his love for the Suu that was with him in the cave, or dramatically speaking, the memories of a time where he was truly living for himself, not for anyone else or anything. Notice the times that he has the colour red on him too, it's a visual indicator, gosh I cannot write anymore. But welp, for someone who has accepted his fate so early, I guess this isn't a bad ending for him hahahaha. Fk. Damn I think I was having a stroke writing all this

🇬🇧Where the Dragon's Rain Falls

Chapter 180 [END]