Under the Oak Tree

CAUTION: REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Sigh. After the prior wave of sick-lit that was made popular by books such as "The Fault in Our Stars," it seems now the new trend is to write sloppy characters who either have some kind of mental disorder or disability, around which the whole story revolves, but doesn't even bother to address seriously. It's a little disturbing to see writers glorify these characters and put them in some sort of fantasyland where they are treated basically as if that same character had no disabilities whatsoever. Their pathologies only manifest whenever it's convenient for the author to use them for plot purposes, but otherwise, they're basically "normal" people, with some "abnormal" condition tacked on. It's extremely offensive, because there are real-life people who have these problems, and struggle to deal with them everyday. If you're going to use them for your own benefit when writing literature or creating a webtoon, you should either try to depict it in a serious manner, or leave it out altogether. Especially if you're going to ignore the disability's real impact on real people.

The disability of choice for this webtoon in particular is a speech impediment. The female lead is a stutterer, either because she was born with it, or because it was caused by her cruel father's abuse of her over the years. Since there's quite a lot of talking in this webtoon, the author can't hide the speech disorder to use it whenever it's convenient, so they opted to just make her stutter all the time. Which could happen, but people generally stutter more when they're nervous, and less when they're relaxed. Her stuttering never really changes in the chapters I've read so far, it's always her stuttering at the beginning of a sentence, no matter who she talks to, and it doesn't get worse or better, depending on her emotions. That's unfortunate, since if this was going to be key component of this character, you'd think the author would try to depict stuttering in a realistic way, that can also be advantageous to having the readers understand her character. But nope, it's just an accessory trait of hers. It's not even used with the greatest impact, so that makes it even more infuriating for me as I read more of the story, or lack thereof.

At first, I was a little confused about what was happening, was this an isekai or not? It seemed she knew things about the future, like how the male love interest was supposed to marry the princess, but was it based on the rumours she had heard? It's a little unclear about that. Anyway, the male love interest comes to get her back after he successfully won some militaristic achievement that I forgot (but it really doesn't matter, does it?) and whisks her away to his awesome, big castle.

It seems like everything is peaches and roses, because the male love interest is showering her with money and all kinds of lavish gifts, but the female lead feels like a fraud. She's convinced that the male love interest will abandon her at any second, when he realizes that she's not some noble daughter who lived in the lap of luxury. In fact, this is the first time she's ever laid her eyes on such a beautiful, spacious residence, and the first time she's ever handled money. Alright, that seems reasonable. It's not the Cinderella-type fairy tale you'd thought it would be. And it shouldn't be.

Although it's not explicitly shown in the flashbacks with all the terrible details, the female lead has been horribly abused by her father. Mentally, emotionally, and physically. She's a broken person who is also dealing with a speech disorder that she's completely ashamed of. The problem is that she doesn't really act like she's been hurt to such an extent that it prevents her from acting normally. Someone like her should be completely closed off from strangers, and that includes her husband, because they only spent one night together before he left to do his military thing. She should be distrustful of everyone, and probably dislike people touching her, because she fears being hit by them. The abuse she suffered should have very obvious psychological consequences, which would be easily detected by anyone who comes in contact with her for the first time. And if that's not possible, I'm sure her husband could have seen bruises or scars from her father's physical abuse, which will raise questions on his end. Or he could just be smart and feel her hands, and know that she's no noble lady, because her hands wouldn't be soft and uncalloused.

So that leaves me wondering, is the author just trying to imply she's been abused, but it's not to the point where she can't function properly? So is the abuse also something added onto her character to spice things up as well? If so, that's awful. I cannot even express the extent of my disgust if that were the case. When you create a character's backstory, you must always keep in mind that it could very well echo someone's experiences in real life, and using them lightly just to make your story ~interesting~ is simply condemnable. You must follow up with it seriously, and explore why your character is the way they are because of what they've been through, and how they will change from that point on as your story progresses.

I suppose the author here decided to go with the lazy route of shoving the dark past under the carpet, except for when the female lead is internally monologuing, because that's when she doesn't stutter (so it's easier to make her think straight, with lots of uninterrupted lines). However, this is also a problem, because the world isn't a sealed cell, and you must interact with others, and these interactions will inevitably change you. Every time she's thinking to herself, she's usually alone, and that's why she can't change. She doesn't express her thoughts to others, and other people don't see that's she's struggling, because they're all dense, or she's really good at acting. I think it's the former. Especially her husband. He's as smart as a piece of brick.

The male love interest is almost borderline abusive, and he swears way too much, sometimes acting violently or aggressively in front of her. This should seriously raise some flags, since she's been verbally and physically attacked by her father. But nope. She just sort of stands there like a deer in headlights, and clams up. I guess that's a believable response, but I think realistically, she should run away from him, or visibly flinch enough so he can see that she's not comfortable around him. He doesn't attempt to understand her or why she's so scared of him, and they both just assume stuff about each other instead of properly communicating. That's the essence of weak writing, relying on miscommunication to create cheap conflict. And this webtoon uses a lot of it.

The female lead is just too weak, and the webtoon is hitting the readers over the head with how scared she is, but it's rather unrealistic in my opinion. She thinks too much and acts too little. There are serious problems with the way her weakness is being conveyed. She doesn't ever attempt to change or improve her situation. She doesn't voice her concerns. Whenever she's close to saying something that's weighing on her mind, she gives up eventually, and they have sex, because her husband is horny. This is not a healthy relationship. It would seem she got out of an abusive environment, and straight into another mentally taxing relationship with another man that is now the center of her life.

This is not romantic. What they feel for each other is nowhere close to love, even if the author is trying to convince you it is, with her constantly blushing and following her husband around the castle. He's guided by lust, and barely shows any real concern towards her, or regards to her feelings. She's ruled by fear, afraid that he will throw her away, and that the servants of the castle hate her and look down on her.

And thus, the development of a proper story in this webtoon is just non-existent. Every chapter is the same old thing. The female lead is anxious and worried, and internally whining about how she's not a good match for the male love interest, and the male love interest is all horny and they have sex. Rinse and repeat. There's no conflict, besides the made-up one in her head. All the servants love her, while she's busy thinking that they are mocking her behind her back, and waiting for her to fail, blah blah. Such tedium. She doesn't try to improve herself, not even one bit. She resolves to act like a proper mistress of the castle, but as soon as she's alone, she's worrying about her performance all over again. I'm okay with weak heroines, but they need to show desire for growth and change, and she's not exhibiting it at all. Instead of just sitting on your butt, why don't you do something about your insecurities?

This could have been a serious journey of a damaged character with a debilitating condition, combined with a tragic history that makes her unable to accept her new situation. It could have shown how true love and a caring person can break down her walls, and help her heal. They don't even need to feel romantic feelings for each other initially, and only fall in love later, when her emotional scars have faded with the help of a nurturing, safe environment. Or it could have shown how she takes the opportunity of her newfound resources to boost her confidence, and learn how to communicate with others, despite her inability to articulate certain things. People in the castle could have helped her feel less anxious, and she could have made a friend who will hear her out and help her. But no. The author just wants a pretty stuttering girl to let a handsome man have his way with her whenever he wants to, and leave her as stunted a character she was to begin with. It's all fine because he showers her with gold and luxury. What an awful message to leave for readers.

The one good thing about this webtoon is that the art is quite beautiful, but I personally don't like the look of the characters. They're just not good-looking to me. The female lead looks like she's made of paper. Actually, almost all the characters are the color of some kind of paper. They all look so flat or dull in terms of their color palettes.

I don't know how the author plans to progress the story. I believe there is a web novel for this, but I'm not interested in reading it, because it's simply not compelling for me to want to find out what's next in a hurry. It's already so wrong for the past couple chapters, so I don't have high hopes that the author will step up their game to fix these glaring errors they've left everywhere. The male love interest should have found out or felt something was wrong when he spoke with her the first time he came back, and it should have progressed from there, when he tries to figure out how to help her. I know some authors like to backpedal and add things later on to fix something earlier on, but it's just not possible at this point. One can only hope it doesn't get worse, like her stutter magically going away after some amazing sex or the power of love.

There are speech therapists that can help fix or make the stutter less apparent. I know it can be really helpful, because I know people in real life who stutter. Sometimes, it never really goes away, but it's possible to work on this, bit by bit. It would be great if the author decided to go for a realistic route of her trying to make efforts in doing something for herself for once, which is correcting the stutter she's so conscious of. That would show some true growth in terms of her character, because she's never tried to do anything that she wanted. Everything she does is to please either her father or her husband, which is a toxic mindset, and a terrible example of how anyone should live by.

Overall, this webtoon is using something that is very real for cheap dramatic purposes, instead of showing how it negatively affects the characters themselves, and it's extremely insulting for people who struggle with speech impediments in everyday life.

Overall Breakdown:
Characters: 0/10
Story: 0/10
Art: 5/10
Lore/Worldbuilding: 0/10
Enjoyment: 0/10