"Could you write your thoughts/ feelings on how your readers "hate" the Kris character?"

Kris, Oh Kris.

Where do I begin?

When I was writing Kris's character, I wanted to make him complex. In Home we got to see Jiyoung and Yongguk, two men who where the epitome of good leaders. They were level headed and knew how to handle situations with the most professionalism. Although both of them weakened for their women, they were still men who had their priorities, emotions and values at stake.

These were men that were to be reckoned with.

Which was why they were so revered in the gang world. Their titles didn't come without hard work and a solid understanding of what it is to be a leader. But Kris is almost the opposite.

He's a sheep in wolf's clothing. He keeps this cold, dragon leader façade up almost to distract people from the fact that he may not always know what he's doing. He's a man who became a leader without not really knowing what he was supposed to do. He's someone who is confident in his decisions but he doesn't always make the right one. Ryu really nailed his personality in Chapter  9.

Kris was always overshadowed by Yongguk, he loved the man like a brother, but he knew that he could never measure up. Yongguk knows how to look at the bigger picture. He knows when to lose small battles so that he can win the war, but Kris is the opposite. He sometimes looks at short term victories and ignores long term ones, a key point is basically every time Eun Ah gets injured bc of him.

Another reason why Kris is always lacking is that he can't control his emotions. As you've seen, when Kris sets his mind on something, he often only sees that and refuses any other POV. A lot of you have noticed that there's something in Kris's past that changed him and although we got most of the story in Chapter 18, we'll get more in the future of what the catalyst really is. But what annoys me about Kris is that he thinks he's okay. He thinks that whatever he's doing about dealing with his past is working and that now he's all healed. It's obvious that it isn't healthy but he doesn't care. It's like when you clean your room, but all you're really doing is shoving everything in the closet.

He's shoving his pain away just so that his 'room' will look clean to the eye, but once someone opens that closet, everything is going to come avalanching out.

Something else about him is that he thinks he's okay. He's stubborn and doesn't want to admit that sometimes Luhan is right, especially about him and his past. Kris doesn't really know what he's doing as a leader and even though he's been doing it for a long time, it seems like he just gets lucky. Similar to Yongguk and Bohye, Kris has his own 'vendetta' that he focuses on, however, his is more personal than Yongguk's, but that makes it more dangerous. He loses his ability to look at situations in an unbias way and he tends to see things only in a way that gives him the result he wants to see. He saw Eun Ah's capture as an act of Ryu and wouldn't consider anything else bc he wants to face off with Ryu so badly.

I'm not going to go into his relationship with Eun Ah, since the story is still on-going and a lot more will be revealed later on.

When it comes to people hating on Kris, here are my thoughts:

Nothing's wrong with that.

I know that in Home I built this beautiful romance for Eun Ah and Yongguk and that was my intention. So now that someone is coming in the middle, people really don’t' like him and that's okay.

Kris means well, but he pulls himself back by emotionally blocking himself from being a good leader, but I digress.

I encourage people to hate on Kris because there are going to be moments (and there already are some) where you question if Kris deserves the hate. Then the internal battles fill your mind.

I personally have mixed emotions about Kris. I like him because he seems so broken, lost and desperate to have someone understand him. He needs closure but he isn't willing to get it. He's trying to put on the shoes of a leader but they seem to be too big for him and most importantly he takes the title of leader so seriously to the point where he might not feel comfortable asking his gang for help. His past is sad and it makes me feel bad when I see how lost he is about the way Eun Ah is handling a situation similar to his and how differently she's doing it. He almost seems in awe of her. So I love Kris bc sometimes you see that there's a lot wrong with him and he doesn't know how to fix himself.

I hate Kris when he confuses Eun Ah. He sends her these mixed signals like sometimes he's nice and sometimes he's cold but recently he's been sticking to the nice side. But I remember really hating him when he demanded her to go to dinner with him bc he kind of treated her like a dog, ordering her around. but I think he's learned his lesson. Basically, any time he makes Eun Ah feel uncomfortable to forced or overwhelmed makes me hate him, but I think those days are over, bc she seems to be reacting to him differently now.

It's totally understandable that my readers hate Kris, even I hate him sometimes, esp since he seems like an mess right now (which is why he did what he did in Chapter 18), but hopefully he can get his mind together.

Thanks again for cranberrylips and minalong for requesting this post! If any of you have any questions about the characters or the story that aren't spoilers and you want them to be answered in long, blog post format, please feel free to post a comment in the comment box!

HOW DO YOU GUYS FEEL ABOUT KRIS?

Comment below!

-loviet