In an effort not to fall behind my Jinx coverage (like I have with almost all of the other webtoons I cover), I’m changing things up in this post and just doing an abbreviated recap. The next episode is supposed to come out tomorrow or the day after, so I want to get this out beforehand…. although I suspect that the next episode is going to be one I can’t write about directly anyway.
Abbreviated Episode Recap
Jaekyung’s attitude gets shittier the more weight he has to drop, snapping at anyone and anything, but he manages to make weight for the match. When he’s trying to regain all the weight he’s lost later that night by eating portion after portion of food and drink, he’s offered another protein shake by an MFC representative. The group encourages Dan to drink it instead, since Jaekyung has had his fill of shakes, and later, as the fighters and Dan are returning to their room, Dan drops to the ground, clearly under the influence of something.
My Takeaways
Jaekyung had to lose around 15 pounds (7 kilosgrams) IN ONE DAY?! Is that realistic? Does that actually happen?! I don’t follow boxing or MMA closely enough to know whether a situation like this is super common. I mean, I know the existence and purpose of the weight classes. I know fighters are weighed prior to the match to ensure they meet their weight class. I just didn’t know one person could drop that much weight in such a short amount of time. Majority of that weight was water, but still. To dehydrate yourself that much? Damn. I actually feel bad for Jaekyung for once???? And I also didn’t know they can gain everything back right after. I thought they had to make weight and stay that weight for the match. Well, the more you know…
Anyway, I’ll give Jaekyung a pass this episode for his shitty behavior and attitude. Although, he doesn’t do much in this episode that’s out of character or over-the-top. (Edit: I take that back. As I’m going through the screenshots for the episode, Jaekyung pouring the soda over Dan’s head was over-the-top. But am I surprised he did that? Of course not.) I did like the fact that the head coach scolded Jaekyung for treating Dan so crappily though. He’s done it in the past, but this one was a more forceful scolding than before.
The person I had the most issue with this episode is Dan. His poor self-esteem just got to me this episode… and I’m very aware this makes me a hypocrite. Karlyle from Define the Relationship, who is one of my favorite webtoon characters of all time, has a very similar state of mind at times, but Karlyle can do no wrong in my eyes. Like I said: I know I’m a hypocrite.
I really wish Dan would give himself more credit for what he does. Not just for the things he does for Jaekyung but for his overall experience and knowledge. He has a doctorate in physical therapy. That’s not something they just hand you like a free sample at the grocery store. Like all doctoral, or graduate degrees in general, you gotta work for it. Just because he may not be physically fit like Jaekyung or have all these championships under his belt, it doesn’t mean what he does have is worthless.
And that “MFC representative” who dropped off the drink was so sus. I know Dan can be super naive at times, but c’mon. You know what I thought was going to happen? I thought that Jaekyung was going to consume the drink anyway, and it would end up affecting him in a way that prevents him from either fighting in the match or winning the match. Then, he’d blame Dan because Dan is the one who took the drink from the “representative” in the first place.
But no… it’s going in a completely different direction. And with the way that Dan reacted, I can’t tell whether Dan’s in pain or turned on, if I’m being completely honest. Being that this is a 19+ BL manhwa, it’s probably the latter. I wonder who’s going to help him with that issue? /sarcasm
Series Details
Episode release date: Thursday, Oct 12, 2023
Original Title: 징크스
Author/Artist: Mingwa
English Publisher: Lezhin
Audience: NSFW
