If you have read ‘Mr. 100% Perfect’, then maybe you would agree with me at how surprisingly fast the main arc resolved. The first season was just a short 22 chapters. Woo-in and Suk-yun (Mr. Perfect, the character the series was named after) go through their ups and downs and end up together, and season 1 wraps up nicely. In the later chapters, we catch glimpses of them, gain small insights on their lives together here and there. But we definitely get a sense of resolution with the main couple, and we smoothly transition to learning more about the ‘side characters’ Yoonseol and Jungsoo. And soon, Woo-in and Suk-yun become a distant memory, side characters themselves.
I put side character in quotes, because they technically are side characters (in season 1, Jungsoo was just Woo-in’s boss and Yoonseol was Suk-yun’s bratty brother). You don’t think much of them at first — you don’t expect a fleshed out backstory or their own arc. However, they have completely dominated the story for the last ~60 chapters.
The main issue with side characters taking up more of the story space is that it can feel forced. There is a sense of the characters not weaving well into the main storyline, because there is a lack of proper development of the side characters and their relationships. The ‘friend group to lovers’ trope is very strong example of this when executed poorly. It seems like a convenient cop out — the main love interests happen to be in a friend group of four. The other two friends of the friend group miraculously end up with each other and become a convenient source of advice and woes and exposition to the main couple’s relationship. ‘Stranger Than Friends’ is a good example of this. The side story chapters with Tak and Sanho (the two other friends of the four person friend group) feel disjointed from the main plot, and I have seen comments calling for the main story arc to return.
‘Love is an Illusion’ should be the baseline standard for side character development. Heesoo and Dojun (a friend and brother to the main character Dojin respectively) have the backstory of knowing each other since they were young. They have their own arc with their own problems that they must deal with: Dojun overcoming the fact the even though he is an alpha and should be with an omega, he just wants to be with Heesoo, who is a beta. The desire for each other is properly shown through just the right amount of tension — Heesoo visits Dojun to report on matters with Dojin, but the readers are all aware of the ulterior motive that Dojun has for seeing Heesoo. It just makes sense. People want to see this side couple develop.
So what makes ‘Mr. 100% Perfect’’s side characters stand out so much? Let me point out one small detail that perfectly illustrates why. It uncovers a whole treasure trove of the thought and detail put behind all the characters of this manhwa, even for the side characters. Jungoo is introduced right at chapter 1. You think nothing much of him — you as the reader, are focused on how Suk-yun and Woo-in will end up together. You barely notice the dot on Jungsoo’s right cheek. In fact, you might think it’s just a freckle or some dimple, some small quirky facial feature that the artist decided to throw in. But as the story goes on, you learn that this is actually a scar. He got this scar when he was being the scapegoat of a scam that Jungsoo himself was also a victim of. despite being physically beaten by so many people, he still does his best to promise the people inflicting wounds on him that he would do his best to put things right. We learn through this small scar of his hard past, his tenacity, and his good nature.
In addition, as Jungsoo and Yoonseol’s relationship develops, it does so in a way that’s very natural. Jungsoo acts in a way that lets us learn more about him as a character, while staying in line with what we would expect the Jungsoo we know would do. For example, in Chapter 23, Jungsoo notices a teenager pickpocketing someone who is passed out drunk in front of a convenience store. He does the right thing by shooing away the teenager and going to check on the drunk, who ends up being (in typical BL fashion happens to be) Yoonseol. In this scene alone, it shows us that Jungsoo is someone who believes in doing the right thing, while Yoonseol could work on himself and how he deals with his own problems. We get the added bonus of an interaction between these two love interests.
The point is, the reason why ‘Mr.100% Perfect’ is a masterclass on the side character, is because Hobaen doesn’t treat their side characters like typical side characters. Hobaen shows us that the ability to create and develop a strong character carries benefits through the whole story. The side characters weave into the main story line beautifully. They give the side characters complex, nuanced backstories that make them feel so real, like people you want to get to know better. Because of how real and complex these characters feel, you root for them, you cry when they cry, and these characters have the ability to rip your heart out.
(Spoilers for chapter 77) What made me realize how strong the characters are in this manhwa was in Chapter 77. Jungsoo is overdosing on a drug, and in his realization that he could die, he has flashbacks of his life: his sickly father, his failed billiards career because of a lack of money and support, getting scammed, getting beaten. He has had so many bad things happen to him in his life, and he believes that it was all his fault. I just had a pit in my stomach when I read this, because all these flashbacks felt so real. Jungsoo’s life and hardships felt real, because all these scenes were shown to us previously where we felt and understood the unusual difficulty of his life and the challenges he has faced. And this moment of imminent death, of reflection on his past life, is contrasted with an image of Yoonseol flashing through Jungsoo’s mind: the one, finally, good thing that has happened to him. And now, he’s going to lose it all.
‘Mr.100% Perfect’ underscores just how robust a story can be with a strong ability to create and develop characters. If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend it. Otherwise, feel free to share your thoughts. Thanks!
