Teddy Bears Never Die

Set in the fictional city of Yamusi, which has become flashy due to redevelopment, a poisoned rice cake terror incident that occurred in an apartment three years ago is the central axis of the entire story.
The story begins in earnest when a teddy bear holding a hand axe appears in front of Hwa-young, who was fiercely saving money after losing her mother.
The setting itself, where a boy who lost his body and a girl whose soul is trapped in a teddy bear help each other get revenge, was quite attractive.

While reading, I was constantly reminded of Jeong You-jeong's Jini, Genie. This is because the way the characters are intertwined, with each accumulating their own stories and wounds, felt similar.
The beginning was definitely good. The development of revealing the dark sides of Yamusi one by one while shifting between Hwa-young and Do-ha's perspectives was immersive.

The problem was as it approached the ending.

It felt like the build-up, which had been steadily stacked by switching perspectives, was vainly collapsed at the most crucial moment.

Even though the story had been leaked bit by bit by moving from one character's perspective to another, the truth of the most important event was poured out all at once without any twists. It felt like this truth could have been easily revealed little by little by changing the characters' perspectives, and I was quite disappointed with that part.

The proportion of battle scenes in the second half was quite large, and I kept questioning whether battle scenes were really that important in this work.

Even considering the spiritual setting, it felt like a significant portion of the conflict and resolution was pushed through by the power of the spiritual, so the tension dropped significantly. Since the conflicts of the characters, which had been built with difficulty, were resolved all at once by supernatural forces, it left a lingering bad taste as if it was irresponsibly wrapped up.

Looking at other people's reviews, there were quite a few similar stories.
There was no shortage of opinions that the ending development and the romance line in the second half were rushed together, and I felt the exact same disappointment at that point.
Considering the narrative built between Hwa-young and Do-ha, the emotional line itself is understandable, but the way it unfolded into a melodrama felt a bit clumsy.

Because the romance came in so suddenly, it felt as though the weight of the relationship they had built up until then was actually lightened.

Overall, the beginning was definitely good.
The initial setting, including the space of Yamusi, the wounds of the characters, and the element of the teddy bear, was interesting.
However, due to the way the whole story was unfolded and concluded, as well as the clumsy romance that followed, it is personally a work that leaves a lot to be desired.
It's hard to give a generous rating.