Sorry I meant to upvote
i was nodding until you said the parents are together? uhhh bruh, no theyre not??? joohae are not stepbrothers and will never be. the dad came by haesoo's mom's business to simply greet her and they "caught up" meaning they havent been seeing each other. also honestly joowon's dad would have been too shitty at the time to fund haesoo's study abroad. in the raws in chapter 101 it literally explains how jw's dad gaslit joowon for years convincing him that haesoo would abandon him forever, and even lied to joowon's face after the car accident pretending that he saw haesoo at the exhibition all happy without him. and joowon caught him on the lie telling him that haesoo actually came to see him at the hospital. also you can't forget the fact that jw's dad ONLY offered to pay fo haesoo's trip abroad just to get rid of haesoo and keep him away from joowon??? i doubt he suddenly changed gears that quickly just cause joowon fought with him and caught him in his lying and manipulative act. maybe after a while he's making peace with the idea of haesoo and joowon being together, but it definitely would not have been during the time to pay for haesoo's trip.
Also about how their toxicity "dragged for too long" and how they could've done the same thing years ago: i agree it did drag too long, but they could have never done the same thing years ago: because nothing new came in between them~ they had the same routine and game, so why would they suddenly change it out of nowhere? ever heard the saying "nothing changes if nothing changes"? that's the case with haesoo and joowon lol. it was the topic of the REMARRIAGE that suddenly pushed everything into motion for haesoo to end it with joowon, saying he can't lose his mom. after all: remember how dismissive haesoo was with taku saying he didn't "need" taku. but everything shifted after the dinner where haesoo learns about the remarriage for the first time. haesoo went to taku's place that very night all upset and feeling like he needed a way out.
My bad! I haven’t that read the scene you mentioned about jowoon’s dad.I thought he funded haesoo’s study since he had said so earlier.I’m his actions is understandable since he is/was in love with Mrs.lee.but his actions isn’t justifiable.and the part about how they could have solved it earlier is that they could have expressed their feelings for each other sooner.they stayed sex friend but couldn’t express Tf loll.ever heard of a saying you have to change the way you think if you want to change the situation.they both stayed toxic trying to hurt each other and love each other at the same time.you can stay sex friend and ex step brother without having be toxic.Gomen if my comment sounded rude but I was happy with how everything was but your sounded similar to me so it kinda riled me.if what you wanted to express wasn’t as rude as it seem to be then gomen again!
Ohh and I forgot to mention there’s no word in my above comment that had they are step brothers they were but they are no more.pls get it right.some people.the scene where they got caught my mom was expressed mrslee’s in perspective so some people tend to analyze it from her perspective.I always trying expand it out from rare class point of view.
And in the below comment I deliberately tried to sound rude as I had mentioned your sounded similar to me so if you hadn’t meant to do that then pls laugh it off.
okay well i understand where your theory about haesoo's trip abroad came from: but my *guess* is that it can't be true. Since joowon's dad only wanted to fund haesoo's trip to keep him away from joowon. so joowon telling him he loves haesoo and is going to be with him no matter what i think shuts down all his ideas about helping haesoo study abroad.
also idk if you get what i'm fully trying to say... no im not trying to be rude or anything, but im just saying: "nothing changes if nothing changes" means that someone's mindset and actions can't change, if nothing in their environment changes for them. cycles can't be broken without some sort of EXTERNAL/environmental change. the remarriage plans = that external change for joohae to change their mindset. before that, everything between them had been going in a consistent straight line for years and years, so they didn't change. also yeah: it's possible to stay sex friends without toxicity... if they DIDN'T love each other lol. it's because they love each other and neither truly wanted their relationship to be like this, is why they were "toxic". like the whole thing with haesoo purposely trying to anger joowon and make him jealous, and joowon acting how haesoo tries to make him behave (being controlling/possessive/etc) was just them trying to show their feelings for each other.
Real official relationships and labels like "boyfriend", are there to give a sense of security to both sides, and so that both sides can openly express their feelings for each other. joowon and haesoo wanted that, but felt they could never have it because of their parents... so they resorted to the only way they could show that theyre "together": using jealousy tactics which is the ~toxic~ part of their r/s. it made them both suffer but they felt they had no other choice cause how else do they show their exclusivity in an ambiguous relationship??
people can love and have sex with each other without being toxic, jowoon said he made wrong choice and that if he could turn back time he wouldn’t have been the way he was.he himself acknowledges that he could have done better(that’s his character development).toxic relationship is when they treat you good at times and then bad at times which makes you hover whether you should be in that relationship(relationship can be any form).(haesoo thought about whether to leave or not a lot, jowoon didn’t he loved haesoo too much.)also one point that highlighted their toxicity was so they felt guilty and all due to their parents which is why they didn’t try to be in actual relationship but they didn’t feel guilty when they sex?? This was something they could have changed.they could have loved and cared for each other without having to be in relationship or having sex if they felt bad due to their parents(that would have left no toxicity just pure yearning for each other).
my point is their parents remarriage isn’t the blow to remove their toxicity.it was the blow to let them know they should express their love for each other.it doesn’t matter if their parents had married once, they should love the person they love without feeling guilty.
Just because you can’t save doesn’t mean you should kill.similarly just because you shouldn’t/couldn’t express your love to them doesn’t mean you should be toxic to them.
Funny how we both ship joohae but we have different view in which their relationship could/should have developed lollll and of course I love taku but haesoo just wasn’t the right person for him.
their guilt for loving each other = what caused their toxicity.
i didn't say that it was right or wrong for them to be toxic to each other. it's not about what they "should" or "shouldn't do". i'm merely explaining WHY they were toxic to each other lol, and that they realized their mistakes and took steps to fix their problems once haesoo officially broke things off due to the remarriage plans. because being away from each other gave both of them a new/changed perspective.
also what you said here: "they felt guilty and all due to their parents which is why they didn’t try to be in actual relationship but they didn’t feel guilty when they sex" -- that's totally true, but also I think that's the power of labels. they can claim they mean nothing to each other, so it doesn't matter what they do together as long as they aren't ACTUALLY dating and they're not related on paper either so they can justify it. i dont think it totally ERASES the guilt, especially haesoo's (as we see how pained he is over the course of the story): but he can push it aside in his mind when he's only like a sex friend with joowon. that's why the remarriage which would re-establish their whole taboo seemed to shake him up so much.
uhhh i dont think we have different views on how their r/s should have developed?? youre just saying they shouldn't have been toxic to each other for that long, and why you think that... which isn't even wrong. but i'm just explaining *why* they were toxic to each other. not that they should be like that. im saying their actions mostly makes sense considering their circumstances and personalities, but not that they did the right things. and obviously they really needed to fix things to actually be together.
You obviously said that if people stay in sex relationship without being toxic then they are not in love and I am trying to point that it’s not the case.also remarriage wasn’t the blow to remove their toxicity, mentality and choice was.remarriage just helped them express their feelings(which helped remove toxicity but there were ways for them to stay in that relationship without being toxic to each other! They just made the wrong choice and for too long)
I hoped you read the other replies I wrote so that and compare some things you have missed and forgot to indicate.
I Agree on most of your point here but here it is the wrong choice they made and they took too long to correct it.something they could have corrected before the remarriage subject was brought.why stay in just sex relationship it would have felt more taboo than loving each other without staying just sex relationship.there wouldn’t have to be any label it would have been just two guy that loves each other deeply but couldnot confess and when their parents wants to remarry and table turns they find the courage to confess.
"if people stay in sex relationship without being toxic then they are not in love" -- what i meant by that was more of a generalized statement than a fact that's always applicable. i mean... to stay in an undefined 'friends with benefits' relationship with someone you actually love, can often get pretty painful the more it continues :// obviously there are exceptions, so its definitely not impossible for ppl to stay that way without being toxic.
regardless, whatever the author portrayed felt the most realistic scenario to me. my perspective is likely shaped by my own experience with relationships tho (both personally and observations)-- but of course your experience might be different yeah haha~
Also, looking back on what joohae had: i think the fact that they never told each other "I love you" was the main cause of their toxicity. So it's not ONLY about their lack of labels or defining their relationship. It was both the ambiguity of their r/s, and the non-communication that ruined things between them.
also... the remarriage. i mean it's all ultimately connected right?? like a domino effect. their mindset and choice is definitely what improved their relationship. but the remarriage is what forced them apart. and it was only when they were apart that their mindset could change. obviously other events couldve made them realize and fix things. but in this exact story: the author chose to use a 'remarriage' as the plot device to begin the chain of events.
Read my first comment again.I only had said how their toxicity have dragged for so long when they could stopped it and there was way.it was constructive criticism.but then you reply saying it would not have been possible without remarriage when it could have.you didn’t say it not impossible you simply dictated that someone who are in sex relationship and are not not toxic means that they are not in love and rest of my reply are as to how it is possible to stay in sex relationship without being toxic for so long.
#_#
You didn’t say there were exceptions before while I said there were l.you wrote as if that was fact and not subjective.your comment now proves my first point (the exception of being in sex relationship without being toxic) which you were reluctant to acknowledge in the previous replies.I never said anything about them having to express their feelings before the remarriage topic was brought I just said they could have stopped the toxicity.in truth within the first line of my comment I acknowledged the fact that they finally had character development and expressed their feelings.
I was waiting for you to know that there were exception and they could have done better without it being dragged for long.
Amen
Anyway if you want to talk about it further plss add me on insta so that we can discuss there because the notification for the replies is giving me false hope thinking it was notification for the manga I had marked as reading only to realize it was just a reply T_T.do drop your insta or fb id if if you wanna discuss further.
if not then good bye, good day to you
i didn't realize thats what you were hung up about, which is why i never stated there are exceptions. ofc i know there are, but i was literally just making a general statement, and cause I was talking about joohae specifically and the story the author chose to tell which seemed and felt the most real to me. their toxicity was understandable to me because of how the author set up the story. i wasnt talking about what they "could have" done, but rather: are their unhealthy actions in response to their situation realistic and do they make sense?? the answer is yes to me. obviously they didnt act in the best way, but like thats the whole point of this story isnt it? haha~ pleasure talking with you!
You finally understand what I was trying to say haha.their toxicity is understandable but it’s not justifiable to be dragging it for so long so I thought I did give a constructive criticism by saying author could have done it better by not dragging it for too long.
Their parents had prioritize joohae’s relationship over their’s as they realized that joohae’s love for each other was too strong and joohae too realized that they would feel empty without each other and is now trying to make their relationship work.they are ready to carry the burden that comes with it and also they have accepted that their family not be able to welcome their relationship with open arms but they are making Choice to be together despite all.I do think the toxicity had dragged for too long when it could have been done the same thing yers ago.I feel pity for their parents hope they still together I believe so since mrchoi was the one who funded haesoo three years abroad study.if both sides are together and thriving then all is well that ends well.some people may still be uncomfortable with joohae’s smut (as we look it from their mom’s perspective and it’s like anxiety hits) but in time when the manhwa ends everyone would get over it like they did for body complex.not to forget taku is happy and thriving too.we would soon get to see his lover.again, all that’s well ends well just until the page ends.