fr. he took “part” in raising yeongwoon so to see him as a potential 2nd male lead is off putting. best believe ppl who want him and yeongwoon to be the endgame is just bcs they find taegu hot (he is hot btw, just their dynamic is suitable more as a hyung/dongsaeng thing)
How is it borderline pedo?? MC is literally 26 years old And there is nothing suggesting Taegu liked him as a kid (as far as I’ve seen anyways) You can think it’s weird if Taegu likes him, but it’s not pedophilia dude. Or borderline. If he liked MC as a child that’d be different but I don’t think he did.
Nah he had weird vibes when mc was still a kid as well idkkkk
I got brother vibes from them when mc was a kid. I mean, I might be wrong and he did like mc and if that’s the case then yeah he would be a pedoBut when I was reading I didn’t notice anything strange when he was with MC as a kid
it’s the fact he was there helping raise the MC that makes it weird. that’s called grooming
Grooming is purposefully getting close to someone and forming a connection with them or family members to be able to exploit and/or abuse them. Typically sexual abuse. That is not what Taegu did
Even though the MC is a grown man now, the way their relationship started is still problematic. Taegu acted like a father figure when the MC was much younger and more vulnerable, while Taegu was already a grown man. That kind of dynamic—forming a close, trust-based relationship with someone significantly younger—falls in line with grooming behavior, even if it didn’t become obviously inappropriate until later.
If simply forming a close relationship with someone younger was grooming, then by god…almost every human in existence has been groomed and probably been a “groomer”!
It would be grooming if Taegu formed the relationship with intentions of abuse or tried to manipulate/abuse him as a kid after the relationship formed. And he’d be pedo if he liked MC as a kid. But so far, I have seen no evidence of either of those things.
You can think Taegu liking MC is weird. But it’s not pedo or grooming.
does not change that fact the he like yw tbh since he met him when he was a child regardless if he has feelings or not so that's a bit hard to swallow
The issue isn’t just the age gap—it’s the power imbalance and the nature of their early relationship. Taegu stepped into a father-figure role when the MC was still young and impressionable. Even if his intentions weren’t overtly abusive at the time, that kind of bond can create emotional dependency, which makes any later romantic or sexual involvement ethically questionable. Grooming isn’t always about clear-cut abuse—it’s often subtle, involving trust-building that later blurs boundaries. So no, not every age-gap bond is grooming—but this one has enough red flags to warrant criticism. so yes, this is an example of grooming
I’m gonna focus on the end of this and you calling it grooming.
The definition if grooming is this:
“ Grooming is when a person builds a relationship with a child, young person or an adult who's at risk so they can abuse them and manipulate them into doing things.
The abuse is usually sexual or financial, but it can also include other illegal acts”
Or another verison
“ The term ‘grooming' refers to intentional behaviours that manipulate and control a child, as well as their family, kin and carers, other support networks, or organisations in order to perpetrate child sexual abuse.”
You can say that there are power dynamics, it wouldn’t be an equal relationship, etc. But it still does NOT classify as grooming because Taegu didn’t initiate a relationship to exploit/abuse Yeongwon or attempt to do so during their relationship.
Grooming is something done with INTENT. Unless Taegu had INTENT and actively TRIED TO manipulate and abuse Yeongwon with his influence/connection, then it is not grooming.
That’s all I’m arguing against. You can have your own opinions about whether it’d be a healthy relationship or not or if you think it’s weird, etc. that’s all valid to you. But by literal definition Taegu is not grooming Yeongwon and he never did as far as I’m aware. Same for the pedo accusations being thrown around. Unless the author tells us Taegu was attracted to Yeongwon as a kid or started the relationship to abuse him/tried to then it’s not grooming/pedo.
I may have missed something in the story, idk, but I haven’t seen any evidence of this ir the author explicitly telling us that he did that
You’re clinging to the most extreme textbook definition of grooming as if that’s the only valid interpretation. Grooming doesn’t always involve overt abuse or immediate sexual intent—it can involve gradual emotional conditioning and power imbalance, which is exactly what happened here.
Taegu didn’t need to say “I’m going to abuse this kid” for his actions to be inappropriate. He formed a close, father-like bond with someone much younger, someone who depended on him emotionally, and if that relationship shifted into something romantic or sexual. That shift, after years of influence and emotional closeness, is textbook grooming behavior in real-world psychological and abuse prevention contexts—even if he didn’t explicitly “plot” to abuse him from day one.
Intent doesn’t have to be cartoonishly evil to be damaging. It’s about patterns of behavior and how power was used over time. You can’t just slap the dictionary on the table and act like that erases the red flags. Whether or not the author explicitly spells it out doesn’t erase the inherently exploitative dynamic that started when one was a kid and the other was a grown man.
So no, it’s not just “weird”—it’s a massive ethical issue. And pretending it’s all fine because there wasn’t a signed confession of abuse is willfully ignoring how grooming often plays out in reality.
So basically, you’re saying even if Taegu had no intentions of abusing Yeongwon and never even actively tried to, simply because of how their relationship started Taegu is automatically a groomer because of the imbalance.
I disagree. But neither of us seem like we’re gonna change our mind so I’m just gonna end this here if that’s okay.
No, that’s not what I’m saying. I’m saying you can still engage in grooming without consciously planning abuse. Grooming isn’t always about “evil intent” from day one—it’s about developing emotional dependency in an imbalanced relationship that later turns romantic or sexual. That’s exactly what happened here.
Taegu may not have planned to abuse Yeongwon, but forming a deep, father-figure bond with a much younger, vulnerable person and then entering a romantic relationship later? That’s a textbook red flag. You don’t get a free pass just because you didn’t write out a plan to manipulate someone—it’s the effect, not just the intent, that defines grooming behavior.
So sure, we might not agree—but don’t twist the argument into “you’re calling him a groomer for being older.” That’s not it. It’s the emotional conditioning and timing that makes it disturbing
Exactly my thoughts
taegu is a borderline pedophile please can we get him out of the picture already