And also in the current life we see that Seungtae lived, Jihoo died. And because Seungtae saw Jihoo as his only means of freedom and escape from the mundane life of responsibility he lived, i believe he gave up. Like we saw, he shut himself up and again continued his life of studying and ofc leaving that part of him behind. I think although Jihoo was a good person, him being in Seungtae's life wasn't the best, especially for the unhealthy Seungtae back then who was unable to come out. Jihoo made Seungtae unable to see the other options he had (Hwangyeon, coming out, idk) and in turn Jihoo embodied that escape but because he died yeah he may have felt that he had no way to leave his life yk.
But ofc cause Jihoo is literally in his parallel universe thing as well I think it's fate that they meet, unavoidable which is kinda sad to me idk.
but like obv jihoo wasnt the only reason, his environment was a major contributor, everybody was lowkey homophobic:( and for someone who had such a huge responsibility, he couldnt afford to stain his image like that, and with the weight of his mother's expectations that was even harder.
And i feel so sad that Jihoo lived such a miserable life filled with crazy people, i hate that weird ahh cousin. Like without Jihoo i couldn't even recognise him??? his eyes grew smaller and he looked way taller i was like who is that. And in the end, the parallel universe thing he went back to inhwe??
the author clarifying that it was actually a parallel universe warms my heart cuz if it was FREAKING HIS DELUSIONS BRO... THAT WOULD BE FREAKING MISERABLE
this makes me so sad you dont understand, in the end i dont think seungtae ever liked jihoo, he liked the feeling jihoo gave him because jihoo embodied the freedom and lack of responsibility that he could never have. Jihoo likewise felt the same with Seungtae, like the author said.
I love how the author wrote Jihoo too, he's so interesting and genuine. Very contradictory but thats just what makes him so human. He knew not to run away from problems that he started, he made sure to end it, and although that could've killed him and put him in the danger he didn't shy away from it. Like when he had decided to burn him and that shit cousin alive. He knew what he wanted to, and truly wished the best for the people he loved. I LIKE HIM SO MUCHHH i aspire to be someone like him tbh
But yeah i hope parallel universe Seungtae and Hwangyeon lived super super happily and i srsly hope that the universe that we saw, was the only universe where he rejected his identity and ended up like that. But even so, we can argue that the story ended happily, feelings was resolved, Hwangyeon probably died happily and of course Seungtae too. He came into terms with his sexuality, expressed his feelings to hwangyeon, and apologised to his son. Just things he deeply regretted throughout his life.
I wish we could've gotten more about the parallel life them and i wish in the photo with the three of them, Seungtae was looking at Hwangyeon instead of Jihoo;;