I also think his brotherly love turned out that twisted just for melodrama points. Yet, if we try to justify things here, what I think the author could be trying to portray was that Soongap and Pilgyeon had vastly different childhoods and that affected how they grew to be. They both loved Soongap's mom, but smaller Pilgyeon was the one who knew all bad things happening to her, from the affair to the beatings, he was also the one to find her corpse. Soongap knew something was wrong but he was shielded by people regarding what happened to her. So Soongap grew up with more love around him, despite being a slave, while Pilgyeon grew with high expectations, no actual love, and all the love he got was from Soongap and briefly from his father's concubine. It's fair to think that he'd want to keep the promise he made to himself to keep by his brother's side and protect him, and that the lack of processing all his traumas turned that into an obsession. Plus, I guess maybe he was also being compared to his father's role in Soongap's mother's story. Both were so selfish they lost their loved ones due to their obsession.
I might add that we meet Pilgyeon when he's spent a long time away from his brother and the first thing he catches is Soongap with his lover. He probably spent all these years dreaming about having Soongap with him, so that shock might have added a new layer to his brothers fantasy. Maybe from watching Soongap desperately trying to save his lover and humiliating himself for the medicine, he grew to desire the same proximity to Soongap. I still think their scene was gratuitous, though. It added nothing but Bongchun's rage, and that could have been done in other ways. Pilgyeon has that tragic evil guy persona, but he cannot be redeemed even by his backstory. Also, this is me weaving random theories, but that could be entirely wrong. It's good to theorize tho.
exactly! we couldve skipped that scene for something else. im not into the incest.
As much as I hate what the bro did to Soongap, I feel like it wasn't meant to even be there. I mean, I read this twice already and I just can't seem to find how that love (which I think is really just brotherly when they were kids) turned to something that ugly. Is it Soongap's aversion to the bro that made him yearn for him? The environment that got him so twisted? Idrk. It's just that the grape scene is unnecessary. Like tbe author added drama, made a villain and such. Still, it's a great story. Rereading % is high