I agree completely with this comment. I think most of these comments are from people who haven’t been to therapy and don’t understand that you can be empathetic to someone and understand their actions while not forgiving / excusing their actions. Like my therapist use to say, “it’s not a justification but an explanation” which helps the victim feel less guilty thinking “am I the issue? Did this happen because of me” when in reality it’s as you said “hurt people, hurt people”. Not to say every person with a bad past continues this cycle but it takes a lot of healthy communication and therapy to end toxic and abusive cycles. It’s not an easy thing. We see this is previous chapters where kids from the boxing place were given an outlet to escape their broken homes through boxing, but some ended up going down a bad path of crime. While JK did escape that path, he didn’t escape perpetuating cycle of abuse onto romantic relationships. I think that’s a given and most people get that he needs a lot more growth to be able to communicate and love healthy. I don’t think the author is giving him a backstory so we forgive him. The author said in previous author notes that she wants JK to grow and suffer from the consequences of his actions, so by having us forgive him right away it wouldn’t make sense with the plot. I believe this is the beginning of his wake up call and hopefully once he realizes how his actions hurt people, he will make atonement. This story reminds of “low tide in twilight”. I remember the comments for that story were full of those saying taeui was irredeemable (which at the time he was bc he hadn’t made proper amends) until we got to the part where it was the start of his redemption arc. But like you said, I hope JK grows and makes big atonement for all the abuse and horrible things he’s done.
some of you need to have better empathy. is JK a good person in present time? no, obviously not. we’ve seen him do stupid shit time and time again. we’ve seen him choose the wrong path when it involves dan time and time again. this backstory isn’t meant to be an “excuse” it’s meant to explain why he is the way he is. hurt people, hurt people. we are all a product of our surroundings. of what’s happened to us, of what we see, of what we have to do to survive. of the consequences of our actions and the trauma inflicted to us by others. could he have taken this and decided to turn his life around and be better? sure. but if that’s how all of us reacted to trauma the world would be a much better place and that’s just not realistic. i’m glad to finally see his origin story. i hope he never looses what he’s worked so hard to make for himself and of himself. in the same turn, i hope present him does decide to turn himself around and be better.