I feel like it’s people just being moral warriors. Yes, it’s normal to be uncomfortable by rape and dark themes. It wasn’t romanized, Taeju was written to feel so much guilt over it. And no one is forcing these people to read this series, they could easily just click away and read anything else lol
Then forget that Euihyun raped Taeju back.... Yes, Taeju may not consider it rape but it was rape. Taeju wanted to separate himself from Euihyun due to guilt but Euihyun drugged him and triggered his rut...
Does this dissolve his wrongdoings? No. But this is also like beating a dead horse since Euihyun would rather have Taeju be tied to him anyways.
The author literally could have omitted the rape part and nothing would have changed the plot. It served no purpose to the plot. So why write it in??? Readers need to protest these rape plots more vigorously, so authors & artists can cut that shit out. Its not cute, real or not
Guy's it's not real. "Why does nobody care that Taeju is a rapist!?" because its not real. He's not real. Nobody in this is real. It was a plot device for conflict and to get them together like please get over yourselves. Yes, rape is bad, we know that. This is just not real. Its a sandbox, let people get the enjoyment they want from it. It is a safe way to engage in themes we dont normally do and dont condone irl. You hooting and hollering from the rooftops about character 9474834 committing a crime against lines isnt gonna stop people from having fun and enjoying the story and what not. Let it go