i love you for this comment
Bit is an understatement. As long as people can admit their favorite MLs suck balls, it’s okay to like them in fiction but better not seen hypocrisy and double standards.
Maybe if TJ had chose the foster family, he would’ve been a better person. There’s so many things he can improve on but here he is at ch 82.
I agree with you for most part like their sex dynamic, it’s what they’re used to. It’s a form of communication for them.
However, tj deserves to be left by ian. It's a lesson for him to not be greedy and egotistical of his own needs when you have relationship, "wet sand" is a symbols, or maybe he wont even get it as he's already care more about wealth from the beginning even from he was young.
I just hope that tj would embrace his sexuality, but on the other hand it wouldn't be surprising if his ending is him carrying a baby and live with a woman
I’m replying to this late but I agree with you in the sense that TJ is bound for a life of pretense. My belief is that he’ll most likely die if he stays in gangdom. He has too many enemies to live a fulfilling life till old age. And yes. Maybe he’ll realise to further secure his position as the Top Dog he’ll have to conform to gang standards of romance and marriage and probably take a wife. But I also see him obsess over Ian as the one who got away. Anyway, he’s dying IMO.
For me doyak attitude for this manhwa of "no hero no bad or good person" is always so contradictory and her making "good boys deserve kisses" is proof of how contradictory she is. And how she said that "readers can form whatever opinion they want" and she always refused to go into detail about her characters in the interview – I mean I get it, she probably didn't want to spoiler readers and intentionally make things interesting so readers can interpret whatever they want as that's free to do in fiction. But this is the reason why TJ fans always defend him, even though as a reader it's clear as a day TJ is bad person both for people around him and for Ian.
Mind you he had a chance to live with forster parents, he himself said he knew his foster parents were good but he left to choose gang life, at least ian had conscience and knew what he did is wrong despite him being stucked in a gang.
And we already being seen how Jamie also has a brother and Jamie tried to protect his brother, he didn't drag his brother into gang. Tj could have that kind of plan, but he didn't do it because deep inside he knew ian would leave if Ian's stable mentally (meaning since the beginning he's not confident with his relationship with ian as it's piled up guilt since the beginning of their meeting) I try to re read and the amount of times TJ scoffed and sneered when people compliment Ian's skill in front of him, kinda give the vibes that he's doing some kind of "fate swap" by keeping ian under (Ian's always the one being praised in the gang for his skill, unlike TJ lol)
Also doyak said there's no hero in the story wen we see Jo indirectly saved TJ and saved Ian in the story, he indirectly saved toby and her baby too now.
Saying tj is not bad person even though there's not even one good thing about him is kinda insane for me.
No character development even after years being with ian, and 3 Season in manhwa th only future I can see for him is for him to escape gang thru being in prison or if chinwoo isn't a backstabber
The thing I love about this is there’s so much nuance to their characterisation that you can’t give a black vs white testament to the characters themselves. I know readers like claiming “TJ is a bad person” or “Ian is a bad person” and most of this sentiment comes from a place of “Jo is good and the rest are bad”.
TJ and Ian did not experience a normal childhood and young adulthood the way Jo did. You cannot expect people whose initial exposure to adulthood was through the mafia and consequently gang violence to be well-adjusted civilians. The psychological complexities that comes from living that type of life and ONLY knowing that type of life makes you different from a person who had a loving family, nurtured and raised in a ‘normal’ life and didn’t have to ever deal with the dark underbelly of the world. Ian had sexual trauma and was battling drug addiction before he reached his mid 20s. What do you think Jo was doing in his early 20s? Definitely not vindictively assassinating the man who orchestrated multiple instances where he was raped while undergoing substance abuse and treated like trash.
The life they shared while in the gang creates so much complexities in TJ and Ian’s relationship. TJ wants to remain and ultimately succeed in gangdom and he hopes that the success (whatever that may be to him…top dog of the gang etc.) will give him the freedom to be open in his relationship with Ian but Ian understands that the system itself, gang culture, is built on machismo and violent masculinity, and will not allow it. Ian has suffered in gangdom and he wants better for himself and he is justifiably convinced any proximity to it will continue to derail his life. TJ can’t give up gangdom. He’s sacrificed to much for it and that’s the only life he knows. Maybe that’s why they have so much sex together. It’s easier to fuck it out than reckon with the ambiguity of the relationship and the fact you both want different things and will inevitably have to each go your own way.
One thing you cannot mistake is that they deeply love and care each other. They just loved each other at a wrong place and wrong time. Maybe if TJ didn’t make a deal with Jason to join the gang and bring Ian with him. Maybe if Ian never met David Kim. Maybe if TJ never began illegal fighting. Maybe if they both grew up in loving and nurturing homes. Maybe then they could have worked.
TJ and Ian aren’t point-black good or point-black bad they’re just human. Very flawed with their own desires and complexities. Similar with Jo. You don’t have to justify liking of disliking a character by making definitive claims on their character. I like TJ and I can also acknowledge he’s a bit of an asshole but he also has other traits that redeem his assholery. Nuance babes. Nuance!