I do think this is a very good point. Kloff had much more awareness of the violence and risks he was inflicting whilst Aeroc was more so ignorance, although i would raise it to the level of willful ignorance since its fairly obvious that pregnant individuals are particularly more at risk. And just to note, I never argued that they had equivalent wrongs. My objective opinion is that Kloff was more in the wrong, bc his pride and his violent nature made him take things inhumanely far(if i was him, i truthfully would've let Aeroc drown). But I also wouldn't ignore the fact that Aeroc started this, unprovoked, against a young family that was minding their own business.
As for the internalized homophobia, honestly idk. I havent read a reliable translation of the third timeline so I can't say how Kloff might've been thinking, but just based on the first timeline, he really didn't seem interested. He didn't really respond to calls on him unless he had to, didnt seek out Aeroc to spend time, just no notable interest yet immensely distressed by Rapiel's passing. Aeroc even notes that Kloff only genuinely smiled at Rapiel. Honestly the third timeline sounds like retconning, but i do agree that there had to be baseline attraction for Kloff to keep fucking Aeroc. At that point of the first timeline, I personally would not call it 'liking' someone though. Kloff violating Aeroc was more equivalent to a serial rapist getting off on sexually violating/dominating another. But that doesn't equate to like or love.
I'd probably keep saying this until the day i get dragged to the asylum but nothing in season 1 felt like love. It felt like one-sided idolization + violent trauma bonding. I think thats why season 2 is so significant though, because it gave them both an opportunity to act differently on their regrets. Even though Kloff doesn't remember the events the way Aeroc does, the bond they formed in S1 influences S2 Kloff every step of the way.
1. No one, literally no one, is denying that Aeroc initiated things “unprovoked.” You said you were shocked that Kloff gets more hate than Aeroc, and your argument was that Kloff loved Raphael so much that everything he did (rape included) was somehow done out of “love” for him. THAT IS NOT LOVE, and it is NOWHERE near normal. No one, except the weirdo who claimed they’d do the same thing as Kloff, would ever treat the man who “killed” their wife and unborn child that way. You would have let Aeroc drown because you didn’t have any twisted, sexual motivations, but Kloff did.
2. Kloff shows clear signs of internalized homophobia in the manhwa, not only the novel, like when he sees two alphas kissing and reacts violently. And yes, he is absolutely a serial rapist. And his children see that too, which is why they left as well.
3. I genuinely despise Kloff. Even though it’s canon that he loved Aeroc, I’m not going to debate it because he’s still a disgusting character. But Aeroc, unfortunately, is in love with him. We see it in his dying wish for Kloff to say he loves him, in the way he stays with him in the second timeline, and in how he clings to even the smallest kindness Kloff shows him in the first timeline. It is canon that Aeroc basically worships the ground he walks on, which is a huge character flaw in my opinion. I hope the next volume of the novel he finds someone new (which i doubt will happen, but a girl can dream). There was also no trauma bonding; there was no bonding in general, just rape and torture, then death.
What gets under my skin isn’t even them defending Kloff, it’s the whole “why does Kloff get more hate than Aeroc?” nonsense they keep spewing.
Oh also! Chapter 9 OG kloff talks about how he likes aeroks eyes and lips but aerok is out of his league and hes “realistic” then he gets caught staring at aerok like a perve and thats when he runs out to meet an omega. Then he compares the two off the jump so you know thats why he went with rapiel. Anyway just more proof he was gaslighting aerok and they did have a thing kloff was just a coward. And the way he rubs in his new relationship and gets extra affectionate to rapiel to piss aerok off is very little boy im mad i like you so im going to be mean lol
Im pretty surprised by the amount of hate towards the ML. I get that he was a piece of sht in the first timeline, but honestly so was the MC. I think the whole point is that theyre both kind of terrible ppl, and they have to learn to live with their regrets.
I also think there's more sympathy for the MC bc we see more of Aeroc's suffering, but Aeroc's faults are more subtle than Kloff, who violently acts out and is more explicit. We have to remember that in the first timeline, especially while Rapiel was still alive, Kloff genuinely loved him. He did not particularly care for Aeroc, as seen when Aeroc complains that Kloff never visited without a special summons. He was also genuinely distressed by Rapiel's passing. So to find out that your loved one, AND CHILD, was essentially murdered(and it was ok) by someone you barely knew, who wanted to take your partner's place, the resulting anger would be unfathomable.
Then years later, to see this person come crawling back with his head held high and not a single apology, i'd be pretty pissed too. Rather than love, the first season was more obsession/idolization on Aeroc's part and trauma bonded on Kloff's part. It doesn't sound very romantic but nothing about their situation in the first timeline is romantic. They were both shitty and left their lives with nothing but regrets. I think that's why the bond carrying over to the second timeline is so important, bc it helped them avoid the same situation.