You SAID IT girl (๑•ㅂ•)و✧
I also want to add TJ's inferiority complex, and how he's holding onto Jason's words, part of the reason why he treated Ian like that. He believed jason words where he said distant is necessary (but jason said this to keep them safe, as how close relationship would put it as weakness especially in gang world, and the rival mafia could y'know... Kill one of them to threaten them as the person is their weakness) the reason why he's playing a game of push and pull with ian, and Jason words kinda work because Ian always went back to him. Also want to point out how TJ witnessed Ian easily lost interest with his exes, he broke up fast, and TJ probably felt like if they became boyfriend, Ian would quickly lost interest just like Ian's past relationship. Lol it's so much text XD
Actual banger of a spot on analysis, you win this comment section ngl
even as a tj stan i mostly agree w u except for the last part where u said “(unless) tj magically changes in a last minute which would be strange because this man is consistent for 20 years already”. most people haven’t noticed this but he has been changing since the beginning of the story. i’d even go as far as to say that so far in the story, tj has had the most <positive> development. tj is introduced as this psychotic, obsessive ex that believes ian belongs to him, and that nobody other than him can handle ian. we see the dirty tactics he used to keep ian w him. but then we also slowly see him realising he actually values ian’s safety AND his happiness above keeping ian by his side. we see him leaving quietly when he sees ian smiling w jo. when he almost gets into that car crash when jason dies, ian comes running to him. tj’s monologue says he felt relief seeing ian’s worried face, relief that ian wasnt in the car with him. this is a stark contrast to the previous tj who would be happy when ian was worrying over him. ian says he’ll kill the people who tried to harm him, and tj warns him to stay away from the funeral. this was tj’s chance to rope ian back into the gang with him like he’s always wanted, but he doesn't do that. instead, he disappears after the funeral to keep ian away from the mess. i used to think its a lil unrealistic for tj who has been doing the same shit for like 15 years to have development so suddenly, but i believe it’s a conscious choice by doyak to show him changing right after jason dies. we also see tj questioning his decision to remain in the gang (his words: “what exactly have i been doing this for all this time?”). we see him selling the california house which i personally saw as him moving out of jason’s influence since jason promised to build them all houses. i would also like to point out that tj would never marry a woman while keeping ian on the side: he had the opportunity to marry Big Boss’s daughter and move up the ladder of the gang quite easily yet he refused to do so. also, after he leaves we have a whole monologue of tj where he admits that he did everything to keep ian by his side: keeping his scar etc etc. and then he thinks: “you’re free now, do what you want.” he lets go of ian. u could say well back in the bathroom he was back to the same old bullshit, which is realistic imo. yes he made up his mind to let ian go, but his obsession has lasted 20 years.
one v important thing that i would like to correct u on is that jason never said those things to tj to keep the two of them safe. jason was NOT a good guy. jason wanted complete control over tj to mold him to his liking. however, with ian always by tj’s side, doing so wouldn't be easy. this is why he suggested motocross racing to ian. this is why he told tj to have his walls up. hell, jason even knew david kim was interested in ian and would bring trouble, but didnt do anything to warn them. jason took advantage of a very vulnerable teenager, fed him bullshit to rope him further into the gang because he saw “potential” in a child. tj is and always will be a victim of jason’s grooming, which does NOT excuse his actions towards ian but should be acknowledged. sorry for the lengthy rant but fuck jason he’s literally scum of the earth, im so glad he died suffering.
I understand your point, and I do see the subtle change in tj, but when he "let go" and let "ian free" he thinks of Jason's words even in the car, that's Jason's influence, he's been doing this push and pull game. And there's even words of him questioning using Jason's words while remembering Jason. Holding it as if that's a mantra that ian would come back after their distant/separation.
Jason is indeed a manipulative gang man, and indeed he did this to keep his gang established, but he also the one who let go of ian, and he felt guilt (hence the money) Distraction isn't something that can be afforded in gang life.
For me the last changing (after so long) of TJ is a depiction of his tragedy. His ending would be "it's too late" kinda thing. Also of course he wants to keep Ian safe, like OBVIOUSLY DUH lol, if ian got harmed then he would lose Ian. And gang life is harsh even when you quit, people who hold grudges on you would try to bite your ass. Tj keeping ian safe is not his change, he's already doing that since in their youthful days. Though his way was wrong.
Selling the mansion, the reason hasn't yet been revealed, but we can assume it's his development.
Cmiiw but there's inner monologue of Jason, correction “not literally saying want to keep them safe”, but he noticed how destructive their closeness is, and even there's panel of him staring at tj, and his creepy conversation with his wife. I'm too lazy to re read to drop the chapter number.
The thing with ian and tj, I see the next arc as their closure, but I can be wrong. Ian might go back to tj again, knowing all the truth, and then using excuse to protect jo. The foreshadowing for jo, tj, and ian, are still hanging and dyk would for sure fire it in this season.
And
Yep I never trust grown man adopting "kids" into gang, unrelated a bit, that's why I dislike Jaeil from Pearl Boy lol.
The damage TJ did to Ian is more than the goods he did to him.
So let me point this out a bit, this is what the story is about (though I feel like I don't need to explain if people properly read the manhwa, they would immediately understand).
We saw Joseph in the first chapter and how Ian felt immediate attraction; he subconsciously got attached, even looking forward to seeing that "weird guy taking pictures of trash." He even wondered about him when he didn’t see Joseph going out from restaurant. Ian is someone who’s quick to cut off his FWBs, yet somehow he can’t bring himself to stop the stubborn Joseph.
"It’s because Jo is persistent" so were his ex-FWBs who begged Ian, yet Ian could easily cut them off. But with Jo, Ian is always subconsciously smiling. He’s even confused about why he rejected a handsome blonde man in a bar who was trying to get him into bed, it’s so unlike him. He even felt the need to explain himself when Jo first caught him with a man in his room (something Ian himself found so unlike him), and he felt bad seeing Joseph’s sad face. He also cared about the moment Jo asked him to go with him. He cared about Jo's hobby, he even questioned "why am I doing this" like uhmmmmm ok Ian, you are in love but the fate don't want you to realize about it yet, because you need to put an end of your "karma place (gang and tj)"
Ian has slept with so many men, and yet he somehow (for the plot) can’t stop himself from getting involved with Jo, despite constantly saying he would leave. Jo and Ian are established in the present, while Ian and TJ are mostly about the past. I don’t think I need to explain more about the JoIan dynamic, because it’s just natural human-to-human interaction. (Did I mention that it’s rare for Ian to smoke when he’s near Jo? Or the way Ian suddenly becomes a poet when describing Jo? his blue eyes, how his beauty mark is so sexy, how Jo is more handsome than his brother, and how he went apeshit when he found out a stalker was targeting Joseph? An how he stopped his one night stand habit when he's with Jo!!!!)
Ian falls in love with Joseph subconsciously, and I say subconsciously because he has never felt like this in his entire life, someone like him who never saw what genuine love without ulterior motive. That’s why it would take time for him to realize that “
"oh, so this is love" moment. Not to mention his issues with the gang, his debt to TJ, his addiction to TJ, and his dark ties to the gang with people who hold grudges against him, which means he could put Jo in danger if Jo gets involved with him (it's a fact, Jo and hi whole family are indeed can be in danger, especially now that Jo got involved with Jamie)
This is mucho texto, but the comparison is necessary.
Now TjYw tings
Ian had sex with many men while he was "close" with TJ, while TJ slept with women too, so both were playing around.
Ian started their relationship after he killed David Kim, asked TJ to have sex, symbolism of him "replacing" his drug addiction with TJ (I blame Ian a bit for this tbh he was so ready to have sex with any man during this, and even TJ saw how unstable Ian was, but he still slept with him because TJ did like Ian).
The relationship continued with both sleeping around with different people, yeah, TJ even had a girlfriend and an ex-fiancée.
Ian asked TJ about the nature of their relationship, clearly showing that he too liked TJ, but TJ said they were more than that. Okay. They went on with their gang life, killing and all.
Ian became numb and killed a subordinate in act of self defense, he felt guilty about it. TJ knew it could be ruled as self-defense for Ian, but nahhh—he needed to "control" Ian so Ian wouldn’t lose himself. He might think it’s a good thing to put Ian in prison, as TJ fans said it was to protect Ian or whatever (forgetting the fact that it must be traumatizing for Ian because his mom DIED IN PRISON!!! FUCK TJ FOR THIS IDC). He also proceeded to put DEBT on Ian, making him pay protection money that he couldn’t pay easily, and TJ also told people to call Ian to do business as a DRUG COURIER. Forgetting the fact that every day Ian struggled to keep his mind sane from relapsing into drugs again, he kept smoking to distract himself, he used sex as a replacement for sleeping pills because he was afraid he would relapse.
Ian said his feelings for TJ wilted as they spent time in the gang.
Ian called TJ his karma place.
Ian tested TJ and called him a coward in a bathroom bar during their younger day. Now, in the latest chapter, Ian tested TJ again, and he saw how TJ still chose the gang over living normally.
Ian CLEARLY SAID he "didn’t want to go back," implying he didn’t want this kind of relationship with TJ, but he wanted them to at least seek redemption and work normally as you know... normal citizens with normal work, starting from zero again (TJ didn’t want it because he would be nobody and yeah he needs power so Ian would be with him (his words) but despite that he loves the glory and wealth he got from this (it's even mentioned in the chapter "The more he gained the more he wanted, his heart began to beat relentlessly amidst a sea of money") TJ fans took this toilet arc scene as if Ian wanted to elope with TJ, when the context clearly showed how Ian worried about their fate in the mafia world after messing with brown bear. At the end of the day, TJ is his friend and family that he’s known for a long time, so the attachment is valid, and it’s also valid to not want to see your only "family" dead).
Ian finally snapped about his broken leg and TJ’s scar. TJ froze because he was used to Ian always feeling guilty for him and not questioning him like that.
TJ was overly confident he could handle Ian, but then came Joseph, the man who somehow finally made TJ nervous. Mind you, TJ was indeed jealous of Ian’s past FWBs, so at first he thought Ian would leave this Joseph guy, y'know like always, Ian always came back despite playing around with other men and TJ is confident about it, but the more he saw Jo, the more irritated he got. In the toilet, he even realized Ian’s behavior had changed because of that guy, "Joseph Landi."
This fucking thing has been going on for 20 years.
And TJ fans are confused about why people hate TJ? It’s valid to hate him. I also like red-flag or black-flag men, but you would never catch me defending them for getting hated, because I know not all people would tolerate something like that in fiction.
Also the ending of this manhwa would be obvious if doyak is consistent about the pattern of Ian wanting to escape from his dark side. But again, in BL sometimes we can't really predict the ending. Who knows if the ending is ian going back to tj while losing himself again in a gang (the only way I can see their ending is the bad ending for Ian's life, tj would marry for connection, and ian kept being his personal only gay man wife) or tj magically changed in a last minute which would be strange because this man is consistent for 20 years already, and he loves wealth so much so personally it would be realistic if his ending would be him realizing that after having everything, he finally feel what most people at the top felt ... Emptiness. Or him learning that Jason's advice is wrong because he's still holding on onto that)
If joian end game, jo would do anything for ian, he would be loyal (even now he's not playing around with women) and they can travel around the world with jo's camera and ian finally living the life he missed in his youth.
But again, we can't really predict shit in love triangle.