Mucho TEXTO from me

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.