**MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS** this is for all of yall who are curious to why some of us dont like jowoon
okay let me start off like this - i dont particularly hate him. like i dont loathe him from the bottom of my heart nor do i hope he dies or whatever. speaking strictly from a character standpoint, i think he's intruiging and multidimensional and different than other male leads. but is he a good person and a good romantic interest? in my opinion, no.
there's an inherent power difference between haesoo and jowoon. jowoon is the rich son of a ceo, a famous celebrity, and more or less haesoo sees him as having direct control over his emotions and the fate of his mom (and her resturant). i wouldn't really see this as much of a problem in other settings, but here it seems jowoon is acting deliberately oblivious to how his status and thus his actions negatively affect haesoo's life. most notably is haesoo's relationship with his mom, which has pretty much gone down the drain since she saw them together. plus, the audience is told early on that jowoon is pretty perceptive (he's able to tell when haesoo is jealous and what not easily in the previous chapters) so its not a stretch to say all his gifts and words and sexual favors, a product of his place in society, are meant to manipulate haesoo to be the partner he wants, even if this is a work in progress. (tai's comment below kind of perfectly describes what im trying to say)
now im not saying jowoon doesn't love haesoo. i think that in his own fucked up way, he does have feelings for him, but it seems more like he views haesoo as some inferior being or (this may be a stretch but) object that he owns. jowoon clearly doesn't think much of haesoo's aspirations as a writer, and he doesnt even ask for his opinions on writing his own book before asking his dad for it. even then, it's more of a 'look haesoo im going to do this enormous favor for you and make you happy so you love me' rather than a genuine 'i really want to help your career and help you accomplish your dreams'. in fact, i dont think jowoon has even read any of haesoo's works, given that haesoo admits he writes abt his stepbrother and no where does jowoon comment on that. and there are other scenes that kind of show this, like when he gave haesoo a car just so he didn't have to be driven by taku and that scene when he comes inside haesoo despite being explicitly told not to... ugh that made me so uncomfortable rip
THIS IS FOR ALL OF YOU UGLIES THAT THINK HAESOO'S A WHORE FOR SLEEPING AROUND (spoilers for chap 35)
first of all, let me be clear that jowoon has never explicitly acted or implied that they are in a relationship, which means haesoo is SINGLE and can sleep with who ever he wants. if jowoon is jealous over haesoo flirting around thats on him because (spoiler!!!!) he's the god damn one who said that he was happiest when the four of them (jowoon, his dad, haesoo, and his mother) were together and he specifically told haesoo not to like him. i think from the flashback scenes we are shown its pretty obvious that haesoo had feelings for jowoon and if jowoon hadn't told him these exact words, their relationship probably could have progressed for the better. so in my head, i blame jowoon for his mess of a relationship.
there are probably more reasons that im too forgetting right now, but this comment is already so long so im sure you can figure them out
**MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS** this is for all of yall who are curious to why some of us dont like jowoon
okay let me start off like this - i dont particularly hate him. like i dont loathe him from the bottom of my heart nor do i hope he dies or whatever. speaking strictly from a character standpoint, i think he's intruiging and multidimensional and different than other male leads. but is he a good person and a good romantic interest? in my opinion, no.
there's an inherent power difference between haesoo and jowoon. jowoon is the rich son of a ceo, a famous celebrity, and more or less haesoo sees him as having direct control over his emotions and the fate of his mom (and her resturant). i wouldn't really see this as much of a problem in other settings, but here it seems jowoon is acting deliberately oblivious to how his status and thus his actions negatively affect haesoo's life. most notably is haesoo's relationship with his mom, which has pretty much gone down the drain since she saw them together. plus, the audience is told early on that jowoon is pretty perceptive (he's able to tell when haesoo is jealous and what not easily in the previous chapters) so its not a stretch to say all his gifts and words and sexual favors, a product of his place in society, are meant to manipulate haesoo to be the partner he wants, even if this is a work in progress. (tai's comment below kind of perfectly describes what im trying to say)
now im not saying jowoon doesn't love haesoo. i think that in his own fucked up way, he does have feelings for him, but it seems more like he views haesoo as some inferior being or (this may be a stretch but) object that he owns. jowoon clearly doesn't think much of haesoo's aspirations as a writer, and he doesnt even ask for his opinions on writing his own book before asking his dad for it. even then, it's more of a 'look haesoo im going to do this enormous favor for you and make you happy so you love me' rather than a genuine 'i really want to help your career and help you accomplish your dreams'. in fact, i dont think jowoon has even read any of haesoo's works, given that haesoo admits he writes abt his stepbrother and no where does jowoon comment on that. and there are other scenes that kind of show this, like when he gave haesoo a car just so he didn't have to be driven by taku and that scene when he comes inside haesoo despite being explicitly told not to... ugh that made me so uncomfortable rip
THIS IS FOR ALL OF YOU UGLIES THAT THINK HAESOO'S A WHORE FOR SLEEPING AROUND (spoilers for chap 35)
first of all, let me be clear that jowoon has never explicitly acted or implied that they are in a relationship, which means haesoo is SINGLE and can sleep with who ever he wants. if jowoon is jealous over haesoo flirting around thats on him because (spoiler!!!!) he's the god damn one who said that he was happiest when the four of them (jowoon, his dad, haesoo, and his mother) were together and he specifically told haesoo not to like him. i think from the flashback scenes we are shown its pretty obvious that haesoo had feelings for jowoon and if jowoon hadn't told him these exact words, their relationship probably could have progressed for the better. so in my head, i blame jowoon for his mess of a relationship.
there are probably more reasons that im too forgetting right now, but this comment is already so long so im sure you can figure them out