omg thats actually a really interesting thory...
i think if seongho had any such intentions they would have been in the past and those intentions have gone away now that he actually fell for NK. tbh i think the tailor scene was actually just him being horny and he didnt have other intentions? but it is a very fair point.
That’s really a great theory, I agree on the part that Seungho is sharper than it seems. He may do questionable things, but not to the edge of being called a psycho, but doing it ultimately with a purpose.
I would agree with that if the story seems to be just a love story but it isn't. The author is setting the story up around SH's past and the intrigue around what was done to him by his father. And based on that I don't think we will just get some quick exposition via flashback showing us what happened. I think SH has a whole revenge plan that has been set into motion way before his father made contact with him (I think his father reaching out was what SH was waiting for to expose his plan).
Also, look at the way that SH lives his life. Everything he does is a subject of discussion for low borns to nobles. He exposes everything he does (or what he wants to expose) yet he has the money, connections and intelligence to keep what he does discreet but he chooses not to. He also chooses to show very salacious and embarrassing intimacies knowing that this will be fodder for gossip and in turn making him seem too consumed by his depravities to be someone to be taken seriously (or plotting some sort of payback) by others.
I do think his attachment to NK is sincere but he isn't at the stage that he would drop what he may have in the works for him. I think he has been laying the foundation for years and he wouldn't just drop that.
I see SH as someone that is more than what he appears to be. He has his private life in everyone's mouths yet he hold himself with true confidence and dignity. And I don't think that's just from being a noble. Look at the other noblemen he surrounds himself with. They can be cocky and entitled and come off as bratty and insecure. SH is miles past them.
I see SH as a type villain/ antihero who pretends to be one thing to lull his enemies into underestimating him. He would have to for he is apparently all alone.
This type of person would be opportunistic and single minded in their goal and would use anyone and anything if they saw a way to make themselves appear even more of a joke in his enemies' eyes.
SH is very aware of how NK and his relationship would look to others. I thought he just wanted to raise NK up socially so that there was no question as to what NK's place in SH's life was and that still could be...but why leave it at just that. And why make the comment, that obnoxious ex-lover did during the hunt, about SH's motivations to bring NK to the gossipy tailor. I just don't believe the writer through that there for nothing and I also stopped thinking that this story is only a love story when the exposition of SH's past is being held back with very little hints.
Yes, I agree. I have never gotten psycho out of him. At least not in the way we think of psychos, I guess. I think at the beginning of the story he seemed to be unstable (he holds a lot of rage) but as the story progressed he became calmer and more centered.
SH is intentional in what he does. I think the outlier is NK. He was an unexpected curve ball for SH and he didn't know how to react to him. Then for him to quickly have a rival that had been deified in NK's mind cause the rage he already had to be centered around NK. That's what cause the outbursts.
Spoilers of past chapters below
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I'll start by saying that I seriously must re-read this series from beginning to end and try to focus on the story more...
That out of the way...
I have questions about Seungho's motivation for two events specifically.
The first starts our story and that's Seungho's interest in NK's paintings.
Was it really about the erotica and his difficulty to be turned on? I mean, he can't fake that and I think SH's motivation to get at his father would drive him to keep pushing himself sexually and to continue to push forward his reputation as being openly promiscuous.
I know the romanticized realism of NK's art may be the reason this helped SH with his dysfunction but SH is too cunning (as his father found out after receiving that "letter"). He didn't waste nor hesitate to use his private art when sharing it with "friends" or when he saw a way to get back at his father. I may be wrong but so far I haven't found that this author wastes what they put on the page. it usually build to something or it seems to be held back to use it later.
I started wondering if NK's art (his talent stands apart from the erotica circulating at this time) is building up to something. Whether it is to help him to rise in status, or if will be weaponized in the next season at some other character. It just stands out too much to be just a tool to reach Seungho's "heart".
The other "event" that made me question whether SH is laying some elaborate plan was the use of the gossipy tailor to make clothing for NK (an apparent servant - NK objects!). Ever since that instigating ex boy toy of SH's questioned him about it, it has stuck in my craw. SH wanted to spread that he is serious about a "servant"? Why?
The thing I can't accept is that it is just meant to be a humiliation for SH's father/family.
Is he trying to diminish his younger brother's chances at acquiring a government position by dragging their name deeper into the mud?
Is he trying to lower someone else's guard by sinking his own pride and subjecting himself to being a laughingstock by openly and publicly showing himself to be attaching himself to a low born?
I am not saying he isn't interested in NK. It may have already crossed the line to love territory for him but I see SH as a mastermind, a man that doesn't show his cards to the extent that no one is aware he is in the game and winning. I see him as a man that can juggle things happening in his personal life and outside of it smoothly.
There's more to him than meets the eye, more than how sexy he is and more than his interest in NK. I feel NK may be unexpected chance at redemption more than anything else.
So any thoughts or any other takes? Are there any other events that stuck out to you? I hope you share. Thanks.