as cliched as it is, i think the childhood friends trope fits in this story particularly. it's been foreshadowed in earlier chapters too (like the scar, and the whole thing with the scent).
speaking of scents, i have this feeling that this could've been an omegaverse lmao. i mean, chaejun going into a rut whenever he smells something is very telling
hot take but i really pity jooyung lol. he's pathetic and obviously far from being a good person but he's not what i'd call evil? i feel like both of the brothers got royally fcked by their family circumstances. idk it's rare for me to come out of a story without hating anyone but this managed to make me feel for all of the characters. they all just... seem so human? i love this so much
Hot take more like good take. Based. Jooyung is really hard to hate. He so clearly wants to do the right thing but is so conflicted based on his past and feelings for his family and brother. His reality got so warped and he convinced himself his behavior was justified. And he was like struggling hard with internalized homophobia the entire time he had his previous relationship with MC (and onward), as we see near the end. This author writes characters so well and i adore it.
y'all, i get we're tired of the childhood trope. but why are we acting like this came out of the left field or that the author is trying to force the trope in here. hasn't this been foreshadowed in earlier chapters
the whole thing with their relationship is that mc's scent helps ml with his insomnia. that hasn't been explained yet, but it was hinted it had something to do with his childhood. of course mc had to be there to influence that.
also, i don't think the childhood trope reduces the relationship they formed in college? they literally don't know each other when they met. they don't remember each other yet as well, even now. they fell in love without the backstory, and there wasn't anything like "this person seems familiar and i'm attracted to him bc of this" and all that jazz.
we don't even know if they were friends. a snippet is all we've seen. let's wait for s2 before making any judgments on whether the trope ruined the story or not.
idk why everyone hates the childhood trope cuz like yea it happens a lot but usually it’s somewhat different each time, and it adds something interesting to the story at least. Like yea they could just give him some trauma that doesn’t involve mc and just have him like his smell or sumn, but it does all make sense plotwise what theyre doing