beta
Seijin did a horrible wrong to Ido. He not only destroyed years worth of work for an entire company, but he even gave it away to a rival company. As readers we are focused on the romance, so we can make excuses for Seijin and say, “He didn’t know how bad it would be”. But if this were reality, then think of how his actions wouldn’t just affect the company's owners, it would affect the employees too.
Think of how many people will likely be laid off as a result of the company losing out that much money. Some of the people who are depending on their job to put food on the table for their family are going to find themselves in crisis situations. Maybe some dad will commit suicide leaving his family in ruins. Maybe kids will end up in orphanages when their parents can’t afford to take care of them. And all because Seijin needed to be loved at any price.
But the goal of the author, I think, is for us to feel sorry for Seijin, and feel sympathy for him. We’re supposed to say, “He didn’t know” when in fact he DID know that what he was doing was wrong. That’s why he hesitated. He just didn’t know HOW wrong. He focused on having a family to return to, even if he had to screw people over to guarantee it.
What happened to Seijin, in his past life was awful, but I feel like the author proved what kind of person Seijin is at his core. Because even in his present life, where he wasn’t suffering, he STILL did that.
You can blame trauma from child abuse and whatever else, but someone who will rationalize why a behavior they suspect is wrong, isn’t wrong, even while knowing full well what kind of person, the one making the request to do wrong is, can only be someone who is selfish. Theft is bad. Making excuses for morally wrong behavior is shameless, blaming everything on Ido after regaining his memories is just proof our how self centered Seijin is… I can’t sincerely root for him.