Friend or Faux
Ch 27 (VERY LONG PERSONAL TAKE) I'm gonna try to have a nuanced take. Please don't take this as me defending or even liking Zion, I just like the way the author portrays Sunwoo and his situation. Honestly, I can see why the majority of comments call him gullible. But in my opinion, as someone who has read similar manhwas, he's not. I might be reading too much into it and giving him too much credit but here we go. He's better than other manhwa MCs that are flat and two-dimensional and blindly trust the word of their ML with half-hearted hesitance. Sunwoo is well aware of the risk he's taking to an extent when he trusted Sion. He's well aware of the huge possibility of Sion manipulating him. He's aware that Sion is playing games. But he's forcing himself to trust him because he doesn't want to make the same mistake others made during the time he was incriminated of rape/sexual assault, and the fact that he craves acceptance and friendship after a life of being casted out and being labelled as a liar plays a significant role as well. You can see that he doubts Sion's every move and motive, and that he actually takes the warning of others to heart. Some might think Sunwoo has disregarded Suwon(the guy who lended him manga)'s warning but no, you can tell it struck a nerve and has an effect on Sion and Sunwoo's current dynamic. He has the ability to fight back against Sion and speak up(from what we've seen)despite how easy he mellows out towards him. I can see why he's not pulling back too much because he knows Sion. He knows of his violent tendencies and his quick temper, and he has experienced what has happened when people like that are provoked. It's so hard to distance yourself from people like Sion without them snapping, which is why I don't blame Sunwoo for his cautious approach. He likes Sion and he's way too soft on him, there's is no doubt in that, but you can see that's there's still a part of him that won't senselessly shove himself all in. Not yet at least. Imo he does give Sion too much leeway with the skinship but it's reasonable for his character. He says Sion is touch-starved, but Sunwoo is too. He craves validation after all the rejection he's experienced and the touch of another makes him feel normal. You can also see that he's aware of the unhealthy Sion's definition of "love" is but he knows telling Sion that won't do shit to fix him. Sion is adamant and stubborn, and a force to be reckoned with. Sunwoo is young and honestly not in the best state to handle that, which is why he prefers to let Sion have his way. He's trying to soothe and spoil him like a parent would to their child, by obviously that's not the effective approach. Of course because we as readers are omniscient, we want Sunwoo to resist, to actively just say fuck off to Sion, but you have to understand that he's not us. He can be stupid, sure, but what can you do to handle an asshole like Sion? Ignoring him a persistent little shit like him won't do.
Negative Love