Responses
This makes complete sense! Or maybe he was just visiting Korea, like, some rich kid with an ongoing illness recovering in the countryside or something. Then he got worse and had to return to America for treatment
beta
I think i know what happened. I think Theo was in the military and stationed in Korea and he met Haeboms mom when she was visiting near his base. They probably went out for a bit but then he was diagnosed with the fatal illness and discharged back to America. By the time he recovered he may have figured that she moved on or it was after she died in the fire. And he probably thought it was better for Haebom to stay in Korea because if he took custody, he would have had to move to a completely new country with a language he can't speak with a complete stranger.