This reply came pretty late cause I just finished this now but honestly speaking, this is what trauma, depression can do to a person, especially when they don't have a good enough support system.
Cheol was still abused by his family by being forced to marry someone he didn't love, and had to live like a run-away because of everything. It looks so hard to believe how someone who still have so much in him to lose himself, at left with only a little husk, but that is yeah, what trauma do to you.
I like this contradiction despite how painful it is, the fact we as readers can feel such difference means the story-telling was good, because we are supposed to feel so crushed for someone who was so bright, and have a future ahead of him, being brough down so badly because of circumstances he couldn't control at his age and then everything gone haywire.
I geniunely hope he can get back up after all this, with or without Miyoung help because that would be his character dev and he deserved it so much (Miyoung also have so much problems, I don't know if I would be glad if he stepped in to help Cheol at this point, cause I love this, but they are both two huge mess).
I am LOVING this manhwa. The ONLY thing I feel really crushed about tho, is the fact that Cheol seems to be a completely different person, than he initially was... I understand a person changes, but there is usually a little aspect of a person of who they were before the change, that remains...
Don't get me wrong i love Cheol, but I am sad, bcs he used to be so level-headed, logical and observant regarding everything, just like his uncle, who I believe he takes after a lot.
That just makes me kind of annoyed at the enourmous lack of it later on. To the point, that everyone seems to see him as not that bright of a person, when in actuality, in highschool he seemed to be (in a few aspects) on a similar footing with Miyoung, which is why Miyoung even got interested in Cheol in their teenage years... ╥﹏╥