I love you so much for proving i'm not the only yapper who posts long paragraphs. This is genuine btw (just saying in case you misunderstand because of what I say next)
I also don't believe the blonde guy should end up with MC, and that we should look beyond the surface level cliche. When I read this sort, I try to focus more on the reasons of the red flag character, their development, and their later actions after realizing how much they took the MC for grantes. After all it's already a given that he's an arse- that's the cliche central point of this trope. The taken for granted and his red flag worse-of-his-kind love interest.
But I kind of disagree that the MC and ML here fits well together. While it's true that MC is doing wonders to ML, I have never seen any qualities in the ML where he "completes" the MC. In the end, from what I'm seeing, it's his friends that's helping with his self-esteem, which is his major character flaw, and not the ML. If, let's say, the story ends with MC finally knowing his worth, and it was in anyway related to the ML, the only reason would be because the person he thought was so above him, his "unattainable first love he loved for years" liked him. That's not the ML's quality, but his worth relative to MC's emotions, and even then it's just the icing over the cupcake made by MC's friends.
No one please say "I aint reading all that."
This is such a late reply since I didn't see this before so let me explain what I meant by ML completes MC. I don't exactly mean by him being beneficial for MC, I think their relationship is veryyy toxic. I mean this in more of two people who are opposites. For Hamin he is very shy with low confidence. There are many opportunities he most likely missed because of this. On the other hand Taerim is such a self centered asshole he also might miss out on things(like how he almost lost our cutie Hamin) because of his personality. In writing I think characters that complete eachother, means that they can make up for the flaws of the other. Instead of seeing how Taerim helps with Hamins esteem, seeing how he stood up for Hamin in the chapters where that guy was targetting Hamin. Another example of this is the mutliple times Hamin runs away because he is scared, or finally wants to end things, Taerim has always been a rock for Hamin. He(albiet in an extremely toxic way) never let Hamin run away even more so once he realized his feelings. Hamin is the kind of person who may have never been able to confess or even see himself as someone worth being loved, if it wasn't for some of the drastic measures Taerim has to take. Hamin is obviouslya saving grace for Taerim who never had to learn desire, but Taerim is how Hamin was able to continue a peaceful(ish ignoring the stress he caused himself again, they are very toxic) university life. I ofcourse want much more Taerim groveling and kissing the ground his wife walks on, but I hope this explains what I meant before. And again I am sorry for the late reply mangago never told me I got a reply and only saw it looking through my other comments lmao.
Im so glad mc has some people who genuinely want to support him without ulterior motives. While blondie might seem like a better choice i truthfully dont think he is or that after a point his “concern” didnt turn more self motivated. Taerim and Hamin are like yin and yang, Ik I’ve talked abt this in the comment section before but bare w me Hamin has low self confidence and never knows how to stand his ground. The first time he was able to create a genuine boundary came from the heartbreak he continued to feel for Taerim. Taerim is a very flawed character who was emotionally unavailable and never had a life where he had to work to get something. Hes self absorbed, selfish, rude, but had to lower himself and his confidence to try to work for Hamin. I think a lot of ppl who read this dont realize there is a lot more abt the characters than the surface level cliche of innocent virgin boy and playboy friends older brother. For characters to be a perfect fit for eachofher, that doesnt always mean it’s gonna be sunshine and rainbows. The two of them complete each other by compensating the others abundant flaws.
Ty for coming to my tedtalk