Love seeing a sane person on this site! Amazing take I totally agree
I think that since the new guy is most probably Jaeyi's brother, who seems to be the golden child of the family, while Jaeyi is the black sheep, Jaeyi has quite a bit of resentment towards him. So we ought to discover whether the resentment is based on actual actions he did or fermented by the family playing favorite. Cuz Jaeyi did mention that his brother used his heart condition to steal from him, if I remember correctly.
So I feel like this new character was due to come out, and while he might still be an occasion for Ideum to come out of his she'll, he's definitely there to move things forward on Jaeyi's side, who's doing a lot of loving things for Ideum, but in regards of understanding his own feelings he's still pretty oblivious.
But I forgot to tell you that your comment was so good omg. Yes Ideum is so well written, I DID NOT expect for this manhwas to be this good honestly. It's both realistic without being too clinical and a good plot without overdramatized typical plot devices at the same time.
I'm becoming very fond of Ideum, cuz I relate a lot, and he's just so... Ugh
Okay okay one last thing. You can REALLY tell the author LOVES Ideum DOWN!! This story is showing us his journey, his GROWTH, to become independent outside of his home, make new connections and to embrace self-love. All the little moments and experiences he missed out on before, he’s finally getting to experience them now with Jaeyi’s help <33
And THAT’S why I’m actually so happy Jaeyi didnt go with him on his first session. He needs to learn how to take that first step himself and experience things independently outside his comfort zone. (But I love Jaeyi so much because he still tried to make the whole lesson as comfortable as possible for him in the bg, he actually got my whole heart)
And honestly I don’t even care about the new rando guy, yeah he’s hot to look at but I feel like his purpose is just to give Ideum more exposure to other people and different situations. If it does cause drama I doubt the author would drag it out,, If anything they might use it as another new experience for Ideum to learn how to deal with something potentially messy, which i’m assuming is something he’s never had the chance to do before