They feel better as friends

I think it was Eunhyuk, he was always the one buying that for her in highschool

I know it’s hard when your fave isn’t the endgame or the ML, and I get it, but pls read the story properly, with all due respect
Strawberry milk has ALWAYS been Suae’s favorite, and Eunhyuk knows that. He’s bought it for her multiple times??? Dohwa doesn’t even know she’s in the hospital, while Eunhyuk was the one by her side. The level of delulu is actually insane eun and sooae will never be just friend yk

It was definitely Eunhyuk.

LMFAO ARE YOU BEING FOR REAL

You assumed I have a favorite? I don't. I'm on a quest to figure out who the true male lead is and what the story is about. So we see that after Suae told Eunhyuk to fuck off, she woke up, and there was the bottle of water, strawberry milk, and her phone. She assumed Eunhyuk bought it for her, so she didn't drink it until some time later. She went out, and she saw him sleeping. She woke him up, but he didn't respond. She had to rouse him harder for him to wake up.

(1) Why was her phone outside of her bag?
(2) We saw Eunhyuk buy a Pocari for himself, and there was no strawberry milk available in the vending machine (unless he went far and wide to buy it for her).
(3) There are instances in the chapter where we can consider the possibility that Dohwa might have visited her.
(4) Eunhyuk didn't have the initiative to buy her anything until Suae ordered him to buy necessities.

And I find it hilarious for you to label me as delusional when I am theorizing like an average reader would. Does a different opinion mean it is absolute and an enemy? Can't we think critically here? I am not interested in entertaining fan wars. I am here to read and convene with other readers ABOUT the story.

I disagree.

The strawberry milk was Eunhyuk and Sooae thing, thats him
« There are instances in the chapter where we can consider the possibility that Dohwa might have visited her » could you elaborate, bc i cant find any int ? That would not make sense, otherwise it would have been shown

LOL strawberry milk has more ties to sooae's highschool ex than it does with Dohwha

holy shit.....thank u caleb's sister....ive finally solved it, Minu is finally making a comeback, hes been the real male lead all along

you play too much LADs there’s no universe dohwa would do this after blocking her and being the reason things blew up in her face. nice try.

GIRL, NOT YOU TURNING STRAWBERRY MILK INTO A DOHWA PROPHECY “That didn’t feel like something Eunhyeok would do” BASED ON WHAT??? Your personal headcanon? LMAOOOO.

“I'm just theorizing like an average reader” Girl, nobody said you can't theorize. The problem is acting like every detail you can question automatically supports your Dohwa theory while treating Eunhyeok's involvement as impossible.

(1) Her phone being outside her bag doesn't automatically mean Dohwa was there. Where's the canon evidence connecting that detail to him?

(2) Eunhyeok buying Pocari for himself doesn't prove he couldn't have bought strawberry milk elsewhere. The vending machine not having it only means it wasn't available THERE. Unless the chapter confirms he couldn't get it anywhere else, that's not proof against him.

(3) “There are instances where we can consider Dohwa might have visited” is literally speculation. You can consider the possibility, but you can't use the possibility itself as evidence that he did.

(4) Su-ae telling Eunhyeok to buy necessities doesn't prove he was incapable of taking initiative afterward. People can change their behavior, especially when they're trying to make amends.

And let's not pretend the scene confirms Dohwa bought the drinks either. You're questioning the Eunhyeok interpretation while giving the Dohwa interpretation a pass despite neither being established by the details you're listing. That's the inconsistency.

You're allowed to theorize, babe. Just distinguish what the chapter actually shows from what you're imagining between the panels. Calling it a theory doesn't make it canon, and calling yourself unbiased doesn't make your interpretation automatically more critical than anyone else's.

I've never played Love and Deepspace, but I do know Caleb. And this picture from a player on Twitter was aesthetic to me, so I downloaded it and set it as my profile picture here. I've been thinking of changing it since last week in support of Valko. Currently looking for cool and epic images of him.

No. I was basing it on his motivations and current afflictions.

Hi, I am not a player of LADs, but I do know the game and the character. This picture was aesthetic to me back then, but I don't really feel that way anymore. With the current goings-on of Valko's cancellation . And your attempt at sarcasm is funny, could be better though.

So, considering the style of the author and artist of OTL, they mostly use implications and symbolism. Why I thought it could be Dohwa was because of:

1. Eunhyuk bought a Pocari for himself, and the scene with the vending machine did not show a strawberry milk product (unless he went out of his way to buy one).

2. Eunhyuk's current state of mind. As we can read from his monologue, for him, everything went hazy, like a bit of dissociation. He was also tired and stressed. And he was only able to buy things for Suae when he was ordered to buy some necessities by her.

3. There were moments in the chapter where we can consider the possibility that Dohwa might have visited. The most notable and probable part was when the water bottle, strawberry milk, and her phone were on the bedside table. Eunhyuk was sleeping outside after he was kicked out by Suae. Judging from how it was a bit difficult to rouse him, it might've been easy to go undetected.

Now, your opposing argument may have been right. I was basing on the events and personalities of the character to deduce my opinion. But to be honest, it was intuition. The prospect that Dohwa might visit was very low in this chapter, until the close-up drawing of the strawberry milk. After thinking about it, I find it mystifying how Dohwa popped into my mind the minute I saw it. I reread and analyzed the last two chapters to understand and make sense of it. These are what I came up with.

About what you guys said about the strawberry milk being an Eunhyuk-Suae thing, I can't seem to remember that. I'll keep that in mind.

okay, i’ll respond rationally. this will be long and there’s a lot more to say, but i’m actually gonna take you serious since i can see you’re a genuine person and i feel a little bad for clowning on you earlier.

here is why i don’t think it’s dohwa:
for starters, dohwa completely blocked and ghosted her, something he’s done in the past after rejection like clock work, but this time the reason for leaving her is a bit more complex. his scandal with his father and the scandal between him and suae call for distance because he doesn’t want to bring unnecessary attention to her. because of everything, going outside brings unnecessary attention to himself. but let’s say it was him, i think it’s extremely selfish considering she’s in the hospital because of his fans, fans who stalk him, if he shows up to her hospital room that’s endangering her again and an extremely selfish act because what do you mean he’ll drop off strawberry milk at her bedside but won’t go in and apologize for putting her in danger. doesn’t seem like a dohwa thing to do, he gives his all or nothing at all, i can’t envision him lurking where nobody can see him to give her kind little treats without showing his face, he’s a bold character. which, being seen outside her room IS putting her in danger, that’s another way paparazzi or crazy fans can see them together after his company put out a statement saying they’re just friends.

second, we’ve seen eunhyuk make note of strawberry before, in high school, and when suae took his cigarette and smoked it, he looked at the cigarette, put it in his mouth and said “strawberry flavor” after accusing her of never changing and seeing her chapstick line on his cigarette. this indicates that he still knows suae the way he thinks he knows her based off the flavor of her chapstick, which resulted in him bringing her strawberry milk, something she drank a lot of around him in the past and all the information and habits he has to go off of, the past. he’s run out to the store in the recent chapter and she’s complained that the food is bland, i’d imagine he’s bringing her strawberry milk because he knows she likes it.

thirdly, dohwa has been rejected for the third time. and like habit, he goes away. this is a true fact of his character because while eunhyuk was gone for 10 years, so was dohwa. he wasn’t with her all that time and he had 10 years worth of opportunity to make a move and be there for suae but wasn’t. with dohwa truly, genuinely, being distraught and crying saying, “why won’t it ever be me” indicating that he knows his feelings aren’t reciprocated i can’t foresee him wanting to bother her to any level, at least not yet. i’d imagine it’s embarrassing for him to show up around her or even make himself known to her after what happened with them. especially when he says, “we can’t be friends” and suae fights him on it saying that they can be friends! but the rejection of it and not getting over her is too much so he needs distance, he needs time.

lastly, to address them being better off as friends, while i think there is potential for friendship, i truly genuinely believe it will be nearly impossible to achieve given the state of things. there are two options, no in between, she loves him back and dates him or pushes him out completely. i don’t think there is a middle ground because she has to choose to understand him which confronts romantic and non romantic feelings she has despite not wanting them or it forces her to stick to her guns and push him out of her life completely due to pride and giving herself justice. and like dohwa, there is no point in which eunhyuk can loose these feelings. dohwa said “you never should have hugged me back now i can’t let go” indicating his feelings are too strong and he can’t get over her which is why they can’t be friends, he can’t be normal around her. the same applies to eunhyuk, he is so abnormally in love with her, it seems as though the 10 years just made him love her more, so to be “just friends” with no feelings getting in the way seems completely impossible because i feel like he’d just leave the moment she really gets it through his head that he’s not wanted around her. he wouldn’t want to bother her or cause stress anymore.

to conclude everything, i can see why you’d imagine he’s leaving little gifts of kindness in secret, showing up and not being seen just to give her support for what she’s been through. but i severely doubt it’s him. if he knows the reason why she’s in the hospital then he knows why it’s so dangerous to be seen giving her something like strawberry milk. one could argue he asked someone to do it for him, but even then, it feels like a stretch considering how busy he’s going to be with his fathers scandal. i’m sure to some extent he knows what happened but is choosing distance due to the weight of the scandal that just went on and respecting suaes distance and the privacy she lost after being followed by paparazzi.

i hope this gives you perspective on why it wouldn’t be dohwa.