What Macqueen did

So, I'm seeing some confusion here on what Macqueen did "wrong", and I honestly think the manwha portrays the conflict between Ed/Ryan and Macqueen with a lot of nuance, that has gotten a bit lost (in my personal view) in some of the comments here.

It basically boils down to Ed/Ryan thinking what Macqueen has done was exploitative. Exploitative = to exploit someone is to take unfair advantage of them; it is is to use another person’s vulnerability for one’s own benefit. Macqueen knew both Ed and Ryan (and other people) were struggling and desperate, and he took advantage of their vulnerability.

Furthermore, the manwha illustrates this conflict through the "rape documentary" Glen makes. Since it is morally questionable that Glen chose to make a film about a "real life" serial rapist, cast a rape victim in the role of another victim, and then himself as the the rapist, with his now-boyfriend as the narrator.

Basically: 1) Glen didn't consider the feelings of the rape victim's family. 2) His film was also accused of profiting off of the victim's story. 3) He cast Ryan despite knowing he was vulnerable, basically exploiting him 3) He weirdly involved his now-boyfriend in it. 4) He, the CEO, cast himself as the rapist.

This is something he does in his porn films as well, blurring his professional and personal boundaries with his actors, acting like their "pimp". This blurring of personal boundaries is further evidenced by the fact that he was willing to live with Ryan for years, be together with Ed and transferring Ed money (which Ed found uncomfortable). Here, the manwha explores the theme of boundaries and power imbalance. Macqueen's behavior is unprofessional and questionable, because he's literally their boss and the one with a financial advantage, and blurring his professional and personal boundaries with both Ed and Ryan, can and most likely will create a power imbalance.

My thoughts:
I honestly think this manwha had a surprising amount of depth and explored an interesting gray-area with nuance: choice vs. exploitation. I know many people here say that Ed and Ryan "chose" to do it, so they can only blame themselves. But as I said, I do think it should be viewed with a bit more nucance, and the manwha as well, shows this perfectly. Personally, I believe that while what Macqueen did was exploitative, it's more a structural problem than an individual one.

It shown throughout the manwha that people who experience poverty—particularly minorities, who are disproportionately affected—live in poor conditions and that they are unable to get out of their condition. While Ryan and Ed technically had a "choice", they were very limited in the choices they could make, and I think it would be better if the system changed, so people in such situations could get the economic help they need. Furthermore, Ryan also had problems with his mental health, because of his rape, and I think it would have been best if there had been some institution which could help him deal with it. Instead he was left on his own, since he didn't have the economic ability, especially with a child, and as we saw, he didn't deal with it particularly well. Instead of blaming individuals like Ed and Ryan, I think we should look at the structure of society instead, and create more economic programs and institutions that will help them, giving them more "choices".

While I think what Macqueen did was wrong, I think in a system like this, where people are unable to escape poverty, there would be, if not Macqueen, another person coming along, taking advantage of people in vulnerable situations, Therefore, while Macqueen's actions aren't excusable, just blaming an individual is insufficient, and we should therefore, as I said before, try to make structural changes that will permantaly improve people's lives.