Both Jaewon and I feel uncomfortable whenever he interacts with the Haeyul. And I'm starting to get annoyed with how Jaewon fails to set boundaries with him every single time. It's creepy how Haeyul acts like they're close and he knows it's not reciprocated and he's only being humored, yet he keeps pushing. Obviously Haeyul believes something that Jaewon is not privy to, but if he was sincere, he would have already tried to talk about it for real instead of this gross emotional projecting he's doing.
Refer to when I wrote "Obviously Haeyul believes something that Jaewon is not privy to." I do understand the plot and it being part of the plot doesn't negate that Haeyul's actions make me or Jaewon uncomfortable (hence he desire to set boundaries) or that Jaewon's inaction is starting to annoy me.
Try thinking about it from this perspective: If someone kept treating you like they had a more intimate relationship with you, a deeper emotional connection with you than you were aware of. And they constantly dismissed the weight of your words, and were in your house when you got home like they belonged there even though you never told them where you live. And if it was someone who, to your knowledge, you only met recently, and after however many interactions you had with them, you didn't reciprocate their feelings, how would you feel?
I feel like the person that doesn't find that kind of intrusive behavior creepy is either naive, has no self-awareness, or has low self-esteem. You can't be even a moderately adjusted person and not feel like a line was crossed. Except for the fact that they interact directly, Haeyul's behavior is much like those people who take para-social relationships to extremes and are at the stage where they start pleading with the object of their obsession to not make them worry/make they angry, which is the stage right before they decide that confining the person would be for their own good.
Regardless of what the truth behind Haeyul's actions are, that truth hasn't been revealed, so up to now, he's just being creepy.
I think Dojoon and Haeyul are equally gross; they just have different approaches, but the outcome is the same: a form of coercion, be it physical or emotional/mental, they are both guilty of taking advantage of Jaewon and interfering with his agency over himself. I just felt like commenting about Haeyul today.
Also, Haeyul is a repeat offender. Jaewon shouldn't have to ask him to stop every time; he keeps crossing the line, so the fact that he stops doesn't mean much.
Not that this excuses anything, but the only thing Dojoon has over Haeyul in the current story line is that Jaewon likes Dojoon.
They both have a lot of work to do before I can seriously root for either of them and I can't wait to see if the author can convince me to.
If it wasn't for the MC, I'd be eating this up and asking for seconds. I'm at c28 so the truth about Seorim, and Yohan, Gidam, and Neul-ham's past has yet to be revealed. Grief, loss, heartbreak, desperation. I get it, but even so, the MC is too selfish, naive, and easily swayed. He went on and on about how things happen in the occult-type movies like it was the truth, but ignored all the cautions and warnings from the same source. He makes no sense. He keeps putting himself and everyone in danger even after reflecting on it. Unfortunately, I don't think his personality has been fleshed out enough for me to even consider him a lovable idiot. Neul-ham is a bit irritating too... He should be telling Gidam exactly what happened during each incident to demonstrate exactly what kind of danger he''s in. I want to keep reading because everything else is good, even how shady Seorim's been from the beginning, but if the MC doesn't get his ish together, it's going to be hard to endure. This level of irritation with the MC is exactly why I could never get far with Naruto. ( ̄へ ̄)