Hmmmmm. As someone who was okay with Ian ending up alone, with TJ or with Jo, I'm a bit... disappointed? Dissatisfied? I'm not sure how to phrase it. TJ wasn't irredeemable by far, but he is self centered and emotionally abusive. We can disagree about that but it's true. His epiphany about only needing Ian after years of putting him second and prioritizing the gang felt...inorganic at best
I think the author just wanted to end the story because there was so much emphasis on Ian wanting to live differently and to escape his past and not go back to how things used to be. Also ignore the plot points that went nowhere or the ones that have been left unaddressed because the message is basically saying no, no, everything is okay now because they're in love! ヾ(❀╹◡╹)ﾉ~
We don't get to see any thoughts from either one of them during their time apart or actions in the interim to really embrace change because there's an abrupt time skip and they'll just be fine I guess? The end? Not even 2-3 chapters of buffer before we get the "here, damn" ending of them being together. It feels hollow because there were SO many heavy moments with meaningful conversations between all of the leads before this to explain their feelings and then we get a single chapter of wrap up after Ian and Jo's emotional breakup. It feels unearned and that makes my rating go down because I do not feel like the author stuck the landing.
This is what happens when two abuse victims are together and healing hasn't happened. So honestly? Both of their feelings are valid, but if it comes down to it, Seo-in is right. Both Yeongwoon and Seo-in experienced abuse throughout their childhoods (physical vs emotional, respectively) and this is a pretty good representation of how it's influenced their adult mindsets and habits.Yeongwoon's father was constantly beating him and it took him running away to make it stop. As an adult he was guilted and shamed into help his uncle with his father's hospital bills/care.Taegu tried to take advantage of him more than once, but he doesn't want to let go of their relationship because Taegu was one of the only people who looked out for and cared about him. Even when Seo-in was being an asshole, Yeonwoon still stuck around because he loves him and was willing to overlook it. He tries to be good and live his life well despite what's happened to him. The way that he learned to survive is to grin and bear it, smile through the pain, and to try his best to move on. He thinks if he brushes the bad things to the side for the greater good he'll be okay. But he's obviously not okay, and Seo-in had a first hand account of how pretending to be okay can destroy a person. His mother was mentally unstable and used him as a replacement for her child that died. Then she brushed over everything that happened to him throughout the years because of Juwon so they could pretend to be a happy family. Which didn't work because no one but her wanted him around. He turned to sex and drugs to numb himself because there was no one there to support him. His only friend disappeared and he never knew why until ten years later, only to find out that his t*rrorist brother (who killed himself in front of him! Jfc) beat Yeonwoon so badly that he had to quit his dream and still takes medication to help with the anxiety of that incident? There's no way they can just look past that no matter how much they care about each other. Seo-in recognized in that moment that if he just pretended it was all fine despite how much hurt it has brought Yeonwoon, that he'd be doing the exact same thing his mother had done to him. And we've all seen how that's worked out.
So I see where they're both coming from and I still wish they could like, have an honest conversation with their points of view but this is a manhwa and I expect this kind of thing as this point so we'll have to wait for the resolution.
I'm not attacking anyone (since there's enough of that going on as it is) and I'm not trying to change your mind, but guys I gently suggest rereading from the beginning if you feel like TJ's acting out of character or extra toxic to fit the Ian/Jo narrative. I recently started again from chapter one since it's been years since this began and it solidified for me that there's A LOT of things that brought us to this boiling point between Ian and TJ and it's pretty realistic that Ian's had enough. Seeing it all back to back might give you a different perspective.