u/Best-Job-4579

The most striking details reflecting the psychological tension and the unique power balance between Ilay and Taeui are hidden within the manhwa adaptation's exceptional visual storytelling techniques. This specific scene is far beyond just an ordinary dialogue moment; it is a flawless visual metaphor that lays bare Taeui’s internal conflict and his complex bond with Ilay. Thanks kangjak-nim for this 💕

When we first look at the scene, we see Taeui and Jaeui chatting about Ilay’s likability. While everything flows like an ordinary conversation on the surface, Taeui’s gaze suddenly fixates on Jaeui’s hand. This momentary focus acts as an immediate psychological trigger that pivots his thoughts straight to Ilay’s hands. Even when Ilay isn't physically present, Taeui’s mind is hardwired to associate everything directly back to him.

Taeui’s gaze wandering to Jaeui’s hand while discussing Ilay’s likability with him is a reflection of a mental reflex. Jaeui’s hand serves as a medium here; Taeui’s sudden absence of mind is proof of how dominant and deeply rooted Ilay’s physical and psychological presence is within his consciousness. The most striking layer of the panel lies in the sharp contrast between the real hand and the shadow:

• Softness and Exception: Jaeui’s hand symbolizes the affectionate, soft, and protective side that Ilay shows only to Taeui, contrasting sharply with his distant and dangerous attitude toward everyone else. This unexpected tenderness that emerges when they are alone belongs exclusively to Taeui.

• The Threatening Nature of the Shadow: The shadow cast on the floor, symbolizing Ilay’s gloves, takes on a grotesque, warped, and menacing form due to the angle. This possessive claw reaching out to choke or kill someone lays bare the dark, psychotic, and horrifying tendencies in Ilay Riegrow's nature. Taeui is never deluded; he knows very well that the person standing across from him is a dangerous "bad person" who is capable of anything.

The fact that the hands are so close to touching yet never actually meet (along with the inanimate nature of the shadowed hand) highlights the vast chasm and contradiction in Ilay's behavior. This physical distance is a portrait of the mental confusion Taeui experiences in the face of Ilay's deeply contradictory actions. This unclosed gap symbolizes the transition phase into Ilay's new and controlled approach toward Taeui.

The core psychological point this panel delivers is this: Taeui has completely accepted BOTH sides of Ilay.

He cannot separate the soft Ilay who touches him with bare hands and "changed" for him, from the psychotic Ilay of the gloves who can turn into a monster. Taeui keeps this danger and dark contradiction at the center of his consciousness; by accepting everything, he consciously chooses to stay by the side of this dangerous man.

You asked him to feed you sybau 🤣

Taeui asks him this question twice. The first time is at UNHRDO, after Changin and Xinlu tell Taeui, "It looks like he likes you" or "That man likes you!" While these statements are echoing in his mind, Taeui accidentally and unconsciously lets the question slip out. In Taeui's monologue, Ilay's reaction right before laughing is described as "upset", after which he bursts into a laugh.

​The second time is in Seringe, where Taeui asks him do he really likes him that much, driven by his own suspicions, but immediately regrets it and thinks Ilay is going to hit him for it (Taeui again thinks he has made him upset), but Ilay once again laughs out loud.

​I still cannot understand why Ilay laughs at Taeui's "Do you like me" question. In both the novel and the manhwa, we don't get to see many inner monologues from Ilay's perspective, which leaves me confused about certain points like this.

I don't know why, but could he genuinely be worse at his core than İlay? I read him from the perspective of both Taeui and Yuri I believe this kid is potentially more morally corrupt than he's being shown to be.

Do you think her development is limited only to her relationship with Yuri, or does it go beyond

In my opinion, Jeong Taeui's internal reckoning is less about momentary confusion caused by his circumstances and more of an attempt to rationalize the events he is experiencing. Instead of reacting emotionally, Jeong Taeui analyzes the situation like an outside observer, labeling the relationship between Ilay and Xinlu as "deep" and a "natural feud." By positioning himself within this equation as an "accident" or an "unintended interference," he is actually using a reflex to simplify the situation by minimizing his own role. ​Jeong Taeui's behavior of "minimizing his own part" is a complex combination of an avoidance mechanism and a desire to maintain control over the situation. Defining the events as an "accident" is, in effect, a way to avoid the heavy emotional responsibility and the chaos brought about by this "romantic feud" between Ilay and Xinlu. If he defines himself as a bystander who "accidentally got caught in the middle" rather than as one of the main actors, he manages to escape, to some extent, from the psychological burden these events would otherwise impose. ​At the same time, this is also a reflection of his desire to keep the situation under some degree of control. By treating the event like an outside analyst—by telling himself, "These people already have a complicated history and I just got in the way"—he reduces what is happening to a more understandable and manageable dimension. This effort to rationalize is a mental defense mechanism he employs to soothe the uncertainty within himself. ​In short, this attitude is a search for a "middle ground" that harbors both an instinct for self-preservation through avoiding responsibility and an attempt to bridle a chaotic situation according to his own logic.

There are people that have what Kevin Dutton calls “precision engineered psychopathy”. They function in the world and our daily lives with differences in how we process the world, and with a different structure in the brain, but otherwise they get along quite well. These would be high-functioning psychopaths.

Then you have those that are antisocial psychopaths. They are the people that either have made a series of choices in their lives that accept crime and possibly violence as a way to get to where they want to be in the world, and often cycle in and out of prison. Antisocial psychopaths also tend to be on the lower end of functioning.

Then you have the “above the snowline”, or “A-Lister” psychopaths. These are the types that are highly criminal. They commit crimes because it entertains them, and have no interest in trying to blend into society. They, much like highly criminal type people do not change, and would be best left behind bars forever. I would say that they would be low-functioning but not for the same reason that other low-functioning psychopaths are considered so. They are low-functioning, not due to lack of intelligence, impulse control, or ability to predict the consequences of their behavior. Rather, they are lower functioning because they simply want to do what they want to do, hang the costs.