I think people are too harsh on Haesu…
I know a lot of people are pissed at Haesu. I get it and also had problems with things feeling dragged out. But when I thought about it deeper, I feel more sympathetic. I don’t think trying to play mindgames or trying to get a certain reaction out of someone like Haesu is a good idea. People are frustrated she doesn’t take advantage of Taeha trying to spoil her or her not going all in with him, but I can see why she doesn’t want to be dependent or fully committed to someone she genuinely sees as out of her league. She trusted Mincheol and his feelings with her life and he destroyed it.
Taeha looks like a celebrity and he does have countless women interested in him, of course Haesu is never going to believe someone like her can hold someone like his interest for long. Mincheol was, not only her only relationship experience, but her only somewhat positive relationship PERIOD. She bet it all on on him when she ran away with him, and he grew resentful and disgusted with her. She will never believe in unconditional love or promises for the future. Add to that she has no self-confidence and always believed Taeha’s interest is just a phase he will grow out of. No matter how strong her own feelings, she is not the type to chase after someone. After she definitively found out Mincheol cheated on her, she never once thought of getting him back or fixing things. But even still she thinks of their failed relationship her fault for being unappealing.
So it confuses me why most people sympathize more with Taeha… who seems to completely misunderstand why Haesu doesn’t wanna lock it down. Like he is still competing with Mincheol when she barely considers him anymore. He thinks if he becomes distant or make her hurt by feeling she lost him, then she will come crawling back and begging him to stay? He also seems to believe she would just as easily go back to Mincheol. Haesu mostly just wants to be independently financially stable, not be trapped by someone who might one day get sick of her. Seeing Taeha with another woman will definitely hurt Haesu deeply, but only because she expected that. She isn’t going to get into a fight with a younger woman or suddenly get all clingy. She will accept it and suffer in silence while trying to move on, like always.
Basically I understand Haesu’s reservations more than Taeha’s continued warped delusional logic. He thinks so lowly of Haesu that he is still threatened by a loser like Micheol when we know she never even thinks about him anymore. He thinks she didn’t call him when she was basically kidnapped because she doesn’t trust him as much as Mincheol, when the truth is her phone was destroyed. He also always portrays himself as a weak little puppy who is always getting beaten up. Why would he assume she thought could depend on him in a dangerous situation? She doesn’t know he is rich because he pretended to be struggling and abused like she was. Even now I don’t think she would call him if she were in danger because she thinks he’s busy and does not want to be bothered. He is mad she doesn‘t wanna play these stupid mindgame tests, instead of becoming more reliable in her eyes.
Yet people seem more mad at Haesu when Taeha is still wearing the mask of a weak, poor victim character. It unironically probably makes her feel like she has to be a responsible adult and take care of him which just exacerbates her feeling like he’s too young to be in an actual relationship with her. Her mental image of him is like an innocent puppy who she has to protect. She doesn’t trust his maturity nor think he will be interested long term so she behaves accordingly. He still gives her the silent treatment, ghosts her text messages, to make her suffer. He sees it as a test, she sees it as growing distance.