just to add. I'm not saying I agree with what's been happening in the manwha and it's made me frustrated here and there (even if I've seen that trope played out in other manwha or even manga), but knowing what I know now just feels a bit enlightening to have a better idea of the inner psyche surrounding why these behaviors or interactions are found so often.
The things I get to learn here
I watched a video from Moon Channel about Korean Gacha Wars, the guy goes into an explanation and breaks down the social structure of South Korea and it's history down to it's current state explaining the psychology behind some reallllly outrageous actions that occured as a result of some controversy. It's a long 2 part video but it's definitely very educational sociologically. It makes me start thinking that a lot of manwha with these themes are all a cry for help >_>
So, this and many other Manwha I've read, even drama shows I've seen, seem to have a purveying thing that are a mirror reflection of the current state of South Korean and the effects of Neo Confucianism on its culture and social hierarchy. Essentially, think of how companies have a chain of command, if there's issue happening at the level of the employees, you go up that chain of command to have the management above correct the said issue and if they can't solve it, then it goes higher up the chain of command. This chain of command also has expectations of whoever is below each tier of 'importance' which can correlate to how much respect is expected and received.
Take this concept and apply it to every day life in South Korea with the elderly and rich that own some kind of corporation or are in a governing position being held to the highest degree, men being above women in that spectrum, and outliers to that society like LGBT or poorer civilians being at the lowest position of respect and along with having higher expectations pressured on. MC is in the position of a poor young man which comes with a lot of pressure. People more successful and older than such a person will look to such a character as a shame to society that they haven't found success yet and rather than give pity, have expectations of them to find a job on their own, be overly competitive in a society where those with money or privilege are preferable for positions (or in cases have cheated the system due to a connection witht he chaebols), young men are also expected to provide for the family, completely provide for their partner and child, serve in the military, go to a prestigious school, etc. The way ML and his butler were looking at MC is pretty much in line with this mentality that has existed for so so long and/but has zero filter on it. Young men have described living in South Korea as hell and use the term wanting to 'escape'...not leave. But because they can't and can barely even get a job, let along pay rent in an economy that keeps inflating and is seeing slower economic recovery, they have to perform as society expect of them with all the pressures forced upon them. This is a short layman version of a far bigger and complex issue that I won't get into further but, that base understanding does wonders.
Knowing this honestly makes the way the characters actions make a lot of sense. The MC's unwavering will to want to do everything on his own as it is what society expects of him, even if it is a more stubborn mentality of a person who has been through poverty and loss has made it themselves throughout life to that point, the MC's actions make sense in the context of the social hierarchy that the author exists within. Even if their location which the manwha takes place is somewhere else entirely, the mentality of the characters can't escape their roots. What will be interesting is how ML's actions as of now may seem to those around him as breaking that social hierarchy can be seen as a cog being out of place. How might those around him at his tier of social hierarchy react to this? I'm curious to see how the author writes this moving from here.