the way he developed feelings for her when she was only 12 whilst he was 17 is honestly we...

i dont think he did... i thought from his perspective she was just a super important friend to him up until like ch 60 something when he finally realizes he has romantic feelings for her. even during that reveal it specifies that he had platonic feelings for her for a good chunk of their adult friendship too. i still understand the ick cuz the age gap is stil there and they knew each other before but i think the feelings he developed for her as a teen was just regular degular affection.

i see where you’re coming from but regular degular affection is not thinking messed up shit like “she’s mine” and such about a literal 10-12 year old

oh yah valid but i thought we already established that hes fucked in the head from his traumatic childhood with the whole tsory premise lol. def creepy but i thought it was more of a "he's unhinged and wants her to himself like a doll to play with, a toy of his own cuz hes been denied any connections that bring him joy"-type creepy, not pedo-type creepy (which is what i thought u were talking about, like if he was romantically pursuing this 12 year old or not at his big age). when i said "regular affection" i meant as opposed to romantic affection, not like regular or healthy expression of said affection.

but i still hear ya. yes objectively a creep but i feel like he became WAYYYY creepier when they were all older and (spoiler) he actually fell in love with her and then imprisoned/isolated her than when he was just desperate/delusional (but still had some boundaries and respect for her individuality and need for freedom) as a teen.

with all that being said, i was mostly discussing whether the CHARACTER was being weird. the author however was DEFINITELY being weird, no nuance needed lmao. they made a CHOICE when they gave them a 5 year age gap. like this story verrrryyyy easily could have happened at 12+13 ----> 19+20. so i am side eyeing the creators heavy ive noticed an uptick in reallllly questionable tropes in webtoons these days (incest, age gaps, noncon, etc etc) and this one is no exception :/