He has Ari but doesn’t want her. I think deep down he still loves Haesu but something happened to which i think we are going to find out. The way he interacts with Haesu when he catches her cheating is very narcissistic. “You won’t leave me! Wow you made a plush because your lonely because of me. Seeing her mad is so fun.” It seems like he misses her emotions? Every time she shows a little bit of emotion he tends to be like wow shes not lifeless anymore. He’s just using ari to feel something i believe.
I’m sure the fall of their relationship probably has to do with either when the loan sharks broke in or when she lost the baby
Im guessing the baby, then he started going into debt
My little analysis of Kang Mincheol:
Kang Mincheol is such an interesting character, probably the worst best written character I’ve seen recently. His biggest fault lies in his narcissistic tendencies. He actually fools himself (and us as readers) in his inner monologue. Like all narcissists he is after self justification. And as naive as we are, with our empathy, fall victim when we listen to their reasons .
He is not only manipulating the fl, but us too(I think the author is a genius because actually it’s author that manipulates our emotions by letting him narrate).
We know there is no 100% evil in real life. Bad people are mostly like him. Wanting a family, a nice home stable life etc.. and we think “oh he doesn’t even asks for much, he is not that greedy.” But he actually is greedy by wanting all those things while never putting the effort. For a life like that you need to take responsibility, work hard, tolerate bullshit at times and be vulnerable. Just like Haesu does.
I personally don’t like it much when someone is “actually nice inside, it’s only the circumstances” For me it’s only undermining the “will of a human”. that’s what separates the good from bad.
He is not a murderous psychopath. However like every other narcissist he has no empathy for any other then himself. He kills his partner slowly everyday. Sucking her to the bone, stealing every bit of her light, leaving her just a corpse body, a damaged good that works 6 part time jobs for him. He claims to be a passivist yet we see him putting the effort to do evil things the moment he is given the opportunity. He is only pitiful and powerless when it comes to puting the real work to save his marriage. Again like all narcissists, though ironically, in his self pity monologues he shows humanly emotions, yet, he sees himself so important that everyone else exists only for him. He acts like he is a leaf swaying with the wind but he actually deliberately chooses his victims.
When we read his inner talk we pity him and think “maybe he is true to himself” but no. Like all narcissists he is just so scared of facing his real pathetic self who is a lazy selfish coward. So he first fools himself and make sure to choose people who would confirm delulu. Why do guys like him never go after mentally strong women with high self esteem? That’s why he chose someone as naive (too stupid for her own good) as Ari. And for the same reasons he will leave her like a coward.
Now that he is with Ari he can actually build that life he desires so much. He has a stable job. Is apparently good with people and has a good potential to grow in his career. Ari can bear a child of his and they can be a happy family. So why is he choosing to leave her too? Why not create that beautiful family that he thinks he will never have because of the gloomy Haesu?