It’s funny how ppl are saying the younger brother is toxic and an asshole when he was li...

Hmm not every one would, though.
But do you think he wasn't manipulative BEFORE all this? His eyes were pretty empty, he was the first to kiss Jeongyeom, he dressed his wounds and play with him as he wanted, noticing how devoted Jeongyeom is.
It would've been nice if we got more details, but I guess we assume Dongim was like that previously, not changed after his parents were killed.

Bruh lmao r u srs rn. Are u trying to say ml’s act of confining mc and every other thing he did was because mc was “manipulative” before. How was he manipulative? You know that just from looking at his eyes? Cause his eyes were pretty empty so u just assume and go “yup yup that mc is def manipulative” what they had in the beginning before ml killed mc parents were MUTUAL. Like you know giving consent to each other?? Mc kissed ml first and ml reciprocated the feelings. Until mc dad found them and punished ml and there ml killed everyone in the household. If you read carefully, you’ll see Mc saying that ml took everything away from him. WHICH IS not just his family but also his freedom as well because ml confined him to a courtyard. He’s not sick and frail but ml told everyone that he was so he would have an excuse on why Mc can’t come out. Mc lost his identity. He wasn’t him anymore, he was nth more than a sick and frail younger brother of ml and his sex doll behind closed doors. The only act of rebellion he could do was either harm himself or seduce other man and let ml see it. It’s concerning for ppl to say mc was toxic and manipulative while not saying anything abt the ml at all when in fact what ml did was wayyy worse than what mc was doing. And for what? Because ml seems desperate? Because ml was begging mc? Because ml chose mc instead of his wife? If ml was a short fat ugly man and this manhwa has no sex scene, I guarantee you, nobody would be shitting on mc.

It would be much helpful if you used at least the first letters of their names though...
No, I'm not assuming "he's manipulative bc of his empty gaze". I'm assuming this - based on the whole story - that he had found himself a toy in Jeongyeom. He liked to be his whole world; liked that Jeongyeom would do everything he'd told him to.
It's a short story so nothing is meaningless. Remember the first chapter? Dongim views on the plum tree. That he likes it's the first to blossom despite the snow. AND likes to pluck blossoms and crush it, just to see the tree blossoming the next spring.
He's most likely a pampered young master, who noticed an abused kid older than him in the household and decided to be nice to him, to have power over him. Look at his smile when he first kissed Jeongyeom. I'm missing the word... but he seems to say "there there, you poor thing" and observes emotions shown on the other's face.

Another example of manipulation: saying "you know what, I'm getting married" during sex. Maybe he wanted to propose fleeing together, but didn't make it. Wouldn't it be better to camly make plans for that? No, he wanted to just drop the bomb and look at Jeongyeom anguished face.

After his parents death he still has power over Jeongyeom. Ordering him to cover his eyes, encouraging during the act, calling him a beast in heat, an animal, insinuating Jeongyeom wants a kid so he snatched Dongim's bride. That Jeongyeom is the one who left him behind after taking all from him. So Dongim "consumed by jealousy" will run away the next morning and Jeongyeom will never see him again. All of this said with a face that doesn't match the accusations, during sex. It leads Jeongyeom to plead "it's not like that, I only love you, I only care about you". And even makes him cry.
->I think Dongim might've been really scared that now he'll be tossed aside. Despite all assurances from Jeongyeom.
So again he dressed as a bride on the wedding night, and mocks him. Despite lack of consent from his side at first, he starts moaning immediately after noticing the bride's listening. To make sure, even if Jeongyeom would want to get closer with her, she'll refuse. And of course he keeps teasing

Therefore I think Dongim likes to play with fire and sometimes it turns out against him. Like the parent's killing, the confinement, the wedding.
Both are obsessed and both are in the wrong. Jeongyeom in plain view. Maybe that's why many points out the younger's manipulations more.

Sorry about the cut, I've posted too soon. I meant on the wedding night Dongim teased again, didn't consent, but quickly started to moan after noticing the bride near. And he gets, once again, guarantees he's the only one for Jeongyeom, so much he's allowed to kill him.

Take a look at their discussion right before it. Dongim: "you clung to the tiny bit of warmth that (I) offered", "it's only natural and right that, to you, only I exist", "you should've listened only to me (...) do the things that I wanted". He didn't so he'll be punished.

I have a hard time remembering names so I use mc and ml cuz it’s just easier that way. and plus, I’m not Korean so it’s harder for me to remember their names plus spell them cuz i’m not familiar. Names had always been hard for me. I have to hear it or see it everyday for me to remember them.

Back onto the topic, I disagree with some, I believe mc wants to make ml life miserable and I believe he is taking revenge in his own way for ml making him like that. Rape is still rape. It is a no whether mc felt pleasure or not. It was still rape. Plus with his parents being dead, he had no control over anything. He can influence ml to a certain degree but he can’t actually do anything to ml. He can’t actually leave the ml or stay away from him. So when ml said he was getting married and mc saying he was gonna leave, I believe mc was saying that since ml has a wife now, he (mc) could get his freedom and leave that place. So when the ml actually came to him on the wedding night and forced himself on him and noticed the bride, he infect wanted the bride to notice of their unusual relationship so that ml would have a bad relationship with him. Plus ml is a doormat and a coward. Being forced to marry a woman and still fucking his brother on the side is disgustingly enough. Mc on the other side is messed up in the head now. I don’t believe he was every truly jealous of anything. More like he is detached and had no real feelings towards the ml. He ever saw ml as a toy. But does that mean he deserve what happened to him? Nope. What mc did and what ml did can’t even compare. Killing someone, confining, raping a person multiple times does not equal to someone toying with you. If mc wanted ml to break down emotionally and be unable to live without him, I wouldn’t find any faults in that seeing how much ml had done to mc. Since the manhwa ended like this, we don’t truly know what will happen but it’s likely that mc will still be confined and raped while ml will still have his good reputation while married to his wife.

It is disgusting to see people defend a character just because they look and act desperate enough for love when in fact the actions they are doing is very much questionable and especially when ppl started shiting on the other chr for retaliating thru taking advantage of emotions rather than physical violence.

I know people here are mostly underage girls worshiping rapists who happen to “change” and “regret” their actions but nonetheless it’s concerning to see and it’s more concerning when they try to victim blame. Mc is a victim here. If you look at the whole manhwa, you’ll see that the one who has the actual power is the ml, the one who has the advantage is the ml. No matter how much power Mc has over ml in emotional part, it will never be enough.

I’ll mix up the names if I started using the letters like D and J. Even if I don’t in the beginning, I will mix them up.

I totally understand your stance with the names, I too only remember it rather shortly. So maybe you could write once at the beginning full terms you use. I thought ml is male lead - but I can't point the lead in this one... Still you mc/ml is better the top/bootom or seme/uke which I hate to the core XD

So firstly, I totally agree with you there's too much rape in yaoi world and rarely it's properly named, addressed, not even mentioing the punishment. You've said there's "regret"? I doubt I've seen a character regreting raping the other lead. And about the "changes" I mostly just don't buy them at all and tend to drop the title.
I'm also quite bored of reading "stop, wait etc." when it's said out of a habit. I'm astounded the writers find it hot, when it's waaay hotter when both sides have pleasing time.

The thing is: real world is one thing, yaoi is another one. But if it's really shitty (like silk steel smth), or starts a normal romance and ends with rapey, I'll def leave a comment. Precisely for the younger readers ;) I was young once and also read some shit (just bc I've found itXD), didn't think much of it, and it haven't crooked me in the real world so I believe there's hope and yaoi readers won't victim blame and praise rapes in real world bc of it.

Back to the title finallyXD
I'm not trying to justify any of them. Nor I can empathise with any. I also abstain from pointing the victim and the perpetrator here. I look at it as a fiction about obsession. And we need to remember it's a middle aged fiction.
I disagree on this:
"he raped him multiple times" - the one time we saw, after killing the parents, was started by Dongim (the younger), fully consensual. So I can't help to think it looked like this before. All those talking he'd made (about debasing him, that other is like an animal and so on) I regard as his way of tormenting Jeongyeom. To make him worry, scared, cry, insecure.
Dongim was sincere for a moment after the wedding, when they're arguing. "I'm telling you this clearly, bc you're not capable of figuring it out by yourself."
The last time after the wedding was both rape and not rape (I know it sounds weird, minus and plus gives minus!), cause later Dongim started to encourage him, and at the end they kissed consensually. (If I would have to judge it in a real life, ofc I would've sentenced Jeongyeom as a rapist. ╮(￣▽￣)╭)

And "toying" sounds kinda meek. Dongim treated him from the start as his plaything, making him, and fully awared of it, that Jeongyeom becomes addicted to him. It's that kind of sick interaction.
And ofc it could lead to only more catastrophy.
I also don't think Dongim was jealous. He was at most afraid of losing Jeongyeom and be left with nothing. I see no "love" in any of them too.

I reread it and I'm pretty sure Dongim has never left, even when he could. He came out, thought for a while and walked toward the blossoming tree, which is a metaphore of chosing Jeongyeom (since he named him after it).
I've also noticed that the lock was unlocked even sooner. I thought at first it's bc Jeongyeom's back, but I'm not so sure. Every detail does matter, and C.R Jade is the artist who can portray face expressions brilliantly and put fine details and hints here and there.

That's my understanding, and surely you can have your own :)

No like fr, I feel uncomfortable saying seme/uke or top/bottom too. It sounds so dehumanizing for me. I do agree that this is in no way what love is and what they have is def not love. They have this kinda twisted obsession with each other. While D was obsessed with emotionally making J dependent on him and J was obsessed with confining D and not letting him leave. Although this is a fictional story, there is still rape in here and it’s sad to see ppl excuse it or brush it off. It’s essentially the same as men irl saying “what was she wearing.” Which just put the blame on the victim. And just focusing on hating on D is smth I don’t agree on.

I also had access to these when I was around 15-16 ish because it’s the age where you get curious and stumble upon these and I in no way judge these girls because I read these once too. The only concerning thing is that they romanticize rape. Like for example, Taeju from lowtide in twilight. You can see from the way I remember his name that it wasn’t just one or two people romanticizing his actions and just brushing off the rape and abuse. Another one is Math-smth guy from cry better yet beg. Tho I actually didn’t finish the novel, I dropped it half way through. Hopefully they don’t behave the same irl even if the perpetrator was a conventionally attractive person. (●￣(ｴ)￣●)