Well said!
The thing is this is very much how South Korean men behave and they’re rampant cheaters. It’s noted and accepted as a societal norm. That is not to say that is not seen in other cultures, but it’s especially such an issue that the marriage and birth rate have stagnated in South Korea. What’s so bizarre is how even in their fiction Korean women write Korean men to be toxic as a default no matter who they’re partner is despite having every opportunity to depict positive depictions of healthy relationships, then are utterly surprised when their all consuming medias depict these traits as desirable so then South Korean men reinforce these characteristics due to exposure bias. It literally feeds into each other but the literal unwillingness to comfort these societal issues surrounding misogyny, toxic masculinity, and gender conformity perpetuates these institutionalized pillars of patriarchy. It’s why I get so mad when people say but “it’s fiction!”, fiction doesn’t exist in a vacuum nor does it come out of thin air, it has a basis of reality in order to even come into begin.
K-manhwa tries to make a likeable ML challenge: impossible. They are incapable of making any likeable man. The ML is a Hongdae "oppa" incarnate. Sleazy, can't take no for an answer, "I'm open-minded so you should be too", allergic to honesty, PREYS on fresh meat.