But its a subconscious thing

"aware not to cross the line"? There is literally a scene where Sangtae's friend has to point out to Sangtae that a line even exists... Have you SEEN the way he treats Jinwoo? It isn't at the level of "cute 'notice me senpai' behavior", Sangtae just said himself that he has an "obsession" because his "bullying" moved onto harassment a long time ago. As Sangtae says "Jinwoo didn't originally hate" him, the harassment has been going on for years, so long that the gentle Jinwoo we see in highschool full-on hates Sangtae by the start of the manhwa... Being given credit for someone else's work and then rubbing it in that person's face isn't on the level of "competitivness", he has been harassing Jinwoo for years and has now broken him down into "a shell of his former self" as Sangtae says. Sangtae feels a little bit of guilt, but he justifies his actions in his head as "an obsession" and says he "can't let Jinwoo go". He's saying it sucks Jinwoo is suffering, but he'll do anything to keep him close, he's not even repenting.

@kuroshiro Yes! I agree with your comment.

He didn't take credit for any work that he hadn't done himself, in fact, time time to time even jinwoo claims that he reached this position because he's very good at his work. He was a top student too in school, he has worked hard to reach his position as well, i don't get what you mean by being given credit for someone else's work tho... maybe i missed something? Cos all i read was he was good at his work and handling ppl. The bullying he does is in the limits of competitiveness unless you are talking about the imaginations that were subconscious, he wasn't doing those on purpose. By aware i meant the point he knew that jinwoo was having an imagination in meeting and held his hand in order to stop it. The only other time i can think of bullying is when he took a pic, but he didn't go around spreading it. I'm not sure which bullying you're referring to, can you elaborate? Because I'm not sure if i missed anything...

Also this page clearly tells that sangtae worked hard to get that position, he never played unfair, he competed for attention but he got first in everything because of his own hardwork. Now i don't like him either but i don't think the author is potraying him as a villian

http://www.mangago.zone/read-manga/man_of_a_virtue/uu/iur_chapter-1/pg-6/

1. All the fantasies are subconscious, you don't have control on your subconscious and even if someone comes up n tell u that they can see ur fantasies, you can't possibly believe them, you have to test it out.

2. Competing with someone and fairly getting ahead of them, can't really be called bullying just because the other person is winning, tho i agree it was an obsessive stalking to get ahead of him on purpose for everything he did but i dun think that counts as bullying, nor did he take credit for someone's work

I dun think he's anything out if the ordinary, tho he's bad when he teases jinwoo but the fantasies that made jinwoo this way aren't his fault, he probably got cursed for puking up on the buddha statue when he was drunk or something and got his wish of understanding what's going on in sangtae's mind as he did say he couldn't understand him.
I didn't dislike him till that point but i did dislike how he teased jinwoo knowing he was on verge of crying and all

You missed... Everything. I'd rather not explain the entire story to you. He is given credit for Jinwoo's work at the beginning, he rubs it in Jinwoo's face resulting in Jinwoo getting drunk and puking on the god statue. He IS good at his work, but that isn't relevant to what i said. As far as bullying, both Jinwoo and just now Sangtae have said he's been bullying Jinwoo since highschool. One example is at the beginning when he trips Jinwoo, smirks and then helps him up, then there are all the scenes where Jinwoo is at work and the fantasies mess with him, Sangtae always has some scorching things to say. By "aware", i meant his limit to "messing with" Jinwoo. You said he "always stops before he crosses the line", which is so far from the truth that it's comedic. As i said, Sangtae's friend has to tell Sangtae "if you keep messing with him he'll eventually just hate you and wont react the way you want him to anymore". Sangtae's crossed the line multiple times, when he made fun of Jinwoo for getting credit for his project, with the picture of Jinwoo masturbating, with the sexual assault and rape where he gets horny and takes advantage of Jinwoo's predicament even though he came over to try and get help, etc. He does nothing but cross the line. I suggest you go back and read, i mean that sincerely, not sarcastically. You missed... EVERYTHING. Jinwoo was a gentle boy in highschool, he didn't hate Sangtae, but Sangtae followed Jinwoo everywhere he went after highschool getting better marks and doing whatever he could to be hated by Jinwoo. He says himself he "has an obsession" and he feels bad to a degree, but views all Jinwoo's pain as necessary because he "can never let Jinwoo go". Actual quote. He wants to be hated by Jinwoo so he can maintain a presence in his life, which sounds cute, but the amount he's hurt Jinwoo is anything but. He's currently describing Jinwoo as "a shell of his former self" because of all the stress he's put Jinwoo through. He's the reason Jinwoo couldn't have sex with his gf, the trauma from the sexual assault and rape and it was because of the trauma they broke up. He is literally ruining Jinwoo's life. In every aspect. Jinwoo can't enjoy work anymore, he was put in a position where he can't have sex like he used to, he was made to break up with his gf, etc. EVERYTHING goes back to Sangtae and Sangtae says it was on purpose. Again, he feels a little bad, but it's all a necessary evil so that he can stay near Jinwoo.

Nobody said anything about how Sangtae got his position or about the fantasies, why are you bringing unrelated arguments forward and countering them like i said them? Yes, Sangtae got his position by working hard, but the project that gave him his position was done by Jinwoo. he got credit for it and rubbed it in Jinwoo's face. The fantasies thing is debatable, it was because of the stress from Jinwoo not getting the position despite the project being his that he got upset and threw up on the statue. Again, tied to Sangtae. He was mad at Sangtae when he went and got drunk, because Sangtae got his credit and rubbed it in Jinwoo's face.

I will reread it again to see the bullying part more clearly and all but one thing I'm sure of is that jinwoo's life was completely destroyed by his subconscious fantasies and that's what i meant by restraint, he did wanted to do all that to jinwoo in real that's why he has those fantasies, he didn't cross that line until jinwoo was pretty fuked up already and moreover he was aware that he was wrong at it. He has self awareness and constantly pulls himself back. I did say i don't like sangtae so I'm not on his side either and I'm not saying it sarcastically either, I'm just analyzing his personality and if you cut out the subconscious fantasies things, the rest is just sangtae messing with him for attention.
As for the project thing, if you've worked in a company you'd know that projects get accreditation for whole team, that is upon the director to decide if they want to credit someone out and you have to respect what they decide otherwise you show to enemy companies your lack of team work and holes. Jinwoo's work that sangtae was given credit for was the director's choice. Also i don't think he rubbed it in his face, it was a round about advice that jinwoo shouldn't solely focus on working hard alone, that he should pay attention to people as well, as a result jinwoo called sangtae an asswipe but the truth is sangtae was right about the system, solely working hard doesn't get you anywhere, that's naive in professional world, you need to work hard but you also need connections and talking to people which jinwoo was doing wrong and that's why he was getting second.I get how unfair that is but I've been second to my rival for so long i understand that sangtae's advise may sound rubbing in the face but he wasn't wrong about it.

And so i ended up reading it again.
Again, I'm not a fan of sangtae but i don't see all the things that you keep describing. He does mess with jinwoo alot but not as much to the point that he broke. What broke him we as the subconscious sexual fantasies.
Sangtae is stalker and mean but i don't think he was the one who put jinwoo to the edge, that's the fantasies.
Jinwoo was stressed that he wasn't getting a promotion because of sangtae , true.
But the part about bullying seems exaggerated by jinwoo, you can see that sometimes sangtae is giving him an honest opinion and jinwoo just gets pissed off. Making someone trip or teasing them were childish pranks yeah.
Though sangtae seemed to have felt that jinwoo's fantasies things are jinwoo's own construct too since sangtae even said on bus that he wonders what kind of fantasy is he having which makes it clear that sangtae can't see the fantasy itself. Moreover he's also of the view that jinwoo wants him especially since jinwoi said that he can't stop thinking about sex whenever he is with sangtae (in hotel room), it sounded wrong enough and he took it for jinwoo asking to relieve him. He hasn't had penetrative sex with jinwoo in real yet and all, he's rubbing him out for now.
Besides i noticed another thing, he does play on him alot but he immediately restrains too and he doesn't shun his responsibilities, like when they were abroad , he was pretty serious in his work and covered for jinwoo when needed too many times in presentations, like in last one he said he had food poisoning and other one he said he forgot to turn off stove and held his hand to make the fantasies stop. Also he apologized right away after he teased him and jinwoo shut himself in bathroom and all and before too when he saved drunk jinwoo and teased him a little and apologized too, he was thinking jinwoo was stressed because of photo and when saw him overly stressed he said he'd delete it right away, he's not out right a devil with horns he's just a brat who needs a proper spanking.
He's obviously looking for jinwoo's attention and for that he tries to win everything jinwoo wants in order to get him to look at him.
I think you keep mixing the subconscious things and others, try to see his actions without the fantasies, they aren't that extreme to make someone break.
The fantasies are the ones that messed up jinwoo, not sangtae himself. Jinwoo would get a little mad at his teasing, pay some extra hate to him , rant to his girlfriend and all but he was nit that bad off until fantasies.

Yeah, sure. (￣∇￣")