beta
So my understanding of LOH after reading it over these 2 years and seeing many thoughts on socmed/mggo, is that it's a story about selfish love, and selfless love.
Like Taku for example was manipulative towards Haesoo and didn’t have great intentions when he approached Haesoo. He was planning just to use him and drop him like all his past models. But when Taku felt more deeply and showed some genuine feelings for Haesoo, I found that he was ONLY concerned with himself. He didn’t care whether Haesoo was happy or not. Haesoo was visibly losing weight and unhappy as said by his mom, but Taku didn't seem to care at all. Even when Joowon got into all that trouble, notice how he starts typing "are you okay?" and then deletes it and tells Haesoo to stop caring about Joowon, even though this is something thats clearly hurting and worrying Haesoo. And NOW IN THIS CHAPTER: when they broke up he said he hoped Haesoo has a hard time and regrets leaving him… even though Haesoo genuinely didn’t wrong him. They both decided on this relationship. Taku was the one begging to do this, knowing Haesoo loves someone else, so he has no logical reason to wish Haesoo a hard time especially after he admitted Haesoo tried his best. So yeah... his words were purely emotional and selfish. Overall yeah, I just think Taku basically showed us: “Love is selfish”
But the endgame pair of LOH showed that that love can be selfless too. Like Joowon and Haesoo locked themselves into their open relationship because they were driven into a corner by their parents. They wanted to be with each other, but they didn't want to take the responsibility of the potential losses for their relationship. Which ofc is SELFISH as theyre caring more about themselves and what they could lose, than how the other person feels.
But when they separated, the change slowly happened and it was JOOWON that changed the most. Joowon called Haesoo after their painful separation and put aside his hurt feelings and told Haesoo something like: “I’m always on your side, even as a brother or friend, I’m just all yours". He was willing to support Haesoo even if Haesoo told him he liked Taku. It shows him swallowing his own feelings and loving Haesoo without condition. Joowon then later sacrificed his public reputation and career to protect Haesoo during the bullying scandal. He told Haesoo he wanted to take responsibility, which I think made Haesoo realize a lot, and gave hs courage to admit his feelings later. Like the whole point of LOH is that for a relationship to work out, you need willingness to sometimes make sacrifices for each other. Which is what Joowon and Haesoo did in the end. The very act of them confessing to each other is a SACRIFICE because their parents dont support them and they could face consequences.
The writer once said Love or Hate is a story about why a relationship can be fulfilled, and also why it may remain unfulfilled. Both statements perfectly fit Joohae (old relationship vs new one), and I love how well thought out it is.