
Honestly I think this particular take on the "it's not real" mindset is so interesting in like a good way like going out of his way to reaffirm to himself that this is a game and the people around him aren't people and are subject to the whims of some code or whatever to the point of not just emotional distance but physical destruction is so interesting especially when its in such stark contrast to his actual feelings about people which we can see when he declares stuff about loving or missing his brothers he both does and doesn't treat the people around him as real it's almost like he's telling himself this is just a game specifically in order to cope with something probably his fear over this idea that he and those around him have no free will
I also think it's funny to compare his reactions to his brother's forbidden love route with his reaction to the evil Ilya route

Yup, its kinda sad but also interesting to watch. Kinda reminds me of https://www.mangago.zone/read-manga/death_is_the_only_ending_for_the_villainess/ even tho its not mentioned often in the manga, mostly the novel

I think the reason I don't find this story super frustrating is because it's very obvious Hongyun does genuinely have feelings for Heewong almost to the point of hilarity and Heewong is also very aware of this (because it'd be so hard not to notice it) and that's where his persistent has been born from in these last ten or so chapters that and it's obvious that there's something really eating at Hongyun and not just in how he handles relationships but in how he interacts with people in general from his "friends" (which if we're being honest he doesn't really have) to even how he interacts with his family (I'm even of the mind that he's autistic but that's a conversation for another time)
Honestly a lot of my annoyance with Heewong initially was because he was pursuing someone who said they weren't in to him but currently Hongyun's actions so blatantly contradict this that Heewong would be a fool to not have noticed and he has which is why he continues to act the way he does
I personally don't think there's necessarily anything wrong with not being able to put a label on something yet (or ever) trauma is weird and responses to trauma are weirder I was only really irritated with Hongyun for never taking initiative it felt like Heewong was giving more to the relationship than he was but that seems to slowly be changing so it's clear that was an intentional characterization
Currently my only remaining frustration is with the fact that us as readers don't know Hongyun's backstory yet which I think would curb a lot of people's disdain for this relationship

Autism, also called autism spectrum disorder[a] (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC),[8] is a neurodevelopmental disorder marked by restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior and deficits in reciprocal social communication. Other common signs include perseverative interests, stereotypic body movements (stimming), rigid routines, hyper- or hyporeactivity to sensory input, and difficulty with social interaction and verbal and nonverbal communication
It's not like they don't want to communicate, they can't....so yeah

Dude idk why you're arguing about this with me and I don't know if you're just unwilling to understand things like interpretation I know what ASD is I HAVE ASD and when I don't have to sit her and explain to you every single reason why I think he as ASD I think he displays signs of black and white thinking and I think the way he processes social cues is notably different from the way allistic people do and I frankly don't give two shits about whether the author intended for him to display characteristics of autism or not this is my interpretation of his actions and motivations

I'm not here to explain interpretation and death of the author to you but if you wanna learn about media analysis and not spend your time chastising a stranger on the Internet for harmless statement that wasn't even the main point of my original comment why don't you try researching about those concepts
Especially because you're coming off super ableist

Idk first of all the girl was so mean to her calling her trash from the start and then on top of that Onega had the audacity to slap her just cause she wanted to feel love as she was and then on top of that had the audacity the gall to smile while the poor girl walks in having been beat up nah screw her Kashiwabara deserves better I hope she leaves that fuck ass town and that girl behind
What part about him is childish exactly that he's excited that he has a crush damn that one guy was right why is adulthood the thief of joy to you people
This tho. I can be as mature as I want but if I had to go on a date with my crush, you bet my ass will look or do something stupid