beta
Jaekyung definitely has rich person brainrot where he thinks he’s entitled to everything and everyone he wants because he can just buy them. We’re seeing him once again try to throw money at his supposed problem and being shocked and appalled when it doesn’t work. There’d been an earlier chapter too where he talked about how Dan’s apartment stank of poverty. It makes me wonder whether Jaekyung has always been rich/grown up as part of a rich family or if it was his MMA career that made him outrageously wealthy.
On one hand if he’s always been wealthy then yeah, it can easily explain how/why he’s so lacking in empathy, his entitlement, and why he just might genuinely believe money (and fists) can solve everything. In this case he’s probably never been seriously denied anything in his life, lol, but maybe his parents were similarly emotionally absent from his life, relying on money to take care of things. Or maybe they were there and just as nutty? lol. Part of me believes this is probably more likely—yeah natural talent can get you decently far, but the training you need to become the best of the best probably cost hella money. It had to have come from somewhere.
On the other hand it would be interesting if he’s self-made but just forgot where he came from. I would even say he’s the type to be like “fuck you, I got mine” about his journey where he thinks he doesn’t owe anyone anything after working so hard…how you say, survivorship bias? Or it might be that he actively doesn’t want to remember the fact that he came from a more meager background. Jaekyung seems to hate “weakness”/vulnerability in himself (which of course then extends to others lmao) so it wouldn’t surprise me if he wasn’t always rich but hates thinking about a time when he was in or close to Dan’s position in life, having to rely so much on others and being at their mercy.
…Or he’s just a rich asshole for plot/redemption arc purposes, because who cares about actually exploring anything about anything amirite? ╮(￣▽￣)╭