TW: this thread mentions suic*de and abuse

analyzing seungho hours:

what we got from chapter 57 is a glimpse of seungho’s upbringing, it scratched the surface of such a well thought-out character and it explains so many scenes that we’ve seen before

first of all these two pieces of dialogue just break my fucking heart. knowing that seungho was once lively and happy and one of the most admired teens in the region, I couldn’t help but wonder how we could’ve gotten such a different story knowing that things could’ve been better

imagine if seungho grew up to be a bright scholar, not angry or violent, someone who the townsfolk would admire and not gossip about, someone who didn’t have to sleep with multiple people every night because he couldn’t find pleasure in anything else

he never received any genuine love as a child. the man who was supposed to raise him broke him instead, and traumatized him to the point where even the slightest mention of him sends him into restless nights. we still don’t know specifically what his father did to him

but it was torturous enough for him to even attempt ending his own life. it makes sense to us now why seungho chose to cut off any communication with his father, not even considering reading a letter that was sent to him and immediately burning it away

it explains why seungho sent his father a painting of him up two noble’s assholes at the end of season one, knowing that it was the very thing his father would despise the most. which was honestly one the greatest ways to say fuck you imo

the closest thing to affection that we’ve seen seungho receive is from mr kim, the real father figure that kept seungho from completely losing himself into madness, but as much as mr kim cares for him, it would never be received as genuine love due to mr Kim’s status, so seungho

thought that mr. kim was just obligated to take care of him. we’ve poked at him for being emotionally inept & incapable of understanding nakyum or showing him love, but it makes sense, if seungho never knew what it was like to be loved how would he know how to love someone else?

based on what we’ve seen, seungho had two potential partners to be with, jihwa or nakyum. forgetting nakyum’s pov and just looking at the story from an outsider’s perspective, seungho and jihwa being together would make more sense. Here are potential reasons why:

-theyve known each other since they were kids and are a part of each other’s past
-jihwa shares the same status as seungho, making their relationship not frowned upon by the other nobles
-jihwa is better at seggs(sorry nakyum baby but it’s true)
-it’s a convenient relationship

-jihwa just knows seungho and his secrets and probably has the most knowledge of seungho’s past
-they were probably each other’s firsts in lots of thingssharing that bond forever
-jihwa probably understands seungho’s trauma more than anyone
-jihwa actually likes seungho

yet even with all this, seungho still chose nakyum. a lowborn at the bottom of society, someone who had to sell paintings of porn in order to survive. he has no status, no money, no family, he’s inexperienced and can’t even read. on top of all that, nakyum admired someone else

so how could seungho choose nakyum over jihwa? he could’ve lived an easier life by accepting jihwa’s love and staying with him, but seungho just couldn’t help but fall in love with nakyum

seungho saw through all of this and realized that nakyum is kind and sensitive, he cares so much for people and still managed to have a pure soul after being treated like dirt his entire life. nakyum has so much love to give but never had someone that gave him that same love back

this is why I’m excited to see how the next chapter will play out, especially with seungho being at his most vulnerable and physically at his weakest, this means that were bound to get some sort of conversation to happen between them

regardless of whether they do anything sexual or if they just cuddle(praying for it), the atmosphere is going to be so much different now that nakyum is aware that seungho does have feelings for him.

if we think about it, this is seungho’s first time loving someone and this is nakyum’s first time being loved by someone, which is why their relationship is so beautiful to me because we get to see how nakyum will slowly allow for seungho to open his heart again

and nakyum will tear down the emotional walls that seungho built as a defense mechanism, letting seungho feel the same happiness he had as a child. we get to see how nakyum will finally know what it’s like to be properly loved by someone, and how he won’t be abandoned like before

the slowburn of the story may be hard right now, but how often do we get to see a manhwa take its time to develop characters at a realistic pace? we’re so lucky that we get to witness their relationship at this point because the payoff will be so so fucking satisfying to see,

and I can’t wait to see them finally be happy together, when they both realize all they needed was each other in the end. Fin.