I am more than a little tired of the classic take every single time Sangwoo shows any emotion at all: “He is just being manipulative”, “he doesn’t feel anything, he only wants Bum to feel bad”, “clearly he is being abusive”, and like, even if that is true, which I don’t entirely believe, aren’t those people done themselves already? I have been reading the same shit since the story began and it hasn’t gotten any more interesting since then.
Abusive shitty ass people can have emotions too. Killers can have emotion. Fictional killers can have emotion if the author so damn pleases. Not every breath Sangwoo takes is just a manipulative tactic to get people to do what he wants. Just… chill somewhat.
And, for whatever is worth, I don’t think he is intentionally manipulating Bum. I interpreted the last panel as he exploting his weak state (like a child screaming after getting merely scratched… although fucking cuts like that aren’t scratches, Sangwoo is tough still) and get surprised that it worked because, honestly, when was the last time anyone showed him pity instead of searching pitty from him? Damn, these are going to be one of the very first times ever Bum felt sympathy for him.
But I do believe he truly felt bad when Bum not only took almost the entire day to be back, but came back with someone else and on top of that pretended to continue lying even after being called out. I think he felt like he was losing control over Bum, because not only Bum now screams at him when he is angry, now he lies to his face and doesn’t care if he believes him or not. So he did the thing his mom always did when she felt like losing control over him… first he tries to regain the control as always, just demanding it, and when that doesn’t work, search for sympathy because he truly feels lost without knowing what is happening now. All of this just right after he had a very traumatic flashback and seeing the only person he now cares about bullshiting him… The guy is not thinking right and just acts whatever way he see fit not to try to regain some sense of control, that Bum is not going to leave him.
There is a manipulative aspect to it, but the way some people talk about it make it seem as if those were crocodile tears, that Sangwoo was completely emotionless and had no actual investment on the situation, thinking coldly and strategically how he could gain the situation to his favor, like when they were on the police station. And besides that being an old as fuck comment, that is just not what I got.
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