I think what Duke meant by
"You shouldn't lose to anyone but me. " was
Duke losing to Jiwoo threatens his position in his family.
If Jiwoo loses to anyone like for example Arthur, then Arthur would be considered stronger than Duke. Which would cause more problems for him and everyone will tear him apart and ridicule him. His position in the family will be shaken up.
If he wins in their rematch then his position will be restored and all his problems will vanish.
He's just trying to live his life peacefully, at least I think.
I think he's just trying to mask his nervous and agitated self with a tough facade.
He might not actually be a bad guy.
But this is just a theory.
Please don't be mean with what you say. I'm just trying show people from another perspective.
When Sucheon was first introduced, he was the worst but his backstory explained why.
Duke is from one of the most prestigious families in the awakened world, the mental pressure and physical abuse must be more severe. Not to mention there are others who will tear him apart and ridicule him.
I'm not saying he's a good guy, I'm just saying that maybe his behavior is a result of abuse. It might not be his fault that he's like this.
Sucheon was portrayed as a narcissist in the earlier chapters too. Everyone in the Manhwa who is affiliated is a narcissist to an extent.
Someone posted this on Reddit, I just wanted to know what you think, is Duke a villain or is he not?
I think I saw this exact discussion on a Discord server at some point. Generally, I agree with this assessment, though I don’t think we have enough on his character to conclude anything concrete. I like the comparison with Sucheon, because I find the two are similar. Awakened world politics are a tricky matter, even more so when you belong to a prominent awakened family. I don’t know if I’d necessarily say Duke was abused, because so far there have been no visible indications from his family or from the academy that he suffers as such (yes I know that abuse can be invisible, but as a reader of a story, it has not been obvious so far). For example, with Sucheon, we saw that he was actively beat down by Supil after his spars with Jiwoo; however after losing to Jiwoo, we don’t really know what repercussions Duke may or may not have faced.
However, if I recall correctly (it’s been awhile since I’ve read the chapter, so pardon me if this isn’t entirely accurate), it was either Kayden or Kartein who was telling Jiwoo that the WAA wasn’t all it was cracked up to be - that it took children from prominent awakened families and turned them into ‘puppets’ for their own gain. When they no longer served as any use to the organization, they would be eliminated.
It’s hard to say if Duke is trying to live his own life peacefully or if he’s trapped into a life that the WAA has carved out for him and doesn’t really have a voice of his own to express otherwise. The problem is that we don’t really get to see a lot of his inner thoughts (if any at all) like we do with other World Awakened Academy students: we see Arthur’s inner thoughts about Duke while he’s engaged in combat with Jiwoo and we also see Gahin’s inner thoughts after getting his ass handed to him when he tried to control Kartein. But like Jiyoung, I don’t remember ever being privy to Duke’s thoughts which makes it harder to gauge his character.
As for masking his true self, he doesn’t strike me as the type to be nervous and cover it by being tough. I think he’s just used to being the best on a global scale, so his agitation comes from the fact that it may not be true after all. After being told you’re the best in the world for your age group all your life and then have some unaffiliated nobody beat you would definitely make you question everything you may have known up until then.
I agree that it may not be his fault that he’s the way he is, but it’s hard to tell what his own thoughts are versus what he’s been brainwashed to think. Mix that in with the narcissism all formidable awakeners seem to possess and Duke doesn’t really have a distinguishable personality beyond a questionable, bloodthirsty asshole because he’s just a puppet. Due to this and the fact that we know the WAA’s intentions with these teenagers, I don’t think he’s a villain. He drew a lot of comparisons to Jiwoo in the beginning, and I think Jiwoo would have been like him had he been picked up by a shady organization at the start. So if Duke could be seen as the “evil” Jiwoo in due to negative environmental circumstances, he definitely has the potential to be like how Jiwoo actually turned out - he just needs the right support system.
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