Chibi

The ONLY functional, non-toxic, 'adult' relationship in the show, tbh! :/

They say they are 'fwb' but I don't really think they are. They are very much in denial of the fact that each caught feelings for the other. Nabi is in denial because accepting she likes him 'more' than what their current situation allows her, means opening herself up for rejection. If she never says: 'hey JE, let's try being serious about each other'... then there is no possibility of JE turning her down, aka no rejection, and no hurt. JE is in denial about catching feels, even though he plays house with her... because that again leaves him vulnerable, and we repeatedly see how he loves the power-trip from always being in control. He loses that control once he accepts and is set up on uncharted, unfamiliar waters (he's inexperienced with 'traditionally committed relationships'). The denial is what leads to a whole lot of toxic and gaslight-y behavior on both their parts.
And it's because of such dishonest people... (dishonest to themselves, dishonest to e/o, and dishonest to the world) that casual r/l get a bad rep. There exist genuinely real humans who can casually have sex, without raising their own, or the other person's expectations with confusing/ misleading behavior (like playing house, ugh.... why?). And out of so many of these functional fwb, there are some that end, because two mature adults recognize when the arrangement stops working in their favor and have the sense to walk out.
Not that I expect such maturity from pre-final year Uni students. :)

haha, 'he doesn't do relationships, nevertheless...' ep1
'he sleeps around in the empty library with random chics, nevertheless...' ep2
'he's horny and kisses another girl right outside my doorstep, after a house-party, nevertheless...'
'his red flags get pointed out to me multiple times, nevertheless....'
'he fails to make me boxed seaweed soup on my birthday.... nevertheless'
'he has a gf and we *break up*.... nevertheless'
.
.
'he is a puppy-murderer..... nevertheless'

This is why Nevertheless shoulda been a movie, or a 6ep mini-drama at MAX, with 50mins runtime.
Ugh. It lost all steam after ep3 imo, and has been diluted with too much filler.
Relieved to see upcoming Netflix webtoon adaptations capped at single digit ep numbers! :)

Preview, JE: 'I saw someone so beautiful here, I fell in love at first sight'. Of course, he says this line at the gallery. THE SAME GALLERY where Nabi's sculpture was displayed. EW. Stalker alert.
*insert puke-emoji*

I miss the good old days when the comment section had discussions on the story, characters, film-making & psychology. Stuff, that actually mattered. Sigh.

Aww, what a precious baby! He has such a sweet smile, I hope he stops taking tsundere roles which don't let him smile as much! ^^

aww, you guys <3

trash...

Bit-Na would never play house with Kyu-Hyun. She's more... consistent in her aversion to dating, romance and deeper relationships. Jae-Eon, on the other hand, is an embodiment of contradiction. He doesn't want to be clingy, he doesn't want to date, doesn't want romance and exclusivity, yet that's what he ends up doing anyway. Bit-Na, is less confused in that respect. Atleast she's honest to herself.

These are the kind of people why a lot of us 'not so young, but single' people *choose* to stay single.... just sayin' :P

JE isn't a conscious-manipulator though. His actions and behavior stems from years of prioritizing *his* needs over anybody else's, and it has continued over years such that he come across a s selfish prick. He isn't your standard stock-character who dislikes intimacy and domesticity (and that's where he's *very* different from Bit-Na, who also sleeps around a lot and isn't into relationships). Instead, JE craves for it, and will only allow himself as much, so as to not to get caught up in his own feelings and into the situation. Ep.6 pretty much confirmed it. You can see how selfish he is, because all he realizes is *his* pain and hurt, and doesn't spare a single second of empathy of what Nabi might be going through.
Like you said, he always turns situations in a way that the outcome is what *he* wants, and Nabi just trudges along. And just because he's not consciously doing what he does, and Nabi ends up being a willing party....doesn't make him any less of a manipulator! :)

JE isn't a conscious-manipulator though. His actions and behavior stems from years of prioritizing *his* needs over anybody else's, and it has continued over years such that he come across a s selfish prick. He isn't your standard stock-character who dislikes intimacy and domesticity (and that's where he's *very* different from Bit-Na, who also sleeps around a lot and isn't into relationships). Instead, JE craves for it, and will only allow himself as much, so as to not to get caught up in his own feelings and into the situation. Ep.6 pretty much confirmed it. You can see how selfish he is, because all he realizes is *his* pain and hurt, and doesn't spare a single second of empathy of what Nabi might be going through.
Like you said, he always turns situations in a way that the outcome is what *he* wants, and Nabi just trudges along. And just because he's not consciously doing what he does, and Nabi ends up being a willing party....doesn't make him any less of a manipulator! :)

>>>he will now literally do everything to get her back just to dump her ass again.<<<
aka, how it goes down in the webtoon.... or atleast 99% of it!

Amen!

100/100.

I think the only angle of Auntie's speech I agree with, is that 'we mustn't settle for less'. Like MissNoTIme said... there is a middle-ground between JE and DH... and I agree, NB should wait around for that!

I guess, too little, too late?
The fact that he has to talk to KH to get an idea what Nabi is going through, just shows how self-absorbed and into his own head he is. He really needs to get his head out of his butt, istg. It's like he has zero empathy or emotion. He only cares about how *HE* is the one who's hurt in all this. UGH.

It's reprehensible how somebody, especially a man is absolved of all accountability just because his *woman partner* is a particular way, and is not perfect herself. Somehow, the baseline for men, is SO much lower than women.... like doing even the bare-minimum excuses you, because you are a man, yet the woman next to you must be kept on a pedestal and has astronomically high-standards of 'goodness' to meet. And if she doesn't.... then her name-calling will excuse the guy of any and all trash-behavior. SMH.

But I think you also missed the fact that Nabi thought she had 'fixed the shelf', but later we see that it was still crooked. It could be a metaphor of how she walks away eventually from a 'crooked' JE, who wouldn't be able to change... is someone who's *incapable* of change.