Chibi

Yeah, it's heart-warming at first, till it takes a turn for the bad. But you can't always live in fear of things turning sour, because you definitely WILL miss out on a lot.
While every second you spend soaking in each others' existence, there is every minute later on, that you cannot stand the other person. I'm glad they'll be giving us the full-course meal, because that imo, is how relationships are, and how they start and end.

OHMYGOD. yasu and nana T_T
RIP my heart T_T

Yeah, this is most likely angle and most reasonable argument I'm coming up with rn. Except the tragedy is love can't change a person. It's a silly thing that happens in magical lands of dramas and romance-novels. The characters also, aren't black or white, and have enough redeeming qualities about them, only if you look hard enough. I guess it's also necessary to make JE genuinely nice, to justify every time Nabi swoons for him. I guess he's crawled into my heart too, but I see him for what he is though. :')

The little crumbs of attention they throw at you, istg.... gives you better highs than premium-quality coke. Been there. Hurts like a mf. And then the withdrawals kick in, which make you do incredibly stupid and completely questionable things. For those little crumbs. :/

Drama-logic. Lol.

Paying attention to details is not enough one this one. Trust me, I have been doing it, and I still come up with unanswered questions because we are never explicitly given JE's PoV. So, in the very end.... you still 'never know.'
I agree on everything else you mentioned though.

Okay, I get the sentiments. But some C-netz are crazy with their gossips, and guess LYN is the next victim. Ugh :/ Thanks for the link though :) Just confirms they will drag, anybody and everybody. :'(

Same... but apparently being tall also makes him slouch sometimes, and that in the opinion of c-netz is 'ugly'. Istg! :/

You mean, the same age as Liu Shishi, Yang Mi, Zhao Liying and Liu Yifei?
But, *how*?
>>Mind-blown<<
(C-netz are wild with rumors, atleast spread something that's mildly believable!!)

>>Spoiler-free<<
The thing I am slowly realizing about toxicity via this story, is that being toxic doesn't have to come about as being a *conscious* character trait. 90% of the time, people don't even realize they are being toxic. Because somehow, being genuinely nice and a decent human-being for the rest of the day, excuses them of this toxicity. Because we often would like to see the good in people, which would somehow negate/ neutralize this negativity. Nobody wakes up every morning and chooses to be a toxic person, or a manipulator. Consciously, intentionally, every single breathing moment of their lives. Toxic people can also be decent people most of the time. Toxicity can also come out of years of harmlessly conditioning yourself to prioritize your own needs over everybody else's, till the point you are immune to what the other person needs/ wants. You are deaf; nothing they say gets past your brain-filter of self-priority. You are blind; actively choosing to ignore/ overlook what the other person has been trying to show you all along. And this can again. come along with being a perfectly normal and decent functioning person for the rest of the society.

I get people like JW. They don't consciously go around looking to be the 'bad-guy' in someone's story. The heart wants what it wants, and in this case... being around/ nice to the girl he genuinely likes, even if he may know deep-down he isn't good for her, isn't what she needs, even if he's leading her on, and setting her up for a heartbreak. I think. that's where the success of the writers/ story comes in, in making a deeply-layered, morally-grey protagonist who comes off as very 3-dimensional, despite consciously depriving us of his PoV. You identify with his dilemmas too, even though they may not seem very obvious or profound at first. :)

I am all for self-love. But when it borders selfishness, is when it turns problematic. Especially when you're choosing to have active relationships with fellow people of the society (friendship, dating, etc), inspite of wanting to be superficial in your daily interactions. This is how toxicity eventually brews up inside you. JE can be all genuinely nice for all you want, but at the end of the day, his actions are selfish and toxic because the subject of his niceness is not himself, but a completely different human whose expectations he has been raising, albeit heedlessly.
Sadly, honesty and self-love are peddled around as cheap excuses for being a selfish jerk and sometimes, even an unaware manipulator. He really needs someone (preferably a neutral 3rd party) to sit him down, and explain what he's doing is neither acceptable nor very-healthy.

Sorry for the absolutely long rant.

He is someone who
A. doesn't look his age (how's he 31 already?)
B. I feel like he reminds me of the Korean actor Ji Soo.
C. Has a kick-ass dry-humor.
D. Is still passionate/ serious about doing multi-hour livestreams for his fans (from this room that reminds you of shady karaoke-bars), even after hitting astronomic fame, which is so cute! xD
E. I find iIs so dashing with his 6feet+ height, but is unnecessarily dragged (by blind c-netz) for not being 'handsome enough'. -_-

But remember how JaeWon makes the comment on 'butterflies are born to fly a pre-destined path'....?
Maybe she just IS an obsessive person, and wasn't turned into one because of JE. Maybe, even with the sweetest of guys, she *will* turn into her obsessive-self eventually. You see that with her insecurity that starts creeping up with Do-Hyuk towards the end. The only conclusions we can draw, are based on the facts that the storytellers show us. Beyond that, everything is a conjecture. Like... you never know.
Hahaha, this story will make me think for a long time to come :)

For someone to be able to affect you that badly., especially over the long-run.... gosh, she was really into him, wasn't she? :/ Casual-flings usually don't/ can't get under your skin that much...

Na-Bi: 'Knows what she wants. But won't ask for it. Instead, will occasionally run into moments of realization and ignore/ avoid the shit out of you, for the benefit of the public eye though. In moments of desperation, she'll stalk you. Leave you confused AF. Not about what you feel for her, but about what her actions mean, because like I said, she won't vocalize her needs, and is sometimes, a bundle of contradictions. Okay, maybe a little bit of the former too.' xD

There is always a 'Jae-Won' that turns a 'Na-Bi' into a 'Bit-Na'.
Are we forming a solidarity-group after this show, because I see a loooooot of people with similar experiences, who have similar issues as depicted in the story.. and everybody deserves a chance at healing.

He felt possessive of her initially, BEFORE being told to back off by Nabi on the rooftop. This was the scene when he comes and puts his hand on her shoulder to mark his 'property' when she's talking to the junior in the studio. He did give her the space when she asked for it very explicitly.
Infact, with all the experience he has in the world, it wouldn't take an asteroid to hit him to realize what he witnessed with Nabi and the junior on the flea-market night. He saw she was being played around with, that she got stood-up, was uncomfortable and embarrassed for having being strung around by some kid, and humiliated in public. The expression on JE's face was of someone who could have clearly taken the situation in his control. He could have followed up when she ran away. But he didn't. He contacted her after the flea-market was over, *as a friend* who had witnessed what went down, asking if she was okay. I reckon he would have further pushed his case- on the phone call- risking further rejection, had Nabi not been sick and the misunderstanding not made it seem like she had passed out unconscious in her apartment. He, very clearly kept his distance, till the point it looked like she needed some help (with her fever, medicines and food), and he approached her *as a friend* who cares, much later into the evening, and not as someone possessive (with violent hand-grabs, arm-pulls, being forceful emotionally/ physically and unlike a possessive d*ck who thinks he has a shot with the girl, right after she gets stood-up in public).

For all the things he can do, JE gets a few things mind-blowingly right. Now the question is, is the niceness only an act; even if not fully, then partly? Does he consciously do these things for her, thinking they are no big-deal to her, and won't give her the wrong idea? Man, I'm really conflicted on this one.

The first instance we see is when he notices her talking to the junior outside the convenience store. Given, he's in another woman's company, someone who 'makes him smile', and returned from abroad and they're catching up after quite some time... his attention should be laser-focused on her alone (which he's quite capable of doing). But we clearly see him notice Nabi and the interaction she has going on with the junior. Instead of switching topics, he continues speaking about her to this lady-friend.
The second instance is when we see him pick up assorted drinks from the convenience store for his classmates, and having spotted the Lime-drink NaBi loves, he clearly recalls their moments together. She actively occupies his mind, even when she's physically not around him and he has no chance of using such tricks (such as remembering these inconsequential little details) to impress/ seduce her. The third instance, is when we see him act pissed and territorial whenever the junior is around, but I'm not fully considering it because what if he's only acting pissed so to manipulate Nabi getting the wrong idea.. right? And everything he does for her after their phone-call can't be counted either, because they are exclusively for the benefit of Nabi's eyes to see (and therefore, could just be fake).

However, from the above two glimpses the storytellers show us of Jae-Won (and him alone), we can see that Nabi has invaded more of his brain-space than he would let any casual-fling ever. She affects him more than he'd ever admit. He isn't a psychopath atleast who's doing it for some depraved/ perverted kind of fun with every move being pre-calculated. Sure, his niceness around Nabi may seem manufactured....... but could you really fake it in moments of solitude too?
I wish the directors keep sprinkling enough of these unscripted moments around Jae-Won, even if they don't give us a full backstory, because this definitely assuages a lot of fears! :)

Lol, we are calling them out both for what they're doing. That's the beauty of the story, if they can sell you into watching not just one, but TWO very problematic MCs. >.<

Ep.3 brings a lot into perspective. For once, we see a semblance of Jae-Won's PoV. And it shows a lot about what he thinks of Na-Bi, especially when she's not around to affect the outcome of being the subject of his attention (aka not earn him brownie-points with Nabi, & make her swoon and get her into his bed).
[contd.]

Just my two cents.... just because person A wants something willingly from person B, doesn't make the latter (B) *not* toxic. For all we know, she's as toxic as him. Somebody's toxicity is ON THEM. A secondary party's action or responses can never be excuses for their own actions.
But I'm with you on being confused about the guy. I think the directors are doing their job well, because I'm sure that's exactly what they want to make us feel.