Additional Inheritance Chapter 97 Discussion

A wife-chasing novel I actually kept reading after the the break up, which I don't usually do. For those who like knowing what they're getting into before committing to reading a story in this genre I'll go into detail below about what makes the ML a "scum gong".

Spoiler

They meet when the MC inherits a house from his recently deceased estranged friend. Included in her will is a request to take care of her son, the ML, who is 15 at the time. (The MC is 19, so there's a ~4 year age gap.)

The first 50 chapters take place over the course of about three years. The MC and the ML get along well and the ML confesses at around chapter 40, pretty sure he's already 18 at that point. Once they're in a relationship everything seems to be going great, until the ML's dad appears out of the blue to reveal the truth to the MC:

The ML forged his mother's will, stealing a massive amount of money that was left for the MC. The ML's mother left the money to the MC to try to protect the ML from using it to go after his father. The ML's father is responsible for his mother's death, and he's out for vengeance.

After that truth is revealed the MC is able to reflect back and realizes just how many times the ML lied and manipulated him. Even the confession was done in an attempt to control the MC. The MC breaks it off and leaves, but becomes concerned when he realizes the ML is making a play against his father. While attempting to help the ML he gets tricked and gets taken hostage by the ML's father, resulting in the MC getting injured.

After that the MC loses any remaining trust in the ML, believing every part of the person he fell in love with was a lie created to manipulate him.

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The reason I can stomach this ML is because at least he has a clear motivation for why he lied and manipulated the MC. In comparison to other ML's who cheat or have anger management problems, Spoiler

lying in an attempt to avenge a loved one is practically saint-tier.

[collapse] And it's easy to want to cut the ML some slack due to his abusive childhood.

I also like that the ML didn't really try to gaslight the MC with things like "it wasn't really that bad, you're overreacting", etc that other MLs are known for. He was more like "I was hoping you'd never find out, I'll make it up to you, don't leave."