i really wanted the sweet parts with sutao to contrast with the creepy vibes from exo and make them that much more unsettling. and you're right!! i wanted it to be subtle, make the reader uneasy without just flat out saying 'exo are bad guys' lmao, so thank you!! (i'm sorry it scared you like that tho :( )

it very much was a vicious cycle for tao by the end. if he kept joonmyun, he wouldn't have been his joonmyun after very long, and if he'd gone with him, yifan would've gone after them. by convincing yifan to let him go, he at least gave joonmyun a chance, even if he wished he could go with him.

this fic was hard for me bc i'm such a sucker for a happy ending, but i felt it had to end this way!! lmao that would be the best alternate ending, but only if yifan gets to survive too (i'm a big fan of duizhang u____u)

thank you so much for reading!!