@Jay "As I recall, the beginning of the series has the teacher make a comment that the kids are becoming of legal age that year (19).". You're right, but if you check chapter 24, Mian had actually just turned 20 at that time.
"Even if she was 15 years old, there is absolutely no difference between 13 and 15 in the eyes of a normal, functional adult when it comes to perceiving them as viable sexual partners". True, that's precisely why Haegu rejected Mian's advances back then, and that would've been the outcome if Mian was 13 or any other age below 19.
"The only thing I said is that she didn’t have a snowball’s chance of normal emotional (or sexual) development when she’s surrounded by violence, her caretaker insists on facilitating her own murder, and her environment is generally psychologically unhealthy, which is a fact even you yourself agree with." Like I said before, she wasn't really surrounded by violence growing up, and the environment she was raised in didn't hinder her emotional/sexual development or anything. What did have a significant impact on her chance of a normal development were her initial emotions which were all over the place (as expected from a child who saw what she saw). As we see in chapter 49, Mian was very unstable as a child and didn't want to go to school, make friends etc. My point is that that would've happened no matter the environment she was raised in, because wherever she lived Mian would still carry the burden of her trauma. Fortunately, as she grew up, she overcame that problem with Haegu's help and slowly became more and more normal. She wouldn't have friends and she wouldn't be going to university now otherwise.
"The only thing I said is that she didn’t have a snowball’s chance of normal emotional (or sexual) development when she’s surrounded by violence, her caretaker insists on facilitating her own murder, and her environment is generally psychologically unhealthy, which is a fact even you yourself agree with." Like I said before, she wasn't really surrounded by violence growing up, and the environment she was raised in didn't hinder her emotional/sexual development or anything. What did have a significant impact on her chance of a normal development were her initial emotions which were all over the place (as expected from a child who saw what she saw). As we see in chapter 49, Mian was very unstable as a child and didn't want to go to school, make friends etc. My point is that that would've happened no matter the environment she was raised in, because wherever she lived Mian would still carry the burden of her trauma. Fortunately, as she grew up, she overcame that problem with Haegu's help and slowly became more and more normal. She wouldn't have friends and she wouldn't be going to university now otherwise.