Since that one post about this by @viscari-a I have been paying extra attention to all the KSE and Choi convos in my reread. I'm in post-Mermaid Tomb era and so far...
KSE really doesn't say much in response to Choi.
But also, internal narration wise, holy-shit does Choi seem to make him experience every emotion under the sun and he constantly constantly has to remind himself not to get swept away and forget his ultimate goal is to go home.
Choi also truly seems to be the one who gets him to stop 'playing roles' and burst out with his real feelings quite often. There are always extenuating circumstances (he's stressed, he's a child) but most of the outbursts so far, where he's a bit surprised at having said that after, are with Choi.
Interested to see how this the Big Fumbles will go in detail.
(Also GYE's pov on KSE is soooo fucking funny. In front of her, KSE generally 'stops pretending' a lot, but his persona so strong that GYE is left staring at KSE saying wacko stuff about how he's more of a paperwork guy and ohhh he's so scared and ohhh that's just a coincidence and ohhh but we GOTTA save those people that's LOGICAL. Is he lying? Is he crazy? No, he's too competent, he has to be just blatantly lying and acting the fuck up, right?!)
(Also I think she definitely has a very mild hint of jealousy in her about KSE being the top recruit. GYE gives me the vibes of someone who is used to being top of the class until recently, so I feel she often has a mild hint of that in her always when dealing with KSE (in the beginning at least) IIRC she brought up being one of the top 3 recruits, and then usually KSE's top recruit status is something she often brings up when thinking of KSE.)
ETA timeline for future ref: Rereading Part 1 / Live on Ch 385
2087
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