The path of redemption by the male lead was done very well. Regardless of the male lead's intention to change, selfish or otherwise, he tried and did change. Both leads drove the story and carried most of the other characters. Why the low rating, tough?

The other characters that bullied the leads did not change at all, but somehow the author wanted us to feel sorry for them. The only reason they were interacting with the leads was because the male lead went out of his way to talk to a few of them. As the story progressed, it seems that it was the victim's fault for all the bullying. I understand victims of bullying maybe able to prevent it if they stand-up for themselves, but it could make it worse. After the constant bulling on the female lead, she finally told the adults, but it made it worse. Later on, one of the characters mentioned that it was the female lead's fault for getting the adults involved. After reading further, I began to think the author wanted us to blame the victim. When the male lead called-out the bullies on his group, they started blaming him and the male lead felt he did it to isolate himself. After completing the story, I still can not understand how the leads are able to befriend those terrible people, at least the male lead changed. Both victims of lead wanted to commit suicide at one point, but the bullies themselves lived alright and only blamed others. With the exception of the male lead, the story seemed to teach bullying is okay as long as you blame others and eventually the victims will forgive you. The teacher himself was involved in bullying indirectly, and did not change either.