Yeah I dont like those kinds of cliches at all 😔
I did do a whole twt thread, but so far I think Taeuk will disappear in time to not be seen by Cheol if he does come back again (I'm hoping for that), or by anyone else coz I think it's more likely that instead of Cheol, the first to find Miae after that cliffhanger will be her school friends gang (Yunhui, Jiseon, Jihye), or maybe even Yonghui first then the gang and that will lead to another chaos.
There's several possibilities I can think of there, but I dont think Taeuk will be around long enough for Cheol or anyone who will recognise him to show up, coz with how he showed up in front of Miae when she was all alone means he plans to do smth with Miae when she's alone and isolated, and I doubt those would be good. For that, he wouldnt want Miae to know his real identity or for Cheol to find out either, esp coz I believe Taeuk's plan is a long and quiet one he plans to do behind the scenes, and later drop a bigger bomb. Hence, why I also think Miae will be safe from any immediate harm from Taeuk for now.
Soonkki will most likely focus on the problem that has grown badly in Miae and Cheol's relationship (also Miae's Yunhui-Yonghui drama), and then move to Taeuk's plot.

Hmm...
1- The mountain spirit theory, which seems to be very close to canon and I hv shared as much as I could on it in other others from 2-3 days back. Also I learned abt it from a kr fan who deactivated.
2- Related to Taeuk coming back to the story. Since he has been confirmed to be coming back, maybe my theory will? Or not. But here goes nothing-
I believe that mole guy (Shim Changhyeon) trying to get closer to Cheol is sus. He even said smth that sounded weird and sus in ep 74, when Cheol was busy ensuring that Miae didn't run into them. He was very concerned abt whether he'll be able to get closer to Cheol coz Miae could ruin his chances for that if they hv a special relationship. We saw him later threaten Miae using Cheol to not interfere with Songi either, and we can see that mole guy copied Jinseop's style. It could be that aside from wanting to date Songi (on the last day b4 summer break he even said that he'll make sure he has a gf when they return to school so I hope she's alright), he also wants to ensure that he's on top of the social ladder in school, and usually charas like him do that by joining bullies. Since we hv seen him bully Miae every chance he gets, he surely does that, and one bully group that we prominently see is the one Seop hung out w, which also included Goguryeo kids (we can see it in seopmae downtown date eps). And Seop was the one who tried introducing mole guy in ep 71 to Cheol as well, so it's likely he's already part of the gang. Here's what I think - mole guy is actually kahoots w Taeuk's ppl, prolly smth like a spy too. So Taeuk must hv already known abt Miae. Then that moment in the school trip when he threatened her also isolated her from Cheol, so it's likely that Miae will be targeted more until they finally target her separately when she's w/o Cheol. Maybe the cliffhanger from 159 is a confirmation for that, that they hv been trying to separate them to target Cheol, coz Taeuk had promised that he'll get back on Cheol by targeting everyone he holds precious. And I dont think Taeuk's moving alone, coz even if that bully Inuk said that no one's in contact Taeuk anymore, it's likely that the group has become smaller instead. Also the one who stepped on Cheol's bag during the school trip might be one of them coz the flashback of Taeuk's group bullying Honggyu showed a bully hving similar shoes (and mole guy is too cowardly and doesn't hv that kind of malice to do that to Cheol).
Another part of this is more like a wish, but I hope to see Jang Seonyeong back in all this, as an ally to Miae and Cheol (w a face). This is because during cheolmae forced separation arc, mole guy and more ppl seemed to approaching Cheol alongside Seonyeong, and the girls she hangs out with also seem suspicious, esp since Seonyeong revealed the name of the headband girl (Eunmi). It feels pointless to reveal a chara's name to not hv her appear again after that.
And another part of this theory is that this whole plot will help resolve Cheol and Honggyu's trauma, with these bullies finally getting justice and Cheol not being afraid anymore. That he'll ask for help from the adults or receive their support this time, to make sure he isnt alone. And Miae will also show a lot of development by the time this plot gets resolved, which I think will be along the lines of her trauma from her unpleasant past that was revealed in 148.

Ahahaha smth I cant ever shut up abt. Beware this will hv too many unnecessary details since you asked for the lore.
So I had gotten into webtoons in 2020, and one of the 1st webtoons I read was citt. Citt left such a huge impact on me that I couldn't read a lot of webtoons coz they were nothing like it and so I reread it like 15 times b4 it became a daily pass too (I made my webtoon account just to heart all the eps b4 it became a dp). After that I became devastated at how I couldnt find anymore seoljung content, so I set on a mission to find anything citt related and found lots of illustrations soonkki made for ads featuring citt charas (kinda like how Miae and Cheol get featured with other charas from time to time). And then I gradually ended up on soonkki's naver blog and also Instagram. There I had seen that soonkki was planning on a new work which seemed to be set in school. I started frequenting on naver webtoon's website so that I could find out when it starts getting serialized, and got even more hopeful after seeing her cookie run comic. But citt had ended in 2017 and 2020 was ending too so I was losing hope, until on the 1st Tuesday or Wednesday after New Year (2021), I saw that aslfua had finally been serialised and had 2 free eps + 3 fastpass eps. I checked on Friday coz I hadnt estimated when the ep updates and saw that the 3rd ep was free with 3 fp again. I was happy but felt unsure on how I'll read it since wteng didnt promote citt and many other webtoons well and I was also keeping up with some other webtoons which hadnt been licensed despite it being years older. But then I saw in "See You in My 19th Life" that the main couple from "Good Day To Be a Dog" was featured, and I became hopeful that I'll finally see Seol and Jung like that too (still hvnt, except maybe for those comics Miae was checking out in ep 1 or 2 💀).
Anyways, even tho I was hesitant, I kept going through the free eps over and over again, trying to interpret what was happening for some context. I also found some translations which are lost now to keep up with the plot to some extent until it got licensed in July 2021, and I was relieved despite knowing that wteng destroys a lot of context with their translations (I know it's not worth getting annoyed over but I cant help it). But the vibe and the colour palette being cool/neutral, the feelings I got from the storytelling, made me feel like I had finally found something to keep me going from not being able to find any more citt content, so I stuck around. I didnt realise how much I ended up loving aslfua until I joined the aslfua discord server and found more fans (also many more who appreciated citt which was relieving coz I always believed I could only ever find haters 🫠)

CheolMiae parallel... I hvnt reread aslfua in a ling time, but perhaps these would work:
- The way each of them has influenced the other's life so much? Both b4 and after they met again in middle school.
- The way both keep yearning for the other without the other being aware and believing that they alone feel that strongly for the other - this might sound like it's for b4 Miae and Cheol ended up confessing to each other after the laser tag game, but I think even after that, there's a gap coz both chose to hide away their feelings for each other using the bet.
- The way they always try to do the best for each other, even if it ends up often hurting the other. For example, even tho Cheol wished to meet Miae b4 finally moving into her neighbourhood, he decided to keep a distance from her coz of fear of his past catching up to him, which often and still make Miae believe that he hated her. Similarly, Miae also started internalising her issues more from Cheol and eventually when mole guy threatened ruining Cheol's time in school, she started hiding it even more, to the point where she said hurtful things to him.

I hv seen many ppl type Miae and Cheol as many things, but the ones that seem most accurate is Miae being an ENFP while Cheol being an ISTP. I hvnt looked deeply into Miae being ENFP since many ppl mostly type her as that, but I still believe it matches based on what I hv seen on it. Cheol however barely ever gets typed as ISTP by ppl, but with the way I understand his chara to be and everything I hv read on ISTP and other ones he gets typed as, like ISTJ, ISTP is what fits him best.
Love language hmm...
Miae and Cheol hv exhibited several live languages to each other and each of them get returned eventually as well. The ones I can remember best are- quality time and words of affirmation for both Miae and Cheol, both hv given it to the other and also appreciated ir when they received it. Cheol has shown a separate love language for Miae which hasnt been returned by her yet, which is gift-giving. He has given her a lot of gifts so far but Miae hasnt had the chance to yet. I think his bday might finally be it or it will end up being act of services. That's another love language I see between the both of them, but more frequently in Cheol since he is the type that's more actions than words. Miae also does the acts of service thing with the amount of time she has looked out for him ig? I'm not sure if it's different, but as far I can remember, it's mostly verbal than it is in Cheol's case (like how she stood up to the gym teacher). She always tries to look out for him and protect him, and so does Cheol for Miae.

Similarities? Ngl I got into aslfua when it only had 2 free eps on naver because I was desperate for citt and I got the same vibe from it despite looking completely different, both in the story setting and the character designs of the protagonists. So, similarities I noticed would be:
- the colour theme still has a more neutral or grey undertone. I loved that abt citt and love that in aslfua as well.
- both had mentions of spirits influencing, tho it is very different (like, the fortune teller from citt prologue and the mountain spirit wishes in aslfua).
- there are similarities in the dynamics between cheolmiae and seoljung and also their character designs. I cant help but link the way Seol would always mind her own business while focusing on studying just to get by with the way Cheol also tried to shut everything out with his earphones and stick to studying (ntm both had white wired earphones), while Miae being the one to approach Cheol with the smile and not giving up on him reminded me of how Jung took it upon himself to not give up on getting closer to Seol and always smiled as well - and in both cases Seol and Cheol gradually opened up to the other and showed a warm and loving side to them. (Each of this is while keeping in mind that there are still a lot of differences between each of them). There are also similarities in Cheol and Jung and also Seol and Miae, but I hvnt thought enough abt that so I'll avoid sharing it much 😅
- I think Jisu and Inho share the similarity of being bothersome to the main ship. And both Inho and Jisu hv a past connection to one of the ppl from each ship, like Inho with Jung, while Jisu with Miae.
- This reminded me, I noticed that in citt, among the differences Seol and Jung had, one was that Jung was an only child while Seol was not, being an older daughter with a younger brother. Inho had a slight similarity which was not being an only child, but he was the younger brother while Inha was the older sister. That's where aslfua shares another similarity, which is that Cheol isnt an only child coz he's the middle kid with 2 sisters, while Miae is an only child. Jisu shares a similarity being an only child as well, but there's a clear difference in how he's been raised by his parents compared to how Miae was by her parents, which stuck out to her a lot when she visited his house.
- The last similarity I'll add is that in citt, SeolJung always had a lot of moments which left readers thinking and believing that they wont stay together in the end, and many readers kept insisting that in the comments too, calling it too toxic and better if they broke-up. But they never did and grew a deeper stronger bond and even got married. Rn in aslfua as well, there's a lot of ominous hints that CheolMiae wont stay together forever and will fall apart in the end, it's being "implied" by the narrator and the entity as well. A lot of readers keep thinking that they might end up breaking apart. I think both these situations seem similar, and make me believe even more that Miae and Cheol will only grow a stronger bond and stay together forever afterwards.

Hmm most favourite of each would be:
- Songi
- when Cheol confronted Miae over the kiss and the whole chaos over it
- Miae and Cheol will be together forever no matter what circumstances get their way
- Songi telling all the kids to shut up during that basket ball match drama
- pretty much everything, even from the time they were 10 year olds
As for least favourite:
- mole guy
- either the forced separation arc or the latest one b4 the hiatus
- cheolmiae going separate ways and falling apart
- either the one where moke guy showed up alone with Miae and threatened her during that trip, or the drama Jisu has been causing in the latest arcs
- maybe this cliffhanger they had, tho it might change once it's fully revealed what exactly happened

Ahahahahaha even now I still believe that the narrator is the mountain spirit or whatever force is "creating these coincidences". It definitely has played a lot of role in the story so far. Maybe it really is responsible for Miae and Cheol meeting again and gradually what brought them together, and perhaps also for creating and pushing their current conflict as well which is making them feel distant from each other. But I dont think it is powerful enough to cause every bit of it either.
From what I hv seen, this force or spirit is only able to influence the situation and circumstances, how the ppl involved behave and use these influenced circumstances is not smth this entity can interfere with. Hence why we would often see the narrator be confused and amazed at both Miae and Cheol's actions, and often also the other characters, coz it cant predict or control what they do in the end - that's in their hands entirely.
A huge reason why many of us are wondering abt it's power is probably because of the way the narrator spoke in ep 159 cliffhanger and also Miae's internal monologue at the telephone booth in ep 159. Like I hv been saying, there's still only so much power this entity has because in the end everything is still in the ppl/characters' hands. Miae had wished for Cheol to liker her and believed that her wish had finally been fulfilled in 143 and that it was being take away after that - which I think ismt correct because while Miae was thinking that her wish had been fulfilled in 143, Cheol was hving his own different thoughts and we also saw his pov on his time with Miae. Even b4 all of that, there hv been several signs and moments which make me believe that Cheol already liked Miae when she had wished to the stone tower to make Cheol like her as well.
Also Sunjeong did say in the beginning of the story, that it takes 2 to tango - meaning Miae wouldn't hv gotten this far in their relationship by herself, since Cheol also had a hand in it.
So what I mean is, we need to hv faith in Miae and Cheol more instead of this mountain spirit entity or whatever, since they're also the reason why they are where they are rn, be it when they ended up confessing to each other or their conflict - both are equally responsible for their situation. The povs we get to see are very partial and biased, so we fail to miss out on these things. Even this narrator is very biased. Miae has to believe in herself, and Cheol has to take similar actions as well. The mountain spirit or narrator is also just a spectator at the end of the day and can only do so much to their relationship, and I mean it in both a negative and positive sense.
Plus ig I should add this, but I also believe that it is trying to push cheolmiae into realising what they need to work on with their current unpleasant situation coz it cant interfere later on when something bigger happens and it will really be completely upon Miae and Cheol themselves then.
(I hope that was messy enough ✌️)