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Many developers try to avoid using Kubernetes for container management due to its complexity, opting for simpler tools like shell scripts or Docker Compose. However, this often leads to hastily built, unreliable setups that gradually grow in complexity, resembling Kubernetes in scope and functionality. Developers eventually end up implementing various aspects of Kubernetes such as deployment methods, overlay networks, service discovery, and API servers, despite their initial intentions.

Dear friend, you have built a Kubernetes

I appreciate the OP’s style of writing and how they make their point. With that said, incremental complexity is a thing and it’s ok to start simple and evolve as needed. The only trap with incremental complexity is trying to avoid introducing new tools, at some point you need to make a step change to unlock new capabilities

Kubernetes is not an overkill due to complexity, it is an overkill due to cost. IMHO you should first scale vertically before scaling horizontally. Even for HA, running 2 synced nodes behind a cloud load balancer is cheaper and easier to manage than k8s (as long as your services inherently support clustering/syncing).
K8s has its use cases but generic HA and permanent scaling is not one of them.

Nothing wrong with building a new Kubernetes if it works better than Kubernetes ;-)