Oh, thank you!
That actually explains a lot of what i have ben seeing both in real life testing as well as in my Tinkercad circuit simulations...
I have tried connecting the LED to 5v through a 1k ohm resistor and it is finally working!
Thank you so much for noting that aspect of this ic, however obvious it may seem...
I am still getting into component electronics like this, so hopefully I won't make this same mistake again...