In Greek Mythology,

I enjoyed reading your comment

For me, the hound is either MC or ML. So if it's Ml, it means he is under the order of someone else who hasn't been introduced yet. It also mean the relationship dynamics would be completely different depending on the answer. ( either ML being manipulating MC af or he IS being manipulated by someone else and teach will try to save him) ARRRRRGGHHH THE MORE WE DISCOVER THE BETTER IT GETS!!!!!

We know from this last chapter that the Hounds are the supply runners. We find out early on that there are 10 of them, and we see them with Guwon in the beginning when he picks up Jinwoo. Since then, we haven't seen Guwon go on a supply run, and everyone in town refers to Guwon as the Boss so I don't personally believe that Guwon is a Hound at all. He's the Boss of the Hounds (Which would be Hades in mythology but in this story it's Guwon who is the ruler of Stillwater, and he is obviously not Hades. Everything implies that he is Sisyphus.)

The significance of the Hounds is unclear. They mean something, they're in the title after all, but the part they play has not been revealed yet. They're supposedly the supply runners, but we don't know what they actually get up to out there.

They, with Guwon, picked up Teach after all which has nothing to do with getting supplies, so I'm suspicious of their true roles.

Sorry, I'm rambling again.

Thanks (=・ω・=)

Oml where did the replies gooooo... :(

Oh they're back now nvm (=・ω・=)

wow! i really like your analysis of greek mythology and how it will tie back to this story. its been years since i read about sisyphus’ story, so the boulder in the manga totally flew over my head.

i definitely agree with your last point: guwon has been consistently mentioning how he hasn’t been able to get any rest while managing the town (to the teach), and likely the town will never ‘get better’ (the rock never reaches the top) despite guwon’s (sisyphus’) efforts.

my question though is how the teach will change things. he has a completely different view on the way things are run in the town, and has enough influence (personal connection to leader guwon) to maybe turn things around. additionally, teach doesn’t have a parallel in sisyphus’ tale (unless i’m missing something) so my guess is that the teach is here to change guwon’s eternal hell. just wondering how he’s going to go about doing that

There is no parallel that I've found either. Sisyphus' story isn't a long one. There's Zeus and Aegina the Nymph, then there's Sisyphus and Thanatos (or Hades), then Persephone and Hermes. As far as I can tell, Teach doesn't fit with any of them.

Jinwoo means True Friend though in Korean, and Guwon means Savior and in Sisyphus' story, not a single person or God assists him at all. Sisyphus was seen as selfish and punished for his hubris, but the thing is that Guwon isn't those things, is he? He cannot be a savoir and be selfish, they don't mix.

I guess it depends on just how much inspiration 945 took from the story. If this is any sort of retelling, then maybe there is an even darker side to Guwon that we haven't even see yet. Because Sisyphus is a trickster.

AYOOOOO I JUST REALIZED SOMETHING:

Guwon tells Teach "How does it feel to survive and come out on the other side of hell" but the other side of he'll isn't earth, it's Heaven!!

The Greek Mythology equivalent of Heaven is Mount Olympus dawg which means the town is fucking Mount Olympus! The rich people who vacated?? The people who made the town completely self sufficient?? Hello, it was the "Gods."

Also, the housing shit is set up as a pyramid with Guwon at the very top and Jinwoo right below him. Now, I don't *think* this is necessarily true, buuuut what if Guwon isn't actually 'Sisyphus' and is actually another God, like maybe Zeus?? Because Zeus steals the frigging Nyphm which is what starts this whole thing and I just keep thinking about how Guwon is the ruler of this "town" and how he stole Teach and brought him back to the "town" (basically Mouny Olympus) and idk man it's 2am and I just had an epiphany.

Oh yes you're right, completely missed this!

I like how you're looking into this through the greek myth's lens, could definitely see the potential for the author of basically just doing an adaptation of the story as the main plot of it all, what you raised makes sense and aligns with the lore of the myth and this work too, although there are still some confusion but that's a given since we're only at ch19. I still think the Sisyphus role is either the MC or ML tho, just like one of the reply said. Also I think the hounds are really just the hounds in this world, coz this might be silly, but in greek myth, there aren't many hounds, only 1 significant hound - Cerberus like you already said. Unless we're talking about Demeter, goddess of the hunt who has hounds affiliated to her name (she's also Persephone's mother so that could be something). There was also that slip on the previous chapter where the ML was acting all narcissistic saying he's so handsome or something like that? it was quite ooc, so maybe he does have a side that he's hiding, people like to point out the fact that he also threw up when kissing the MC but I think he was just genuinely not used to it at that point, because even the MC noted how it feels like he was uncomfortable with the kisses at first but seems to go on or like it eventually.

Also the Olympus thing and the gods- I think too that these are the og owners of the town, coz didn't like the doctor imply that they need them to be there? but unlike anyone else who's doing some type of role or else they'll be sent back out, the owners does not need to abide to it, so clearly they have some higher authority that grants gives them a pass. If we're doing comparison, I think the town in general is the mortal realm or Ephyra, outside is hell, and somewhere in that town, there's probably an exclusive place or bunker just for the owners, and that's mt. olympus (i'm thinking whoever was the og owner of the ML's house, has a significant role too, coz his place is supposedly the biggest and highest one of all- and olympus is also supposed to be found on top of its namesake mountain.)

I can only hope that the author rolls out the story as they intended it to be whether heavily or loosely adapted from the myth, coz many people are interested in greek myths so many people like us use this in theorizing the plot. I have seen authors who read fan theories and purposely change the route at the last minute coz someone caught up with it which they don't like. It's so obvious too and it makes the world building inconsistent (since it was changed in a rush), ruining the story.

Agreed. I still think Guwon is Sisyphus. Everything so far points to that.

And you might be right, the "Hounds" may not be significant at all, but I like to look at it from all angles.

The only reason I think that Stillwater might be Olympus is because of what Guwon said, and the fact that the town is built like a pyramid, deep within the mountains, with Guwon at the top. Like the stairs to Heaven, or the steps up to Olympus. But it could also just be Ephyra (Corinth) since when Sisyphus escaped, his kingdom is where he kept returning to.

But if that's true, that begs the question of where the people are who are supposed to be parallel to the God's?

I really really hope the author is not on here lol

lmao defo hoping they aren't here too, but I think fans on the official websites or the author's page already shared similar sentiments and theories anyway, also if by some quirky reason they are, I would be surprised that they didn't call for the pullout of their work on this site like some infamous authors who did.

No, no I do think the hounds are significant, otherwise why would it be in the title, right? I just don't think their parallel to the myth is Cerberus so far. Also there's a possibility of other town surviving aside from them, these could be another parallel location to the myth.

Also yeah, I wonder where they are and why they are keeping themselves hidden, we probably won't see them this season yet, I think they're going to play a huge role in the conflict. For all we know, the abuse in the resources was due to them, and not the actual townfolk, but they couldn't appeal because they need them. I really wonder why they can't overthrow them, like what's their hold aside from owning the town?

Dude, what if the Sisyphus parallel really isn't the ML nor MC? or at least he isn't just one character? Like you said, in the og story, he was the one that caused people to not die anymore, what if it's someone/something else who caused the zombie outbreak instead? and they're now forced to create resources for the rich folks/owners of the town which means they have a direct funnel to it? hence why it's so limited because it's a one-man/small scale operation, also since they send out the hounds to fetch it from them, it makes them their/Sisyphus' hounds? Lol. This would also give reason why the town needs the owners- they're the middlemen or access to these resources, and just like how the gods can give sustenance to those in their favor, they can also take it away- meaning the owners might have different properties that they can go to, so they can abandon them too if they want.

Also I forgot this part and just had to go back because another commenter pointed out that the zombies actually don't kill/eat them, you just turn into one when you die like that dude who jumped off the building or that kid who resurrected in the hospital (which made me think that zombie that the ML "killed" within the town could be the previous keeper of the house that the MC is in or the hound who died) however, it's the disasters that kept popping up after they appeared that's actually the main war/conflict so far, cause it's makes the people suffer and "die"- it's not revealed yet what type tho, could be the same disasters that we have irl life like earthquake or tsunami, could be more absurd like poisoned air/soil, could be the 10 plagues of egypt. This is also why the hounds are still risking their lives when they're doing the fetching, it could either end or injure them, which again, is why the medicine is so important to keep them healthy = human as possible, otherwise they're useless, and unless another town member is specially trained to navigate outside, they can't easily replace these hounds either.

Might be a stretch tho, but what if? Anyway, just had to add this one coz you're the only topic that I've seen that delved deep into this with the reference material in focus.