this was very useful and a great take: thank you for sharing!!!
thats some insane dedication love you bro
i agree, i think Guwon is a bad person, but i don’t think Heo is who we think he is
!! i genuinely love how restrained this story is written. makes us all go crazy but forces us to actually use our brains lmfao. to add onto the supposed time skip between jinwoo's dad leaving for water and returning, jinwoo's position changing from leaning against the wall to face down on the floor was odd, but what immediately stood out to me was jinwoo's father's lack of reaction. he cares about him to the extent of leaving their home to get water, but the sight of his bloody son face down on the floor didn't strike any panic in him? there's def an event that occurred in the middle that we have yet to understand. this is my personal theory of what happened:
1. a robber breaks into jinwoo's house and hits him in the head. jinwoo's dad fights the robbers off and leaves to get water.
2. jinwoo's dad gets into an altercation with the hounds (assumption--i think jinwoo's dad stole the water bottle from them and they retaliated) and chases him back to his house, where guwon allegedly kills him.
3. jinwoo mixes up the memories of his dad reappearing with the robbers that had previously attacked him due to his head injury and trauma, leading us into the prologue.
4. jinwoo later states that he wanted to confront his missing memories, regardless of how painful they are, because they're still HIS memories. guwon's "gift" to him was helping jinwoo remember what happened that day, which is why he never directly told him (and probably why he allowed jinwoo to return home and followed him). guwon didn't care about WHAT the memory was, just that jinwoo remembered it, even if that memory was his father's death.
i also believe guwon when he says he didn't kill jinwoo's father, but i'm still doubtful that he's completely innocent as you say. it seems that he takes everything as face value and doesn't understand nuance, which might explain why he didn't see anything wrong with presenting jinwoo's (supposedly) dead father in his face.
questions, questions!! i can't wait for the season finale
Thanks a lot for your dedication! I totally agree with the theory number 1.
Something felt so wrong when Heo started to « remember » his dad
Everybody except OP needs to get out of the kitchen, let them keep cooking
You sound like you took ap lit in hs
theory 2 does hold more weight than you think, i dont believe heo’s sudden sleep walking/hurting where he has guwon in a chokehold suddenly manifested when guwon found him. either he had his family and friends be assaulted by him in his sleep state because he does watch alot of kickboxing videos or other external factors like maybe something his dad or mum did. either way its a cool theory
absolute peak writing
I reread this, and even took tons of notes just to try to make sure I was catching everything, and I learned some things.
First, I am still uncertain that the body there is Heos father. This is due to Heo being an untrustworthy narrator. That time skip between him walking outside with Lim and getting to his home indicates as much.
Second, Guwon isn't moral at all, but he hasn't been shown in any part of this, to lie. He states that he did not kill Heos father. He says he just didn't tell him everything. This is a really odd thing to say, if he had done so, and the evidence is right there. The only reason I could think of, that would make sense with Guwons character, is that the body isn't Heos father, or it is his body and he was a maggot.
Third, one question Heo asked point blank, was if Guwon killed his father. Guwon answered, and then Heo started to wonder why Guwon would know for certain that he hadn't. The answer actually lies in chapter 1. Guwon picks up a picture with a photo of Heo, his mother and his father. The glass over his father's face is shattered. Guwon would have all the knowledge to know if the person/thing he killed was anyone in the picture. Importantly, we never see Heos father's face in the picture, or the face of the dead body, so we can't verify if he actually was Heos father. We only have Heos memory, which is difficult, as he isn't a trustworthy narrator.
I don't have enough in the story for now, to figure out how Heo fits altogether. I thought before that Heo killed his father, then Guwon killed the maggot his father became. I still think it could be a possibility, but am not sure yet.
I now think there are several possibilities. Will start with the least likely.
Heo gets hit in the head, then treated by his father. His father leaves and never returns. Heo is discovered by a random person, who decides to give him a quick and painless death. Guwon kills that guy.
Heo gets hit in the head, then treated by his father, who goes out to get water. His father dies outside, then comes back home, possibly on auto pilot. Guwon kills him.
Another is the obvious possibility that Guwon just killed his dad, but believe it or not, that goes against Guwons character. Lims situation is how it would have played out. Guwon would try to figure out what skills he and his father have, before murdering anyone who wasn't good enough. So, why didn't he? Guwon has never been depicted killing anyone for no "reason". Every instance has been defensive, like Lim and maggots, or fucked logic based after info gathering.
A few more involve Heos memories. I wasn't joking when I said I took notes, so bare with me. Also, idk if any or this is particularly going to pan out, but a lot of it makes Heo suspicious to me. I still think there are indications of Heo being the more dangerous individual here.
Heo is shown over and over again to lack any memories with his father. There are several instances of him being completely alone in his home. He states that he enjoys watching violet kickboxing matches and films with main characters with super human strength defeating their enemies. He longed to be a strong solid person who could use their strength to protect others. He states that everyone around him always ended up sick and in the hospital. Everyone, except he and his father. His mother had bad legs and couldn't walk well. His father used to take her out for walks in the wheelchair.
Now, this is a stretch, but if I somehow end up right, that would make this one hell of a phycological horror.
Theory 1
I think it is possible that his father could have been domestically abusive to his wife. It would explain Heos longing to be one of the kickboxers or super humans. He could have lied about what happened to her, or the truth of it was too much. If Heos father made it so his mother couldn't walk anymore, it is possible Heo killed his father because of that. The guilt over doing so, caused him to erase the memory, and then later, to replace the reality of what was happening to fit new information he learned about Guwon, to shift the blame.
Theory 2 (not very likely)
Heo could have been the reason people around him kept ending up in the hospital. Not sure how, which is why this holds very little weight.
Theory 3 (still not likely)
Every memory Heo has is made up. Some things are true, he had a mother and a father, but neither one was alive anymore. Heo could have known about this and dealt with it for a long time, which would explain why we don't see any memories involving his mother or father until after he learns about Guwons lack of basic morality. His brain then stitches together the person with him as if they were his father. This would explain why Guwon thinks Heo would be happy seeing this dead body. Lim wouldn't even be able to tell Heo he was wrong, Lim never saw the picture, so the only one to challenge Heo is Guwon. Problem is, Guwon genuinely thinks Heo understands that the corpse he is holding isn't his father, and that Heo would be happy to learn as much. He wouldn't anticipate Heos brain identifying a person who clearly wasn't his father as his father.
Obviously, lots of speculation on so many fronts, which is why I need more info, which we won't get for a bit, I'm sure. I will say, from a moral perspective, Guwon is a bad person. I think he is more complex, and that while he might have chosen the place for his town, he may not have decided all the rules. I hope we get more LORE in the next chapter and in season 2. Thanks if you actually read this monstrosity of an essay. I took almost 8 pages worth of notes on chapter 0-11, then had to stop writing cause my hand hurt.