junochi's Favorite

I have like a running theory going that maybe Guwon was part of some experiment or something that caused everything to happen. I put it as spoiler just in case.

This clearly takes a lot from the Sisyphus myth which centrally focuses on his hubris, and his desire and (temperorary) success at cheating death.

I think there's a group who, in their hubris to chase immortality, they were using Guwon to reach immortality (possibly he was named by the group since his name means 'salvation' and they may have seen him as the answer to immortality).
The group itself is likely funded/created by the extremely wealthy who would see themselves above others and deserving of immortality.
This would make the group the Sisyphus of this story. As they are wealthy (like a King), cheat death in a way that affects the whole world, and have the hubris.

I think many of us were running under the assumption that Guwon came up from underground in ch0, but I went back and he's definitely under building rubble that had just collapsed. Maybe he was in a specific building and fell with the building and dug himself out. (Though I think symbolically he is meant to look like he's coming up from underground like the underworld).
I think maybe he was being held in that building and in the chaos was finally freed. Hence the line "However, perhaps somewhere deep down there were those who longed for the day the world would turn upside down." During the images where he digs himself out. It would also explain his education level if he's been held somewhere his whole life.

Guwon may be, symbolically not literally, Thanatos, the God of Death. The way that Sisyphus halted death all over the world was by chaining down Thanatos, thus causing everyone to become immortal (for a short time). I think the group essentially 'chained down' Guwon thus creating a fucked up immortal life via the undead. Just as humans fear Death itself it could be that they sense or know Guwon is different and are naturally afraid of him. Guwon is upset when he thinks Jinwoo is afraid of him too and cries.

They created the town in anticipation of some event/to keep their future immortal selves away from the common class perhaps? Obviously this doesn't pan out for them, but it creates the connection between them and Guwon, who immediately goes straight to the town like he already knew it existed possibly because he already knew of the group. When he arrives to the town for the first time it is in disarray like something major happened for them to abandon the town despite it being the safest place.
Some current residents that were original residents are only kept around possibly to keep things running or something. It seems expressly told that they would not keep them otherwise outside of an untold reason.

Other mythological connections:

The punishment for Sisyphus to roll a rock up a hill in Tartarus to only roll back down again: The rock at the top of the mountain that Guwon worries will one day fall and crash into the town.

The town on a steep hill being called Stillwater: Sisyphus betrays Zeus by revealing the whereabouts of a River God's daughter in return for a spring in an acropolis, which is a settlement generally built on a steep hill. Made with the purpose of defence and would house royal/ high-status residents.

The quote "How does it feel to survive and come out the other side of Hell": Reference to Hades/the underworld.

Mans didn't get action for a few years and suddenly he's a poet

Pretty realistic in a sense. Removing the supernatural side of it, the emotions, the back and forth, the drama is very realistic. How Jooin handled it was also pretty normal for someone going through a first love with low self-esteem who doesn't know what they want out of a relationship. Yawhi, too. He has to come to terms with himself in a lot of ways and sometimes the only way to do that is to lose something precious to you to realize that youneed to mature emotionally before you can even try to be with someone else.
I've been more "team everyone needs to spend some serious time learning about themselves" throughout this whole debacle. I still think Jooin needs to do some soul searching. It's great that he realizes that he's been so fickle and why, and that he finally realizes what he wants out of a relationship, what he's willing and not willing to compromise with. But now he needs to spend time getting comfortable with that information, learning to love himself and growing that backbone everyone needs to be happy. Cain, too, I think will benefit from some time away from Jooin to learn to be happy on his own and less emotionally dependent on Jooin, because that is not healthy.
I'm a little shocked this didn't take a darker turn, like most manhwa, but I'm glad it's more of a reality check than a drama check. It hits home more that way, I think.
I'm still not a huge fan of Cain, and I seriously think Jooin and Yahwi could work after a few years of growing up away from each other, but obviously Cain is the end here. Maybe it's the way this whole thing was written, but I still feel like Cain's backstory and the whole supernatural aspect doesn't fit with the rest of the story. It seems like the author had Cain's character for a separate story altogether but used it here when people started to hate Yahwi so much. Do I dislike Cain? Not at all. I just don't think his character plot fits everything else this story had going on. It's a major disconnect. And the way this whole thing was written does not make Cain seem like a main character or contender here. He always seemed like an afterthought, the underdog (no pun intended) that everyone dismisses, and the character brought in to stir things up only to fade away at some point. A side character, basically. While every character deserves a happy ending with their MC, I certainly don't feel like Cain's character earned it in a writing sense. (Not that he as a person doesn't, but just from an objective sense as a writer his character doesn't meet the criteria of the main focus end-all guy.) It's probably just the way this was set up, the way it was focused and the overall feel of the manwha. Cain just doesn't make sense in this story. Still like him. Hope he gets his happy end, but I wish his character had been used in a separate story completely outside of this universe.

You know this would've been a nice chapter if Yawhi hadn't been a pice of shit before. Like if his whole purpose was to reunite with His childhood crush which was Jooin he should've just been nice to him since the beginning. Honestly throw the whole thing away do guys remember that one mini chapter where Jooin own his own bakery and Yawhi buys cakes from him and basically falls at first sight? Wish we could've gotten that plotline instead. Alternate universe where I would've loved yawhi and jooin together I hope the author maybe continues that alternate universe as side chapters? I can hope.