long time no sea

nosey ass kkondae choi (though in a world full of superstitions come to life.... choi did get it right all along since a good friend was invited into the plushie). the bit with choi going on and on about oshikatsu photoshoot and policies on bureau secrecy including interior pictures was so amusing but i can't find a way to make it short, unfortunately

drawing them really made me miss them.... my hyunmoo team 1........ 🥹

Everyone always forgets J3 was there...

alternatively

[Spoilers ahead]

It’s an extremely short scene that might be easy to look past, so here’s a screenshot of it

“Hwaiting” is— to the knowledge of someone who doesn’t know Korean but has read a lot of Korean media— is something that’s often translated to “fighting” and has the intention of “you can do it!” Or “good luck!” In short, it’s a message of support.

A message of support that’s been crossed out.Its the type of message that can easily be seen as a threat or a jab tbh. Through the wonders of unreliable narration, we have no clue how Soleum interprets it— maybe he sees it as a threat/taunt; maybe he’s too emotionally drained to think about it at all, so he doesn’t; maybe he knows Choi well enough to understand that there (probably) wasn’t malicious intention. Who knows how he interpreted the note? I certainly don’t! I honestly don’t even know if Soleum likes green grape ade (tastes very different from grapes) or if he’s gotten it before or if Choi picked a random-ish drink to give while being sleep deprived

The green grape ade acts as a truce and is a very good scene that conveys a very hard to describe relationship (mutual frustration, exhaustion, bitterness, and feelings of hurt + desire for the other person to be safe/happy/well + understanding of the other person’s circumstances + understanding that you’ve hurt the other person due to your perspective, but also knowing that you won’t change your perspective). In the moment it most acts as a truce that shows that Choi isn’t holding a grudge, and it helps sets up their next interaction. But, it also gives a lot of info for Choi’s characterization and his thought processes/emotional state at the time !

Context for the scene is that Choi stalked (or was there by coincidence) Soleum to the under-manhole incubator, witnessed Soleum as a disaster-like entity, watched Soleum interrogate someone, confirmed that Soleum is an active spy, confronted Soleum, was subdued due to Soleum’s (scarily informed for no apparent reason) knowledge of him, was accused of lying, forced into a cab, was almost killed and had his face disfigured, was saved by Soleum, saw Soleum be forced into a death contract, was patched up (partly) by Soleum, and was left behind in a cab

Then he went to a cafe, bought treats, wrote a note, dropped it off at the office, then went to climb a mountain.

Now that we’re all on the same page, I hope it’s immensely obvious why Choi would have complicated feelings while writing the note. Yes?

I’ve come to my own conclusion so I’ll start by detailing my thought process.

First thing is that the note can be seen as a peace offering or a taunt. Peace offering is pretty obvious since food/drink is a very common apology present. It can also be seen as a taunt, where the food/drink is given to disguise the note, and the note is crossed out to say that the Soleum isn’t part of Team 1 (by going through the effort of showing the team name crossed out). Soleum was, after all, confirmed to be a Daydream spy only 5 hours prior to receiving this gift.

For various reasons I think it’s a peace offering. 1. It’s pretty extra to buy food/drink for the sake of a taunt; 2. Choi doesn’t put that much effort into his enemies; 3. Choi doesn’t seem to hold grudges unless it’d somehow benefit him; 4. It’s pretty obvious from later interactions that Choi doesn’t resent Soleum or anything, so there’d be no reason to leave a threat/taunt.

So, peace offering.

For the sake of mentioning it, I do think the peace offering is indicative of Choi’s consideration/empathy for other people. This gift doesn’t really benefit Choi, from a material or emotional standpoint. And, considering that Choi had a mountain to go climb, he must have considered the gift important enough for a detour. I think the gift is meant for Soleum’s benefit. 1. He knows that Soleum would feel guilty or question their relationship/standing, so the gift is meant to alleviate that. 2. He knows that Soleum just had a Really Bad night, so the gift is meant to alleviate that. 3. He knows that Soleum would still go to work (after all, Soleum looked like living death after the Resort arc, and he still went to work), so he gave Soleum a sugar boost to, well, alleviate his energy.

Of course it’s also possible that Choi felt bad for various reasons and the gift is meant to alleviate his own guilt,,, but Choi doesn’t normally do things for his own sake, so this is extremely unlikely.

The note makes me think 1. is the main reason, supplemented by 2. (The additional cookie may be because of 3.) After all, Choi could have left the drink and cookie without a note, right?

So, why did Choi write a note?

I think it was meant to be encouraging. The main point of the note is the “hwaiting”. “Black Tortoise Team 1” is likely meant to make the recipient more vague (Choi overcompensating to avoid triggering the contract), and is meant to be comforting. It’s saying that he still considers Soleum to be on Team 1, and that he’s supporting Soleum. They’re still a ‘team’.

And he may have crossed it out because he doesn’t know if Soleum considers them a team. Choi evidently has become attached to Soleum and he places great importance to Team 1; it’s his most cherished, most important place. Team 1 means a lot to him. But, he’s confirmed that Soleum is an active Daydream spy, and was just told that Soleum’s goal is to go home. Team 1 could easily be a means to an ends, or Soleum doesn’t attach any importance to them, or Soleum has never considered himself part of Team 1.

To really go into it, because I have no way of knowing how much Choi overthinks things but if he does then I can totally relate, calling Soleum Team 1 can easily be manipulative or backhanded. Like “I support you but only if you’re in Team 1” or “Leave Daydream and fully join the DMB” or “your most important identity is that of Team 1”. Choi would be considering how Soleum might interpret the note, but it’s so hard to know how Soleum will interpret it when Soleum is emotionally exhausted and freshly traumatized (by the forced contract).

So, Choi hesitated. He wrote the note without thinking about it; maybe he’s even written similar notes for them before, when off screen. But then he reread it, realized all the implications it could carry, and crossed it out.

I’m not fully sure why he left the crossed out note there,, my favored guess is that he most strongly wanted to leave a support message, so he decided to leave it. This is also in consideration of Choi’s mental state, sleep deprivation, complex feelings, and the fact that he had a train or something to catch so he could climb a mountain (aka, he was on a time crunch). Among everything that’s happening and his own frazzled mental state, he tried his best to leave something supportive, even if it didn’t end up perfect

Because in canon you got this powerful being whose also just a small kid who's really in love with this pretty girl he met once because she is inspirational, brave, and what's there not to love? Sadly she's only interested in bad boys who are older than her but that's alright, kid will learn to be worthy of her! (he's the most powerful being on earth)

I spent almost an entire work shift drawing this tooth-rotting fluff

I befriended a feral cat once who had spent her life in the forest without human interaction. I was worried about her because she had a paw damaged from an old injury and was emaciated but obviously nursing kittens that were hidden away somewhere. It took me weeks of putting out food and sitting across the yard every evening for her to trust me even a little and when she decided we were friends and she expected dinner every night she started coming to my door and trying to call for me in the evening, but she didn’t meow. Why would she? Cats only meow naturally as kittens when their vocal chords/ears aren’t fully developed, adult cats communicate with vocalizations that aren’t audible to humans. She probably tried making noises I couldn’t hear to call me but ended up sticking to the one I always responded to- a horrible yowling growl that she had made at me when we first encountered each other in the forest. Except once we were friends she would make this noise while purring and rubbing affectionately against a nearby tree or the porch railing (because she didn’t want to touch me yet). This understandably freaked my family members out but I was touched that she had taken the time to find a way to basically yell FUCK OFF in an affectionate way.

Fast forward to when she finally trusts me enough to bring her hidden kittens out of the forest to me, long story short I gained their trust and put them in this big pen, that I had previously used to keep chickens in, so they’d be safe and to keep her from having another litter. Except she was already secretly pregnant again! (Fix your pets, guys, they make SO many babies) and ended up having her new babies in this pen. I kept my distance, sitting on the outside once they were born until she seemed comfortable enough to let me come inside. The kittens were a bit wild, hissing viscously at me as soon as they opened their eyes, but they warmed up to me. There were four of them and soon they all wanted to be the center of attention during the twice daily play sessions. I’d be playing with one and another would meow insistently behind me and I’d immediately answer them and give them love, teaching them that humans could be friends that answer their needs- making them adoptable once they were weaned. Mama cat (Artie) would just watch me play with them, and I guess she was doing some thinking because one day when they were about a month old I was playing with them and one meowed behind me. I was confused because I hadn’t realized there was a kitten behind me and when I turned, there wasn’t. The only cat there was Artie looking at me really intensely. I turned back around to the kittens and I heard the meow again, I turned back to Artie and responded in the way I always did with the kittens “yes baby?” And she meowed again in an exact imitation of her kittens! After that she would.not.shut.up. It was like she had cracked some kind of code, meowing for attention and snacks and just to say hi. Her two older kittens, the ones she’d had in the forest, had never meowed at me either but started to once they saw how I responded to their mom. and I find it endlessly fascinating because before that it had never occurred to me that cats only meow at humans because they were taught by other cats to keep meowing past kittenhood because that’s the best way to get a human’s attention.