a proud narrative doomer

ok one more little thing actually. im. bullshitting most of this and if its wrong uhm. just yell at me and lmk whats right and i can. fix up this post.

lets start with what's perhaps my favourite: THE PAINTINGS.

Joowon has two paintings by the same artist hung in his apartment. The blue one hangs over his desk, while the orange hangs over a table in the middle sort of area of the room. From a quick google search, these are made by Min Jun ok (Min Jeong ok?) and are both part of their 'Find the Word' (In search of words?) collection. These pieces are inspired by Polish poet Wallawa Szymborksa (whom I discovered through this, they have some beautiful poems you should check it out). These pieces were specifically inspired by the poem "In Search of Words". I cannot for the life of me find this poem in English directly, but i found multiple translations from Korean to English, so we'll just use that. This is the poem:

I wanted to express the words that surged forth in a single word, with raw vividness. But what could I do? I stole from the dictionary and chose everyday words. I pondered, weighed, and calculated, but none of them were adequate.

The bravest word was still cowardly, the most vulgar was too holy. The cruelest word was utterly merciful, the most hostile was too mild.

That word should be like a volcano, rising violently and erupting with force. Like the wrath of a terrible god, like a boiling hatred.

I wish it could be expressed in a single word. Like the walls of a torture chamber, drenched in blood, each tomb coiled within, describing precisely and clearly who they were, what happened. Because

what I hear now, what I write now, is not enough. It is absurdly weak.

The words we utter have no power. The sound is naked, yet feeble. I search with all my might. I searched for the right words, but I couldn't find them. I couldn't find them at all.

honestly i could spend HOURS just analysing this poem but. i wont. but there is a LOT of joowon in there. The artist of the pieces Joowon has in his house says the collection is about "metaphorically express[ing] the struggle of modern people seeking their own desires." it could be a coincidence of these pieces being hung in his apartment, but. i choose to read it otherwise. Joowon choosing to buy two of these pieces feels like it has to mean something. Both artworks, covered in different houses, could be seen as the Manyang community. Joowon desires a connection, to be as closely bonded as the rest of the town is. A connection he cannot have, thanks to his father.

Joowon buying two pieces in complementary colors is a lot to be discussed as well. They're a pair. Two halves of a whole. If we continue on thinking about colour theory, blue often represents calmness or sadness, while orange can be warm and energetic. but that's just regular colour symbolism. In terms of beyond evil?

The flashbacks in this show all consist of a similar orange-y tint, while many of the scenes in 'modern' day have a more blue-ish tint, which is less prominent than the orange but. still enough to notice. While I see the blue painting as Joowon's desire for a connection with the Manyang community, a community of the present, the orange can be seen as a representation of the community he desired in the past. A connection with his mother, with his family.

The placement of these paintings is worth talking about too. The blue one hangs behind his desk- a place where he's constantly working on cases. His obsession with the Manyang serial killing case is what's preventing him from having the connection that he wants. He's accusatory and rude, trying to uncover the truth of what happens. But by doing this, he's getting everyone to, understandably, not trust him. He's accusing everyone and cutting out his chances at connections. Placing the painting behind the desk is ironic in a way- the painting shows how he desires connection, and the desk shows how he cannot get it.

The orange one is a bit more difficult but I. have an idea, as far stretched as it may be. Underneath the orange painting is this:

Now, I am stupid, so. I spent forever trying to find out what the hell was on that stool, and my best guess is: A TUBE AMPLIFIER.

Tube amplifiers are, (from a google search, again, im really stupid) used to amplify music. Could this perhaps just represent the absolutely FIRE soundtrack that BE has? Maybe. But google has told me that a regular amplifier is plenty fine for listening to music, while tube amplifiers are generally more used for MAKING music. With a guitar. And who do we know who plays a guitar? Dongsik! (im pretty sure he just plays a regular guitar instead of electric but uh. shhh. idk anything abt music anyways.)

This ties in with the connection of 'past' that I earlier discussed about the orange colour of the painting, because we only ever see Dongsik playing the guitar during his flashback scenes. Joowon's past is filled with a desire for a community he was too afraid to reach for. Dongsik's past is filled with a desire for a community he lost.

Alternatively, and more likely, Joowon owns the amplifier for using it like a radio- (and just bought a tube amplifier because. why not. but he already OWNS A RADIO:

which makes the amplifier essentially redundant, since it's located near the radio anyways. So I instead choose to read this as an indicator to Joowon's hidden passion for electric guitar. Inaccurate to his character, probably, but its so funny to think about, so.

Another detail about the radio is that the words on it are in English. I don't know if this is just. an average radio thing, or the specific station, or maybe it just goes off of the song title, but I see it as a connection to Joowon's time in England. Maybe he acquired his taste in music while living there, or it's a piece of nostalgia. Who knows.

(I'm not actually sure that the thing earlier even IS a tube amplifier so this could all be insanely off.)

Also, another point for my Joowon music obsession theory, is that on top of the amplifier and the radio by his TV, he has a 2ND RADIO.

This one is located on a shelf by his desk. Joowon, your apartment is not that big. Why do you have 3 radios/speakers?

The particular build of this one is far less modern and sleek compared to the rest of his collection, so I personally believe this belonged to his mother, or something equally sentimental.

At this point, Joowon's collection of miscellaneous music items feels strangely out of character. So hear me out on this: It's not about the music. It's about the silence.

From an early age, Joowon has been isolated and alienated. Through detachment from his father and his mother's deteriorated mental state, he's never had the proper connection to form a healthy relationship. Now if I've learned one thing from my Psychology classes (that isn't lobotomies), it's that maternal deprivation/no stable attachment to a parental figure is NOT good for your development. But that's a whole other post for me to make.

I'm assuming that from Joowon's birth, he's grown up around silence. This has been established through what we know about Joowon's father and his lack of any real connections. Maybe he connects the sound of silence (or. the lack of sound.) with his childhood. Having music playing could be. Idk. A way to reduce the silence. As I'm writing this I'm realising that most of the scenes IN Joowon's apartment are. silent. Which goes against my point but uhhh.......

lets take a look at JOOWON'S DESK.

It's organised. Nobody is surprised. But if you look closer, there's a lot to be discussed. Or. Maybe there's not. But there's a lot I want to discuss.

The hourglass. What on earth could that possibly symbolise? Surely not time? Surely not mortality?

Time for me to read into this too much again.

The hourglass is never turned. The sand remains in the bottom throughout the show. Maybe symbolising the inevitability of the case. No matter what he does, everything was destined to end the way it did. He was always destined to end up with Dongsik.

JOOWON'S STATIONARY

he has colourful paper clips, which is. so silly to me. I know it's probably just so he can organise things better, but it makes me happy. It's such a cute little detail. His pens are blue red pink and purple to represent his bisexuality. Trust. This is canon.

All of his stationary is neatly organised. Each item and colour is in it's own designated container, stacked and ordered neatly. We see this organisation even on HIS WHITEBOARD.

This theory board is perhaps the least organised of Joowon's belongings. Which is really saying something, because it's. Organised. Plenty of photos of Dongsik, because he can't handle his crushes like a normal person (me too, Joowon. me too). All the spare magnets are lined up neatly on the bottom, all his whiteboard markers are facing the same way. It's all organised.

Bonus mention to the HAND SANITIZER that's on his desk in one random episode.

I love these little details. Despite the cleanliness and coldness of Joowon's apartment, little details still mane it feel distinctly him. On the topic of Joowon's cleanliness, it's time for perhaps my favourite detail in the apartment.

JOOWON'S WET WIPE SHELF

This is on a shelf by his desk, located next to the tiny radio. And it is. SO FUNNY to me. Like. You can tell he's been using it. You can tell how many packs he's already gone through. And idk if it's an angle thing or if this actually happens, but I notice in later episodes the shelf seems less and less full. Joowon obsesses over cleanliness because it's the one thing he can control. Cleaning is a sort of escapism, something that he can do when shit hits the fan (which, in Beyond Evil, is often. Very often.) A shelf of wet wipes is a ridiculous thing that's perfectly in character for Joowon.

We've officially covered the (almost) entirety of his desk area! And oh my god I still have. so much to talk about. Let's move to THE COUCH.

sorry he looks so depressed in this photo it is so. uhm. ANYWAYS.

First note, the insane amount of files behind him. Joowon has an OBSESSION with the cases he's working on. More specifically the serial killing case. It's all over his house. The whiteboard, the files behind his couch, the storage closet (we'll touch on this later) and the PAPERS ON HIS WINDOWSILL

There is. So much paper. Oh my god. I don't even know where to start, so I won't.

I think the couch holds a lot of importance. One thing I noticed while I was scouring the show for pictures of this couch is that Joowon never sits on it when he has guests.

Sorry Hyuk and Dongsik, those are AWFUL photos of you. Anyways. Whenever someone visits Joowon's apartment, they always sit on his couch while he pulls over his desk chair to sit across from them. Most likely this is more of a sign of respect and hospitality than some sort of symbolism.

But if you haven't yet figured it out, I'm going to read too much into this.

Joowon is touch-averse. We learn this from the very first start of the show. By choosing to sit on his chair instead of the couch, he forces a distance between himself and his guests. They're seperated by the coffee table (the TWO coffee tables) between them. Whereas if he chose to sit on the couch, even if he pulled up his desk chair for them, his guests would still have the option to sit beside him.

By moving his desk chair to sit across from his guests, he has the advantage of seeming polite by offering them the couch, while also maintaining his preferred personal distance. A win for everyone! Except for Dongsik, who just really looks like he would prefer to be closer to Joowon. It's okay, you get to hold hands later along </3

Beside his couch, we have THE BOOKSHELF

Uhm. I can't. read Korean. So i can't really analyse this well. Not to mention it's a terribly grainy photo. There's a lot of books, and a few matching ones, so Joowon has been reading some sort of series. There's actually not that many books- he has enough space left over to put a decoration on the top shelf. I also can't help but notice he has the EXACT amount of books to fill the shelves perfectly. So either he's sold/bought books in order to fill it exactly, or he's got the rest of his books in some sort of storage somewhere else so his display stays nice. None of the books look particularly creased. Have they not been read? Or does he just take great care of them? I argue that he has been reading them, because he has the perfect READING CHAIR.

Look at that chair. Doesn't it look so comfy? It's got a reading lamp and everything. A little mat underneath the chair to ensure it doesn't scratch the wooden floors. Natural light from the huge windows behind it. Joowon has created the perfect little reading corner. Good job. Do you know what ISN'T a good use of his corners? His EXERCISE BIKE

This thing is so funny to me. You KNOW he's never ridden a real bike before. That'd be far too unsanitary. Anyways, this isn't too awful of a spot to put his bike, actually. He gets the nice view from the window and it's out of the way. (This is no longer a psychoanalysis. It's just me judging his apartment. I've been found out.) Next up!

SHELF OF DECORATIONS.

Ok firstly. He has two of those sort of golden square statue things, as well as a gold cube too. Here's a better angle of them in the show.

Gold is something commonly associated with wealth, with success. Something that Han Kihwan values, and something that Joowon has learnt to value from a young age. Gold = 1st place. Also looking at the shape of these golden thingies, they're cubes with something inside, and if you use your imagination and overthinking, they can represent a cage; Joowon being trapped by his fathers expecations, forced to live up to a certain standard.

OKAY IM TRYING TO GET THIS OUT BY JOOWONS BIRTHDAY (TODAY) SO LETS JUST. RUSH THE REST.

BUILDING MODEL

On his top shelf, we see this gray model of some sort of building. It's kind of an awful photo, but by examining it at some different angles and pretending it's not some sort of random sculpture, it looks a lot like the Big Ben- a rare show of sentimentality and connection to his past. It might just be the angle, but this statue is noticeably missing in episode 10 (and onwards, I believe). Strangely, this is like. The singular thing that changes about Joowon's apartment over the course of the series (aside from him removing the case files and paperwork). (You will catch me writing a fic about this in the future, thank you!)

PERSON SHELF

This one continues on proving my point about the gold things being cages, honestly. Because. This kind of speaks for itself. It's a statue of a person, contained within a frame. It's. Yeah no the only way I can really think to read it is about Joowon feeling 'trapped'. There's something to be said about it only containing the upper body of the statue, but I'm a bit pressed for time right now and I doubt anyone wants to really hear my opinion on that LOL.

TISSUE SHELF

Okay, one more shelf and then we'll move on.

This is the bottom left shelf (closest to his bed), and it contains a box of tissues, as well as multiple bottles of hand sanitiser (?) (shown from another angle), as well as whatever that red/white thing is, I can't decipher that.

BED

Neatly made in every single shot it appears in, Joowon's bed is just another example of his meticulousness. The sheets and pillow cases are matching, both a clean white. It is also. A really small bed. Like. I don't know if it's just the angle but.

Joowon. How do you fit in there. You are taller than your bed. (Once again, we see him valuing practicality over comfort. He doesn't seem the type to lounge around in bed all day- he goes to bed, sleeps, wakes up, and immediately starts his day.) Anyways, him and Dongsik can bond over terrible sleeping (though, Joowon gets a bonus point, because Dongsik is sleeping on his couch.)

CLOSET

Oh my god what you're only allowed 30 images per post. What the fuck. Okay uhm.

Joowon's closet! Slash cabinet slash shelf slash idk what to call this. Once again, meticulous organisation. And another computer (monitor), because. He's rich. He has his laptop, his tablet (on his desk, didn't have room for a photo), this monitor thing, as well as the like. 3/4 different phones he has throughout the series. Anyways. Joowon is DEDICATED to his work. Nobody can say otherwise. It's a bit (a lot) obsessive, but. He wants to do good. To prove his worth.

The yellow boxes are titled [something] box, (file? i think), in English, which probably means it's just. An English company that made the boxes, but I personally like to think these yellow boxes hold some of Joowon's old school papers. Why? Because I can. And I think he'd keep all of his old school papers for revision. Because you never know when you'll need them to study (me keeping all my year 3 papers just in case I ever need to learn food chains again).

Next! THE KITCHEN

Featuring: Joowon questioning his life choices.

Once again, simple and practical. The only time we see this kitchen in use (I believe), is when he's cooking for Dongsik. Pretty damn gay. There's a window-thing at the back, though it's never once opened (I think) throughout the course of the show. Personally seems like impractical placement for a window, but what do I know?

He has a spice rack, though his collection is quite small, with only 5-6 bottles, and the only fruits/vegetables he has out on his counter are. bell peppers. I personally think this is a pretty damning sign that he's still got his food palate from England, that he generally prefers to cook more western dishes, compared to Korean ones.

Next to his kitchen (and also somehow larger than it), we have his BAR.

Joowon, you have no friends. Three people come over to your house over the course of this show, and two of them are your family. Why do you have so much alcohol.

And, by the way, this isn't even the entirety of his collection. When he offers Dongsik a drink, he does not grab a bottle from his bar, but rather he goes to his fridge.

Coupled with the amount of scenes of Hyuk and him at a bar(?). There is a lot to say about Joowon and alcohol. Why does he have so many glasses and bottles is my question. Like. Is he preparing for some sort of gathering? Is this his fathers collection that he's stolen? A gift set? Joowon will never use all of these glasses in his life. He has no need for more than 2. 3, maybe, if we're being generous.

I don't know, maybe this is a cultural thing. Maybe Koreans commonly have a shit ton of alcohol on display. If so, just. disregard this. Carry on, Joowon.

JOOWON'S FRIDGE

Even before making this post, I found this so funny. This is the singular shot we get inside Joowon's fridge. It's just. water. Filtered, I can assume. If you go off of the fact they have no label and assume he reuses these, you can appreciate how they're all filled equally, not quite to the top. If you assume that he did buy these, then you can appreciate how he's gone through the effort to remove all of the labels.

We do know he has other things in this fridge (he grabs out what looks to be a can of beer in one episode, as well as the wine he shares with Dongsik), but. It's all liquids. Maybe he has a liquid section and a solids section of his fridge? No clue.

(Heres him with what I assume is a can of beer, but might just be soda or. carbonated water. or. something. I don't know. I didn't take a screenshot with the label.)

(I've hit tumblr's limit of 30 images, so you'll just have to use your imagination for the rest, message me for the photos, or scroll back up and try and find them in the background.)

BATHROOM

While we get a multitude of shots of Joowon exiting the shower, we never actually see inside it until the episode where he's washing blood off his hands. (ep.. 15? 16?)

One thing that stood out to me in this scene is the mirror. Hardly noticeable, but you can see some smudging along the bottom of it (from fingerprints/dust), which is. very out of character for Joowon.

I read into this too much. Joowon's reflection in the (barely) dirtied mirror is a reflection of his inner self. How dealing with the Manyang case, dealing with the sins of his bitchy father, Joowon has ended up 'dirtied' by crime, no longer able to hide behind his picture perfect cleanness. This is easy to dismiss, but less so if you think about how important Joowon's cleanliness and it's contrast with Manyang is for the plot and his character growth.

Uhm I have. more to say about this but. It's late my brain is dead.

THE RUG

Joowon has one rug in his house, a plain gray/beige-y one by his couch. It's one colour, one tone. This is perhaps my furthest stretching theory, but stay with me here.

If you look back in the episodes where we see young Joowon in his family house, you'll notice that when his mother is being taken away, she's standing on a floral rug. It's bright and patterned, a complete 180 from the rug he now has in his apartment.

I think this is intentional. He purposefully chooses decor that's so completely different from what he associates with his mother, with his father, with his childhood.

OKAY. LAST THING. LETS GO.

THE PICTURES

Or, perhaps, better worded, the lack of pictures. Joowon's apartment is devoid of photos, save for his red string theory board, with it's photos of Dongsik and all the different victims.

Not counting that board, there is not a single photo in Joowon's home. None of him, none of his family. I think this furthers my point of him attempting to distance himself from his childhood, trying to keep no reminders of his parents within his home, as they already plague his mind enough.

This also is relevent with the scene in ep 16 where Joowon is in his father's home, and he sees the photo of his father and him and he turns it face down. (I think that's a scene. It's late and I may have hallucinated it.) By turning down the photo, he's cutting his last connection with his father.

OKAY. THATS THE END. WE'RE DONE!!!!!!

I think it got a bit messy towards the end, as I did rush it and. I'm running on so little sleep. But. I hope at least one person out there appreciates this, because I spent so long on it LMAO.

If enough people enjoy this and express interest (read: when I inevitably get bored and want to further procrastinate writing my fics) I'll do an analysis of Dongsik's house and Jaeyi's butchershop!

If you want any further thoughts on any parts of Joowon's apartment/want to discuss anything/tell me I messed up on something, just. drop a comment or. a message or. i don't really know how tumblr works but. say something somewhere i'll probably see it. I have sooo many thoughts I wasn't able to fit into this if anyone ever wants to yap!

Hope you enjoyed, love you all, thank you to my friends who put up with my ranting about this <3