Vincent

Other than the fact that these characters look hot together (let's not lie here, the juncruiter tag on ao3 is like 80% rated E), their chemistry and dynamic is explosive.

But. Where the hell did this chemistry even come from?Junho and the Recruiter never even interact. And in the only scene where they're both together, one is already dead. Removing any possibility of them ever crossing paths.

Obviously it's all in the potential. Junho is Inho's brother for God's sake, the Recruiter's boss. People flock to these dynamics like seagulls to fish.

Usually, because the relative of the boss is dating the employee, the relative is the one who has the upper hand. This could easily be applied to Juncruiter as well if you just spin that Junho has some sort of "protection" because he's Inho's brother. So, if the Recruiter were to get close to Junho, he wouldn't be able to do anything because the big boss would have his head on a stake. (for the sake of this let's just ignore the "kill them all" line.)

But, with the nature of the Recruiter as a certified asshole and a menace, and the fact that Inho hides away from his brother like the plague, this cliche gets flipped completely on its head.

Junho's entire motivation throughout Squid Game is to find his brother, and after season 1, he knows where he is. He just. Doesn't know where he is.

Enter the Recruiter. A man who works for the games and goes on fishing trips with Inho (??? funny asf btw, best bit SG ever gave us). That man has information which he can dangle over Junho's head like bait. And since there is no other source of information available to Junho (not including Gihun, who barely knows anything himself), he has to take the Recruiter's bait in order to get to his goal.

However, that does not suddenly erase Junho's status of being a legitimate threat to the Recruiter's job. Or, yk, a threat to his safety. The games' nature and all.

By this point, it's clear that there's a power imbalance. But. Somehow. From both sides? And it only shifts when either of them realize that they have this power over the other.

This is what I personally really like about the ship. You can take any approach with it and it will still work, no matter what your preferances are.

Junho is a police officer, a man of justice. Someone who aims to help and to solve. And yet he breaks all protocol to follow his own goal of finding his brother without any help.

We assume that he's a good man based on his position, and his ambition to find his older brother. A selflessly selfish goal — complicated. He's doing this for his family, and yet, even after that family outright rejected him, he went out on his search again, but this time to get answers instead of saving anyone (and I don't mean to imply that Junho is wrong for that, by the way. But just that he has different, slightly more selfish goals compared to, say, Gihun, who is much MUCH more selfless than the avarage person).

So in this inherently good, selfless person who cares deeply about his brother, there's a blindspot in morality where he prioritizes what he wants to achieve over his safety or others.

The Recruiter, in contrast, is an entirely selfish character. He does things because they're entertaining to him. He toys with people because it's fun to watch them squirm. He spins the cylinder and shoots because it gives him a thrill he cannot find elsewhere. Guns and death give him purpose. His entire existence and life is built at the expense of others.

He's mysterious, and we don't know much about him, that's his whole appeal. You can slap practically anything on him and as long as you spin it well, it can work. But he is not meant to be sympathetic. Or is he?

He has worked at the games from a young age. Likely completely neglected of purpose or care when not in them. Because, when he was given a gun, it was like he was given meaning. Like someone finally looked at him and deemed him "worthy" of being looked at. At this point, I would even argue that he could be a victim of the system. Lured into dangerous jobs because feeling like you have weight somewhere feels good when you don't have it anywhere else.

But after a certain amount of time, and a few promotions, the Recruiter is no longer worthy of such sympathy. He isn't risking his life by playing Ddakji with people, he clearly feels superior to all of the "trash" that he sees outside, and he even goes out of his way to do social experiments with homeless people for no reason other than proving a point to himself. Again and again.

Life was probably harsh to the Recruiter, at first, but the ideals of the games have been drilled into him too much to be reversed. His life has no purpose, and his death was self-fulfilling. To the very end, he is a selfish, irredeemable man.

Junho and the Recruiter completely mirror each other whilst being direct oppositions of each other. They can both use their circumstances and ideals against the other, and yet, use the opposite ideal against the other as well. (I don't know how to word this in the best way, so let me explain.)

Junho's flaw is that he is selfish, the Recruiter can remind him of that through his own actions and the information that he holds. It's just a matter of how much Junho will fight for that information.

The Recruiter's flaw is his history, and the very moral code that he holds. You can toy with his sense of purpose like a yoyo if you have privilege above him, which Junho does. Since he's Inho's brother. Junho isn't entirely stupid, he will catch onto the Recruiter's fatal flaw when enough clues are given to him.

They can both easily rise against and toy with the other.

It's interesting how the only scene where they're together in canon is when they're both unconscious. Extremely close physically, but still farther than ever. Like magnets that have the characteristics of both sides at the same time, Impossible to put together, but helplessly gravitating towards each other at the same time. Though this is starting to sound like nonsense now so I'll wrap it up.

Juncruiter is peak and my friends are tired of hearing about it, so I'm doing the ultimate move and instead of annoying them, I'm going on TUMBLR to be annoying about juncruiter!! Yay!!! Uhm anyways yeah, this totally isn't bait to convince people to write more fic about them whattt??? No but seriously they have SO MUCH MEAT to them that you could write about AUGHHHH if I didn't already have a billion wips I would've done it myself but... Sigh. Alas.