Lookism Stuff

SPOILER ALERT

Personally I find Gun and Daniel's dynamic fascinating, as morally questionable as it is. As a reader, I believe that fiction exists to allow us to sympathize with a vast range of human character.

So I don't want Daniel to become a totally upright and moral character, because his being so will turn this story pedantic, pretentious, and proselytizing. I disagree with other readers who think that Daniel shouldn't have sought out Gun in the first place, that he shouldn't have called Gun "brother". It's a well-known martial arts fiction trope, this sort of brotherhood, and besides, it's really nice for me to see that Daniel is a flawed human being.

However, and this I have to underline, even though I like the ambiguity of Daniel's moral compass, I think PTJ shouldn't have made Daniel group Eugene into "bad" and Gun into "good" so bluntly. Besides, since when did Daniel adopt Vasco's past dichotomous thinking?

SPOILER ALERT

SPOILER ALERT

Just in case you don't remember what sort of mission Charles gave Daniel when they were talking in Ep 512:

This was the mission in Ep 177:

Basically Charles would reveal the secret of the Second Body since he considered that the current Daniel had somehow surpassed DG (of back then?). Daniel had also used the Body as it was designed (to fight, and fight A LOT).

How sad that back then I naïvely interpreted this as Charles' wish to elevate Daniel's hitherto unknown potentials when it was actually his egotistical method to trap the boy in intergenerational battles and crew wars. Almost like Charles wanted Daniel to become the pinnacle of the criminal underworld.

During the last of The First Affiliate arc, the four leaders of the crews appear like this in one of the panels. It actually corresponds to the map of the Districts of Seoul.

Please see this map for reference:

Clockwise in the manhwa panel:

Johan was the remaining leader and member of God Dog, which was located in Gangbuk-gu (강북구; 江北區), north of the Han River.

Eli was the leader of Hostel, which was located in Gangdong-gu (강동구; 江東區), east of the Han River.

Samuel was the former president of the Third and Fourth Affiliates of Workers, which was located in Gangnam-gu (강남구; 江南區), south of the Han River. And last but not least,

Jake was the leader of Big Deal, which was located in Gangseo-gu (강서구; 江西區), west of the Han River.

Chapter 210 vs Chapter 510

Last year, I posted that the sequences with Gun living in an abandoned high school and Daniel's encounter with him was loosely based on the famous Korean horror film Whispering Corridors (1998).

With the current bloodbath that Gun had caused during the latest few episodes, I've become more sure that Gun is indeed the ghost of this story, not just because of the film and his notorious nickname (Shiro Oni: White Ghost), but also because of his overall role.

These are the important points from the film (SPOILER ALERT)

The ghost was born out of the abuse and injustice suffered by many students in the school, including herself.

As a result, the ghost wanted to get revenge for what the students had each suffered at the hands of dictatorial adults, especially teachers.

The ghost's terrors only ended after the collective resentment was resolved by the main characters, and her backstory was told, including who the guilty adults were.

Here are my predictions on Gun's arc based on those points

Gun's ghostly origin story was the product of both Japan's and Korea's underworld and its very punitive, harsh culture. He probably suffered because of the actions of adults around him.

The adults around Gun (his father or other parental figures) probably made him shoulder a grim responsibility regarding life and death since he was a kid even before juvie and before he met Charles as an (impressionable?) teen.

Gun's ghostly arc will only end (whether in his death or in a state similar to death) after the mystery of his background is revealed. And it will be revealed, for sure, including which adults were guilty for it, other than those we already knew of (Charles, the Kojima brothers, maybe Gun's father, and other people).

Daniel and/or other main characters would be there when the backstory is revealed.

A previous version of these edits appeared on Reddit. My disclaimer, sources, and notes on the names are available in the reply section.

My previous "Behind the Names" Post: The Kings | Cheonliang Family | HNH Group (Gun, Goo, Crystal, the Kojima Brothers, Kouji)

(my Lookism Playlist)

This is my latest 4 Major Crews strutting song, that I listened during Ep 505 and have been listening in preparation for Ep 506. I really like how cold, slick, and bossy the song is, and this remix hits hard with how the crew change their outfits to face Gun. Hahahah.

Previous Posts

Behind the Names: Cheonliang Fam

Behind the Names: The Kings of the 1st Generation

Notes

A previous version of these edits appeared on Reddit.

Please read my replies under this post to read my disclaimer, sources, and side commentary on the names.

Picture attributions are available at the bottom of the edits