okay no hear me out. and im sorry im in your askbox bc i have NOWHERE else to talk about this. but i personally have had a theory for a while now that Jumin probably had a crush on Rika but bc up until he met her he only had negative/transactional relationships with women (his dad being... his dad) Jumin never really got to place a word to the name. and even if he DID Rika was already dating his best friend so...
ANYWAYS. IF WE ACCEPT THAT RIKA GAVE JUMIN ELIZABETH III then... and hear me out. wouldnt it be likely that Jumin projected his feelings for Rika onto Elizabeth III. theres such high respect and regard for Elly and ONLY Elly as a cat. i cant not have this idea in my head. and i haven't seen ANYONE ELSE talk about it. but if you look at his actions towards Elly through that lens I fear it adds SO MUCH to his character that not enough ppl are talking about/realize. so many ppl only see him as a "Daddy Dom & Sadistic" type character aND ITS SO SAD TO ME. maybe its where im at in the fandom but PLEASE. π as a Jumin main. thoughts?
sorry for the long ask btw!
Hi! I enjoy conversations like these so no worries!
I'm a little bit confused, though... I thought this was common information? At least in my eyes, its so blatantly obvious that Jumin felt much more than friendship towards Rika. It's evident in the way he treats Elizabeth, especially in his route, and the way he answers MCs questions about whether he liked Rika or not. Is this some sort of a controversial opinion?
On day 9's first jumin pov, he kept talking about how he could never have Rika, and when you ask if he had feelings for Rika, he said he never thought about it because she was never going to be his anyways. It definitely feels like a "if I thought too much about it and realized I do then that would complicate everything and would be a disservice towards V". He constantly talks about her being the only woman to see through him before MC and how comfortable she'd make him, how special she is.
On day 7th second story mode after MC went to his house and he reads her a book to sleep, Jumin confesses he never took out the book Rika gifted him after her passing until now, because MC reminded him of her. He says and I quote, "But the moment I decided to read to you, I thought of this book. Since you are like Rika. Oh, I don't mean that you look like her. It's just that... but I feel just as curious about you as I was with her." and it's very blatant that he thinks of MC romantically, even if he admits his feelings are complicated. He then says, "And since Rika was V's girlfriend, I couldn't like her. But one thing's certain... Right now, I want to know you, not Rika." That's a very obvious "maybe I did, but it wouldn't have mattered anyways, so i want to focus on someone i can actually have like you" At this point it'd be foolish to deny that he didn't feel anything towards Rika.
Not to mention that on day 8, when elizabeth runs away, he starts saying a lot of things that insinuate he was projecting his feelings for Rika onto her. He says things like, "Elizabeth isn't here, but you are." and "Elizabeth the 3rd... even if I find her again, she is just a cat. But you're different. You can soak in all of my emotions. You can be mine. That makes me so happy." He immediately loses interest in Elizabeth the moment he finds a real human to be romantically interested in, and i'd like to emphasize the way he says "You can be mine. that makes me so happy." because to him, Rika could've never belonged to him, she could've never been his. That's why he says "I've never been so sure of my feelings." and "I want you, and I want you to want me too." the one time he was romantically interested in another woman, he could've never had her, and she did not reciprocate his feelings.
That's why he latches onto MC like glue the moment she's besides him. He's scared that if he let her go, he'd be letting another Rika go. He felt comfortable and understood with Rika, and he feels the same way with MC. He's afraid he'll be alone again, with no one that truly understands who he is if MC leaves him. Alone, and afraid, but forcing his way through life regardless. At the end of the day he says, "I've finally found you, and I don't want you to disappear from my eyes. So quit thinking about leaving. If you do, I might go insane and send out wanted ads all over the country." and "I... can't imagine a life without you right now. I wish you'd be as desperate as I am... but I suppose that's not the case."
He never truly got over his feelings for Rika. The moment he started having these feelings, he couldn't forget how it felt for him, and he coped with them by projecting it on Elizabeth, a gift from Rika. He always longed to project these emotions on a real human, that's why it was so easy for him to switch his feelings and obsession with Elizabeth entirely onto MC after the cat ran away. It seems sudden to everyone else, but it felt natural to Jumin, because he'd been longing to love someone for years. Elizabeth running away was the moment he finally realized it was time to let his feelings for Rika go.
So yeah, I thought everyone knew Jumin liked Rika, but apparently not? I never spoke about it because it was so obvious to me lol. Maybe i'm wrong. I'm kind of new to the fandom so maybe that's why. And I also agree with you-- sure, people can think of jumin as a dom daddy all they want but using it as a way to completely ignore all the layers to his character in favor of their fantasies is.... boring.
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