Sans titre

I’m serving up Chapter 3 in three parts as it’s extremely long, and I really wanted to keep my Taeju trilogy intact!

I hope you enjoy it!

And just in case, I’ve created a Tumblr post where I’ve listed the secondary characters in the series (if that helps you put faces to names).

https://archiveofourown.org/works/81217126/chapters/228857631

I don't introduce you to the main characters, so here are the others :

Jang-Soon

Taeju's best friend and his closest lieutenant. Has three nieces.

Soo-Yeon

Friend and lieutenant of Taeju. Father of a little girl.

Ji-Hu

 Taeju's Friend and Lieutenant

Tohyeon 

Taeju's Friend and Lieutenant

Lee Jin-Su (left) and Daniel Choi (right)

Respectively the "publicist" chief of Dongcheon and the "head of the smuggling network".

Lee Jin-Su probably died in 2017 or 2018 since his face is crossed out in the group photo that the STUPS have.

Daniel Choi is (apparently) a cousin of Mujin Choi.

Kwang-Sun

Old soldier of the gang. Although he has never risen in line, he has the official function of "Mujin's driver", which allows him to be much more aware of some of Mujin's shenanigans and decisions than we think.

Minseok

The least stupid of the trio he formed with Gangjae and Oh-Kim. If he participated in Jiwoo's harassment, he is also the one who tries to reason with them when they want to rape Jiwoo and warns Taeju to stop them.

Gyeom

One of the young soldiers of the Gang. (No doubt very good friends with the two other men who accompany him)

Yeon-Gi

Recruit and then soldier of the gang. Killed by Gangjae. Had a girlfriend.

This chapter was a bit of a struggle to write ; I went back and forth quite a bit between different versions !

Enjoy !

Hey everyone ! Sorry for the long absence, I have to make progress on my thesis and my courses, so I had less time to devote to the blog and my fanfictions 😞

The fanfiction is progressing well by the way, I hope to be able to serve you chapter 2 before May if everything goes well !

"Can I trust you ? Taeju, Taeju-yah !"

"Come with us, Taeju-yah !"

The only times, in the corean version, where the name of Taeju is prononced (besides policemans)

Mujin :

Mujin, I'm sure he's someone who really appreciates art and decoration, since his office has changed its decoration over the years – and not just his sofas – there are a lot of collectibles in his cupboards and there is a kind of art gallery in the casino (episode 8, when Jiwoo enters for the final fight,  if you slow down, you'll see it). Not to mention that he is probably the one who built the Liber!

So I think that Mujin is a cultured person who loves everything that is architecture and company and that he designed the interior of the Liber.

I also think he likes motorcycles a lot, since we see him riding one when he kills Jiwoo, and I can imagine him running away in the middle of the night with his motorcycle when he has his insomnia.

For Taeju...

More complicated man, right ? Well, it's mainly because we never see him outside of his duties, unlike Mujin where... Well, we see his hotel, we see his "private apartments", etc...

In my opinion, I think Taeju is much less "strict" outside of work. He's not the type to let himself go either, but he knows how to relax a little and enjoy.

Because he's not a character like Gus in Breaking Bad who has OCD and is in hyper-control and in a routine... let's say draconian? On the contrary, he is presented as human, with his flaws, his doubts, his qualities, his moments of joy and company...

SO :

To begin with, I think Taeju likes to spend time with his men to whom he is close. Go for a drink on a terrace or at a bar, maybe go to a nightclub (without drinking to excess).

After all, the dialogues and memories show that he often did this with Mujin, Donghoon, and some unknown men, so it wouldn't be surprising if Taeju did this with those close to him (like his lieutenants).

I also think he likes to ride a motorcycle, like Mujin. Maybe they even went on night expeditions in the past ?

Another hobby: video games. Not Call of Duty or other Warzone or Fifa. But Elden Ring-style games, where you are forced to strategize to defeat your enemies and which has a minimum of intelligent story behind it.

Maybe he also watches series and movies or scientific reports (but very rarely, because when he gets home, in general, he falls asleep in front of it)

And sport. Not at the level of some of his men, but I think he's the type who likes to let off steam. And since we see him high-kicking and company (which no one else in the gang does except Mujin's driver), we can assume that he takes martial arts classes when he gets the chance.

Hello! A little post about a character that is not often mentioned in the series!

(For fanfiction: I wrote the final chapter, and I'm writing chapter 2 – I hope to finish it at the end of next week -)

« Donghoon was weak and cowardly. He had more than one opportunity to kill me, but he lacked courage. He was born to be prey and I devoured him. He was so weak, that he managed to ruin his life and that of his poor little daughter…and mine too. »

I love that Mujin was comfortable enough with Taeju to show him his true colors. Taeju really knew the "real" Mujin.

Jiwoo thought she knew him, but Mujin only showed her his most charming and pleasant aspects to better manipulate her.

(And he ends up showing her the real monster he is when he knows that all is lost and that there is nothing left to save)

Mujin thinks of Taeju as ‘his’ Taeju.

Not because he is possessive or in love, but because Taeju is such a constant presence in his life that he has come to see him as an integral part of it.

I hope you enjoy it (and don’t worry, the fluff is coming soon !) :3

Hello everyone! It's been a long time!

I'm less present because of my thesis (it's that we're starting to be at the end of the year) but I promise, I don't forget you and I still have several posts in preparation:3

For the fanfics, I'm slowly moving forward on the "Taeju Papa" one which is already in its second chapter.

I'll probably post the first chapter this weekend !

Oh and sorry if the next posts lack images of illustrations, the site on which I took my screenshots has closed, so I'm waiting to find another one :')

Hello! Small post this time because I'm writing two fanfictions:

One about Taeju who is the father of a little girl (and who will do between 3 and 5 chapters)

One on Taeju that survives the Jiwoo attack

The second one is causing me more problems (especially on everything legal) so it's moving very slowly, but the first one I hope to be able to release soon !

The passage of time :

The Liber which sees its second tower under construction in 2016:

And which is fully built in 2021:

Mujin's office which changes decoration: the sofas change, the office chair too and the layout of the furniture and the TV with it.

I love the contrast between the Liber which is luxurious, chic and has a rather sanitized aesthetic... and the warehouse which is frankly neglected and dirty x)

The warehouse :

As for the warehouse, we can assume a certain configuration:

The upper floor contains the room shared by Gangjae, Oh-Kim and Minseok: Gangjae is seen coming down the stairs when he talks to Jiwoo to put the drugs in his glass.

We can assume that Taeju has an office on the mezzanine (since there is a door) since during the fight against Gangjae, he gets out of it and is clearly not in his sweat suit.

The showers are probably next to the mezzanine staircase since this is the only other door you see. I had assumed that there was probably a room used as a laundry room... But no, the machines are in the training area.

Only the door behind the kitchen remains! And then... I have no idea what it can contain. Maybe a scullery with the reserves? But given the state of the warehouse, it would be surprising. Or perhaps an "infirmary" area.

And what about the Liber in all this ?

I would have liked to see a little more of how the Liber works in the series, since it seems to be Dongcheon's HQ, it would have been interesting to know how the gang handled the fact that there were civilians in their lair.

To begin with, we can assume, given the fairly modern architecture, that the Liber is recent and that it was probably Mujin who had it built. It fits quite well with the fact that Dongcheon has prospered under his reign and Mujin's ambition.

There are between 40 and 50 floors at first glance, and we know that part of the top floor is reserved for Mujin.

First of all, we can assume that there are several entrances, since there is one for the casino – monitored by members of Dongcheon – so we can be sure that there is a public entrance for the hotel part.

It can be assumed that the hotel has floors reserved for conference rooms, meetings or large rooms that allow you to organize events (such as weddings, birthdays, etc.), but also a swimming pool, a gym and so on.

It can also be assumed that the gang has certain facilities, since this is where most of its members seem to work, when they are not carrying out missions or training at the warehouse: there must be rooms for those who need to rest or who do not have time to go home,  probably cafeterias, meeting rooms and maybe a gym.

As for the gang, it's hard to know what's exclusive to Dongcheon: are some floors "private" or is the hotel divided into two (for example, one could imagine that the blue part is separated from the rest of the hotel and are the Dongcheon neighborhoods, which you can only access through the casino entrance) :

I would tend to lean towards this option because we see in the security cameras that several floors are privatized by Dongcheon:

Here, you can see through the window that they are located on the ground floor (there is grass) and that they are therefore coming out of the car parks.

The same in the second camera shot where we only see members of Dongcheon in otherwise empty corridors.

It would also explain why, despite the size of the hotel, there doesn't seem to be much on the top floor apart from Mujin's office and the room where the men stuff drugs: it's just a piece of the top floor, and we can assume that behind the wall of the elevator, there are the penthouses of the wealthy clients.

Especially since the advantage of this operation is that it ensures a very minimal risk of seeing civilians disembark where they should not be or of commenting on the strange activities that the hotel could have…or accidents that could happen (torture, attack on the gang, etc...)

And, architecturally, I find that it fits with that of the oldest tower, which has a decorative demarcation that the second, more recent tower does not have at all.

By the way, if you look closely, the left part has an extra floor that the right part doesn't have (since you can find the logo there, so if there are parts, it's probably more machinery).

If Mujin's office is on the top floor, this extra floor is probably the floor of his apartments.

The second tower does not have this big "separation" (just fine decorative lines) and we do not see an additional floor: the Liber logo takes up all the space at the top of the tower.

Mujin's apartments:

Another detail I really like: Mujin lives in his office.

Normally, you should have noticed that there is a discreet staircase in Mujin's office (where his safe is hidden).

And if you noticed too, Mujin in the ship episode, Mujin gets out, rummages through his safe and then goes to his office. And we can see that he has changed:

So Mujin has his apartments directly above his office: probably a bedroom, a bathroom, a toilet and a wardrobe. Maybe a kitchen if you're generous and think he's cooking instead of just asking his men to bring him something from the hotel restaurant.

(And no, his bar is not a kitchenette)

Hi everyone!

I hope the holidays were for everyone! With the resumption of classes comes the resumption of the Tumblr (what could be more logical ?)

So for this post I warn : I don't repeat couples (for example, if I mentioned Mujin/Jiwoo in Mujin's section, I'm not going to do it with Jiwoo) !

Similarly, the Pildo/Jiwoo couple is not mentioned because it is canonical !

Mujin...

With Miss Kang :

Not a couple. But occasional hookups ? Surely !

Their personalities match in this sense at this level: they are both pragmatic, quite emotionally detached (not the type to be romantic, to get into each other's heads and to be jealous) and Mujin trusts Miss Kang enough to sleep with her (I can't imagine him trusting an escort or whatever,  but Miss Kang works for them).

So... Miss Kang sleeps with Mujin from time to time. Always behind a professional pretext: a meeting at his office, a restaurant (because I imagine that Mujin has a minimum of elegance at that level) and then they sleep together in his room. Fast, tough and efficient, then Miss Kang leaves directly (or shortly after if she needs a makeover) because she wants the organization to believe that their relationship remains professional (and in itself it is, they only satisfy a need from time to time).

With Donghoon :

The series almost flirts with this idea when we see Mujin following Donghoon because he suspected him of having a wife in his life. He looks like a jealous man!

I think they would be the kind of couple to be sun/moon, you know? On the one hand, there is a very serious Mujin, who takes his responsibilities to heart, often melancholic or in a dark mood. And on the other hand, Donghoon who is joyful, who jokes, who is more lively.

And it is Donghoon who "teaches" Mujin how to live: who pushes him to relax, to have fun, who de-dramatizes certain situations, etc...

With Taeju :

I've already talked about it a lot so I'll be brief:

If it's the Mujin that killed Donghoon, their couple could have been nice. A bit like the archetype of the extrovert/introvert or the dominant/shy.

Taeju is the withdrawn type: he speaks little, keeps his emotions and thoughts to himself. And I think that the Mujin of the time, would have had a lot of fun forcing Taeju out of this bubble or making him discover things that Taeju would never have done if Mujin hadn't dragged him there by force.

(And that, including in bed)

But the Mujin of the series? Add sex to their dynamics (Mujin demanding or deciding when he wants, Taeju submitting) and you have an idea of what their relationship would have been like.

With Jiwoo :

I talk about it because I know that many people put them together, but personally it's not a couple that convinces me.

First of all, it doesn't matter if Donghoon is dead or not: she is the daughter of his best friend and they have a very large age gap. And honestly, I don't think Mujin is the type to be interested in a girl who is old enough to be his daughter (especially since she was still a minor when they met for the first time).

I guess if Mujin had to have a relationship with Jiwoo, it would be in the post-Donghoon era, but it wouldn't be something beautiful or healthy.

He would cling to her because she is what is left of Donghoon, as he can talk about Donghoon with her. But that means he wouldn't love Jiwoo for herself: he loves her for what she represents, for what she reminds him of.

Taeju...

With Jiwoo :

An impossible couple in the series, but which could have worked if things had been different (like, by chance, if Donghoon had not been an undercover policeman).

Because in the end, Jiwoo and Taeju are similar in a lot of ways in the series: their stubborn side (since Taeju acts several times against Mujin's orders or without his agreement), their isolation, their silence, their seriousness.

I think that if Taeju hadn't been so concerned about Mujin's survival (and if things had been different), they would have been a solid couple!

I think they would have been a calm/explosive couple. Like: on a daily basis, everyone does what they want, they check in with each other, give each other the space they need, etc... Because in the end they are similar enough to understand each other.

But when things get complicated (for example something serious) and one asks the other not to do something that could endanger him (or derail a project)? You can be sure that he will do it anyway, and that it will cause an explosive argument. Then they will end up apologizing after several hours (or days) of making faces and giving themselves the silent treatment.

Bonus: Mujin would be very happy to see them as a couple and would probably laugh when he saw them argue. Donghoon would probably be very annoyed to see his daughter getting closer to Dongcheon when she wanted to keep him away.

With Jang-Soon :

(For those who haven't seen the post where I talked about the organization: this is the man who regularly appears alongside Mujin and Taeju)

I think they would be the ultimate calm couple. Jang-Soon has the merit of knowing Taeju for years (maybe since they were young recruits) and knowing how demanding their world can be. And in fact... Well especially to know him/her and to be immersed in it too (it avoids relationships that break the face because you have to lie to your partner about what you do for a living):

Taeju can't get home before 3am because there was a problem that he has to deal with because Mujin doesn't want to take care of it? Jang-Soon understands this.

Taeju comes home injured after a fight? That's their job. Jang-Soon would probably just be worried about the potential severity of the injury. And he would be all the more careful to cover him in future missions.

Disappearance for days, lack of contact and messages because they are both too busy with work? No problem. It's not a lack of interest in the other person, nor a lack of love, so why argue about it or have jealous fits?

I also think Jang-Soon would be a kind of silent support, like in the show. He makes sure that Taeju's orders are followed, he watches over him when he can, he helps him with the hardest tasks... Because he knows that Taeju has a lot on his shoulders and that he wants to be able to relieve him as much as he can.

Jiwoo...

With Gangjae :

They wouldn't have been a good couple, even if Gangjae had been less stupid after the tournament.

Gangjae is the figure of the "nice-guy" as I said in a previous post: he pretends to be interested in and appreciates Jiwoo because he sees an interest in it (she was brought back by Mujin, which means that she must be important to him). But this interest and kindness disappear when she defeats him and thus undermines his plans for the future: to finally become a soldier, to show Mujin that he is a good fighter and on top of that, he is publicly humiliated in an organization, let's say, very machismo.

At that moment, he reveals what he really is: a vicious, evil and perverse being.

Gangjae would have only gotten with Jiwoo out of interest. As I just said, he knows that Jiwoo is protected by Mujin and that he has plans for her. So being in a relationship with her (and not just sleeping with her once and then bragging about it to others) will put him in Mujin's good papers.

And perhaps Jiwoo would have confided in him and delivered information that Gangjae could have used in his quest for power to get to the top of the organization.

But in any case, he wouldn't have liked Jiwoo. He would have pretended to love it but he would have done nothing but use it.

With Min-Seok :

(Same remark as for Jang-Soon, this is the name I gave to the recruit who hung out a lot with Gangjae and Oh-Kim).

I see him as a kind of Pildo, but Dongcheon version:

Like Pildo, he is a real asshole towards Jiwoo at first: he speaks badly to her and treats her badly. However, unlike Oh-Kim, he doesn't sexualize her, and I had put forward the hypothesis that this kind of treatment must probably be a "hazing" that all young recruits had to endure (see if they have it in their stomachs, if they can withstand the pressure... and Jiwoo endures more because. well, it's a girl).

But deep down, he is not evil, since he tries to stop Oh-Kim and Gangjae from abusing Jiwoo and warns Taeju to stop them.

In the series, it is when Gangjae assaults them that Pildo begins to truly appreciate Jiwoo and worry about her.

I have the impression that for Min-Seok, it would have been the same thing: Gangjae's aggression would probably have pushed him to be more attentive to Jiwoo and try to calm things down with the other guys, perhaps fearing another attack.

Because we all know that Mujin is the type to put the blame for his misfortunes on everyone except him.

I wrote this in 10 minutes during my study break. I promise, the post on potential romantic relationships will arrive soon (it requires more time and I like to write everything at once), after next week normally!

Hope you like ! 😊

Hello! Probably the last (or second-to-last?) position before the holidays and exams! I hope you like it!

(The next post will probably be the potential romantic relationships between the characters... in case it interests potential writers)

This is an aspect that has not been dealt with much from what I have seen. Of course, everyone talks about Mujin's Donghoon mourning and how this grief affects his relationships, since that's what is most obvious.

But this mourning, over the course of the episodes, he does it very slowly.

Because time does its work and soothes the pain, because there is Jiwoo with whom he can talk about Donghoon and externalize even a part of his suffering.

And his mourning seems to end when he saves Jiwoo from Gangjae's hands. Why do I think that?

Because this is the moment when Taeju runs, worried, and almost argues with him for having put himself in danger for her. And the moment when Mujin, already drunk, scolds him and questions his loyalty and skills. For the first time, we see Mujin being physically rough with Taeju and for the first time, Taeju is uncomfortable in Mujin's presence: he trembles, swallows his saliva, lowers his head... It's borderline if he doesn't stutter.

And the next scene where we see Mujin again is when Taeju confesses to him his failure to find Gangjae and, for the first time since the beginning of the series, Mujin takes a step towards him: he doesn't argue with him about this failure, he invites him to a restaurant, wonders about his love life and tells him that famous "You do your best" which sounds almost like an excuse for the night before.

Then later, he orders Taeju to stay safe at the Liber so that he can succeed him if anything were to happen to him. Mujin hadn't cared about this sort of thing the previous times, when he had met Gangjae's men or thrown himself into Gangjae's trap to save Jiwoo.

He also doesn't scold Taeju for disobeying him. (Well, maybe Mujin didn't have a chance to think about it or had to admit that it was a good thing: otherwise, he would have been dead or in prison.)

And finally, there is Miss Kang, to whom he reveals the reason why he went to the police station on his own. Because until now, he never revealed anything to Miss Kang: he didn't answer her questions or he told her frankly that it didn't concern her. But for once, he agrees to open up a little to his lawyer.

Mujin comes out of his mourning of Donghoon as he agrees to move forward again.

He starts dating Taeju again "like before", even though now Donghoon is no longer with them.

He starts to trust the people around him again: Taeju who has never let him down (even if he has sometimes failed) and, surprisingly, he also opens up to Miss Kang, probably because she has never failed him either since his first appearance.

He even resigned himself to the idea of having to kill Jiwoo! Since he doesn't tell Taeju not to kill her when he says she has to because she knows too much... and also because he admits to Miss Kang: "It would have been a waste to kill her". It is understood that if she had not proven her loyalty, Mujin would have ordered Taeju to comply.

And it is all the more cruel because it is at the moment when he finally agrees to move forward, to get out of this sorrow and to move forward that mourning strikes him again.

This time the one in Taeju.

Mujin probably didn't expect Taeju to mistake his lack of response for a "yes" when Taeju told him he was going to execute Jiwoo. After all, in Taeju's defense, it's not like he didn't warn Mujin a few months earlier... and Mujin's only response had been assent with his laconic "I know."

And one wonders how much influence Mujin's reproach, before going into battle against Gangjae, had on Taeju's last actions:

Mujin criticized him for being too careful, checking every detail, and making him too cautious: but sometimes you have to know how to act and take action quickly.

And isn't that what Taeju did the following times?

He throws himself into Gangjae's fight as Mujin had asked him to stay back. The murder of Cha Gi-Oh? He does it alone while several of his men (including the one I call Jang-Sung) are present in the gym and could come with him to facilitate this assassination. The Jiwoo assassination? He goes as soon as he has the opportunity, while he is injured and without waiting for Mujin's verbal agreement.

So of course, he goes with several of his men... But again, there were plenty of other methods to kill her easily (like... Wait for the night and let her sleep? Catch him as a traitor in an alley? Slit her throat directly rather than letting her men have fun drowning her?).

It's a far cry from the Taeju of the first episodes who made sure everything went smoothly: the visit on the boat and the potential intervention of the police (since Mujin reproaches him for not having known about it, we assume that normally Taeju watches this kind of thing), what circulates in the streets, his secret meeting with Cha Gi-Oh (which would never have been known without Jiwoo).

But was it really Mujin's reproach that made him reckless or the situations (Gangjae was an emergency and no doubt Taeju just wanted revenge, and for Jiwoo... well he acted in a hurry, which is a bit like the previous point)?

I can only say that if haste was Mujin's strong point (seeing how he throws himself into danger without thinking about the consequences or manages to get out of it at will), it was clearly not Taeju's.

How much does Mujin have to feel guilty about this? Of realizing too late that he cared about Taeju, that Taeju was the last person to be loyal to him, that he tried to get closer to him too late?

And if Mujin's advice really had an impact on Taeju (since he so strongly desires his approval and prove to him that he is loyal and competent), did Mujin realize it and feel guilty because of it?

In any case, Taeju's death marks the breaking point of Mujin. This is a parallel with Jiwoo: their breaking point is when they have no one left to trust and confide in.

Because once Taeju is dead, Mujin is nothing more than a ghost who drowns his pain in alcohol.

And it is at this moment that Mujin finally agrees to close his relationship with Donghoon: he burns the photos of the seaside house he had bought for Jiwoo and the flames clearly separate Mujin and Donghoon in the photo that Taeju had taken of them.

He is ready to kill the girl as he had killed the father. And no doubt at that moment, Mujin hates Donghoon like never before: it's all his fault, isn't it? He hurt them, he betrayed them, and Mujin was forced to shoot him. And because he was a traitor and was shot, his poor daughter whom he neglected put it into his head to find his killer and avenge him, and their Taeju died because of it. (Because Mujin wouldn't question his actions)

Does this also explain the absence of Taeju in the photo? To make the scene, it was more relevant that the photo shows only the two of them. On the other hand, I find it quite poetic that the flames are also where Taeju was supposed to be: it's his death that leads Mujin to hate Donghoon and his daughter and want her dead for good.

That's the big reproach I would make at the end of the series....which goes too much into the emotional and melodramatic at the end, with a Mujin who doesn't seem to know if he wants to end and die or kill Jiwoo, and who seems to change his mind like a metronome.

The only good thing is when he gets half of the photo. Not Donghoon's, as one might have expected (and maybe he would have spared Jiwoo or let her kill him to let her get away with it, in the name of the love he had for his father), but his part.

This is an excerpt from a much longer text I wrote, but I'm not entirely happy with it (maybe I'll post it when I'm satisfied enough).

But I really liked this part, so I thought, why not share it with you?

So here it is: Mujin/Taeju, as seen by Mujin's driver (because I'm sure he must be the one who knows the most about Mujin, and the most lucid about who his boss is).

(PS: a one-shot about Mujin and Taeju is in the works, let me know if you're interested!)