Maybe this is just me, but as much as i love Jinu's torture scene, I've always found it weird that he gets yanked down and slammed onto Gwi-Ma's altar, but Jinu like....doesn't even acknowledge him or turn around, even though he was just summoned? Like, after the bathhouse fight scene with Rumi, Jinu is summoned and he looks at the other demons celebrating, but still side-eyes Gwi-Ma as GM sings that line of Soda Pop before turning around. He's certainly aware GM is there. But after Free, I've always found it weird that Jinu is actively ignoring Gwi-Ma despite being summoned (after Gwi-Ma's voice was quiet, too!) and doesn't turn around until Jelly prompts him, leading the scene to unintentionally almost be like "he's right behind me, isn't he?"
All that is to say...do you think there's a reason Jinu like completely doesn't acknowledge Gwi-Ma at ALL post-Free and almost seems surprised when Jelly points GM out? I find it strange each time I watch that scene.
Yeah, I do think there's a reason! I've alluded to it before, but basically, I think that Jinu generally... was caught way more off guard than he lets on. He went from a moment of deep sincerity built off of mutual trust (or something getting close to it) back to the mind-games torture chamber he'd been dealing with before, and I don't think his brain had an easy time making the switch back to putting up his usual walls. He fumbles and makes little "mistakes" like that a lot in the short period between him getting dragged down and his torture actually beginning. And by "mistakes," I mean... he does a lot of things that seem inconsistent with his previous talking-to-Gwi-Ma behavior in that short scene.
In terms of "behavior that seems to show his hand more than usual", we've got:
resists Gwi-Ma's pull instead of going down limply, says "ow" when landing on Gwi-Ma's altar instead of landing like a ragdoll (he even grimaces in a position where Gwi-Ma would actively be able to see him!)
Looks up at the souls before anything else, looks genuinely upset while looking at the souls even though he should be aware he's in front of a huge crowd of demons (who are all, as far as he knows, happy about the honmoon-destroying plan)
Like I said in the other post (linked above), is unusually expressive and defensive when telling the demons "What's with all the long faces? Everything's going according to plan. Look at all these souls! Huh?". If you compare his body language in that short moment to previous demon realm scenes, it's really different--a lot more openly defensive than he usually ever lets himself be in the demon realm.
Like you say, doesn't even seem to remember to be aware of Gwi-Ma until Jelly reminds him, at which point he gets a nervous look as he turns around
Has a beat of open alarm/nervousness/confusion before laughing along with Gwi-Ma
Like, when you tally up his behavior and body language in this scene and compare it to previous scenes of him interacting with Gwi-Ma... this one is notably different. He seems much less in-control here, slower on the uptake and scrambling to try and act "normal".
My general assumption: he let down his guard during Free, at least a bit, and then once it was down it was really hard for him to switch right back to putting it up again. Which led to him kinda panicking in this scene and dropping the ball on his usual state of hyperawareness.
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izzy806
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