#457 analysis

i love that inho saying gihun's name actually brought them closer together instead of gihun becoming mistrusting about it, because it made gihun feel seen and he was happy to see how the person he just met and already had a night talk with picked up his name and remembered it.

inho was the last person he heard his name from.

one option would be if he still stood there with his back faced to inho, not daring to turn around.

but what if he did turn around right before the doors closed, to face him one last time and look him directly in the eyes?

the thought of this kills me and never leaves my mind. i think it could definitely be something gihun would've done, giving him that last challenging and determined but also devastated look and reassuring himself that what just happened was real and not a bad dream too.

So the knife represents all of Inho's guilt about the choice he made to win the games back in 2015; it carries a lot of his own emotional weight and though he didn't speak about that to Gihun, it's still there and adds a significant part to the overall vulnerability in this moment.

We know Inho was giving this knife to Gihun to morally test him for a last time, but he also gave it to him so that Gihun would get a chance to make it out alive and genuinely wanted to protect him, regardless if there was a baby included or not.

Especially the fact that Inho unmasked himself after Gihun asked him why he makes him this offer, implies that he wants him to know he does it because he wanted him to have a way out of this, because their bond was genuine and Gihun means something to him. He didn't need to take his mask off, we saw that Ilnam didn't show his face when he gave Inho the knife. Yet Inho chose to strip this barrier away, to let him know who he is and that he wants to help him as someone who Gihun felt close to. Inho wanted to talk to Gihun as Youngil and not as the Frontman.

With that there wasn’t just one rule that Inho broke for Gihun here, but two by both giving him this knife and also taking off his mask. Remember how important the rule to keep one’s identity hidden from the players was for Inho? Well that wasn’t more important than wanting to show Gihun that he is making him this offer because he grew attached to him in the time they had spent together. And while not saying it out loud, his action is expressing just that.

Inho told Gihun to “kill the trash that wants to kill him and the baby” meaning he values Gihun higher than them, he doesn’t see him as trash and actually began to think of him as a person. He directly addressed Gihun by his name instead of his number right after he took his mask off, reminding Gihun of the closeness that was between them. He was telling Gihun with this “I want to give you this knife because it’s me.”

(It was also said by Lbh that Inho feels differently about Gihun than he does of the other players and that the time they spent together changed him on the inside, which is why this offer wasn’t just a moral test.)

Now let’s talk about the meaning this knife has for Gihun

When Gihun couldn’t use the knife against the other players while they were asleep, he still carried this knife with him the entire time and started using it at some point in the last game.

What I think makes this so intimate is that while keeping this knife with him and using it later, he automatically thinks about who gave it to him in first place. Gihun must’ve felt a lot of intense emotions while it, the moment of the Frontman’s identity being revealed to him just being a few hours ago, where he held this same knife pointed at the person who betrayed him and killed his best friend, but who he still felt so much for to the point he realized that he wasn’t able to kill or even harm him with it.

I don’t think he would’ve used the knife at all if he thought this was just another moral test and nothing else, since it gave him a lot of advantage during his last game against the other players and he knew that the Frontman bend his own rules for him so he would be able to defend himself.

Only Gihun and Inho knew about the knife deal, it’s a thing that’s only between them and the other players and also the vips didn’t know why Gihun is the only person having a weapon (I wish they included someone addressing this in a scene, but oh well we all know season 3 sadly has a lot of missed opportunities)

I know that Gihun was reminded of the face behind the mask every time, since we now know how close he actually felt to Youngil/Inho (confirmed by Ljj that he felt closer to him than to Jungbae) and there is no way that he wouldn’t have thought about the moments and the bond they shared when they spent their time together in the games. What makes it even more intense is that he also knows Youngil/Inho is watching him in these moments, seeing that Gihun puts the knife he gave him to use, which is overall very emotionally heavy and adds to the unspoken tension between them.

The knife represented the emotional connection between the two, their intertwined fates and everything that had led to this point, both of them knowing about the significant moment that took place between them, along with everything that was still left unsaid.

So in conclusion, to me personally Inho giving this knife to Gihun, revealing his identity afterwards and Gihun keeping it with him and using it was like an indirect confirmation that what was between them was very real from both sides.

I know this take may seem like a stretch for many, but I thought the romantic undertone was absolutely there, it’s very in the subtext but if you think about it this was lowkey the closest that we got to an indirect love confession.. in their way

Ofc Gihun still had doubt until his last moment that all of it was just a lie, but deep down I believe he knew it wasn’t and that’s also why he was able to hold himself back from killing the Frontman. If he wasn’t able to recognize any part in him being human, the person he got to know as Youngil, then he wouldn’t have had an issue to stab him.

Just so that everyone knows, yes I view inhun as canon and nothing could ever talk me out of it

is there actually anything more intimate than the two of them looking at each other with teary eyes while neither of them dares to break eye contact?

analyzing this scene really changed many of my views i had about their dynamic before, especially the part that they would physically attack each other. when i picture what their relationship would look like if it had been ongoing, i could imagine there to be moments where gihun wants to hurt inho and where he feels completely filled with rage, but if he tried to seriously hurt inho i believe he would back off the moment he sees anything vulnerable in him, may it be tousled hair, the smallest scratch, any sight of blood, a strained sound leaving him or a flinch in his body.

he just can't get himself to the point to hurt him so much it would leave actual damage behind, because he knows it's no one but himself who would end up as the one most hurt from it.

as for inho, i believe he wouldn't even waste a single thought at raising a hand at gihun, that's just something that never crosses his mind in first place. as fucked up as he may be, he still views gihun as something untouchable and wouldn't ever dare to cross the line of causing him physical harm directly by his own hand.

in my opinion this especially became clear when we saw how he offered himself so willingly to be killed by gihun, if that had been what gihun wanted. not only isn't inho interested in hurting gihun physically, he actually seeks to receive violence from gihun because to him gihun is the only person who gets to decide his punishment (well more or less, since it would rather be mercy for inho to die by his hand but he wants him to be the one making that choice.)

in the end both gihun and inho would still find countless of ways to hurt each other and maybe that's exactly what they're cursed with, to endure the emotional captivity they have on each other, fuck with one another's mind and to watch who breaks in first. at times intentionally and at times also subconsciously. but an actual fight where they mutually attack each other? i just can't see that happening anymore after season 3.

also to go back to the teary eyed part, it's really insane how they just wouldn't and couldn't tear their eyes away from each other, not even for one second. there's so much vulnerability in both their gazes and it's completely visible to the other.

to imagine that gihun might've tried to get comfort by the touch of this object, given by the person who he trusted and loved so much but who also hurt and betrayed him more than anyone ever has. to imagine that he was aware of him being the same person he felt haunted by for years, still not able to help himself but feel like he's the only person in that cruel place he currently feels connected to and to be someone he can still hold onto in a way, because of the words he said to him when they faced each other.

now what if i said i believe gihun's love for inho intensified when he found out youngil is the frontman.

he never had a face to the frontman, yet every of their interactions felt personal and close to the point they quickly started to interact so naturally and familiar with each other. also thinking about the fact that the first two times he interacted with the frontman, each time he could hear his real voice that gihun, knowing the person he is, immediately connected with something human.

what also made me think (something i had already mentioned in an older post) he sensed humanity in the frontman was when he directly told him he couldn't forgive him for what he's doing when they were talking on the phone. you don't tell people who you think can't be saved anyway that you can't forgive them, because if you thought that, you would know they wouldn't ever want nor need your forgiveness in first place.

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when gihun met youngil, he instantly felt a closeness to him, what i think was partly also caused through him subconsciously sensing the similarities between how youngil and the frontman talked to him. and when these two personalities connected to who he saw during the confrontation, both youngil and the frontman sitting as one person in front of him, no matter how much it hurt, infuriated or even frightened him for a moment, it's maybe exactly that what deepened everything he felt for him. the love he felt for youngil that came from deep trust, admiration and a feeling of closeness such as all the dark emotions towards the frontman including his strong obsession and that unexplainable drive to specifically find him that felt so personal and that he couldn't let go of over the years, increased everything he felt for him at that very moment. it would also explain how quickly his anger had calmed and how he could accept the truth so fast. it couldn't just be youngil he thought about in the moment he held the dagger, when just right before that it was him as the frontman who he saw. when right before he made the choice not to kill him, knowing he was the reason he was still out there having his eye on him, only because he decided to let him breathe. he saw one of inho's darkest moments when he shot jungbae in front of his eyes and was immediately confronted with that when inho apologized and mentioned jungbae. and it seems like even that wasn't enough for gihun to let go of what they had. its like everything shattered and clicked into one all at the same time when he saw youngils face appearing behind the dark mask.

a part of gihun definitely knew the moment he saw youngil, that there was something deep reaching and sinister about him. but it was both that and also all of his trusting qualities what kept him drawn to him.

i just love to over analyze every scene and maybe this seems like a big stretch to some, but i'm a firm believer of inhun fitting the red string theory. all of these details can't be a coincidence to me, because when you look at the context of it, it makes more than sense.

i love that inho's wrist is showing when he hands gihun the knife, gihun seeing the vulnerability in the action and remembering how despite everything it's still a person in front of him

even without gihun knowing about inho's entire story, they were more connected in this moment than it seemed. i like to think that gihun and inho stayed awake for the rest of the night, sharing another moment like the other times before where they indirectly look at each other through gihun staring at the camera while inho looked at his screen, remaining in each other's minds.

I think about this specific shot all the time, the chosen perspective just expresses so much and it makes the whole scene even more tragic

It’s only Gihun and Inho in this moment, everything around them has turned quiet, the sound of the alarm seems far away. Every feeling, every shared memory, every spoken or unspoken word and every choice has lead them here.

They’re in the middle of the eerie void, an endless emptiness engulfing them inside the darkness of the cruel place that caused so much pain and suffering. But the only one left embraced in this loneliness is no one other than Inho. Because Gihun is already gone. Everything is now slowly starting to form into nothing but a memory.

The colors are muted and faded, contrasting the vibrancy their scenes had before. The reality of death and devastation becomes more prominent than ever. It’s not indifference anymore what Inho feels, he has already seen countless of lives lost before but this time it’s not the same feeling. He stands next to Gihun’s body, looks down at him and for the first time in a long time he doesn’t just see a body as a corpse, as something hollow that has no meaning. He sees him, the soul that was dear to him and shortly after he has to drag his gaze away to stop his tear from falling.

What Gihun left for Inho is the reminder of what the value of a life means. What regret and sorrow means. What it means to feel and to be human.

Inho is the only one who will ever fully know about their complicated story and what had connected the two of them, the only one who knows about Gihun’s story and what he’s been through.

They pointed a weapon at the other in both moments, but either of them already knew that they wouldn’t be able to do it anyway.

The switch of their power dynamic. Gihun on his knees and surrendering in the first scene, while in the second scene it’s Inho who stays seated and offers Gihun to kill him if he wanted to. In the first moment there’s distance and hostility between them, in the next there’s raw emotion and vulnerability.

Both moments are marked by betrayal and seal the other’s fate, Inho making the fatal decision to kill Jungbae, Gihun wanting to revenge Jungbae but deciding to spare Inho’s life because he still couldn’t kill him, still saw Youngil in him no matter how much he tried not to. Gihun leaving Inho alive also made sure of the baby’s fate in return, because Inho made sure to take care of the baby afterwards and to give it into safe and trusted hands. If Gihun had killed him here and another Frontman was announced, the baby would have ended up in someone else’s custody and who knows what would’ve happened to her then.