#cho sam

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BEFORE

CHO SAM who was probably a child born into a decent household with a roof over his head and food during meals until something happened to his parents / guardians that caused him to be abandoned at a young age. young enough that he cannot defend himself but probably not so young that he doesn't know his own birthname, talk or walk. considering that he might be getting bullied by the older beggar children around him, either because CHO SAM is really easy to take advantage of since he's meek or it's easy to take advantage of him because he's grown up sheltered

CHO SAM born into a decent household means there's a chance he's learnt how to read and write at some point, so there's also a chance where he learns about history and it's there he learns about the war, cheon ma and of course, the plum blossom sword saint. if we base this on the webtoon appearance, CHO SAM might notice that he has similar physical traits as this legendary hero so i don't think it would be far off to assume that in this case, the boy might begin to look up to the plum blossom sword saint as his own personal hero or something close to that. i think it's the type of thinking that would make sense to a child.

CHO SAM who might have prayed to the sword saint and looked up to him by trying to emulate that guy's behaviour in his everyday life from what he knows about the sword saint which was not a lot and vere mostly verbal accounts of someone else's observation which would have likely been heavily embellished, but CHO SAM doesn't know that yet.

CHO SAM on the day he 'dies' finds himself on the receiving end of an older beggar child's beating for some insignificant mistake he's made. i think that CHO SAM would have prayed to anybody out there for help, salvation, anything to get him out of this place because it's worn him down so much.

when the next hit on his head comes, CHO SAM squeezes his eyes shut but when he doesn't feel the pole hit his head, he opens his eyes to see that he's not exactly in control of his body. it's moving the way he's not asking it to, he's speaking in a way that's unfamiliar to him, he's in his body and not all at the same time.

AFTER

CHO SAM learns pretty quickly that something or someone has taken over all functions of his body and he's not exactly been kicked out of living in it either so he's not too sure what to call this.

while it's not immediate, there will come a point in time when the body will assimilate and manage to accommodate the two souls living in it, CHO SAM is the only one between the two that knows of this.

CHO SAM eventually learns that the one who has possessed his body is chung myung, the same plum blossom sword saint he's looked up to like some god his whole life. and at first, he's excited, then he's confused and then now he's a little conflicted. because for what reason is it his body out of everyone else's that gets 'chosen' for this possession? he may never know the answer.

i think that CHO SAM can't do much other than to watch what chung myung does in his body, he might be in awe at chung myung's abilities and probably wonders what else he can do.

(slight tangent) while i think that all of chung myung's skills and abilities he's amassed over the years is no joke, there's another thing that i've been thinking of — did chung myung, to an extent, luck out when he possessed CHO SAM'S body instead of anybody else? like if it had been someone who had lesser potential do you think chung myung would have taken a way longer time to reach the level he is at currently? or would it not even matter because he's got a lifetime's worth of experience so something like a little bit of physical setback is nothing to him? who knows. i'm just pulling things out of my ass

when CHO SAM first glimpses at chung myung's memories, he cannot look away. they've both lived like this for so long that it's only natural that they begin to merge a little. how much of the current chung myung is him and how much of him is chung myung type of thing. it is surprising that none of CHO SAM'S own memories have surfaced to show itself to chung myung, maybe it's because it's not really chung's myung own body?

when chung myung gets injured, CHO SAM obviously cannot feel it, but the sight of blood scares him nonetheless. is it because he feels for chung myung or is it because he is looking at what used to be his physical form getting marred like it meant nothing? chung myung as someone who cares so little for his own well-being that he would push past his injuries to do what he is supposed to almost out of instinct but he holds back and tries to tend to himself every once in a while as though he is reminded of someone's nagging.

CHO SAM doesn't know how to feel in this situation, should he be angry at chung myung for treating his body, their body, so carelessly? again he wonders if this body can even be considered his anymore, or shared together, or has the roles flipped to make CHO SAM become the intruder to this body?

SPECULATIONS FOR THE END

what happens after chung myung accomplishes everything he sets out to do? does he vanish? is he granted entry into heaven where he meets his loved ones that died? will he hesitate to rest in peace?

(if cm chooses to die) : CHO SAM wakes up but for the first time in years he's back in control of his own body but so much has changed and he still feels like a child in this now grown up body so how is he going to navigate through all of that? he's seen all the feats chung myung has achieved and now how is he going to keep up with that precedent?

(if cm chooses to live) : what will CHO SAM do? will he try to make himself known to chung myung or will he accept that there isn't much he can do and goes along for the ride? say some god or spiritualist finally set CHO SAM free and let him be separated from a fate he was never destined to have, he can finally live as he wants but will he leave? nobody in the world knows who CHO SAM the beggar is, but he knows all about the people who have come into contact with 'him' in some way. do they want to know about him though?

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