#gdcg speculation

For days, I was speculating about a particular type of darkness/disaster. Today's episode, a full explanation of what white rope/hose darkness is, solidified that my apocalypse theory may be right, and I would like to share it.

(Disclaimer: it may sound far-fetched & some may probably be a stretch, but still, please bear with me😢)

My theory elucidates 2 things.

1) What is the main cause & 2) How does the apocalypse happen?

Let's begin with identifying what this A-class darkness is.

It is a native darkness that resides in Namhae. Much before Daydream existed.

I speculate it was first discovered when this place was a mine. A place that digs up the minerals hidden underground.

Little did they know that it was not minerals but an unknown being buried deep down. They accidentally woke this ancient darkness. Things turned to chaos. The mine then became derelict, only to be bought by a money & darkness-hungry company.

Inferred from the explanation, this Namhae-residing darkness collects human juice for 1) storing energy & 2) converting it to a useful chemical substance, hormone.

Tyroglobulin, mentioned as one of the components of the liquidified human, is a precursor to Tyrosine, a hormone secreted from the thyroid gland & regulating metabolism.

Also, after the whole facility is encroached by this darkness, it transforms into a fully functional organ of a larger living organism, an endocrine gland.

Putting the given chunks of information all together, Namhae's darkness is turning into a thyroid gland.

As you can see from the human anatomy, the thyroid gland is located at the protruded area of the neck, which we call "Adam's apple".

Please remember this location for later.

To sum up, it is a darkness that:

1. Is hidden in the basement, underground.

2. Is Flesh & blood-based

3. Somewhat follows the cult's doctrine ("Join us & become one")

4. Related to the church's sectors (Lover of Paradise Sect)

5. Turns out to be a part of the giant organism

...Doesn't this sound familiar?

The "HAPPY ENDING Sector" from part 2?

The happy ending sector is located in the underground of Jisan Village, in a ghost story named "Final Ritual Center".

The basement is now in a strange space. A weird-looking corridor with crimson flesh pulsating. A blood vessel connected to the head was elongated, reaching the end of the corridor. As if the thing itself has a suction power, it tries to absorb me.... (Chapter 234)

This ghost story ticks all the boxes from the list above.

It's an underground bunker (1),

covered with pulsating flesh & blood vessels (2),

contaminated by the same ghost story, based on the fish parasite that eats off their tongue & all voluntarily jumped into alcohol to become a human-brewed liquor, thus creating a sense of oneness (3),

...A human body has voluntarily turned into a part of the gigantic organism. (...) (chapter 389)

tied to Happy Ending Sector (4),

... and located in something's stomach (5).

Let's put an emphasis on the "something's stomach/belly."

This part wasn't clearly explained & was just skimmed in Part 2, and we readers quickly moved on to the Sekwang City arc at the moment.

After Part 2, we don't really know what happened to the remaining Happy Ending Sector, and it seems that this place isn't destroyed. Meaning, information regarding the "Final Ritual Center" is still intact & can influence future arcs/episodes.

Moreover, it reads that this ghost story doesn't have a "FIXED LOCATION", "MOVES ALL AROUND THE PLACE," & EVOKING VARIOUS KINDS OF SUPERNATURAL PHENOMENA.

What if Namhae's darkness is a variant of this ghost story?

Following the logic of Namhae's darkness, what if Happy Ending Sector's darkness became a fully functional stomach?

The underground of the Happy Ending Sector is functioning as a digestive tract, especially where the stomach & liver are located, since it's associated with alcohol. Alcohol enters the stomach, and the toxic substance inside is detoxed by your liver.

But here's the question.

Why are these darknesses creating a different organ, not the same one?

The answer is simple: It is waking up a gigantic living organism, currently dormant under Korea.

With that in mind, let's look at the map.

This is the map of Korea, each marked with the location of Namhae & Jisan Village. (According to Chapter 195, Jisan Village is located in the city of Cheonan-Asan, 30 minutes by bike from the station, and the circle is exactly where the city is.)

I am going to superimpose a certain image over this map.

Volia! You can see a humanoid being in the shape of Korea's coastline, all curled up.

(Pardon me, this was the best image I could find)

Namhae is located where the thyroid gland should be, & Jisan Village is located where the stomach should be.

There must be sectors everywhere in Korea, and the respective, but same-rooted, darknesses underneath must be creating different organs, depending on where they are (like a stem cell).

When all of the organs from all sectors are successfully created & developed, the organs will connect with each other and turn into a single being, FINALLY WAKING THE CREATURE, under Korea as a result.

This is how the APOCALYPSE occurs.

Soleum did mention the cause of the apocalypse before.

It happens because of the "CONTAINMENT FAILURE," & eventually everyone dies; NO SURVIVORS.

This NATION-SCALED HORROR definitely CANNOT BE contained when awake and would kill all of the living people on the land.

Then, who is this currently dormant cosmic horror?

As many speculate, I also think this being is related to Ireum-nim, the creator of this world.

The most prominent reason for this is that the Ireum-nim worshipping cult (Church of the Luminous Unknown) is involved. But this whole thing reminded me of a character from Korean Mythology, called "Mago Halmi or Grandmother Mago (마고 할미)".

Mago Halmi is a powerful, giant goddess who created the entire landscape of Korea, a goddess of creation.

Her urine formed rivers & her poop formed hills. She moved tons and tons of mud to create mountains and land to live.

Associating this myth with Ireum-nim, a creator god, sleeping after he finished creating the world, kinda makes sense logically & thematically.

I am a bit late to the party, but still, I wanted to add on what I realized while rereading chapter 383 to this ongoing speculation.

So, people are theorizing that Braun connected the call to Lee Gyeol after the "Paradise of Love" ghost story, after Soleum went back to his place.

Braun, thanks to the bloodbath, (re)gained the power that can influence or barge into other ghost stories. He already has a history of calling Soleum via phone (2nd Cheerful/Gaiety Theme Park).

Chapter 384, Soleum is carrying a phone, cut off from the booth, but the call is still intact. Exact overlap.

There's one more parallel that implies this is Braun's doing.

(Chapter 383) (Chapter 357)

I color-coded similar parts from two chapters. Both chapters follow the same sequence:

Soleum's about to succumb to the insanity -> A burst of LOUD, INTRUSIVE sound enough to shake his mind -> Comes back to his senses, recalling what the sound was.

One of the BDS-nim's foreshadowing tactics is the repetition of the situation, exhibiting a common trait or trope unique to this certain character. Moreover, at this point, we readers are like conspiracy theorists & became sticklers for niceties, obsessed with every line, word, or EVEN TYPO (and IT TURNED OUT TO BE INTENTIONAL AT ONE EPISODE), so the author-nim might have written this part with this exact sequence, considering all of those in mind.

Not just how similar those scenes were, but also there is one more crucial piece of evidence to this.

In chapter 384, when Soleum asked to be prudent about disclosing personal information in a ghost story, Gyeol answered like this: "The other department already checked this phone."

This line implies that the phone being connected, even after escaping, isn't something the bureau expected.

The bureau needed to check and confirm because it was an irregular situation, meaning some supernatural entity might have intervened in this call.

Considering where the bureau's telephone was located and its purpose, this phone call may be reserved ONLY for distress calls for a short period of time, like a collect call. Just serving one and the utmost important purpose: a distress beacon.

Moreover, it is a telephone located within the ghost story, and I don't think the bureau will be able to afford something fancier like this (able to connect to the caller till they get saved or can function even when it's detached from the phone body).

Putting the resemblance of this scene to Braun's

+ the inferred information from the line in chapter 384,

+ Braun's super jealous of other entities' invitation, remember Tamra arc (-Goodness! What an aggressive casting. A moment please....)? all together,