#gsgw

One of the points brought up by @maganbee and @clockworkspider (sorry if I jumpscared anyone with a tag) is that Soleum knows Choi is super smart; Soleum has too many secrets and Choi is smart and so to avoid spilling anything, Soleum chooses to not deal with him too much. I do think this is an aspect, and could lead to Soleum finding interactions with Choi exhausting (who knows if he actually thinks that way though). However, something feels off about even though it makes sense, and I finally realized why.

here’s a little table of contents to summarize what feels off, and I’ll explain the points in more depth

His constant silence makes his talking a tell, which doesn’t help at all if he’s trying to prevent Choi from knowing things.

In dangerous situations, Soleum tends to go for an active approach instead of a passive one. Silence generally is a passive approach. Additionally, actively talking can potentially let Soleum get the upper hand— and he usually is able to change the situation via talking—whereas silence often doesn’t even have that potential.

His interaction with Team B Leader, who is canonically basically a walking lie detector.

Point 1. Choi aside, I think Soleum almost always talks more when he’s trying to hide something (and when he explains something but that might be a personality thing haha~). This can be counterintuitive bc its easily suspicious— over explaining, I mean— but he is creative and smart enough that the explanations he gives on the fly are believable, especially if you don’t know Soleum. Choi is at the disadvantage here because he hasn’t known Soleum for long + Soleum actively tries to hide himself, whereas Soleum has known and presumably analyzed DER Choi for years. But Choi does know that Soleum is typically very very quiet with him, so it’d obviously be suspicious every time Soleum starts talking a lot. Compared to other characters, Soleum talking to Choi has way too much of a contrast. And Choi sees Soleum talking to others (most obviously Jaekwan), so it’s also suspicious in and of itself that Soleum is only unresponsive to Choi. In my personal opinion, the suspiciousness as a result of silence is far more of a con than giving responses as normal, even at the risk of giving too much info.

Everytime Soleum says more than 3 lines there’s a 50% chance of him lying/having a hidden agenda, and Choi is probably aware of that. The reason Choi doesn’t act on this is. Well. It’s Choi, who doesn’t discount any possibility until he’s considered it carefully, and who prefers wait-and-see approaches when it comes to non-urgent situations. Also, Soleum lying while talking does still have more to go off of than Soleum saying nothing, which is probably what would happen if he’s called out for lying (and, like, what most people would do when they’re called out for lying. In my opinion, aside from specific situations or close relationships, calling someone out for lying is more likely to make them defensive than more likely to make them tell the truth).

additionally, Soleum seems to be quiet around Choi even the conversation isn’t dangerous at all. In these situations, it would benefit him to respond more…? I can see his constant silence being beneficial in a ‘he’s silent no matter the topic so it’s never unusual’ but I genuinely can’t tell how well Choi can read Soleum’s reactions. If he can read them well, then the silence doesn’t change anything.

Point 2,

Soleum uses talking as a weapon quite often and he generally prefers a more active approach; if anything, he talks quite normally when it comes to a lot of people he should be nervous about talking to. Ho Yuwon is a very good example, since he’s a superior with a lot of power, but Soleum talks to him quite normally. Soleum using words to get out of a situation is quite common so I’ll list out examples from the top of my head (may be misremembering some. For that same reason these are not in order.). Him getting break time in the quiz show; creating a cult part 1; convincing Nasol to not kill/sacrifice Heeoun (?); convincing Ho Yuwon to not kill him + Choi in the taxi; home shopping channel arc; cult part 2; mansion of the blind convincing his team to let him try and save others; he’s always making people work together, for ex Braun and Jaheon;

there’s definitely more but I’m blanking and I think these prove my point enough ㅠㅠ Talking is definitely a weapon that Soleum is very skilled at using, and he’s experienced at it enough that he should be able to navigate conversations with Choi, especially when it comes to casual conversations. Again, Soleum being so quiet is inherently suspicious/notable because his silence is extremely obvious when compared to how he talks to Jaekwan and other Bureau agents.

Point 3

B leader and Choi have a lot in common. Shrewd, observant, seemingly approachable, thinks quickly, leaves possible avenues open as much as possible, they hide their own thoughts / suspicions, etc etc etc. additionally, B leader is canonically basically a lie detector

now, Soleum isn’t that talkative, but he is more talkative to B leader than he is to Choi. Would like to note that at least part of this may be because Soleum’s curious about a bunch of things from the early days. (Screenshots also include another example of Soleum talking more when he’s trying to explain/lie/do something)

Of course, B leader is also more intimidating than Choi. He presses silences instead of filling them, as well. Even then, I think Soleum is more willing to give responses (to show he’s listening) and more willing to ask questions (again may be due to curiosity as a DER fan).

minor tangent but Soleum does listen well in serious conversations and when he’s being given advice. He’s a ‘good child’ for a reason, after all. Hmmm because of this it’s hard to tell if sometimes his silence is due to respectfulness or other reasons (like, not wanting to give more info than necessary).

additional points

@maganbee also points out that Soleum doesn’t like lying to ‘good people’, which is true. It’s a very good point, and is probably an additional aspect; after all if he talks to Choi more, he’d have to lie to him more. But Soleum also doesn’t lie that much to the main cast generally (Saheon being the exception), so I’m not sure if it means anything~. Also, I think he’s lied to Jaekwan a fair amount, who would definitely fall under ‘good person’. Youngeun, I’m less sure of how much he’s lied to her… in fact he ends up not lying to most of the Daydream agents very often, primarily because the agents don’t really pry into each others’ lives.

I was trying to think of other characters who Soleum may be this silent toward, other than Choi. The potential other person I think he might not respond to as much is Seonghae but he’s contaminated in most of their interactions ㅠㅠ I distinctly remember a conversation where Seonghae was adamantly saying Soleum was ‘good’ and Soleum was fairly quiet in it… likely due to not agreeing or because he’s awkward about complimented. Anyway, Seonghae and Choi are similar with portrayed upbeat energy so I considered if maybe Soleum is bad with those types; I went back to check. This is how he talks to Seonghae (and Leopard, both energetic people) in chapter 68 and 70

Vs Choi in 143 (paraphrased convo but accurate silences),,, could’ve been a Grapes persona thing but it shouldn’t be.

3. Just to address it, id like to mention that Soleum does weaponize his silence against Choi in 193. It’s pretty funny tbh because the way he ‘stalls for time’ is legit just. Saying nothing. So yes, Soleum’s silence has been to his advantage. But I think this is him using what’s available instead of him, like, being silent this whole time just for the sake of this one time. I do believe that his constant silence with Choi has more negatives than benefits, objectively speaking. The silence is only suspicious after all, and as a spy he should be trying to blend in. And if he talked to Choi more, then it would’ve been prime opportunity to ‘ask for little favors’ or get more information and things like that. Slightly risky, but not as much as silence, and any exchange comes with risks.

all I’ve done this far is disprove potential reasons, so what are actual reasons for Soleum’s silence

Well. Who knows. For being the narrator, Kim Soleum sure is hard to understand. I think silence is due to a multitude of reasons, including Soleum potentially finding it tiring to talk to Choi, and Soleum not wanting to lie.

I think one of the definitive reasons is because Soleum thinks he can get away with being silent to Choi. An accurate belief, evidentially. The thing with silence is that it’s often risky because it can be escalating or de-escalating, and is so vague that it can be read in any matter of ways including the worst possible way. For example with B leader, it’s possible that Soleum being too silent could make B leader think Soleum is being un-cooperative— then causing B leader to turn hostile or consider Soleum as an enemy. Not a good outcome, right? To be perfectly honest, this also should’ve been a consideration for Choi, especially since we know he’s been aware of Soleum’s daydream identity from the very beginning. If Soleum was a spy with no knowledge of Choi, he’d honestly be stupid for being as silent as he is, both because of how suspicious it is and because of how easily it’s seen as a lack of cooperation. Choi could have killed Soleum or outed Soleum or imprisoned Soleum at any moment and for good reason, because Soleum is a spy. With these considerations, why is Soleum being so silent even though it’s obviously pretty risky? I think it’s because he knows he can get away with it, because he has a decent idea of Choi’s personality from the wiki. At the very least, he knows that Choi does more of a wait-and-see, and doesn’t usually take drastic action. With other people, Soleum’s silence can get him killed. With Choi that isn’t the case, and Soleum knows that.

I’ll throw out some other possible reasons as well, without necessarily strongly believing in all of them. After all, Soleum knowing he can get away with silence doesn’t explain why he does it. Keep in mind that his silence is very likely due to a multitude of factors.

Soleum is naturally pretty quiet, I.e. his very short responses in his texts to his friends in ch 1. If he’s ‘naturally’ quiet then why isn’t he silent to everyone? Well, the situation, and you need to conversational to get by in society, and also it’s only polite to talk to people. By default this would imply that Soleum is most quiet with Choi because he’s most comfortable with Choi which is. A questionable assumption, and would be related to the fanboy Soleum idea. Or it means he’s too tired but he has the energy to talk to other characters, so.

Soleum is trying very hard to not form attachments to everyone. This is canon. The reason it’s a ‘possible’ reason is because he’s still talking to everyone except Choi

(fanboy Soleum theory) @somber-cryptid and @ghoststorygottatheorydump and @everyonesfavoritebastard have brought up that maybe Soleum is starstruck because he’s a major Choi fan. So he’s too nervous to talk to Choi. To my knowledge there’s nothing to disprove this. Plus, Soleum talks a bit more to Choi in part 2, which could be a result of enough time passing for him to be less starstruck; it’s hard to tell due to all the contamination and I…still haven’t done a part 2 full reread, so I could be wrong.

@ghoststorygottatheorydump also says that maybe Soleum feels awkward because he wrote something in relation to Choi (don’t think he wrote Choi because he seems more of a lurker and wouldn’t have written anything that early, and I don’t think he wrote the Looky Mart entry because he…seemed pretty unhappy with it). Aka, he’s silent because of awkwardness and maybe guilt. There’s nothing to disprove this. As for why he felt guilty, it’s possible he wrote the disaster that gave Choi his neck scar (possible as in it hasn’t been disproven LOL)

(fanboy theory) I have a minor theory/headcanon that Soleum looked up to DER Choi and admires him. If so, it’s possible that Soleum is silent because he cares too much about Choi’s opinion. When you admire someone a lot, you don’t want to say the wrong thing because you put a lot on emphasis on their opinion, right? It’s a bit different from being starstruck. As a side note, i do wonder if this (and being starstruck) could tie into his interactions with B leader, since B leader is from the early DER days

Contamination. Just because it’s alwaysss a possibility (esp with the story usurper page). not sure how it’d relate to Soleum’s interactions with Choi specifically tho.

Update: @mr-crescent brought up intimidation and I don’t think Soleum would be intimidated in a traditional sense, but if he’s built up an image of DER Choi in his mind, then a certain type of intimidation makes sense, esp if he has this passive belief (from reading DER and maybe being a fanboy) that Choi always figures out the truth or something like that. Even if he logically knows that’s not the case, the brain isn’t such an easy thing~

Hahhh I wish I had more possible reasons that aren’t related to the fanboy theory but I’m blanking a lot. If Soleum hates Choi or was scared of him, he’d still be able to talk to him, so it’s not those. There’s no other reason for him to feel awkward or uncomfortable or anxious around Choi, at least not moreso than other characters…

Haha is this what Choi feels like? Soleum is so hard to understand, props to bds-nim for creating such a mysterious narrator/protagonist

I genuinely keep questioning the identity of the Kim Soleum we’re currently following.

Idk man, there’s just a lot of things making me feel uneasy:

KSE completely glossing over his life back at home, despite it being smth so important to him? I get that part of the reason why his obsession with getting home was so strong partially because of his Good Friend nature, but it feels kinda off

We know now how KSE ended up in the Ghost Story originally, and we know that each of the details of his summoning and capabilities had detailed reasons, but… how come KSE doesn’t question anything now? He knows that’s probably in some different body due to the poor state of it and the absence of his tattoos/contaminations, but like, other than vaguely questioning why he was in the prayer area and basically thinking, “wtf, what is this facility??” He doesn’t think any farther???

I get you just found out that the wiki is probably haunted and entered your weird nightmare Segwang style, but like, you KNOW that’s not all to it Soleum!!

His behavior is different? This could be explained by him detoxing at home for a year and lowk genuinely not being in that bad of a mental state at the end of part 2, but he’s strangely upbeat compared to his situation. At the very least, the level of his fear hasn’t really changed that much. To be honest, this may be the weakest point, as we can all see that Soleum is now at square one, and compared to the beginning of the novel, his behavior is similar? His exaggerated little bits of gratefulness when something good happens is similar to how he acted at the very beginning, before his mental health went to shit.

There’s likely other stuff I’ve missed and can’t really word, but I guess he just feels a bit off to me personally??

Honestly I could just be hallucinating, since I’m not used to this guy feeling so small scale compared to the stuff happening around him, it’s been a good 300+ chapters since then yknow!!

Someone else please give me your thoughts on this‼️