#inho analysis

His obsession with Gihun was always unhealthy and filled with such intensity, Gihun became the center of everything that he did, all of his choices, thoughts and feelings revolved around Gihun for this time span, their ideological battle but also Gihun as a person consuming him whole. (Assuming that it started even before Gihun rejoined the games, because he already showed curiosity about him when he saw him winning, so after their phone call in the end of s1 when he saw that Gihun wouldn’t let go so easily, he most likely tracked every of his steps until they met again.)

When he lost Gihun all of this was suddenly gone in a matter of no time, leaving him with an even bigger emptiness than he ever felt before.

So him clinging to that jacket and trying to mantain as much of what’s left of Gihun’s presence makes perfect sense, it was his way of grieving and showed how attached he really felt towards him. Underneath his deep layered attachment there was also a tenderness, something that expressed his devotion to Gihun and his admiration for everything that he did.

Inho thought giving this piece of clothing to Gayeong was the right to do and that showed how much he’s still disconnected from reality. What would seem cruel and sick to others, would feel like a good gesture to him.

Gihun’s pain and suffering, but also all of his effort and the strength in his belief still being wrapped up in this jacket is what Inho had in mind, what made him feel close to Gihun’s spirit. He wanted Gayeong to feel as close to her dad as possible too, so he let go of this last piece he had left of Gihun to give it to her, as a final act of love that he could do for Gihun.

I know the opinions about this scene are controversial, but to me personally this is one of the most beautiful inhun moments because it perfectly captures both the twisted and yet still so deeply human feelings that Inho has for Gihun.

He was the one who put him through all this pain with the intention to break him, but in the end it was Gihun who broke him. Inho has to face his own guilt and what it means to feel human again, to have had someone that he now feels pain and grief for, after believing that he would never be able to feel these kind of emotions ever again.

I also love how warm and soft Inho looks in the scene where he gives the jacket to Gayeong. He’s being embraced by the light, it’s like he’s holding onto the same light that he saw in Gihun, the light that Gihun left behind for him.

Just how Gihun is embraced by the light that looks like a halo during their confrontation scene, which perfectly captures how Inho views him at that point. He sees all of his flaws and moments where he morally breaks, but instead of looking down at him he actually admires and envies him deeply. In my opinion we could even see a sort of relief on his face, when he saw that Gihun was incapable of fulfilling the offer that he gave him. (LBH also said this about the scene)

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

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.