#izzy heritage posts

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SANG-WOO

going back for a moment.

sang-woo was very visibly LOSING HIS MIND in general past episode 7. everything that happened fucked him up BAD, especially after ali’s death. we see him snap at player 069, (which i still believe was a subconscious manifestation of his inside feelings toward himself at the time fighting with the mindset of "i need to win the games" but that’s not on-topic rn) and later we do see the first time genuinely he kills a man.

(i find the lighting choice here, where he’s backlit by darkness, very fitting. he’s pretty much lost his mind atp)

but without him pushing the glassmaker, EVERYBODY would have died. gi-hun especially; he was at the very back of the line!

not to mention, sang-woo constantly repeats the “it was necessary” or, to gi-hun, “he was just somebody you knew for a few days” mantra, almost like he’s trying to justify his actions. (that’s called rationalization. a defense mechanism.)

i hope this is enough proof that, while yes, sang-woo had completely lost himself, he wasn’t just some heartless monster who felt no remorse.

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GI-HUN

gi-hun, on the other hand, just VISIBLY witnessed his childhood best friend kill somebody. OF COURSE he’s going to be shocked and upset. we forget he’d never actually witnessed sang-woo kill ali, nor was he aware of sang-woo manipulating him — he likely just assumed ali lost the game in a fair fashion.

no wonder he questioned sang-woo; he wasn't expecting him to do that. he didn't find it necessary either, and from his perspective it looked like sang-woo had just killed him to get rid of him.

not to mention, that's still his childhood best friend! somebody he cares about a lot. it's very... off-putting to see people you love do bad things.

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(one question i also see people contemplating on sgtwt is this: if the roles were somehow reversed, and gi-hun had pushed the glassmaker, how would sang-woo have responded? would he have been shocked, or would have have not cared? and would have have confronted him?

my simple answer to that is: i don’t think sang-woo would have confronted gi-hun at all, but i do think he would have definitely been shocked because of how gi-hun is as a person. it probably wouldn’t have affected him as much, but it would have likely shaken him up.)

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now, about the actual confrontation.

(although translation is a large factor here, the words said pretty much boil down/summarize to this.)

gi-hun: “why did you kill him??”

sang-woo: "you got lucky at the back of the line, he was wasting our time, he would have killed us all"

gi-hun: "but he would have moved eventually, there was no need to push him"

sang-woo: "he watched ALL those people die and yet didnt do anything about it"

gi-hun: "he's the only reason we made it out"

sang-woo: "no. i made it out because i worked hard to make sure i stayed alive"

gi-hun: "stop making excuses. you killed him, his blood's on your hands."

sang-woo: "well it's almost like that's how this works"

gi-hun: “and if it were me on that tile, would you have pushed me?”

sang-woo completely ignores the question.

and then the boys started fightingggg 💔

sang-woo: “your life is so pathetic because you’re a nosy dim-witted moron, that’s how you got into this mess” (pretty much just throwing words around)

gi-hun: “well you’re in here with me, aren’t you? why is the pride and joy of ssangmun-dong who went to SNU in a shithole like this? hm?”

i find it interesting how gi-hun uses the very things he praised him for against him.

some people think sang-woo was mad because he shattered his ego. however, i think he was more affected by it because he knew gi-hun was right.

see, contrary to popular belief, sang-woo doesn’t think highly of himself. he gets visibly uncomfortable when people address him higher. [examples: his constant distaste of gi-hun ogling him , him constantly requesting ali to not refer to him as sir , telling mi-nyeo that he’s not the leader of their group and that they’re all equal.]

he’s not some egotistical bastard that thinks super highly of himself — he visibly LOATHES himself. it's implied in canon he’s had to put so much effort into (he’s an only child, and an INTELLIGENT CHILD in a poor household, so a lot of the responsibility surely fell on him growing up to make sure he could help their family get out of poverty) and now he’s fucked that up (i have another psychological theory on this but it’s off-topic and for another day)

so, do i think gi-hun's response was too harsh? no. i do, however, think he gave sang-woo a harsh reality check that likely fucked him up even more.

BUT. i do also want to just. bring up one thing; a major factor in the argument that people seem to be forgetting.

uh. it was an ARGUMENT.

some people don't always mean 100% of what they say when they fight; mainly because of the heat of the moment. (this is targeted more at sang-woo, considering he was literally just. throwing down insults like it was a playground schoolfight.) not to mention they were very obviously trying to strike a nerve to prove their points.

and im not saying this was some kind of freudian slip where they're revealing their unconscious beliefs on each other. i dont think they hate each other or some bs like the tweeters are saying, i just do think that tensions were heightened overall because they were trying so hard to prove their point that they started tearing the other down. etc. (however i do think gi-hun's rhetorical question was likely genuine: what is sang-woo the genius doing with him)

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FINAL VERDICT

now to the final question. who was in the right?

..sorry for the anti-climacticness of this but uh. neither of them were in the right nor wrong. that's something a lot of people fail to understand. this was a fair argument. they both had fair points.

at this point sang-woo had lost his mind in the games, yet he still wasn't wrong: if he hadn't pushed the glassmaker, they likely all would have died, and killing is how the games work. morals are twisted in death games.

and gi-hun wasn't wrong either. obviously sang-woo shouldn't have killed the glassmaker, and he wasn't wrong about the fact that sang-woo fucked up bad to be in a place like this.

vanish into you (UNFINISHED!) — 16.2k* words, 4/11 chapters released — rating: m [mature] — WARNINGS: graphic depiction of violence, major character death, heavy suicide references (i do tend to describe gore pretty detailed, and since this is canon-compliant, there is a bit of that.)

vanish into you is a chapterfic following sangwoo's death and revival as a ghost. he's stuck in the place he died, psychologically tortured by other ghosts around him. he uses repression and denial to cope with this. but (among many other contributing forces), gihun returns to the games, and sangwoo is forced to handle his feelings and past actions—all while trying to keep gihun safe.

[or—the s1 characters watch gihun as he plays in the s2 games.]

from your dear hyung — 13.2k words — rating: m [mature] — WARNINGS: heavy suicide references, major character death

from your dear hyung is a 5+1 fic—5 times gihun wrote letters to sangwoo, and the 1 time sangwoo wrote back. each snippet goes through a period in their lives, how they loved and lost one another, despite never communicating properly.

viole(n)t dreams — 2.5k words — rating: m [mature] — WARNINGS: n/a

after the rebellion, gihun suffers a head injury, gets knocked out, and hallucinates sangwoo. hes hopeless, so he begs sangwoo to kill him and end his pain.

this fic actually goes hand in hand with vanish into you, and serves as an epilogue (for later, since i havent gotten to writing that part). it's also pre-s3, directly before gihun is put into the coffin!

la vitrine — 4.2k words — rating: e [explicit] — WARNINGS: NSFW (smutfic)

this fic is. pretty much just fluff and pwp. domestic au where sangwoo owns a penthouse and after a date they go to his penthouse for dinner, dessert, and sex! very wholesome <3

the nails in my coffin remind me of you — 3.2k words — rating: t [teen] — WARNINGS: underage smoking

gihun convinces sangwoo to skip school with him. the two go to an alley, and gihun teaches sangwoo how to smoke. LITTLE DOES HE KNOW that this will lead to a looming cigarette addiction....

if the stars align... — 7.3k words — rating: g [general] — WARNINGS: n/a

this fic is from an oc's pov! she's sangwoo's 'girlfriend' thanks to a shit ton of good old '90s peer pressure. she tries very hard to get him to like her, but she can tell he's just not into her!

eventually, she realizes where sangwoo's priorities really lie—his best friend—and she makes a plan to set them up.

eden's bleeding — 6.0k words — rating: m [mature] — WARNINGS: major character death

an au where sangwoo pairs up for gihun in marbles. this fic is written in the second person!

humans are not angels (but we are) — 2.5k words — rating: t [teen] — WARNINGS: major character death

SQUID GAME SEASON 3 SPOILERS! gihun dies, and gets reunited with sangwoo in the afterlife. there, they embrace and gihun cries on sangwoo's shoulders, heaving out the bearings of no tomorrow.

make love to me (and make it burn) — 3.8k words — rating: e [explicit] — WARNINGS: NSFW (smutfic)

sangwoo is kept awake by his own twisted desires and decides to take matters into his own hands. he masturbates to the thought of gihun fucking him—and then feels extremely guilty afterwards.

a bottom sangwoo pwp with lots and lots of angst and introspection.

the boys are getting coffee!

i just need to say. um. no straight man looks at his "bestie" like that uh i fear he's currently thinking about how badly he wants that cookie /silly

(small break, look at this hungry dumbass shoveling crumbs down his throat)

bro is admiring him from behind

MORE STARING.

HSES SMILING JFNMSNJNFD

the way he reacts to gihun touching his shoulder tho,,,, that healed at least 5 years of his life (still got sm 😔)

boyfriends in an elevator what will they do

what the Fuck is sangwoo thinking about right now

i have nothing to say other than the fact that i set this image file as "bro just fuck already.jpg"

the WHOLE gang witnessing these two motherfreakers rn

(i just wanna say smth my sangihun-infected self noticed: when they said they were going to sleep in pairs, sang-woo said "ill go first" and then proceeded to give VERY PROLONGED EYE CONTACT to gihun (that's what they're all witnessing rn 🙏))

sang-woo genuinely looked worried for gi-hun as well when he saw him having a nightmare, resting his hand on his shoulder as well as later asking if he'd be okay (i forgot the direct translation)

more staring! except now sang-woo is losing his mind (post-marbles)

EVEN. MORE. STARING.

aggressive fucking lip bite and literally for what /lh

my GOD you two could not be closer together