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The one who got away 💔❤️‍🩹 let them be happy in their next life

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The finalists and Inho/Gihun killing/not killing them... bugs me.

It's another weird writing in my eyes... like, HDH wanted to be so clever with this parallel, but it's not the same at all.

Inho letting them kill him the next day would have been a 100% death sentence for his wife and baby (and it's unfortunate they still died, but he hadn't known they would).

Not to mention how Gihun is 2024 already knew winning wouldn't bring him anything but misery, while Inho in 2015 couldn't have known that.

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Gi-hun + hearing words of affirmation

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“ Is In-ho... in love with me? ”

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Just save as many people as you can, even if it’s only one. When you die, you should be surrounded by people. Don’t end up like me. — ITADORI WASUKE, 1.01: Ryomen Sukuna (2020)

"To be precise, it's not Itadori's dad, but his grandfather who shares the same soul." — Gege Akutami, Final Volume Epilogues

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i think i just chose traumatizing people as my hobby idk

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“ but what is grief if not love persevering? ”

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Little Canon Gi-hun Things I See Underrepresented In Fanon:

-References to his time as a factory worker / mechanic building cars - he most likely worked on a factory line, building specific skills and muscle memory that probably stayed with him forever

-This would likely affect how he thinks and how he sees the world - ex, does he conceptualize problems as mechanical parts that he's trying to build into a functional machine? Maybe that's why he thinks he can stop the games... he knows how to make machines, surely he can dismantle one (he thinks)

-And so: KNOWS HIS WAY AROUND A CAR. He likes cars! He built them for over a decade and drove professionally on and off afterwards. One of the only things he actually spent money on after the games... was a car. Gi-hun is a car guy! I wish we saw that more.

-His identity as a dad is SO important to him - I see this discussed in reference to Jun-hee's baby of course, but we saw Gi-hun’s attachment to this part of his identity and place in society from S1 ("Why do you keep calling him the kids' dad? I'm Ga-yeong's dad!")

-Building off the above: a huge part of Gi-hun’s identity and personhood is a desire to CARE FOR people. Not just care about them, which he also does a lot, but care FOR them.

-He's probably a good cook, actually. Both of Gi-hun’s business ventures were food places, and we can tell how much he enjoys food in general, how much it means to him. Personally I think it's likely that he's a really decent chef, when he has the chance, and it was his financial incompetence that drove the businesses to the ground. I often see In-ho portrayed as the better cook but I think it's probably the other way around.

-He tells the Recruiter that he grew up in a Buddhist household, which I don't think I've EVER seen represented in fic (not that he strikes me as overly religious, but surely that cultural structure would remain within the framework of his inner life somehow)

-He's MANIPULATIVE. Listen I love our sweet innocent baby but he's not all innocent. When he wants or needs to be, he can be as manipulative as In-ho. (Ex: whining at his mom until she gave him more money; causing Deok-su to question his men's trustworthiness)

-He's an opportunistic little liar who will sometimes say whatever he thinks he needs to; see: telling Sae-byeok he'll forget about the money if she unties him and then immediately hopping after her dwmanding it back anyway. Again: he's the SWEETEST little bean but he's ALSO a little shit.

-His neighborhood is a huge part of him and who he is. He mentions Ssangmun-dong every chance he gets in S1. In fact, he says it so much that Ali thinks it's his name! (He also associates it a lot with Sang-woo, the pride of Ssangmun-dong, and I rarely ever see Gi-hun get to mourn his old connection with his childhood neighborhood after it's forever associated with what he lost.)

-Gi-hun’s knee-jerk reaction to trouble is to call for help. He asks people for help all the time. The lady at the kiosk who gave him back his bill. Screaming to the guards when Deok-su threatened him. He's a team player (see: working as part of a team at Dragon Motors!). Being independent or a leader isn't something intuitive to him; he had to learn and grow into that to do what needed to be done.

-This man has the common sense and survival skills of a rock. Got pickpocketed by Sae-byeok and gave her soda back... including the straw that fell on the ground already smh... Asks Kim Jeong-rae (the loan shark who wanted to DRINK HIS BLOOD AS A SOUP like thirty seconds ago) for a loan... IMMEDIATELY after that same man threatened his LIFE for owing him money... bud...

-The TEMPER this man has on him. Flashbang. He runs HOT.

-He's SUPERSTITIOUS which I think is weirdly cute?? It's mostly centered around his gambling (less cute) but he attributes meaning and significance to numbers and other things - I WISH I got to see Gi-hun’s weird little superstitions more in fanon!

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Maybe, just maybe, the fact that In-ho let his brother live was a call for help.

I don't want to play down the things he has done. They were horrible and caused people a lot of pain if they even survived.

However, I believe that In-ho saved his brother in the end. If he hadn't shot him, they'd probably both be dead by now because the soldiers would have killed Jun-ho and then him because he wasn't loyal. I think he instructed Captain Park to save Jun-ho and keep an eye on him. Yes, Park led Jun-ho the wrong way, but I think deep down, In-ho hopes that his brother will somehow find and save him.

There are so many signs that In-ho actually struggles with his situation and that there are still human emotions that deeply affect him. He still mourns his wife and his child after nine years. He cares about Jun-hee and the child, and I don't think he only pretends to do so, I think they remind him of his own past. He tears up (imo) when he tells Gi-hun that it's all over.

Maybe In-ho observed Gi-hun so closely because he wanted to gain back his trust in humanity. I think they're actually not so different. They experienced the same pain of not being able to save people they cared about, went through the same game and the money couldn't bring back what they lost. Still, Gi-hun chose another path than him to cope with his past. Maybe In-ho hopes to find a way back to his old self through Gi-hun and Jun-ho.

Maybe, deep down, he wishes to be able to go back, but he can't do it himself because of all the things he has done. Maybe he even thinks he doesn't deserve it.

End of brain rot.

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“ how did you turn your heart to stone? ”

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FML

Because Young-il's backstory was Inho's backstory... and he did not mock Gihun.

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 “... be careful what you wish for.”

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“I didn’t know you cared so much about me. I’m almost moved to tears.”

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Okay, you can't watch Gihun walk with that strut and not tell me he wouldn't be a terrifying frontman.

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without his wife

with his wife