#and for gitae it was jinrang being gap’s disciple

[melljam]

patricide duo’s daddy-issues-induced insanity

[kingchroma]

lookism 552 spoilers

these are honestly just my thoughts lmao feel free to scroll

i kind of figured that sang baek took the fall for jinrang when gitae literally went for the axe. they just have this habit of defending each other (well, they are brothers after all), but having it confirmed in this chapter and after knowing their background story.. it's really sad, man.

sang baek only wanted freedom and to be with his brothers, and for him to have this ending is really bittersweet in a way. he achieved freedom by protecting his brothers. his last dying wish was quite literally for jinrang to continue protecting them despite him dying for him. i can't imagine what jinrang and jungseok are feeling right now, most especially with jinrang considering he's always been their hyung and the alpha of the pack—always protecting his brothers.

he might feel responsible for sang baek's death considering he wasn't able to get up (gitae literally knocked the fuck out of everyone in one punch, i can't blame him) and negate gitae at that very moment. but i do feel like with james alluding to seongji overcoming mastery during their fight back then, it's not impossible that jinrang might achieve the same thing.

would it be strength though? the magenta aura that surrounds him is reminiscent of gapryong's power or strength. the taiwanese panel (right one) is so good in showing that. and jake is shown with magenta irises or a streak when he's channeling his father's strength. it's not that impossible that jinrang might get stronger during this upcoming fight.

but like.. gitae is also goated in a different way. i think it was stated in the wiki (sorry for referencing the wiki if anyone doesn't fw that) that gitae has no technique learned (unlike jake who has been taught mma at least by gap's underling) and just powers through with his insane, brute strength that he got from his father. he showed how he can easily knock out people with just his fists and just.. axes them if he wants to.

so i'm really interested how the next chapter goes. it's really round 2 between the two of them. i'm looking forward to jinrang giving gitae a hard time at least.

i'm also curious about this. since gitae went to look for gapryong's disciple, found jinrang, tried to off jinrang despite knowing he's not gapryong's real disciple—would gitae still look for him? dalyoung already passed, so i think in this case gitae might acknowledge jinrang as the true disciple somewhat. my only reference for this is dalyoung recognizing gapryong's strength in jinrang when they were fighting.

sorry this was such a long ass yap and i apologize if i missed anything. it was genuinely a good chapter for me even if some people had already predicted some of the instances that happened.

rest in peace to sang baek.

edit: i completely forgot the fact that gapryong had berated himself as a human and for being such a shit teacher to dalyoung. i mean apart from that he was definitely a shit man to his family too. i can't believe he was trying to do good with others while completely forgetting about his own family.

i hope in the future we get to see interactions between gitae and gap in the past, but i do feel like it'll only happen when some family beef finally occurs. or if the cold case gets mentioned again.