Latest Posts by acrylicthegod - Page 9

Gi-hun being the "I can fix him" type while In-ho is the "I can make him worse" type

Yes, thank you netflix, I am well aware.

INSANE because it’s literally CANON that In-ho HAS to watch the footage from his armchair and they have these shots of Gi-hun’s ass UP and him licking that damn sugar LIKE THIS. and In-ho literally HAS to WATCH

no wonder my man joined the game 😭

(source for the video)

YES!!! 💯 accuracy

I decided that I should spend all of my time learning Korean until June 27th….

oh my liege i like this one a lot i think

GOOD OMENS AND SQUID GAMES THIS IS SO PEAK ‼️‼️‼️

Day 536 of posting Good Omens memes Everyday until Season 3

the 2024 nuclear family 😔

“Dora the Explorer” I’m cackling what 😭

we need a romcom found family trope with them (where no one dies)

with Dora the Explorer too, of course

I love how he just indulges in our weird shit and seems to actually enjoy it. Like yes king send lbh that 457 edit or whatever it is u send

WHY DOES HE KEEP DOING THIS 😭😭

(Hwang Dong-hyuk i’m your biggest fan)

Bro sitting there wondering how he can make Gi hun fall in love with him but also make him worst lol

I say Present Mic is just as attractive as Aizawa but then the crowd boos me for being right

OMG OMGOMGOMGOMGOGM LESBINISM YESSSSSS LAWD YESSSSS AHHHHHHHHHH

Yes, In-ho is extremely affectionate with Gihun and is watching him all the time and being physically close to him in every chance he has but Gi-hun is not so different, Gi-hun was as committed to Young-il as Young-il was. Gi-hun literally dreamed of Young-il within hours of meeting him and the worst part of that nightmare was Young-il's disappointed face.

Why 457 is actually valid af and not just a "joke" ship

I wanna start this by saying that I'm in no way, shape or form convinced 457 is canon nor I think there will be anything remotely romantic between the two of them in season 3. But people seem to think it's just a joke inside the fandom, while actually, their dynamic is pretty fucking valid and I want to analyze that in this post.

One of the most discussed things (if not the most) when it comes to this ship is the stares.

Some think this is the stare of love, others think In-ho just enjoys seeing him suffer. Well, let me tell you it is neither.

But before we delve into the way In-ho stares at Gi-hun, we first have to go back to talk about Hwang In-ho as a character.

As we know, Hwang In-ho is the Winner of the 2015 Squid Game. He went into the games so he could have the money to treat his sick, pregnant wife, much like Gi-hun who did the same for his sick mother. Both of them won the game, but both of them were too late to save the person they loved from a sad fate.

This lead to In-ho becoming the Frontman. We don't know exactly what happened in the timeframe between him winning and him becoming the Frontman, but we can safely assume that after loosing his wife, In-ho lost faith in humanity. The games have destroyed him, they turned him into the villain he is today.

And the thing is, when he looks at Gi-hun, he sees his past self in him. This was confirmed by both Lee Byung Hun (In-ho's actor) and the director of the show himself.

Or to be more precise, he sees his past self. He sees who he was before the games changed him. And this is what led to his fascination and obsession with Gi-hun, because here's the thing; the games traumatized Gi-hun, but they didn't break his faith and hope in humanity, like they did with In-ho himself.

And this is the thing that, in my view, both fascinates and deeply angers In-ho. Deep inside, subconsciously, he is thinking, "Why were YOU able to retain your hope in humanity? Why were you able to remain a good person when I couldn't?"

In-ho was genuine when he told Gi-hun he wished he'd try to be happy after winning (or to better say, surviving) the games. I find it especially interesting when he tells him "Just pretend it was all a dream."

In-ho wishes he could pretend it was all a dream, but he couldn't. Think about it: he's a billionaire, but he lives in a shitty, small apartment. He doesn't talk to his mother, he doesn't talk to his brother, he doesn't even go visit his wife at the cemetery. Pardon me for borrowing the phrase from The Hunger Games, but he's not living the life of a victor. whether it's because he feels guilty or something else, I guess we'll find out in the next season, but that's not the point. The point is, that In-ho wants Gi-hun to do what he wasn't able to do after he won. He wants him to be happy because he sees himself in Gi-hun.

This is the most important point in this post.

Now I wanna focus on these moments. During the second game, during mingle, and during the lights-out massacre, we see Gi-hun being absolutely destroyed over the players that were killed. He's undoubtedly blaming himself for it. And here we see In-ho staring at him, not with the look of love, not with joy at his suffering, but with sorrow. He's sad for Gi-hun, because he could have spared himself further suffering if he didn't stubbornly decide to go back into the games.

What In-ho is thinking right here, in my view, is; "See? There is no hope. There is nothing you can do. Stop torturing yourself, just give it up already. How much more pain do you have to go through before you give up? Accept you can do nothing and go on with your life. Try to be happy."

Now you might be asking, okay, but what does that have to do with romantic love?

Well let me tell you that these feelings I just described can easily and quickly turn into love.

Many philosophers over the centuries have come to the same conclusion; we see part of ourselves in the people we fall in love with.

"The Front Man believes that Gi-hun is wrong in his way of thinking, but perhaps, he reflects on himself through Gi-hun. He does want to destroy Gi-hun's belief. I felt that a small part of him, unknowingly, might be hoping for Gi-hun's thoughts to be right. And rooting for him in some way."

These words Lee Byung Hun said about In-ho, makes me think of Jacques Lacan's theory in particular (which is a rather complex topic and I will try to summarize as shortly and as simply as I can).

For Lacan, love, at least in the beginning, is essentially a form of narcissism. When we fall in love, we're also falling in love with ourselves. We see ourselves in the other person, but we also see in the other what we subconsciously think we are lacking in ourselves. Which doesn't mean the other person will fix us because, at least according to Lacan, this lack is something that can never actually be "fixed".

And I think that's exactly was is happening with In-ho. He sees in Gi-hun what he's lacking in himself. They were traumatized the same way, but reacted in two completely different manners. In-ho became cruel and disillusioned with humanity, while Gi-hun still believes in humanity and wants to save everyone.

I know that this way, 457 seems like a one-sided kind of love, but that's honestly my personal interpretation of the ship. I think Gi-hun could have fallen for Young-il, for the person In-ho was before the games, if they had more time. But the Frontman In-ho? The person he became after becoming the Frontman? There's no way.

Not all loves are meant to happen, not all lovers get to be lovers. Some are meant to just leave us wondering what could have been. Which is what makes transformative works so fun and interesting! From the canonverse toxic fics to the wholesome alternative universe flower shop fics, I think their dynamic is valid as fuck.

I rest my case.

I just don’t like pregnancy I think 😭

"you don't like mpreg?" i don't even like fpreg

does is make sense?

Lee Byung-hun confirming In-ho was genuinely having a good time during this scene has me crying, like yeah it’s confirmed he really was happy here. with Gi-hun. he was happy 🥺

yaoi glasses off: inho's time with gihun has made him rethink his life choices, has given him a kid of hope in humanity that he had lost so many years ago and now he doesn't feel good playing the part of the frontman. the old inho is coming back, he feels guilty and sad, but hopeful. gihun is quite literally his light, and he has made sure to burn it.

yaoi glasses on: inho's time with gihun has made him rethink his life choices, has given him a kid of hope in humanity that he had lost so many years ago and now he doesn't feel good playing the part of the frontman. the old inho is coming back, he feels guilty and sad, but hopeful. gihun is quite literally his light, and he has made sure to burn it.

season three is going to be real fun

“In-ho was only looking at gi-hun like that cuz he enjoys watching him suffer” okay but have you considered that I’m delusional

Something I can't stop thinking about though -

When in-ho is eavesdropping on gi-hun and jung-bae's conversation he hears jung-bae say "when we get out if here we should get soju like the old days" and then later when they're getting ready to rebel, in-ho makes a point of telling gi-hun "you can buy me soju when we get out of here" SO he heard these two best friends reminiscing about the time they used to spend together and took the next opportunity to insert HIMSELF into that scenario with gi-hun instead.

He was jealous af listening to that conversation and he is down bad for gi-hun and no one can tell me otherwise

Me if u care

Sometimes babygirl is a 47 year old survivor of a death game <3

Lil meme dump because your honor I love him.

"Are they lovers?"

worse.

001 x 456 unexpected first kiss

This is so silly read at your own risk lol

Junhee somehow managed to sneak her wrapped sweet candies into the game, she craved sweets too often these days because of her pregnancy and it was just one of her cravings and somehow whoever changed her clothes into the squid game uniform had left some of her sweets in her pocket. (Probably it was No eul who brought her to the island, she always have sweet spot for babies, kids, or in this case pregnant woman carrying a baby inside her)

Anyway long story short, Junhee gave her remaining candies to her team mates ! 😭 after they win the six legged game, like just out of gratitude, she knew she didn’t have much in this place and that’s all she has but she wanted go give them something, at first they all refused because they said they couldn’t possibly take her sweets but Junhee insisted, so they took it so not to offend her and quickly unwrapped the candies and actually happy that they could eat something sweet for once in this place.

But she miscalculated the remaining of the candy she had, leaving only Gihun without the candy, Junhee felt sorry, she wished she didn’t eat the last one before offering the candy to her team, Gihun only gave her a polite smile saying he’s fine with it Junhee didn’t need to feel bad about something like that.

Even though Gihun said that but deep down he really be craving some sweet too because of his sweet tooth, he used to eat ice cream almost daily, that’s his favorite thing to do, but well he is pleased enough that everyone seems happy with the little gift from Junhee.

Inho who sat beside Gihun has been observing everything silently, he had stalked Gihun for 3 years now to know he wasn’t one to pass on sweet, with his oral fixation he always has something on his mouth to chew, he should have sneaked candies into his uniform, maybe he should do it later and instructed his pink guards to bring some.

Or he could just do it now…

With a candy 🍬 that’s in his mouth, that he only just unwrapped and suck for awhile before Junhee declared that she had no more candy to give to Gihun, so without prompting Inho leaned toward Gihun and close their mouth together.

It happened so fast, Gihun hasn’t even got the time to process it, it end just like that with everyone mouth hang open in surprise and Gihun with a candy in his mouth.

Inho just grin cheekily like he wasn’t just pushing a damn candy into Gihun’s mouth with his tongue.

“I don’t like sweet anyway.” That’s all he says while the other was too stunned to speak a word lol

what do you mean elon musk did a nazi salute on live tv at the united states presidential inauguration twice and is now erasing the evidence off the internet by replacing the footage with the crowd cheering instead?

would be a shame if people reblogged this, wouldn’t it?

(you right anon)

happy to hear u liked my musings! i really like the way u described gihun as heat, openly passionate, with his intentions clear and pointed; and inho as his natural opposite, deceptive and murky, cold, detached etc they really are two threads in the same stitch

and of course your inclusion of jungbae and youngil as well as sangwoo!! if any man could pull off being jealous of himself its hwang inho. he can tongue at the scar left by the tracker gihun cut out and burn about it while gihun calmly tells him about other little scars left on his body left behind from his childhood, from nights spent at the racetrack or bars or anywhere else inho was not privy to, a different softer sweeter gihun existing within the current man before him

and the idea that gihun wants inho to lose it, to be passionate, to be angry to show SOMETHING human, raw and sticky and bloody is so so fun. show me jealousy and grief, show me hatred in those eyes of yours, don’t look away from this or me, take the mask off, dont lie, i will crack you open and eat your softness etc

love the idea that they both want understanding from the other, and that they long to be equal. they’re darkness chasing light, light chasing darkness.

i think gihun has a particular distain of that geometric frontman mask, that’d he want to break it and then turn and tear at the youngil mask too. what he wants is that squishy human core. he wants to be RIGHT he feels that shit in his bones, so stubborn. he wants surrender from inho the way he wanted surrender from sangwoo.

hes righteous (jungbae) and he’s focused on winning (sangwoo) the way that matters most to him (saving, caring) and hes devastatingly, painfully, only just one man (who cannot save everyone but now he thinks maybe i could save and keep this one…) and this man requires the metaphorical death of the frontman, the mask, in order to accept inho as his. like he needs to kneed inho into something he can hold onto. play by MY rules and im yours to keep. let me win. and the idea that inho wants gihun to be right too ohhhh he really just wants to mash their broken forms together until its impossible to tear them apart. impossible to hurt one and not the other too, to be two as one, to feel the pressure, not of running games that kill hundreds every year but the pressure of protecting one heart. possessiveness can go both ways… as a treat…

loving each other the way the other thinks is inhuman while also contradicting themselves (inho thinking gihuns empathy and goodness is special to gihun and therefore not /human/ly, but wanting him to be right anyway. gihun thinking inho is bathed deeply in the blood of others; inhuman and monstrous, but hes slain that monster and what arose was redemption, not forgiveness but atonement etc)

i really love their back and forths, and combined with an idea u mentioned once, about how gihun was always chasing and admiring sangwoo and would maybe be a little overwhelmed when inho’s the same to him. i think he’d learn to crave the attention like air, esp being so isolated and withdrawn in between seasons he needs love so bad.

needing to always defend his continuous choice to show empathy and trust in humanity when time and time again the people closest to him give him so many reasons why he shouldn’t

getting a little giddy and drunk with the power that comes with choosing to trust someone who hurt so many, and him specifically pretty deeply (my best friend died in the squid games and all i got was this lousy shirt 2x) (and psychosexually obsessed other half with a staring problem sure whatever) he did have fun playing the hero, this once, the pain of it all, was worth it. ohhh seong gihun u will always be famous….

anyway! i ended up adding ur music recs to my 457 playlist!! they were all great! ive never heard lilith before, it was such a gem. if u like lana and mitski i think ‘let the light in’ ft father john misty and ‘me and my husband’ are also very 457.

originally i did have a longer list of music recs to swap with u, but i could feel myself starting to go on a whole different rabbit hole based on some of them, i started yapping about sangihun and this ask is already crazy long so ill leave the 457 specific recs here n save the others for another time maybe! have a lovely day

• ‘thats why i love you’ sir ft sabrina claudio (esp in the context of being halves of halves ugh my heart)

• ‘running out of time’ tyler, the creator

• ‘i need you (to be wrong)’ switchfoot

• ‘walk on by’ dionne warwick (get on the plane… let it be a dream… deeply mournful inho center my beloved)

YES YESYESYEYSYEYSYSYS YYYYYEEEEEESSSSSS!!!!! 😩😩😩😩

gihun wanting to see inho, all of him, not the front man or youngil, just inho.... but inho is so convinced he is unlovable and he cannot be forgiven, his sins are too great, so he can't show gihun, he refuses. but he doesn't realize that for gihun to ever love him, he has to see him.

inho associating gihun's goodness, his faith in humanity, his ability for forgive, deeply nurturing self, not to a human trait, but maybe to somethign god-like, something that is not of this mortal plane. because humans cannot forgive each other like that, they cannot look selfishness and cruelty and horror in the face and still be able to absolve, no, no. that is for gods, for beings of another realm. especially true for a man who has not only participated in the games and then was in charge of them for almost a decade, but also someone who worked in law enforcement and has seen the depravity of mankind.

god, sometimes they remind me of a poem i read about ares and aphrodite, and how aphrodite has held ares' hand for so long that the blood on her hands is the same as his. and that is so reminds me of inhun.

of how, in s1, when gihun offers his hand to sangwoo, his palm is clean but the back of sangwoo's hand is bloody. the implications that is they held hands, the blood on sangwoo would smear gihun, would "taint" him. and it's the same with inho. how can he get close to gihun without spilling this blood all over him? because i think inho wants to show gihun that people are not worth saving but, at the same time, he doesn't want gihun to believe him, because then maybe he can be saved. maybe inho isn't so far gone. maybe, inho can atone at gihun's feet, can lay his sins down and gihun can forgive him for them, can cleanse him of his wrongdoings....

i'm glad you liked my recs!! lana's "let the light in" is such a good song, can't believe i forgot it!!! gonna go listen to yur recs right now!! 🫶🥰

stop, when i was writing down my song recs, i was also seeing so many sangihun songs and was like, no wait this is inhun i cant add sangihun ejfieiioffrghhve

but please send those sangihun song recs and ramblings, i wanna hear them!! 😩