Throwing This Into The Ring Like A Beyblade

manipulate mansplain malewife

THE PITT 1.15 “9:00 P.M.”

sketch with my poor little meow meow

I did an overview on s2, and it's so painfully awkward how 'Young-Il' inserted himself over and over again to Gi-Hun.

All his actions are premeditated to gain his trust, emotionally attaching him and break him from within.

To highlight some of these interactions:

He is completely inappropriate with his comments, laughing it off, "oblivious" to the implications of his comments. Happily telling Gi-Hun "I voted to stay because of you," then taunting him with the trauma he faced when playing Dalgona, asking him why he came back, telling him that they were not responsible for the blood money and how he was "right" for choosing to continue the games.

Then, at night, he gave him a story to make Gi-Hun empathize with him, how he was desperate to save his wife and kid, willing to gain a bigger prize, even when it was at the cost of other people's life. He hit a familiar string as he remembered how desperate Gi-Hun himself and others were. Achieving Gi-Hun to have a nightmare at the thought there were people just like him relying on him, to later reinforce that as he tells him, "I still believe in you," and "we have a winner on our side."

BTW, he took advantage of the fight between Thanos and Myung-gi to have the interaction about his "motives." He needed to have a "morally good" presentation even after being completely cynical to the fact he sentenced more people to die for him to gain more money. So, he patronized Thanos, treating him like if he was a kid, and obviously Thanos is going to reciprocate the energy. Giving him the perfect excuse to "demostrate his vulnerable side" by beating Thanos under the premises that "he offended him."

It also comes to mind how, during mingle, he abandoned the group to cause distress to Gi-Hun. Keep in mind that he would have the same distress if he couldn't ensure the safety of everyone else in the group, and even those who weren't.

You get the gist of it? Making Gi-Hun feel strong emotions; anger, uncertainty, shame, fear, and worry, to then reward him with praise, relief, companionship, reliance.

After all of that, the only thing he achieved was Gi-Hun seeing him the same way he saw the others in the group. He certainly worried and cared about him, but to the same level he did with Dae-Ho, Jun-Hee, Hyun-Ju, Yong-Sik, Geum-Ja, and everyone else there.

At the end, contrary to In-ho's plan, he chose to go alone with Jung-Bae, because he is his friend.

Even after all he did, Gi-Hun didn't see him as his biggest priority. And I'm sure that devastated his ego.

i had not considered this. we're so back.

the unfortunate thing about the second season being 10 months into the future is that we'll never see a bit where javadi gets to private investigator levels of nosy about why santos and whitaker are Like That and concludes they are dating. and when she tells them this, they both look at her like she's killed their childhood pets.

"I will show you that the world doesn't always go the way you want to" are the premises which Gi-Hun made a bet with In-Ho.

In-Ho, who is smart, cold, and manipulative, always seeming to be three steps ahead of everyone, is being put to the test if things would "always go his way".

He has the upper hand and will absolutely use all the cards in his favor.

This is a continuation of the post I made regarding his interpersonal manipulation to get Gi-Hun to like him and emotionally attach to him. In-Ho didn't stop there, using his position as a bureaucrat to manipulate both Gi-Hun and everyone else to continue the games, systematically ensuring the results he wants to win the bet.

As Gi-Hun correctly pointed out, the way he got people to comeback to the games was upon preying on their desperation, making it seem like they reached a dead end, with the only and last opportunity they had was to participate "willingly" on the games. Making it virtually impossible for people to want to vote out on later games as they feared something greater outside, and everyone has "come too far" to get out now. This time, it was much more sophisticated.

The addition of clause #4 and the voting system.

Unlike last time, people have the opportunity to get out and share the price money, even after only playing one game. A direct way to fuck Gi-Hun's mind as if those were the conditions of the 33rd Squid Game, at least both Sang-Woo and Sae-Byeok would have made it out alive, In-Ho knew this very well, so, he would need to prove that people will continue the games regardless if they shared the price money.

Him choosing to be player "001" is key into determining the fate of the results. If it came to end a tie or marking a tie, In-Ho would hold that power as he is the last person to vote.

Other factor to consider is that voting is *not anonymous* so the outcomes are corrupted by the expectations other people have on you, specially after they are marked with a patch that exposes if they chose to continue or wanted to get out. Min-Su is the most obvious case of voting for 'O' because he was intimidaded into doing so, however, Jung-Bae, Dae-Ho, Yong-Sik, Myung-gi and "Young-Il" all voted 'X' because there was an expectation from someone else to vote that way.

It is very interesting that the games did this fake illusion of democracy, as it only matters during the votes that people don't get violent, however, you are free to intimidate and even kill people.

Participants

While the players were already recruited, it was certainly convenient for In-ho to have many players that would put Gi-Hun on a very familiar and uncomfortable situation, some to point out:

Jun-Hee and Myung-gi: A pregnant woman and her incompetent baby-daddy, who is constantly trying to prove himself for Jun-Hee to forgive him and allow him to be part of her baby's life, as well as hers. Reminding him of how Gi-Hun (without fault on his own) neglected Eun-Ji and almost lost his daughter by witnessing the death of his friend during the strikes. Marking the resentment she holds against him.

Yong-Sik and Geum-Ja: a pathetic mama's boy who gets in debt and (unwillingly) brings his mother down with him, and while trying to make amends to fix mistakes, he doesn't realize how much he hurts her, as she makes her own sacrifices to help her son. Reminding him of the dynamic he had with his own mother, especially after In-ho maliciously implied that Yong-Sik would abandon her to save his own ass.

'Young-Il': A desperate husband who had his pregnant wife in the hospital, sick to death, with time running out, his "only hope" was to win enough money to pay for her treatment. Even if it comes to the death of others. But he is willing to set aside his selfish interest in favor of Gi-Hun's because he "respects and admires him." This is to both remind Gi-Hun's of his relationship with Eun-Ji and also the fact that he came back for the sake of his mother's health.

Jung-Bae: self-explanatory. Gi-Hun's best friend whom he neglected after being profusely traumatized. Too deep into the hole to see past it, blaming himself for not preventing Jung-Bae from falling victim into the system he swore his life to destroy. The only one who reminded Gi-Hun the person he used to be before entering the games. The weapon In-ho would use to destroy Gi-Hun beyond repair.

The Games

In-Ho certainly organized the games in a way that would be favorable to the outcome he hoped for.

He chose Red Light, Green Light first, besides having a huge death rate because of people panicking. He would make Gi-Hun believe that he'd be playing the exact same games as before, blowing his cover as a former winner and making people distrust him, even though his goal was helping as many people to survive as possible. He'd also use this to taunt him. "You know, if you didn't reveal yourself, I wouldn't have chosen to keep going, right? So it is your fault we are still here, despite your efforts of being a hero and saving everyone."

The six-legged pentathlon was also a deliberate choice, a game that relied on teamwork, having a high survival rate and just the right amount of adrenaline, would make people feel euphoric for surpassing the games, forgetting the unfortunate who didn't made it thru. Making people who were originally scared feel confident that if they keep going, they would be able to reach their goal. Not realizing that it meant that the money would be the cost of the blood of the people who "loose" until it came to bite them in the ass for the next game.

This one made it for the majority to vote 'O' without the need for In-ho to be the one making the final choice for him to get the favorable decision.

Mingle brought people back into reality, either losing or being close to losing someone they loved. It brought it back to 50/50.

And now it was turn for the extra round, where In-ho set it up to make it convenient for people to target one another. Keep in mind, if Gi-Hun accepted the terms of fighting one another, In-Ho would have won the bet, as he'd prove to Gi-Hun that things "always went his way," diverting Gi-Hun's objective in favour of the system In-Ho set up. What he didn't expect was that Gi-Hun didn't fall for it, suggesting to take down the whole system down instead of doing what the executives (In-Ho) wanted them to do.

If Gi-Hun chose to go with Young-Il instead of Jung-Bae, he would have kidnapped him (kinda as a payback for trying to do the same a few days ago) and revealed himself right there, winning the bet.

So it was Plan C, betraying him, and shooting the last trace of sanity Gi-Hun still held, his best friend, Jung-Bae, as well as everyone else who decided to follow him.

In conclusion

(Credits to @cleaveslice for such glorious image)

Hwang In-ho, you are not seeing the gates of heaven when your demise comes, malparido triplehijueputa.

you haven't unlocked platonic pining yet? wow ok fake yearner