#Park Junmo

[citrinekay]

Episode 9 The Worst of Evil (최악의 악), 2023 dir. Han Dong-wook

[hearts4yawnzzn]

His Poison

pairing: jung gi-cheol x fem!oc

genre: friends to lovers

word count: tbd

warnings: Blood, guns, knifes, broken bones, slight nsfw, death, injuries (severe and non-severe), drugs, smoking, burning/burn marks, torture, gore, violence did i miss anything?

synopsis: after living in japan for almost two years, kang yuna returned to seoul searching for the man who murdered her mother. instead, she found herself saving the life of a guy who was just about her age, her weapon of choice covered in blood as she extends her hand out for him to take. she knew from that moment, that he would help her if she does the same for him as well.

“how far are you willing to go?” he asks her with a straight face after accepting her helping hand. yuna stares at him with a puzzled expression before he tightens his grip on her hand and pulls her towards him. her breath hitches, but she doesn’t falter.

“as far as it takes.”

LIKES AND REBLOGS ARE APPRECIATED

[hwaception]

My inner life is a sheet of black glass.

— Richard Siken.

[frances-and-the-moon]

They look straight out of an idol group tbh

[lost0wl]

im just gonna leave this here

gicheul is staring at seungho’s soul

[eremin0109]

God, I can't stop thinking about that one particular moment from episode 5 where Junmo reaches his hand out to Gicheol after getting slashed on the back. It's such a natural reaction too, Junmo is not acting here. He's genuinely got caught off-guard by that attack, bleeding profusely all over—his first instinct was to reach out to the man in front of him. And Gicheol is horrified and manic and fucking livid all at the same time, pulling Junmo gently to his side with one hand while the other empties his handgun into the bastard who dared to attack his right hand man. It's such a surreal moment.

This entire scene is masterfully done, especially from Junmo's perspective. He wanted to tag along Gicheol to know about the "fishing" deal, but he couldn't have anticipated this attack. It wasn't like the last time they had to fight together between just the two of them, when Junmo had orchestrated the whole thing just to gain Gicheol's trust. There was no actual threat to his own safety then.

But that was not the case here. Junmo's thrown into this bloodbath simply by his association to Gicheol, with a very real possibility of dying there. He could've abandoned Gicheol, abandoned the entire goddamn operation because fuck it, he's got an entire life ahead of him. He's got a wife he loves so much and the prospective of having a family with her. So why should he throw all of that away for a 2-rank promotion that may or may not even come, if the corrupt police system is anything to go by??

Yet, despite everything, Junmo stays. He stays and fights for Gicheol, saves his life and almost dies doing so. Sure, he might justify it later (mostly to himself) that it was all for the mission, because Gicheol was more useful to them alive than dead.

But in the heat of the moment, Junmo couldn't have been bothered to put up that mask. He wasn't "Seungho" when he took that damn blade for Gicheol, he was very much Junmo. And a part of him would've been absolutely terrified to realise that he was willing to die for Gicheol, just as Gicheol was ready to kill for him.

[sweetlullabyebye]

[suuho]

i was thinking about junmo’s introduction scene and why they cut it, again, because someone on twitter brought it up. it is beautifully shot and a very well-made introduction of the tone of the show; i love this scene, but it makes complete sense why they cut it. it reveals too much about junmo as a character, and instead of building up his descent into evil and showing him uncomfortable in the union at first, we would have already seen him prone to violence, to cursing, to kicking down and lashing out when faced with petty criminals (or, translating, to anyone below him) here. junmo feels stuck in his job and in his life, shelved off to do menial work at a country side station, but we do not need to see or know more than that, and we already got the information without the addition of his violent outbursts. it takes away from how they narratively structured his character, because junmo and gicheol have diametrically opposed narrative arcs (junmo grows into a natural disposition for the work of the union vs. gicheol who wants out of the union and a life like junmo’s). that said, i love how they shot the scene and what it gives us about junmo regardless. all the seeds of his character are already there, it is just that they were amiss in the force and lend themselves to corruption, and thus fit better in the work of the union.

[echo-story]

You know what would solve 97% of all these folks problems?

.

.

.

A polycule.

Like…

[reveries-and-radiance]

Maybe the real worst of evil were the cops we fell in love with and who betrayed us along the way

[noctiselusio]

Park Junmo and his unstable self–image:

In The Worst Of Evil, we’re not told much about Junmo’s past (not really shown much of any character’s history really) as the story mainly focuses on the noir and crime aspect of the show. But we’re shown enough to be able to connect some clues and understand some of the reasonings and psychology behind our main character’s actions.

Junmo’s father was a drug addict, and his mom left when he was young. Obviously, this would have a detrimental impact on his mental health—which we see slowly spiraling out of control throughout the show. (Never mind the fact that the series mostly focuses on the ethics of it, Junmo is a cop who goes on an undercover mission and he has to fight hard to not lose his morals to all that he sees, all that he experiences, all that he does. And as compelling as that was, for this short rambling of mine I want to focus more on something else.)

And yes Junmo’s faltering morality is also a symptom of this disconnect he has with his own person. Junmo is confused and has no idea as to who he really is. His mother left early on and his father evidently was not a good one, we can imagine he had no interest in properly raising his son alone. I suppose the resulting trauma posed a significant hindrance to Junmo’s upbringing and development. Without an adult’s guidance, he was unable to properly develop a personality of his own. You need (healthy) interactions with others to shape your sense of self.

While I don’t mean to diagnose, or misuse psychology, or project on his character (forgive me if I’m doing any of those but also can you blame me, this deeply flawed character is so beautiful to dissect and read and attempt to read between the lines, behind the footage) there were some parts that made the light above my head switch on.

We learn that Junmo became a cop mainly thanks to his mentor: Seo Do Hyung.

He’s the reason Junmo didn’t stray off the path and became a cop. He gave him a purpose, a reason to keep going, an identity to chase after, and a sense of belonging. Do Hyung presents all of this to him, and Junmo holds on to it for deal life.

He gets married to a cop —born into a family of cops— and that’s kind of where it starts going bad again (including the wedding scene). Junmo starts feeling like… an impostor. Unlike his wife, his family is broken, he‘s unable to get a promotion, this all is an open wound that Euijung’s family keeps gnawing and scratching at until it scabs over and falls off. It’s sad, it’s tragic, but I don’t think that marriage had any hope of lasting.

Comes Jung Gichul—Junmo finds a new… place to belong, a brotherhood, maybe…maybe…maybe… a home?

It’s not that way at first, but the bridge effect is very real and Junmo has more than one close–death experience with Gichul next to him. And the more time he spends with him, the more humanity and vulnerability he sees from his boss, the more he hesitates.

And now, Park Junmo has a new name, a new identity. Which I don’t know if it was intentional or not: giving Junmo a new name and an impostor role—to convey his unstable sense of self.

Once again, Junmo is stuck, and he can’t —no matter how much he tries— figure out what he actually wants to do, where his heart lies. Who is he? What does Park Junmo want? How does Park Junmo feel? Who should Park Junmo betray? Should he act as Kwon Seungho or as Park Junmo?

But this doubt, this doubt hurts too. Because why should he be faltering? He’d spent so much time and effort to get here, sacrificed so much, and his wife is part of this too, he didn’t go through so much suffering just to fail his mission in the end. (He went through all that for Gichul.)

Do Hyung’s sacrifice settles it, Junmo is forced to make the final choice and bring the gang to justice.

But Gichul… Kwon Seungho couldn’t do that to him. Not until Gichul had really forced Park Junmo’s hand.

(Forgive me if there’s any mistakes or if this seems incoherent, this is my own interpretation and it’s been on my mind for a while and of course I had the urge to finally write it before a deadline. So these are my jumbled thoughts that I had to let go into the world)

[citrinekay]

Park Junmo + smoking

[aylaxani]

I need a compilation of all the pinstripe suits Gicheol and Junmo wore in the last few episodes because?? they look hideous and beautiful and why do I feel like Gicheol gifted them to Junmo (almost like... couple clothes, yknow), Gicheol with a big giddy smile, watching Junmo closely as he tries them one. also I'm probably not remembering correctly bc the last episode Scarred me but. wasn't it that Gicheol wore a red pinestripe suit and Junmo a grey one, and at the safehouse suddenly Gicheol wore the grey striped pants??? something something sharing clothes or even undressing each other etc etc idk I'm delusional this is my coping mechanism for that heartbreaking ending

[saintminseok]

There was lots of beating people and killing, in different methods but at the end of it all, betrayal is the worst of evil.

[lost0wl]

twoe fans are currently taking their corners to cry after the last ep (yes i let out all my tears today and I can’t even think straight) LIKE WHY WOULD YOU SHOW US THAT SOFT SCENE AFTER HE WENT TO HIS GRAVE THIS IS SO DIRTY WHO TF MADE THIS SERIES