#dayum thats a lotta gabryong

[rrrandomism]

The Life and Death of Kim Gabryong

The lack of information about Kim Gimyung's father on Lookism Wikia inspired me to write this.

Caution: it's going to be a pretty long read

Ever since Kim Gabryong's name was first mentioned in the Lookism manhwa, I fell in lo- No. I mean was interested. I was intrigued. Dude had successfully shifted my attention from the handsomest gang leader in the universe, Kim Gimyung, to... well, him.

"But he's dead. Plus, barely anyone talked about his past life. There's nothing to dig about him, really," said somebody who stopped reading Lookism after Big Deal's Arc. Rumor has it that they have been blessed with an overwhelming amount of free time, so they continued their reading due to boredom.

Now you see what I mean, don't you, random person?

Kim Gabryong plays a huge role in the generations of fighters in the Lookism universe. Despite not being talked about much, I think so far we've got enough clues that allow us to take a glimpse of his character, his life, and the mystery of his death.

And, as a good future daughter in law who loves his son with all her heart, I wanted to honor him. May you rest in peace, abeoji. Just kidding

So, Who the Frick is Kim Gabryong?

He was the leader of the most influential mafia group in Generation 0 called Gapryong's Fist Gang. I'd like to assume he was also the founder, because his name is literally there. So I think it's safe to say that the whole gang aspects in the story of Lookism begins with this man.

Gabryong "Fist of Justice" Kim was admired by his peers and subordinates yet despised by common society. Kim Gabryong was a hero to some, and a villain to the others (including his son Kim Gimyung and his wife Kang Minseon).

To His Wife

"My feelings for you are like my cigarette butt on your portrait. Extinguished." - Kang Minseon, probably.

When Kim Gimyung asked her what kind of person his dad was like, she answered with the most charming smile, and I quote:

"He was the worst piece of shit ever."

Such an elegant and profound description this woman had of her beloved late husband. However, was he really a piece of shit like she said he was?

According to Kang Minseon, he was a jerk to the women who knew him. But he could never pass by someone in need or ignore any kind of injustice.

He had a sense of passion or romance or whatever, yet he couldn't even keep a romance with his lawfully wedded wife. But was there even romance between Minseon and Gabryong in the first place? I don't know. The two never seemed to even like each other. It smells suspiciously like an arranged marriage here.

In my head, I imagine Minseon as the daughter of a rich conglomerate who was married off to Gabryong by her parents for some kind of agreement. Her family wanted the most powerful gang as their back up, while Gabryong wanted an heir through a marriage.

Remember chapter 395 where Kang Minseon stated that Kim Gabryong didn't care when his mistress had a baby, and yet he was ecstatic when he found out that she was pregnant?

What about that time when Kim Gabryong was asked how many children he had? he said:

"Gimyung's the only son I have around his age."

"There's no need to have another child when I've already got a son."

Yeah? what about your other son, huh Gabryong? Didn't you already have a child seven years before you had Gimyung?

Did you not recognize him as your son because you had him outside of your marriage with Minseon?

Hmm I wonder how the kid felt about that. Minseon said he went to rule a gang in Mexico because he "got what he wanted".

"Don't ask me more about that. It's connected to the circumstances of your father's death," said she.

Um... actually ma'am, that's exactly why you need to tell us more because that was hella suspicious. But on second thought, we better end this conversation. I feel like this woman would kill us if we ask any more questions.

But hey, that's just my stupid theory.

Kang Minseon didn't seem to give a damn if her husband ran off to see different women, though. Which he did quite often according to Kim Gimyung.

"Dad, where are you going? Are you leaving mom at home to see those weird girls again?" - Little Gimyung, Ep. 306.

To His Son

"Fuck you, dad" - Kim Gimyung, most definitely.

In Little Gimyung's eyes, his father was an unfaithful man to his family. He often left him and his mom at home to see some "weird girls". Despite that, Gabryong was respected by people for being fair and "using his fist to help people". When Gimyung asked his mom why, all he got was silence. The poor Little Gimyung couldn't wrap his head around it. So he came to one conclusion: gangsters are not cool and he hates them. Several years later with the same mindset as he had when he was little, he ran away from home.

Time went by and the whole Big Deal becoming one of the 4 crews fiasco happened. Gimyung, who just quit Big Deal was faced by a dilemma of whether or not he should help Big Deal girls who were threatened by Samuel at the time. So he consulted his mother about his father in hopes that he would get a hint of what he should do next.

When his mother said that Gabryong had always helped anyone in need and never ignored any form of injustice, Gimyung's hatred for Gabryong seemed to subside. I personally would like to think that Kim Gimyung wearing his dad's gloves symbolizes that he wanted to continue Gabryong's legacy.

The Legendary Fighter and Politician Wannabe, Kim Gabryong

Park Jonggun seemed to have a great amount of respect for Kim Gabryong. When he found out that Kim Gimyung was the son of Kim Gabryong, he immediately lost interest in Seo Seongun. He said to himself, and I quote:

"I wouldn't say no to Gabryong's son taking over Big Deal."

While the fellas in Big Deal also whispered the same thing to each other:

"Is Gimyung-hyung gonna be our leader?"

"Of course. He's Gabryong's son."

Which couldn't help but make me wonder, what does being Gabryong's son have to do with taking over Big Deal?

Are you saying that Big Deal was originally founded by Kim Gabryong?

Idk. That sounds pretty plausible to me. What do you think?

Gabryong "Fist of Justice" Kim was a big guy with big dreams. He got into politics since his youth but alas, he never succeeded. City folks threw eggs at him during his speech, exclaiming that they didn't want a mafia in the congress. However despite those egg-throwing and shit-talking, he kept running for congress every chance he got until his death.

Dude's got the tenacity of two tiny Lego blocks that are attached together by super glue. Not to mention the amount of money that guy must have had for organizing those campaigns, which I'm sure were not cheap.

But what can you say? after all, he was a thug who wanted to change the world with his fist. I guess that's why he wanted to become a congressman so badly.

"You're nothing but a thug. You seriously think you can change the world with your fists?" - Park Jinyoung, Ep. 398.

The Death of Kim Gabryong

The cause of his death is still a mystery. Though I'm 100% sure his wife Kang Minseon knew about it. She just refused to reveal the secret even to her own son. Maybe despite her cold exterior, she's actually worried about how her son would react if he found out the reason behind his father's death. Unbeknownst to her, the lack of answer piqued Gimyung's curiosity even more. He then decided to set a goal. That is to find out what happened in the time period between Generation 0 and Generation 1, that led to his father's death.

And now we're still waiting for Kim Gimyung's next move to achieve that goal.

Will he ask Im Rua to gather some information for him?

Will he travel to Mexico to find his half brother and ask him about his father?

Or... Will he form alliances with Hostel, Burn Knuckles, J High, and the rest of Generation 2 to raid Ilhae, and then torture Yoojin for information?

Dear Kim Gimyung, if the latter is what you have in mind, then I suggest you don't just stop there. Cause I think there's a huge chance Yoojin wouldn't tell you either because he wouldn't want to, or simply because he really has no idea. Here's what I think you should do to gain the maximum amount of info in the quickest way possible.

You and your guys break into Ilhae's HQ.

Beat up the executives (including Songeun if you wanna. Or maybe you'd rather convince him to rejoin Big Deal instead. It's up to you, babe).

Torture Yoojin into revealing the location of Jinyoung's lab.

Steal a vial of truth serum. You won't have to fight Jinyoung first if you're lucky.

Take the serum, go to your mom's house, pour it into her tea. Make sure she drinks that.

And bam. Your mom will voluntarily give you every bit of information you could've asked for.

While you're at it, I'm going to try to make a deduction out of the pieces of clues that I've gathered so far.

Here's a kiss for good luck. Mwah 💋

See you in the next post where I write about the conspiracies around Kim Gabryong's death.