#sorry for taking so long to respond! life has been Busy™️ these past couple weeks

[heelys4feelys]

i was rereading chapters 30/31 of teenage mercenary, and i need to talk about something yuna's grandpa said. so hamchan and his squadron are trapped somewhere and could die and this guy tells ijin not to get involved, because "he has a family now". but what he doesn't know, or understand, is that while ijin now has dayun and his grandpa, the lieutenant and his men are also his family. it's just a different family, but i think the flashbacks in chapter 31, the parallels between the soldiers teasing ijin with familiarity and dayun and their grandpa waiting for him, hamchan saying dayun is also his little sister in chapter 30, all that tells us that they are a family. a found family if you will. ijin has two families, even if one doesn't know about the other.

Yes yes yes! Ijin cares about the Hamchan and the rest of the squadron so much! I want so bad for there to be a chapter where Ijin gets to see all them again and catch up on everything that's happened. He's like the squadron's little brother despite being able to kick all their asses lol

Also, not only do the examples you mentioned support Ijin viewing the squadron as family, but so does the responses his grandfather and Hamchan give after Ijin expresses that they're important to him.

Ch. 31

Ch 34

It’s the “I don’t take your affection for granted”, the implied “You’re important to me too” and how until just over six months ago Ijin only had himself to rely on and now there’s a plethora of people who love and care for him.

There's also chapter 46 where Ijin is hanging onto the roof of the kidnappers' car and we get a flashback of him talking to Hamchan about what makes someone family and what people are willing to do for their family.

It's right after this that we see Ijin strengthen his resolve to save the director (who he has just learned is Hamchan's fiancé). He grits his teeth, hangs on tighter, and tries to kick in the window not just because it's his duty as a bodyguard, but because she is a precious person to Hamchan. Ijin is willing to put his life at greater risk because Hamchan is family to him and will do whatever it takes to protect those important to him as well.

Bonus: Ijin being happy when he hears the squadron on the phone in chapter 34