Analysis of Villains by Farstrep

by farstrep

@Hanjae, thank you for your post. A few of my thoughts to add to our discussion about the villains.

I am not sure if Gi Cheol is possessive about them in the way he would about toys. Unlike the painter or Choi Young, Eum Ja and Soo In did not start out as objects that Gi Cheol wanted to acquire. They're together because they shared the same teacher. Though I always wonder if their teacher, like Gi Cheol, is a collector of some sort. Anyway, they seem to have a closely-knit relationship, which I attribute to the shared interactions and experiences they had together, learning from the same teacher for years. Because of this, it is possible that Gi Cheol loves them in his own little way that we don't know of but unfortunately, this isn't explored much in the drama, so we can only speculate the degree of his love for them. The only time we catch a glimpse of his true emotion for his brood is the scene where he gets wind of the news that his brother has died. Perhaps he is the type of person who will only reveal his true emotions when a person close to him dies or is in trouble but I may be romanticizing him here.
It is also quite interesting that the villains hardly have any conflicts with one another. Not in the drama anyway. We see constant conflicts occurring between Choi Young and the King or Choi Young and Eun Soo because they're in the initial stages of reconciling every aspect of their lives and relationships with their work etc. However, in the villains' case, we see them settling comfortably into a clear hierarchy, with Gi Cheol as the head of the operations and Eum Ja and Soo In the members. They also understand one another's quirks well enough to accommodate them and that can only happen if they spend a substantial amount of time together.

That said, it is clear that Gi Cheol does not have complete trust in them. He's a very perceptive person. Despite his fondness for Soo In, he must have also detected her devilish character and that she possesses the guts to betray him one day for her own agenda. She has already expressed once to Eun Soo that she would have used Gi Cheol's weakness against him had she found one. Eum Ja, who has a liking for Soo In, might be persuaded to take her side and fight against him. That's why he keeps his illness from them, even though he can jolly well use Soo In's powers to soothe his illness and vigorous trembling.

However, I fail to see how Soo In can use his weakness against him, given that Gi Cheol's the one with the power, influence and riches and has a sister who is affiliated with the Yuans. Soo In doesn't have anything that can rival him except her superpower. Neither does she have the brains/perception too. If she has one, she would have long caught a whiff of his illness, more so when they've been staying under one roof for such a long time.

I wonder if another reason for keeping his illness from his pledged siblings is his fear that they would leave him or be deemed unimportant and cast aside like a stone. He doesn't seem to be one who can withstand loneliness.

Allow me to take the topic back to Eum Ja because a sudden thought occurred to me. While Eum Ja appears to be isolated from the outside world, Soo In is the opposite, vivacious and outgoing. I suspect his view of the outside world comes mainly from Soo In? Since they're the only ones who are closer to each other than the mousey advisor and Gi Cheol, naturally, she would look for Eum Ja to show off her exploits (with men?) and adventures in the outside world when she returns home. To Eum Ja then, she serves as a bridge to the world outside Gi Cheol's place of residence. On hindsight, he lives his life outside through her. When she is killed, it's not just his pledged sibling who has died. Nor is it just his object of affection who has died. Symbolically, his connection to the world outside has also died.