The Squid System — Day 7 Mayrathon
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For day 7, we are talking about Ri-jin and I am so excited to talk about him. I got lots of headcanons about him. Ri-jin, within The Squid System, is this lovely guy right here.
The Masked Officer...doesn't he look so lovely?
Mkay, his name is not confirmed to be Ri-jin within the show, but I've come up with this name for him, wanted to change it for a while, eventually it stuck so whenever I think about The Masked Officer, I named him Ri-jin.
Let's talk headcanons, ya'll cause I think about this guy...often. BUT. Keep in mind. Headcanons. Not everything here sticks to canon. Ri-jin, from my AU, The Squid System, may be different than actual Masked Officer. What we know canonically about him is that he's from North Korea, and lost someone due to kidney failure. All stuff that I include in my headcanons, but I went further with this to a point that may border canon divergent so...enjoy.
— Masked Officer had a twin sister named Ri-na, which is the person I headcanon he loses because, as he puts it, he "couldn't find a damn kidney." ...Usually siblings can donate organs to each other, but tragically for them, he wasn't a good match for her, maybe he would even try and her body would reject it. Either way, he lost her. Ri-jin and Ri-na, they were twins.
— He was a defector's kid himself. His parents abandoned him and Ri-na, fleeing to South Korea, which led to him and his sister being left to fend for themselves, later leading to them being taken by North Korean soldiers to labour camps at 6 or 7 years old.
— TW for starvation and cremation of dead bodies, his first experience in the labour camp is that him and her got thrown into a pen with other 'traitors scumbags', and got bread scraps thrown at them once a day. Leftovers. He had to fight for his share and hers. The ones that made it out alive got put to work a week later, and the bodies that didn't got burned to ashes.
— Later, when he meets No-eul, she's about the same age that Ri-na was when she escaped North Korea with him.
— Within The Squid System, No-eul is their unofficially adopted daughter to Frontman and Ri-jin. I know some people ship No-eul with The Masked Officer, personally I don't. I ship him with Frontman, while No-eul is there. Rebellious as usual...and they care about her, Frontman more than Ri-jin.
— Masked Officer never said this out loud to No-eul, but he always silently hoped that No-eul's daughter, the one she keeps looking for, got killed because otherwise he knows the things that happen to defector's families in North, if she were still alive, which I headcanon she is, but Ri-jin always silently hoped she isn't.
— Masked Officer has a soldier's loyalty. He is deeply loyal to the people he cares about. But he got scrutinized as a traitor for his parents flee his whole life while this loyalty got drilled into him, so if Frontman dares to suggest treason from him, it cuts him deep, often can get to an argument.
— Darkest threat he said to Frontman was something along the lines of "Your heart will give its last throb in my fist, then I'll toss it next to the trash." ...basically threatened to rip his heart out. 🫶🩷 LOL. I like thinking that Frontman's brain paused for a moment, while Young-il was scared on the inside, he was like "...Frontman? Protector??? Protector, protect, please...!!! He threatened us!! Hello...????" Frontman like "...do you think I can pay him to do it...?" And Young-il like "...TO YOU. ONLY TO YOU!!!" Funny.
— He doesn't know about their DID, no one except Gihun knows. Within their system, Young-il keeps pestering Frontman to tell him so Young-il can be himself around him, but Frontman would have this "You don't get it, Young-il. This man has been through so much trauma. I can't." Frontman acknowledges that they have been through trauma too as a system, but he'd also know some of the stuff that Ri-jin has been through, – waterbording, whippings, starvation – so Frontman would feel complicated feelings about telling him that he himself has a trauma disorder.
— Masked Officer enjoys his position as second-in-command. I read some fics where him and Frontman are in competition, which I really enjoy as an idea, I like thinking that they were for a while, but not anymore, not within The Squid System. There's a certain freedom that Ri-jin relishes, knowing that what happens next is not his call. He doesn't even like the idea of running the games himself, he simply follows orders. It doesn't feel like whatever blood gets spilled is on his hands. On the flipside, Frontman enjoys giving up his control in bed, being topped basically...letting Ri-jin decide what he does to him. Power couple.
— But for keeping soldiers in line, Ri-jin is much harsher than Frontman, especially with No-eul. Which is kinda funny because Frontman is the superior in the games so usually, if there's a really important issue, Ri-jin would have No-eul raport to his superior...to Frontman, but that is a less strict option, compared to him. Ri-jin has a strict approach when it comes to soldier obedience. Training. Constant. Non-stop. Like he doesn't talk, he runs soldier drills with her until she can't talk whatever issue she wants to talk about anymore. She physically can't mouth the words. And I headcanon this is what he would've done to her if she kept shooting players dead with Frontman there. When it happened, he physically didn't have the option to train with her because he had to handle the games because Young-il left him alone, but if Frontman was there to handle the games...she wouldn't have left the training room all day for shooting players dead to save their organs.
— General rule, Ri-jin runs on a shorter temper than Frontman. This is pretty much canon, we see this when he talks with No-eul, it lasts like three minutes before he starts yelling. On the opposite, I think Frontman is better at talking. Scolding. I headcanon Frontman can give a really good scolding. He can actually name what's wrong, identify an issue and scold accordingly, but in a way that's respectful...and he talks and talks and talks, he can keep No-eul talking for a few hours. Frontman doesn't get angry when someone presents a different point or argument. He actually sometimes enjoys the thrill of debating in a professional way, wielding words with great care to strike. It's very unlikely that Frontman would snap and shout, he treats an argument like a game, but shouting is very likely from Ri-jin. That being said, same can be said about Gihun. Short temper. I like to think Gihun snaps and gets angry about a lot of stuff throught the day, but also calms down quick and forgets about it, if its not an actual big argument. Frontman doesn't get angry often or for daily annoyances, but when he does get to anger, it lasts at least the whole day, if not the whole week. Ask Young-il after the rebellion...😁 lol.
— Nsfw headcanon, but after the rebellion, killing Jung-bae that way, the whole moment, got The Masked Officer hard. Frontman missed a good fuck because Young-il wanted so badly to switch and get to Gihun who was knocked out cold.
— Mf doesn't like his birthday. Because he shares his birthday with his twin sister, it reminds him too much of her.
— S3, after the island is blown to pieces, Frontman thought that Ri-jin is dead for about a month...he went through a depression that he struggled to hide from Young-il.
— Ri-jin wasn't dead, but Junho arrested him into police custody for interrogation after the games and Frontman chokes his younger brother, Junho, over it when he finds out...he's so happy, btw.
— Inho, police officer Inho in the system, gatekeeper Inho, threatened to switch in the body and bite Ri-jin's dick off one day when Frontman will go down on him, sucking it. Yes, I got context for it. It's in this short fic drabble. (Basically Frontman wants to bribe some cops to get Ri-jin out of prison and Inho hates bribery because bribery got him to lose his job and end up within the games, so Inho and Frontman go at each other's throats during an internal argument)
— and final headcanon with Masked Officer, Frontman can only fall asleep around him. In the body. With no one else. Not even Gi-hun. He simply can't usually sleep if he's fronting, he ends up staring at the ceiling and waiting to switch out. But when he's with Ri-jin, he catches himself dozing off sometimes, which is an interesting experience...falling asleep in front, a proof of how much trust he has for him.
— Plus Ri-jin has good taste for whiskey.
Done. I feel better writing it!!! I think about Ri-jin a lot lately...at some point, I think I mentioned that "Infincer, my beloved." but genuienly, they are so much fun!!! Within the system...Inhun is more like Young-il and Gihun, while Infincer is more like Frontman and Ri-jin... Young-il doesn't care much about Ri-jin while Frontman struggles to care about Gihun...its sn issue they would have but basically here's the way I think about The Masked Officer. Enjoy. Bye!!!
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