yeah i like to give my blessing to the most pathetic looking weak little knight at the tournament. she can’t even look me in the eye when i give her my flower and she stutters out that she’ll do her best or something of the like. i think its funny when she has to cry and beg my forgiveness and i get to say “such a shame, i suppose my hand in marriage will have to go to someone else…” and then i get to hear her whimper like a dog. ive done this like 6 times alrea-
“I’m certain you could never understand, highness” I can’t put into words how proud I am of Sitara for proudly defending her faith and culture while surrounded by some of the most powerful men on the planet. Keep in mind she didn’t know Toregene was going to come vouch for her, so she was willing to lay down her life to defend what she believes in, just like her mother.
She refused to compromise on her faith and values and I respect her so much for that. She’s quickly becoming one of my fave MCs and Fatima would be so proud of her.
“I’m certain you could never understand, highness” I can’t put into words how proud I am of Sitara for proudly defending her faith and culture while surrounded by some of the most powerful men on the planet. Keep in mind she didn’t know Toregene was going to come vouch for her, so she was willing to lay down her life to defend what she believes in, just like her mother.
She refused to compromise on her faith and values and I respect her so much for that. She’s quickly becoming one of my fave MCs and Fatima would be so proud of her.
Some thoughts on Baek Saheon, focusing on how he feels about Kim Soleum.
Includes :
BSH in part 1 & 2
BSH in part 3
What BSH wants
Spoilers up to 394.
----
BSH in part 1 & 2
1.
During part 1, BSH is constantly intimidated and terrorized by KSE. At the same time, KSE saves his life multiple times.
BSH himself wonders about this. But he concludes that the psychopath is simply deriving some sort of enjoyment out of keeping him alive.
[ep 53]
But…
“......”
Was Kim Soleum really a lunatic?
To be more precise, why did he… save his life?
In truth, he knew. In the gallery, Kim Soleum could have killed or sacrificed him multiple times, but did not do so.
He did mess with him a few times, but at the end of the day…
‘No!’
It must have been for enjoyment. Because it’s more fun to keep him alive, to keep more variability in the situation!
Baek Saheon quickly made his conclusion. He’d never met such a crazy person like this before in his life…
2.
During part 2, BSH constantly is helpful to the Jisan Agent. This is because he helped him once and experienced the feeling of fulfillment that comes from successfully helping out someone.
I wrote about it here : On BSH and the agent from Jisan.
This is usually something you learn as, like, a pre-schooler. Either BSH didn’t have the experience of realizing that it makes you feel happy to (for example) make breakfast for your family or something, or all his experience of feeling good about helping someone was suppressed by his later experiences of prioritizing himself and himself only for the sake of survival. (More might be revealed if we learn more about his relationship with his sister). I think the latter makes sense since to current BSH’s mind everything other than ‘survival’ is just background noise. Jisan Agent case only affected him this much bc it did involve the matter of his own survival.
In any case, BSH learns (or re-learns) it as an adult.
As a result, he keeps being helpful to the Jisan agent, the one who taught him that it can feel nice to save someone.
During hospital arc, KSE tries to extend this to helping others as well. He tries to generalize his lesson of “survival isn’t always a zero-sum game, you can help others without necessarily risking your own survival” to not just helping him but helping others as well. As a result BSH gets thanked by the guy who they helped, and he does experience a “strange feeling”. So there is a potential of BSH becoming more altruistic (as long as it doesn’t risk himself) in general and not just towards the Jisan Agent.
However, as far as we know, this hasn’t happened since the hospital arc, so at the moment this only exists as a potential. (Maybe he helped some other people during the 3 years but so far we don’t know.)
So far, all we know is that BSH’s list of who should survive went from ‘Me’ to ‘Me and Jisan Agent’.
3.
At the end of part 2, we find out that BSH had been suspecting Jisan Agent to be the same person as KSE for quite some time. (At least since before hospital arc)
Explanation on BSH's suspicion
However, he wasn’t ready to accept it.
[Ep 369]
“Are you… actually…”
The agent who becomes unreachable when a certain person goes missing.
The agent who seems to know him strangely well.
Did that…
……
……
“Well, never mind.”
Baek Saheon took his hand off the tank.
He couldn’t get an answer right now anyway.
No, perhaps he himself wasn't ready yet…
BSH in part 3
1.
In part 3, it seems that during the 3 years, BSH has come to accept that KSE is the Jisan Agent. It probably helped that both these personas went missing for 3 years.
In addition, he seemingly has deduced that KSE’s actual personality must be closer to the Jisan Agent - an altruistic, kind person.
[Ep 392]
“......Hah.”
Baek Saheon pressed his hands on his eyelids.
“I knew it, that you're this kind of person…”
After all, even Roe Deer had kept saving his life. So it all makes sense that way.
2.
BSH also seemingly thought about ‘Then why did he keep up a psychopathic front in front of me?’. He seemingly came to a (pretty accurate) conclusion about it.
[Ep 394]
“And you don't need to be so worried about getting caught. If she was the type of person to not be able to control herself and get caught, no matter how we're cooperating with each other, I wouldn't have been honest towards her.”
“......Ah.”
Baek Saheon’s one eye stares alternately at me and Assistant Manager Jin Nasol.
“Because that's what it was like with a guy like me, huh?”
To me, the above bit read as BSH having his suspicions be confirmed, rather than realzing it for the first time. Because it’s not like KSE was talking directly about BSH, when BSH suddenly brings up the subject of himself. I think he already concluded that that’s why KSE kept up that front towards him, but having it be indirectly confirmed by KSE made him get emotional.
It makes sense that BSH would come to this conclusion. BSH himself knows that he’s a selfish, greedy person.
[ep41]
Baek Sa-heon knew that he was a selfish person, obsessed with practical gains.
In 393, he also seemingly feels a ‘twisted amusement’ when talking about how the guys who beat up KSE ends up calling him a lunatic. Presumably because he now knows that that’s KSE doing his thing.
But also, this must have been another confirmation - on against which type of people KSE pretends to be a lunatic.
3.
To summarize.
For a long time, BSH believed that ‘KSE may act like a kind and caring person in front of others, but he shows his true face to me. He’s a psychopath!’.
[ep49]
Go Yeongeun looked at me with a look of pity on her eyes.
“Hm. Since in corporate life, people look down on you for even being too nice, maybe you might like to consider not speaking too highly of others?”
Huh?
No matter how I look at it, it seems like you’re seeing me in an overly good light because of how I saved your life… but thinking of my silver heart, I just bowed my head.
Let’s be nice!
“……Thank you for the advice.”
Baek Saheon looked back and forth between Go Yeongeun and me with a look of disbelief, but then shut his mouth.
Then he stood up from his seat and left without saying goodbye.
But slowly he realizes the truth :
In fact, KSE’s true personality is closer to the kind, caring persona he shows toward others. It was only towards BSH that KSE was putting up a psychopath front.
In addition, even when having a long-term cooperative relationship with BSH as Jisan Agent, KSE never revealed himself to him. He only added it to the list of roles he played. He was never honest towards him.
Why?
Because BSH was an untrustworthy bastard, that’s why.
He was so untrustworthy to KSE that even after they built up a genuinely cooperative relationship, he never let BSH see his true face.
Everyone else knew that KSE is Jisan Agent but BSH. As a result, everyone else knew that the liquified being at the end of part 2 was KSE but BSH.
That’s how little KSE thought of BSH.
Again - BSH himself knows that he’s a selfish and greedy guy.
But still. To realize that this one person in your life who taught you about altruism, who saved your life multiple times (and not bc he was a psychopath like he originally thought lol), who is the one person in your life that you want to keep helping & saving & caring for, thinks of you that way…
Isn’t it only natural that it hurts your feelings?
BSH probably had some time to deal with this realization, but still, when KSE indirectly confirms it in 394, I think it’s understandable that he lashes out.
What BSH wants
Currently, from the text, BSH seemingly has two conflicting wants when it comes to KSE.
1st, He wants to lord it over KSE (the former Roe Deer) a little that he’s now the higher up and KSE is a lowly worker.
This fails at every turn he tries it bc KSE simply does not care. He just will not be intimidated by their difference in position.
And BSH seemingly doesn’t want to actually enforce anything. Like, in 394 when KSE greets him by saying ‘section chief-nim’ BSH is immediately like ‘speak casually’ while using honorifics himself. BSH doesn’t actually want KSE to be sincerely intimidated by his position.
But still he wants to lord it over him a little, you know? So he’ll say things like (ep 393) “If you're in your right mind, shouldn't you be saying '(in honorifics) Do this please, I beg of you' first?” Only for KSE to take the fun out of it by easily complying without any emotion.
2nd, He wants to help KSE (the former Jisan Agent) who is for some reason stuck in a hellhole receiving terrible treatment.
As KSE himself points out, Section Chief BSH keeps going out of his way to help him when KSE himself only asked for one thing. Canceling his bills, saying he’ll smuggle KSE out of there… This is arguably even going beyond the things he did for the Jisan Agent.
Of course, this is all only possible bc BSH now has the power to do it. He says so himself - when KSE is like, don’t overdo it, BSH is like, it’s not like I’m still a supervisor.
BSH now also has the advantage of actually knowing KSE’s situation fully (...well at least more comprehensibly than he did) so he can actually anticipate KSE’s needs and help him without KSE asking for it.
Based on these two things. I’m going further and saying:
3rd, BSH wants KSE to think of him as trustworthy and dependable.
He himself thinks of KSE as special - the only person whose survival he prioritizes besides himself. But KSE obviously did not think much of him despite all their connections. To KSE, BSH was less trustworthy than a bunch of his other colleagues.
But now, BSH knows about all of KSE’s lies. (well not all of them but yk) Moreover, now BSH is in a position where he can actually make a meaningful difference in KSE’s life.
(When KSE gets worried about him getting noticed, BSH is like, I’m a section chief, okay?! There’s no need to worry about me getting noticed! (Also, you’re worrying about me now?))
So, now, BSH wants to say - trust me, depend on me, ask for my help, you can trust me now, I can do much more for you now…
The thing is, BSH is going about all this in not a very sophisticated way.
For one thing, the fact that he has those two conflicting wants which he keeps showing at the same time is pretty funny. Like, stick to one thing and you might get it.
Also, one way for BSH to gain more of KSE’s trust would have been to show altruism to people beyond KSE. Like at least make a try. But when BSH realizes KSE told JNS about the pills, he gets immediately pissed bc it’s unnecessary risk. (Him helping KSE was necessary risk of course) And the way he expresses that feeling - he’s like. I only shared this (potentially lifesaving) info to help YOU, not anyone else! You should have asked for my permission! <- incredibly immature way to express his displeasure
BSH def knows that KSE would like for him to be more altruistic. too. (again, the hospital arc.) He gets incredibly defensive and ‘even a bit desperate’ in 392 when he talks about how KSE looks disappointed in him about not having helped others. (I can’t even tell if KSE actually looked disappointed or BSH was just reading into his expression of concern for the other guys.)
In short, despite how much BSH has changed, in many ways, he hasn’t changed much at all. He’s still the same BSH who was selfish, temperamental and always on the defensive.
It’s just that he now really really cares for KSE and wants KSE to trust and depend on him.
—--
Anyway, that's my thoughts on BSH.
In conclusion, KSE should maybe consider voicing out loud some of his inner narration about how impressed he is by Section Chief BSH! Wouldn't that make BSH happy!
And also he should give him headpats and chin scritches and maybe hold his hand and have sleepovers and tell him that they can be best of best friends from now on - (gets incinerated by Braun)
Been reading “debt” by the late anthropologist david graeber and there’s some discussion about slavery as an institution and concept, how slavery = social death. Ripping someone away from the social context that makes them who they are: family, friends, community, place. Often the underlying logic was that slaves “owed” a debt to their conquerors for “sparing” their lives, a debt that could only be “repaid” through a lifetime of service.
I appreciate Jaadugar for not sugarcoating how utterly evil and dehumanizing slavery is. Within two episodes we see Sitara experiencing social death twice: losing her mother and original home, then losing the family that owned her and might have someday emancipated/adopted her.
Ontologically Rayliegh and Shakky's entire thing is fucking buckwild. He's Dark King Rayleigh, formerly the Pirate King Gol D. Roger's main squeeze, he can go to toe with admirals, has conquerors' haki, is feared worldwide, yada yada we all know his skillset and he's just. just slumming it up in the marines' backyard with his hot ass wife who if you put them side-by-side makes him look like just some guy.
And SHAKKY. Solid 10,000/10. Former empress of Amazon fucking Lily, objectively one of the hottest women ever, probably on a comparable level with a warlord, and and she's just...running a bar and beating people up in the tourist trap/military outpost/bus station and absolutely not giving a fuck about her bumfuck husband.
LIKE. Rayleigh fucks off and hoes drinks and gambles the fuck up and around for months at a time and then comes back to get drunk on her countertops and cry about Roger. And Shakky dgaf. Encourages it even. Like. HELLO? What's wrong with them? Their dynamic is a thing of envy god everyone should want what they have.
They're doing it freak nasty with each other at any point of time that's not plot relevant and not just with each other they're swingers you know it I know it. The only couple in the world that's managed to successfully make the open relationship thing work. Every once in a while they get together and go out for a night in the town and bag whatever-up-and-coming flavor of the day is passing by and you know the entire island hears it and feels it. It gets to the point that whenever they are spotted in the general vicinity of a public place of entertainment Marineford goes on red alert for forty-eight hours.
Did did I mention they're in the marines' backyard doing all this? Rayleigh is literally within walking distance of some of the most notorious anti-pirate bitches in the world and do they do a single thing about it? NOO. Because they know better than to mess with whatever jimmy buffet casa de mojo jojo shit Rayleigh and Shakky are doing over there in the parking lot. If it's not broke don't fix it and it's fucking annoying as hell to have to put up with the onlyfans cougar live of it all but again no one wants to touch that with a ten-foot-pole.
They'd ask Garp to deal with it but Garp can't legally be allowed within a hundred and twenty meters of Rayleigh except for the times when Shakky phones him up and has him go drag Rayleigh's hungover ass back home because she needs her floors cleaned. You know she's always sending Rayleigh nudes that get intercepted by the marines all the time. They've done Kizaru at least twice I'm sure. Gloriosa is no longer on speaking terms with Shakky due several...incidents. The whole thing is. It's wild. It's horrific for anyone with a sense of decency and monogamy and Rayleigh and Shakky are very literally living their best lives give or take some suicidal ideation.
Kim Soleum is everyone makdae and baby! He is scared cat with poker face and so competent but always out push himself too hard. He is team D's baby Roe deer! Team Black Turtle 1's Grape junior! Blue Dragon's Good kid! Alien hivemind always ready to help him! Cool heartless strong big sis also soft on him! Strong rightous heart Mommy adore him! Big bad lazy Wolf protective on him! He canon once become kid! Kitty! Highschooler! Marcot! Everyone want to adopted him or make him join them!
Please give me strenght on my faith in humanity @ararine - Tumblr Blog | Tumgag
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