i’m seeing a lot of “suho haunts the narrative” talk from the whc enjoyers, but i think beomseok haunts the narrative more than suho. “haunting the narrative” is specifically about the resounding effects of a character’s action without their presence in the narrative.
although suho’s relationship and care for sieun in more profound than beomseok’s relationship to sieun (because it’s sieun’s first true friendship), the way beomseok’s inferiority complex manifested in the breakdown of their friendship poisoned the way sieun views friendship and himself permanently.
even though beomseok’s arc ends in season 1, sieun seeing beomseok’s actions and insecurities in everything he interacts with at eunjang. suho’s coma is the most potent and physical reminder of the fallout of the trio’s friendship; specifically how both beomseok’s insecurity complex and sieun’s inability to act mix to form sieun’s eventual fighting philosophy.
at eunjang, sieun sees the trio and beomseok in everything, including the new group of friends he meets, more specifically in juntae. juntae is beomseok’s narrative foil, who presents himself shy, weak, and often cowardly, but doesn’t have an inferiority complex. sieun’s reluctance to engage with the new group springs directly from beomseok’s actions, and the thought that every group will end the same as the trio did. sieun’s involvement and subsequent aggressive fighting style in season two is because of the mental cage beomseok’s actions formed in him.
i’ve seen many people mention that they should have shown suho’s body laying in the ring during the “flashback” / dream sequence. however, i think his absence makes the scene more potent and cuts down to the idea that beomseok’s actions are permanently weighing on sieun’s mind, at every turn. sieun is trapped in the ring, frozen and looking towards where suho’s body was, with beomseok representing what keeps seiun trapped and reliving in that moment. beomseok’s actions physically impacted suho in the form of a coma, forever frozen in that moment. but for sieun, beomseok emotionally stunted him. the ring acts as a mental cage for sieun, keeping him from creating emotional ties with the people around him.
ultimately, for sieun to break free, he has to leave that ring, and beomseok in the past.
