i never really got it when people made posts about light pollution and seeing all the stars for the first time and crying. i always assumed that everyone has gone on a road trip to a bortle 1.0 place and seen stars like that, and it's fantastic, but not like life changing. and then i went to europe last month and was in a mountaintop village of like 300 people and could see about 5 stars in the sky. like fewer than i can see from my home in a big metropolitan city.
my apologies to the non-africans, i did not realise how fucked your sky is
the thing that makes me mad about light pollution is that so much of it could be fixed by downward-facing light fixtures and doing that would also massively reduce energy usage bc all that light cast upward is wasted energy
is john there are they following papa who knows. i know that sam and dean dress like twins because sam wears dean's hand-me-downs + it's easier for john to find his sons should one of them get lost or abducted, he can point at dean and go have you seen a little boy dressed exactly like this boy. or when the yellow-eyed demon finally finds them and tells his goons to grab the kid in the green flannel well they're both wearing green flanell so what now. the flannel and carharrt have a job in this family too.
They're a comedy duo. They're a tsundere with a crush and dense as brick MC. Both their EQ drops when they're dealing with each other. He pavlovian fear trained him then saved his life.
He taught him it's okay to save people. He's teaching him it's fine to be selfish.
odysseus absolutely does present a threat to penelope if he perceives her as at all unfaithful, and i feel the unfairness of this, and i think people tend to undersell how much tension at least potentially exists between odysseus and penelope. but i'm also like. his reaction, all speculation aside, his actual reaction in the odyssey to her flirting with the suitors is delight, because he immediately ascertains that she is running a con. sorry that they're so in-sync in spite of the forces that try to drive a wedge between them, including their own misgiving hearts. sorry that they invented homophrosyne ĀÆ\_(ć)_/ĀÆ
Analysis/thoughts on why Soleum doesnāt respond to Choi
Iāve made multiple posts about it (Choi trying and failing to get Soleum to open up + evidence of Soleumās silence) and seen various (good) viewpoints on possible reasons why, so I thought Iād address the potential reasons all in one go + organize my own thoughts on it,,, since I didnāt think about it much until I saw the various viewpoints.
spoilers for part 2. Warning that this is a very long post.
One of the points brought up by @maganbee and @clockworkspider (sorry if I jumpscared anyone with a tag) is that Soleum knows Choi is super smart; Soleum has too many secrets and Choi is smart and so to avoid spilling anything, Soleum chooses to not deal with him too much. I do think this is an aspect, and could lead to Soleum finding interactions with Choi exhausting (who knows if he actually thinks that way though). However, something feels off about even though it makes sense, and I finally realized why.
hereās a little table of contents to summarize what feels off, and Iāll explain the points in more depth
His constant silence makes his talking a tell, which doesnāt help at all if heās trying to prevent Choi from knowing things.
In dangerous situations, Soleum tends to go for an active approach instead of a passive one. Silence generally is a passive approach. Additionally, actively talking can potentially let Soleum get the upper handā and he usually is able to change the situation via talkingāwhereas silence often doesnāt even have that potential.
His interaction with Team B Leader, who is canonically basically a walking lie detector.
Point 1.
Choi aside, I think Soleum almost always talks more when heās trying to hide something (and when he explains something but that might be a personality thing haha~). This can be counterintuitive bc its easily suspiciousā over explaining, I meanā but he is creative and smart enough that the explanations he gives on the fly are believable, especially if you donāt know Soleum. Choi is at the disadvantage here because he hasnāt known Soleum for long + Soleum actively tries to hide himself, whereas Soleum has known and presumably analyzed DER Choi for years. But Choi does know that Soleum is typically very very quiet with him, so itād obviously be suspicious every time Soleum starts talking a lot. Compared to other characters, Soleum talking to Choi has way too much of a contrast. And Choi sees Soleum talking to others (most obviously Jaekwan), so itās also suspicious in and of itself that Soleum is only unresponsive to Choi. In my personal opinion, the suspiciousness as a result of silence is far more of a con than giving responses as normal, even at the risk of giving too much info.
Everytime Soleum says more than 3 lines thereās a 50% chance of him lying/having a hidden agenda, and Choi is probably aware of that. The reason Choi doesnāt act on this is. Well. Itās Choi, who doesnāt discount any possibility until heās considered it carefully, and who prefers wait-and-see approaches when it comes to non-urgent situations. Also, Soleum lying while talking does still have more to go off of than Soleum saying nothing, which is probably what would happen if heās called out for lying (and, like, what most people would do when theyāre called out for lying. In my opinion, aside from specific situations or close relationships, calling someone out for lying is more likely to make them defensive than more likely to make them tell the truth).
additionally, Soleum seems to be quiet around Choi even the conversation isnāt dangerous at all. In these situations, it would benefit him to respond moreā¦? I can see his constant silence being beneficial in a āheās silent no matter the topic so itās never unusualā but I genuinely canāt tell how well Choi can read Soleumās reactions. If he can read them well, then the silence doesnāt change anything.
Point 2,
Soleum uses talking as a weapon quite often and he generally prefers a more active approach; if anything, he talks quite normally when it comes to a lot of people he should be nervous about talking to. Ho Yuwon is a very good example, since heās a superior with a lot of power, but Soleum talks to him quite normally.
Soleum using words to get out of a situation is quite common so Iāll list out examples from the top of my head (may be misremembering some. For that same reason these are not in order.). Him getting break time in the quiz show; creating a cult part 1; convincing Nasol to not kill/sacrifice Heeoun (?); convincing Ho Yuwon to not kill him + Choi in the taxi; home shopping channel arc; cult part 2; mansion of the blind convincing his team to let him try and save others; heās always making people work together, for ex Braun and Jaheon;
thereās definitely more but Iām blanking and I think these prove my point enough ć ć Talking is definitely a weapon that Soleum is very skilled at using, and heās experienced at it enough that he should be able to navigate conversations with Choi, especially when it comes to casual conversations. Again, Soleum being so quiet is inherently suspicious/notable because his silence is extremely obvious when compared to how he talks to Jaekwan and other Bureau agents.
Point 3
B leader and Choi have a lot in common. Shrewd, observant, seemingly approachable, thinks quickly, leaves possible avenues open as much as possible, they hide their own thoughts / suspicions, etc etc etc. additionally, B leader is canonically basically a lie detector
now, Soleum isnāt that talkative, but he is more talkative to B leader than he is to Choi. Would like to note that at least part of this may be because Soleumās curious about a bunch of things from the early days. (Screenshots also include another example of Soleum talking more when heās trying to explain/lie/do something)
Of course, B leader is also more intimidating than Choi. He presses silences instead of filling them, as well. Even then, I think Soleum is more willing to give responses (to show heās listening) and more willing to ask questions (again may be due to curiosity as a DER fan).
minor tangent but Soleum does listen well in serious conversations and when heās being given advice. Heās a āgood childā for a reason, after all. Hmmm because of this itās hard to tell if sometimes his silence is due to respectfulness or other reasons (like, not wanting to give more info than necessary).
additional points
@maganbee also points out that Soleum doesnāt like lying to āgood peopleā, which is true. Itās a very good point, and is probably an additional aspect; after all if he talks to Choi more, heād have to lie to him more. But Soleum also doesnāt lie that much to the main cast generally (Saheon being the exception), so Iām not sure if it means anything~. Also, I think heās lied to Jaekwan a fair amount, who would definitely fall under āgood personā. Youngeun, Iām less sure of how much heās lied to herā¦ in fact he ends up not lying to most of the Daydream agents very often, primarily because the agents donāt really pry into each othersā lives.
I was trying to think of other characters who Soleum may be this silent toward, other than Choi. The potential other person I think he might not respond to as much is Seonghae but heās contaminated in most of their interactions ć ć I distinctly remember a conversation where Seonghae was adamantly saying Soleum was āgoodā and Soleum was fairly quiet in itā¦ likely due to not agreeing or because heās awkward about complimented. Anyway, Seonghae and Choi are similar with portrayed upbeat energy so I considered if maybe Soleum is bad with those types; I went back to check. This is how he talks to Seonghae (and Leopard, both energetic people) in chapter 68 and 70
Vs Choi in 143 (paraphrased convo but accurate silences),,, couldāve been a Grapes persona thing but it shouldnāt be.
3. Just to address it, id like to mention that Soleum does weaponize his silence against Choi in 193. Itās pretty funny tbh because the way he āstalls for timeā is legit just. Saying nothing. So yes, Soleumās silence has been to his advantage. But I think this is him using whatās available instead of him, like, being silent this whole time just for the sake of this one time. I do believe that his constant silence with Choi has more negatives than benefits, objectively speaking. The silence is only suspicious after all, and as a spy he should be trying to blend in. And if he talked to Choi more, then it wouldāve been prime opportunity to āask for little favorsā or get more information and things like that. Slightly risky, but not as much as silence, and any exchange comes with risks.
all Iāve done this far is disprove potential reasons, so what are actual reasons for Soleumās silence
Well. Who knows. For being the narrator, Kim Soleum sure is hard to understand. I think silence is due to a multitude of reasons, including Soleum potentially finding it tiring to talk to Choi, and Soleum not wanting to lie. <- update as of,,, 6 hours later? : Iāve actually come to a conclusion on this that Iāll make a separate post on later, and Iāll link it when itās done
I think one of the definitive reasons is because Soleum thinks he can get away with being silent to Choi. An accurate belief, evidentially. The thing with silence is that itās often risky because it can be escalating or de-escalating, and is so vague that it can be read in any matter of ways including the worst possible way. For example with B leader, itās possible that Soleum being too silent could make B leader think Soleum is being un-cooperativeā then causing B leader to turn hostile or consider Soleum as an enemy.
Not a good outcome, right? To be perfectly honest, this also shouldāve been a consideration for Choi, especially since we know heās been aware of Soleumās daydream identity from the very beginning. If Soleum was a spy with no knowledge of Choi, heād honestly be stupid for being as silent as he is, both because of how suspicious it is and because of how easily itās seen as a lack of cooperation. Choi could have killed Soleum or outed Soleum or imprisoned Soleum at any moment and for good reason, because Soleum is a spy.
With these considerations, why is Soleum being so silent even though itās obviously pretty risky? I think itās because he knows he can get away with it, because he has a decent idea of Choiās personality from the wiki. At the very least, he knows that Choi does more of a wait-and-see, and doesnāt usually take drastic action. With other people, Soleumās silence can get him killed. With Choi that isnāt the case, and Soleum knows that.
Iāll throw out some other possible reasons as well, without necessarily strongly believing in all of them. After all, Soleum knowing he can get away with silence doesnāt explain why he does it. Keep in mind that his silence is very likely due to a multitude of factors.
Soleum is naturally pretty quiet, I.e. his very short responses in his texts to his friends in ch 1. If heās ānaturallyā quiet then why isnāt he silent to everyone? Well, the situation, and you need to conversational to get by in society, and also itās only polite to talk to people. By default this would imply that Soleum is most quiet with Choi because heās most comfortable with Choi which is. A questionable assumption, and would be related to the fanboy Soleum idea. Or it means heās too tired but he has the energy to talk to other characters, so.
Soleum is trying very hard to not form attachments to everyone. This is canon. The reason itās a āpossibleā reason is because heās still talking to everyone except Choi
(fanboy Soleum theory) @somber-cryptid and @ghoststorygottatheorydump and @everyonesfavoritebastard have brought up that maybe Soleum is starstruck because heās a major Choi fan. So heās too nervous to talk to Choi. To my knowledge thereās nothing to disprove this. Plus, Soleum talks a bit more to Choi in part 2, which could be a result of enough time passing for him to be less starstruck; itās hard to tell due to all the contamination and Iā¦still havenāt done a part 2 full reread, so I could be wrong.
@ghoststorygottatheorydump also says that maybe Soleum feels awkward because he wrote something in relation to Choi (donāt think he wrote Choi because he seems more of a lurker and wouldnāt have written anything that early, and I donāt think he wrote the Looky Mart entry because heā¦seemed pretty unhappy with it). Aka, heās silent because of awkwardness and maybe guilt. Thereās nothing to disprove this. As for why he felt guilty, itās possible he wrote the disaster that gave Choi his neck scar (possible as in it hasnāt been disproven LOL)
(fanboy theory) I have a minor theory/headcanon that Soleum looked up to DER Choi and admires him. If so, itās possible that Soleum is silent because he cares too much about Choiās opinion. When you admire someone a lot, you donāt want to say the wrong thing because you put a lot on emphasis on their opinion, right? Itās a bit different from being starstruck. As a side note, i do wonder if this (and being starstruck) could tie into his interactions with B leader, since B leader is from the early DER days
Contamination. Just because itās alwaysss a possibility (esp with the story usurper page). not sure how itād relate to Soleumās interactions with Choi specifically tho.
Update: @mr-crescent brought up intimidation and I donāt think Soleum would be intimidated in a traditional sense, but if heās built up an image of DER Choi in his mind, then a certain type of intimidation makes sense, esp if he has this passive belief (from reading DER and maybe being a fanboy) that Choi always figures out the truth or something like that. Even if he logically knows thatās not the case, the brain isnāt such an easy thing~
Hahhh I wish I had more possible reasons that arenāt related to the fanboy theory but Iām blanking a lot. If Soleum hates Choi or was scared of him, heād still be able to talk to him, so itās not those. Thereās no other reason for him to feel awkward or uncomfortable or anxious around Choi, at least not moreso than other charactersā¦
Haha is this what Choi feels like? Soleum is so hard to understand, props to bds-nim for creating such a mysterious narrator/protagonist
If anyone has any other ideas feel free to let me know~ also apologies if youāve made a comment or reblog about this other and I didnāt respond or address it here,, I did try clicking through all my posts I thought would be most likely to have interaction abt it
Thinking about how koreans normally refer to their family with "ģ°ė¦¬(/ģ ķ¬)"(our) instead of "my"(ė“/ģ ), like "ģ°ė¦¬ ź°ģ”±(our family) "ģ°ė¦¬ ģė§(our mother)" "ģ°ė¦¬ ģøė(our big sister)", etc... (sidenote: ģ°ė¦¬/ė“ = informal, ģ ķ¬/ģ = formal equivalent)
but yoohyun calls yoojin "ė“ ķā = *My* big brother......š„¹š
Apparently in the entire novel, he never once refers to yoojin as āģ°ė¦¬ ķā(our hyung)... It's always "ė“ ķā(my hyung)...
Not only did he try to kill that one s-ranker just for patting his head & telling him to call him "hyung"(won't accept "hyungs" other than yoojin) but he even goes against cultural norms to call yoojin *HIS* hyung and not share him with anyone else... šššš
"You petted my head and told me to call you 'hyung'. That alone is reason enough to kill you."
yoojin really is yoohyun's "one and only"ķėėæģø hyung.....š
sidenote: apparently the one exception to the "ģ°ė¦¬ā(our) convention when it comes to family is with younger siblings (āė“ ėģā)... for some reason, you always say "my younger sibling" and not "our"... Even for one's own children, "ģ°ė¦¬"(our) is used...(ģ°ė¦¬ ģė¤ our son, ģ°ė¦¬ ėø our daughter)
so basically both Yoojin & Yoohyun call each other with "my"(ė“ ėģ, ė“ ķ)... (not unusual for yoojin, but unusual for yoohyun)
Just like how they're each other's only family, and most precious person in the whole world... o(-<
(sidenote2: as for why Koreans say "our (family)" instead of "my", it's an established cultural convention, but I heard it's originally to create a sense of shared familiarity/bond with the listener, as Korea is a collectivist society/culture...)
one time I went over to a friend's house and their housemate was making paper in the living room, and we saw this big tub full of water they were using to dissolve old scrap paper into a slurry, and everyone was immediately like "oh, you need scrap paper?" and started turning out their jacket pockets and producing expired coupons and bus tickets and crumpled receipts and old shopping lists and whatever else they'd been carrying round with them for no good reason, and passing it all to the paper-making housemate to make sure it was suitable before it got torn up and dropped into the tub, while people took turns stirring the slurry with a big wooden stick. it was strangely ritualistic, like presenting an offering to some kind of temple elder for inspection before placing it in a watery shrine to be devoured and reformed. pulp for the pulp god.
Convenient marker to Sumi @consumingdreamss - Tumblr Blog | Tumgag
theartofmadeline
origamiaround
dailybridgerton
izzy806
germansingergirl
stormborns
turnnoffyourmind
