Sumin and Seju are masterfully written characters
I can’t stress enough how complex and dimensional the characters are in WDTFS, most especially Sumin and Seju (I’m pretty sure Sungji is on her way as well, given the reveal of her being less clueless as we’d believed her to be regarding Sumin)
Sumin and Seju start off in a dynamic where one believes they have the better end of the bargain regarding being with the other person.
Seju is an outsider within her own home, which her older siblings make no secret of, for one she’s the only daughter in a house full of men (which makes her entrance more intrusive in a visible way) she’s younger than the rest of them so there is also distance created by time, her existence is unprecedented, it’s severed by years and by the lack of expectance, and the glaringly obvious issue of her being illegitimate. She’s the physical manifestation of (her father’s although I am led to believe it is her ‘brother’s’ affair) so her beginnings are shadowed by her alien-ness, her unexpectedness, and her illicit conception.
Enter Sumin, Sumin as far as we know is from a very ordinary family, she’s smart but not effortlessly so, she’s attractive and according to Seju, she’s someone the whole world (everyone) seemed to like, an incredibly loved person, what’s more she’s a woman and she’s the same age as Seju, she’s what Seju wants for herself but is not by virtue of her background. So to be liked by someone loved by everyone was validation. It validated to her how she who seemed like everyone despised could possibly receive love from someone who could do no wrong, thereby assuring her that her existence must be right.
Sumin on the other hand, understands Seju’s position within the home but views her as a person separate from it. to Sumin, Seju is beautiful, intelligent, and has a clear path ahead of her. Making her want to be on par through her own efforts.
They were mutual in their admiration and they were a balanced relationship built on reassurance and self improvement.
And then things go south,
Sumin’s parents pass in a tragic accident and Seju unable to personally understand her grief, tries to console her in a damaging way. She kindly but impatiently tells her a month was enough to feel upset over it (in the face of a family built on years of love) and that it was time to move forward with their lives and start anew (this seeming like the rational answer to the problem), only understanding on a surface level how Sumin’s world had newly collapsed and she needed time to repair herself. Because to Seju’s there was only Sumin, and Sumin now makes a ripple in their consistency. Sumin still consumed by her tragedy is annoyed by what seemed like Seju’s lack of consideration towards what had happened and tells her to go ahead with their plans without her.
Creating a new found fear in Seju, Sumin, it appears to her now, could actually walk away.
Fearful, distraught and angry, intoxication gets the best of Seju and she commits the mistake that spirals the story forward.
Sumin leaves her and moves on (although broken, not completely), throws out everything that reminded her of Seju and starts over while Seju is rendered unable to function, confined in her own place knowing it was she herself who had led to their end and she was once again back to being alone, but worse off as she is now hated by the only person who’s love she truly cared for.
Seeing this her ‘brother’ (who as far as we know, doesn’t have the clearest picture of what they were) personally sees to it that Sumin (who was the only person to ever affect Seju in any way, and could therefor be the only possible reason) was in the same position.
Sumin who after being orphaned was quickly betrayed by her first love (right after realizing Seju was the only person she had left) and then physically attacked for it (as if she had been the one at fault) and badly scarred as a reminder, now was broken beyond repair.
Love inverted into hate, she wanted to scar seju just as bad as she did her, now cynical about the sentimental aspects of love she instead, bypasses it straight to it’s more hedonistic climax of senseless sex. Flaunting it at Seju, stomping the meaningfulness of it from when they were in love.
But at times, Sumin remembers being in love, Sumin remembers Seju for what she was and what they were and when her mind is stripped of everything but feeling, she comes back (maybe because some part of her hasn’t completely cut Seju out, or maybe it’s calculated to keep Seju from drifting too far).
But Seju realizes this and uses it to her advantage, She lurks in every new attempt at love Sumin finds and she looks for loose threads to pull. and every time it unravels Sumin has no place else to go but back to her. And Seju believes that part of why it works is because Sumin hated her, Sumin wanted to hurt her when she herself was hurt, because she blamed Seju for her misfortunes following their fall. And she was fine with it, because if it was all she could have from her now then so be it. But she maintains that she would one-sidedly love Sumin in this new relationship.
And this is also why Sumin telling her she loved her was terrifying. Because love wasn’t a reason Sumin would be willing to come back for. Because Sumin had left knowing love shouldn’t hurt them both the way it did. And love meant she had to stop what she was doing to Seju.
It’s not straightforward as to having one person being at fault and the other being the unfortunate victim, it’s a story built on mistakes pilling up, it’s genuine love that transforms into something not so clear and kind, because the people involved reacted the way they did because of who they were, shaped by background and circumstance.
