and here's the piece i made for @neondownpourzine !!
This was such a fun opportunity and im so so glad to have been able to work with so many other talented artists!! Please do check it out if you have the chance!!!
Iām going to start of with the most obvious and thatās how Hyun wooās death impacted hyuna and how twixxelās death directly mirrors this
in episode three it is implied that Verity killed Twixxel mostly out of impulse and genuinely cannot understand why Mobās still upset after it days later. This is largely due to Verityās lack of understanding of human emotions due to the environment heās lived all this life in, and the constant death heās witnessed/caused. And his since obsession with Mob is so strong, heās okay as long as Mob is there, he doesnāt understand why Mob canāt feel the same. (Not understanding how relationships can be different between people, and how you can be emotionally attached to multiple people at once)
this plus the scene where Verity tried to imitate Twixxelās voice to comfort Mob reminds of this scene.
Luka canāt understand the gravity of why Hyuna is so upset about losing Hyun Woo, and even still is trying to comfort her despite him being the reason sheās even grieving in the first place, making everything worse. Yet all Luka knows is that he loves her and sheās hurt so heās trying his best to help in anyway he knows how.
Verity doesnāt understand why the loss of Twixxel is so important, and only defaults to superficial reasons to why Mob would be upset, confusing that he must miss talking to him, which is something Verity can imitate, rather that the relationship itself and the WHOLE of the person Twixxel is. (You can read this to be malicious and calculated but Verity genuinely seemed confused at Mobās reaction)
next itās how Luka in specific was raised and how that impacts his view on the world
Both Luka and Verity were created artificially, leaving them with no family or any sort of healthy relationships to build their knowledge of relationships off of.
they were both created to be and treated as a product, this is greatly dehumanizing and creates a barrier between how people would typically view human lives, because they both arenāt seen as something alive with a individual soul thatās precious, but as a commodity. This impacts how they view others lives as well.
both Luka and Verity also spent most of their lives being experimented on, constantly chasing this ideal of perfection. Verity explicitly mentions having things taken out of him repeatedly and put back in, and it can be assumed that this process was painful. Like Hyuna says, āsomeone who only knows suffering can only inflict the sameā
the way Verity lashes out is seemingly something mostly reactionary as a result of the years of pain that is his whole lonely existence. With his limited understanding of human emotions, and the years of killing his victims, Verity is desensitized to death and sees it as a just response to the betrayal of people leaving him. Especially since he was MADE to entertain people and to service people, if they leave everything about him is wrong.
Verity and Lukaās upbringings, their intense loneliness, and the lack of respect/care they receive as an individual is why they develop such a strong obsession with Mob and Hyuna respectively.
Verity says Mob was the first to actually treat him like a REAL person, and the only one who ever came back. And the only one who made real efforts to understand him. This instantly formed a connection in Verityās mind where he almost idolizes Mob for his āinherent goodnessā. When you spend all your life believing you are nothing and someone finally treats you like youāre something they become the best thing thatās ever happened to you, and itās very hard not to put them on a pedestal. Itās also very easy to get āaddictedā to the feeling of being seen, and this is the catalyst for Verityās intense obsession with and desire to possess Mob. MUCH like Luka and Hyuna.
idolizing someone this much isnāt healthy on both ends, as it puts a lot of pressure on the other person to remain in your life to keep you happy and okay, and further reinforces your own beliefs of self worthlessness. Because āthis persons so good and amazing and Iām nothing, I couldnāt possibly love anything more because they saw so much in meā
now letās focus more on the parallels between Hyuna and Mob
One of Hyunaās biggest flaws is her extreme tendencies of emotional avoidance. She out right avoids thinking or letting herself feel anything about Luka or her brotherās death essentially trapping herself in a constant state of turmoil and denial that leads her hating herself.
Mob is in a similar headspace, while the fandom joking calls him a tsundere is is clear he has trouble facing his real feelings, while part of this is the environment heās in, as expressing his emotions and openly grieving Twixxel leaves the risk of Verity snapping out of jealousy, itās safe to say some of it is also just how Mobās wired. This leaves him to be stuck in a depressive state for the entirety of episode three. Its very clear the Mob is still grieving Twixxel, and even has flashbacks to his death, but he seemingly refuses to let himself linger on this
furthermore, this leads to a cycle of self hate Mob and Hyuna both experience do to the guilt of feeling like they caused the death of their loved ones, plus still harboring affections for someone who killed someone so close to you despite it all. Even if you view Verimob as one sided, it is undeniable that at some point in the series Mob at least cared for Verity as a friend. And was likely feeling sympathetic to him in the end.
There is something so cruel about loving someone who hurt you so deeply, it leaves an ache you just canāt escape. And it leads both Mob and Hyuna to feel trapped by their own emotions and become bitter towards Verity and Luka for causing this inescapable turmoil. Itās becomes incredibly hard to step back and see the situation from an nuanced perspective, because youāre so stuck on the hurt, and being unable to forgive yourself for these feelings makes it impossible to move on in any sense.
I also would like to say my personal analysis of Mobās suicide leads me to believe he might have chosen that way for similar reasons Hyuna chose to sacrifice herself for Luka.
both of these actions were made with the desire to hurt the person who hurt you so deeply back. Mob knows that nothing he could do to Verity would effect him in anyway, and nothing could make him understand how he royal fucked up his and Mobās relationship. Verity would never be able to understand what he did to Mob, because once again, as long as Mob is there, everything is fine to Verity. Mob killing himself is freeing himself from the situation the only way he knows how, yes, but is also hurting Verity the only way he know how to, by leaving him just like everyone else, except this time the death was by his own hands, leaving a deeper wound.
however Hyunaās and arguably Mobās deaths were also done out of love. Because hopefully this final act will be enough to force both Verity and Luka out their heads and finally reflect. Finally come to grips with the gravity of ending a human life, finally understanding everything by losing the person that means the most to them, so that way, hopefully they can grow and move on, and hopefully one find some peace for themselves.
however this unfortunately is not the case for Luka, and it remains to be seen, but one can assume to the cyclical nature of his existence itās not the case for Verity either. Even if he comes to this realization, heās still lost Mob forever, and that completely shatters his world.
AND THERES SO MUCH MORE BUT IVE ALREADY YAPPED A BUNCH LOL I HOPE U ENJOYED THIS BREAKDOWN
