You seem like the only person who talks about Beomsok. So I gotta ask. Please can you do his character analysis? I only understood that he wanted to be the big man in their trio and he also wanted to be Suho's favorite. But that doesn't explain why he would go so far as to almost get them killed
hiii anon so ive written this like 5 times over in my head and i can’t seem to have the right words or vocabulary for what i want to convey about beomseoks character but i will try to explain his perspective? a little bit more?
( disclaimer : talking abt netflix adaptation!!!!!!!!! & also also i havent watched whc1 in a minute. so sorry if anything’s straight up wrong ! and also if u can’t tell i’m a little partial to beomseok because i find him interesting overall but i try to be objective. no sieun or suho hate here i adore them and none of this was their fault <3 nor am i defending him!! hes an asshole. just unfortunately a very complex one……thank u 4 reading :D )
okay so i personally think theres multiple reasons in which beomseok rationalized / justified his actions but i think some of the biggest factors in his behaviors come down to three things: misdirected anger from his abusers, jealousy, and idealization (all to / of suho). suho was everything beomseok wasn’t - physically strong, clever (mostly in social situations- due to how awkward beomseok could get in the show i assume that wasn’t his strong point), bubbly and friendly. for someone like beomseok, envy and resentment can fester quite easily, since suho more or less embodies something he wants to become - powerful, or right, or anything of that sort. and no less, suho was beomseoks best friend - outside of suho, sieun and beomseok didn’t have a relationship (drugging someone doesn’t make a good starter for a friendship, apologized for or not) and it was partly due to suho being the ‘center’ of the group, where attention was mostly paid to him. since beomseok both idealized and wanted to be suho, and fixated on him, jealousy was also easy to fester. beomseok didn’t like feeling excluded or not payed attention to. youngis arrival and how easily she intergrated into suho & sieuns life and how much attention they paid to her - and also, having bonding moments beomseok was not part of (sieun getting them food) - naturally made beomseok jealous. hes an insecure teenager. hes irrational. he’s emotional. this is part of the reason why beomseok did what he did.
despite being strong, suho constantly portrayed a type of restraint (in which the show proves this this by suhos own words to sieun— ‘dont cross the line’) and did not want himself, or others, to potentially cause unnecessary suffering to someone who deserves it or not. beomseok viewed this as an act of control when suho stopped him from beating someone with a mic - and despite good reasons (suho didn’t know the extent of which the bullies beat beomseok, and beomseok was already acting unstable and suho didn’t want to escalate the situation etc etc..) - beomseok, again, is irrational and unstable and traumatized. so any act like that, even if it was stopping beomseok from hurting someone, was an act of control in beomseoks mind, because suho was denying him revenge. and beomseok hates being controlled. hes been controlled by his father - his abuser, his tormentor, and not even that, hes been controlled by the bullies. the flashback scene where beomseok is being beaten & also being ordered around probably wasn’t a one time thing (considering he had to be transferred because it got that bad - and side note, imagine how bad that had to be, beomseoks dad didn’t even transfer him after learning he got KIDNAPPED by a GANG???)
so yeah. beomseok lashed out then and the events after only further damaged beomseoks mental health i think. suho wanted to leave him alone to calm down but beomseok was clearly Not Getting Better, and i think that’s why sieun wanted suho to at least.. like .. talk to beomseok? think abt the situation further rather then just wait for beomseok to come back? sorry if this is all over the place!!!!
also i wanted to talk abt this for the longest time but the whole reason beomseok started hanging out with Those People was because they VALIDATED HIM. for the wrong reasons, sure, but they weren’t like sieun - who didn’t know how to say that he appreciated his friends directly, and that wasn’t his fault at all, it just wasn’t what beomseok needed - and suho, who didn’t really say those things out loud, instead expressed his affection through physical actions (putting an arm around beomseoks shoulders, that whole gay ass scene where he puts his helmet on sieun). look at this way - beomseok needed words of affirmation. sieun expressed his affection through small acts of service. suho expressed his affection through either physical contact or quality time. you see how this wouldnt work out in the long run? anyway, yeah, the bullies beomseok was with definitely vaildated beomseok (like saying ‘youre amazing,’ [or whatever was said to him after he gave that group money] or like encouraging him to do things like bully his tormentors rather than stop him etc etc) but for the wrong REASONS!!!!!!!!! beomseok didn’t care that they were draining his money, he just wanted to be liked - with it being said to him! it’s not sieuns fault or suhos, they couldn’t ever know beomseok needed that.!!!!! but it’s a reason why he went with those guys. they weren’t real friends like suho or sieun but beomseok felt good with them so he probably didn’t care at all or was too blinded to actually see it.
anyways the events after that probably only cemented the fact that beomseok didn’t view them as friends anymore. when sieun reached out he didn’t listen, because he probably thought, well, why didn’t you do this before? and suho was handling the situation badly - for beomseok at least, to me he was doing his best - and suho thought beomseok needed a wake up call But he Definitely Did Not! he got the idea to beat up suho from the bullies he hung out with. and he liked the idea. he liked the power of it and the thrill; it’s kind of messed up, but he was taking back control after having it taken away from him so many times. just in the absolute worst way possible. he wanted the thrill of power because it made him feel good nd it was probably the only place in his life where he could have Control and Power. so he went through with it.
beomseoks goal wasn’t to kill or put suho in a coma, it was just to beat him up. he was entirely fixated on suho. sieun was collateral in his mind. i think theres multiple parts where he shows a kind of guilt / remorse during the whole thing, but he definitely didn’t want sieun hurt. he tried to convince sieun to back off. he wanted sieun to leave nd say nothing. which, sieun, of course wouldnt - but at that point beomseok just put on a cold mask and let it happen. which I personally think is FUCKED UP!!!! but yes his main goal was always suho. the whole coma thing was unintended & he wasn’t ever thinking of his actions. he knew it was bad, yes, but he never thought fully and he was very very emotional and reckless during that time, which led to very very bad decisions. i think hes an asshole for doing all of this but honestly hes very complex & well written.
ending this off here because as i was writing i lost my fire & also don’t know if i should CONTINUE because i havent watched whc1 in a bit and i very desperately need to rewatch it. hopefully i just havent ranted for a lot of words