On completely unrelated note I think it's a shame we never get to see jwds doing actual detective work outside their ultimate "put these bastards behind the bars" quest. Like give me countless overtime hours at the station together, empty cups of coffee piling on the desks. DS showing up at JW apartment with a case file "Did you steal the classified documents? Again?" "How could I?...I made copies ".
Them competing who memorizes more details about suspects or witnesses and driving their co-workers crazy by finishing each other sentences.
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thinking again about how han joo won went from trying to arrest him to begging to become a monster in his place so he doesn't have to suffer ever again. No one does guilt, devotion and misplaced love like beyond evil does. If I think about the way dongsik looks at him in ep 16 I'm going to throw myself off a cliff
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I am of the firm belief that Joowon will never in a million years call Dongsik "hyung", because it implies a hierarchical relationship that is not present in canon.
They are partners and equals, not student and mentor.
Dongsik never tries to take charge of Joowon, especially in the beginning of their relationship where Joowon is literally his superior.
If you look at the two men who actually call Dongsik "hyung" (Jihoon and Sangyeob), it is immediately clear that those relationships do have a power dynamic going on that favors Dongsik, and that Dongsik is a sort of leader and guide, giving them little tips and offering advice in general. He does NOT do this for Joowon.
(Sidenote: notice how Dongsik takes the blame for what Sangyeob did and lets himself be demoted, and tells Jihoon that "hyung will take care of it".
Dongsik would never do either of these things for Joowon because, again, Joowon is his equal)
The only thing Dongsik has ever succesfully made Joowon do is eat that one time, and it seemed to worry him greatly that Joowon actually obeyed lol.
When Dongsik scolded Joowon for running into danger alone, Joowon was very clearly not actually apologetic at all.
Their very last conversation is even Dongsik trying to mentor him just a little bit, and Joowon rejecting it
(don't talk to me like I'm a child, as some translations put it) (yes I know he's talking about the different formality registers in the Korean language)
Unlike with Jihoon and Sangyeob, Dongsik clearly sees and treats Joowon as someone he can rely on, not someone he needs to protect.
In fact, it's more common for Joowon to protect Dongsik, both physically and verbally.
Joowon only calls one person "hyung", and that is his former live-in tutor whom he still begs favours off of as an adult. Can you imagine Joowon begging Dongsik for a favour? No, me neither.
And Joowon is just not someone who bends to authority at all, I'm not Korean and I don't speak it, but I know that some of the comments about his character from Korean viewers are precisely about how abrasive and disrepectful he is towards people he is supposed to show "proper" respect, expressed in a way that is difficult to translate into English.
According to Yeo Jingoo himself, Joowon "doesn't really care if People are older or have more experience than him"
When the actors were asked about their relationship, Yeo Jingoo answered that their relationship was that of equals, while Shin Hakyun says that it is hierarchical, with Dongsik as the inferior.
You can do with that what you will, but please notice how they definitely agree that Joowon is NOT subservient to Dongsik lol.
And I think it is an extremely important part of their dynamic - Joowon is someone that Dongsik doesn't have to pretend to be strong for, someone he can rely on, someone who will insist on taking on his burdens and walk in front of him (even literally bodily stepping in between Dongsik and danger), someone who will also take care of Dongsik for once.
Dongsik and Joowon are both incredibly lonely men, who break down each other's walls and see the other for who they really are - it is very much mutual. Because they are partners and equals.
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