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Uriel Character Analysis Deep-Dive: Mingyu from GSM

hey yall! this is gonna start becoming a recurring thing; idk if anyone actually reads these but im starting this series so that you can check out how i meant for these characters to be portrayed, their character arcs, and so on so forth.

today's analysis is JUNG MINGYU from GOD-SHATTERING MANIA, the sequel to my infamous zoom-team centric fic FRACTALS AND DOMINOS. this was requested by @peridoughnutt, so here it is as promised (finally, lmao). THERE WILL BE HEAVY SPOILERS, PROCEED WITH CAUTION!

and of course, if you want to see my EVEN STARS DIE EVENTUALLY KAMDEN character analysis from last time, check it out here!

Mingyu's General Character Arc

Mingyu is one of the main five, and he's supposed to be the parallel to Hyunbeen — wanting to prove himself and be just as useful to the rest of the team. This ties in with his naturally-hardworking nature that we can see in BP—even though he was in on it as a joke and didn't really care for debut, he still gave it his all and tried his best to get as far as he could. His whole arc in GSM is quite similar—wanting to prove that he's able to be a useful member of the team. Unlike in BP, however, this backfires, due to the mistakes that he ends up making that end up proving fatal to his mental state.

Speaking of his mental state, he was already in a bad state of mind from the start of GSM. It's mentioned in his talk with Jihoo post-Hiroto that he never actually recovered from the trauma of Fractals and Dominos: "Honestly, I...I've always been acting like things have been okay for me since I got possessed, but they haven't. They never did. Sometimes, I feel like Mnet's...clawing its way back into me, like I'm going to spiral all over again because of what it did to me...I'll always feel like Mnet's somewhere in the back of my head, trying to corrupt me all over again." As the first district back in Fractals and Dominos, he was under Mnet's mind control the least amount of time along with Doha, making him one of the only other two aside from ZOOM team to fully remember everything that happened, with very very minimal gaps in memory. Unlike Doha, he never truly recovered from that hell, nor did he ever truly feel as if he really escaped Mnet. It's almost like he could subconsciously notice that Mnet wasn't truly gone, a backwards foreshadowing to what would come in GSM. It's why Jihoo couldn't empathize with him, because Jihoo wouldn't be able to truly understand the amount of mental trauma Mingyu was going through.

Mingyu and Hiroto

One of Mingyu's biggest mistakes, but also his saving grace, was befriending and later falling in love with alternate-universe Hiroto. He and Hiroto already shared a lot in common in both worlds, having the same part for the same song for K vs G. Despite all the warnings, Mingyu's more of a bleeding heart than anything else, and it shows in his caretaking side, which is why he ends up reaching toward an outside yet familiar face. His soft spot for Hiroto existed even before switching over to the other world. It's this kindness that he extends to Hiroto, who's never experienced that sort of hope in a long time, that causes them to get drawn to each other.

Despite their growing relationship, Mingyu already knew he was setting himself up for failure, whether or not he knew Hiroto would become a world eventually. He's already trying to hide all of the information about being from an alternate universe to Hiroto, trying to keep the fragile timeline together in order to stay undetected by Mnet (even though at that point there was no reason). Almost everyone warns Mingyu too, such as Gunwook ("I don't think you keeping this up is a good idea. Not because it's Hiroto, but because of the timeline and shit—he's not gonna be the same Hiroto when you come back, you know."), Woonggi ("Hiroto's memories won't sync up like Seowon's. I'm not gonna stop you, Mingyu, but it is a setup."), and Taerae ("Hiroto isn't going to become magically aware, like Seowon or Zihao did. He was never touched by the alternate reality back in our world, so there's no way he's going to change all of sudden."). Jihoo is the only one who doesn't say anything, but even he knew ("I know, Mingyu. But it's not our Hiroto.").

Mingyu still insists on sticking with Hiroto because he's grown too attached too quickly to the point where he ends up relying on Hiroto's existence as an anchor. Even though he's self-aware that Hiroto's memories won't sync up, or that eventually the timeline would be destroyed and Hiroto would go along with it, he wants to hang onto that brief moment of happiness and hope. In this way, he also still calls out everyone for being a mild hypocrite, with them still deciding to befriend Zihao even though his memories wouldn't sync up either (though to be fair, Zihao was possessed and later awakened). It makes Hiroto's death all the more painful and tragic, and it's why Mingyu is so devastated post-death. It takes Jihoo's comforting and words of encouragement, as well as seeing the creature that led Hiroto to his death, for Mingyu to regain his resolve: "No, I can't linger on him anymore. The only thing left to do is crush Mnet."

Mingyu's Ending

Back in the real world, Mingyu finally reunites with the original Hiroto, though this Hiroto doesn't share any of the memories that the alternate-universe Hiroto had. With Mnet's influence finally gone for good, and Mingyu still recovering from all of the long-term grieving and trauma, he's able to finally place that hope back in Hiroto again—though this time, there's no Mnet to take Hiroto away from him. Mingyu, being the hardworking person he is, has a lot of perseverance, and even when he's still in a low and trying to recover, he still decides to place his faith in something he knows is fundamentally good and he can trust—and to him, that's Hiroto. To him, Hiroto is like home, and even if that home has escaped him many times, he still tries anyway. It's a very hopeful ending, and maybe, just maybe, Mingyu will finally get the peace he deserves.

Thanks for reading this analysis! Not sure who I'll do next, but I think I'll be asking a fellow friend of mine for the next character arc :)