"Kim Dokja's breaths, his appearance, his laughter, and his manner of speech [...] And...
The glint in his eyes when he recalls the story he loves.
[...] 'I can just read from the beginning again'.
-CH. 438
(music cr: Train to Busan OST "Goodbye World" by Jang Young Gyu)
UGH. I feel like I have to fight the fandom on a piece of Kim Dokja's characterization here.
KDJ DOES NOT HATE 'KIM NAMWOON'. HE ACTUALLY LIKES THE KID AFTER GETTING TO KNOW HIM AS A PERSON. He will protect KNW!!
He specifically DESPISES [999] Kim Namwoon. That KNW alone!! No other KNW! Really cannot stand the 999th turn KNW!
Why just 999th turn KNW?
KDJ judges people based on their actions not what their characterization is.
“I was taught to pay the price for my actions”
999th killed his favourite YJK turn.
999th got off for free for what KDJ believes is the worst thing ever. This is a parallel for KDJ believing that no punishment is enough for taking away the ■■ from YJK >>> subway thoughts
The hatred is less because “you're like me” but more like “I cannot forgive this. Not for myself, not for others, not for anyone.” Kim Dokja struggles a lot with the concept of forgiveness.
999th turn KNW was forgiven for something he believes he shouldn’t be forgiven for, so Kim Dokja just deals out the punishment himself.
He feels sooo bad about all the other KNWs. He will go out of his way to make the other KNWs safe/happy.
He gave 1863rd KNW his special coat to play with
When summoning 1864th KNW (the one in the gundam) he's all like!! Gotta make sure this KNW is safe! Can't let anything happen to him with Disconnected Film Theory, even though I did bring him here to help me deal with the 999th turn
There's a line somewhere, around the time Jang Hayoung messages ABFD for the first time, where Kim Dokja thinks "just like Kim Namwoon, ABFD might not be so bad after all".
Kim Namwoon is used to further reinforce that no one is born a villain.
so, transcendence. the last step is to forget everything you know, and find your own path. the problem is, after yoo joonghyuk regresses, he has to find a different path to reach transcendence after losing it. you can't follow a known path to transcendence. now, he could probably find different ways to transcend for the first few regressions... but 1800 times? it's just not feasible.
so he decided to forget the enlightenments he has already learned. but how does he do that? well, this fucking guy.
"It's sometimes forgotten if you hit your head with [Hundred Step Godly Fists]."
Imagine you almost died and have been absent for quite a bit only to come back as a buddha and the first thing your coworker says is 'but you haven't shaved your head'.
“Because the 'Ways of Survival' existed, the people before me existed, too. And because I read that novel, I was able to save them from the dangers.
"I…"
I, someone of no redeeming quality, could be loved by the others.”
really fucks me up that kim dokja killing kim namwoon is initially played off as a joke because he didn't like his character in the novel, only for it to later be revealed that he sees his younger self in knw and is just projecting his own self loathing, only for it to later be revealed he resents that knw is continuously forgiven and accepted by yoo joonghyuk despite being fucked up, only for it to later be revealed that this is because kdj hates himself so much that he believes he is the only person who doesn't deserve to be forgiven or accepted. demon king of salvation who doesn't think he deserves to be saved. kind of crazy