The Merciless

Though one must ask: are they really that different? Or is that difference merely the costume they wear?

If you loved Hong Kyung in Good News, you need to understand where Byun came from. And it starts here. With The Merciless. With two men in a prison.

The setup is simple. Han Jae-ho is second-in-command in a drug trafficking organization. Jo Hyun-soo is an undercover cop infiltrating said organization. They meet in prison, build something that looks like trust, and then everything falls apart.

But here's what makes this film different: This isn't about betrayal. It's about love.

There's this scene that keeps returning like a refrain you can't get out of your head. Jae-ho bouncing a ball. Wall. Floor. Hand. Wall. Floor. Hand.

Watch his eyes. He's tracking every single movement with the precision of a man who's spent his entire life calculating trajectories. He knows exactly where the ball will go. This is who Han Jae-ho is—someone who predicts, calculates, and controls.

Remember when he says:

That's how he takes down Chairman Go. That's how he manipulates Hyun-soo into his orbit—step by calculated step, like a chess master playing five moves ahead.

The ball never surprises him. Until it does.

Why does Jae-ho fall for Hyun-soo?

Sul Kyung-gu asked Director Byun this exact question: "Why does Jae-ho like Hyun-soo?"

The director's answer was beautifully simple: "Love at first sight."

Sul Kyung-gu, being the professional he is, asked how to act that out. Byun told him to watch Todd Haynes' Carol—specifically, the way Cate Blanchett looks at Rooney Mara.

That gaze. That longing. That hunger. No reason. No logic. Just love.

In a world where everything is transactional, where loyalty is bought and sold like drugs, Hyun-soo's devotion shines like something holy.

Plus, both have this playful, cheeky, easygoing charm. People are naturally drawn to those who remind them of themselves, aren't they?

Eight years have passed since this film's release, so spoiler warnings dispensed. After watching it on Netflix, I fell down a Google rabbit hole and discovered this film has a devoted cult following. Their analyses made me slap my knee in recognition.

And in The Merciless?

Jae-ho says to Hyun-soo as Hyun-soo chokes the life out of him:

"Don't make the same mistake I did."

It's the same structure. The same resignation. The same terrible love.

Another detail I missed until reading fan analyses—Hyun-soo never eats. Not once in the entire film. Why? Because eating is human, earthly, mundane. And Hyun-soo? He's an angel. Not the gentle kind, but the terrifying kind—instruments of divine will capable of ruthless judgment.

The film is particularly beautiful when red appears on screen. Red symbolizes Jae-ho's desire—not just sexual (though that's present), but desire for power, connection, and love itself.

When he kills Chairman Go, the screen turns particularly red, and Jae-ho smokes a cigarette. Throughout The Merciless, when a character smokes, they hold power in that relationship.

Then there's blue.

If memory serves, Hyun-soo never smokes throughout the film. Even when blood splatters, it never stains him. Blue and water have the strongest association with Hyun-soo.

So Hyun-soo is a fish that jumped into a world entirely red and hot with fire. Knowing it could die, but jumping anyway because of belief.

In the beginning, Jae-ho makes eye contact during everything—even when deep-frying someone alive, his eyes never waver. But gradually, he starts avoiding Hyun-soo's gaze.

Why?

Until now, it was water jumping into fire (Hyun-soo jumping into Jae-ho's world).

But in the final scene, fire jumps into water.

The method Hyun-soo chooses to kill Jae-ho? Not a gun, not strangling, but covering his nose and mouth. A man dying like a fish with its gills blocked, the tide rolling in, the sky turning blue.

Fire jumped in and was finally consumed by water, by Hyun-soo, becoming a fish.

Director Byun is meticulous about visual symbolism.

Love reflects power dynamics, doesn't it?

The person who loves more has less power. Seeing him give up the bed and sleep in the lowest position—Jae-ho already loved Hyun-soo. From the very beginning.

This dynamic continues to the ending. Jae-ho cannot kill Hyun-soo. But Hyun-soo stands over fallen Jae-ho with the power to decide his fate.

Director Byun has said in multiple interviews:

The most sexually charged sequence? The body search scene.

Here's what's fascinating: Director Byun instructed Sul Kyung-gu to bring "queer sexuality" to the scene. But he didn't tell Im Si-wan. Im Si-wan later said he had no idea it was meant to be romantic. He played it as loyalty, duty, respect.

That directorial choice creates unrequited love—always more painful, always more devastating than mutual love. One person pouring everything out while the other remains unaware.

The gun as metaphor: A queer reading I encountered—guns traditionally symbolize sexuality. When Jae-ho shoots Hyun-soo, some read it as a sex scene. Jae-ho licks his lips. "One more time?" That line, loaded with double meaning. Blood. And immediately after, Team Leader Cheon goes "Ha!" as he realizes what's between these two.

Why else would the shooting scene be so long and strangely intimate?

The fireworks scene felt so random at first. Why fireworks? Why this moment?

Fireworks have this characteristic—you light them and they explode brilliantly, illuminating the entire sky, then fade away into smoke and darkness. They're beautiful precisely because they're temporary.

Before this scene, they're cleaning out Choi's place together, joking about D-Day, spending time cheerfully. This is the fireworks being lit, exploding brilliantly.

Jae-ho chases Hyun-soo around playfully, both laughing, playing together like children—showing their joyful, easy relationship at its peak.

After this, on D-Day, Hyun-soo sides with Jae-ho and betrays the police. Team Leader Cheon plays his trump card—showing the video that changes everything. This is when the fireworks begin to fade, when reality comes crashing back.

Remember how Jae-ho always controls the ball? There's a scene where he plays marbles with Hyun-soo.

And Jae-ho loses.

This is the man who reads five moves ahead. How does he lose a simple marble game?

Two possibilities: He genuinely loses control when it comes to Hyun-soo. Or he lets Hyun-soo win on purpose.

Either way, for the first time, Jae-ho isn't in control.

And that brings us to the ending. Jae-ho goes to meet Hyun-soo one last time. He knows. He absolutely knows it's a trap. But he goes anyway.

Why? Because he wants to believe. Even if just for a moment, he wants to hope the ball will bounce the way he wishes it would.

That's love. Choosing belief over calculation. Choosing hope over certainty.

The most striking moment for me: when Jae-ho is about to kill Byung-gab, Byung-gab screams:

The English subtitle says: "You've been fooled." Brilliant translation.

Instead of begging for his life, Byung-gab mourns Jae-ho's fate—possessed by someone like a ghost, by Hyun-soo.

Korean often omits the subject. Here, Byung-gab doesn't explicitly name Hyun-soo. But the one who has completely "possessed" Jae-ho? It's Hyun-soo.

This was the most explicit moment capturing Jae-ho's romantic feelings.

When Jae-ho killed his mother, rather than thinking "I'll never forgive him," I think Hyun-soo thought: "Okay, if you killed even my mother to keep me by your side, how far can you go for me?"

He called Jae-ho to confirm this. Using the police who had used him, using Jae-ho for revenge against the police. Risking his own life too.

The old Hyun-soo would have rushed in consumed by revenge. But there's a reason someone called him a "punk" in the film. Hyun-soo had changed. Before, he injured his right hand saving Jae-ho. Now, he injured his right hand putting someone in a vegetative state.

Each testing the other.

In Kill Boksoon, Hee-sung acted indifferent to hierarchies when he was C-tier. But when he learns the truth, he shows up in a full suit, revealing he'd always been obsessed with rank—far more than Boksoon.

In Good News, Go-myeong is the lowest cog in the bureaucratic machine, tossed around at their convenience.

Director Byun loves exploring who sacrifices in power structures:

- The Merciless: Jae-ho willingly "loses" for Hyun-soo—the one who loves more sacrifices more

- Kill Boksoon: Hee-sung rebels and gets killed

- Good News: Go-myeong is just one replaceable gear

I'm eager to see what structure he uses next.

The Merciless failed at the box office in 2017. But something interesting happened: the film found its audience on streaming platforms. A cult fandom formed. They called themselves Bulhandang-won—"The Merciless Crew."

The Merciless is streaming on Netflix now.

This time, watch for:

Watch fire become water, become a fish, and die.

Because that's what love is, isn't it? Not control, but the willing surrender of it. Not calculation, but the leap into blue water even when you're made of fire.

Even when—especially when—you know it will kill you.

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