The Gilsangcheon matter, why did it seem so overlooked? (Full analysis!!)
Throughout the whole saga, Taeui is often referred to as "Gilsangcheon". Yet, this important matter, while it still holds a key role in the story, and more specifically in Taeui’s and Jaeui’s relationship as twins, still seems to be a little less concrete to grasp, as the whole thing itself never got a proper answer to the question of: "Why is it this way?"
Firstly, to understand where "Gilsangcheon" comes from, we need to understand the whole spiritual background behind this word, which is not left to chance, since Jaeui himself chose this word for Taeui.
Jaeui has always seemed somehow interested in Indian culture, and more specifically, he seems especially close to Hinduism spiritualism (it’s been mentioned that after Jaeui cut the red string that bonded him with Taeui, he considered going to Varanasi, known as the spiritual capital of India)
One of the main figures in Hindu is called Vishnu, and his wife is called Lakshmi. The latter is known as the Goddess of fortune, wealth and abundance. Gilsangcheon is basically the Korean adaptation of Lakshmi, hence why Jaeui chose this word (길상천) rather than simply sticking with Lakshmi.
Of course, this isn’t a metaphor to imply that Taeui is some sort of divine entity. Rather, I feel like it’s meant to be interpreted as a way to rationalise an already abstract concept using spirituality, something that couldn’t be explained by reason but is rather felt through one’s body and mind depending on multiple factors.
From the start, Jaeui wasn’t meant to live. The only way his body was able to survive is thanks to Taeui’s existence. And the very first proof of their unbreakable bond comes at birth: Jaeui’s life entirely relies on Taeui’s existence. If Taeui didn’t exist, there is no possibility that Jaeui could exist either. And the only way he’s able to live is thanks to Taeui’s beating heart.
Therefore, the first aspect of Jaeui’s luck is entirely physical, but more importantly concrete.
Life is something that depends on binary factors: either Jaeui lives because his body’s healthy enough to support the weight of life, or he dies because his health can’t bear it.
However, there is already a contradiction. What was supposed to be the body of an actively dying man turned out to be that of one of the world’s biggest geniuses who lives every day like anybody else and doesn’t feel any discomfort on a daily basis. This is the proof that Jaeui was not meant to be living at all. His body is on the verge of dying already, but something – or rather someone – is preventing his body from breaking down.
Yet again, there is no scientific answer behind that. Jaeui has run many tests on his body, but still nothing could explain why he was still able to live normally. The first detail that led him to understand that Taeui was the one granting him life was that, when Taeui was sick (and therefore his own physical condition worsened), Jaeui felt it too, but much harder (since his body’s naturally unable to bear pain)
Then, besides the physical aspect of the Gilsangcheon "curse" (though it can’t be considered a curse per se, it seems that Jaeui sees it as a burden more than a benediction, but we’ll come to it after), there’s also the one aspect that makes everyone jealous of the genius researcher Jeong Jaeui: his incredible fortune.
True, having an actively dying body still perfectly functioning could already be considered extremely lucky. But since it’s only an exception to a dichotomous situation, it can’t possibly be as impressive as Jaeui’s luck when it comes to more abstract things.
Luck is not only a tough concept to define, as it can’t be seen, measured or calculated (it’s more of a philosophical way of explaining things that don’t literally exist), but it also likely depends on factors that themselves rely on luck to begin with: the place you’re born in, the family in which you grow up, your surroundings, genetical predisposition, what time of history, exposition to certain illnesses etc.
It can’t feel concrete to anyone imagining how life would be like if anything you needed, no more, no less, fell right into your hands the exact moment you needed it. It doesn’t just apply to extreme situations, like "Jaeui’s getting kidnapped, but he still ended up in a nice place and didn’t get tortured". Even if Jaeui were walking down the street and suddenly had a craving for ice cream, he would find a five-dollar bill on the floor, enough to pay for the ice cream he was craving.
On theory, having an insane "amount" of luck seems enviable, but the power (potential) it gives to the person that possessed such luck is so grand that anyone power-thirsty would want that for themselves.
Therefore, luck here isn’t a good omen for Jaeui, since the natural fortune that was given to him at birth is coveted by other dangerous individuals.
Of course, Jaeui isn’t like them. Everything that makes Jaeui, well, himself, is not left to chance to decide (ironically) If Jaeui’s so smart, it’s only so that he knows how to handle wisely such luck and what it involves. If Jaeui’s so nonchalant, it’s only so that he wouldn’t end up wanting to rule the world (while he easily could), and if he acts so indifferent, it’s only so that he won’t get attached to people who could potentially harm him.
Jaeui’s character is honestly very overlooked, as nothing was written to leave any space to chance, yet the entire flow of his life depends on it.
However, a legitimate question arises: why would he try to hide such a thing from Taeui, and how did he find out that his brother was the one bringing him such luck?
Well, I feel like the whole Gilsangcheon matter is often taken too literally. Taeui isn’t the one actually giving Jaeui his luck. For an example, just because Taeui is far away from Jaeui doesn’t mean that Jaeui won’t be benefiting from exceptional luck. But instead, things truly change when both of them are together.
Jaeui started to notice that Taeui was strangely linked to incidents of misfortune whenever they happened to Jaeui. That one time when Taeui was at the hospital after falling from a persimmon tree (Taeui you silly boy) and asked to see Jaeui, the latter decided to ignore it. Not necessarily because he didn’t want to see him, but rather because he wanted to test out an hypothesis of his, a lead he was on but needed to confirm.
That day, he almost got kidnapped and for the first time, thought he was in danger. All that because Taeui was in a bad state, and because he refused to go and see him.
The whole "luck balance" thing is actually pretty tough to grasp, as it’s absolutely not a binary matter, unlike for Jaeui’s physical health. Just because Jaeui’s extremely lucky doesn’t mean that Taeui will be unlucky because of that, but it sure has an importance.
I feel like Taeui and Jaeui weren’t meant to be polar opposites, nor were they meant to be complementary in an "equal" way. They have complementary characteristics, just like they have opposite behaviours. Fundamentally, the twins aren’t made to perpetuate some sort of "balance" to begin with. Their own amounts of luck are correlated, but it’s also shown many times that Taeui wouldn’t be so unlucky if he were this way, and the same goes for Jaeui.
Per nature, both of them are meant to act this way, and this is truly what manages to balance everything, since they’re also given the ability to overcome this and what it leads to. Therefore, we can’t exactly say that Jaeui’s draining the luck out of Taeui, making him this unlucky, but we can’t say either that it’s not at least partially true.
Now, we can also notice a fundamental difference in the bond that unites the twins:
Jaeui is bound to Taeui physically, while Taeui is bound to Jaeui emotionally. Which clearly shows their personalities: Jaeui’s focusing on the fact (he can’t live without Taeui), while Taeui’s focusing on the emotions he has grown to accept (he truly loves Jaeui because he’s his beloved brother)
But the twist here is that the repartition is unfair. Jaeui will never be able to fully live and emancipate on his own, since he’ll always be dependent on Taeui. Whereas Taeui, the only thing bonding him to his twin is the fact that he’s the direct reason for his whole existence (we could also make a parallel to Ilay’s perception of Taeui in his life and Taeui’s role in the Passion Universe, but maybe in another analysis lol)
To Jaeui, having to be bound to Taeui in such a way is a burden. He’ll never be able to fully emancipate and embrace the individual he would’ve become on his own since his body is, by definition, unable to survive on its own. When Jaeui asked Taeui if knowing that he was the one keeping him alive was making him feel "awkward", or if it was "heavy" to bear, he wasn’t actually asking that to Taeui himself: he was rather projecting his own feelings onto him.
While Jaeui’s brains are unmatched, I feel like his understanding of others’ emotions and needs is a bit twisted. Since he doesn’t experience emotions like other people, Jaeui’s only base to understand how others function is himself.
Therefore, since he saw his bond with Taeui as a weight, something that prevented both of them from being fully independent, he naturally assumed that Taeui would feel the same way, as he considered this an undeniable fact, focusing on the concrete part of the "curse".
Jaeui chose to hide that away from Taeui the moment he realised the nature of the bond. He’s always roughly guessed the fact that Taeui was linked to some degree with his luck, but once he eventually came to the realisation that it was all due to Taeui’s existence, that’s when he finally put a name on this strange phenomenon: Gilsangcheon.
The fact that he chose this name upon Taeui proves that their bond is extremely spiritual. It has a physical, therefore concrete aspect, but it’s something that will never hold a reasonable explanation, which Jaeui can also grasp in a more abstract way (which is probably what proves that he’s a genius in every aspect)
Now, throughout Passion’s narration, Taeui rarely ever deeply talks about the fact that he’s Gilsangcheon, or about how he feels about it. In my opinion, I don’t think Yuuji was purposefully ignoring that matter, or didn’t dive deeper into it since she focused more on Ilay’s and Taeui’s relationship. Rather, I feel like it’s more an issue of Taeui’s narration.
The whole saga is mainly narrated by Taeui. Only when the POV switches do we realise how exceptionally unique Taeui’s narration is, since it feels like an immersion into his brain, as if we were diving into his every thoughts the moment he experiences something.
Unlike Changin, Ilay, Yuri and even Christoph, Taeui’s POV isn’t as reflective as theirs. He can and will go with the flow, only starting to question things once he finally accepted them and/or overcome them.
Firstly, upon hearing that he brings his brother luck, Taeui feels embarrassed. His whole life, he was told that he was nothing special, incredibly average compared to his brother. Yet, all of the sudden, he’s now the only reason Jaeui was able to be so lucky his whole life? Not only does it require his whole conception of himself to be questioned again, but it also makes him feel deeply embarrassed.
Taeui chose not to burden himself thinking about it, because either way, he’s
Completely powerless about that, since it’s not something within his control range
Doesn’t fully understand why and how that functions
So, given Taeui’s personality, he’d rather just accept this fact while not overly thinking about that than try to fully grasp what it means and implies.
Jaeui, on the other hand, is much different. He needs to understand something in order to make the best decisions for himself.
Hence he’s the one who chose this name, created that "concept" and made it more accessible. Basically, since Jaeui abstractly realised what Taeui meant to him (not in a fraternal way, but what he meant to him at all), he therefore naturally was the one to globalise it.
He explicitly asked everyone around him to never tell Taeui that he was Gilsangcheon. Jaeui had set his boundaries: Gilsangcheon was a taboo topic. He wanted to spare his brother all the burden he himself had to carry because of that bond, because he naturally assumed Taeui would find it as heavy as he did, if not heavier.
We might not fully realise it, but understanding that one’s life entirely depends on us puts an enormous weight on our shoulders. Taeui, who was able to live a normal life without having to worry about responsibility regarding his brother, now found out all of the sudden that he actually held a key role.
But Taeui isn’t like Jaeui at all when it comes to fundamental functioning. He doesn’t care about what he brings him and what it means to be Gilsangcheon, as Jaeui stays in his eyes an individual he has grown to love (or, rather, that he always naturally loved)
There’s absolutely no doubt that Jaeui loves Taeui as much as he does. Their ways of expressing emotions are so different that they both struggle to show it to the other, and Jaeui’s attempt to hide it away from Taeui was a way to protect him.
The thing is, Jaeui totally ignored the fact that Taeui disliked when people interfered with his life on his behalf.
Since it’s Jaeui, Taeui didn’t truly mind that. Rather, he simply wished that he had outrightly told him everything instead of distancing himself like that. Taeui was rather relieved to have the confirmation that Jaeui didn’t actually try to cut ties with him, and it truly was all that mattered.
Finally, to understand why Gilsangcheon seemed so overlooked throughout the whole story, I think that we need to entirely change our perspective on the matter. Rather than seeing it as a concrete fact that holds much weight, I feel like we need to grasp its meaning before everything else. A meaning that represents some sort of symbolism regarding Ilay’s and Taeui’s relationship, but also the twins’.
Their existences are meant to stick together in every possible universe. They are undoubtedly bound by fate, even when Jaeui pretended to cut the red string between them. However, once Ilay tied his own red string to Taeui’s now "cut" string, both the twins were able to fully emancipate.
Fate never separated them, and Jaeui still heavily relies on Taeui’s health to survive. But now, the burden has been lifted. Both of them found a place like home, that made them feel safe and truly like they belonged there.
They found themselves a new family entirely and are able to achieve what Jaeui had wished upon them when he cut the red string at the very start of Passion: their own reconstructed identities.
Both of them needed to maintain an identity that was constructed upon them: Jaeui was nothing more than the luckiest genius in the world, and Taeui was nothing more than Gilsangcheon, or the "average twin".
Now, Jaeui’s considered by Rahman as an individual. Rahman doesn’t see him as a "weapon machine" and doesn’t care about his luck. Just like Taeui, who’s now able to set boundaries and understand his own limits, setting new rules for himself. All that thanks to Ilay and Rahman, who were the first ones to entirely perceive them as human beings (in other words, there are no biases for them. They both already have wealth, power, fortune and influence, so there’s nothing they can benefit from the twins, even though Rahman initially wanted Jaeui to help him gain even more power)
(ok I lied this wasn't exactly an analysis, more like tangled thoughts I try to write when I was thinking about the Gilsangcheon thing, but let me know if you disagree about anything!! Always up for a debate :D)