I think there’s a misunderstanding here about instance dungeons.

A poster in soompi wrote this comment: How can JW be released from the dungeon? Remember the whole Hand of Fatima and when the key reaches the hand, the palace would crumble story. Well, the dungeon is essentially that palace. And would only crumble if some other player of level 100 places the key in Emma’s hand. That is was a stab in my heart! Also, I did not like the fact that it is a never ending cycle. What if the player who replaces JW doesn’t want to end up in dungeon? There has to be a full stop to this Master’s curse..

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First, in my humble opinion, Jinwoo did NOT need to be released from the instance dungeon.

Why?

Because he wasn’t trapped.

How do I know he wasn’t trapped?

Because he was visible to other gamers.

The fact that Jinwoo was VISIBLE to the other gamers meant that he was NOT trapped in that instance dungeon. Here are Seejoo’s own words when he was describing his experience in the instance dungeon: “No one could see me. It was like we were in the same place, but in a different dimension. An instance dungeon in real life.”

Second, consistent with master Sejoo’s experience, Jinwoo didn’t need to be rescued from the dungeon because could walk away on his own. 😊

I think people have the wrong idea that Seejoo needed help to be released from the instance dungeon. No. 🙂Why would he? He created it as a refuge. “It was too dangerous. That’s why I hid in there.” (Ep 15 18:41).

And when he described it to the Programmer, he said, “I programmed the game so that only the master can create it in times of danger. I was hiding in the instance dungeon at the train station. At first, I made the feature to deceive enemies. But it really worked at that time. No one could see me. It was like we were in the same place, but in a different dimension. An instance dungeon in real life. (Ep 16 55:22)

JW already explained this situation earlier in Ep 13 (at 49:17).

He said: Why did I think Sejoo would be there? Sejoo wasn’t locked up in the dungeon of the Alhambra when he sent me the hawk. He led me there so I could find the Key to Heaven he hid in the dungeon. Sejoo couldn’t trust anyone then. He thought he might die soon whether it was in the game or in real life. That’s why he hid on his own as he waited for the hidden master key to be handed over to Emma. The quest ends with her.

I think viewers misinterpreted his internal monologue and assumed that he was wondering HOW he got the idea that Sejoo would be hiding in the dungeon. Well… he already knew why he searched for Sejoo in the dungeons. The Programmer told him to do so. (Ep 10 25:08).

No. This internal monologue was a reality check. He was QUESTIONING his presumption that Seejoo was hiding in the dungeon and needed to be “freed” from the dungeon.

He meant to say: “Oh no! I might have misunderstood this. Why did I think Sejoo would be locked up in the dungeon? What made me think that he would be trapped there? No. He wasn’t LOCKED up in the dungeon when he sent me the hawk. He was hiding there! He wanted me to find the Key to Heaven that he hid in the dungeon so he led me there. He didn’t trust anyone because everybody was after him: Marco, Hyunsuk and even the police who’d think he killed Marco. He thought he’d die either in real life or in the game. That’s why he hid on his own and waited for the key to be handed over to Emma. The quest ends with her.”

Do you see that? He realized that he misunderstood the directive of Sejoo. He was supposed to get the key in the dungeon, NOT rescue him FROM THE DUNGEON.

Sejoo was hiding in a dungeon of his own creation, in a different dimension, because he hid himself there until it was safe to come out. He wasn’t trapped inside. He himself did NOT want to go out until NPC Marco had stopped chasing to kill HIM.

SJ: It wasn’t me. I didn’t kill him.
HJ: Yes, I know. I heard you. Let’s talk about it another time. I know you didn’t kill him.
SJ: He tried to kill me. He stabbed me with a knife. That’s why I’ve been on the run. But he kept following me around while firing his gun at me.
HJ: Yes, I know. I know everything. You didn’t do anything wrong.
SJ: But he suddenly disappeared. That’s why I got out of there. Someone must have completed the quest. I was waiting for someone to complete the quest. But who did it?
HJ: You don’t know? You don’t know where he is?
SJ: I don’t know who it is.

JW’s voiceover: Sejoo’s return finally put an end to my long, lonely journey.

NPC Marco disappeared so he got out out of his hiding place. NPC Marco stopped chasing him so he walked out of instance dungeon. When Jinwoo handed the key over to NPC Emma, NPC Marco disappeared, which set Sejoo free to leave his bolthole.

In a similar way then, Jinwoo wasn’t stuck in his instance dungeon. He was only hiding in there as refuge when the game rebooted and all records were gone.

He was able to create his own instance dungeon because he was the new Master. Sejoo explained that Jinwoo’s reward for completing the Master’s Secret Quest (aka put the Key in Fatima’s hand) was becoming the master himself. It was the “unspecified” reward for the quest.

To me, once he replaced Sejoo as the master, Sejoo was released from the game. Sejoo was no longer the master. Thus, he was no longer a bug. Again this has a very Christian theme. Jinwoo took Sejoo’s place just like Christians believe that Jesus died on the cross for OUR sins. Although Jesus was innocent as a Lamb, He offered His life as the ultimate sacrifice and was slaughtered so we could be saved and redeemed.

See the connection? That’s why I personally wasn’t offended or bothered that Sejoo wasn’t killed, too, as a bug. I understood where the writer was coming from because that’s part of the Christian Faith.

Third, in regard to the Key to Heaven, I consider that key gone and done. It was a single-user, one-time-only item. 🙂

Look: Sejoo designed the program with a bug-killer, NPC Emma. “That’s how I programmed the game. Every time she sees a bug, I made her stab it in the heart and kill it. (Ep 16, 31:40)”

To kill the bug, she needed the key.
Sejoo said, “If he were also a bug, he would’ve died by NPC Emma’s hand. Emma would’ve killed with the Key to Heaven.” (Ep 16: 31:25)

Jinwoo/User Zinu returned the key to NPC Emma. She asked him, “Why did you take the Key to Heaven? You gave it to me.” He replied, “I was afraid. I didn’t…I didn’t want to die.” She said, “Let me hold on to it now.” (Ep 16: 21:06) He handed it over.

This time, Jinwoo wouldn’t take away the key from NPC Emma. He was willing to die because he was aware that he was bug. The pile of white dust was evidence of Bug 4’s death. The key remained with NPC Emma.

Why?

Because, as the final destination and rightful OWNER of the key, NPC Emma would have no reason to return to key to Jinwoo.

😂 What would she have said after she killed the bug Zinu? “Here, Jinwoo, you can have back the Key to Heaven because I’m done using it?” 😆

Nor was Jinwoo shady enough to ask for the key back, “Ummm, Emma, may I have the key back when you’re done stabbing me?” 🤦‍♀️

See that? For me, it would be ridiculous to entertain the idea that Jinwoo would get the key back after the debugging.

Also, let’s remember that once the game restarted, Jinwoo lost his user name and all the items belonging User Zinu, including but not limited to, his weapons, NPC allies, NPC enemy, special items made by the Programmer, and the Key to Heaven. Jinwoo had to start from scratch when he released himself from his instance dungeon.

Fourth, as to the whole legend of destruction of the palace when Hand of Fatima meets the Key of Heaven, that was also wiped out of the game program. That legend was only used by Sejoo in the SECRET quest he created to rescue himself. That quest was a one-time quest made specifically by him and for him.

His return meant that the mission didn’t exist anymore. It’s been terminated, ended. Caput. There was no longer any rationale for the secret quest to exist because Sejoo returned to his family like a prodigal son.

Besides, the whole program, including the “Rescue the Master” quest, was erased by the reboot. According to Park, “The police wrapped up their investigation since they couldn’t find any proof of murder. Do you think this is for the better? All the records got reset, so there’s no evidence to prove that the game had anything to do with people’s deaths. No one knows why the game was reset, and of course, I couldn’t tell anyone.”

Park added, “A year’s worth of our hard work went down the drain. Instead, we no longer have to deal with the unsolvable problem.”

Also the Programmer said he had no previous inkling of NPC Emma’s function to debug and reboot the system. Had he known, he would have deleted that function himself. “I felt most hopeless when the game reset. Gosh. everything disappeared right in front of my eyes. I was about to give up and quit my job. Who would have thought that Emma would have a function like that? Had I known, I would have deleted it. I cared too much about her for no reason. I was betrayed.” (Ep 16 55:16)

Because he lost a year’s worth of labor, it would be entirely logical to assume that Programmer would avoid the same mistake of embedding an auto-self-destruct command or an bug-eating NPC Emma in the program.

So, no. I highly doubt that there’ll be countless number of hands demanding countless number of keys in the future of the game. That would be hellish, too. 😂 Frankly speaking, that never-ending circular pattern reminds me of karma, which inconsistent with a Christian mindset.

Last, to me, the two major differences between Sejoo and Jinwoo are

a) SJ hid from NPC Marco while JW decided to confront his demon, NPC HyunSuk. JW didn’t want to shoot him over and over again, but he placed premium on his survival, and

b) SJ designed a secret quest to be discovered by another gamer because he was a game designer. Meanwhile, JW who wasn’t a game designer, decided to create a buzz among users in order to attract attention and be discovered by Heejoo.

Both played to their strengths. SJ’s skill was designing programs. JW’s strengths were defeating NPCs…and having Heejoo in his side.

 

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Now I’m going to put a moratorium on game questions because I need to move on to other things that haven’t been analyzed to death 💀 in this kdrama.

Like bathrooms. 😂

Did anybody notice how bathrooms scenes are incorporated in the

Our first introduction to the bathroom was a filthy bathroom. Jinwoo had to unclog it. To me this foreshadowed the messy job he would do. He couldn’t even delegate the dirty job to his Sec Seo.

And ah! He was in the bathroom when he accused Sec Seo of failing to be of service to him when he needed him. And he was in the bathroom too when Sec Seo could have accused him of failing to be there for him, too, when he needed him the most.

Then our second encounter, in the same episode, was the restaurant men’s restroom where rusty sword came down from the ceiling like a sword from God. The sword was his improbable start of a mission or calling (literally and metaphorically, a calling). Like most “callings” from God, Jinwoo didn’t understand what he was getting himself into when he answered the call from Sejoo.

credit: estelle-sim’s tumblr

The next memorable scene was Heejoo getting locked in the bathroom. I knew it was stupid that she didn’t put the seat down but I thought it was to emphasize how really stupid she was, as her younger sister screamed at her, not to accept the 10B won/pesos/dollars offered to her. Of course, any number with the word “billion” after it is good unless we’re talking about debt and taxes.

credit: gudongmae’s tumblr

Anyway, I liked this bathroom scene because it was the first time that he empathized with Heejoo. He found her amusing when he asked her, “Will you be okay with three minutes?” and she yes groggily. And if viewers rewatch their scenes together, this was Jinwoo’s style of teasing.

credit: bortecinetugce’s tumblr

In Episode 6, we see Jinwoo on the floor of the bathroom reasoning with NPC HyunSuk, “HS, how long are you going follow me? Can’t we stop this now? I really, really want to stop. Will you be happy only after you’ve killed me? How long must we fight?” He’d enclosed himself in the glass shower stall but he couldn’t yet cleanse himself of his guilt over HS’s death.

On board the train to Granada, he opened his quest in the small washroom and he looked at himself in the mirror. To me, he was psyching himself, or gathering his courage and strength before he set off on his mission. He knew how important this quest was for him and Heejoo.

In Ep 15, Prof Cha locked himself in the small powder room while he betrayed Jinwoo. I thought that was appropriate. He was going down the toilet with his betrayal.

Then later, father and son died by the double sinks of the large bathroom’s transitional hallway. This scene creeped me out because despite the amount of blood shed here, the bathroom remained pristine white. They had violent deaths yet foul play wouldn’t be suspected.

Edited to add this:  And this scene in the final episode. I pointed it out in another forum that critics accused the writer of all sort of sexist things, but this one they didn’t see even notice.

How are the women going to access the sword for Level 1 if it’s in located in the men’s restroom? Should women threaten to sue  J.One for discrimination to gain equal access to men’s public bathrooms?

See that?

😂 It’s funny what other things we can observe when we don’t focus on the game.