Acceptance over Understanding

hiii let's talk about that airport scene bc that's about to live in my head rent free the entire week. it's practially a confession, vinny knows 100% what cha young is trying to tell him with that quote, but she's once again making the smallest step possible to encourage him to go to her in his own time. i fucking love them

heyyy thank you so much for prompting this post i love you.  

“friends are like two souls in one body.” 

what i find interesting in that quote is that usually, we tend to associate love/friendship to the opposite : one soul in two bodies. 

i’ve done some research  yes i have exams next week that i’ve not revised for but instead look at me doing research for a kdrama , and from what i’ve gathered, the original quote is from Aristotle : “What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies.”

now, let’s look at what Aristotle has to say on friendship. According to him, there are three types of friendships. 

1) the first one is based on based on utility

2) the second one is based on pleasure or delight, 

3) the third one goes beyond those self-serving forms of friendships, and is based on virtue, it’s a self-less relationship. 

here’s an extract of this article i found on the subject : https://associatesmind.com/2013/11/04/the-great-conversation-aristotle-on-friendship/

“In contrast to the self-centered relationships described above, Aristotle delineates a third type, those grounded in virtue: τελια φιλια, fully-developed friendship. This type completes the intended design or purpose of Friendship. This entity is the final cause of friendship. Its participants necessarily share a set of values and principles of an irreducibly moral nature: A wants for B what is good for B for the sake of B. This is an essentially selfless relationship. Moreover, it is a constructive relationship. Each friend, by his own qualities, helps to fully realize what is not only potentially in the other but also realized in the other. He reveres and honors and, therefore, sustains, encourages, nurtures, supports, and celebrates what the other is and can become. Temporally, these relationships are not bound by maintenance of utility or pleasure but are sustainable over a lifetime.”

this quote refers to this third type of friendship, the only type of true friendship, one where they both want the best for each other. 

of course, this quote is undeniably about soulmates just as much as it is about friends. when aristotle talks about true friendship, contemporary minds would associate it with the concept of ‘soulmates’. the sharing of souls, the most intimate, self-less state of love, understanding & caring. 

this is what vincenzo and cha-young are to each other. their relationship transcends utility or pleasure. at first, their relationship might have been one based on utility, they both needed each other’s skills to win against a common enemy but not anymore. 

however, the exact quote here refers to two souls in one body, not one soul split in two. that makes it even better imo : 

cha-young and vincenzo are the same yet they complete each other. what vincenzo lacks, cha-young has and vice-versa. what cha-young needs, vincenzo provides and vice-versa. 

what hurts vincenzo hurts cha-young, what hurts cha-young hurts vincenzo. they want the best for each other, and they grow thanks to each other. cha-young has realised in vincenzo a darkness that echoes in her soul, while vincenzo has find in cha-young a light he’s been longing for. 

chayenzo’s partnership is true friendship, they are soulmates. the strength of their relationship lies in their likemindedness, they are two equals who recognised each other. 

it reminds me of that shot of them sleeping after they drank together, the parallels and the ‘yin & yang’ symbolism. their souls mirror each other. even their storyline is similar. the death of a parent that had hurt them, them working for an immoral institution (wusang/babel & the mafia), their resourcefulness and grey morals, their quest for justice and revenge. 

they’re two sides of the same coin, different yet the same, one indivisible whole. 

here, cha-young confesses her feelings for vincenzo. it’s undeniable, she’s telling him that they’re unseparable. she speaks italian, his language, which is arguably the most intimate way to communicate her feelings as well. 

if you speak in a language other than your mother tongue with your significant other, you know that it feels wayyyy more intimate to speak about your feelings in your first language. at least for me. 

arguably, korean is vincenzo’s first language but italian is the language he expresses his feelings in the most, he swears, he speaks to himself in italian, etc... it’s also the language he embraced because of his adoption, the country who welcomed him when no one else did. he’s very attached to his italian-ness, he loves opera, misses the food, the clothes... before he begins to form a relationship with cha-young/the tenants, he’s unwilling to let go of his italian lifestyle. 

i think it shows that cha-young understands vincenzo better than anyone else, knows his fears and most intimates anxieties. they speak the same language, always. he’s let her in completely, allowed her to see him vulnerable, see his true ‘evil’ self, the parts of himself he wishes to bury and hide from the world. 

vincenzo had planned to get the gold and leave for malta, because he wants “a life away from others”. after leaving the mafia, he wanted to hide from the world, isolate himself forever. 

but by staying in south korea instead of leaving for italy, vincenzo replies to cha-young’s confession. he will stay by her side, because they are two souls sharing one body and nothing will separate them.