★Please... cherish me★ | Yoosung x Reader

Yoosung Deserves Better! | Not fanfiction | #TedTalk

First, this is literally me just rambling so please don't think that I'm attacking you, or any of the other MM characters. Because I love them all, and this post isn't to make out that other characters are overrated or given special treatment because that isn't true. It was inspired by the release of the new Cheritz merch, and how Jumin stans aren't that happy with the 'Does Jumin is Gay' thing being official t-shirt merch because he deserves better.

Let's talk about Yoosung.

There seems to be this shared opinion (I'm generalising here, so please don't take this personally) that Yoosung is this whiney, immature little boy. Throughout all of the routes, the RFA do lecture him for playing games above studying; brushing off his questions about Rika and V as just general aggressiveness towards V:

"Of course he'd be suspicious about V because when is he never?"

"He's understandably upset, because Rika was his cousin-sister."

That seems to be the attitude towards Yoosung.

But I wanted to go through some points and discuss them a little further.

Yoosung doesn't get the chance to talk about Rika without being dismissed.

Yoosung is still depressed and grieving over Rika. We don't really get to know how Yoosung acted immediately afterwards asides from the VN in Ray's route, but you can sort of gather that he hasn't really had a chance to talk about everything going on in his head because everytime Rika is brought up, he is immediately brushed off because "Don't you think V suffered a lot too?"

No one entertains his suspicions for even a second, leaving him to feel insignificant and missing Rika even more - wouldn't you, if the only person who ever took you seriously had died?

Before MC comes along, he fills that part of him with LOLOL. Because he's respected in the game! People rely on him in the game! They take him seriously! They listen!

And upon talking to MC on his route, he talks a lot more in depth about how depressed he actually is. And maybe people found the way he kept talking about Rika tiresome, but it was a natural response.

Yoosung finally finds someone who he can talk to about Rika. Someone who listens with an open heart, makes him feel validated and loved. Of course he is gonna keep coming back to talking to you about Rika. He's needed someone to talk to about it for almost 2 years and you're the first one to take him seriously about his suspicions of V and recognises that his pain is just as valid as V's, regardless of the type of relationship each man had with Rika.

And once we get to Day 7, it becomes clear that being that source of support for him has been a huge help. As for this 'confusing MC with Rika' maybe his situation should be put into consideration. He's never had a girlfriend. The only girl he had ever been close to (that we know of) is Rika (and his mother and sister). So when someone kind comes along and starts supporting him in a way he has craved ever since Rika died, it would get a little confusing for him. Here is this wonderful, supportive girl who is helping him confront the worst thing that has ever happened to him; he can't stop thinking about her, and how grateful he is to have met her. He hasn't felt this happy since he was with... Rika.

The lines get blurry.

But he gets past it! And he separates the happiness he felt with Rika, and the happiness he felt with you because you support him.

His LOLOL addiction.

I've spoken a little about this already. LOLOL is the way Yoosung copes with life. Since his entire source of inspiration came from wanting Rika to be proud of him, getting cut off from that has a devastating impact on his life. He's said that he doesn't have any real friends at university, which leaves his social circle within the RFA (who lecture him everyday for choosing LOLOL over studying).

He doesn't have a reason to work hard. He literally chose his major in veterinary medicine because of Rika. With that in consideration is it any wonder that he likes to avoid school like the plague? His addiction to LOLOL occupies his mind, gives him friends to chat with, and a purpose. It's up to others to decide whether or not that purpose is a waste of time, but for Yoosung it is an outlet.

Within the RFA no one hesitates to tell him he should study hard, stop playing games and live life properly (...or he'll never get a girlfriend). But why is he playing games? The RFA have understood that Yoosung is still grieving, but their attempts to comfort him end at "V would never do anything to harm the RFA. You should just trust him." Beyond that, Yoosung is spoken about as though he is just an angsty teenager.

Yoosung's suspicion towards V is justified.

In Yoosung's perspective, Rika is a healthy and bright woman. She can make anyone happy. She loves to help others. She isn't mentally ill at all.

Then one day, he gets told that she has killed herself.

He'll ask questions, that's just a natural thing to do. Why has this happened if he saw no indication that Rika felt that down?

So he asks V, the only person present when his cousin died. And gets told nothing. She jumped off a cliff into the sea. Full stop. No mention of her mental illness. Nothing. No body was recovered for the funeral. All he has is the word of a man who is known for carrying the burden of things so others don't have to.

Whenever he brings the subject up, 'Remember that time my cousin died and supposedly didn't show any signs of depression beforehand? Don't you think V isn't telling us something?"

It's dismissed as paranoia. Yoosung isn't a stupid person. He's clever enough to have gotten into the best university in South Korea (is that correct?). But because he's young and emotional, his suspicions are dismissed.

He's just sad because his big sister figure died. He's being too emotional because he's young and innocent.

He isn't a lost little lamb. He is an adult. He is allowed to feel as though something is off when it becomes evident that V isn't telling him the full story.

And he doesn't hate V. As previous posts on Tumblr have stated, Yoosung even admits upon finding out about Rika, that V was the victim. The truth was kept from him because it was assumed he wasn't strong enough to handle it. Because it would shatter this perfect Rika image that he worshipped.

It would hurt. Obviously, it would hurt. But it hurts even more to know that no matter how much you point out the holes in V's explanation of Rika, people will still consider you as no more than an overemotional child who plays games and whines about V.

Yoosung is not a child. He is not whining about V. He isn't a lazy, good-for-nothing student who only plays video games. He is a person who wanted answers about a loved one's sudden death in order to get the closure he needed to move on.

I hope this wasn't too aggressive. This just popped into my head and I wanted to share. I'd like to flesh this out more, so if anyone has thoughts on this, please share! I want Yoosung to be better understood because his route and character development is so important to me.