We finally have enough Bo-goel interactions that I can do a character breakdown. If I got a read on him correctly then his motivation for helping Mok-ha is because he is Ki-ho. Here’s what I picked on on: Upon seeing Mok-ha on the Island he appears indifferent. He tells his brother not to film her and he buys here a new pair of shoes. He doesn’t have any further interactions with her until episode 3 and discourages his brother from getting involved with her further. All in all, he appears cold and indifferent.
It can be annoying for some viewers to watch Bo-goel being so indifferent towards Mok-ha and this is exasperated because we don’t have his pov, so we don’t get a glimpse of what is going on inside his head and any hints of this has so far been purposefully subtle. However, Bo-goel being Ki-ho would explain his standoffish/indifferent attitude towards Mok-ha. For starters, it’s such an odd extreme reaction to have towards a supposed stranger. Therefore, it looks like he is keeping her at arm’s length on purpose. The first example of this is on the boat on the way back from the island. If you compare the way his brother and the others are looking at Mok-ha, it’s not the same as the way Bo-goel is looking at her in this scene. He catches glimpses of her when no one is looking. This is the first clue that he is trying to appear disinterested but he can’t seem to help himself. He stops his brother from filming her but why would he care about her privacy if he’s disinterested? He buys her a new pair of shoes. This is a very caring act and also shows that he’s been observing her enough to notice this detail. Again, why would he do this if he was truly disinterested. No one else noticed this or thought to get Mok-ha new footwear or new clothes. It’s funny because for someone who seems to be paying little attention to her, he sure noticed an awful lot about her. Even in episode 5 he notices that the high heel shoes she’s wearing has caused a blister on the back of her ankle and gives her a plaster for it. The fact that he notices this in the short amount of time between him spotting her on the hill and her getting into the car is no small thing.
If we look at why the brothers were on the island in the first place, we find out that Bo-goel has been volunteering to clean islands for years. The question is, why would he do that? This might explain why he didn’t seem surprised to find Mok-ha on the island. This leads us to another question. If he’s Ki-ho, why didn’t he show any excitement or emotion at seeing Mok-ha again. This goes back to what I mentioned earlier. It’s my opinion that Bo-goel is acting distant/indifferent on purpose. I can speculate as to why that is. Perhaps it’s because of the guilt he feels about Mok-ha ending up on that island and not being able to stop her father from getting to her. Maybe he’s not ready to face her yet and Mok-ha not being aware of his true identity allows him to delay facing her as Ki-ho. So why is he still helping her in the background if he’s trying to keep a distance from her. I think this both answers the question and raises a few more. Him doing things in a ‘distant’ way/ in the background is quite consistent behaviour. He’s keeping Mok-ha at a distance and he seems to be helping, also from a distance. Perhaps he’s trying to atone for his perceived mistake of failing Mok-ha. Maybe he intends to reveal his true identity down the line, maybe he doesn’t. If you’ve been following, you’ll notice he doesn’t have a very good opinion of Ki-ho. I think he’s been voicing inadvertently how he feels about himself inside. I don’t think he has a good opinion of himself and is very self critical of his past actions (as Ki-ho). This explains the guilt, which explains, in part, why he’s so distant. It’s telling that in episode 5 after Woo-hak comes to fully believe that he himself is Ki-ho; he comes to the same conclusion and shares some of the same sentiments about Ki-ho as Bo-goel. Thinking himself as Ki-ho, he’s able to tap into how Ki-ho could possibly be feeling towards Mok-ha - guilt ridden and regretful and feeling undeserving of being in Mok-ha’s life.
Another explanation for why Bo-goel has been keeping Mok-ha at arms length and keeping his identity as Ki-ho under wraps is because of the looming threat of his father who has proven himself to be a viable threat to his life. It doesn’t matter that Ki-ho is an adult if he has a father who can potentially take his life. I think the scene with his childhood best friend and his father illustrates this perfectly. We even go on to see how the father almost k*lls the childhood best friend by setting hornets loose in his vehicle, causing him to have a dangerous car accident. Ki-ho knows more than anybody how people around him have been seriously hurt because of his father. This would more than explain why if Bo-goel is Ki-ho, that he would change his identity and essentially ’bury’ Ki-ho in the process. I can’t overstate enough how much of a real threat Ki-ho’s father is. Anyone who has experience of domestic abuse (that has turned fatal) can attest to this. The writers have also given us glimpses of possible instances where others have been hurt from the father’s unrelenting pursuit of Ki-ho. It’s my theory that Woo-hak was one of such people and a violent incident with Ki-ho’s father is what caused him to lose his memory. I suspect also that the mother’s limp is down to Ki-ho’s father. Both are serious, life altering injuries.
What’s also telling about the character of Bo-goel is that while his brother believes that he himself is Ki-ho, Bo-goel has been denying being Ki-ho despite so many things alluding to him being Ki-ho. So, we have one brother trying to be/show that he’s Ki-ho and another brother who is doing everything to not appear like Ki-ho and to keep Ki-ho buried. I’ve explained above why he would hide being Ki-ho from Mok-ha but why would he hide being Ki-ho from his brother and why is he so stern in shutting his brother down when his brother professes that he thinks he’s Ki-ho. This goes back to what I theorised earlier. I think Woo-hak was hurt by Ki-ho’s father and Bo-goel has substantial guilt about this. Also, I think Bo-goel fears that if Woo-hak continues to pry into Ki-ho, it may lead his father to them. I think he’s operating on the premise that the less people know the better. We’ve seen how stubborn Woo-hak can be and the more you tell him about something the more he wants to find out. This is why I believe Bo-goel neither tells him the truth nor lies to him. Instead he just shuts him down completely, hoping that the tactic of telling him nothing will be enough to keep him from getting close to the truth. Unfortunately, we see in episode 5 that Woo-hak is like a dog with a bone and proving Bo-goel’s fears right, he goes and does something that might lead his father back to him. The viewers know Woo-hak goes searching because he’s been having these flashbacks that’s making him believe more and more that he’s Ki-ho but Bo-goel doesn’t know this, so he doesn’t know that it’s already too late to keep that can of worms from opening.
So why is he allowing Mok-ha to stay with them if he’s worried about his identity being exposed? The short answer; he can’t help himself. Just like he can’t help himself catching glimpses of her, or couldn’t help himself caring for her by buying her a new pair of shoes or protecting her privacy in episode 2. I think a huge part of him is seeing his resolve being chipped away every time he sees her. The more he’s around her, the more he wants to be around her even though he thinks he should be keeping a distance. It’s a complicated set of feelings for him to be having - immense guilt, fear and regret mixed in with intense longing.
As for the things he’s been doing in the background to help her. So far, this is the biggest clue that he is Ki-ho. For example Bo-goel has gotten a career in the music industry as a music producer. This is too on the nose for it to be a coincidence. I can fully see that someone like Ki-ho would dedicate his life to Mok-ha’s dream. Partly as a way to atone and partly as a way to silently help her in the background. He’s very familiar with Ran-joo but claims they’ve never met. Even when she seems to recognise him. Why is he helping Mok-ha’s favourite artist when there seems to be nothing in it for him? Why does he allow Mok-ha to live in the rooftop apartment when he sees that she is there with Ran-joo? Why is he helping them with their current plan for Mok-ha to help Ran-joo with her career? It’s for the same reason he became a music producer. To help Mok-ha reunite with her idol Ran-joo like he failed to do when they were younger and to help Mok-ha make her own dreams come true. I think we’ll see more of how he plans to do this in future episodes.
Perhaps the most telling thing that Bo-goel is Ki-ho is the way he looks at Mok-ha. It’s a look that says a lot. Sure he could just fancy her and that’s all there is to it but that doesn’t account for the look of longing and guilt that’s expressed through his eyes whenever he looks at her. To put it simply, he looks like someone looking at a past love with whom he’s shared a painful past. He’s expressing too strong of an emotion through his eyes for it not to mean anything.
Another thing that indicates that Bo-goel is Ki-ho is that their personalities are very similar. Both have prickly personalities but their actions reveal them to be quite caring. Both observe from a distance and are levelheaded. Both tend to keep their emotions under wraps and appear stand-offish. Both are patient, meticulous and detail oriented. This is almost too aligned to be a coincidence. Of course, these could all be red herrings but there are too many things suggesting that Bo-goel is Ki-ho for it not to be the case (subject to change, of course).
As a final note, I think that Bo-goel is also suffering from the effects of a lost identity - much like his brother, but in his case it’s because he’s trying to suppress his identity (Ki-ho), rather than uncovering it. In suppressing Ki-ho, Bo-goel is carrying a lot of guilt, regret, fear, unresolved feelings, and hurt. Not only that but he’s inadvertently hurting others around him by keeping the truth concealed. He’s preventing his brother from recovering his own identity pre-memory loss and he’s preventing Mok-ha from being reunited with Ki-ho. I don’t think he realises how much Ki-ho means to Mok-ha. All he can see is his past mistakes which he thinks makes him unworthy. He can’t see how Mok-ha might be grateful and thankful towards Ki-ho for saving her life because in his mind he failed her.
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