Cruel Creator

***CONTAINS SPOILERS***

So I'm watching this again (it's like my 5th time over the past few years lol) and I'm on ep 2 now. I just finished the scene where the FL calls her dad to ask him why he has to kill the ML. Really, why does he??

I don't recall asking myself this question so early on in the drama during previous re-watches but I find myself doing so this time around. When he (the dad/creator) first realized the character had found its own consciousness it was also clear WHY that had happened. The character (the ML) had been fighting for his right to live and his right to be happy. He was resisting against how unjust and cruel his life had been, for no apparent reason. 

So my question is, once the dad (the creator) realized the character had become conscious, why didn't he just give the guy a proper ending and move on? Why be cruel? He was so adamant about being in control and being a GOD over the story and it's characters, but had he simply been kind he could have just let the ML solve the murder of his family, get married to the SFL and ended the manga on a happy note. That would have solved the problem of his conscious character and fulfilling the needs of his long-term fanbase.

Until he was forced to do that later on to save his daughter, he never even considered trying to do things right though. He wouldn't have had to gone to the extreme lengths he did to close those loopholes in the story had he not let the situation escalate as badly as he did in the first place. In my opinion he was a completely irresponsible writer towards his audience too. Had he focused on providing proper closure to the storylines in the manga none of what transpired would have been necessary. He had YEARS to do it but never bothered even attempting to come up with a resolution for the murder-mystery involving the ML's family?? That's something that needed to slowly be written into the manga over time so that it would make sense in the end. There should have been bread crumbs left here and there. He never even tried to do that though, meaning he never concerned himself with giving his audience the closure they'd eventually need. That's super-irresponsible writing right there.  He clearly just wasn't good enough to solve the mystery on his own but he had time to come up with a solution or to brainstorm ideas with his counterparts. The manga ran for YEARS! Instead he was just going to let down his entire audience who supported him for all those years without a care.  

Now, had he tried wrapping up the story nice and cleanly but the ML character still wasn't happy and kept trying to force things to go his way then, yes, the dad should definitely have felt free to panic but as it is his cruel actions were the cause of everything that happened in the drama thereafter. Once he realized his character was finding his own consciousness, instead of feeling empathic towards him and all of the other characters he became even more cruel and unjust. It makes sense that he didn't actually create the characters themselves as, it's my understanding, characters are something super special and personal to a writer. Some even get depressed when ending novels and mangas as it's difficult to let go of the characters. So for him to treat his characters the way he did was also a sign that he didn't truly create them himself.   

Anyway, from the beginning, had he been fair and just toward the ML and all of his characters and given any real consideration for his fanbase, he would have focused on finishing out the his story properly - his daughter never would have had to be sucked into it and he himself wouldn't have had to die in the end.

EDIT: I also just realized - her father totally stole her idea! He literally profited and made all his money by plagiarizing his daughters work! She created his lead character as a child! He should be happy her mother never allowed her to pursue her writing career or at some point she'd have remembered and realized sooner. The man was an all-round asshole.  Maybe that's why he hated the character so much - because of his guilt from stealing from his own daughter. 

The character even saved HIM! He originally tried to kill off the ML early in the manga when he himself had given up on life. When the ML defied the writer's will and the storyline to save himself, he gave the dad a feeling of a new birth/ a second chance. How could he then turn around and treat that character like he was a monster? How can he still laud himself over him like he was his GOD? What a psycho! No wonder the wife left him. The man has some serious mental issues. 

Oh Sung-Moo isn't rational. Lots of alcohol. And he's frightened by the supernatural phenomenon. Becomes certain that the hero he made suffer will take revenge or "devour" him. He doesn't really consider Kang Chul's free will or it's the one of a curse from hell, not a human being. 

At this stage, he thinks Kang Chul is a monster, like a supernatural monster. It's terrible for him. What he loves in his life go wrong. His manhwa, his daugther. He can't even be the God of his manhwa as he's supposed to be, like any author. 

In a later episode, Kang Chul smiles wryly as he looks at him in his faceless state, "How could I ever believe you were God."

What raises the philosophical question related to the Muse. Are authors even masters of what they create? I take the answer of the W's writer as a No. Like what I think too. Or a situation with lot of struggle. Make coexist the living creation with the necessity to give it shapes, to channel it.

Sung-Moo thinks about ending the manhwa, but gives up for Yeon-Joo. He wins lot of money from that, but not for a selfish reason. This will afford her a private clinic. And so it goes for years, until he breaks down at the beginning of the drama.

The rest is a matter of interpretation. But Sung-Moo does have a dark side. A monster inside him. The dark side is "unknown character" on the manhwa cover, the killer whose identity doesn't exist. Since he can't force Kang Chul to commit suicide, he sends the unknown killer to take care of him. What is a big error but he can't guess the supernatural phenomenon is bigger than what he knows.

Even then, Sung-Moo is the killer's logical alter ego. But this becomes definitive when he uses his own face. He has no choice, as it's the only face Kang Chul can recognize and believe.