[Limelight] Voluntarily Changing Nevus... The Power of 'Humiliation' Painted by Cha Ju-young

Cha Ju-young as Choi Hye-jung Helping Park Yeon-jin in 'The Glory'
Secretly Hopes to Reach an Equal Position... Also Uses Explicit Expressions
Acts with Desperation to Survive Among Predators
Expresses Mixed Fear and Vanity, Twisted Desires
The Two Faces of Choi Hye-jung, Skilled at Recognizing Others' Emotions

Bullying is a collective action involving multiple people. In Netflix's The Glory, Choi Hye-jung (Cha Ju-young) is an accomplice of the ringleader Park Yeon-jin (Im Ji-yeon). She is directly or indirectly involved in school violence. She is not on equal footing with Park Yeon-jin. Rather, she often shows the face of the weaker party.

Park Yeon-jin has a high so-called 'defensive self-centered tendency.' She has high self-esteem but gets angry even at trivial threats. Choi Hye-jung appears to have relatively low self-esteem. She is busy being cautious, thinking she could fall victim at any time. She fills her deficiencies through plastic surgery and luxury consumption. She secretly hopes to stand on equal footing with Park Yeon-jin.

Her desires occasionally burst out even in front of the ringleader. A scene where she blatantly mocks the story of Yoon So-hee (Lee So-i), Park Yeon-jin’s shame, is a representative example. "Ah, I almost answered. Yeon-jin told me to go." "What are you trying to say, Hye-jung? I was with Jae-jun that day. Everyone here knows how unfairly we were investigated back then, right?" "(Scoffing) Only at times like this, huh?"

Cha Ju-young did not portray Choi Hye-jung as acting boldly from an equal position. She acted out a desperate struggle to survive among predators. "I always thought Choi Hye-jung was cautious among the perpetrators. She knows better than anyone that she cannot stand on the same level. There is also the line from Lee Sa-ra (Kim Hee-ra), 'If it weren’t for Moon Dong-eun back then, it would have been you. You got burned.' I interpreted that she overreacts because she doesn’t want to be exposed. If revealed, she would be ignored immediately. It’s a kind of inferiority complex. But she doesn’t always react sensitively. She commits these acts with a big heart."

The mixture of fear and vanity develops into twisted desires. One of these is luxury consumption. She feels pride, a sense of victory, and superiority through fulfillment. She builds a unique power structure while expanding her own territory. A representative scene is when she scolds a junior stewardess at a hotel in Shanghai. "Did you lose weight?" "Yes, a little." "I told you to match my weight, right? The fit changes. If you do this, you won’t get a good evaluation." "I’m sorry."

The face of Choi Hye-jung, who cannot satisfy her desires, is full of anger, rage, and inner anxiety. She feels fear from her own compulsiveness but cannot escape the addiction. Rather, she digs into the emptiness of her wounded inner self and encourages the false self she built to fill it.

The false self temporarily fills the deep inner emptiness with narcissistic satisfaction and superiority, consuming life energy. In Choi Hye-jung’s case, it manifests as a rebellion changing from involuntary to voluntary. She provokes division within the perpetrator group through various disruptions. Cha Ju-young said, "I acted half voluntarily and half involuntarily." "I don’t know how much the cautious face was imprinted on viewers, but I think they felt the explosion of suppressed emotions during the voluntary process. It’s basically a half voluntary, half involuntary revenge. The driving force for active movement is desire."

Her annoying sarcasm in front of Park Yeon-jin and Lee Sa-ra, provoking rash actions, resembles the reckless sword dance mentioned by Moon Dong-eun. As a result, she helps Moon Dong-eun almost as much as the helper Joo Yeo-jung (Lee Do-hyun). This is possible because Choi Hye-jung is both a collaborator and an enforcer in the perpetrator group. An enforcer does not directly participate in violence but passively agrees by mocking or encouraging bullying. There is a clear difference in empathy ability from the ringleader.

Empathy ability is largely divided into emotional empathy and cognitive empathy. The former means sharing or being affected by others’ emotions. When someone else is sad, one also feels sad or at least finds that person pitiful. The latter does not necessarily share emotions but understands someone’s emotional state. One knows someone is sad but does not feel sad as a result.

Park Yeon-jin has low ability in both. In contrast, Choi Hye-jung has high cognitive empathy. This is clearly shown in a conversation with Park Yeon-jin’s husband Ha Do-young (Jung Sung-il). "Yeon-jin bullied Dong-eun in high school." "You mean school violence or something like that?" "It’s not something like school violence, it’s exactly that." "How?" "Severely?" (…) "Are you saying Moon Dong-eun wasn’t the first?" "You two don’t talk much, do you? Try talking today."

The reason Choi Hye-jung acts shrewdly amid the emotional confusion of the perpetrator group lies here. Other perpetrators cling only to visible tug-of-war. They don’t even look into the causes of their fights and deepen the conflict. You can see this in scenes where Park Yeon-jin, Lee Sa-ra, and Jeon Jae-jun (Park Sung-hoon) each meet Moon Dong-eun and only say what they want. "Do you guys remember our high school? In detail." "Is Yesol doing well? Who are you with here?" "How did I treat Moon Dong-eun? Was it severe?" "Didn’t you really throw a bag at them? I heard something about that. They told me to fill it with dollars." "Ah, Yesol must have gone to elementary school. Where? Samyeong Elementary?"

Unlike them, Choi Hye-jung is accustomed to recognizing others’ emotions. When she senses the damage coming to her, she begins to respond actively. Cha Ju-young saw the catalyst at this time as the long-felt 'humiliation.' Psychologist Evelyn Lindner defined humiliation as an "emotional nuclear bomb." "Humiliation existentially threatens the self, the consciousness that regards oneself as precious and valuable. It is a process of subjugation that forcibly degrades an individual or group, damaging or violating their pride, honor, and dignity."

Even as an adult, Choi Hye-jung interacts with the perpetrators and may have come to enjoy humiliation at some point. Such people meticulously encourage or induce others to insult them so they can avenge the humiliation they believe they suffered. Lindner warned that this can lead to risks of war or genocide and should be handled carefully.

Indeed, the process of feeling humiliation involves quickly grasping an event and fitting it into a worldview standard. The thought of falling into a low position means one previously held oneself in high regard. Choi Hye-jung’s self-esteem was probably higher than viewers think. She might have been ready to cause disruptions if necessary.