Chairman Cha, or Cha Min Kyu, should have never met Gil Boksoon. Boksoon was supposed to be in school when he came to kill Boksoon’s father. But when Boksoon came back early, he knew he would have to kill her as well, as he couldn’t leave witnesses in the wake of a show. When he found that Boksoon did not mind her father being killed, that surprised him, but it still did not change his mind. However, the moment he realized that she wanted to be the one to knock out the stool from under her father’s legs, he understood exactly what kind of person he was dealing with. What we saw on his face when realization set in was not just surprise, but recognition. And there is nothing that makes people fall in love faster than recognition—of a person like them, of someone who will understand them without them having to explain too much. Maybe that is why, in some other universe, a man was heard telling a woman that he would have liked doing just laundry and taxes with her. A non-adventurous quest indeed, but one that brings peace and love like no one else. Boksoon was that person for Cha Min Kyu.
Chairman Cha has proven time and again that Boksoon is a priority for him. He treated her as a prized asset to his company, so much so that his sister repeatedly questioned him about why she was so special. When Boksoon expressed that she might not want to renew her contract, Cha Min Kyu’s interest in wanting to hold her back was not just professional. He knew that once her contract ended, he might never see her again, as that might be against the rules of their world. But Cha Min Kyu is painfully aware that Boksoon does not think of him the way he does of her. Strangely enough, despite their tension-filled relationship, Boksoon feels comfortable enough with him to talk about her troubles with her daughter. He couldn’t help saying that what Jae Young needed was a father. The insinuation was clear: he was talking about himself.
Love has a reputation for being selfish. It tends to value itself above everything else, despite there being equally important, if not more fundamental emotions to consider in life. We believe that Chairman Cha was obsessed enough with love that he forgot to think about what Boksoon might want to begin with. When a woman is talking to you about her bratty teenage daughter, don’t use it as a chance to propose yourself as a suitable father. Cha Min Kyu probably always knew that Boksoon would never reciprocate his feelings. When his sister asks him who the father of Jae Young is, he simply says, “a good man.” Clearly, Cha Min Kyu did not think of himself as good. But then, was Boksoon a good person? Well, between him and her, she was the only one who refused to kill the Prime Minister’s son. The Prime Minister wanted his son to die so that he could do away with the college-fixing scandal and gain back his popularity for the elections. Cha Min Kyu knew this when the job came to them, and he did not think anything of it. But Boksoon was different. She was good at her job, but that was because she kept her moral compass turned off when working. Cha Min Kyu was different because he did not have morals, to begin with.
We believe that Cha Min Kyu was aware of this difference, and his greatest hope was probably that Boksoon could overcome it. He had known Boksoon for almost her entire life, but his love had never wavered. If anything, it had only gotten stronger. Maybe it was the fact that she had never loved him that made him act the way he did. When she killed her colleagues from other companies, he knew he had to protect her. It would have been far easier to kill her, but he couldn’t let that happen. Boksoon blackmails him, saying that he must protect her or else his sister will be in danger. But we know that the person Cha Min Kyu was thinking about was Boksoon. He loved her, so he stood up for her, but she didn’t love him; therefore, he had no qualms about killing Ji Young, knowing how it would affect Boksoon.
When Boksoon killed his sister and challenged him to a duel to death, Chairman Cha was aware that he could never kill Boksoon. He knew right then and there that he would be the one to die. But his pride demanded retribution and revenge, and he got it by sending a live recording of his meeting with her to her daughter. Cha Min Kyu’s weakness was Boksoon, but her weakness was her daughter, and he hit her where it would hurt her the most. Killing Jae Young would have destroyed Boksoon, but telling her the truth would have destroyed their relationship, and that was Cha Min Kyu’s final revenge.
Honestly, if he was not being petty about her not loving him back, he would have just killed Boksoon in the duel instead of going through this whole thing. In fact, he would have spared Ji Young as well. Leaving Boksoon alive was Chairman Cha’s final declaration of love for her, but everything else he did was fueled by his anger and disappointment at not being loved back. It is a tragedy indeed, and in a twisted sort of way, it prompts us to recognize “Kill Boksoon” as a story of unrequited love more than as an action flick. After his death, he would be quite the dissatisfied spirit indeed, with neither his love nor his anger ever coming to fruition.
