tennisgrip | (no subject)

>LIM, JI-SEOP

captain lim is a secondary character in the netflix drama DP, which explores the culture of abuse in the south korean army through the story of two MPs who specialize in tracking down young draftees who desert. ji-seop is a captain appointed aide-de-camp and executive officer to the general who oversees the military police installment; he attended the military academy and in many ways embodies the stereotypical officer on a surface level, coming onto the base much more concerned with appearances, performance, and appeasing high command than even remembering the names of the two protagonists who serve under him or treating senior NCOs with the level of respect that unspoken rules say he should.

despite that, ji-seop is shown to have a good heart and does genuinely want to do right by his men. his character arc is a portrait of a man who is forced to choose between the military bureaucracy he's been yielding to in order to move up the chain of command and maintain the favor of his superiors and what he knows is right. i play him halfway through this - he's been put in his place enough to apologize for openly contradicting his first sergeant when pressured to by the general he serves and to feel genuinely bad about it, but he hasn't yet stood up to his commanding officer when things hit critical mass.

in a social sense, ji-seop is exceptionally easygoing and agreeable unless someone's frustrated him; as a superior, he tends toward the stricter side. he has his moments in which he's very reasonable and trusting in his men, but he also never takes any personal action to stop the abuses that he knows are happening.